Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The Thief and the Fox (1x1 Closed RP)

Kitsu's attack apparently had no effect meaning it was up to trusty old steel to solve the problem. Ophelia lost her balance, however, as the ground shook and the rock knocked her clean off her feet. Her satchel opened and the tiara flew out, landing off to the side of the road just a few feet away from her. She quickly picked it up and noticed a strange pulse of energy emitted from the tiara. The diamonds along the metal band, even though they were clear, let out a radiant purple glow that seemed to draw its power from the magic around them.

Curious, Ophelia faced the man and put on the tiara. Again, the colors appeared over the people around her. Kitsu, was a more bright yellow and the man a deep, blood red that emitted a black aura. Other than that, she wasn't sure what to do now other than help with what she can. This helps a lot, she thought sarcastically, as she charged at the man with her blade raised.

The man raised a brow in interest, seeing her put the tiara on. And he smirked. "Would you like to look pretty, before you die?" he jested, before raising his hand to cast another set of fire spells at her.

Kitsu sat up slowly, looking to Ophelia as she charged. She was trying to catch her breath, but at the same time, she was trying to tell the girl to stop; that she was going to get hurt. But, she hadn't seen Ophelia place the Tiara on her head.

There were few things scarier than having a mage point a spell at you at near point-blank range. Perhaps staring down a loaded cannon or, hell, maybe the throat of a giant troll. All that was on her mind, at that moment, was to stop him before he incinerated her. Ophelia had to close the distance fast.

She didn't notice how the tiara gave a faint glow that encompassed her body. Almost as if granting her wish, her legs gained a boost of speed that she had never experienced, putting her in attacking range right under the stranger's arm before she even realized it. The surge of energy then transferred up her torso, up her arms and ending at the blade in her hand, making it impossibly light in her hand as she twirled it around her fingers and finished with an upward slash aiming for the man's elbow.

He had been so sure that he was about to finish her off. So sure, that he hadn't realized the boost of speed she had gained, and how she was now right under him, raising her blade at his arm. And it was far too late for him to counter, or to even cast a spell to teleport him somewhere safer. All he could do was let the blade slice upward.

The pain wasn't even immediate. He saw his arm lying on the ground before he had even felt it gone. What had happened? What had gone wrong? If it had been something caused by the gem, he would have sensed it. But here he was now... one arm less.

"You bitch!" he held, sending a pulse of energy from his body to knock her back. Once safe, he would disappear into a burst of green flames, along with the arm lying on the ground.

When the blade connected it cleaved so easily it felt like Ophelia hadn't even struck anything. But the arm came off! She was sure she would've hit bone from that angle but she felt nothing.
Before she could follow up, though, she was hit with a powerful blast. The blast of energy was enough to force the thief to roll backwards, knocking the tiara off her head and sending her into a daze. By the time she had gotten up, the man was gone with the blood on her face the only sign that anything had even happened. She looked around and found Kitsu still on the ground but opted to stuff the tiara back in her bag first before helping the other up.

"That wasn't so bad, huh?" Ophelia said with a nervous laugh, "Easy as pie. C'mon now, up you go. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Kitsu looked to Ophelia, tears almost welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry! I wasn't very much help at all!" She shook her head, and stood up quickly with help, the gem hovering above her hand and still glowing. Then she lunged forward, hugging the female around the neck.

She was fine, and wasn't at all worried about it. She hoped that Ophelia was alright though. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" she asked. "You were so brave!" The gem was rotating around them now, since Kitsu's hands were occupied with hugging Ophelia.

"Oh come now, don't be like that. You saved my skin so-" Ophelia said but was interrupted when the girl suddenly hugged her. "Alright, alright!" she said laughing, "It was nothing... nothing at all I just..."

Ophelia sighed, rubbing the girl's back and accepting the affection. "Whatever happened there was nothing. You, however, have a lot of explaining to do." She separated herself from Kitsu and dusted herself off and rested her hands on her hips. "That, and I need to find that damned horse again," She grumbled, then noticed the orb floating around them and she looked back at the other girl. "So, who was that man. He seemed to know quite a bit about you. And more importantly what is that... that gem of yours doing? I've never seen jewelry fly around like that."

