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Audra

“How-is-this-training-me!?” Audra screamed each word as the sword in Cabana’s hand rang against the shield.

“It’s called endurance fish girl.” Cabana stopped to think. “No still not good enough.” She said before continuing her assault on the shield above a crouching Audra. She felt like her arm was becoming more closely related to spaghetti.

When Cabana told her they were going to be going on a relaxing trip to the lake she didn’t have this in mind. She thought, relaxing talk on a boat, take in the surroundings. What Cabana was really talking about was staying on the shoreline and beating Audra’s shield arm until it was ready for pasta sauce and to be served on a plate.

“If you don’t like it then get me to stop!” Cabana yelled out kicking the front of the shield, sending Audra staggering back a few meters before falling on her ass and dropping the rapier, she had been given. Cabana began to walk towards her, a large smile on her face.

Audra reached into the depths of her body for that single tug of magic, she found it and pulled, quickly. Grabbing a large amount of water from the lake, behind Cabana, she pulled it into her side. Not expecting magic Cabana felt the full blast of water hit her side and knock her down. Audra took the opportunity to grab her weapon and stop the point just a few inches above the back of Cabana’s head.

“Were you really a Royal Knight?” Audra asked, breathing heavily from exertion, physically and magically. A gleam of joy came from Cabana’s eyes. Before Audra knew it Cabana had used her hands as a pivot and spun around kicking the blade out of her hands, kicking the front of her shield as she spun around, quickly coming to a stand catching Audra by her wrist and pulling the dragon into a side hug, as if she had been dancing with her. The tip of a dagger rested just a few inches from her face. Her heart jumped up to her throat her face and her ears grew hot.

“I always go easy on the new student.” She claimed letting her go. “Though I do hate getting my clothes wet, so you did piss me off a bit. You see that Vasuki? That’s how you use magic!” Cabana teased, calling out to Vasuki as he sat chuckling to himself on a bench just up from the shoreline. “Now I have to dry off, I hope you’re proud of yourself.” Cabana said sarcastically as warm wind spun around her in a frenzy, forcing Audra to cover her face with the shield. When the wind had stopped she had been completely dried off.

“That much magic...just to dry off…” Audra made a mental note of the lesson she had learned during and after their fight. Don’t piss Cabana off.

Audra sat happily on the bench, just enjoying the fact that she was able to rest her left arm for once. After 30 minutes of being Cabana’s play thing she was ecstatic to switch places with Vasuki and get to be the one watching instead of the one participating.

“You’ve been practicing with me for 3 years Vasuki, and I know what happened last night. I want you to show me that killer intent. Got that?” She asked.

“How do you know?” He asked. Audra would have liked to know as well as far as she knew Cabana was out getting drunk and having a private night with someone.

“Don’t worry about that. Before we begin, I want to ask why you killed them?” Audra could see the hair on Cabana’s arms standing, the leather breast plate and tied shorts didn’t cover much of her skin.

“I...there was a voice...I didn’t want to kill them.” Cabana’s eyes got wide, almost as if they were pleading him for something.

“What did the voice sound like? Old, young, raspy, joyful?”

“Old and cynical.” Vasuki responded. Cabana’s mouth slightly dropped, and Audra could see tears begin to pool up in her eyes.

“Cabana, what’s wrong?” Vasuki asked.

“N...Nothing. I just...I’ll tell you after this.” She said as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her arm. “Don’t hold back. I need to see how well you fared against those pesky Goblins.”

Vasuki raised his shield, covering a portion of his face and all of his chest. He held the sword at the ready, next to him. Cabana got low to the ground, held her shield horizontally in front of her face, and rested the flat end of her sword on the face of the shield. A burst of wind began to push against Vasuki before Cabana made the first move, even holding back she still moved like a predator on the hunt; low to the ground, and as silent and deadly as an owl in the middle of a dark night.

Cabana jumped above Vasuki and slammed the edge of her sword hard against his shield as she came down. Chunks of ice came from the ground and began to circle Vasuki forcing Cabana to back up, three of the chunks following her. She ducked under the first, cutting it in half as it passed by her, coming back up she kicked the second one into the third, shattering them all. They were back to their starting positions before Audra noticed Cabana’s smile turn into a neutral glare. She started the next assault similar to the first, a gust of wind to start it off. This time was a bit different, her actions were much harder to read, even as a watching bystander it was hard to tell where she had went. Appearing behind Vasuki after delivering a quick burst of blows to his shield in front of him, she kicked him in the back and jumped back as a spear of ice came from the ground. She used it as a pole to spin towards him before she pinned his knee in the center of his spine.

“I hope that wasn’t what you showed those Goblins.” She stood from his back and walked back in front of him, taking a battle stance. “One more round Lizard Boy.”

The resulting bout went about the same as the last, with her knee pinning him down by his spine. She slowly stood up and stretched her toned body.

“You’ve gotten a hell of a lot better but you really need to realize the risk you took last night. I don’t care what that voice says, if a demon attacked you would have been dead.” Cabana lectured as she walked to the bench, sitting next to Audra.

“Yeah I know that.” He replied, as he moved his arm back and forth as if to get feeling back in it.

“I don’t think you do!” Cabana yelled. “You have no idea what even the most simple of Demons can do to a person. What if a Shallow appeared and you were outside? You’d be dead before I could get to you. What about a pack of Varulv, one’s not that bad but an Alpha, or a full pack? You’d be dead Vasuki.”

“I get that. Why are you lecturing me about this.”

“It doesn’t matter why, it just matters that you know the dangers.” Cabana looked over at Audra. “The same goes for you, Wavey.” There was a silent understanding between the three of them.

Finally Vasuki spoke up.

