A Reminder of Home (Lorena)

[Maxwell Tendas]

Water ran down his face and dripped off his fingers as he entered the Sandlot, looking around the area ruined from a recent, desperate fight. It was a fight he had apparently taken part in, and yet did not remember at all. From what he'd been told, he had been vaporized by some sort of magical beam attack from a large beast called a "Heartless", and had somehow come back in a flash of light, leaving him with his mind wiped of all memories. It had been nearly two weeks since that had happened, and he had only regained some of his memories. They seemed to come back to him in the order in which they were made, effectively, and frustratingly, forcing him to relive his entire life in the process. After his encounter with Avari on Market Street just two days prior, he had recovered another small stint of memories. These newest restored memories brought him up to the point where he had been taken from his home and sent to the military academy of his home, Dryden, by virtue of his powers over water. 

He raised his gaze from the Sandlot itself to the sky above, closing his eyes and reveling in the feeling of the rain. It was something, so far as the memories he'd regained told him, he had always enjoyed. His ability to "feel" water filled him with intense sensations whenever it rained. It was as if he could feel almost the entire town. It was an almost intoxicating feeling akin to the rush and excitement he was beginning to feel in battle, but less frantic and more soothing. With rain such as this, even though he was soaked, the feelings it gave him put him at peace, a rare feeling for one from his home world. 

His current feelings of peace were interrupted, however, as he felt something rise up, seemingly from the ground, nearby. Without even opening his eyes, he could tell the shape of it, and knew it was the smaller variant of Heartless that these people called "Shadows." Nearly a dozen of them materialized on the other side of the crater he stood next to, standing there eyeing him. In response he opened his eyes and drew his sword, staring them down as water drenched him and ran down his entire body. He drew a deep breath as the shadows began to run towards him, all grouped together and practically stumbling over each other as the small heartless had a habit of doing. As they did so, Max felt the exhilarated rush mix with the peaceful bliss he felt from the rain, the sensations sending shivers up his spine as he began running forward to meet the Heartless. As they came near to closing on each other, he summoned the light to his hand and released it in a bright flash at the little black beasts, blinding them and stopping them in their tracks.

As they slowed to a stop, blinded, he barreled into them, swinging with his sword in wide arcs. As he did so, he could feel the razor sharp blade cut through the rain, and feel the Heartless puff into a black mist. He continued running past the Heartless before quickly pivoting and, grabbing  the rain, sent a wave of water into the Heartless to knock them off their feet. He then pressed his attack, relying on whatever muscle memory he had to tell him how to strike. Within moments, he had turned all the shadows to black mist, leaving him alone in the middle of the crater with the rain. With a large smile on his face, he returned his sword to its scabbard. He closed his eyes, raised his arms, and tilted his head back towards the sky as he just stood there and enjoyed the rain. It was more relaxation than he'd been able to have since he'd been resurrected without his memories, and he intended to enjoy it...

[Lorena]

It had only been a short time since Lorena arrived in this world, but it seemed to be in worse shape than any she had seen so far. With many of Twilight Town's towering buildings either collapsed or crumbling, and some streets scarred from some massive battle she had not been present for, this place seemed to be on the brink of destruction. The shattered moon in the starless sky watched over the survivors of this world, likely a painful reminder of how dire their situation was. Lorena might not have seen what this place looked like before now, but she was almost certain it used to be better shape than it was now. After Lorena's experience thus far, Twilight Town was likely fated to fall to the heartless like so many other worlds. And still, she hadn't discovered a way to stop the heartless.

With her hood drawn, she stood on the rooftop of an intact building, overlooking much of the city. She might described this place as frozen in time with how quiet and stagnant her surroundings were, but eventually she watched as dark clouds rolled in, bringing rain along with it. She must have been standing at this vista point for longer than she realized, as she tried to decide on her next course of action. Her attention was drawn to a small clearing nearby, the epicenter of some massive battle, presumably against a powerful heartless, and she watched as a lone man stood at the center of the broken and cracked earth.

