[IC] The Collector (2) [Closed]

[Blox]

“To know what’s going on,” Faira muttered shakily

Dactrin slowly lowered his arms, the orb of light dimming until it vanished altogether. He remaining with his back pressed against the wall, his knees drawn up towards his chest. He watched and listened warily as the others began to interact, taking note of the others in the room. He heard the note about the Collector and he was trying to piece together what exactly was going on and why they were all here. There was a girl with powers of fire, a robot, and what looked to be a demon. The girl who was trapped in the glass might also be a demon, or perhaps someone put on a spell. She seemed to be doll-like. They were all unique. It seemed to be they had been captured to be a part of the Collector's collection, whatever that may be. But if he really wanted them to stay, why weren't they chained down?

A sound scraped at the door, drawing the attention of everyone, most notable the maniac demon. Once the door opened there was nothing to be seen except a very narrow hallway that the robot decided he would enter. Moments later the room began to change somehow on it's own, opening up before them to a grand ballroom. And then Marianne appeared with her introductions. As the others interacted he remained quiet and slowly rose to his feet. He was going to find a way out of here and he didn't need this eclectic group to guide him along the way. He placed his dark hoodie over his head and began to walk towards the ballroom along the sides of the far wall, edging towards the other side of the room to look for any doors or entrances to go through.

[drallinix]

"WHY OF COURSE I WANT TO DANCE!" The demon said as he began to spin in circles laughing. Noticing the boy trying to sneak out Adrian stopped and pointed. "Hey yall are all talking about this guy who snatched us why not ask him. He has been quiet and timid looking and now hes trying to sneak out without us noticing. If you have any expectations of it being me id suggest getting rid of them." He said pausing. "Because im batshit insane!" He started laughing maniacally after he said this.

[Riven Wight]

Faira’s head cocked again toward the others as the robot-like man spoke, and Marianne responded with a less than desirable answer.

So she’s in on this! she thought, suppressing a groan. Cautiously, she took a few more steps away from the demon, glad his focus had shifted from her.

Still keeping an eye on the demon as he danced about like a madman, she reached into a front pocket of her black jeans and pulled out her cell phone, relieved to find it still there.

Holding her breath and biting her lower lip, she slid her thumb across the screen to unlock it, and checked for service. Her shoulders slumped as she looked at the blinking service icon with no bars. Hours had passed since she had left for the Starbucks. She ran a hand through her hair, her parents coming to mind. They would be good and worried by now.

I’ve gotta get out of here. She slipped the phone back into her pocket. Then, another thought occurred, and she quickly reached down and felt the long makeshift pocket on her left pant leg. She sighed in relief as she felt the couple pieces of her flute safely tucked away there. She jumped and straightened as the demon spoke again.

She looked to the boy who she had seen earlier as the demon laughed. Turning from him, she looked to Marianne and took a deep breath.

“I-if you won’t tell us where we are,” she began, “at least tell us how to get out of here!”

[TheWendil]

“I-if you won’t tell us where we are, at least tell us how to get out of here!”

The black-dressed girl sighed, shaking her head in slight apology. Her gesture was that of a kindly mother lightly scolding a child. She didn’t want to, but she had to inform them that, unfortunately, her services would not to be free or even required.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that dear Faira,” she said calmly.

There she did it again. She had correctly guessed the girl’s name. Either that or she somehow knew from prior meeting. Did that mean that she knew everyone’s names? That she knew everyone’s background too? But wait, that didn’t make any sense. No one was powerful or even talented enough to be omniscient. Just who was this girl?

“Ah, but I can at least shed some light on this place. It’s the best I can do for you now I’m afraid. This manor is constantly changing its interior space; as such, you will all have to move quickly and consistently if you want to get out alive. That’s all I have to say on the matter now.”

Marianne’s smile softened when she read the distressed expression on the human girl’s face.

“Do not be so concerned of your family Faira. I don’t think you have anything to worry about yet…oh Mr. Dactrin? I would recommend you not straying from the group too far now. I am neither an enemy or an ally but…well, I can at least warn you about the Fauns. They get so rowdy at this time of day.”

Fauns? What Fauns?

As if summoned by her mere words, several conglomerations began to emerge from the very walls in which Dactrin was studying. Dark arms lashed out to grab the male and hold him as still more shadows leaked out onto the ballroom floor.

