[Center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/dV59HGJp/Leon-new.png[/img][h1][color=fff200]The Clueless Revidian[/color][/h1] [hr][hr] [b][colour=fff200]Event:[/colour][/b] Palapar | [b][colour=fff200]Location:[/colour][/b] San Sameno | [b][colour=fff200]Including:[/colour][/b] Aylin [@Ti] & Ren[hr][hr][/center] [hider=San Sameno] What is the revolution about? Who is doing it? What is it exactly for? Where does an aspiring revolutionary need to go exactly? These are things that any revolution leader probably needs to know. They were questions Leon could answer far too few of when he arrived on the 4th day after the ocean was fed a lofty amount of coffee. Obviously, he needed to spend some time in San Sameno gathering information. What was a world-renowned performer supposed to do but spend a couple of days at the enclave's largest watering hole and make some friends? Despite the dour mood, he danced, sang, played, and drank his way to the people's hearts. If you were to ask him, there wouldn't be a single person in port who would keep a secret from him by the end of it. Shouting rounds of drinks, he made friends with a young man named Bayani, who quietly let loose about his participation in 'that night' after plenty of booze. The two talked for a long while and Leon got informed about the revolution. The performer also used this as an opportunity to learn the local language. No man can become fluent over two drunken nights but he covered the basics: hello, goodbye, yes, no, and most importantly, follow me. [color=fff200]"While I appreciate your honesty Bayani, you've trusted me with something rather dire. I am hardly more than a stranger to you, are you not afraid your secret could get out?"[/color] [color=4969d1]"No. You have a Revidian accent, the last one got us to do all that in the first place. Even if I shouldn't have followed him, I at least know a Revidian won't sell me out to those dogs."[/color] Leon frowned at the response, [i]*he*[/i] was supposed to be the only Revidian on the ground. By the sixth night, Leon was ready to depart for mainland Palapar as planned. However, it had become readily apparent that Virangish inquisitors were knocking at San Sameno's door looking for dissidents like Bayani and his yet-to-be-wed partner Tala, who had a child on the way. For all the help Bayani had given Leon, he couldn't leave the couple with enemies so close. He resolved to stay until the threat had passed. On the eighth day, Bayani and Tali wanted to get married. The young pair feared for their lives and wanted to make sure they had wed before the Virangish inquisitors entered the enclave. Neither were Quentic so neither wanted to go to the chapel for it. Leon, however, had the authority to hold weddings. Even if it was still technically a Quentic marriage, the lone performer gave them the degree of separation they needed and it was the best they could do. He married them together beneath the nicest tree in San Sameno. On the tenth day, beneath the grey clouds and light rain, Leon was absent from the square where the Virangish inquisitors met the Torragonese. Instead, he sat in that very same tavern now dead quiet compared to the night before. He kicked up his feet on the table and tuned his lute for the fifth time that morning while whistling to himself quietly. Holding the unmatched power of the sun within you made hiding from magical detection a rather difficult feat. However, it gave an excellent cover for the less gifted refugees hidden beneath the floorboards, their magical footprints were drowned out by his encompassing aura. While he tuned his instrument again, Leon's mind drifted to Zarina. Even though Palapar was on the other side of the world, this conflict still involved her home country and also the coffee trade. He imagined the draconic lady following the situation with bated breath back in Ersand'Enise. At the very least it would stop her from crying her eyes out about Miret again. Honestly, Zarina needed to find someone who would treat her better instead of leaving her by the curb like that. As a matter of fact, he had three bachelorettes in mind... This terribly productive train of thought continued for the next few hours of the morning up until the Virangish entered San Sameno. Perhaps one would expect the performer to be worried for the lives of the refugees or even his own, but that wasn't the case. After all, he was the strongest mage on these islands without equal. [hr] The first was Yuli. The two girls were tough, kind of scary, but had plenty of moments of sweetness. They made for a good pair and he would be killing two birds with one stone by