The land of sand *

Among the various secrets of this world existed such a creature, Onikonjou by nature, referred to as a Sand Gargwin that roamed the lands of the desert shrouded by dark myth and lore.

Unnoticed in the mid distance towards the west a scene would play out that should be effective enough to catch Deus’s attention. There is an explosion of sand that sends a column of sand into the air. From the lifted sand emerged a large creature wielding multiple weapons in many hands. This creature stood at least twenty feet in the air towering above a smaller figure that was of an aged woman in a rustic colorful flowing ruffled dressed. The woman’s hair would be wrapped in a veil of various colors consisting of gold and purple. Clusters of metallic bangles would adorn her wrists with layered beaded necklaces wrapped about her neck and a row of jewels arching along parallel her eyebrows on her forehead. There would be a dark aura of energy around this woman as he body slide back inches above the desert sand in retreat from the large monster. It would be around that time that the creature noticed Deus in the distance, but would regard his presence as if he were on squirrel or something to that effect. Returning his attention to the old woman who seemed much like a traditional gypsy, the creature would draw an arrow within its bow back with two of its arms and take aim before firing the forced projectile at the woman. The gypsy woman sung as she lifted a hand in a dance like gesture and a lion of sand and darkness leapt from the earth below and absorbed the arrow before falling into the sand and vanishing.

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Though she seemed to be holding her own against the larger creature, the woman was being steadily pushed back. After the first arrow, one of the creature’s swords slashes, sending a wave of sonic force towards the woman. He twirls, lifting her arms above her head with her song as she presses her palms out in front of her creating a barrier to block the force of the attack. The force of the attack lifts an explosion of sand and pushes her back some, causing her to slide away from the attack yet again. Her attention is garnered as she views Deus from the corner of her eye. She almost calls out to him to watch out and not be foolish enough to enter such a dangerous fight. To her surprised, Deus is able to project some type of magic to the beast, catching it off guard. The beast halts in his assault for the time being as it looks over his body, noting the magic that was affecting his skin before looking up and seeing Deus. The beast’s powerful aura combats against the spell, but since Deus had targeted him, he begins to bound in the male dark mage’s direction with weapons raised. The older woman calls out to Deus, “Watch out! Flee from here, you fool!”

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In reality, things wouldn’t progress as the dark mage had imagined them to, as surely such a large creature as that would have an aegis stat, the thing that breaks binds, of low or greater. The oppressor’s gaze would not have the power needed to perform such an action being a low level bind; the creature would have magic defenses of strong allowing him to easily break such a bind even if a minimal stun was affected onto him. Fortunately for the novice magician, he had help; the older woman would be able to fore see the attack’s affect as a mage of higher caliber. Though she stretches her energy out to him, she does acknowledge the confidence, courage and potential that Deus possessed. Using her magical strength, she intensifies his bind and combines it with one of her own for a temporary collaborative technique. This is the technique that performs the actions as previously described.

Having fallen to the ground, the creature would begin to get a hold of itself after the effects of the spell. Due to the fact that the spell wasn’t a mode type, the effects wouldn’t linger on it past its initial casting. But since it was down and recomposing, the older female mage would be able to cast a greater spell now given the time to perform its incantation. Spinning in a song, she stretches out her arms and then finishes with a pose as the channeling is completed and from an aerial view it would look almost as if the desert sand under the large creature grew eyes and a jagged mouth. The sand and void based area of effect spell would create a large ‘mummy’s face’ that would pull violently and roar out of the sand beneath the multi armed creature. Its massive mouth would open and engulf the large many armed creature, pulling him into the deep desert abyss and trapping him into another realm beneath the sand’s surface.

After a moment, the sand would smooth out and it would be left as if nothing were there. A bit winded from the technique, the older woman takes a moment to catch her breath and smooth out her dress. Her body flickers and she teleports in a flash of darkness to the area right in front of the frightful looking male. She scolds him, “you are a mage, did you not know the strength of your own spell? You acted as if its strength was not that of an acolyte!”

418 / 1003

The woman seems dissatisfied with the answer, questioning, “that may be so if the opponent could see the technique…” From his first few words, she is able to gauge a bit into his personality to see what interacting with him would be like. She was weary of this stranger in his intent on assisting her, but was put at ease by her ability to feel his current abilities. When he asked her to move with him, she gives him an odd look and informs, “I do not have the leisure of time to rest in the middle of the desert.” After he stopped to see if she were following, she would reluctantly oblige, curious as to what he wanted. After reaching him and the question comes, she understands the question and treats it as if it were petty, answering in the tone of a sage while readjusting the veil like length of cloth that tied around her hair atop her head, “I am a mage of many facets. Darkness is but one of the elements that I control. I assume you ask this because you are studying the dark arts?” The longer she stood outside of battle, the more fair and vibrant her skin became, almost as if she were getting younger before his eyes. Now closer, there would be an odd semi circular symbol near her collarbone, but it would be half covered by the top portion of her garments.

256 / 1259

The womanly sage would return, “the grass is always greener on the other side. One look at you tells me you’re from that other side looking at a place I’ve called home since The Dawning. There’s nothing more to see and appreciated that I haven’t since my existence formed consciousness.” She continues, now with her anti aging stopping around the age of 25 years as she comments, “idling about is the practice of the lazy. It’s an excuse to be less efficient than you possibly can be. Progression comes though work and practice, not break. As you say, time continue to flow it’s course, so when you’ve missed a span of time in an idle stupor, you forever miss the opportunity to be productive in that time. As something that can be done passively while performing another thing, I can enjoy my surroundings in movement or performing of my next task. Perhaps the difference between my growth in the magical arts and yours is our difference in how time is regarded.” She concludes, “but I do believe I would like to speak with you more… something that can be done on the way back to my village where I have purpose. There is nothing around you for many miles, save for bandits, beasts and traps. The closest village would be mien. I have no idea why you have come to this area on your own accord, but I will offer for you to come with me to my village. Will you come or stay?”

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386 / 1923
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