Succession: Heir to the Empire

Maul

"Of course, Carlisle." Maul assured.

Rein

"Oh shut up." Rein huffed, turning away in embarrassment. Well, the gods couldn't embarrass them anymore with the sexual tension they had had earlier, but they still knew she could fluster herself with words. Curse them all...

2 Days Ago
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Epiphany killed the chimera and continued upstream. Halfway up the river, she discovered the dead sea serpent. The river lead her to a forest opening and she went through. Once nightfall came, she stayed in a cave. She nearly got killed by a vampire in the middle of the night, but she killed it and set up magic traps for some safety precautions.

The Day Before
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Epiphany woke up late and left as quickly as possible. Then she encountered a manticore. She eventually killed it after a long time. The rest of the day, she didn't encounter that much.

Present Day
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Epiphany traveled towards the left side of the mountain, looking for the start of the trail, though she was quite sure that the ground she was on was elevated by a few inches. That probably meant that she was getting close to the trail, or was at level with some part of the trail.

While Epiphany was walking, she was busy observing the high mountain when she tripped and landed on her back. When Epiphany looked up to see what she had tripped over,it was long scaly tail. The tail moved and left some dry peeled skin behind it. when she saw where the tail was heading, it entered a cave and she heard some loud hissing. Epiphany already knew what it was. There was only one giant and deadly snake that she knew and that was a basilisk. When she was part of the Amazons, there would be some seldom basilisk attacks that would kill off most of her sisters.

Knowing not to look in its eyes, Epiphany ran the direction she was going earlier and started hearing some hissing behind her. She had to think of how to kill it so that's basically the reason why she was also running. Losing track of how fast and far she was running. She ran out of the forest, and nearly slammed into Rein and Kegan, catching herself just in time.

Kegan

Kegan stopped as he saw Epiphany almost run right into Rein. "Hey? Umm...are you ok?" Kegan asked, not sure what the other Heir was running from that had her so scared.
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Carlisle

Carlisle nodded his head in thanks before continuing on. Eventually finding a room and crawling inside onto the bed, where he quickly fell asleep.

Rein

"Uh...Kegan? Maybe we should....?" Rein said, slowly backing away from the Amazon. While she knew that Epiphany wasn't as bad as Tsuba was, Rein didn't trust the girl all that much. Not to mention all that stuff she had heard about the Amazons.

"Come on," Nebi told her, taking her hand heading off towards the Observatory. It looked a lot closer now. He grinned. Nothing could possibly go wrong now.

C.C.

C.C. followed Nebi toward the Observatory. The Mage was glad this challenge was coming to a quick close. While this trip had been...enjoyable...in many ways, but C.C. wanted to sleep in a real bed tonight.

"Sorry about that." Epiphany apologized to Rein and then faced Kegan. "I'm fine, just running from a basilisk." Epiphany listened attentively as she spoke, hoping she had lost the basilisk. "Mind if I come along? It's much more easier to travel in groups."

Kegan

Kegan bit his lip as he contemplated whether or not to let Epiphany travel with them, realizing that she was right that it would be much easier to travel in groups. ...But after the last challenge, she had betrayed her own people for the throne. Could he really trust her?

"....You summoned a dragon when you fought Nebi, correct?" Kegan asked, an idea suddenly coming to him.

Rein

Rein turned to Kegan and shook her head, also mouthing the word 'no'. She didn't trust the girl at all, and wasn't about to let Kegan make a big mistake. Rein didn't want to take the chance that Epiphany could be leading them into a sort of trap.

Kegan

Kegan raised his eyebrows and jerked his head as he tried to convince Rein that maybe bringing her along could be beneficiary. "Why not?" He mouthed to her, only to be cut off as he heard a tree fall down a few hundred yards away. Crashing loudly and suddenly. "So you said a basilisk was following you?" Kegan asked as he looked towards the sound.

The Half-Elf bit his lip as he made a split-second decision. "Rein, I want you to run up the trail as quickly as possible. I'll catch up once I'm finished with this snake."

Rein

"No! I won't leave you." Rein protested. She wasn't about to leave Kegan alone, running away like some helpless maiden, while he fought the basilisk.

Kegan

Kegan bit his lip as he began to grow worried, and angry as well. "Rein, you have to run! If you even glance in that things eyes.... I'll be fine. I know how to fight without looking at my opponent." Kegan pleaded with Rein.

Rein

"No! I can't leave you! Not now, Kegan. I'm not going to act like some defenseless princess or maiden you see in fairy tales. I want to help. I'm not going to leave you fighting this thing alone." Rein said, crossing her arms.

Kegan

Kegan bit his lip as he turned towards Rein, his face a bright red as he began to grow both angry and scared. "...Fine! Protect my body for the next five minutes, if you can keep the basilisk away from me for that long, this will be an easy fight. I'm not gojbg to be conscious of my surroundings though, so no, I can't dodge the snake if he lunges at me." Kegan ordered, talking to both Rein and Epiphany.