getting the Vossoriyan some action. The second was Elizabeth Wright. A kind Enthish woman who, rather rudely, discovered her attraction for women immediately after kissing him at a party in the first year. The third was... TWANG!!! Leon frowned in confusion and looked down at his lute, the source of the horrendously out-of-tune note. The performer had been tuning his instrument periodically over the last three hours; a note even slightly out of place couldn't have happened. But it did. He looked at the tuning pegs, saw his wrist, and finally acknowledged that his hand had slipped. That was unusual, it was a mistake for amateur musicians and certainly not the sort of thing he would do without noticing. Something was off. Then he felt it. Where his mind had been other places before, he could feel the weight of another mage's energy; it rivalled Juulet or Jocasta. He looked up from his instrument and focused on that feeling. It was moving closer and closer without detour. Whoever this was, whatever this was, it was approaching him. His heart began to pump faster. Leon realised then that he hadn't been whistling since the out-of-tune note had been played. He didn't want to appear as though this figure had disturbed him, so he returned to the lute, fixed the note, started whistling again, and ignored the approaching dread. The mask of the Sun King remained tied to his hip; he was just the performer Leon Solaire and that's what he [i]*had*[/i] to be today. As the figure stood just behind the entrance door, his eyes slid to look but he didn't move his head. The Boot and Shoe was a place of escape: one within nearly a stone's throw of the Ivy Gate that carved San Sameno from the rest of Palapar, one where a person not looking to stay for more than a night or two in the enclave could book a cheap room and never have to interact very much with it, one where he might book passage from his troubles at the bottom of a cup. Leon Solaire had come [i]to[/i] this place, however, and one had to think that he had done so with purpose. In the intervening period, he had made it far more conspicuous. If many Palaparese did not know who he was, any Torragonese, Virangish, or Revidian with a daughter certainly did. The proprietor of the humble establishment was one such person, and he thanked Dami for sending Leon his way. Until this moment. The door creaked open and in strode Ren Baykara, his boots thumping on the wooden floorboards. The man behind the counter had been grimacing even before his arrival and, now, he gagged, and again. Turning on the spot, he hurled into the washbasin. Had one no concept of magic, they still would've struggled to miss that here was a man of consequence. The head inquisitor was neither tall nor especially remarkable in appearance, but his clothing alone may have cost more than a tavern owner's lifetime earnings, and the dozen figures who remained outside, unflinchingly at his command, told the rest of the story. Some might've made a quip at the barkeep's expense, something like, "a little early for that, isn't it?" Others might've started softly, to toy with his hopes out of some sense of sadism or for their personal amusement. [color=E4B844]"A cup of water, please,"[/color] said Ren, coming to a stop with a loud thump of his boots. He regarded Leon Solaire, who was known to him and, for the barest of moments, something monstrous - monstrous and anticipatory - flashed across his countenance. [color=E4B844]"And some music."[/color] He sniffed, as if he might've had a runny nose or something of the like, and held his hand out expectantly for water. Leon did find himself following Ren with his eyes as he entered the room. He kept regarding his lute and gave the sleepy yawn of someone who just had an eventful night before. On the request for music, the performer smiled and nodded to Ren once before calmly strumming his lute. There was no need to start a fuss over nothing given the stakes. The sounds of Leon's playing filled the air at the Boot and Shoe. If it wasn't his most complex tune, it displaced any other noises that might've been made. Hurriedly, the tavern owner filled a cup with water and raced to push it into Ren's outstretched hand. The moment that it touched his skin, however, the inquisitor let it fall and shatter on the floor. His head twisted all at once to leer at the man. [color=E4B844]"You would serve your superior from your unwashed hand after vomiting?"[/color] he snarled. He walked towards Leon, who could begin to sense movement under the floorboards as others struggled the same way that the barkeep had. [color=E4B844]"Disgusting and unsanitary,"[/color] Ren concluded with a sneer. [color=E4B844]"Clean the mess you've made up."