Each patch of gray matter soon formed into a tall Faun, their goat-like legs being a creepy contrast to their distinctively human torsos. Shackles seemed to be locked around their ankles and wrists, and a large collar lay dormant around each of their necks. The creatures soon held out large crossbows, loading sharp arrows with a wet, green tipping to them.

But what was perhaps most haunting were their faces. Featureless gray masks that complimented their equally monochromic bodies stared back at the group, lying still just below their goat horns. Moving in packs, the mass of Fauns surrounded the group rather quickly, each taking aim and beginning to fire off their volley of arrows.

However, each and every one of them seemed to be ignoring Marianne. Could they not see her? No…by the way their body movements registered and tensed up, it almost seemed like…they dared not approach her at all.

Marianne did a graceful twirl as the sounds of conflict soon rang in her ears, giggling sweetly.

“Oh my! How interesting…those arrows do look pretty nasty. Why don’t you show us all the power of your madness Adrian? I’m sure you want to kill something soon, right?”

[Scarifar]

Conna'Cel formed a defensive position, putting his arms parallel in front of his face as the crossbow bolts deflected off his metal body.

"Hostiles detected," Conna'Cel said as he pointed his right arm at the Fauns, transforming it into his minigun barrel. As soon as it spun up, he fired a short burst of laser bolts, turning one faun into swiss cheese.

Conna'Cel then charged at another Faun, his left hand transforming into a rectangular piece of metal that created an energy blade. The Faun, who was in the middle of reloading its crossbow, tried to step back and use its crossbow as a shield. Conna'Cel sliced through both it and its crossbow, then turned and pierced through another Faun that was too slow.

[drallinix]

Ignoring the fact that the machine was now in his way Adrian laughing breathed in and then exhaled an enormous swath of flame. The flames rushed forward covering the entire area in front of him fauns, robot, and anything else in front of him unless it avoided it would be turned to cinders. Smiling as his flames subsided Adrian asked, "shows that.".

[Scarifar]

"Warning: surrounding temperatures rising above 1200 degrees," Conna'Cel said as he was suddenly engulfed with fire, incinerating everything around him. Fortunately, his body was mostly composed of titanium, which had a much higher melting point. Still, he ran out of the flames to avoid too much damage.

As soon as he was out, he aimed his minigun arm at Adrian, identifying him as the source of the flames. "Hostile identified, eliminating," Conna'Cel said as he locked onto Adrian fired a short burst of laser bolts at him, followed by another short burst, not taking any chances.

[Riven Wight]

Faira blinked and staggered back slightly from shock as the woman addressed her by her name. She took a cautious step back, eyeing the woman suspiciously, the demon and others around her momentarily forgotten as Marianne continued, giving information Faira had already begun to guess at.

Before she could reply, Marianne guessed her thoughts, making her take another step away.

Can… can she read my thoughts? she wondered, taking a cautious step back. What does she mean, “yet?” She shook her head and brought a hand to her forehead. Okay, this HAS to be a dream. Some crazy, messed up lucid dream. Even as she thought it, something inside her knew it was not so, something that only strengthened her desire to prove it wrong… or, perhaps, right?

She looked back to Marianne as she addressed the boy who had conjured the light, Dactrin. She blinked at the mention of fauns—creatures she had read many a story about, the image of Mr. Tumnus form Narnia crossing her mind.

She shouted as shadows emerged all around, forming into the last thing she thought of as being a faun, their masks and forms with their binds making her jaw drop. She gasped as, as if one unit, the herd of fauns raised their crossbows.

As the sound of the first arrow being fired rang through the air, Faira shouted and her body melded once more into a shadow as a couple arrows passed through where she had just stood. She could hear her heart thundering in her ears even in the form of a dark blob, her vision shifting as the shadow twisted and turned to get a good look at the fauns, their arrows and bodies avoiding Marianne.

Are they afraid of her? She wondered. Noticing one of the fauns as it aimed its crossbow at Rosaline, Faira’s shadow sped across the floor as the demon Marianne had called Adrian shot flames out at one of the creatures.

Faira willed her shadow to form into a more solid shape as she wrapped herself around the faun, her dark form covering its mask as she silently begged for her plan to work.

