Shadow Slayers

"I actually d-don't have a story to tell myself. For those that don't know me, my name is Fallen. I come from the mining town of Kalzorn. Nice to meet all of you!" He said to the group, then, addressing Manasa, he said "I'm very interested in your dances. I've only herd stories about Vishkanyans. I never thought I'd get to m-meet one."

"Oh trust me, I'm not like the others." Between that and the confirmation from Celty and the Elven woman, Manasa took the okay to begin her performance.

Her movements were at first slow and plain. Basic hip isolation and shimmies that looked amateurish. Manasa looked around at the crowd and gauged their reaction, finding the perfect moment to pick up tempo and increase the complexity of her choreography. She had no music or beat to work off of, next time she would see if anybody knew how to play the drum. Manasa began to slowly make her way around the fire pit, taking things as easy on her feet as possibly while still making sure her stepped remained elegant and in rhythm. She wanted to make sure everybody got to see regardless of their positioning, flashing her teammates a smile as she drew in front of each one. He dance needed to be confident, energetic. The team need to keep high spirits and this was Manasa's best was of doing so.

When she made it back to where she was sitting, she picked her sword up with her foot, kicking it up into her hand with ease and unsheathing it. Manasa spun around to face as much of the guild as she could and then held it above her head, slowly lowing it down until it lay balanced perfectly. She looked at her guild's reaction for a moment and then began to bend backwards.

and backwards.

and backwards.

Manasa was just inches from the ground, sword still balanced on her head and arms brought forward in a wave like motion. And slip up and the sword would fall, severely injuring her. It wasn't like the props she used for ceremonies. Manasa pushed things one step further, however the danger, and began to shimmy her hips. The gold on her belt jingled louder and louder and her shimmies grew faster and wider until-

Silence.

Manasa solidified her body like a rock. Staying perfectly still in that pose for a few seconds before taking the sword off her head and sitting up, looking around at the guild to see how they reacted.

Mimisko got over her little embarassing truth and witness Manasa's dance. Mimisko was amazed Once the dance is done, Mimisko clapped and cheered.

"That was a great dance Manasa!"

Enoch looked at her in surprise as her voice grew more passionate, furrowing his brows a bit. Is she crying? He smiled softly. "The world is a very beautiful place, with a lot of things to learn from. I grew up in a very isolated community, and when my circumstances lined up and I had to leave..." His voice trailed off for a moment before he cleared his throat, "I used that opportunity to wander the world."


Enoch absentmindedly doodled a few of the continents roughly into the dirt as he spoke, pointing to the northernmost point on his sketchy map. "This place here. This was my favorite. A small town in the ice canyons up north, full of people that looked similar to our new healer." He glanced in Rezza's direction. "There's a phenomenon in the sky you may have heard of, the aurora borealis. Lights that stretch across the night sky, greens, blues, purples. It's already quite the sight for us who live further south. But in the ice canyons, the ice would refract the light and shimmer in the most breath taking way."


The priest now was just scribbling mindlessly in the dirt, sighing. "I'd go there to clear my mind during my time in that town. Nobody ventured into the ice canyons. I didn't particularly mind the cold, so it was silent, peaceful, and beautiful."


He looked back at Daryn, smiling a bit. "Luckily, nature persists whether the world has gone to hell or not. It doesn't care about the hardships of people. So if we survive this nightmare I'm sure it will still be there to experience."

As Enoch talked and continued to talk about his wonderful place, Daryn absentmindedly watched Manasa as she finished her dance. She wondered if her feet still hurt from before. Did she give her enough ointment? She left before Manasa finished bandaging herself. Now that she thought back on it, that may have been a bit rude to do to someone who had helped her regain strength in battle.

It was likely that she wasn't going to apologize for it, though. She had too much pride.



Daryn looked down at the scribbles Enoch had made in the dirt. She sighed, supposing he was right. Ignis would continue to live on, even if its population had been cut in half.

"Your place sounds very special. I hope to see it one day." She said, smiling a bit sadly at the ground. She knew full well that it was not at all likely that she'd ever get to see it. It just happened to be a nice thought.

"I hope you can see it again, too."

Enoch sighed and brushed the dirt off his hands. "Well perhaps when this is all over, the guild can go all traveling together. It's a lot more interesting to travel with other people than by yourself, there's so many places I'd like to show--"

He paused, remembering where they were and how many more hellish battles they had to go through. The guild members they'd already lost, the people who had been injured. He laughed a bit, quickly rubbing out his scribblings in the dust, his eyes getting bleary with tears. "Ah listen to me just ramble on like that. I guess it's just nice to think about. My apologies."

Enoch raised an eyebrow, rubbing his cheek with his sleeve and looking over at her in surprise as she grinned over at him. Quickly he tried to shake off his gloom, trying hard not to drag her down any further, and he glanced over at the old man across the campfire. The priest smirked a bit wryly, remembering when she smacked him in the face with the stick earlier at the church. He pulled himself together as best as he could, teasing, "More target practice, hm? Well considering how excellent your aim was with that stick this morning, I think a rock that size is too easy for you."

And probably more painful than that stick!

He handed her a smaller pebble and gestured subtly at the extremely intoxicated old hero. "5 points if it hits. 10 points if it gets stuck in his beard. 50 points if you make him think someone else threw it."