OOC: I would if I could

Jinx grew tired of waiting around for someone to do something. Enough was enough. Sure she enjoyed her games of cat and mouse, but this was beginning to get boring. She lunged at Kasei and those surrounding him, bringing her blade across in a side swipe that would finish all three of them. Suddenly her blade was stopped in place by a long knife and a rapier held in an X, holding her sword in place.
"You will not harm my friends." Leth said, looking her dead in the eye. Jinx grinned. Perhaps this would be fun after all. She deftly but all her weight into her sword, and pushed off the ground upwards and over Leth's head, and brought her gleaming weapon down towards Kasei again - only to be deflected once again by Leth's "swords". He had bent over backwards and held himself in a crab-walk position over Kasei's body, one hand holding his rapier against Jinx's sword, pushing it to the left just enough so he buried her sword in the ground instead of in Kasei's body.
Jinx took this in stride, continuing her vault over them and balancing deftly on the hilt of her sword, which was planted vertically in the ground. Surprisingly, the sword held up straight.
That's some strong metal. Leth thought. Jinx took a moment to really gauge Leth and laughed.
"Well, well, well. Looks like I've met someone of equal dexterity. Tell me, where did you receive your training?"
"From someone very wise and strong. I am the last of the Order of Rangers, if that means anything to you." Jinx seemed taken aback for a moment.
"Rangers? Yes, that means a great deal. If you're really a Ranger, you should know who I am, then - your people and ours were enemies for quite some time."
"Enemies? The Rangers had no rivals. They dealt justice on all followers of the dark equally."
"Is that what you were told? Come come, surely your master mentioned us at SOME point."
Leth thought for a moment.
"No, I can't recall that he ever- wait." Jinx grinned.
"Oh, do you remember now?"
"That's impossible! Your people all died! You shouldn't exist!"
"I had the same notion about you. Yet here we are!" Jinx said coldly.
"Well some of this makes sense now, at least. You're an Arcomident, more commonly known as a magic eater. All magic within fifty feet of you is disabled by a curse in your genetic make up."
"It is a blessing!' She snarled at him. "You can keep your filthy, cheating, magic. We are not gods! We are not meant to meddle in the Arcane! True strength is derived from years of training, focusing your mind and body!" She was practically yelling now. Leth looked at her calmly.
"Ah... but you know this, don't you? This is why the Rangers were ever our foe. They did not depend on magic, like many others, to keep them alive. They, too, gained their success through physcial labor. Though we were ever enemies, we always had a sort of respect for each other."
"One thing I don't understand, though." Leth stated, changing the subject. "How come our magic wasn't disabled immediately? What did that necklace thing of yours do?"
"Ah, so you noticed that. That was a certain trick devised by my masters. While I have no love for magic, it is the only way we can truly conquer your kind - the so called 'adventurers'. The best way to defeat a cheater is to cheat. So my masters labored long and hard to create that stone. Upon completion, it's purpose was to keep my natural magic-eating abilities at bay so they could continue their work without interruption." She thought for a moment, then said with disgust, "It was also a way for them to communicate telepathically with me. I argued against it, but in the end, I had to obey. They are The Masters, and what they do, they do for the furthering of the Great Plan."
"Again with the "Great Plan". What is that?" Leth inquired. Jinx's face slowly spread into a grin.
"You will not live long enough to find out." So saying, she leapt off of her precarious position on her sword hilt, pulling it out of the ground behind her as she went. She swung it around in midair towards Leth, who was just barely able to leap out of the way. He hit the ground and quickly rolled back up to a standing position, just in time to bring his weapons up to block the Magic Eater's next flurry of blows.

OoC: I'll give other people another chance to post something now, though I'm probably just kidding myself.

OoC: And now, almost four months later...

The clashing of their steel resounded all around the courtyard with nothing to dissuade it, due to the eerie lack of living activity in the city. The echoes of their battle could most certainly be heard beyond the city gates.

But the sound belittled the intensity of the actual combat.