Blinded, the creature’s arrow missed its target, hitting another of its ilk in the chest. Faira’s shadow uncurled to the floor. Her body reformed behind him, her side on the floor and propped up on one arm as she kicked the faun’s hooves out from under him. It fell forward as Faira jumped to her feet and, with a shout, quickly kicked it in the head as hard as she could, knocking it out.

Summoning her own fire, paying little attention to Adrian and Conna’Cel as they fought amongst themselves, Faira set the crossbow of the unconscious faun ablaze, the string burning through with a thwang at the release of tension, before turning her attention to another faun and doing the same to its crossbow.

She shouted as an arrow whizzed by her ear, and her body turned back into a shadow without her conscious order.

[TheWendil]

Those who were unfortunate or simply too slow to avoid Adrian’s flames were soon consumed into a sea of fire. Throughout it all, Marianne continued dancing to the sounds of battle and conflict, the fire itself seeming to have avoided the black dressed girl. And when the waves did almost reach her, they recoiled at the last moment, as if being repelled by some unseen force.

Noticing the robot and the demon now fighting now fighting amongst themselves, the Fauns soon turned their sights onto them now. The biggest threat right now seemed to be the demonic creature, and so that was their intended target. Taking the madman’s glee of destruction as his sign of distraction, two fired off arrows in rapid succession. Both wooden projectiles landed in the demon’s arm. It was not enough to actually break the flesh, but the poison that coated each tip had now been transferred into Adrian’s body.

Their mission done, they soon backed off. Meanwhile, Faira was doing quite well for someone who was overly concerned about their fates. As she went about actually repelling the Faun threat, the masked menaces soon backed away from the battle scene, melting back into the walls of which they came.

Soon, all of them had fled and retreated. Apparently they were not out for blood, merely to startle and stun their prey. As they did so, one Faun was carrying with it the unconscious form of Dactrin, as several arrows now stuck out of him much like a pin-cushion. They dragged him away to some unknown fate.

As the battle soon came to a close, Marianne giggled as she looked around at the captured group’s expressions.

“Well? Wasn’t that fun? At least its all over, right?”

A sudden roar soon shook the ballroom, as the sound of thunderous footsteps suddenly became much closer than they all realized.

“Opps! Never mind. Guess this is where you start running. Or fighting. Poor Dactrin though. I suppose he’ll never find what he was looking for after all,” Marianne said ominously”

[drallinix]

Adrian simply sidestepped both of the robots shots at him smiling sadistically. The fauns launched the arrows that bounced of his arms as he did so. He could feel the toxin begin to flow through his veins. Adrian quickly used his fangs to bite into the veins of his own arm and suck the toxin out spitting it onto the floor with a patch of black blood. Now he looked up smiling at the sound of the roar. Standing he suddenly grabbed his head and started yelling before falling to his knees and being consumed in a bright light.

The figure that arose looked nothing like the demon from before it was a man dressed the same, but with white angel wings. The new Adrian calmly said to the others "i do hope my other side hasn't caused to much trouble, now rally with me and we shall smite this foe". He began walking forward holding his hand out to the side where a sword of white fire was formed.

[Riven Wight]

Fiara’s shadow twisted and turned awkwardly on the ballroom floor as she tried to return to her normal self. She wanted to cry out in frustration as she attempted to regain control over the element, trying to command it to return her to her solid, human form, but the shadow only glided in a half circle.

After a couple moments, Fiara’s form suddenly reformed. She shouted, the sound a mix between being surprised and frustrated. She stumbled forward, just managing to catch herself before her face and the floor could become utterly acquainted.

She looked up, and her hands cupped over her mouth as she gasped at the sight of the fauns carrying Dactrin’s lifeless body, her wide eyes locked on the arrows protruding from his corpse. With a heavy breath as the fauns disappeared, she took a few steps back.

”Well? Wasn’t that fun? At least it’s all over, right?”

“Fun?” Faira squeaked, turning on Marianne. “Fun? In what sadistic world does someone DYING,” extending an arm out, she gestured exaggeratedly to where the fauns had vanished with Dactrin, “even slightly fall under—”

Her words cut short with a gasp as a roar reverberated around the room. She felt the familiar gentle tingle as her powers threatened to once more act on their own, but she managed to repress the overactive ability.

She spun around as she heard the demon scream, not realizing how close she had come to him. She shielded her eyes against the bright light radiating from Adrian. As the light faded, she lowered her arm, and her mouth dropped open at the angelic man now standing in the demon’s place.

