Aftermath {Attn Kalthandrix}

[TaiDashan]

Tai stepped into the common room of the Inn, trying to put his mind back together. His thoughts whirled like a cloud of bite-me's, flashing like quicksilver and difficult to keep hold of. He had been named Bajin M'Hael, Attack Leader for the Black Tower. On top of this, an oath spoken, his Aria was dead, murdered by the Taint-crazed man that Tai himself had perpetrated the same act upon. He had participated in the battle with Brent, sworn a private Oath to the Lord of the Morning, the Dragon Reborn himself. With a small start he realized he was still standing in the doorway, his eyes roaming blankly around the men of the common room. Tears long dried from his cheeks, he had donned the coat Covai had given him, embroidery at his cuffs marking his new rank and a few of the men he knew were giving him odd looks. He gave them a weak smile and made his way back out the door, changing his mind. He needed some fresh air not ale.

 

He considered going to the Manor but couldn't bring himself to do it, not when her scent still lingered. He needed to clear his head. Seizing the Source he wove a gateway, tearing a hole in reality, and stepped out the other side not far away to the training grounds. Working with the sword and Power would help him to clear his mind. Unsheathing his blade, and floating in the Void, he shifted his stance to one foot and began. He flowed into the first form. Then on to the next. It went like this for a few minutes but his heart was not in it. Lowering his blade with a sigh, Tai sheathed the blade and his hands balled into fists. He couldn't focus! Anger skittered outside the Void. Anger at Aria for staying, at himself for not forcing her to go. Anger at the Storm Leader who had murdered her, and angry at himself for feeling remorse for killing him.

 

Tai seized the source. The Power avalanced through him, threatening to bury him and scour his remains from the earth. He felt the fiery, molten ice force its way through his veins. It threatened to rip him apart, to incinerate him on the spot. Tai rode the avalance. He felt the strain in his very being and wanted to weep with the joy. There was nothing left for him that made him feel this way. Not now that she was gone. He wanted to laugh hysterically, he wanted to weep. Men said that in the void they were emotionless, but in a way emotion became a deeper part of you with Saidin, at least for him. Tai drank deeply from the source, to the point of danger. He had become familiar with that warning voice, letting him know that he was approaching the brink of losing control. Holding as much of the One Source as he could he started to weave. It was dangerous, he knew it was. At this point however, a part of him simply did not care.

 

Weaving flows of Earth and Air mixed with Fire, he wove six rough statues in a ring around him. Hardened to stone with Fire, they would provide him with neccessary targets. Saidin poured through him and into his weaves, raining stone and slag as he destroyed all six targets at once. The earth heaved and broke apart, flame gouted and turned the rubble to slag. A ring of Air pushed outward, keeping the debri from him. Pulling six more targets from the earth around him, this time he wove one at a time. Weaving water, and adding genereous amounts of Fire, Air and Spirit, Lightning bolts as thick as his wrist smashed to the ground. One at a time the impressive display of power decimated his targets. A grounded shield protected him from the charge, but debri sprinkled him lighty. A wayward shard, guarded against too late, cut a shallow mark across his left cheek. Smoothing the blackened, hardened ground with a weave of Earth, he stood panting. Staring at the blood on his fingertips. Tai released the source and his illusions with it. He could not kill the demons within no matter how much destruction he wove.

 

Glancing around, he noticed a dedicated watching him from the treeline.

 

~You see the standard you hold? "Mi Sora Far Toh, Mi Sora Far al'Aman" indeed.~ Chaos sneered. Tai shoved him to the back of his mind and sighed. The dedicated looked like he had something to say so Tai stode over to where he was. "Can i help you Dedicated?" He had not seen the man around before, but then again, that was not too unusuall...

[Kalthandrix]

After the ringing explosions and the fire of his work of demolishing his old house, Vykor was surprised to hear even greater explosions and to feel a great amount of saidin being wielded nearby...every nearby in fact, so he decided to go and see what it was all about.

 

Still holding the power, he wove a set of flows that snuffed out his own fires as he turned to walk away. It would not do to burn down everything.

 

So it was that he approached the training grounds once more, though now it was mostly empty. The sole occupant was a black coated man that was raking the grounds and stone-shaped dummies with fire, explosion, and lightning in a rather impressive display. He watched for a time, memorizing the weaves. An interesting use of Earth and Fire it was to form hardened stone dummies, and he knew he was more than strong enough with both elements to do the same.