Despite Leth's comparative lack of sword combat training, he was holding his own quite well. The combat prowess of their two peoples - Arcamident and Ranger - were so stylistically similar that the two were almost at an even match. The movements were not fancy; there were very little flourishes or spins and flips, but rather each strike was fast and to the point, allowing for a flurry of flowing blows which was difficult for the eye to follow. It was like an intricate, deadly dance - and if either of them fell slightly off tempo, it would mean the end. But years of stealth training and teachings of 'strike hard and fast' had embedded themselves so deeply into both of their minds, that it was second nature to play off of each other's every move.

However, Leth had a lesser amount of training with melee weapons than Jinx, and she was slowly gaining the upper hand, pushing him farther and farther back.

A small smile crept up her face as she realized she was slowly winning, and her strokes gained even more confidence. Leth was getting visibly nervous. He was matching her strokes, but her strength was proving to be too much as he had to spend more energy deflecting her blows, and was becoming unable to hold an extended parry against her. At one point, one of her slashes knocked Leth so off balance that he was forced to leap back and momentarily disengage, catching his breath. Jinx normally would have pursued him, but she felt so confident in her ability to defeat him, she allowed him a momentary respite.

"Having trouble, Ranger?" She asked, flashing a wicked smile.
Leth glared at her. "You've - hah - been trained well."
"And you haven't. I see your instructor failed to fully educate you in melee combat."
"He was old. He only covered what he was capable of; the important aspects of being a Ranger."
"And that shall be your downfall this day." Jinx replied cooly as she once again leaped into combat against him.

What she didn't realize was that she had been playing into his hands the whole time. It could not have gone more perfectly. Yes, Leth was growing weary, but he was playing it up more than he actually felt. The key was making her overconfident, to the point where she would show a flaw. And show it she had. She had been so engaged in defeating Leth, she had forgotten one key thing.

Kasei and Simon were now more than 50 feet away from her.

OOC: Ok since I doubt that Orpheous will be replying any time soon and this is a good opportunity to bring Kasei "Down to earth" with abilities and such, I'll get back into this nicely. I hope you don't mind me putting in a little bit of divine intervention here.

IC:Kasei barely moved as Jinx's weapon thrust into the ground beside him, nor did he struggle at all in the ensuing scuffle. His power drained, the once-powerful Rebel Flame could do nothing more than lay face-down in the dirt, helpless to his enemy's assault. If not for Leth's aid, Kasei would have perished moments ago.

However, he was still capable of listening in to what was happening, and the events unfolding before him piqued his interest greatly. I see, so Leth's past...is not at all as I had imagined... Kasei mused silently. I kind of....feel sorry for him.

Jinx then went on to explain a bit about the necklace I see...so that thing didn't sever my magic, it may have just destroyed it completely. Kasei turned his head to the side slightly, to view Leth's battle with the assailant. He won't...last much longer...I need to...need to help him....

Struggle as he might, Kasei could not get to his feet. He could barely lift his hand. The Shiekah cursed his misfortune, his age, his lack of power. Just a bit...enough to get me moving again...anything... His please would go unanswered. The gods did not simply hand out favors to everyone who desired them. He was given his extension on life, they would not give him another.

There was no way to rise up again.

No-one would aid him

"But they don't have to, do they?"

The voice, menacing and deep, resounded harshly in Kasei's mind. "Who...." "Oh, come on....don't tell me you don't know? I may have died...but that doesn't mean I can't help you out~

The realization dawned on Kasei then. Another sentience...a being across time and space. He was not going to ask how, but he was sure now, as if remembering a childhood dream, that he did know who this was. "You can help, right?"

"Oh sure, sure, I can help. I can't very well win, that's up to you and your friend there. You won't get out of this if you don't stand up, you know~"

"I cant."

"You will."

Strength. That was the only word Kasei knew as he pushed his hands against the ground. Strength once again pulsed through his veins. He pushed himself up, onto his knees, and then standing up shakily. His youth, long-forgotten, began to return to his face. After a few moments, Kasei, the Rebel Flame, looked as good as new.