“You were… but now… you just…” Faira slapped a hand to her forehead as Adrian stepped forward with his sword of white flames. She wished for a moment that she had a wall to lean on, before the images of the hands reaching out from the stone to the now deceased boy vanquished that desire. “What?”

[Scarifar]

Conna'Cel noted how fast it could done his shots and adjusted his calculations accordingly. Now it was ready to deliver more accurate attacks. However, Conna'Cel barely started moving before Adrian started to flash a brilliant light and transform, taking on a new appearance. Now Conna'Cel was uncertain about his next action. His facial recognition system no longer identified him as the demon he had been attacking. It also did not help that this new being acted nothing like the insane pyromaniacal demon. However, by using his logic system, he was able to determine from this new being's words and the events of just a few moments ago that he was indeed the demon he had been attacking.

Now he needed to decide on a new course of action. As he processed this, his auto-targeting system started selecting targets among the fauns who were still alive, and his gun arm eliminated them. Conna'Cel then decided to move on. The fauns were mere Cannon fodder, and he had no time to waste messing around with them. He then started debating whether to find a path out of the building, or simply make his own. "Calculating energy costs..." Conna'Cel said. "Creating a path results in less energy used." He then walked up to a wall and sliced through it with his blade, creating a large gash in the wall.

However, before Conna'Cel could do anything about it, the gash closed as quickly as it appeared. "Error, sudden emergence of unknown factor, recalculating," Conna'Cel said. After a short period, he said, "Walls possess self-regeneration. Creating a path no longer a viable option. Proceeding to next option." Ignoring everyone around him, except for the fully identified hostiles, he scanned the area until he determined all the doors within the room, finding only one. Walking over to it and opening it, he scanned the area ahead to detect any potential dangers before he went through.

[shi12]

Rosaline, having been relatively close to Marianne, had escaped the bulk of the faun’s attack. Even so, several fauns had approached, firing off a volley of arrows in the Nebula’s direction. This had luckily made her move away, narrowly missing being caught up in the inferno.

A distinct smirk littered her porcelain features, her body moving quickly to counter the attack. Several ancient words left her lips, the mere utterances calling forth an invisible force to aid her. Then, with a commanding wave of her arm, the fauns were knocked back. It seemed they were determined though, the creatures getting back on their feet and again firing off arrow after arrow. The objects missed their marks, implanting into the tiled floor about her.

Suddenly one came right for her and, not wanting to waste her powers on such an easy miss, she let her upper torso collapse backward. Her entire upper body slumped back like a doll’s would without support, and thus the arrow sailed right over her. Then, straightening up, she summoned forth tendrils of smoke and fog, the rope like conjuring’s wrapping around the fauns. Their bows dropped from their hands as the fog began to strangle them, having gotten around their throats, and Rose almost laughed as they began to choke.

By the end of the battle several arrows were lodged into Rosaline’s porcelain form, making her angry that she would have to repair the damage. The poison, as expected, had no effect on her empty shell. Repairing the damages done she listened closely to the conversing of the others. As she did so she began to go over the information she had gathered in her head.

Fiara; seemingly good natured, has an interesting power for a human… The robot; not very open to magic or anything unreasonable. Dactrin; missing or dead, no longer matters. Adriane; crazy, destructive, and is a demon… not sure if I could trust him but he could be helpful……Then there’s Marianne…. I think it would be best said that I don’t like or trust her in any way. Rose thought to herself.

Suddenly, she was pulled from her repairs… and her thoughts… by a flash of bright light. When she looked up Adriane didn’t seem the same, in fact he looked more angelic than demonic.

“That would explain the insanity, two beings in one body… especially two being who are usually mortal enemies.” Rose chuckled, smiling a little as she finished the final repairs. “I do have to agree however, it would be pleasant to be rid of this place.” She added, her words ringing in a more refined and ancient tone. She had accidently let her true accent ring free and it was becoming clear she was much older than she appeared. “Oh and Mr. Roboto,” she started, referring to Conna'Cel, “-it would be best if you remained with the remainder of us. There truly is strength in numbers.” She finished, her accent bleeding through.