[/color] He drew closer to Leon. [color=E4B844]"Is there nobody else here capable of providing a hardworking ruler with a clean glass of water?"[/color] It wasn't just the tavern keep or the patrons disturbed by the aura Ren was emitting but those beneath the floorboards as well. He could hope that the noises and commotion above-board would cover those below. But the regular patrons were starting to leave in the hopes of keeping their dignity leave just himself, Ren, and the poor barkeep Ramiro who just wanted to keep his place clean. Leon no longer had the luxury of being a passive participant in this affair; although he didn't like that he got the sense Ren wanted that. Leon placed his lute calmy on his table and looked up to the Virangish noble with a smile. [color=fff200]"You'll have to forgive Ramiro. There was a difficult drunkard last night who hit him on the head. He is still feeling a little dizzy today if I had to guess."[/color] Leon kicked his feet off the table and stood. He looked to the poor, poor barkeep who had a world of cleaning to do after this. [color=fff200]"Ramiro, how about you go take some rest? Its been a while but I can serve drinks quite well."[/color] He chuckled. [color=fff200]"I'll keep the place safe."[/color] Ren held an arm out and clenched it into a fist. [color=E4B844]"Captain Balik!"[/color] he called, and a uniformed woman hurried up to the door and saluted. [color=8FBC8F]"Sir!"[/color] [color=E4B844]"Nobody is to enter or leave this premises until we are finished our investigation. You are encouraged to detain but authorized to use any force necessary...[i]if[/i] necessary."[/color] She bowed her head crisply in acknowledgement. [color=8FBC8F]"Understood, sir."[/color] Ren turned back to Leon. [color=E4B844]"What are you doing here, minstrel?"[/color] he asked, glancing back at the semicircle of guards who were containing the people who'd tried to leave. [color=E4B844]"and [i]do[/i] try to answer honestly."[/color] Leon looked over the tavern to see military force keeping people in. He kept his cool, the patrons had the choice and he trusted them to make the right one and stay. They hadn't committed any crimes after all. Calmly, he stood around the sick that coated the floor, grabbed a clean glass, and fetched Ren a cool drink of water. Placing the glass at the bar, Leon gave Ren a discerning look. [color=fff200]"You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere? I can't say I know many inquisitors, but you dress far too nice to be a soldier and have a face too handsome."[/color] He smiled, trying his best to be disarming. Ren crossed his arms. Beneath the floorboards, Leon could feel a handful of the refugees moving as the weight of the inquisitor's latent energy only increased. [color=E4B844]"I am asking the questions,"[/color] he replied, eyes narrowing. [color=E4B844]"You're doing a terrible job of answering."[/color] Leon nudged the glass of water closer to him. [color=fff200]"Vacation. Someone told me that the Palapar weather was excellent this time of year. I intend to call him a liar when I get back to Constantia."[/color] He kept a positive attitude. Ren lifted it to his lips and sipped, still as a coiled snake otherwise. [color=E4B844]"Interesting time to have arrived for [i]tourism[/i],"[/color] he remarked. [color=E4B844]"Perhaps you should not leave your friend waiting and return."[/color] He set the glass down on the table with a 'clack' that carried audibly. [color=E4B844]"You'll find that [i]I[/i] can also take good care of the people here."[/color] Leon poured himself a glass of water and sipped alongside the Virangish man. His ears were all too keen now to the noise happening below. It must have felt like sitting in an oven beneath the floor and constantly battered by Ren's reckless mana released. Tala had told him earlier that day she was lucky the baby hadn't been born yet, at the very least, she wouldn't have to try keeping a baby quiet. It turned his stomach, happy that her baby wasn't born to be kept beneath the stairs like rats. Forced into the lowest of places all to escape the clutches of the man who stood before him now. No person should live in fear to that extent and yet Tala cowered for her life not even a meter below his feet. She hadn't even been there for the crime. [color=fff200]"Portals make me sick. I was waiting for the next boat out, but it seemed they wanted to hang back and not get caught up in any blockades... I'm sure that has something to do with why you're here?"