239 Star Shaped (1/2)
Mason stood beside his younger brother and began to unclasp his scabbard from his belt.
”What are you doing?” said Li. ”Use your weapons. Elsewise I will hear excuses about not being able to use your full strength.”
”But-,” said Mason as he looked down at Tia, the dragonling barely even reaching past his knees.
”Just do it,” said Li. ”Or you'll make her even more annoyed than she is.”
”That's right,” said Tia as she crossed her arms, haughty expression on her face as she leered at the two brothers.
”She's a dragon, brother,” said Mercer as he unsheathed his choice of weaponry: two daggers. Basic steel daggers and quite old, it seemed, with how worn and discolored with sweat the leather handles were. ”And trained under the guiding hand of the divine seer no less.”
”You are right,” said Mason as he unsheathed his longsword, grasping it in both hands. He took a battle stance, his feet evenly apart and his posture slightly lowered to match Tia's height.
They had good builds, to be sure. Lean and athletic, more oriented towards moving quickly than overpowering things with brute force. No doubt a product of their environments – it did not do well for street rats making a living by sneaking and slinking to be lumbering hunks of muscle. Explained their relatively high agility stats too.
”Papa, can I go all out?” asked Tia as she fidgeted, eager to show off her strength. Her eyes of green and black were afire with mystic light, and the nubs of her wings were beginning to poke through the back of her long tunic.
”Stay in your current form, Tia,” said Li. ”You will have plenty of opportunity to loose your strength later, when we start our journey.”
It would not do for Tia to suddenly transform into a massive dragonling, despite how much she wanted to show off her strength. It would spook the brothers far too much, and he wanted to teach them a lesson.
A lesson that he did not intend to be harmful to them physically.
Well, that was his intention. He had little idea how much Tia herself would or could hold back. But Li could always heal any dismembered limbs or shattered bones, so there was that.
”Okay, papa,” said Tia with a little sigh. The light around her eyes dimmed, and her wings sunk back into her form. She smiled at the brothers and held out her arms as if hugging the open air. ”So, when we start fight?”
The brothers looked at Li, and he shrugged. ”Whenever you two want.”
Mason looked to Tia with extreme caution, sensing that something was definitely off here. It was evident that the boy was caught in an indecision where he wanted to take a step forward but felt it wrong to do so against a child while also feeling from gut instinct that if he did, he would be severely hurt.
Mercer, on the other hand-
”Victory comes to those who seize initiative!” he shouted, dashing forwards with low posture as he twirled his daggers mid-air, repositioning them so that their blades faced downwards.
Halfway to Tia, Mercer's form disappeared as if swallowed by a sudden burst of shadow. He emerged directly behind Tia, daggers ready to strike. Looks like he had used a skill called [Shadowstep] to close some distance while entering temporary stealth.
A basic Assassin skill, perhaps one of the first ones learned.
Tia's lengthy ears twitched, and she cocked her head curiously. Her tail lashed out from behind her like a prehensile whip, crashing into Mercer's chest with an audible impact. The boy hurtled backwards, flipping twice or thrice before he landed flat on his back, eyes wide open and coughing from having the air knocked out his lungs.
”Wow!” said Tia as she turned to Mercer. She pranced up to him, standing over him with her hands behind her back, and gave him a beaming smile. ”You disappear! Like sister Sylvie!”
Her smile faded into an almost worried look. ”But… you are slow. Too slow. Not healthy, maybe?”
”Good distraction, brother!” shouted Mason as he charged forwards, finally putting his indecision to rest. His longsword was held at waist-level, ready to swipe at Tia or cut downwards.