"And most important of all Rein, don't look at his face."

Rein

"Don't worry, I won't." Rein assured. She began to feel a little scared, and wondered if this had been a good idea in the first place. But no, she couldn't abandon Kegan now. If anything had happened to him if she had run away, well...

Rein tried not to think about it.

Kegan

"Good." Kegan replied before quickly kissing Rein, sitting down immediately afterward as he began to slowly chant.

Rein

Rein blushed bright red when Kegan kissed her, but quickly got a hold of herself. She took the only combat stance she knew and prepared herself to protect Kegan if necessary.

Nebi grinned at C.C. as they were almost at the observatory. Just as he was about to reach the door, however, he heard a hiss in the distance. He turned around, seeing the tail of a gigantic snake heading down-hill. He frowned.

"Basilisk?" he mused.

(Umm, Almost, Kegan and Rein are about four hours from the Observatory at this point. So if Nebi did see a Basilisk, that means that there's two on this mountain right now.)

Kegan

As Kegan continued to slowly chant the rather extensive and detailed spell he had had in mind, the tattoos around his body began to move one at a time. First the River, began to move and churn around his body. Then the Eagle, Horse, and Ram began to run as well. A few seconds later, the Two Angels, one with a horn, another with a Bow, flew over Kegan's chest and began to use their respective tools.

The sight was a surprising, and captivating one. But there was no time for Rein and Epiphany to look at it now, as the Basilisk burst out of the trees right as the Angel with the Horn planted a small seed at the base of Kegan's spine, or at least, that's how it appeared.

With a loud hiss of it's tongue, the Basilisk rushed towards Kegan's body.

Rein

Rein watched for a moment with awe and wonder as the tattoos on Kegan's body seemed to move by themselves. But she quickly focused on the situation as the Basilisk slithered over to her fiance's body. Standing her ground, Rein quickly sent a burst of fire toward the creature (though it was somewhat weak), hoping that would keep it back.

((I'll post with C.C. after AI replies.))

(Oh. Sorry. Ignore that then.)

"Well, we're here," Nbei told Rein with a grin as they approached the Great Observatory, "Back to civilization and another chance for Baruti to kill me and the others."

He sighed as they entered the building, "What's he waiting for, anyway? I mean, he acts like he has a plan, but it doesn't seem like he's done anything except make us miserable with these challenges."

C.C.

"With Baruti, there's no real way of knowing." C.C. said. She gave a slight smile at the sight of the structure. Whie she had camped many times during her very long life, she liked sleeping in a real bed much better than sleeping in a tent.

Kegan

The Basilisk stopped for a few seconds as it watched the fire burn in front of it. For a second it seemed that the flames would be able to hold the beast back, but unfortunately, the snake quickly rushed through the flames, seemingly angry at Rein, Kegan, and Epiphany for attempting to hold him back. During this time, the small seed image that was planted on Kegan began to slowly grow, it's roots going downwards as a light green glow began to emanate around the Heir's back. The Environment around Kegan seemed to be moving around as well now, roots coming from out of the ground and growing up towards his spine.
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Brighe/Clara

"Oh....oh Gods, he really is doing that." Brighe said as she looked into the pool at her Nephew, worried, yet proud as well. Not that she would ever tell him...

Rein

Rein quickly sent another stream of fire toward the basilisk, hoping to keep it back further. She really hoped that, whatever Kegan was going to do, he'd do it fast...

Syrien

"What is he doing?" Syrien asked with curiosity, observing the battle unfolding before them.

Brighe/Clara

"He's opening up his nervous system using magic." Brighe commented before pointing towards the pool as she continued to explain. "If he's successful, then his mind is going to be connected to the environment around him. Essentially, he'll be able to control any of those trees over there, the vines way over there. Even the grass, will be his to move." Brighe said, tracing her finger across the pool for emphasis as she explained.

"And what happens if your Nephew fails?" Clara asked, curious now as Brighe explained the old Elven magic.

Brighe paused as she looked up towards the Girl. "Well if he fails, we wont know until the spell is over at least. He'll still connect to the environment, he will control it flawlessly, no doubt. But then, when the time comes where he needs to bring his spirit back into his body....it wont work."
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Kegan

Rein's jet of fire hit the Basilisk, though unfortunately, caused little damage to the serpent.

As the roots image finally connected to the actual roots on the ground, the many tattoos on Kegan suddenly rushed towards the tree, disappearing inside of it and rushing down Kegan's spine into the ground under him. As the Ram, the Eagle, the Horse, and the Angels disappeared into the ground, Kegan's mouth opened in shock as he began to die, his entire being leaving his body. The sight looked painful, and the green glow that had been around Kegan quickly spread around the trail. Traveling almost thirty yards before it stopped.

And then, everything grew still. Even the Basilisk stopped moving for a few seconds. And then a tree inexplicably fell, loudly crashing to the ground.