[/color] [color=E4B844]"Forty-two sailors and guards murdered in their sleep aboard their ships in Arangal,"[/color] Ren responded, [color=E4B844]"strangely, just before you decided to take your [i]vacation[/i] here."[/color] His eyes narrowed. [color=E4B844]"Their crime was being Virangish - "[/color] He snorted. [color=E4B844]" - Though not all of them even were."[/color] He began sliding the glass back and forth - almost restlessly - across the tabletop, from one hand to the other. [color=E4B844]"I intend to find their murderers and punish them to the [i]full[/i] extent of the sultan's wishes so that nobody will even consider another act like this."[/color] At the very least, the act seemed to keep him occupied and the sound covered any that the refugees were making. [color=E4B844]"I will find them and I will execute them, [i]publicly.[/i]"[/color] He shook his head. [color=E4B844]"This doesn't concern you, Solaire."[/color] All at once, he stopped sliding the glass. There was dead silence and, from below, a cough. He narrowed his eyes and [i]drew[/i]. [color=E4B844]"Unless it [i]does[/i]."[/color] If he didn't know before, he knew now. With the cough, it was only a matter of time until he found the people beneath the floor. He could stand back and let him take them away. Some guilty in the revolution would see justice and the end of a noose, but plenty more whose only crime lay in familial ties to the criminals. Or he could get in their way with the hopes of taking their place in judgment. If he waited, Ren's overwhelming draw could kill them by itself. It was one or the other, and he chose neither. He looked into his glass and chuckled. [color=e3903d][i]Would you do this if someone presented a threat to you, boy?[/i][/color] Elder Colex's words echoed in his mind. [color=e3903d][i]If your opponent wasn’t weak?[/i][/color] With a slip of the hand, Leon splashed the water of his cup on Ren's face to catch him off guard. Then Leon launched himself at the noble sending them both out of the window and into the street. They tumbled into the street water Ren had tried so hard to avoid. [center][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ5gtInauiI]♫[/url][/b][/center] [i][color=e3903d]When you choose to act, it must be with strength and leave none to question it.[/color][/i] Leon was the strongest. It meant he didn't have to choose the lesser of two evils or let some suffer for the betterment of either. He only needed to defeat this man and they would all be safe. [center][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQathcQM2Wg&list=PLPJny5xpzQqQYQFkrsntsCt1Kqghs88LB&index=2]♫[/url][/b][/center] Yet, Ren had already drawn nearly to full capacity and it was [b][i]M A S S I V E[/i][/b]. [color=E4B844]"There it is, Solaire,"[/color] he howled, rolling away and springing to his feet. [color=E4B844]"That's what you wanted!"[/color] The blast of raw [i]power[/i] that thundered forth in every direction had him as its epicentre. [color=E4B844]"Time to let it all out!"[/color] Leon, perhaps not ready for such an immediate and overwhelmingly powerful response, was flung backwards into the side of a building and right through its wall like a misfired cannonball. [color=E4B844]"But so will [i]I[/i]."[/color] Leon was not the only one who needed to worry, however. All around Ren, buildings twisted on their foundations, glass turned liquid, rain froze or burned or simply disappeared. Debris hovered in the air. Bricks imploded. The very land trembled. Without so much as a though, the weak were annihilated like the insects that they were, Ren's mercy in allowing them to live temporarily suspended. Again, he drew, paying no heed to the nothings around him: only Leon Solaire, the treacherous Revidian and the only being present who might actually require his full effort or something like it. Leon was doing this for them, he wanted to see them safe, yet he couldn't avert his gaze from Ren. The battle would not afford him such a luxury and he had no desire to see anything else. As the noble unleashed an overwhelming show of force and made the world melt around him, Leon's eyes could see the destruction but his mind failed to acknowledge its consequences. Ren Baykara was a threat and needed to be defeated. This was the way forward. The state of anyone else in that equation was secondary. The performer's first thought was to dodge the attack and find an opening to slip through, but the blast was uniform. Then he tried to resist it, but that thought didn't last long. His momentum dropped quickly and it became a matter of trying not to be flung away. His clothes rippled violently under the pressure along with his body. It was like swimming into a wave, or rather a