The Magi's Society

Kalesi saw her pupil run from the bandits that surrounded them. She would not fail to protect her ward, and these creatures would not stop her. She prepared all of her most vital gear for any type of danger, and now was the time to use them.

As Mevil ran, time was slowed as Kalesi’s body was flooded with enhancing chemicals from the wargear she wore. Darting past her pupil, Kalesi kicked the bandit’s spokesperson to the ground and dispatched several individuals that attempted to follow the fleeing girl. Their bodies flying to the ground in a sort of slow motion, before they hit the ground Kalesi was already attacking two more bandits that looked on towards Mevi’s flight.

The quick burst of speed was all Kalesi needed to focus all attention on her. The fast movements stirred dust and wind into a brief storm. Her pupil was out of sight as the smokescreen dust covered her trail. Kalesi’s attention now needed to be on the assailants around her, and trust that her pupil would get far enough to be safe.

Around her there were at least thirty creatures of various sizes. Most sporting unhuman mutations and repulsive deminors. The boysterous attitude was dropped when their compatriots hit the metallic ground. The presumed leader of their group, wielding a fell crimson energy blade, rose back up to his feet. Of the group he was the most normal of the monstrous forms. Sporting a gnarly gash across half of his face spreading down into his shirt, a wicked scar he wore with some type of pride. The man was almost laughing to himself, a disturbing chuckle that echoed around them, and as he did the man rose back to his feet.

When his amusement ended, the bandit leader displayed his energy blade in front of himself. The man held himself like an experienced warrior, but kept his stance low to the ground with his left hand free, curling his fingers as if to claw and tear. The bandits were surprised by the sudden blitz, but seemed seasoned, or well prepared, and readied themselves to move in to strike Kalesi. The group of villains crept closer and closer, inching inward to close off the circle they made around Kalesi.

Kalesi needed to find an opening, fighting them all at once would become her death. Her wargear assisted with fighting, and gave bursts of speed and power, but needed to be used sparingly. Too much use of the device could cause her body to erode and muscles to fail.

Kalesi drew her plasma blaster, a weapon that shot super-heated particles to melt and maim. It had a limited range, but was lethal to all but the most durable armors. The group around her had little semblance of armor or protection, metal sheets fashioned into crude barriers or rusted wargear that had long since lost its functionality. Kalesi would need to open a gap in their formation and attack them from the shroud of dust that started to settle around them.

One of the cretins jumped towards Kalesi, lunging forward to stab with some rusted metal stake. A small creature, and easily avoided. Grabbing its thrusted arm, Kalesi threw it, manipulating its own momentum. The creature clattered to the ground past her, and another enemy rose to strike her while she was distracted. Pointing her blaster under her arm, she discharged the weapon sending a wave of energized particles into the ambusher. The hot particles cut through the arm of the bandit behind her, and it wailed as it crashed to the ground. Kalesi dodged their falling body, only to be attacked by two other individuals. Both enemies swung blunt weapons at her from different angles, hoping to catch her off guard and without a way to escape.

Kalesi ignited her gauntlets, the blue energy shield pulsed to life. Kalesi’s shields were struck by the two blows, each hitting her from either side. But she did not buckle under their strength, the attacks were weak even if she wasn’t enhanced by her wargear automatically reinforcing her. With the two attackers blocked, a third moved in with military precision to strike at her unguarded chest. Kalesi activated her wargear’s enhancements, using the increased speed to duck under the speeding strike.

Using the remaining boost of the wargear’s enhancement, Kalesi sequenced her shields to become narrow and pointed. Twisting in place, she spinned with a furious speed, gutting the three attackers in an instant. While she was still enhanced, Kalesi darted past the falling bodies around her. Still wielding her shields like jagged blades, Kalesi pounced on the largest bandit she could see. A massive behemoth of a man, stone-like skin with a gray tint not unlike the minions of the Lord Councilor’s own followers. It wielded nothing but its fists, and Kalesi took advantage of its large form to scale up to the monster’s shoulders. As she arrived at the top, her wargear’s chemical enhancements wore off. The confused giant began to reach up to grab Kalesi, but she plunged her two bladed shields into its neck, discharging her blaster against its skull just to be sure of the kill.

Kalesi rode the creature to the ground, jumping back so as to land on its spine to cushion the fall. A loud crunch under her boots implied additional insurance to the creature’s demimse. In a few moments four enemies were defeated. The bandits looked startled, they began looking around as if to flee. The leader of their group called out with authority, snapping their attention back onto Kalesi. The feral shout was more like a monster’s enraged wail than any language she had ever heard. The man hadn’t moved much since the start of their altercation, and he now approached slowly with his blade at his side. Calling out to Kalesi, “Hey bitch, you really think you gunna escape?” After his taunt the man sped up to a superhuman pace, not unlike Kalesi’s own wargear enhancements.