 

All at once, the explosions stopped and he did not know how long it had been since they had because of he ringing in his ears, but the fellow was looking toward him standing in the trees as he was.

 

"Can I help you Dedicated?" the Asha'man asked, apparently not recognizing him, but Vykor recognized the voice though the fellows bleeding face was slightly different then he remembered - harder, and with hollow-looking eyes.

 

"Tai'Dashan?" he asked, but continued on. "It's been a while and you may not remember me, but the names Vykor Temmer...uh, sir," he added with a hastey salute to his chest. "I was one of Asha'man Isha's pupils."

 

[TaiDashan]

"Tai'Dashan?"

 

The man surprised him by answering his question with a question of his own before answering in kind.

 

"...the names Vykor Temmer...uh, sir" He added with a hasty salute. Tai wondered idly if the man had noticed the embroidery on his sleeves, denoting him an Attack Leader. Most likely it was simply due to the fact that he had the Sword and Dragon at this throat. "I was one of Asha'man Isha's pupils."

 

Tai blinked. One of Talcontar's students? Something tickled the back of his mind but he brushed it aside. He had been busy training but swore he should have seen this man.

 

"Forgive me Vykor but I do not remember you, had we officially met?"

[Kalthandrix]

"I believe I attended a few of the classes you oversaw while you were a Dedicated, but I would not expect you to remember the face of ever fellow you taught two years ago. I have been...away...on a task given to me by M’Hael Dalinarius Traachanshield and Asha'man Isha and then serving the Lord Dragon directly."

 

He stopped himself from saying more; uncertainty warred with caution and the desire to re-immerse himself into life in the Black Tower. The past two years had been a hard taskmaster in the realm of trust, so he opted for playing his cards closer to his chest for now to see where the currents lay before hazarding out into them.

 

"If you don't mind my pointing it out, but you seem overwrought, sir, and you are also bleeding," he pointed to his own cheek before continuing. "I could heal that if you don't mind the rougher sort of it. I have the strength for the other kind, but the weaves are difficult for me so I do not practice them very often."

 

Truth was that the weaves gave him headaches greater than even the ones for Traveling did and left him unable to channel much more then the most basic of weaves for an hour and he was not about to subject himself to that to fix a few shallow cuts, but he felt that the offer for Healing was not out of the question. And the other man did look to be on the verge of a bleakness so deep that Vykor saw a reflection of himself in the man, a reflection of the boy he had been after accidently killing his best friend. That he had just come to terms with that tragedy and reconciled with his family made Vykor ache to try and led a hand to another.

 

[TaiDashan]

"I believe I attended a few of the classes you oversaw while you were a Dedicated..." Tai nodded slowly. It was likely enough despite that he truly did not remember the man. Just then something sparked in his memory. He vaguely remembered the man's profile but nothing about him. Mentally he shrugged it off. "...on a task given to me by M’Hael Dalinarius Traachanshield and Asha'man Isha and then serving the Lord Dragon directly."

 

Tai barely kept the shock from his face. Dalinarius and Talcontar he could understand. The man's claim to serve the Dragon directly seemed somewhat far fetched and bloated in regards to the truth of it. He considered that there must be some truth to it as most men would not go around claiming that if it were not true...

 

"...you seem overwrought, sir, and you are also bleeding," With the man's words Tai realized that indeed the shallow cut on his face had trailed a line of blood down his cheek. His eyes remained flat haunted as he considered the man's offer. At last he shook his head.

 

"While I appreciate the offer, the flow of blood has stopped already and it is simply a scratch. A flesh wound if you will." He tried to smile at the halfhearted jest but the grin slipped quickly into oblivion. He scrubbed at his face somewhat unceremoniously with his hand to clean the dried blood.

 

"I see you are still in training," He motioned to the man's collar. "I recently have a need to keep my mind entertained, is there anything in way of training that I can help you with?"

[Kalthandrix]

"Well, I could use some more training with healing," he replied and realized that it sounded more like a jest coming as it did after he had asked Tai'Dashan if he had wanted to be Healed.

 

He tried to smother the grin that came to his lips and was sure that he was only partially successful, but continued on none-the-less. "Truly, it is one of the areas that I have fallen behind in. I have a strong affinity for Earth, and even stronger for Fire, so killing things has..." he shrugged and spread his hands a bit, "but the march to the Last Battle will require that there are people still standing, so we need to be more than just a weapon if we expect to be there."