tsunami. It was better to move along the current than fight against it. He shifted his shoulders forward and flung skyward; he was reeling from the blow but faired much better than if he had hit a nearby building. Flip, flip, flip, the performer tumbled again and again in rapid succession until he found stability far above the destruction below. His now-tattered cape fluttered in the wind, in his hands rested the lyre humming from a chord freshly played, his visage covered in the Sun King mask which he had donned during the flips, and his smile was wide and toothy. Ren had cleared the space around him and he alone stood below. Leon let the gravity take him and descended. Flame built up around him and focused on one leg. He began to spin back again in a series of front flips. He dropped down in an incandescent ring of flame to deliver a fiery axe kick onto the noble. Leon sped towards his target and the attack was so telegraphed that any mage taking it seriously might've simply dodged. Ren Baykara was not unschooled in combat and he was not stupid, but arrogance was a drug that held him utterly, and so he met Leon's kick head-on. The results were devastating. His hair and clothes burnt away, his skin creased and crisped, and his chest caved in. It was a near-instant fatality, in a single blow, for such was the wrath and power of the Sun King. The problem was that it never happened, or perhaps it had, in some timeline or another. Ren Baykara was not unschooled in combat and he was not stupid; he had anchored himself temporally. One didn't need to be Hugo Hunghorasz to know some of the basics of that greatest of magic schools. Leon descended from the heavens, wreathed in flame like the sun burst through the grey ceiling of clouds. Such was the power of his attack that the very oxygen in the air around him ignited and the paving stones melted. Such was the power of his attack that Ren could not fully resist it. With split seconds to spare, he hurled himself free, landing on a rooftop. [center][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LffSZfRSwTI&list=PLPJny5xpzQqQYQFkrsntsCt1Kqghs88LB&index=10]♫[/url][/b][/center] His hair and clothes were singed and he trailed a thin veil of whitish smoke and steam as he skidded to a halt. Did his hands tremble? One would not have seen it, for they were clenched into fists. He drew, then, with utter abandon, from the sky, from the buildings around him, from the earth below. Nobody could say how many casualties there had been in the surrounding area for, when giants clash, they have little attention left over for what they might step on. People fled, disorganized and in terror, in every direction. Those who had some magic used it to protect themselves and their loved ones. Most did not. The Boot and Shoe, meanwhile, had suffered much of one wall collapsed, its windows shattered, and the canvas awning over its side door set aflame. People were streaming out from it, choking and staggering, but most were not people that Selma Balik or any of the others could recall. Were there yet [i]more[/i] inside!? Then, Ren raised one arm to his side. [color=E4B844]"I have been attacked, Balik, by a Revidian agitator sent to kill me and deny our legal rights of investigation. You will take your people and carry on with the rest of your duties. There is something that reeks in San Sameno."[/color] He sniffed the air, sneering. [color=E4B844]"I will pull from the root. You will pluck its blooms."[/color] With that, he shifted the direction of his arm and opened his fist. A Revidian bakery across the street exploded. [color=E4B844]"How many lives am I worth to you, minstrel?"[/color] He shook his head. [color=E4B844]"And how many of these replaceable [i]nothings[/i] would you trade for your [i]own[/i]?"[/color] Aylin was minding her own business after the conversation, positioned near the chapel. She had given instructions to some of her guard to do some [i]clearing up[/i] after the [i]guardias gansos[/i] to ensure nothing fell into the wrong hands after their arrests. The Inquisitor had also made his intentions clear regarding the chapel and his agenda, but she firmly informed him that it was not an option. She wasn't going to let things escalate by leaving it unattended. As she dealt cards with her gloved hand to start a game, a commotion erupted already near one of the taverns. [colour=DAD001]"¿Qué hicieron ahora?"[/colour] she muttered angrily, pushing her chair back as she donned her long white jacket. She signalled to her guards, gesturing for two to stay by the door. [colour=DAD001]"Nadie entra ni sale. Nadie."