Gray Nightingale (Aiya) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
experiencepoints) wrote2014-08-31 09:27 pm
experiencepoints) wrote2014-08-31 09:27 pm
(no subject)
Signeg: junior high- the barrier is breached
This memory starts happily. Aiya, about to start junior high, has been visiting her grandparents, but it's already time to go, so she gives her grandmother a big hug as they leave. She can hear her grandparents telling her parents not to be too strict with her, but it's shrugged off, and Aiya says she doesn't mind. She does, a little, but she doesn't want her family to be upset.
With that, Aiya gets in the car with her parents, and they start to drive home. Aiya sits in the back and looks out the window- She only ever gets to come to the outskirts of the city like this to visit her grandparents, and that's only very rarely. From here, she can faintly see the barrier that surrounds the city, and then only because she's a Mage, a faint ethereal dome that surrounds the city... Until it suddenly snaps into solidity.
Magic circles, inscribed with strange runes, and all sorts of arcane geometries flash across the sky, forming purple lightning and arcing around the barrier. Immediately, her father slams the brakes and ushers Aiya out of the car, as her mother floats out- Aiya isn't sure when they changed equipment, but both of them are suddenly equipped for battle. Her father wears full plate armor, thick, tough, and ornate, with a tower shield and a longsword across his back. Her mother, a flowing red robe, a glowing staff in her hand, and herself hovering about three inches off the ground. Aiya feels an instinctual nudge- her parents are forming a party with her. She accepts.
It takes her a moment to adjust to her new perceptions. She suddenly has an instinctual knowledge of the basic status of her party members- her parents. Where they are around her, what they're in the process of doing, how strong they are, how much HP and MP they both have... It took a minute to get used to, but it was a natural thing, and she adapted quickly.
As soon as she was ready, though, there was a sound like a thousand panes of glass breaking, as the magic circles in the sky slowly turned gray, and the barrier around the city shattered. Chaos breaks out almost immediately, with sirens blaring, people screaming, and crowds running. Police in their uniforms take to the streets, trying to herd people to shelters, while people of high enough level remain outside to fight the threat off.
However, the closest shelter is far away, Aiya knows. And whatever broke the barrier is a lot closer. The ground shakes, and even from a great distance, Aiya can see them coming... Great beasts, each only slightly smaller than a house, vaguely pig-shaped. Aiya stepped forward with her parents- They were vastly stronger than her, but she could be of some help, she thought. She cast Scan, to see what these monsters were...
Young Behemoth
HP: 21000
MP: 1200
Still children, these monsters travel in packs, and are never far from the protection of the Great Behemoth.
Aiya tries to tell her parents, but they simply hush her- her mother's eyes are glowing, so she already has the same information.
Her father charges forward with a great bellow, the force from his voice echoing out like a solid object, getting the attention of the nearest young behemoths. He jumps up, sticking his sword into the leg of one behemoth, and dragging it down to cripple it, then leaps backwards again. Her mother, finishing her casting, simply points her staff, and lights of every color rain down from above- Aiya recognzies it as a high-level offensive magic, a rain of destruction... yet even that isn't enough to bring the behemoths down. She casts it again, and her father deals the finishing blow, beheading one with his sword... They are a blur of magic and steel, wiping out the horde of monsters like nothing, even though those monsters are so strong.
When the corpses of the behemoths vanish, leaving nothing but money and shanks of meat that Aiya's parents take into their inventories, they confer. What should they do? There must be the Great Behemoth nearby, but Aiya should be taken care of first...
Aiya protests. They're strong, they should fight the monster, and they don't need to worry about her. Aiya's mother touches ground for the first time since this started, to kneel down, put her hands on Aiya's shoulders, and look her in the eye. They must keep her safe, she says. They love her, and they must keep her safe, no matter what.
But, Aiya protests, they have to protect everyone, and the city- Her father interrupts, saying that Aiya is more important. But she does not want to go to the shelter, she wants to fight with her parents, but that won't convince them... until she points out that there's danger anywhere from a monster like that until it's been defeated. The fastest way to keep her safe is to defeat the monster as fast as possible.
