Back where I came from (Open)

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Mordecai had finally gathered up enough nerve to visit the Nova military he was once a part of He kept his distance making sure he wasn't really noticed much, as he sat and leaned on a wall with his eyes closed still slightly hidden. Mordecai simply listened to the sound of clashing metal it seemed calming and somehow made him feel at piece as he took deep breaths in and out while lost in thought of his gdays as a general and the sound of metal clashing he dozed off right there with a blissful look on his face. The sound of a one on one battle had a calming thing about it as he could almost time each collision like a dancer could time each kick and snare of the beat when everyone else seemed to just follow the song.

It was steady and as he slept he forgot he was hiding , he wasn't sure if he snored or not but he was surely knocked out. He had never fallen a sleep during this time of day and was hoping the person who left their dagger and boots near his hiding spot would forget their gear or fetch it tomorrow. When the fight seemed to speed up it was evident new fighters had began sparing , the sudden change of sound woke Mordecai it was obvious this fight was a sword against another type of weapon and judging from the loud impact it was something heavy like a mace or hammer against a sword, although Mordecai was still sleepy he didn't have the strength to go back to his house and sleep so he dozed off once more in the same spot listening to this fight.

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The guards don’t take much note of the man at first. However, eventually one sees him and then realizes he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular. Was he for anyone? No one seemed to know who he was. Was he here to recruit? It seemed as though he was more interested in sleep. Perhaps he was Fated? It would certain explain the strange appearance.

It’s really his appearance that has Ilta curious. Metal arms. She could change her flesh into stone itself. However, it was a full body transformation. She couldn’t change only a hand or something. In addition, she never managed the same feat with metal. Lastly, the only people she knew who were able to do that were close family members. Even Roland seemed to think her brand of Earth magic was somewhat unique, and she figured he had seen quite a bit of magic.

Family… she was in the past. There was the faint chance she could run into one of her ancestors. She did not know if they were in the city of beyond Heavens Pass at this point in history. However, he didn’t look so much like a dragonion or kray or ku deyu. In fact, he looked more like a stone statue than anything else.

She walks over and squats next to the sleeping individual. “Excuse me. What’s your name?” She’s not sure how she would react if he said he was from the Kveld clan except with a lot of swearing.

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The sound of metal clashing began to slow down as more and more people noticed him but he was already too deep in his sleep to notice the change, His mind kept the battle going on even after it had long ended. He was more or less unaware of what anything around him, Suddenly a voice echoed while he was asleep that caused him to wake up, the voice had a rather odd question as Mordecai's eyes began to slowly open.

The image of a woman infront of him gave him a slight shock causing him to hit the wall he hid behind with his head and made a small hole. Mordecai rubbed his eyes before giving her a slightly confused look even without pupils it was still quite visible on his face. it must have been her voice that woke him up but the confusing part of the whole thing was the question she asked, Mordecai rubed his eyes before answering "Yes, I do think trolls are lame. I'd assume almost everyone does but no one would tell a canibal that its lame. That's a rather odd question to wake me up for you know?" the dream Mordecai was in slightly distorted his hearing but he wasn't aware of it in the least.

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The man’s plain white eyes has Ilta wondering even more if he isn’t some strange living statue. Evidently, those existed in this world. Yet, she didn’t think statues would need to sleep. However, admittedly, she didn’t know much about that brand of magic. Maybe he belonged to Roland. A humanoid statue would probably be better suited to filling out paperwork.

She cocks her head to the side as the man responds to her. “Trolls?” Was she losing her grip on the Novian tongue? Damned language, it was literally backwards. She makes an effort to pronounce each word. “I was asking for your name. I’ve never personally seen a troll to know if they are lame or not.”

With another loud clash of blades, she looks back to the grounds. “How did you even manage to fall asleep here of all places?” Today was louder than usual with all the sparring. It was times like these that she was thankful for a home out in the farmlands. Nice and quiet.

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Mordecai let out a laugh when she explained, when she repeated the question it made a lot more sense Take my word for it, Trolls are rather lame ... And my name is Mordecai , what would yours be?? he figured it was safe to tell her his name since he was fairly sure she wasn't in the military back when he was general M.O He noticed she found his eyes rather odd but then again it was completely normal for that to happen. What he was confused about was why she was here. If he wasn't mistaken, her type would most likely be up heavens pass right? He shook off the thought.