[/colour] With the others, she made her way toward the disturbance to investigate. The devastation was rapidly damaging the surrounding infrastructure, as sturdy buildings were being reduced to ruins, and Aylin wasted no time in shouting orders, [colour=DAD001]“Evacuen la zona.”[/colour] She swiftly gave further instructions to the guards to empty the buildings and clear the area of civilians. Surveying the scene, she shook her head at the chaos. Two young men had made a mess of her enclave. She raised an eyebrow toward Ren then nodded with her head toward the tavern, the one he had already torn through, and a nearby bakery, with his new friend. [colour=DAD001]“Official or personal business?”[/colour] she asked, her tone sharp. With a quick gesture to one of the guards, he tossed her his catchpole. Aylin gripped the semicircular pronged staff firmly in her hand, as she banged on the ground with the other end. [colour=DAD001]“Explíquese”[/colour] she pointedly addressed the man with Ren, [colour=DAD001]“Explain your actions.”[/colour] [hider=Translations] Good Guards, "What have they done now" , "No one in or out. No one.", "Evacuate the area", "Explain yourself" [/hider] A flash, a vision in his mind's eye. As Leon brought his leg down upon Ren's shoulder, he could see the noble had failed to defend against it. Flames took him, melting skin, singed hair, and a look of pain in his eyes as he looked into Leon's. It drove the performer's heart out of pace as his smile dropped. In a moment of panic, Leon tried to withdraw the attack, and soften it to save the man's life. But it was too late, his leg had ripped through him. Then he blinked. He could now see Ren on the rooftops, a little burnt but safe. Leon hovered above the ground to avoid burning his feet, all the remained around him was melted street and the ghost of memory that never was. It was an illusion made to mess with his mind and nothing more. Leon didn't panic when Balik was sent to get the word out about a Revidian agitator. That was inevitable and nothing could be done about it. He could only have faith that the Revidian government could avoid a war with his lack of official ties to the state. He was a rogue actor, he could trust Zappa to sell that, if nothing else. He looked shocked at the bakery explosion. But his sight didn't linger enough to even acknowledge it was Revidian. He couldn't afford to look away from Ren. [color=fff200]"If I surrender, innocents die. If I fight innocents die."[/color] He called up to Ren on the rooftops. [color=fff200]"And if I stand back and do nothing, then you would do the same. One man alone dictates the suffering in San Sameno, Ren Baykara."[/color] He could hear the sounds of someone addressing him in the back of his mind. He ignored it and continued to focus on his target. [color=fff200]"Surrender and leave with your inquisitors. This can't be worth your life."[/color] Would he really be willing to take another man's life if he refused? It wasn't something he wanted to think about now. Leon was starting to feel out of breath, he would need to charge soon and this needed to be ended quick. Ren had felt another energy - one significant enough to matter - as the building had collapsed, and so came Lady Aylin. Thus, he had no chance to respond to Leon's absurd offer. [color=E4B844]"I was attacked while doing my duty,"[/color] he responded honestly. [color=E4B844]"searching at the tavern for those who evade justice for the murders of two weeks ago. I was attacked by this Revidian who was trying to hide them."[/color] He leveled a pointer at Leon. [color=E4B844]"I have been forced to defend myself and now another Quentic appears."[/color] His gaze twisted towards her. [color=E4B844]"I should hope you were as sensible as you appeared and have come to rein in this mad dog."[/color] Leon kept his eyes on the man who just blew up a bakery for fun. Certainly no one was buying his plea for the moral high ground. [color=fff200]"Their children and families are also fleeing your [i]*justice*[/i]. If the law allows you to hang them too, then it is a mockery of Dami."[/color] His gaze passed onto Lady Aylin and he gestured to the bakery. [color=fff200]"Will you sit back and let a man like this dictate the future? At the very least, stay out of my way and let me do what is right."