by Redsparrow » Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:38 pm
Edit Finished!
Ren was vaguely aware of Shahar's approach. The world was beginning to spin again, his vision was getting more detail oriented and his sense of smell was fading slightly. The weight of Anita began to lessen and he was sure he would be able to stand if he wanted to. Looking down at his arms Ren noticed them growing, the fur, bone and muscle stretched and expanded. Before his eyes the black fur picked up golden hues, stripes began to twist attach and expand, forcing the black fur into patches. His snout shortened and long whiskers sprouted. Leopard fur...He was a leopard. The fur pattern matched almost identically to Anita's.
Being male he was a little larger then Anita now and able to shifter her off of him. Standing up, he felt her body slide away. The world still spun a little but he no longer felt the pull of smells around him. Instead he began to hyper focus on any movement or noise. Ears pricked and eyes wide he wiped around franticly trying to make sense of everything. An urge to hunt, pulled at his senses. Any little movement in the group heightened the temptation of digging his claws and teeth into flesh. His eyes focused on Shahar as she came to stop near the group. Instinctively Ren lowered his stance into that of a hunting position. Inching ever nearer to Shahar his eyes dilated and his ears pricked. Tension in his legs and back similar to a loaded spring readied his attack.
Jharna shifted from her rabbit ability. Here eyes looked wide and scared as the wolf that Anita had pinned to the ground began to shift into a leopard. Her mother had told her about Ren's punishment, but she hadn't realized it was this major. It would appear that he possessed the ability to copy the ability of the last shifter he touched. She hesitated to do anything, not knowing how well her magic would work on a Elemental Shifter.
His change into a leopard followed by the obvious intent to attack Shahar signaled action in Jharna, his wild behavior would be worse now that he was so large and could endanger everyone in the group. Her eyes fell onto the dark brown leather band around Ren's left hind leg. It clung just above his ankle and shimmers slightly with green and blue writing.
Ren had disobeyed orders years ago, his strong will had landed him into a heap of trouble that had almost ended his life, the details of which she knew little. As a last stitch attempt to keep him under control, the King and his high court had ruled to place a modified slaver band on the way-word prince. This act was kept highly secret, with only a handful of people knowing. As with most slavery bands Ren was highly protective of it and kept is as secret as possible. He was sworn but the rules of the band to protect it with his life.
Jharna knew the band was altered, and that it didn't do what normal bands did. She didn't know the premiss of the controls or how to activate them, but it was the best way she knew of stopping him from hurting himself or others. She had to give it a try. Quickly she pulled water from the stream, with a smooth motion she began to incircle Ren. The water spiraled around the leopard until creating a sphere around him, inclosing him from the world and lifting him off the ground. Slowly small flakes of golden color began to show in the water, they twisted and began to from the letter of the ancient language that was used for magic.
The water of the sphere was smooth and only the shifting of the glowing golden flakes shown movement. A figured could be seen inside, its movement slowed then stopped. A bright light began to show inside the bubble and as it did the leopard collapsed. The water lowered Ren to the ground, the golden flakes vanished when his body touched the earth again. Jharna then returned the water to the river in a continues stream, leaving Ren motionless and still in leopard form.
After the shock of Ren's behavior and Jharna's action Darth cautiously approached Ren's body. He observed the leopard for some time before figuring out how she had been able to render him unconscious. Slavery bands, he thought and shoot Jhanra a look of pure hatred. Darth who had been waring gloves and a long sleeve leather coat did not allow for skin to skin contact, the unknown source of Ren's ability, leaned over to pick up Ren. Darth noted Ren's size, it would be a challenge for anyone to move the creature. He also noted how he was the most likely to be able to return Ren to the camp, which was the best option for everyone. With great effort Darth hoisted Ren's body over his shoulders and made a beeline for camp, he was unsure of how long he would be able to cary the leopard or how long Ren would stay unconscious.
Jharna looked shaken and pale at the sight of Ren's motionless body.Darth's harsh expression triggered the flow of tears running down her face. Five years ago she had discovered Ren's slavery band, it had been during a training exercise. The band had been struck, damaging the spell. It threw Ren into a state of extreme defense as the band triggered a protective behavior and caused Ren to lashed out attempting to kill anyone within sight.
Grim had struggled to gain control over Ren long enough to fix the band. She remembered the look on Ren's face as Grim used his magic to hold the prince still long enough to work on the band. Pure hatred and aggression unlike his usually behavior, it was so foreign and strange to see him like that. When Grim removed the band Ren's face went blank. Gradually his eyes flickered back to life, then without warning Ren panicked. Attempting to flee, his efforts to escape was so extreme he drew blood pulling against the shackles. This left deep wounds around his wrists that to this day shown as scars, scars that he usually hid under gloves or wraps.
Instead of using magic to calm Ren, Grim talked to him, asked him to remember why this was happening. What was going on. This calmed the prince who grew pale and began to plea with Grim, hid did his best at attempting to barter with the man. Saying that he didn't want to return to the dark. Grim refused his plea. To which Ren asked how long it had been since he was last without the band. Grim hesitated to answer, sorrow filled the old mans eyes. Not releasing Ren, Grim took some time to talk to the prince. Ren's demeanor was desperate despite his attempts to stay calm, after Grim finished the repairs on the band. Ren's eyes and body filled with defeat, he lay limp against the restraints not raising his eyes to look at Grim as he approached. Once the band was re-applied Ren's body and mind seemed to re-boot. He looked around dazed. "What happened?" he asked. Grim explained he had been knocked out during battle. To which the event ended. The memory caused Jharna to slide down the tree she had been standing by and covered her face with her hands, she couldn't hold back her tears and they quickly began to make her body shake.
Once reaching camp Darth lay Ren near the fire and carefully placed a blanket over his body. Covering almost all of it before turning to Reza who had been woken by the commotion and looked confused. Darth pointed to Ren's left leg and added "He be wakin up sore. Better gettin ready now."
Ren's body, cold to the touch lay motionless under the blanket. The dark brown leather band with ancient writing that shimmered green was slowly changing to blue. The very print of the spells that were weaved into the band were changing, but no one was there to see the changes, yet. The magic tingled and upheaved the very workings of Ren's mind, as the water mage's magic took over the brace, Grim's magic faded. Memories that had been erased or altered were returning. What was unknown was how the spells would be changing, and what lay in store for the slavery band and Ren's freedom.
Reza looked pale and sick over Darth's gesture, but that didn't stop him from working to prepare a tea. Reza knew that Jharna must have used her magic to knock Ren out. He could tell from Darth's gesture that it had been down using the slavery band that Ren had been forced to wear for all these years. He knew far to much about the band, and was willing to explain what needed to be said, since Ren himself was unable to even acknowledge the band. Reza watched the approach of the rest of the group. His eyes serious he watched each person, waiting for their reactions and debating on how to answer any question.
"We are going to die...... That makes us the lucky ones."