Chapter 2 Gronaan
Like the finest bow, we were silent. Our prey was like a deer as the arrow loosed, frozen, a ripple through the air in time. Our best fighter is a Demon with sky-blue eyes and pitch-black hair, moved before the rest of us could track his movements. A fate was decided the second he became one with the wind, the first three guards still standing in their camp dead from the blades of wind that tore through them before they hit the ground. The sound of a body hitting the ground, no matter when or where you hear it is nothing you can be prepared for. the rest of us moved in time with the sound of the thud. Fillideshi soldiers aren't typically bound like you or I they have flexibility in the magics they can use, and the crunch of soil under the falling corpses was like a drum blasting the start of a fight. They moved in time with us, as a slaughter began.
Viceroy Mercer
Gronaan - Breeze 30
Gronaan found himself kicking around a small rock, guard duty has quickly become his least favorite thing ever. He was tasked with guarding a small warehouse at the docks. He found his mind wandering a bit as he watched the sun fall to the horizon. "Well, at least the view is fantastic," He found himself saying looking around at the other guards. The faces of the other guards looked about the same as his. Hours of taking note of nothing but the river and buildings across the water from him began to wear down his senses.
He glanced down at his pocket watch, gifted to him by his family at graduation, great two more hours of standing and patrolling the building until his break arrived. He could grab a bite to eat at the pub at the end of the docks, they had the best fish and chips he had eaten since arriving in the capital. Gronaan let his mind drift a bit more to the point where he could almost imagine the taste of the sweet breaded fish and soft-fried potatoes. A bead of drool formed on his bottom lip before he caught it and swallowed. His eyes shot to the other guards once again, they looked equally as miserable as him he thought, "The large man he went to the academy with from water, right, oh what was his name? Titan's Crash I do believe. Wait is he drooling?" Gronaan fought the urge to laugh at the sight of the behemoth half-elf.
Gronaan shifted his attentions out to the water beyond the doc as a rush of water pushed itself toward the dock like something was swimming through the water. "Strange, might as well take a closer look." His half asleep legs wobble a under him as he takes the first few steps off his post. Gronaan turns to Titan and says, "just gonna take a better look out on the water thought i saw something moving." Gronaan notes that Titan's eyes were half open and glazed over. "Big man is hell in a fight, but that's about all his brain is good at I guess." A chuckle began the rumble it's way into his throat but caught as odd shapes began lifting out of the water. Gronaan found the call for alarm racing through his mind, "Ge. . .," A flash of blinding light and ear rupturing noise cut Gronaan's voice short, and the world began to swim. His body began to convulse on the ground the pain of the electricity running through his body shutting down any thought that could have found it's way through his brain.
A darkness began to fall over his vision, and sound began to fill his ears again, as water dripped onto his face. "The big on must've been bound to water, he's fried, but this one'll live," a sharp raspy voice exclaimed. A deep male voice followed the statement, "Lets get in and out, remember the plan and don't let your guard down, these bastards are tougher than you would think."
Gronaan found his fingers being the first thing to regain feeling, and his ears filled with the sharp chittering of Avernous. "Your nervous chitters were so cute sometimes," Gronaan's thoughts mixed and jumbled stunned from the large explosion of electrical energy earlier, "Wait I'm in trouble, what's that fool Titan doing?" Gronaan's eyes shot open with a sharp inhale of of breath, had he been breathing? What happened?
The sound of several footsteps became clear to either side of him moving past him, and a deep voice called out," Hurry up we only have a few minutes before they get up!" Gronaan's eyes burned from the brightness of the sun over head. Avernous screamed in his head, "Get up!" Gronaan felt the call of the wind in his mind, backlash be damned. Backlash came from pulling on the element around one's self unfiltered through the bound elemental, it was able to create much more drastic power with less lag. His body lifted from the ground in the span of a heartbeat.
Gronaan's eyes were still adjusting to the scene in front of him, several people walked in front of him, backs turned to him, two guys cutting the locks on the doors of the warehouse. Titan laying on the ground, small lines of smoke lifting off his body, his bound laid out on the ground next to him both of them were breathing, "good". His body went into motion without him telling it what to do, three of the closest to him lifted several feel into the air with a quick scream. "Hold it!" Gronaan cried out. he could feel the air shift around him as someone behind him swung something blunt towards his head. a flick of the finger a blast of pain in his head from the back lash and the person flew several feet into a light post on the edge of the dock, his body falling limp to the ground with only a thud.
Gronaan's voice rang out with the force of a hurricane, "On the ground. The two men not in the air closest to him grabbed their ears and fell back blood dripping from under their hands. Four left that he could see. The three in the air began squirming and with a flick of an upraised finger Gronaan sent them crashing to the ground, squelching bodies and crunching stone filled the air, sound was nothing more than vibrations in the air. Two of the men laid down on the ground hands grasped behind their heads, but the final man spoke, "Get up fools," Gronaan listened as he berated the smarter men. "That deep voice, you must be in charge of these men, I heard you earlier barking orders. best follow the your men's actions."
Gronaan's eyes were so tired, and the feedback caused such a headache already. He must be pushing himself a little too hard. Within the blink he took, the air in front of him shifted. "Stupid." Gronaan pushed himself back one meter, and felt the air where he had been standing a moment earlier split, something sharp. His eyes came open to find the man wielding a large knife mid slash, a shocked look on his face. Gronaans head felt like it was going to explode as he pulled the air down in front of him crushing the man. he felt the breathe get pushed out of the mans lungs. "Stay down!"
The two men laying on the ground rushed to Gronaan a crowbar in one's hand, and a set of bolt cutters in the others, both swinging their weapons at him. The pillar of air crushing the man at his feet split in two. A slicing sound filled the air and Gronaan's vision swam with red as the two men charging him vanished from his vision, replaced by an odd red mist. The man on the ground pushed himself toward Gronaan. "That's futile you can't grab the wind," Gronaan let his mind and body react, feedback feeling like a spike being driven into his brain. He flew back, as something else joined the air, moisture. A spike of compressed water drove into the mans back as the knife in his hand flew at his face. "He must have thrown it?" The wind surrounding him stopped the knife dead in the air.
A blood curdling scream broke the serenity of the air, Titan's Crash stood in front of Gronaan his arm extended out impaling the bandit in front of him. Gronaan looked around at the scene of horror before him. and his voice joined the scream of the dying man at his feet. 'Seven men, I just killed seven men,' His thoughts raced and his vision blurred and the pressure of the feedback in his head rushed to his stomach. Gronaan found himself darting back to the pier, his mind racing faster than he could glean anything from. His breakfast didn't taste so good the second time around.