Shadows appeared around him, and though she unlatched Whisper from her back, he didn't appear to need her assistance as he drew a sword and blinded the creatures with a blast of light. It wasn't until she saw the behavior of the rain around him that her grip on the bow tensed. She had not yet encountered anyone from Grendam since her home world was destroyed, but she knew better than most how to recognize this affinity with water the man possessed. It was not ordinary magic, but one that came at a great cost, preventing any other forms of magic from being cast. And yet, the man had used some form of light magic, despite that what should have been an obvious handicap, and the sight deeply disturbed Lorena. She had come to understand that all conflict within Grendam stemmed from a hunger for power, and if Grendam were to ever be restored, this man could be extremely dangerous if he happened to share whatever secret he seemed to have come across. It would be just one more thing to wage war over, and the panic Lorena felt refused to let that happen.

With her unstrung bow, Whisper, in hand, she raised it in his direction, taking a deep breath as she began to summon the arcane energy at her fingertips to form the arrow that would strike him down. Under her breath, she muttered, "Forgive me, Relana," as she released the conjured arrow from her hand, aimed at his back to pierce straight through his heart as he was busy basking in the rain. The arrow was a bright beacon of light on the area, so she would have to make this quick so she could move on before drawing too much attention to herself. Conflict always seemed to have a way of bringing about more heartless.

[Maxwell Tendas]

As he stood there, enjoying the rain, he felt something else move in the water nearby. It struck him as very human-like, though he had a hard time telling for sure because all he could see was the outline of it. He lowered his arms and head as he felt it move in the rain, and turned to face it. It was lucky he did, as just as he turned the thing in the rain released some sort of glowing bolt of magic straight for him. With quick, instinctual reflexes he flung himself out of the way, and the bolt harmlessly impacted the ground behind him.

With a growl and a glare at whatever, or whoever, it was he drew his sword. He then reached out for the rain near his attacker, gathered a bunch of it up and wrapped it around their leg to yank them down from their perch and down to the street below. He then advanced on his assailant, sword at the ready.

"You just screwed up big time," He shouted at them as he began sprinting forward, sword held high and ready to bring down in a killing blow...

[Lorena]

Lorena watched as the man dodged her first light arrow and immediately readied himself to retaliate, but she seemed unperturbed if only slightly annoyed that this fight would have to drag out like this. He drew his sword angrily, and then reached his hand out into the air, and she had to react fast. As the rain formed around her to yank her off, she used the last few moments of grounded footing to fire another bolt of energy, but this time she shot wide, and the bolt began to arc in midair, rounding back on towards the water-wielding soldier.

The next moment the water around her dragged her off the safety of the rooftop, and she embraced the momentum as she rolled onto the ground upon landing. She drew two feeble looking daggers from her belt, and as she rolled forward towards her opponent, the blades became emblazoned with light, extending their reach into full sized daggers as she swung at him. Just as she was attacking him from the front, her arrow was about to hit him from behind, and as much of an advantage he had in this rain, he would have to react fast to dodge her attacks this time.

[Maxwell Tendas]

The woman fired off another bolt of energy that went wide as he yanked her from her perch. She managed to right herself and land lithely on the ground, and pulled what looked like a pair of broken daggers. A moment later, though, some sort of light began forming around them, extending the blades to be full size. This woman was very dangerous, and for some reason she seemed to want Max dead. He couldn't even begin to guess as to why that would be.

He didn't have time to think it through, though, as she charged him with her magical daggers. He responded in kind, charging at her with a loud cry and his sword at the ready. She swung one of her daggers at him, but he ducked underneath the blow. As he did, he felt a sharp, hard pain in the back of his left shoulder, but ignored it as he launched himself forward, throwing his shoulder hard into her waist area. He used his momentum to grab her and lift her up off the ground, and then slammed her down onto the ground in front of him on her back. He then held her to the ground with one hand on her chest, and with the other delivered a punch straight to her jaw.

Panting from the effort, he righted himself and stepped back a couple steps to inspect his shoulder as best he could. He had a small puncture wound in the back, and another small one in the front. He wasn't sure, but maybe she had some sort of control over the trajectory of the magical arrows she had been firing. It wouldn't be the strangest thing he'd come across here since he'd lost his memories. He studied her for a moment as he stood there, before he began to notice that she wasn't dressed the same way as most others here in Twilight Town. She was dressed more like something familiar to him in the memories he had recovered. Like she was from Grendam...

One of the memories he had already regained told him of an order that served the Gods Relana and Azeran. They lived on Tarsin Cape, and were the sole practitioners of a kind of magic only the Gods could bestow upon them. However, they were required to give up their ability to control the elements in the process, throwing away a gift that the world itself had given them. It was for that reason these Acolytes were eyes with suspicion and disdain by nearly the entirety of the rest of the world's population. She seemed to fit the bill for one of the Acolytes. But the question was, why was she here attacking Max?