Kalesi noticed his intentions soon enough to just barely reactivate her own wargear. The man darted forward with an arching swipe, Kalesi barely dodged to the side as the blade cut into the dead giant’s corpse. The two exchanged offhand blows, Kalesi’s jagged shield striking towards his head, but his off hand rose to deflect her attack. Kalesi managed to pull her other hand up to strike his center, but at the same time the man dislodged their own blade to block the attempt. Kalesi’s strike was powerful enough that he was thrust back and off the giant’s body.

Kalesi jumped after the man, identifying him as the biggest threat. As he met the ground and stabilized himself, Kalesi was soaring after him with a downward strike from both gauntlets. The bandit leader pulled his crimson blade up to block both attacks, but Kalesi’s weight and power was more than his own. Her assault broke through the man’s guard, and he staggered back. While he was stunned Kalesi brought up her blaster and shot, aiming for his center to ensure her accuracy. The man barely recovered fast enough to deflect the majority of the plasma away. Yet some still sprayed as the energy blade met the super-heated plasma. The man yelled in anger as his right arm was singed with dotted marks of char and burns.

The two duelist’s wargear enhancements ended at the same time. To the onlooker’s perspective they had clashed in a spray of color and electrical discharge over just one or two seconds. The bandit leader crouched against the ground, his right arm shaking from the sudden burns. Kalesi reared herself backwards, several of the onlookers had begun to move once they saw their captain’s actions. They charged forward to defend their leader. Three strikes came one after the other, easy enough to dodge but it pushed Kalesi farther up the metal pipe road.

At the edge of Kalesi’s mind, her thoughts were on the fate of her pupil. Mevi ran quickly away and Kalesi brought most of the bandit’s attention onto herself, but not all the bandits could have been accounted for. Their large raiding party likely had dredges lurking at the edge of even Kalesi’s vision. With her senses filtered through her wargear, and subsequently enhanced, she could hear the calling of a guttural voice in the direction Mevi had escaped. Kalesi couldn’t run to her assistance, as there were many bodies between herself and her pupil. She needed to dispatch these vermin quickly, but their leader in possession of wargear complicated things.

Kalesi wasn’t given much time to contemplate and strategize. The dawdling minions at the edge of the fight were commanded by their leader to charge. His angry barks summoned a wrath within his comrades, a fury and confidence to flail themselves against Kalesi’s superior skill. Several enemies lunged at once. Two from the right cut diagonally, one charged to grab her from the center, and one more was attacking her left with a large mallet. Parrying the two cuts with her energy shield, she enlarged the energy projection to push them off. The grappler was easily kicked away, but before Kalesi could pull up her arm to deflect the mallet its wielder released its grip and instead fell onto her left arm.

The sound and smell of singeing flesh permeated adjacent to Kalesi. The attacker wrapped his large body around her shield, and it cut into him. But she was partially pinned. The kicked grappler redoubled his attempt after being knocked aside, and both of the attackers on her right followed suit and dropped their weapons. All four were struggling against Kalesi to pin her to the ground. But she could feel the first, and largest, of the grapplers weakening. The center figure managed to slip past her second attempt to kick, and grabbed Kalesi’s floating leg. The two on her right were attempting to push past her guard, but she held them back by increasing the size of her shield, its power waning with the added stress of a large form and being attacked by heavy objects.

The other enemies sensed Kalesi’s weakness, and began to charge at her with their weapons, even their leader had recovered and was moving towards her with a smirk. Kalesi activated her enhancements again, and was able to entirely pick up the large form of the bandit on her left, hefting it over her head she threw him down on top of the individual grabbing at her leg. He fell forward when Kalesi deactivated her shield, thus removing his only grip on her. Kalesi yanked her leg away from the creature in front of her before the larger body began to fall forward and then on top of it. She could easily enough likewise deactivate her other shield to cause the two assailants to fall forward. Creating a tumbling mass of confused bodies.

Kalesi jumped backwards, escaping the tumbling bodies. Yet as she did so the bandit leader’s own enhancements kicked in, and the villain charged her and vaulted over his own men. Slicing downward with his blade, the creature lunged at her. But Kalesi was able to take advantage of his previous injury, his strike was slowed even with a wargear’s enhancement. Kalesi managed to duck under his flying strike, and get under him while grabbing his injured arm. She crushed his wrist with all the strength her wargear allowed, and the flesh and bone flattened in spurts of blood and shattered bone. Kalesi turned her body and threw him past herself, and away from his comrades. He tumbled to the ground as Kalesi’s enhancement wore off.

