The First Age

Weaving pure threads of red he illuminated himself. For a moment only he was fully visible, then faded into the darkness. Wrapping himself in dark blues and browns he whisked away from the hunter without a word.

She is hunter, maybe a hunter of me. She knows my kind? So there are others.
Manix knew he couldn't be the only one, but had never had so firmly confirmed that fact. The Aacendancy, of course he knew who that was but was he like him, and why continue to call em God-ling?
Heading to to hidden home, he needed to pan out some new disguises. Time to find the books he needed, hopefully all the Scrimshaw had arrived by now.

There was a glimmer and a man showed up he looked oddly familiar but Aria couldn't place him. But he was gone before she knew it. "I take that as a no..."
Aria sighed and wondered when the vision would wear off. Maybe Nox could have untied it but he wasn't here. Stupid godlings think they have the answer for everything...

Aria heard a noise behind her and she started in that direction. The enhanced vision was almost more annoying than goggles and Aria disliked wearing the land warriors but it was handy to have. She actually missed them, the HUD was very nice.

She was going to have to figure out how to fight with the heat vision on if her father attacked her. Aria stalked through the rocks and the rubble towards to sound she heard. She suspected it was her father, but it could be anything or anyone down here, but she didn't feel anything - so it was either the so-called helpful godling or her father.

((*pouts* you are no fun just up and leaving like that ))

Giordano continued to hear his daughter speaking to someone in the shadows but he was too busy finding another way around to sneak up on her. Sadly he slipped on a rock and it scattered across the floor and he knew that was the end of his surprise.

She was a skilled hunter - he knew this. He should have ran when he had the chance, but his own ego had gotten in the way. Giordano would have his daughter dead. She was an abomination!

There was no point in hiding any longer, he stepped out of the shadows with his gun drawn straight at the little wisp of a girl holding a sword. He smiled at her. "Well, well. Lookie what we have here. A little girl with a knife. How quaint. Your boyfriend, at least had sense enough to be afraid of me." Giordano didn't hesitate this time, he aimed and pulled the trigger feeling the knock back and smiling gloriously at the image before him....

Words drifted to Manix, "boyfriend? afraid?
. Turning around and quickly but in full "Marine" mode, that any of his crew would have ran to seek shelter, he headed back.

Manix could not see himself but knew what he was "feeling" and knew what others would now see. Manannan Mac Lir had consumed his form, as the old God would sometime do when Manix's temper flared, or the worst of storms hit his ship.

Now aura's of deep, ocean, blue and white capped waves surrounded him. He vowed not to let the girl die, at least not by the hand's of her prey. Would he return in time?

Her father stepped out of the shadows and Aria saw the gun and knew the moment the shot fired it was going to hit it's mark.

Aria wished for Nox at that moment. They hadn't really tested walls of air against bullets yet. But it was better than not. Aria hurled her sword at her father. It left her fingers as the bullet lodged itself in her chest. Aria stumbled backwards from the concussive force of the bullet and fell to her knees.

The world crashed in on Aria, everything with in her emotional radar coalesced in on her as she sank to the ground. The pain from the soul crushing weight was more than the wound itself and Aria's mind went wide with the emotions.

A man and a woman making love, another couple fighting. Monsters hunting nearby. The world was an ocean and Aria was dying under it's watery depths.

Images sharpened and Aria saw things clearly ...

Manix "saw" the scene unfold in front of him, like a dream. Manannan Mac Lir was in control now and Manix felt the fury of the sea's boil forth.
he saw the hunter fall even as her sword struck home.

A powerful burst of of white threads, Manix knew to be air wrapped the killer in air, dead or alive, he did not matter yet, Manannan Mac Lir was there for the hunter. The abandoned halls was washed in deep sea blue as He washed upon the scene.

The fury of Manannan Mac Lir faded as Manix once again became himself and he knew what he had to do. Only once before had he done this, he did not think he let the power flow thru him and let Manannan Mac Lir fading spirit guide him.

HE WILL NOT HAVE YOU!



A lite probe of air found the bullet, sending in threads of water and earth he slowly pulled it out in the same path it entered. Threads of fire entered behind the bullet, cauterizing the damaged smaller veins. He Froze, an Artery had been hit, blood was filling the void between the lung and the lining surrounding the lung.

Weak in spirit he sent in the best thread he could to mend the severed artery. Before the Artery sealed he used air to draw the blood from the "plural space" and pushed it back into the artery system, infusing the the air used into the blood to add oxygen.

Near exhaustion he probed her mind with what little spirit he could muster, finding a black area he could only feel as hate he sent a final thread of fire to burn it and air to surround it, blocking it from effecting any other part of her brain. He had no idea what effect this might have.

Finally he finished removing the bullet and sealed the wound. I would scar, he had not the strength or talent to make it perfect, but if her spirit was willing, then her body would live.