[/color] In the event, the choice was taken from Lady Aylin's hands. A man came running out of a collapsing building, eyes red and bugged out, and launched an artless lance of heat at Ren. Perhaps it was suicide by the inquisitor. Perhaps the man had lost somebody in the collapse or just before. Maybe he honestly thought that he could get the drop on Ren while the Virangishman was distracted. The energy was absorbed and shot back at him tenfold, and only Leon really could've stopped it quickly and completely enough. He stepped in and the beam bounced back at Ren and Lady Aylin managed to step in and knock the would-be attacker - a semi-trained mage of about 6.5 - out with some chemical magic. She delivered a stinging rebuke to both for endangering the peace and the citizens, but just as great of one to the now-unconscious man for attacking a government official and foreign envoy. The fact of the matter was that Ren was now trying to kinetically crush Leon and the Revidian had resorted to flinging the the energy away wherever he could, leaving craters and debris to form and fly about. Lady Tojarra, for all that she seemed quite capable indeed, was simply not a match for either in raw magical power. Leon, forced onto the offensive, began to melt the ground beneath Ren but, so monstrous was the Inquisitor's capacity, that he drew all of the heat from it and turned it into an explosion focused on Leon's chest. Burnt and hurled backwards, the performer tumbled down the street, coming to a rest on all fours, battered, panting, and bleeding. Then, as Ren stalked forward confidently, to a backdrop of screams and skittering rubble, two slabs of pavement lifted themselves up from the ground like a beartrap and crushed Ren between them. A cloud of dust and rubble obscured the area as Leon staggered to his feet, some words of counter-rebuke or perhaps apology gestating in his mind but as yet unspoken. He reached out with his senses, daring to hope but not sold until Ren's signature was... The Revidian doubled over, clutching at his temples, and staggered to the side. His eyes began to grow bloodshot and there was a red trickle from his nose. Ren Baykara, the most powerful mage in San Sameno, emerged from the haze, utterly unscathed. [color=E4B844]"And now you learn,"[/color] he addressed Leon, [color=E4B844]"that you are not the strongest here and that your actions have consequences."[/color] He gestured at the people screaming and running. [color=E4B844]"For them, and for you."[/color] Leon was trying with all of his might to resist - to counter the magnetic reactions depolarizing his blood, but he wasn't at full power anymore and, [i]impossibly[/i], Ren was stronger. Instead, he let what was going to happen happen. His temples pounded. His hearing faded. His senses [i]screamed[/i]. He conjured a colossal arcane flash and Ren staggered back, blinking. Disengaging at breakneck speed, Leon put everything he had into reaching for the power beyond this world and manifesting more energy. He reached out, but... it was as if somebody had closed the door and locked it and he did not have the key. He tried a second time, and a third, and now Ren was rushing towards him, kilij drawn and intent on finishing it the old way. For the first time in... he wasn't sure how long, Leon believed that he was going to die. Then, there was Lady Aylin, stepping decisively in between the two of them: a barracuda among sharks and yet utterly unafraid. [colour=DAD001]"Gentlemen,"[/colour] she declared, [colour=DAD001]"Perhaps I wasn't clear. I wasn't [i]asking[/i] you to stop."[/colour] The world around them wavered and, in their minds' ears, they heard both the greatest and least sound they had ever borne witness to. Both stopped in their tracks, grimacing and scarcely able to move. [colour=DAD001]"That was a command."[/colour] She glared daggers their way, and Leon's in particular. Aylin lifted her catchpole and thrust it forward with precision. The hooked tip locked around the performer's neck, as it clamped him into place with kinetic magic. It was only natural to use a touch of chemical magic to subdue the Revidian’s temperament. [colour=DAD001]“This is more than disturbing the peace, [i]chico[/i],”[/colour] she said, as she gestured to the surroundings, and waved over two of the guards. [colour=DAD001]“Disarm him, strip him down, and remove anything he’s carrying.”[/colour] She tipped her pipe, as she focused on the performer’s face, her smirk widened. [colour=DAD001]“Well, well, who do we have here? The Sun King.”