The loud clash of metal was back, this clash sounded as if one of them was going for a finishing blow. Mordecai looked towards the two people sparring with a chuckle as he shook his head slightly you don't swing like that unless you're sure you have an opening. After a block like that from him your at a large dissadvantage! he face palmed and although it looked like he over reacted he could see the other fighter didn't have enough space to use his swords forte and had to constatly parry now instead of being on the offense. and the other fighter had so much space that he could switch stances and swing or thrust from any direction he pleased, not many people noticed the subtle switch of power but it was there and would switch the direction of the whole fight in time. He turned back to the female he had been speaking to " Parden my loud tone , I just get caught up in things like this since I've seen a lot of fights end like that one right there...It was actually easy to fall asleep here, back when I was normal I spent most of my time here drawing up battle schematics and I would fall asleep here very freaquently. The sound of battle became a lulluby so to speak . By the way, What clan are you from?"

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The man seems surprisingly good humored. Most would be upset with Ilta randomly walking them up. The laugh puts her at ease a bit. Maybe he wasn’t a living statue. Unless they slept and had a sense of humor. He only gives her a first name unfortunately. “I’ll take your word for it about the trolls. Mine’s Ilta.”

She watches the fighters as Mordecai yells at them. One fighter did clearly have the advantage over the other, but they were all new. She grew up with swords, and it was clearly not every recruit had ever handled one before. She shakes her head as he apologizes. “Don’t worry about it. The’re new. Some are from other worlds and haven’t held a sword before.” She shrugs, “But it’s better than it was yesterday at least.” Everyday, people seemed to improve. However, when you did nothing but practice, you damn well get better at it.

Ilta looks at him curiously. When he was normal… so what was he before and what was he now? “My clan name is Kveld. Actually, that’s the question I met to ask you.” She points at his arm, “I haven’t run into many Earth mages in the city.”

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Mordecai noticed her shaking her head and he gave out a slight chuckle, she must have noticed the misplaced attack and the shift of power in the battle as well which would make him assume she knew her way around a battlefield, of course this was just an assumption. It was more or less confirmed by her answer, as she told him they were new. He stopped in thought for a while before she told him her clan name. It wasn't new to him at all, infact he had heard quite a lot about her clan although he hardly got to see one and she was the first of the Kveld he got to conversate with.

When she asked him about his clan name he got to hesitate for a second or two. I can't use my clan name anymore since I am no longer a Kray warrior His head slightly dropped afterwards although his mood was lifted when she pointed at his arm assuming he was an earth mage, haha oh no, not even close. I am no earth mage , or any other type of mage I know little to nothing about magic. Although if you think you could teach me ,I'd be more than willing to learn. It seemed highly unlikely that a person could just be taught magic , didn't they have to have a natural gift for it first? But if there was a chance he figured why not. You can fight right? What say we have a little sparring match just for fun, If you can keep up they might pick up a few things. Zen his monkey companion wasn't around at the moment to protest against the idea anyway.

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So he was kray, but as far she could tell, he wasn’t a clanmate. That might have been too strange for her to handle anyways.  Ilta looks at him curiously. “Does one ever really stop being a kray warrior? It seems like something that seems built into who a person is.” Whether he looked it or not, that ancestry still coursed through his blood. Whether he admitted it or not, he probably still could fight like a warrior.

Magic did use to be a woman’s thing back then, didn’t it? It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the man was no mage. Still, his arms were peculiar. She smiles as he asks to be taught. “Sure, so long as you have the ability to perform magic. However, I should warn you the last time I attempted to teach someone, they blew up a sword and put a hole in the ground. I think he only caught on due to his own intelligence, not any instruction that I gave him.” How Roland managed to pick up breaking the sword and separating out impurities from the parts of steel was beyond her.

She gets up. “I’m up for sparring though. It’s better than the nothing I was doing earlier. Is there a weapon you prefer to use?”  He didn't seem to have one on him, but they had enough swords, spears, and such for her to supply with him.