Done with the hunter he drew his twin daggers to turn upon the would be killer, was he still safely tucked away or did he need the strength of the God's to fight past his own mortality and exhaustion?

Giordano felt the recoil from the gun and watched as the girl flung her sword at him. He tried to move but found the tip of her sword plunging into his chest perhaps not at the intended mark but with enough force he could feel it pierce though to the other side.

A horrible figure road up in a phatom of ocean glory and even before Giordano fell to the ground he couldn't move. He lie dying in the grips of some unseen hands and what was left of Giordano's consciousness panicked. What was going on...

But there was little left of his awake mind, he felt her pain. He felt nothing from the oceanic figure. He didn't see the man morph back to himself nor did he see what he'd done... he could only feel what was left of his abomination of a daughter before he slipped forever into the blackness.

The pain was unbearable. Aria wasn't sure which was worse the pain from the world around her or the gunshot wound, but everything of her own emotions barely registered - the world was collapsing in on her. Darkness consumed her...

Images flashed in front of her eyes. They always said your life flashed before you in your final moments - Aria had not believed them, and she wasn't sure it was her life she was seeing. Emotions flooded her mind that were not her own - the images pulsed and shifted with them.

Father Dmitri's image flashed through a myriad of images that Aria recalled from her childhood, but they weren't comforting. The hardness of his gaze. The lack luster look in his eye when she actually did something right. Images of sparring, of books and of the one person who at the time had meant anything to her. His name escaped her in the images that flooded her mind - the love gone so long ago.

Antoinette came into view with her lovely hair and her french accent. The hunter and the teacher - the only one to treat her like a person. But still she feared Aria - everyone had. Everyone should... she couldn't help but thinking to herself as images of all the people she'd saved over the course of her career as Atharim.

The pain of the tattoo on her arm - both times radiated through her mind. The image of her father and his desire to hurt her and the damage he'd done to her by killing Lucas. The images of the girls who had been tortured by the man in that damp dungeon and the mysterious man who could wield the power of the gods who had saved her.

The happiness of Lucas. His painting, his drawing, his smile... soon it was all replaced with the harsh reality of Dane Gregory. He'd made her. He'd changed her. He'd put that last peg in the right hole. He pushed at the very fabric of Aria's being in one glance.

The pain of her current situation was nothing compared to the pain he'd caused her...

Darkness fled, pain lessened... and then there was nothing....

Aria blinked her eyes and saw a man standing over her father. Her last images still reflecting in her mind... "Dane?"
It couldn't be Dane, Aria tried to shake herself awake but everything hurt, she felt weaker than she knew she should be but then again she should be dead. Aria closed her eyes and drifted into the emptiness of nothingness where her visions of death lingered but they would not consume her.

Standing as alert as he could, with so little strength left he looked closer at the would be killer. Dead
, he whispered, good i have no need to decide his fate.
. Releasing the bonds of air he heard a single word "Dane"
.

Turning toward the girl, he no longer saw her as a hunter: Now Lass, what shall I do with ye? Leave you to the winds, or continue to interfere?
Pulling out a small whistle he blew a standard naval call, enhanced with air, using what little power he had left that he could use safely.

Manix slumped to the floor to rest and wait, knowing help would being coming. Where to take this wisp of a thing?
He placed his hand in the flask, tho it no longer held, nor needed the sea water, he felt the healing power of his home sea's.

Soon 2 burly men appeared, his 3 mate and and Chief Carpenter. His third mate, who stayed hidden from this city was dressed as always, as if he was on Manix's fishing vessel, Chief however was donned in clothes of a upper class servant, he had chosen to portray himself as a "Gentleman's Gentleman". Chief served in Manix's upper home, the one the public could see, 3 mate Sarn, always remained in the bunker below, awaiting orders or carrying message via the "Storm Cloud" to Manix's father.

Captain! we be at ye service.
Chief said, Sarn rarely spoke, at least they did't salute, he had strict orders about that when not on the ship, or in character.

Take the lass to my main house, Chief. Care for her, summon a Doctor if need be. If the "Cloud" is still in port, summon the Ship'd Dr. Treat he as you would have me own sissy!
That last statement hurt, for she had passed at 15 from a strange illness that had swept the world. The look on Chief's face was enough for Manix to know his words struck home.

Now go, I shall arrive shortly, she my be disoriented and combative, calm er, but by no means is she to leave til im there. That may be harder to enforce than you think so whip the smirk off your face!


Chastised, both sailors "snapped too" AYE AYE CAPTAIN!
To tired to correct em, he watch as they gently carried the girl to his main home. The upper house was very nice and fitting for a high middle or maybe even a lower-upper class person, he hoped he would get there before she awoke, but first he needed his underground bunker. He need to see the latest shipment from his father.

((OCC)) Since this thread is ending for us, lets continue it in "New Home" listed in underground city.

continued herestarting post #3