“What about the voice? You seem to know about it.” Cabana sighed and looked up at him. She gulped down the knot in her throat.

“I was hoping you’d be ready for this talk by now, but you’re not. Audra, you’re not ready for this either. But you’re getting this change whether you want it or not.” She cleared her throat, but remained silent as if she were formulating the words in her head before speaking them aloud.

“What’s going on with me, Cabana? Please don’t hold it back from me.”

Cabana looked up at him sadly.

“Do you know what Ascension is?” They looked at Cabana, confused for a moment.

“I’ve heard about it.” Audra claimed. “They taught us about it in school at Kiaveen. Not that I went that often, I couldn’t really stay interested in the material. But I do recall Ascension being mentioned.” Audra added.

“Ascension is a state someone enters when two souls share the same body. They can go through massive changes, or never realize they changed in the first place. But they’re created based on the individual, for instance someone who...likes to stay hidden may Ascend to help themselves be better at hiding their presence...like me.” She stayed quiet for a moment. “That’s a story for another time. As an Ascended, I can see that you both have the potential to Ascend, and it will give you powers you could never imagine were real unless you’ve seen it yourself.” She finished.

Vasuki’s smile grew wide with excitement. If Cabana didn’t look so devastated Audra would have probably found herself smiling too.

“You mean...I can-I will be able to protect people..to keep them safe!?”

“Don’t celebrate this. You don’t get a choice in the matter. Ascension is a curse that can give people amazing power only for them to lose who they once were. The voice you hear Vasuki...it’s name is Vistrata and he’s a powerful dark being who wants nothing more than to turn you into a blood hungry monster!” Cabana abruptly stood up from the bench. “I need a drink, wait for me at the Tavern, I’ll bring you some homework.” She claimed walking away.

“We don’t get a choice?” Audra said looking to Vasuki. “We might change?”

“I really thought I was going to...be able to keep people from experiencing what I went through.” Vasuki looked to Audra. “I guess the belief is pretty childish.”

“It’s honorable. But you can’t protect everyone that you come across.” Audra pointed out.

“Well what about you, what do you think about all of this?” Vasuki asked as Audra stood up and began making their way to the inn.

“I’m...not a fan so far, the last thing I want in my life is change. Leaving home to the town over is hard on me. The only thing making it bearable is how nice everything here is. It feels great to be so welcomed.” Audra pointed out.

“Nevenal is a place that’s filled with Variants, we all get along and work together to keep everyone safe and welcome. We don’t know what people have went through so we try to make everyone’s day better than it was.” Vasuki said, a wide smile on his face.

“I can see that. Why is that?” Audra asked. Vasuki simply shrugged in response.

“What is Kiaveen like?” Vasuki queried.

“Never been there?” Vasuki responded with a shake to his head.

“I’ve only been here and up north to Trudid on a few a trade routes with Cabana. She always made remarks about someone she needed to visit in Daemerall.”

“I’ve always been curious about Daemerall, the second most defended city in the world!” Audra exhaled through her nose. “I’d like to see it one day.” She claimed.

They were halfway through the market district before the church bell began ringing, then another, and another. Audra may not have been in Kiaveen but she knew a warning when she heard one. Vasuki let a light “Fuck” slip from his lips, as he pulled the sword from his waist. Audra didn’t know why everyone was beginning to storm into buildings, the ones remaining armed themselves. Audra followed suite.

“What kind of warning is this?” Audra asked. Looking around for anything that might be dangerous to her.

“You should get inside.” He warned.

“And let everyone else fight?” She asked.

“Yes! Exactly that. We don’t know what it is yet.” He argued. The next words forced an icy air breathe from Vasuki, like a gasp that had been waiting to be released. Audra didn’t need the air to feel a chill run down her body.

“A Large Creature was spotted to the North!” Audra saw the people freeze in place and a few of the ones that had drawn their weapons began to put their weapons back and run for shelter.

“Cabana!” Vasuki yelled. He began to run for her before Audra grabbed his shoulder, accidentally hitting him in the back of the head with her shield.

“Oh Maker, are you okay?” He nodded as he rubbed the back of his head. “Look, Cabana will be fine, she can handle herself. Let’s do what she said and get back to the tavern.” Vasuki didn’t have time to think, before a large brown claw shook the ground around them.

The Creature had a dragon-like head with a diamond shaped dent in the top. It’s red eyes quickly scanned it’s surroundings. A black mane decorated it’s neck and ran down it’s back, a hint of a red light traveled up it’s muscled arms before vanishing then reappearing once again. Two horns ran by the side of it’s jaw ending just as they curved upwards. It’s tail was nearly twice as long as it’s body and ended with a bone-like material that seemed as sharp as any sword. It opened it’s mouth and taunted everyone with razor sharp teeth.

“Vera Daosr!” A man shouted from across the shopping district. It’s head snapped to the man, before he could get to safety the Daosr pounced past him, turning mid-air to stop his escape. Before he could turn the beast’s tail whipped around it and stabbed into the man. He had a look of fear in his eyes as he stared at everyone. The beast effortlessly slung him into the air and with a thunderous snap of it's jaws swallowed him whole.

Audra was shaken out of her fear by a slap to the cheek. She looked at the perpetrator in shock.

“The fuck are you doing!? Get the hell out of here!” Cabana yelled as she pushed them in the direction of the tavern. “Don’t turn back until I come get you!”

Audra didn’t feel the urge to look back as they ran. This is what a Daosr was. A beast of destruction, she had heard stories of Daosr’s razing villages to the ground, cities were left as nothing more than rubble in it’s wake. Even Royal Knights had traumatizing stories of these beasts. Nothing escaped this thing unscathed. She doubted this town would survive past the day, she could only hope it would. She had just arrived, it was nice, she didn’t want to leave it yet.