is this the end of everything?
STRAIA
or is it just a new way to bleed?
Between her and Ana, the wall begins to burn. She is not sure how much of it they will burn, nor is she sure what the fire will do to Brennen. In truth, she has no desire to harm him (or anyone really), but rather to get their attention. Sometimes sacrifices must be made. There’s a familiar palomino that comes to challenge them as Ana arrives, and the other magician takes care of the paltry attack. ”You will have to try a bit harder, dear,” Straia says to @[Beryl] as she finally places why the girl is familiar. ”I merely gave Sochi a gift.” Apparently news of Sochi is not common, and Straia does not offer the details of how her chosen champion had failed in her own task. No matter though, for Straia and Sochi had never sought the same ends. They had sought two different things that could have co-existed. ”Did you have some expectation that, should you have won, I would have become your lapdog, unable to serve any but you?” You, Sochi...it does not matter, really, what name she puts in there, but she chooses to reflect it back on the mare on purpose.
More pour in, and chaos erupts. It is familiar to the war Straia had once started, a war without purpose, and some part of her realizes now the waste. It had taken her a lifetime to understand it though, that war ought to be a means to an end. It is for her now, if only one of them will listen to what she said in the very beginning. Whatever magic comes toward her, she bats off. There are perks to being more powerful, particularly against children who have not had time to master their gifts.
It is not lost on her that most of those fighting are children. Was Beqanna made of young faces now? They would care little for the world they had lost, because they knew no better. Though she could teach them, she could show them. Perhaps in the end they would be easier to convince, but in the moment, she simply sees children playing at something they do not understand. She conjures more fire and it takes the shape of ravens. She sends them into the fray, the ravens swooping and diving, allowing their wings to brush against things that might be set on fire easily, and perhaps ‘accidentally’ flinging themselves in between two children to prevent someone from getting injured, as if they do not know where they are going.
One of the young dragons, one she does not know, stops to look up at her. Though her fire still eats away at the barrier, she turns her attention to him at his words. Strange, the offer coming from a child, but still, he’d used the correct words. You should take it. There might be some who challenge her, but in the end, she could take it. ”Consider it done, little dragonling.”
Then there is another mare she’d met, long ago, in the peaceful moment at the meadow. ”@[lilliana],” she says, and you would know not that chaos rages all around them by the sound of her voice. So calm and cool, so unconcerned. ”It could be alive.” Her lips curl into a grin, savoring the taste of the word. ”The Beqanna of old thrived with magic and life. Each kingdom stood for something, was unique. It was so much more than a few plots of land with too many rulers and nothing but children to populate them.” Straia’s magic knocks on Lilliana’s mind, asking permission, for Straia is not always cruel.
Should Lilliana accept, Straia will show her the Beqanna she remembers. The Chamber and the Valley, the Gates and the Deserts, the Amazons and the Tundra. It is clear in the memory that things once lost cannot be regained fully, but they can be remade into something new and something better. It would take all of them to do it though. ”No one needs to be hurt. No one needs to fear that they will not have a home. Surrender your loyalty to me and your territory, and together we can rebuild something far better than the Beqanna you have ever known.” This was all Straia wanted, truly. She wanted to remake the world into something so much better.
Her eyes turn to @[Anaxarete], wondering if the shadow magician would agree. After all, such a dream could not be accomplished on her own.
More pour in, and chaos erupts. It is familiar to the war Straia had once started, a war without purpose, and some part of her realizes now the waste. It had taken her a lifetime to understand it though, that war ought to be a means to an end. It is for her now, if only one of them will listen to what she said in the very beginning. Whatever magic comes toward her, she bats off. There are perks to being more powerful, particularly against children who have not had time to master their gifts.
It is not lost on her that most of those fighting are children. Was Beqanna made of young faces now? They would care little for the world they had lost, because they knew no better. Though she could teach them, she could show them. Perhaps in the end they would be easier to convince, but in the moment, she simply sees children playing at something they do not understand. She conjures more fire and it takes the shape of ravens. She sends them into the fray, the ravens swooping and diving, allowing their wings to brush against things that might be set on fire easily, and perhaps ‘accidentally’ flinging themselves in between two children to prevent someone from getting injured, as if they do not know where they are going.
One of the young dragons, one she does not know, stops to look up at her. Though her fire still eats away at the barrier, she turns her attention to him at his words. Strange, the offer coming from a child, but still, he’d used the correct words. You should take it. There might be some who challenge her, but in the end, she could take it. ”Consider it done, little dragonling.”
Then there is another mare she’d met, long ago, in the peaceful moment at the meadow. ”@[lilliana],” she says, and you would know not that chaos rages all around them by the sound of her voice. So calm and cool, so unconcerned. ”It could be alive.” Her lips curl into a grin, savoring the taste of the word. ”The Beqanna of old thrived with magic and life. Each kingdom stood for something, was unique. It was so much more than a few plots of land with too many rulers and nothing but children to populate them.” Straia’s magic knocks on Lilliana’s mind, asking permission, for Straia is not always cruel.
Should Lilliana accept, Straia will show her the Beqanna she remembers. The Chamber and the Valley, the Gates and the Deserts, the Amazons and the Tundra. It is clear in the memory that things once lost cannot be regained fully, but they can be remade into something new and something better. It would take all of them to do it though. ”No one needs to be hurt. No one needs to fear that they will not have a home. Surrender your loyalty to me and your territory, and together we can rebuild something far better than the Beqanna you have ever known.” This was all Straia wanted, truly. She wanted to remake the world into something so much better.
Her eyes turn to @[Anaxarete], wondering if the shadow magician would agree. After all, such a dream could not be accomplished on her own.
Straia continues to burn Brennen’s magic in hopes of knocking down the barrier or getting him to side with her, says some stuff to Beryl, accepts the offer to take Pangea (...are we sure this is a good idea? Probably not, lol), sends some fire ravens into Nerine under the pretext of burning stuff but also they block attacks between kiddos so the kiddos don’t get hurt (you can use this however you want - the ravens can shift to be other elements if you want - and she doesn’t care what side the kiddos are on), answers Lilliana’s question by politely offering a magical picture of old Beqanna and says that no one needs to get hurt if they surrender their loyalty to her and help her build a better world (sorry Ghaul, Straia is stealing your war…)
Use of mild power playing is allowed; no injuries without permission