[TheWendil]

The roar continued to bellow throughout massive ballroom, ringing out into a hollowed snarl. Marianne only chuckled once before something large slithered into the chamber. Something…what was it? Where was it? It could be heard but it was not visible to the eye…

Suddenly, it lashed out. With a might heave, it grabbed Conna'Cel in its mighty claws, heaving back and tossing the machine onto the ground roughly. From hearing, it sounded like the unseen creature was now charging right for Faira and Rosaline.

Marianne giggled at it all, her single seen crimson eye glowing eerily as she saw what they could not.

“How interesting…an invisible creature? Dear me, but that sounds rather bad.”

[Riven Wight]

Faira looked to Rosaline as the doll-like woman spoke.

“You say that like it’s an every-day thing,” she muttered, running a hand through her long, brown hair and resisting the urge to reach out and see if the woman was made of the porcelain she looked to be.

As the roar seemed to grow louder, her breath caught in her throat as the gentle scrape of something large slithering through the ballroom mingled with the first sound. She subconsciously stepped toward Rosaline—who seemed the sanest in the group.

She gasped and looked over as something moved in her peripherals, but, like a ghost, it disappeared when she looked to it.

“This is insane!” Her voice squeaked slightly.

Faira screamed as the invisible force tossed Conna’Cel aside like a ragdoll. As the sounds of the invisible foe indicated that it charged toward her and Marianne, Faira took a few frightened steps backwards, her eyes straining to see what they just could not. She spared Marianne a disbelieving glance at the woman’s reaction to the invisible monster.

Extending her palms shakily in front of her, she took a deep breath and, careful to avoid Rosaline, commanded flames to rise around where she thought the creature was, hoping to create a wall of blazing heat. Though the flames refused to rise to the intensity she demanded, they still licked dangerously in a half-circle in front of her and Rosaline. She welcomed the release of power tingling through her, ever conscious of the flow as she tried to keep it under her control, instead of the other way around.

[Scarifar]

Conna'Cel ignored Rosaline, not recognizing "Mr. Roboto" as his name. As he scanned the area, he detected a pocket of... nothing. A vacuum of space where there should have been at least the various gases that make up air. "Error, vacuum detected, performing secondary scan," Conna'Cel said as he started trying to scan for anything that could explain the vacuum. As he did, he noted that it moved, and right past him too. The shape of the vacuum was also incredibly peculiar, as well as the movement of air around it. This set off some warning signals on his hud. "Warning, unknown entity detected. Activating continuous scan," Conna'Cel said, then as he did so, he was grabbed and thrown into the ground.

"Unknown entity marked as hostile," Conna'Cel said. "Minor damage detected, repair when possible." His titanium body was good for strong impacts, so he wasn't fazed by the sudden attack. "Calculating...." Conna'Cel said as he crunched the numbers he got from the creature and what it could do so far. "Battle mode engaged." His arms transformed into his energy blades, and even his wings appeared from the back of his body. He launched himself into the air as flames started appearing out of nowhere, then shot himself toward the invisible creature, using the shape of the vacuum he was getting from his continuous scan to locate the creature, and slashed at where Conna'Cel thought was the neck.

[shi12]

Glass-like eyes glanced at Faira with a smirk on her lips. “In truth this would be the first time to come across a demon and angel in a singular vessel. I have merely grown accustomed to oddities, as would you if you had lived my life.” She replies. Rosaline could see the question in her eyes, though did not know just what it was that confused the girl so.

The question was short lived though as the roaring became ferocious, growing louder as it approached with a slither. She didn’t even acknowledge the girl as she stepped closer, instead focusing on visualizing their newest foe. At first she saw nothing but then her trained eyes caught it, well the power and energy radiating off the beast. The beast is tremendous…and quite fast. she thought, her assumptions being proven as the being threw ‘Mr. Roboto’ across the room as if he was nothing.

“It seems to be coming for us next.” Rose sighed out. Faira must have realized it as well for she called forth a wall of flames about the both of them. Even the robot, which had by then recovered, seemed to know where it was seeing as he was now going to attack it. His attack landed on something, for the creature let out an aggravated roar and the energy rippled around it as it lashed out. With a strength and speed Rosaline was not expecting the large snake shaped creature swung one end of its body in a wide arch, meaning to knock all three of them back.

With a pressure that could knock the wind out of a normal being Rosaline was thrown backwards, the creature having gone right through the fire to swipe at them. Her porcelain body hit the marble flooring with a crack, small fractures beginning to ripple across the girl’s backside. For a split second she wondered if the creature had gotten the others as well but she didn’t have time to dwell on that as the slithering sound started to approach her.

