ORIGIN

Reseda sighed, a little bit annoyed that he insisted on running instead of fighting. "I thought you would at least show me the skills that I thought you had. You can imagine my disappointment in seeing you running around like a puppy." It wasn't with spite or with any noticeable intention of trying to make him mad or gloat, it was simply her speech and she said it in the same cold, monotone voice as always.

There were still a number of spells she could pick from. But he had already dodged too many of them. What spells did she have that he couldn't dodge, no matter what?

A sudden idea came to her head. Well, it was more like an old memory resurfacing. Of darkness and nightmares, of a horrible creature, smiling and screaming in her ears, in her head, in her soul. And the tiniest bit of something filling her like fire and ice. Was that emotion? Was that fear?

And with magic she didn't realize she had, she set this to Astaroth. It wasn't clear, more like images and sounds and feelings broken into pieces, but she sent it anyways. She locked onto where he was and set along the memory of the worst emotions. The fear and despair. And the pain. The pain that the monster had sent to her, she sent now to Astaroth.

Who needed imagination. She had the memory of someone's else's idea, and effective idea. There was no reason not to use it if she could.

Now, it seemed, she had begun to make him angry. She would have felt a grim happiness or a deep satisfaction, if she could feel anything. But she could not so she simply watched as he lost control a bit. Raising bones and pelting them towards her, just like she had done to him moments ago.

She chuckled humorlessly. He was copying her, wasn't he? "Now who's lacking imagination?" As the bones got closer, she let out a burst of magic that turned into a shockwave of energy all around her. As the bones were hit by the shockwave, they were thrown off track and fell to the ground harmlessly. If Astaroth was close enough, it was possible that he would be thrown away as well.

Reseda simply stared at Astaroth as he delivered his short, dramatic speech. And she watched with emotionless eyes as he completely missed his target and instead hurt himself, falling in the bones. If she had the capability, Reseda would be laughing. But she did not so she did not laugh. Instead she simply made an observation. "You words do not match your strength."

Words didn't mean strength. Strength didn't require words. There was no use for words so Reseda said no more and instead sucked in a great breath. At her giant exhale, her magic was forced into the air. Within a couple of seconds, a tornado was racing around the two of them, although harmlessly passing around her. Bones were whipped into the air by the force of the gale and she directed it towards Astaroth, hoping to either catch him in the wind or hit him with the many bones. Or both.

As the wind died down, Reseda, for a moment, lost concentration as she avoided the bones that clattered down around her. She didn't notice the build up of energy behind her until it was too late. Her body was being pulled into the black hole. She tried to dig her claws into something sturdy but the only thing at her feet were bones, which were dislodged immediately. She was falling back, her claws scraping wildly at something to catch her, her survival instincts kicking in as she wildly grasped at anything. But the black hole was roaring behind her.

An incredible pain wound up her body from her tail and she cringed, trying to pull herself forward. It was like something was crushing her tail to nothing, ripping it off from her body as she tried to escape the pressure until, after what seemed like forever, the spell ended and she was left panting on the ground from the effort, her tail hurting more then anything had ever hurt before.

She glanced back. Any other creature would have been sick at the sight. Any other creature would have felt dread and horror. But Reseda did not. At the sight of her tail, mangled and crushed, beaten to a bloody pulp, she was only impressed by the power of the spell. She had never managed to catch someone herself.

She turned to Astaroth, pushing the pain to the back of her mind for the moment, despite how much it hurt. "Impressive," she rumbled. "I can see why I idolized you in my youth. But we are both strong. What does this battle prove?"

Reseda narrowed her eyes. Astaroth's arrogance was really starting to get on her nerves. She tried to think back to the time that they had spent together as master and student. Had she been like that? Falsely powerful and full of herself? Perhaps that was what had driven Pride away from her, arrogance that this sorry excuse for a wolf held as his only strength. "If you had simply asked, I would have given you your information. You are older then me but you have much to learn."

She then proceeded to turn around, bringing her destroyed tail up to her face, and bit off the blooded end. There was a shock of pain before she activated her magic quickly. The end of her tail stitched together, the blood stopped flowing so freely, and the pain dulled to a throb. It would scar, yes, and the end of her tail was lost forever, but it wasn't a huge deal to her. She had her magic, after all.

She turned back to Astaroth and looked him over. "You are giving me excuses. I have not fought for many cycles and I was recently wounded bad, but still I fought stronger then you."