"You're from Grendam, aren't you?" he asked her, picking up his sword from where he had dropped it, eyeing her as he did, "You're one of the Acolytes. You served the Gods."

He returned his sword to its sheath and summoned light to his hand as he continued, "Why the hell are you attacking me?"

[Lorena]

Her attack left him with little options to react in that short instance, but she hadn't expected what came next. Taking the brunt of the arrow through his shoulder, the soldier barreled into her, his sword clattering on the ground as he did so. In her surprise, the swipe of her daggers missed, and she was on the ground in the next second. As she fell, the leather hood over her face fell to her shoulders, and she took a fist to the face as punishment for letting her guard down.

As the man stood up, Lorena spit the blood out of her mouth, the rain weighing down on her silver hair as she looked up at him. He was astute enough to realize she was an acolyte based only off the magic she fought with, and having it pointed out to her did give Lorena pause. He then sheathed his sword and his hand glowed with light that had a hazy afterglow from the raindrops around it. Her expression hardened at the sight, and he demanded to know why she had attacked.

"You can use magic without casting aside your power over water. How?" She looked up at him in anger, uninterested in answering his questions. Her head was still spinning from the impact against the stone floor, but she still managed to get back on her feet as the light faded from her blades. "Was power over one of the elements not enough for you?"

Her grip tightened on the daggers in her hands, knowing that he wasn't entirely defenseless with the rain still falling around them. She also still wasn't sure what he could do with the light in his hand, but if all it did was brighten and dim, she could handle it. Whatever his magic may be, it seemed a far cry from what she had learned from Azeran and Relana. Where her light was conjured and given physical form, his appeared to be no more than a functional torch.

[Maxwell Tendas]

He stared at his attacker as her hood fell down, revealing silvery shoulder length hair that quickly got soaked in the rain. He raised his "light" hand towards her while she struggled to her feet, clearly still dazed from the blow he'd delivered to her jaw.

"You can use magic without casting aside your power over water. How?" she asked, glaring at him angrily as the light on her weapons dimmed, "Was power over one of the elements not enough for you?"

"I didn't fucking ask for this!" Max shouted at her, unable to control the flash of anger that passed through him at her attitude, "You don't know what I fucking went through, how I got this."

He intensified the light in his hand and pointed his palm directly at her. While it wasn't enough to blind now, it would be easy to intensify it further to do so. It was also an aggressive stance, since there was almost no way this woman would know what kind of magic he was capable of. For all she knew, he could shoot beams from his hands that could incinerate her, like he had been.

"I didn't ask to die the first time, and I don't intend to experience it a second time," He said, more calm this time as he glared back at her angrily, "Now answer my damned question: Why did you attack me?"

[Lorena]

Lorena's eyes narrowed as the light emanating from his hand brightened, clearly a sign of warning should she try anything. As he started shouting at her, claiming that he hadn't asked for any of this, gave Lorena pause. She just assumed that he was yet another Grendamite seeking to empower himself, an insult to everything they had lost. But there seemed to be more to the story, and it sounded like his words held some truth, considering how quick he had been to anger; then again, she did just try to kill him. He even claimed he had apparently experienced death before, which came as quite a shock to Lorena, but was difficult to believe.

He then demanded she answer his question yet again, and she remained silent for several moments, trying to get a better look at him in spite of the blinding light and the pouring rain. "For all the time I have spent in Grendam, there is one thing that has been made abundantly clear to me. All anyone from our world wants is power, and they'll kill each other to get it, wage war to acquire it. If our world were to ever return, and our people learn what you can do, it would be one more thing for them to fight over."

As she spoke the words aloud, she seemed to reflect on it for a few moments after, and grew silent as she studied the soldier. She knew her reasoning would not be enough for him, and perhaps she had underestimated him. She realized now that she had acted in anger and bias more than logic and reasoning, and that much she regretted. But this power he possessed was still dangerous, she was certain.

"You mean to say that you've died? If that were true how are you standing here in front of me?"

[Maxwell Tendas]

“For all the time I have spent in Grendam, there is one thing that has been made abundantly clear to me,” the woman responded, seemingly glaring at him through the blinding light in her face, “All anyone from our world wants is power, and they’ll kill each other to get it, wage war to acquire it. If our world were to ever return, and our people learn what you can do-“

“I’d be a glorified lantern! All I can do is make a light,” he said, glaring back at her as he cut her off. He dispelled the light from his hand and stood there, hands at his sides, as he stared her down in the eyes, “And you thought because of that, i’m too dangerous? That I should be killed?

