Influx please and thanks. Jace approached the fetal body. its frail appearance not aided by the ragged and faint breaths that were better seen in the grass than heard. He held his right hand over the boy's back, his left at his side, extending his thumb and last two fingers. An ethereal glow enveloped his body, an outline like that of an aurora. The film increased in size and density towards his right hand, at the epicenter of his palm a steady stream freely flowed into the boy, seemingly clinging to his armor and disappearing within. As the aura persisted Jace felt as if fire coursed through his veins, the strength of the energy he wielded rapidly growing to the upper limits his body could contain.
Cool it down there, are you trying to kill me!? The burn remained, yet Jace noted grudgingly that the level also stayed. God, that wouldn't have been pretty... The thought of his own body vaporizing, exploding, disappearing... No, the task at hand is what matters. He focused on pouring the remaining light into the boy's body. Already the veil had grown considerable feint, and his breathing had nearly returned to not-concerning.
His breathing stabilized, its vigor having been restored, and with the final remnants of energy dispelled, Jace dropped his arm and stood up, scanning the surroundings for clues as to what transpired. "Well, what have we here?" He muttered and walked to the clutter of felled trees, freshly cut and from a sharp, singular swing. A sword slash maybe? Could be a Mortria Whiptail too... Oh?
He crouched near a sparse collection of bony thorns within the grass, a few feet away lay a puddle of blood, again with the spikes around it. So, a... Well, fuck. Any insight? Jace got nothing, without that body he wouldn't be getting any answers. Damnit, Merise, what in the fuck are you up to? Even with nearly an hour of searching, there was nothing to indicate a body, just spatterings of blood, much of which matched the crusted blotches on the boy's cracked leather armor, he was injured before this poisoning.
A loud cough shook Jace from his search, the boy was awake.
"Ah good afternoon! You've finally woken up, it's good you are still alive, that vile witch of a woman has killed lots of people like you ya know?" Jace crouched in front of the weary boy, his eyes were fogged, and his brain had yet to catch up with his body.
"D-don't get any closer! Who the hell are you!" He quickly snapped awake and scrambled backward, grasping at his sword handle, still on the grass beside him, and pointing it towards Jace.
Ah, there it is. You know, I really should be getting a raise. Jace inwardly smiled and put his hands up, showing he had no ill intentions. "I'm Jace, the one who dispatched that band of false Adventurers who were planning on killing you." He gestured to the canvas-covered pile behind him. "I have no plans to hurt you, hell, I was going to escort you back to Rueka, I'm heading there myself!" The boy eyed him with heavy skepticism, which vanished with no warning moments later.
"I'm... I'm Nell, it'd be great if you would, I'm still rather weak, but I thank you for dealing with those assholes, who even are they?" His guard dropped, Nell lowered his sword and relaxed his stance, leaning against a tree for support.
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Strange, but the less fighting the better... I thought you gave me an Influx. Why's he still weak? Again Jace received an unclear answer, sighing to himself he returned his focus to Nell. "Well, I'm not sure, but they've been causing the Hunters a lot of trouble."
"Huh, I guess I should've been more careful, but that damn Pixon caught me off guard."
Huh, Pixon? "What do you mean Pixon?" That's way too much damage for a Pixon.
"They were setting up camp, and a Pixon attacked, but it wasn't quite a Pixon, it's hard to say, like, the size and shape was right, but the appearance and behavior wasn't"
"Well, what was it like then? Wait... Those bone spikes, were they covering it?" Jace's face paled ever so slightly, his fists clenched.
"Well, yeah, and it was way too aggressive, those thorns though, they were a bi..." Jace didn't hear the rest of the boy's speech, his thoughts were sent sprawling around in light of those words. Fuck.
"We need to get moving, now, grab onto my arm." Jace reached towards Nell.
"Wait, what?"
"Grab on." The boy gingerly reached out, grabbing around Jace's wrist. "Now, don't throw up." Jace manifested a prismatic cylinder, crushing it produced a massive burst of light, no. It was more like the world simply turned white, then back to woods seconds later, just not the woods from earlier. The duos' boots struck stone, a large slate covered in moss stood around them, and in front, a large stone construct, the wall of Rueka.
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Nell was sent ahead, he was ushered towards the gate by Jace, who up and vanished once it was in sight. What a weirdo, but still, that damned pendant. He remembered that shape vividly, A dark grey metal circle, with a smaller half circle on one end and a triangle on the other having been cut out. Why the Hell does he have one? He trudged back through the streets, rounding the slight turn to the branch building, pushing open the doors, and again seeing Ava behind the counter.
"Oh, you're back already? I thought it was supposed to be a few days, not a night." She looked surprised, the necklace she wore caught his eye, as it usually did.
"Yeah, turns out, those rat bastards tried to kill me. I fended off a weird Pixon, then they up and poisoned me for no damn reason." He sighed, this was the first time he could remember coming back after nearly dying and not looking the part.
"Well, how the hell did you get back alright? What happened to them? Are you okay?" She looked concerned now, again that necklace caught his eye, almost overriding his response to her flurry of questions.
"Yeah yeah, relax, I'm fine, okay? Some dude came out of nowhere and got rid of them, then he used a relic to get back to the wall and left." Nell shook his focus from the pendant, he could ask later, right now he just wanted to rest. "Is that all? I need to sit, it's been a rough few hours."
"Who was it, did you get their name?" Ava ignored the last piece. Nell just sighed, he knew it was pointless to complain, but still.
"He said it was Jace, he said he was coming here anyways as well, why, want to add another powerhouse to the branches roster?" He couldn't help but throw in that half-hearted jab in the end, making his way to the room he called his own.
"Oh." Her normally quick-fired response was absent, and that didn't sit right with Nell in the slightest. He turned to see if she was fine.
"Are you oka-" His question died in his throat, that man, Jace, was standing in the doorway, walking briskly to the desk. Small world... He refocused on Ava, her expression was of stone, impossible to read, she stared at the man's face silently.
"I need to speak with Tariah, it is urgent, very urgent."
"He's not here, I'm his temp, what's the issue?" Ava's facade didn't budge, her response was measured, cold, absent.
"Oh, well, that's fine I suppose, ah! It's you!" Jace caught sight of Nell at last, flashing a quick grin and then returning to his conversation. "Might we all go into the main office? This is a bit too, important, to be spoken out here. It's about the Wesnile Protocol." Nell didn't think Ava could react to anything right now, but those words cracked that unnatural calm. It was her eyes. It was fear.