The creature must have seen her as weak and easy prey, most likely from the sound of her body cracking, and at the moment she really was useless for she could not move for fear of making the cracks larger. Her body already trying to repair the worse of her injuries.

Suddenly something wrapped around her leg, constricting to the point that the distinct sound of porcelain breaking rung out in the room.

If she didn’t repair herself fast enough this thing would turn her into a pile of broken pieces.

[TheWendil]

“Oh my! How very interesting.”

Marianne watched in wonder as the three prisoners were sent flying. First the robot, then the human, and now-oh look! There went the girl made of glass and other breakable material. Sighing, she walked over to where the invisible creature was presumably at. Just like the Fauns, the large thing payed no heed to her presence, instead choosing to direct its offenses solely on Rose alone.

“You seem to be having some trouble there Rosaline,” she said casually, smirking at the frustration the other girl must be experiencing no doubt. Resting one hand on the bottom of her elbow and the other on her pale chin, the black dressed girl looked over at the fallen forms of Faira and Conna'Cel.

“Dear me, your companions seem to be rusty when it comes to survival situations like these. Perhaps it was a good thing you were all kidnapped so indifferently? I mean, what do your lives matter anyway? If you can’t even handle something like this…oh well. Maybe next time.”

Marianne turned to go but paused, craning her neck to smile back up at Rose.

“On the other hand…I could help you right now for a…relatively small fee.”

[drallinix]

Before the other girl could finish Adrian threw his hand forward illuminating the outline of the serpent in golden light. Leaping high into the air his wings spread and he flipped and pirouetted downward at the creature. Finally he landed astride its head burying his golden sword of fire into its skull. Once firmly planted he made the sword hotter and hotter increasing its brightness and temperature each second.

[Riven Wight]

Faira scarcely had time to look to Rosaline as she spoke before the invisible attacker lashed out, its attack creating a moving gap in the flames. Faira’s scream caught with a grunting groan as whatever limb the monster used knocked her away, her flames dying as quickly as they had come to life.

With a shout, Faira’s back hit the nearby wall, and dark spots freckled across her vision as she slid to the floor, gasping as she tried to make her lungs work properly again. Marianne’s voice droned on in the background, slowly turning Faira’s terror into rage. As the woman spoke, Faira’s gasping breaths blew through clenched teeth, and her gaze darkened as she glared at Marianne from beneath her brow.

She stood, letting the pain from her landing fuel her anger further.

“How dare you speak as if we’re worthless!” she growled, taking a couple steps forward, her heart pounding in her chest, and flames flickering menacingly in the air around her. “And you actually want us to pay for your help?” She snorted, her attention turning to Adrian as he attacked the creature, her awe at his power dulled by her hatred and anger. “You know,” she looked back to Marianne, hoping Adriane had killed the beast, “I’ve had enough of this place, enough of you!”

More flames spread around her, and darkness lapped at her feet like a living thing. The feel of her powers caressed her, as if searching for a way out, begging to be released at its leisure.

With the fleeting thought of releasing what of her control she had over the elements, the power flooded through her. Faira’s eyes flashed black, and her body, moving beneath the control of the magic, raised one hand, the motion serpentine. A stream of darkness rose with her hand—the snake to its charmer.

“You want payment?” Faira began, just conscious of the words leaving her lips, a dark echo in her voice. Panic spread through her as she realized her movements were no longer her own, and tried to regain control of magic and emotion, the sensation of the untamed power leaching her strength a dull, and quickly growing ache. Like a body of water, the darkness congregated around her feet, lazily pooling out in cracks across the floor immediately around her. “I’ll give you ‘payment.’”

Stop, stop, stop! she shouted mentally at herself as her body spread her arms toward Marianne against Faira’s will, the girl town between wanting the element to collide with the woman, and desiring it to stop. Please… she finished half-heartedly.

The darkness fulgurated across the floor toward the woman, weaving above and below the floor despite Faira’s mental screams. The element formed around Marianne’s feet and rose in hundreds of black, solid tendrils intended to ensnare the woman as Faira stepped yet closer to the woman, her muscles threatening to give out with each apparently elegant and strong stride as a pillar of flames rose to join its companion element.