“Spoken like a true Grendamite,” he snorted out, unconscious anger clear in his voice, though he wasn’t sure why.

He kept his gaze fixed on her as the rain fell around them, his connection to the water as well as the adrenaline in his system heightening his awareness of everything around them. He tried to recall whatever he could about the Acolytes, which wasn’t much. They had lived in the most north-western corner of the world, on a small peninsula where the gods Relana and Azeran had also taken up residence. They had all been talented with their elemental gifts, but had given them up in order to learn the gods’ magic, which was perceived by the rest of Grandam as turning their backs on their people. This view of the Acolytes was somewhat less-widely held in Dryden, but was still common to find among the citizenry. Max himself never really paid the Acolytes much attention, at least not in the memories he had regained so far.

“You mean to say that you’ve died?” She asked, breaking the momentary silence that had settled between them, “If that were true how are you standing here in front of me?”

Max snapped out of his thoughts and his eyes fixed onto her once again and the rainwater ran down his face. He let out a sigh and said, “That is none of your business.”

Not that I could tell you anything even if I wanted to, he silently thought to himself before continuing to speak to her.

“I should kill you for attacking me like that. It’s the Grendamite way,” he said, lazily resting a hand across the pommel of his sword, “But I won’t, because this isn’t Grendam and we’re the last of its people. Besides, it would be moronic for us to kill each other when this world needs help so badly.”

He gestured around them at Twilight Town around them as he finished his last sentence, letting his arm fall back to his side as he stared the acolyte down. As he began his next sentence, he tightened his grip on the pommel of his sword.

“Unless you’re here to help the Heartless...”

[Lorena]

"You don't understand, the mere fact that you can wield any magic at all is impossible, the very source of your power over water prevents that, and now-" Her explanation was cut short as he referred to her as no different than anyone else on Grendam, a statement that cut deeper than any blade could.

She had convinced herself that she attacked because he was a danger to Grendam, perhaps not directly, but she could imagine the nations fighting over him to discover whatever truth he had unlocked that allowed him the use of other magic. But Grendam was gone, and they could very well be the last of their people. She... she hated her own people, and had allowed that to cloud her judgment, and that made her no better than a power hungry Grendamite.

Her gaze fell as she processed her foolishness as he continued speaking. He seemed content with ending the fight there, though reminding her that killing is the Grendamite way, another sharp comment that cut deep, and noting that they shouldn't be killing each other when this place is in such dire need of them. He hesitated as he said this, however, realizing that she may not be on their side, even going as far to suspecting she was helping the heartless!

She looked up at him sharply, "Of course not!" The idea of siding with the heartless, after destroying her home and so many other worlds, it left a twisted feeling in her stomach. "But I've seen them destroy more than Grendam. Blades doing nothing against them, and there seems to be no end to their numbers. How can we possibly stop something like that?"

The last world she had found herself in had been her best chance to learn more about the heartless, as the sage of that place had been spending his time researching them. But in the end, she feared his research may have caused the very destruction that he was trying to prevent. And Lorena didn't no any more about the enemy than she did when they lost Grendam.

[Maxwell Tendas]

“Of course not!” The woman responded with a mix of shock, anger, and disgust on her face at the mere mention that she might work with the Heartless. She didn’t pause before continuing, “But I’ve seen them destroy more than Grendam. Blades doing nothing against them, and there seems to be no end to their numbers. How can we possibly stop something like that?”

He studied her where she sat on the ground for several long moments, weighing her reaction. She certainly seemed genuine enough. Besides, even someone from Grendam wouldn’t stoop so low as to work with the Heartless to spread the darkness. He considered options on what to do next for several moments before finally deciding. He stepped forward with his left foot and took his hand from his sword, extending it out to her to offer a hand up off the ground.

“I believe you,” he said as he did so, maintaining eye contact, “And there is a way to fight against the Heartless. They can’t be killed with anything but a magical weapon called a Keyblade, and we have a few people with keyblades here helping us.”

Supposedly, he thought silently before continuing.

“Even without a Keyblade though, we can still force them to retreat back wherever they come from to heal. So we can still help.”