"Ooooh--" Kitsu said, when Ophelia mentioned explaining things to her. That was going to be very difficult. So, she decided to start with the basics. "Well, I don't know who that man was, to be honest. I have never seen him before in my life. But, he knew about this gem... and he knows quite a bit of magic. So he might have known Fallon and his grandfather." She pulled away from Ophelia then, realizing that she was still hugging her.

"As for the gem... I didn't know what it was when I found it, but he made it sound as if it contained... souls or something. So, perhaps it is a vessel?" That seemed to make sense. She held out her hand and the gem fell into it, seemingly lifeless once again. "Ah, I have to keep it with me though. It supplies my magical abilities."

"Well, supplying your magic or whatever you mages say it does, I don't want anything to do with it if it's thinking about taking my soul. Or whatever. But hopefully that's the last we see of what's-his-face. Didn't seem too happy when I lopped off his arm, that's for sure," the thief said, feeling a bit proud of herself for scaring off a magic user.

Ophelia turned back towards the way they came and motioned Kitsu to follow her. "We gotta go get my horse back, though. Sure I may be able to get another one but that one has all my silk and stuff with it."

She grumbled to herself and looked back at the other girl, "This Fallon guy, he better be worth the effort."

"Oh, yes, indeed," she replied, though it wasn't apparent to which of Ophelia's comments she was referring to. She followed behind the girl, a little glad that she hadn't probed more into what was happening. And because of that, she gave a sigh of relief.

"Hopefully it didn't run too far," she said, after a few minutes of walking and looking around them. She gripped the gem tightly against her body, no longer having a string to tie it to. And after a while, she found that a good spot to place it would be down the front of her robes.

"Yeah... hopefully..." Ophelia replied, noting how dark it was starting to get. The sun was already beginning to set when she answered but it was practically dark as night since they were wandering further into the forest. The tracks became harder to see but luckily the horse hit a snag along the way, leaving a faint trail of glowing tree sap from one of the reserve packs that were strapped to its saddle.

"How far did this damned horse run off to? He never runs this far off normally... Ugh. It's too dark to see." She stopped abruptly as they entered a small clearing and turned back to see if Kitsu had managed to keep up. "Want to keep searching or just set up camp here for the night? The longer we wait, though the harder it'll be to find the horse tomorrow. Though it's almost impossible to follow save for the fresh trail he's left us right now."

Kitsu was keeping up rather well, looking out around them to see what might be around them. She nearly ran into Ophelia when she stopped abruptly, but looked to the girl as she spoke. She thought for a moment, before giving a little nod. "I think we should keep going. That makes the most sense. Unless you are tired and wish to stop."

And then she remembered the fight they had just been in, and she questioned something she had nearly forgotten about. "What was with that headpiece you had? I thought I saw it glowing, or something."

She shook her head. "I've spent half my life wandering these lands. To say I'm exhausted from a walk would be embarrassing. I was just asking for your sake. Alright, we'll keep going, just let me know when you want to stop. That horse... really shouldn't have gone this far unless something coaxed him to keep running."

When the fight was brought up again she paused. Honestly, she didn't know what to make of it either. "That's... well I'm just going to be honest with you here: you should know me by now.I stole it. Displayed in a simple jewelry shop, it was. No big deal. Was the most valuable thing there so... I took it just like that. Now all that glowing, well. I'm not sure. Did it have to do with the tiara? I don't know. But! When we go to the college, they'd probably have an answer so not only do we get to see this Fallon guy, I'll get some questions answered as well." Ophelia didn't show it but she was just as curious as Kitsu was about the headpiece. That amazing burst of power during the fight, it all felt so... good. Was it somehow related to the tiara? If it was, she had to figure out how to harness it.

She continued following the spots of glowing sap back until they were forced to cross a stream. to the other side. "Ugh, really. He could've at least crossed a bridge..." She continued to grumble to herself as she took off her shoes to cross the swift stream. By then, it was pitch black. The only real thing she could see was the occasional spot of sap in the distance. The soft roar of the stream and the occasional crunch of a twig was all she could hear. It was as if the forest around them was watching.