Her parents look at each other. Her father notes that she has a point, but her mother wants to send her to the shelter anyway, yet isn't willing to let her get there alone like this. They finally agree to let her come, knowing her father will be able to protect her.
Finding the Great Behemoth isn't hard- follow the earth-shattering footsteps. It's a great monster, a boar seven stories tall, long fur falling down as far as its hooves. Everywhere it steps is left a crater, and pulverized city litters the ground around it. Flashes of light in the distance indicate others are already attacking it from its other end- Good, they wouldn't be alone. As they approached, Aiya scanned this new monster to see it...
Great Behemoth
HP: 420100/500000
She doesn't even look at the rest of those numbers, recoiling in fear from the HP alone. Her parents, however, charge in- her father raises his shield, and she feels a bubble of protection form around her, as they leave her behind to attack.
She wants to go forward and help them, but she can't, the same bubble that is protecting her restricting her movements. She can only stare in wonderment as they fly forward, showing every bit of their immense strength to help bring it down. They aren't alone, but even with a dozen people helping (Aiya scans them all, and her parents at 75 are higher level than most of the others) that much HP takes a lot of time to go down. To her, it looks almost like a battle between gods, with spells ripping space apart, her mother hurls infernos, glaciers, blasts of holy light, her father plants his feet in front of the charging monster and stops it in its tracks, the others hurling magic and skills she's never seen before...
Finally, the behemoth falls over, dissolving into so much dust. The healer at the group continues casting to help everyone recover, but the others go still, and the bubble around Aiya dissolves... yet she still can't bring herself to move. They were amazing. The fight was like nothing she had ever seen before...
She looks down at herself. A level 2 mage, unable to do anything to fight. She doesn't want to be useless and sidelined like that anymore, she wants to be able to stand up with the others and fight with them... She wants to become stronger. She has to become stronger, she thinks. But the impression still sticks in her mind, of how far away they were, how much more powerful they were than she thinks she can be...
This memory starts happily. Aiya, about to start junior high, has been visiting her grandparents, but it's already time to go, so she gives her grandmother a big hug as they leave. She can hear her grandparents telling her parents not to be too strict with her, but it's shrugged off, and Aiya says she doesn't mind. She does, a little, but she doesn't want her family to be upset.
With that, Aiya gets in the car with her parents, and they start to drive home. Aiya sits in the back and looks out the window- She only ever gets to come to the outskirts of the city like this to visit her grandparents, and that's only very rarely. From here, she can faintly see the barrier that surrounds the city, and then only because she's a Mage, a faint ethereal dome that surrounds the city... Until it suddenly snaps into solidity.
Magic circles, inscribed with strange runes, and all sorts of arcane geometries flash across the sky, forming purple lightning and arcing around the barrier. Immediately, her father slams the brakes and ushers Aiya out of the car, as her mother floats out- Aiya isn't sure when they changed equipment, but both of them are suddenly equipped for battle. Her father wears full plate armor, thick, tough, and ornate, with a tower shield and a longsword across his back. Her mother, a flowing red robe, a glowing staff in her hand, and herself hovering about three inches off the ground. Aiya feels an instinctual nudge- her parents are forming a party with her. She accepts.
It takes her a moment to adjust to her new perceptions. She suddenly has an instinctual knowledge of the basic status of her party members- her parents. Where they are around her, what they're in the process of doing, how strong they are, how much HP and MP they both have... It took a minute to get used to, but it was a natural thing, and she adapted quickly.
As soon as she was ready, though, there was a sound like a thousand panes of glass breaking, as the magic circles in the sky slowly turned gray, and the barrier around the city shattered. Chaos breaks out almost immediately, with sirens blaring, people screaming, and crowds running. Police in their uniforms take to the streets, trying to herd people to shelters, while people of high enough level remain outside to fight the threat off.
