Small Nameless Village - Xael Vs. Tuv

A small village in the veldt. Its buildings were made out of clay and had thatched roofs. Here and there, there were unlit torches and baskets with food in them. In the center of the village, a large fire burned while some unknown animal roasted over it. The air was filled with the rhythmic sound of hoes striking the earth, only interrupted by the squeals and giggles of playing children.
One child ceased his activities as something caught his eye. Through the wavering air of the hot veldt, he could see something moving. It gradually drew closer to the village. It was a man wearing a tattered cloak, which rippled gently in the warm breeze. Each footstep sent up a small cloud of dust which stained the otherwise dark boots. On his back, a spear glinted in the sunlight.
"Hopefully," Dyso thought, "someone here can tell me where they sent me."

There Artua sat, lazing in the sun. He had only sought to pass by, as he was in search of man with great knowledge of poisons. How was he to know that the raiders that burst from the underbrush, and over the road towards the village, would lead him to the man he sought.

Artua could not let the innocent get slaughtered, and so he fought and killed all the vagabonds, the last two tried to stab him in the back, they spent several minutes in the air, slowly suffocating... The raiders were defeated, and the village gave much praise, but beseeched Artua to defend the village for a while longer. So he stayed, for a day, and then a week, observing the inhabitants, when Artua spotted a strange man approaching the village, he stood up, and quickly walked to confront him, "HALT" said Artua aloud, "Who are you, and what business do you have here?"

Dyso is taken aback. He hadn't expected this problem. After all, there were too many others to worry about. But it would indeed be troublesome.
"私は理解していない言語です。" replies Dyso.("I don't understand your language.")
A language barrier was the last thing he needed right now.

"Pah, a foreigner" thought Artua, whilst scowling, and spitting. In truth, Artua was himself a foreigner, though he had lived in the land since his birth, a result of the secret society to which he was born. The language the man spoke, was jerky, and sputtering, whilst strangely flowing at the same time. But it bore no similarities whatsoever to any language in this area. " I have not the time to waste on this man, nor these villagers. Seeing as how this man speaks a language noone here will understand, I will act as though I am having a fevered debate with the man, him using his strange language, and me speaking normally as though I understand him, and him I. I will claim that his man was the leader of the bandits, and with his death the village will free me of this moral-servitude." Schemed Artua, that would be his plan.

"Your bandits have raided this village for the last time you cur!" yelled Artua, loud enough so the majority of the village could overhear. "As you refuse to stop the raids on these humble people, I will end the raids!, and YOU!, personally!"

With the final words having left his mouth, Artua conjured the transparent orange energy, to form a skin around his body, as well as a medium-sized kite-shield, and a long thin-bladed rapier. Artua was ready to fight.

Dyso jumps back a few meters. "What the hell? I am clearly further from home than I anticipated..." Dyso thought. "They must be xenophobic to react like this."
He carefully considered this strange new magic before him. This was completely different from his sister's magic. He couldn't feel any chaotic impulses from it. "How can such a thing be done? And without using chaos no less?" pondered Dyso as he pulled out a throwing dagger. "I must first discover what it is before i can fight it..."
He pulls back his hood, revealing his face for the first time, and prepares to defend himself.

The man seemed shocked at Artua's weapons and pulled out a dagger "Hmm it could be poisonous, i shouldnt let it draw blood,and he is a quick one too, I was wise to choose a rapier,Thought Artua, Then the man removed his hood, and Artua got a clear look at his face. "Hmmm, red eyes and white hair... just who is this man?"

Artua had decided, since his opponent was on the defensive, it only behooved Artua to take the opportunity and attack. Maybe he would score a lucky blow, and end the confrontation without much of a fight. Artua began running at the man, "more offense couldn't hurt" Though Artua, and with that thought, spikes grew from the center of his shield.

"Still more magic?!" thought Dyso. "I must buy some time until I can figure out a weak point..."
He slid his fingers over the blade of the dagger, inscribing it with disintegration runes(the next impact will turn the dagger into a cloud of metal dust). Dyso threw it straight at his opponent and quickly pulled out another dagger.
"There. This should slow him down a bit. But should I be wrong..."
Dyso focuses on his foe, ready to dodge at a moments notice.

The man had hurled a dagger at Artua, but it mattered not, Artua brought his shield to bear, to block the projectile. The shield and the dagger collided, and the dagger exploded in a puff of strange smoke that engulfed Artua.

*cough* "what is this?" Thought Artua, "It burns my" *cough* "lungs, I need to stop breathing before I" *cough* "inhale too much."

The orange energy that covered Artua's body covered over his mouth, so no more of the smoke could get in, and completely encased his body. Then it expanded into a bubble around him, sucking in air from the ground where there was no smoke, filling the bubble with air and then closing it off to give Artua a chance to assess the situation.