 

Casually, he tucked his thumbs behind the two straps crossing his chest. They would need to be more than weapons, though the Shadow-spawn and manure swilling Darkfriends and he would be more than willing to channel until he burnt himself out to kill them all.

 

"Of course," he continued, "some of the weaves you were using to form those dummies could be more than useful as well. If we had enough people with a solid affinity for Earth we could craft bulwarks to shelter troops from enemy fire and create fields of sharpened stone spikes to channel enemy forces into killing zones or to break a charge - and thereby keeping our forces stronger. So if we spent some time on things like that, I believe it would be more than worth the time to learn."

 

[TaiDashan]

"...but the march to the Last Battle will require that there are people still standing, so we need to be more than just a weapon if we expect to be there."

 

Tai found himself nodding in agreement. His own recent discovery had more than shown him the need for healing. It seemed there truly was two sides to every coin, and unless a man use that... He shook his head mentally. Vykor was still speaking. Turning his ear to what the man was saying he mental cursed himself for being so unfocused.

 

"...to channel enemy forces into killing zones or to break a charge - and thereby keeping our forces stronger." Tai searched his memory for what had come before that. Ah yes..

 

"Well," He replied. "I believe that could be of use. For now Storm Leader Arath has ideas on how to fortify our defenses. You may speak to him on this matter." He considered the man briefly before beginning again. "If you would like someone to heal, you may do so. Such a small scratch won't weaken me too far and if it gives you practice..Afterward however, i would like to propose that we do a little training. if you are up for it let me know, I will explain what I have in mind."

 

OOC: Just so you know what we will be working with, Tai's scores are as below:

 

STR 31

SKLL 34

POT 65

 

Earth 5

Fire 6

Air 6

Water 7

Spirit 7

[Kalthandrix]

Vykor nodded his ascent and gathered the flows for a healing. Earth, Water, and Spirit wove together in a simple weave. Not a complex bit of work, but something he took his time in putting together under the Asha'mans’ critical eye. It seemed strange to Vykor that the chaotic torrent that was saidin could be used for such a...gentle...thing like healing.

 

Vykor did not dawdle in his weaving, but took care in it and when he finished he sent the flows out in a loose net that settled upon the other man, but he did not reach out and touch him.

 

"As for training, I am willing and eager to learn what ever you have time to teach." He saluted again and kept his face impassive, though he felt a swell of excitement surged outside the calmness of the Void, skittering along like a water bug. It had been so long since he had a true lesson in wielding saidin and he longed to gobble up whatever learning he could.

 

OOC: Here are my OP scores as well.

Earth 7, Fire 10, Air 5, Water 5, Spirit 8; Strength 35, Skill 26; Potency 61

 

I wish there was a way to up skill a little, but I can eek out weaves that would need a Skill of up to 30 I think before they become way to difficult for me, though doing so is harder and I try and RP it as such and they give him savage headaches.

 

[TaiDashan]

The weave for healing settled into him with a only a icy ripple thanks to the slightness of the cut. He was thankful that the man didn't need to reach out and touch him for the weave as that made things uncomfortable unless he knew the man. In a battle, you did what you had to, in everyday life...things were different.

 

"As for training, I am willing and eager to learn what ever you have time to teach."

 

Tai nodded to the man and motioned to the center of where he had been training. Thoughts of Aria still trailed through his mind, flaying him with bright blades of agony.

 

~Should have forced her to leave~ lamented Chaos in his head. It was odd to Tai that Chaos should be so contrary to his nature in all things but this. He had kept silent in times when Tai had expected his lewdness, been almost a comfort in the yawning grief that threatened to overwhelm him...It was as if he mourned her loss too. That, in its own way, made bearing the grief that much easier. Once in the training area he instructed the man to seize Saidin and hold as much of it as he could. He wanted to test his strength.

 

"Seize Dedicated, let me see your strength." Nodding to himself, Tai's thoughts drifted in and out of the fog of grief. The man was stong, possibly stronger than himself. Only time would tell what skill the man possessed.

 

"My affinity for Earth is not as strong as the other elements, but it will suffice. Watch this weave in case you have not learned it the first time." Gone was the friendly, boyish man of yesterday. That man had been crushed, burned and frozen by the turnings of the Wheel and the Weavings of the Power. Some part of him mourned the loss of that man, but he would not allow another to die because of his weakness. He would temper himself to be a weapon in the Dragon's hand. He would be Bajin Ma'Hael. He spoke as he wove. Flows of Earth, and Air were woven slowly for the other man's benefit just above the ground in a long line. Sinking the flows into the Earth and pulling them back up he raised a low wall of earth. Weaving Fire through the center of the weave he released it, hardening the mass of earth to stone.