As they walked, Kitsu couldn't help but feel the same feeling of being watched. And the idea of the evil witch's ghost wandering the forest came to her mind again. She held her breath for a moment, making sure to catch up with Opheila. When she stopped to cross the water, Kitsu paused, frowning. She didn't want to cross the water, but what choice did she have really. If they wanted to find the horse, it was what they had to do.

She plucked off her shoes, and followed behind Ophelia, keeping her eyes out for the glowing sap.

They continued along the trail of markings, the forest growing more and more silent as they traversed deeper into the darkness. What seemed like an hour of walking, however, there came a soft rushing sound in the distance. Maybe it was a waterfall? Ophelia thought, there's supposed to be only one river cutting through the forest. She bolted ahead of Kitsu to reach the clearing but as she reached the waters edge, she stopped, perplexed at the sight before her: a swift stream and familiar splatters of sap on either side of the body of water.

"Impossible... unless the horse has us running around in circles... but we should've crossed the stream at least one more time... unless..." She shook off the notion. "Forget it. Kitsu, got a light? We'll look for the hrose tomorrow. I don't feel good about this place and want to leave immediately."

Kitsu tried to keep up, but when Ophelia stopped, she stood, looking around. This was the exact same place. But even if the horse had brought them in circles... wouldn't there be more sap as well?

"Oh, yes," Kitsu said, when she was asked if she had a light. She took the gem from her cleavage, and held it out, the gem beginning to glow brightly again, giving them enough light to see a good few meters ahead.

Ophelia felt a bit better when she saw the soft glow of the gem. "Okay. No big deal. So long as we follow the water upstream we'll be fine-" Her face grew pale as the glowing orb illuminated the area around them. Standing right behind Kitsu was a body with a face. At least she thought it was standing. The body was just one thin column of shadow standing twice as tall as Kitsu. The face was that of a decrepit woman, its skin warped around in a way that forced the face into an unnatural grin. The face stared lifelessly at the glowing gem and for a moment Ophelia thought her eyes was just playing a trick on her, that is, until the eyes quickly shifted towards the thief, its grin growing more demonic before literally disappearing into the shadows, being replaced by the bent edge of a tree branch.

"I...I-" Ophelia pointed up at the branch but the face was long gone by that time. Unbeknownst to the thief the being was still around, drawn by the magic of the gem, it now circled the forest floor around their immediate vicinity, appearing as nothing more than a decrepit head tailed by the shadow of what looked like rags of a body.

Kitsu wasn't sure what Ophelia was trying to get at. She was stuttering, so it was really hard to tell what she was attempting to get across to her. She looked at her for a long moment, and turned to see where she had been pointing, but saw nothing there.

The orb in her hand, began to pulse, as if feeling the danger near. And that may have distracted her from the ghostly figure circling them, if she hadn't had low light vision hadn't allowed her to see the spectral the moment she turned back to Ophelia.

"Uh... Uh... Ahh!" Kitsu yelled, the orb extinguishing as she she took off into the woods.

When Kitsu screamed, the ghost responded with a blood curdling screech before taking off after Kitsu. As it passed over Ophelia, she felt a chill that rattled her bones followed by darkness as Kitsu's orb lost its glow. "Kitsu!" she called, taking off in the direction she last saw them run off. Everything was pitch black and she literally had to feel her way through the forest just to try to keep up with the fading voices

The ghost laughed loudly as it chased the girl yet despite its loud cackling, it sent out clear whispers to her, calling for her and the orb.

"That power," she said, "Must... have... Turn around little girl. I'm right behind you. Right behind you. Right behind you." The forest around Kitsu warped and the glowing sap was visible in the distance, followed by the stream again. "Give me... that ORB."

"Oh... No!" Kitsu yelled, tears starting to stream down her face as she heard the whispers and the laughing. She clung to the orb even tighter, as if the ghost was so close she could just take it. "Go away! You can't have it!"

She managed to jump over some foliage in the dark light, her agility truly showing at this moment in time. She was doing her best to keep as far of a distance as she could, and she wasn't showing any signs of stopping. But the stream had come again, and here she was confused, but not slowing down.

Instead of stopping and swimming across the stream, she turned, and ran down its length, not quite sure what was happening.