He breathed deeply, nostrils flaring, as he glared at Jinx. "I see..." It's not all back, no...but it should be more than enough. He reached to the pouch around his waist and grabbed at a handle he didn't even know was there. He revealed the weapon held there; an unusual dagger, with three blades. A center blade, as well as two curved edges on the side. The round guard of the weapon adorned with the symbol of the Royal Family "So this is the dagger..."

Kasei then ran, faster than before, towards Jinx, bearing his new weapon proudly. "Let's see if this isn't worth the pain you put us through, foolish wench."

OOC: I've come to reply to this topic, like, 5 times since your reply, Kasei. But every time, I'll get out several paragraphs and then suddenly my browser will close or my computer will freeze up and I have to shut it down or our power will go out or something like that and I end up loosing everything I typed, so I get frustrated and leave it alone for a while. Here's hoping it doesn't happen this time.

Also, I see what you did there, Kasei. With the dagger. Clever use of topic to bring about your plot idea.

IC: The sounds of Kasei approaching startled Jinx, and she quickly spun around in a panic to counter this new threat she had forgotten about, causing her to momentarily drop her defenses. This one moment was all Leth needed to gain the upper hand. He quickly cast off his act of weakness and went for a sweeping kick at Jinx's legs. She was caught completely off guard and she fell to the ground in an uncontrolled tumble, landing on her back. Leth, acting quickly, stabbed his rapier into the ground next to her, driving it through the fabric of her shoulder pad and pinning her to the ground. She tried to roll out of it, but she only mildly succeeded in putting a small tear in her clothes. Before she could try again, Leth was at her side, bow and arrow pointedly aimed at her face. Leth, without taking his eyes off of her, shouted back to Kasei,
“Don’t come any closer, we don’t want her abilities to affect you again. Besides, she’s harmless now.”
He then directed his voice to the helpless Magic Eater.
“Okay. Talk." He said sternly.
"Why should I?" She asked, glaring at him coldly.
"Because I honestly have no reason to let you live, if you're not going to give us information."
"I doubt that. You don't seem the type to kill a helpless person in cold blood."
"You want to test that theory?"
Jinx raised her eyebrows at him.
Leth sighed, exasperated. "Look, clearly you've got to see that your superiors are just using you. You and your people hate magic, yes?"
"I hardly see what this has to do with-"
"And they're using magic to try and get their way. They used magic to bring us here, they use magic to watch you, and even suppress the hereditary gift of your people, and there's no doubt they will use more magic in the future. These seem like the powerful sorcerer type. They're not going to want to do away with magic once they've accomplished their goal. You know what they're doing and they won't stop till they've created a world ruled by magic- their horrible dark magic."
Jinx was silent.
"C'mon, You said it yourself- magic is not a power for man to tamper with. If you truly believe it, show us your conviction. Don't let these men defile the world with their wicked magics and dark spells."

To Leth's surprise, she began to laugh.
"You're right; magic is not for man. Magic is a power left to the Gods- and that's exactly what the Great Plan is set to accomplish. My "superiors", as you call them, are emissaries for a greater cause. We are but pawns in the hands of the One who commands us- we are truly chosen of the Gods, for our leader is a mighty deity. It is foolish to oppose Him, for He shall see the end of all of your ideals. We will create a world not of Human magic- but a world ruled by it's true master; a being worthy of the power you call magic. Any human who attempts to wield such power without the blessing of the Gods is a fool and a heretic! You will all die- and there is nothing you can do to stop it!

At this point, Jinx was getting hysterical; she was practically screaming her words at the group. When she stopped speaking and instead began to laugh, it became clear that they would get no more coherent thoughts out of her. Leth, disgusted by the display in front of him, delivered one swift kick to her head, causing her to go limp. He turned to Kasei.

"She'll be out for a while. I'm not sure what to do with her.. clearly there is no way we can talk her out of her convictions. But I don't want to kill her; I believe there may be some way to win her over. We'll have to carry her back with us. Don't worry- her magic eating abilities are passive, but they require an active mind so it can use her energy. As long as she is unconscious, we will be able to use magic as normal. The question is... what do we do now?"