 

Raising a few stone dummies beyond the wall, once again going slowly for Vykor's benefit, Tai released his weaves and turned to the man. "Now I want to go over a point that most men seem to miss. Just because you are under cover," He motioned to the wall he had raised. "Does not mean that you cannot begin your weave before you can see your target." He bent behind the wall and prepared a flame arrow, braiding Earth, Fire, and Air in the usual manner and adding his own personal touch of Spirit along the length. He wove the Spirit and an additional flow of Fire through the weave so that it would explode on contact, creating a small flash fire once it punctured armor. Once ready to release he stood quickly flashing his hands outward, ducking again behind cover. The arrow flew from his hands and buried itself in the hunk of stone before turning the center to slag. The top portion of the dummy fell to the earth, a large glowing portion melted out of it.

 

"Most young soldiers make this mistake, and from what I hear of our recent battle against the Shadow, not enough took this lesson to heart..." He paused for a moment considering Vykor. He was eagerly drinking in the lesson. He was arrogant, something Tai hoped he would lose before going into battle...that sort of thing got people killed. He motioned for the man to practice a few times, trying the new weaves before hunkering down behind the wall.

[Kalthandrix]

When commanded, Vykor drew in a good amount of saidin...though years of mistrust and having to worry if the person you were talking to was a darkfriend made him hold back from drawing upon his full strength. It was not that he distrusted the Asha'man, but he did not know him well and did not know who the fellow would talk to. Caution seemed the best path for now.

 

The weaves Tai'Dashan showed him for creating a stone wall and the dummies were relatively simple things but watching the making of them up close let him fully examine the how's of them and to fix them solidly in his mind. It would not do to bungle a weave as simple as these after attaining the silver sword pin.

 

"Now I want to go over a point that most men seem to miss. Just because you are under cover," Tai'Dashan motioned to the wall he had raised. "Does not mean that you cannot begin your weave before you can see your target."

 

The weave he began when Vykor took his place at the man's side crouched behind the low wall was similar to that of...well it looked like a combination of two weaves - the fireball most soldiers learned for combat and a ward that would make fire trap, though the combination of the two required a fair bit more skill and several more flows of Air. It was a tangled bit of weaving and he watched how it was done with an unblinking stare. After the Asha'man's demonstration of the effects, though the weave was apparently the secondary lesson to be learned here, he did his best to execute the weave as he had watched it being made.

 

He stood boldly and released the weave toward another of the stone dummies. An ear deafening boom rattled his teeth and the concussion of it staggered him, but that was the extent of the effect that he could see as the stone dummy stood untouched in the open training area.

 

Embarrassment and anger at himself heated his face as the Asha'man just looked at him and without another word Vykor hunkered down to being weaving the combination of flows once more. Earth, Fire, and Air followed by Spirit and more strands of Fire. He tried not to look over at the other man as he worked, but he found his eyes shifting over to Tai'Dashan as he neared completion of the weaving, trying to see if the other man's face would hold any indication as to whether he had placed the flows correctly or not. The Asha'man's face was unreadable, so he had no choice but to stand and release his weave.

 

It worked, though his aim was off and strange bolt of fire bore into the ground at the base of the dummy he had selected upon standing. The small explosion carved out a small divot in the ground and chewed a section from the dummies base, but that was it. Success in a minor part, but careful aiming would have to be worked upon.

 

Over and over again, he made the destructive weave behind the cover of the stone wall and loosed it upon the silently standing stone constructs when he stood. With each new attempt, his confidence grew and therefore he was able to form the weave more swiftly, but it would take more practice still before he felt confident in using it in a real combat situation. His aim might have been better had he done as Tai'Dashan and made the gesture with his hands, but he tried to steer clear of gesturing when weaving the One Power. He had seen several different people making the same weaves before, some with the gesture and others without depending upon how he had learned it, but Vykor had seen no other difference in the flows or effect, but the fellows that made a gesture while weaving could not seem to complete those weaves unless they also made the same gesture.

 

When the supply of dummies was exhausted he made new ones and continued to systematically destroy them.