However, the closest shelter is far away, Aiya knows. And whatever broke the barrier is a lot closer. The ground shakes, and even from a great distance, Aiya can see them coming... Great beasts, each only slightly smaller than a house, vaguely pig-shaped. Aiya stepped forward with her parents- They were vastly stronger than her, but she could be of some help, she thought. She cast Scan, to see what these monsters were...
Young Behemoth
HP: 21000
MP: 1200
Still children, these monsters travel in packs, and are never far from the protection of the Great Behemoth.
Aiya tries to tell her parents, but they simply hush her- her mother's eyes are glowing, so she already has the same information.
Her father charges forward with a great bellow, the force from his voice echoing out like a solid object, getting the attention of the nearest young behemoths. He jumps up, sticking his sword into the leg of one behemoth, and dragging it down to cripple it, then leaps backwards again. Her mother, finishing her casting, simply points her staff, and lights of every color rain down from above- Aiya recognzies it as a high-level offensive magic, a rain of destruction... yet even that isn't enough to bring the behemoths down. She casts it again, and her father deals the finishing blow, beheading one with his sword... They are a blur of magic and steel, wiping out the horde of monsters like nothing, even though those monsters are so strong.
When the corpses of the behemoths vanish, leaving nothing but money and shanks of meat that Aiya's parents take into their inventories, they confer. What should they do? There must be the Great Behemoth nearby, but Aiya should be taken care of first...
Aiya protests. They're strong, they should fight the monster, and they don't need to worry about her. Aiya's mother touches ground for the first time since this started, to kneel down, put her hands on Aiya's shoulders, and look her in the eye. They must keep her safe, she says. They love her, and they must keep her safe, no matter what.
But, Aiya protests, they have to protect everyone, and the city- Her father interrupts, saying that Aiya is more important. But she does not want to go to the shelter, she wants to fight with her parents, but that won't convince them... until she points out that there's danger anywhere from a monster like that until it's been defeated. The fastest way to keep her safe is to defeat the monster as fast as possible.
Her parents look at each other. Her father notes that she has a point, but her mother wants to send her to the shelter anyway, yet isn't willing to let her get there alone like this. They finally agree to let her come, knowing her father will be able to protect her.
Finding the Great Behemoth isn't hard- follow the earth-shattering footsteps. It's a great monster, a boar seven stories tall, long fur falling down as far as its hooves. Everywhere it steps is left a crater, and pulverized city litters the ground around it. Flashes of light in the distance indicate others are already attacking it from its other end- Good, they wouldn't be alone. As they approached, Aiya scanned this new monster to see it...
Great Behemoth
HP: 420100/500000
She doesn't even look at the rest of those numbers, recoiling in fear from the HP alone. Her parents, however, charge in- her father raises his shield, and she feels a bubble of protection form around her, as they leave her behind to attack.
She wants to go forward and help them, but she can't, the same bubble that is protecting her restricting her movements. She can only stare in wonderment as they fly forward, showing every bit of their immense strength to help bring it down. They aren't alone, but even with a dozen people helping (Aiya scans them all, and her parents at 75 are higher level than most of the others) that much HP takes a lot of time to go down. To her, it looks almost like a battle between gods, with spells ripping space apart, her mother hurls infernos, glaciers, blasts of holy light, her father plants his feet in front of the charging monster and stops it in its tracks, the others hurling magic and skills she's never seen before...
Finally, the behemoth falls over, dissolving into so much dust. The healer at the group continues casting to help everyone recover, but the others go still, and the bubble around Aiya dissolves... yet she still can't bring herself to move. They were amazing. The fight was like nothing she had ever seen before...
She looks down at herself. A level 2 mage, unable to do anything to fight. She doesn't want to be useless and sidelined like that anymore, she wants to be able to stand up with the others and fight with them... She wants to become stronger. She has to become stronger, she thinks. But the impression still sticks in her mind, of how far away they were, how much more powerful they were than she thinks she can be...