In the same moment, as Kalesi turned her back to throw the bandit leader, a bright and incredible light erupted from behind her. Kalesi could hear several shouts of surprise, and she herself barely managed to close her eyes before the illumination blinded her. Yet as it disappeared, Kalesi realized that the light came from Mevi’s direction. Had her pupil activated such a power? If so, she was almost certainly in danger to feel the need to do so.

Kalesi’s vision was foggy, but thanks to both training and her wargear she didn’t need her full vision to continue fighting. While her enemies were reeling from the sudden blindness, Kalesi closed her eyes to allow them to recover, and ignited her shields to become blades once more. She darted in the direction of the confused wails, and began cutting and slashing at where she sensed bodies and warmth. For several moments ichor and organs splattered, caking the ground around her in a mess of gore.

Kalesi’s vision began to return quickly, partially thanks to her luck of not looking at the source of the light. Opening her eyes she could see blurred images, but it was enough to continue fighting. Several enemies had fallen at her instinctual attacks, and they were cut down to size with several gashes from her repeated assault. Most of the bandits were scattered, writhing on the ground and clutching at their eyes. Some were attempting to run away, escaping past Kalesi and further down the pipe-road from where they had come. Kalesi took the opportunity to ruthlessly kill any of the confused bandits who did not attempt to flee. Some put up a defense, but most were too disabled to even realize where her attacks came from.

By the time Kalesi had cut down the last of the bandits who remained, several moments had passed. Not bothering to check where the bandit leader had skittered off to, Kalesi rushed with blurry eyes in the direction of her pupil.

Kalesi found Mevi crumpled on the ground, conscious and crawling in Kalesi’s direction. Not far off a large and disgusting figure of many limbs was desperately searching around itself in a rage. Mevi was obviously injured, in some unknown way, but Kalesi darted to the fiend and killed him instantly with a short burst from her blaster. Rushing back to Mevi, Kalesi saw that she was covered in strange black welts and blisters streaking up her arms from the gloves she wore. She must have activated her power with the modified Maige, but its strength had been more than she anticipated. The girl was alive, but in pain and mystically wounded.

Without any knowledge of the ailment Mevi was stricken with, Kalesi collected her mumbling and confused pupil. With Mevi in her arms, Kalesi darted down the pipe. Using her wargear to cushion her fall, Kalesi descended into the depths of the Pipes, one of the few places safe from fiends was below the surface. She needed to find a safe place for them both to rest, and evaluate the situation.

Descending into the Pipes, Kalesi and Mevi were engulfed in darkness. The thick haze blocked what little light was ambient in the Pipes’s surface. Kalesi could easily leap ten meters with her wargear’s natural assistance, and it was enough to allow easy travel between metal roads. After several minutes of searching, Kalesi found what looked like an abandoned settlement. Not trusting the area at its face value, she stealthily crept at the edges of the abandoned colony. After ten minutes of waiting and watching, Kalesi confirmed there was not a soul within the old dwellings.

Kalesi spotted the most secure building in the colony. An old tower, one of the ancient buildings that once covered the surface of the Pipes long ago. Kalesi carefully made her way within, her pupil was still mumbling in pain and confusion. What to do next would entirely depend on Mevi’s ability to recover, as Kalesi had no knowledge of a Magicae’s abilities or limits. The only option of early escape would be to somehow travel to the edge of the Pipes, and retreat back into the city. The distance their transport had deposited them was great, and if the Rust was infecting settlements and populations close to the edge, they would need to skirt its perimeter to escape safely.

Kalesi finally decided to set Mevi onto the ground, finding a mostly clean and flat spot where she could rest. This mission was becoming too much for the both of them to handle. Kalesi’s information told her that all local populations were running away from the Rust’s influence; she hadn’t even thought raiders and scavengers would brave the infection. Their timing and ambush was almost like they knew where Kalesi would have landed, the chances of running into such well armed and well trained individuals so close to a Rust infection… Kalesi stopped her thoughts in their tracks, before they could lead to more blasphemous ideas.

Kalesi looked down at Mevi. She was calming, and her skin almost looked to be healing. But at the rate it was progressing, they would be resting for some time in the dark depths. Kalesi set herself up to keep watch, nothing would ambush her while she guarded her pupil this time.