 

[TaiDashan]

The Dedicated attempted the weave under Tai's eye and released it only to produce a resounding boom that the Creator himself must have heard. He had not fully expected the man to weave as well as he had.

 

He glanced down and noticed his coat had gotten dusty, Arai would- His throat constricted. Aria would do nothing, she was dead. The taste of leaden ashes filled his mouth, and his shoulders sagged. The light of his life had gone out. He felt as if he were drowning in the absence of that light. His chest tightened and he cursed himself for a fool. He had a duty to the man next to him, he had a duty to the Tower, to the Dragon Reborn himself! He would fight the Shadow that threatened to swallow him. He would forge himself in the flames of his grief and the power of Saidin. He would be strong enough.

 

He had not released Saidin, and the force of the One Power combined with his pain, begged for destruction. Chaos voiced his own twisted version of pain for Aria's death.

 

~Rend the Earth! Call down the Lightning! Kill them all. Kill them ALL! Turn their blood to molten flame!~ Chaos broke off in fits of mad glee, cackling darkly in the back of his mind. Tai realized he had stood suddenly in response to the inner struggle, heedless of what was going on around him.

 

A moment too late he attempted a to duck behind the protective wall. A shard of stone, longer than a hand long and sharply pointed at both ends, flew from the explosive weave Vykor had released. With a sickening sound, the shard buried itself halfway into his right shoulder. The impact spun him and he landed on that shoulder, sending a burst of white-hot agony through his body. He braced himself with his left hand so as not to fall on the shard driving it deeper. His breath gasped into the cold dirt below him.

 

"Bloody fool!" He cursed himself, he hoped the Dedicated did not take Tai to mean him. Vykor had squatted over him, delving him without asking. Good, instinct had thrown caution out the window. In battle if you stopped to ask if someone wanted to be healed, they might be dead before they could answer. Finding that the shard had stopped once it struck the shoulder blade, Vykor rolled Tai on his back. He glanced at Tai briefly, pursing his lips before speaking.

 

"Sir, this is going to hurt." Was all he said. Grasping the wrist thick shard firmly, he gave it a yank. With a wet sucking noise the shard came free. Immediately Vykor started to weave while holding the wound closed with his hand to staunch the flow of blood. For once Tai half wished that he had learned the weaves without the gestures. Well, he would have thought this had the healing weave not taken all thought from him. Bone deep cold shot through his body and dimly he was aware of himself straining up on his heels and shoulders, his back arched towards the heavens. Collapsing back to the Earth, he lay there shivering and gasping for air.

 

Vykor crouched by his side for a moment, saying nothing. In a moment of panic, Tai reached for the Source. If he had lost it, lost the one reason to go on living... With a sigh he felt the Power run through him briefly before letting it go. So he had not lost the ability to Channel when he had lost the Void. Weakly Tai attempted to sit up. It was not easy but he made it to a sitting position.

 

"Help me up Vykor, and thank you. My head just does not seem to be in it today." He clasped the man's hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "I need to go to the Inn for something warm to drink and a bite to eat to restore my eneregy. Clear the grounds and meet me at the infirmary. We will practice something slightly less dangerous for an absentminded fool like myself." Without turning to see if he was obeyed, he made his way to the Inn.

[Kalthandrix]

Vykor was visibly shaken when he helped Tai'Dashan to his feet but he tried to school his features as best he could. His chagrin at not weaving an air shield was evident; he should have down it but had relied upon the cover at the stone wall to avoid harm but that alone did not assure safety.

 

When the Asha'man left, Vykor vented his embarrassment upon the stone wall and the earthen practice field. With an air shield almost completely wrapped around himself, he unleashed one destructive weave after another to shatter stone and crack earth until all evidence of the wall and dummies had been reduced to little more than slag. He felt calmer, but no less guilty for having forgotten one of the basics of combat channeling.

 

With several more flows of Earth woven into the ground itself, he churned the practice yard more thoroughly then a plow ever could and then tramped it down into a hardpack with weaved of air that he laid about with like a hammer. He was breathing hard when he finally finished, but still felt relatively strong.

 

The walk to the Inn was a time he was able to fully calm himself by feeding the flow of emotions and random thought into the Flame of the Void, so that when he entered and caught sight of Tai'Dashan sitting at a table, he was composed again.

 

He approached the other man and gave him a salute, fist to heart, as he said, "The practice field is cleared and in order once more, Asha'man. Are you feeling any better?"