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Her response sort of made sense, he didn't quite stop being a Kray in action unless provoked reguardless of how he looked " Well that is how I was raised." he noticed she assumed he was a mage because of his arms then again it was usual for people to be confused by them or try to buy his arms for some reason. He chuckled and looked at his arms before responding. " You can get a matching pair of arms if you die by having a hundred and something weapons pierce you. now that I think about it .... I don't exactly know what made me think I could take out a whole army unarmed,even though I killed quite a lot it was obvious I was done for. It still was quite a fun experience" he couldn't help but laugh because back then he actually thought he would win against the whole army.

Mordecai was glad she wouldn't mind teaching him but now all he had to figure out was if he had the potential to perform magic which was something he had no idea how to find out. Itla's story about her apprentice left him more curious,he began thinking of ways to find out if he had magic and was quite deep in thought until she asked about his weapon preferance. "I'm not supposed to use bladed weapons, so I'd be comfortable using my hands or a bo staff if you happen to have one laying around here" he got up from where he was sleeping and slightly stretched out "how about a Piggy back ride to the weapon's room??" he knew she was more than able to walk there and back but giving piggy back rides was fun, mostly on really long trips.

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Mordecai seemed to take such a gruesome event as being stabbed hundreds of time in stride. However, humor was a good way to cope with horrible experiences. Ilta’s left struggling between whether to believe him or not. Either way, it didn’t really explain the existence of the arms, and it was clear something magical beyond her understanding was at work there. “Pretty sure if I did something like that, I’d be dead in the Glade without two metal arms.”

Ilta raises an eyebrow, “Not supposed to? I’m not sure if we have any staffs in the armory. We can check though. But a brawl works for me if we end up forgoing weapons.” It seemed strange to use a sword against someone without one. As for the not being allowed one part, perhaps it was a stipulation by whomever gave him those metal arms. That seems like a rather strange agreement though.

She laughs at the suggestion of a piggyback ride. “I haven’t heard that phrase since I was a little girl!” Just how many people offer the six foot tall dragonion to ride on their back? “Naw, I’m fine. I can walk there.” She starts walking towards the barracks, expecting him to follow her. “So have you thought about joining the guard?”

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When Itla mentioned being dead in the glades without metal arms ,Mordecai laughed. He was hardly bothered by much at all really and hardly cared about anything including his own well being. haha You make death seem like such a bad thing...as someone who has been there and done that Death isn't really bad, People should fear pain in my opinion he gave a slight shrug and I'm not talking about that fake heart break people complain about. I mean physical pain. He gave a slight chuckle as the two that had been sparring finally tired out , This would give them quite a lot of space which was good.

Her statement about the piggy back actually made sense, she was quite a tall female infact he had hardly met any females that were built in that manner, though small and patite wouldn't really suit her in the least I guess I'm the odd bum that would be able to handle one on my back. Mordecai noticed she was curious about what he said about not being allowed a sword or any bladed weapon. He figured explaining would make it seem less like he was a junior warrior forced to use wooden swords during training, after being killed by a hundred and something bladed weapons I decided to avoid using one. he still had a careless expression on his face until she spoke about a brawl at which he raised an eyebrow,with strength that put a giant to shame would that be fair? He thought to himself in a slight silence Are you sure?? He followed her to the weapon room and noticed a spear that seemed to be made of reasonably strong wood. He picked It up and removed the head leaving it as a pretty good staff. This will do ,what will you be using?

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Ilta shakes her head as the man misunderstands her. “I suppose death isn’t a bad thing, but I still have another 400 years or so left to live. I’d kind of like to live that long. I wouldn’t say I fear death… I just don’t want to reach the end all too soon. In fact, I say I would fear never dying.” Everything should come to pass. To live and then die. What happened when creatures broke that cycle was truly terrifying. Being alone in the forest still put her on edge despite this world being free of Dusk. Her shoulder aches, and she rolls it back, attempting to stretch it out. “Physical pain is normally temporary. Besides, I can already say that I’ve felt worse.” Manna corruption wasn’t an experience she would curse on her worst enemy. Her memories of that were incredibly painful. The smell of blood still messed with her.

Ilta smiles as he asks if she is sure. “I don’t break easily.” She was good at taking a hit normally, and with her stoneskin spell, she could take a knockout punch and hardly feel it. However, there does seem to be his weapon of choice available. She points to the sword at her side when he asks what she would be using. “I already have my weapon of choice.”