"Ha! The fool ran straight into it!" Dyso thought with a bit of glee.
Holding the dagger between his fingers, Dyso reached to his boot and pulled out his vampiric knife. Quickly, he completed the rune on it, and dashed towards the village. "His comrades must know something about his strange powers, and soon, so shall I." He spied a child nearby, and made that his target, running at full speed.

Artua regained his composure, finally managing to stop coughing long enough to watch his foe. When he looked up however, he couldn't see the man. Then Artua heard screams from the village behind him, his head whipped around like a new growth branch in the middle of the forest. The man was running at a small child, blade at the ready. "Attacking a child, will almost assuredly convince the villagers that this man is without a doubt the leader of the bandits that have so plagued them" though Artua "but not trying to stop him would be too suspicious."

"Attacking children, how cowardly!" yelled Artua. The villagers began to scatter, the child sitting there oblivious to what was happening, and Artua shot forth two large orange hands, to seize the man before he could endanger the villagers further.

"Hands? Does he mean to capture me, or can he not disconnect that magic from himself?" Dyso thought. "Although, there's also a fair chance he's too dim to create... a missile...?"
An idea occurred to him. Quickly, he inscribed a rune on not only the dagger's blade but the hilt as well. He threw it into the ground a few paces ahead of him, and immediately, it began to glow red. The dagger absorbed the heat from the ground around it, and built up the energy until Dyso stepped on it a moment later. There was a flash, and it sent him flying into the child.

The man had used another dagger to propel himself forward, Artua had noticed the man doing something to the dagger before he stuck it into the ground, "Some kind of physical magic? but he applied them far too quickly to truly be runes" Thought Artua, "no matter, he is in the air now, he cannot escape."

The man had almost reached his target, and Artua had to do something. Artua detonated some of his stores of mana, forcing the fingers of the hands out, towards the man at impossible speeds. With his energy coiling around the man, and beginning to restrict, Artua closed the gap between the two figures.

"His actions are now implying either capture or EXTREME stupidity. I suppose I will give him the benefit of the doubt." thought Dyso. "These hands feel unexpectedly solid though... I wonder what they are. Well, lets see how this plays out..."
Dyso begins inscribing a disintegration rune on one of the hands.

Artua drew closer, watching the man in his futile attempts to inscribe upon Artua's energy. It formed, and distorted, and washed away the inscription before it could be used for anything.

"Let us see how well you can fight after this" spoke Artua in a softly malicious voice, and he thrust his rapier at the joint in the man's right shoulder.

Dyso grunted with pain as the rapier pierced his shoulder. "Damn he's tough. I can think of only one way to make this my victory..." Dyso quickly altered the vampiric knife he still held, pressed it into the hand that held him, and plunged into himself, hoping to transfer numerous of the 'tamed' wills inside of him to his foe.
"This should have an effect on him similar to the first time I used this rune." Dyso thought nostalgically. When he first began to use it knowing what it was, he was unprepared for the massive amount of memories and the will. He remembered clearly how suddenly his world became confounded, not sure which of the two memories now in him was the real him. It helped that he knew about the rune. It allowed him to put the events back in order that way. But then the real problem arose. Suddenly, it was as if someone else was putting thoughts in his head. He would be thinking things without knowing why or when he had started. It didn't take long to realize that he was being haunted by his victim. It took a while, but he was able to focus his mind and seperate his own thoughts from those of his victim.
"Although... this man will have to contend with the several I just(hopefully) put in him"

The dagger the man thrust into the orange hands spread some taint into Artua's mind, he saw a vision of an unfamiliar land, and something fighting his mind. It spread it began to creep through the energy, drawing closer, and affecting more, but Artua wouldn't allow it.

Artua detonated the mana in the hands surrounding the man, destroying mana and life-force alike, but destroying the tainting presence as well. The force of the blast propelled Artua away several feet, and the pain, though powerful, was a pleasant relief, knowing that his mind was no longer at risk.

Dyso was thrown a ways by the blast. He got to his feet and coughed up some blood. "I'm outmatched here... I must get away. But in such a barren place, he could easily catch up with me. Unless he has something more important to do..."
Dyso pulled out a dagger and slid it under the fingers of his limp right arm. He inscribed it with a force rune. He threw it straight into the bonfire in the center of the village, causing it to billow outwards and light several houses ablaze.
"There, with that, he should try to put out the fire rather than chase me" Dyso thought as he ran off.

Artua skidded across the ground several feet on his right side, cutting up his arm. The smoke cleared quickly, and Artua saw the man get up, throw yet another dagger into a large fire in the middle of town, and take off running in the opposite direction. The dagger exploded in a blast of raw force, spreading fire to surrounding houses.

"A distraction" thought Artua, "he clearly thinks that I am here for the welfare of these people. But chasing after him, gives a wonderful opportunity for me to continue on with my journey. If they never see either of us again, they will surely assume SOMEONE died, and that will be the end of that." and Artua ran after the man, keeping pace, but ever so slightly slower than his prey.