[/colour] She turned and cast a dark, toothy smile toward Ren, her gaze briefly dropped to the bared [i]kilij[/i] in his hand. [colour=DAD001]“You can go ahead and kill this [i]imbécil egocéntrico[/i],”[/colour] she remarked with a dramatic pause, as she turned back to look at the performer. She didn’t retract her words, as the guards finished their task, where they removed the mask and left the performer with only the clothes on his back. Inhaling from the pipe, she exhaled a cloud of smoke as she continued to appraise Leon. Just before Ren moved to strike, she added, [colour=DAD001]“You’ve caught yourself a fat prize here. Leon Solaire, favoured of Prospero Malatesta himself, and betrothed to his precious daughter, the [i]cara de cerdo[/i],”[/colour] she sneered. She leaned forward, as she tapped the pipe, letting ash drift on the ground in front of Leon. [colour=DAD001]“This [i]estúpido[/i] is wearing a mask. Doesn’t he know captured Volti are executed on the spot?”[/colour] Aylin stepped forward, as she offered the handle of the catchpole toward Ren to take. [colour=DAD001]“Death’s too good for this [i]anguila[/i],”[/colour] she murmured, her eyes raked over Ren with an impressed expression. [colour=DAD001]“Nothing a firm hand like yours couldn’t handle. We could not have stopped a man like this. No wonder the agitators have been [i]slippery[/i], with Revidia sending one of their top agents.”[/colour] Ren yanked the catchpole from close to Leon's neck, making him lose his footing and stumble forward. He looked down upon the singer brought to hunch from his leash. He hoped that someone of interest would be in San Sameno but looking at him now, the performer was nothing but a paper tiger brought low so easily. It reminded him of a story. [color=E4B844][i]'The bird who flew so high and carefree took his freedoms for granted and never worried for what was below him. He had been turned into a worm, the lowest of earthly beings, to pay penance for disrespecting the ground others tread.'[/i][/color] He wondered how long it would take to break this one in. How did I get here? It was the one thought that ran through Leon's mind as he sat on his knees with hands on the ground struggling to grasp his breath. The energy he held dear that wrapped him in a warm embrace had fled from him. He could only wait, cold and alone, for the judgement of others to be passed on his fate. He called out for it again, that place in which his dreams could be made manifest, and it refused to answer. He looked up and saw that man, Ren Baykara, looking back at him with eyes like a hawk. The noble delighted in his weakness. Why did it have to be like this? He looked around at his surroundings. The town called San Sameno had a chunk ripped out of it, decimated by the destruction wrought by his fight with Ren. Innocent people fled the scene, some fine, some gravely injured, did some die here? He just wanted to save Bayani and his wife, he just wanted to save those kind people who wanted nothing more than to live. Why did fighting for them mean many more suffered in their place? He was doing the right thing and it only brought pain to others. Why, why, why did it have to be like this? Was this how the world was? His mask hid the tears that flowed. He made no attempt to resist the catchpole that clamped around his neck. He looked up at the Torragonese woman who sought to condemn him, were they not supposed to be allies? Then, before long, he was brought face to face with Ren, defenceless and unable to escape. The noble's grip on the clutchpole rattled his neck and the performer no longer had any control. [color=E4B844]"No, I'll keep this one for myself."[/color] Ren's eyes were fixed and his words carried like icy hands wrenching away everything Leon cared for. His dreams, his hopes, his ambitions, and those he cared about would all be taken away by this man. Leon struggled to catch his breath, he called out again, that place, that wonderful place, why had it abandoned him? He couldn't let it end like this. When he was marched outside of San Sameno, Leon took the opportunity to act. Mustering everything he had, he summoned a wall of flame between himself and Ren then in the confusion expended kinetic to launch himself away. The catchpole dug painfully into his neck but it didn't matter, he would be free, he only needed to make enough distance to change and he could fight again. He couldn't lose here. If he could only charge... However, within the split second Leon had made some distance between himself and Ren, an unbearably bright flashbang went off around the performer blinding everyone who was looking upon the scene. When everyone regained their sight, Leon was gone and the catchpole clanged against the cobbled stone floor. It may have looked as though the Revidian had simply ran under the cover of flashing lights, but any skilled mage would know better. There had been no resistance against the catchpole and no damage done to it, he hadn't even broken out of the tool's hold. He had simply vanished into thin air and no sign of him could be sensed in the entirety of San Sameno. [/hider] [hr][hr]