First Connection (Training)

A whispered sigh escaped Val'Thaeiv's mouth, causing the strands of loose hair around his face to brush his skin gently. Standing in an uninhabited part of the Outer Edge, the Drow stared at the black rock that had been the sky since he had been born. Val'Thaeiv tsked, glowering at his bleak surroundings. Such thoughts only enraged him; to be unjustly exiled, and for what reason? He remembered asking the teachers that when he was still in the Academy, They hadn't known the answer.

Turning silently, the Archer strode towards the place where he had found the primary Binding Circle; the thing that held them all down here. He would sit or stand, glare at it for hours on end like that would open it, then get up and leave. He had been doing that quite a bit lately, but he didn't want to break habit. Val'Thaeiv knew that once every six months, the Circle weakened and had to be renewed; the magic embedded within him told him as such. He had already confessed this to Xelveth in a dream; no use in hiding information that may help them escape their eternal prison.

After hours of walking across the extreme outer reaches of the Dark Plain for hours, Val'Thaeiv finally came to the correct spot and began scaling the wall. Silently, he clawed his way up the sheer surface, pulling himself up into the slight tunnel that led to the Circle. He caught his breath and stood, travelling the short distance to the magic binding and staring at. The runes on his skin sang at the presence of it's brother magic, though it was weak. Six months had passed and those damned Sun Elves and Humans would be back to renew the seal once more. He hated them.

Monience kept pace with everyone else. One of the many teachers around the city told her that the renewing of something called the binding circle was about to happen and that she should go to learn of it. She didn't quite understand it but she went anyways. She was always missing a lot of information but she didn't care, it was a chance to explore and she wasn't going to turn that down.

They had reached an area with a cave and the older people who she thought were magi started doing something. When she asked they just told her to go bother someone else. Finally she got fed up and wandered towards the cave. 'I was just asking a simple question... no need to push me away...' She thought not really paying attention to anyone telling her to get away from the cave, as she explored her curiosity.

Lifting a hand that was a tone darker than the stone walls that surrounded him, Val'Thaeiv pressed it against the Binding Circle. A shock made him flinsh, but it was obvious from the weak power that it would need to be renewed or it would break. Ever day he came, he hoped that it would happen; every day, he was disappointed.

As he pulled his hand back, sparks flew from the place it had been, and part of the seal had stuck to his palm. Val'Thaeiv glared down at it and wiped it off on the rough grit of the wall. Lifting the same hand, he pressed his fingertips against the Circle and pushed, feeling them sink slightly before he was shocked again; hard enough to make him jerk backwards. Even at it's weakest it still won't let anyone from down here through. This concept made him bitter, and he was about to turn and leave when the seal started glowing. Val'Thaeiv stared at it, squinting against the bright light that they never saw in the Dark Plain. The light began to pulse, blinding him each time as it got brighter. Another pulse, but the glow didn't receed; instead, it got brighter. Val'Thaeiv closed his eyes, feeling something sucking his body forward. Another flash lit up his eyelids, and then the light disappeared. The drow blinked slightly, opening his eyes to scan his surroundings.

He was standing in a completely unoccupied space. In front of him was the Binding Circle. Somehow, it had become transparent. Looking through it, Val'Thaeiv gazed at what he could only guess as being the Upper Earth, with it's light and foliage-rich plants. Looking behind him, he saw only a murky grey; the same color as the stone back in his world. He grimaced at it and looked back, staring at the world the Exiled had once belonged to.

Monience blinked as the world around her shifted after a bright light had blinded her. rubbing her eyes and groaning lightly she opened them again to find she was in another place that was divided in half. On one side it looked like she was outside, on the other, it abruptly changed to a cave. Standing on the cave side she noticed a tall dark man with white hair. Looking quickly around she noticed everyone else was gone. She was nervous now but that quickly faded as different emotions played across her face from fear, to excited, to sad, to curious in a matter of seconds. Her wooden swords hung loosely on her back as she then walked up to the man only to stop at the place the world divided. Almost as if she was afraid of crossing it.

"Hi!" She exclaimed happily. "I'm Monience! Who are you?" She asked quickly and without hesitation. To her this person wasn't another race or faction. To her, it was just another person she could be friends with. and she was happy for it. Her eyes showed an innocence that dispite her student training outfit one would never guess she was a warrior.

Val'Thaeiv stared at the girl that had materialized before him, on the Upper Earth. He had seen pictures of both races; he could easily identify her.

"Human." he hissed in Drow, glaring at her. Realizing he had just spoken in his people's language, he frowned darkly, attempting to remember the Common Tongue from Millenia ago that he had been taught. Thought he still couldn't understand why; no one ever expected to meet a Human or Sun Elf in their lifetime.

"I do not care what your name is, human. Your people and your allies are the reason why we have been exiled, banished from the Upper Earth and the sun that was our birthright." he spat venemously, not caring that she was just a child. In his eyes, Humans and Sun Elves were all the same.

Monience was confused. "I'm sorry?" She tried to apologize but she wasn't sure for what. It was quite evident from the look on her face she was just confused. She closed her eyes and thought hard for a moment. "Could it have to do with that circle thing?" She asked herself out loud. It's true among her peers she was usually the last to understand anything, and it showed in her attitude. She just didn't understand a lot. Mostly because people push her away when she starts asking questions. Shaking her head clear of any distracting thoughts. "So Why don't you just come back?" She asked good naturedly hoping to get a calmer answer from the man.

She also caught a moment later the word allies after she's finished talking. "What do you mean allies? if you're talking about Friends I don't have any...." She said with a smile. It almost seemed that no matter what her attitude stayed up most of the time. Like she didn't know much of what was going on.

Val'Thaeiv stared blankly at the girl. Could she honestly be that stupid? Or had she simply never heard of the War of the Final Sun? No; the Sun Elves and Humans would need to retell it so that the seal could be renewed for generations after the original casters died.

"We can't come back you fool. That 'circle thing', as you so eloquently put it, prevents any of us from returning to our former homes." he growled. "As for your question, you do not need to be friends to be on the same side as someone else. Those monsters that your people sided with, the Sun Elves, are the ones responsible for this. And you humans helped them."

The Drow fell silent, scanning the girl to try and determine what she was. There was no magic that eminated from her, and she didn't wear the robe of a cleric or wizard. She most certainly wasn't a rogue or an archer, and her armor looked vaguely like something a warrior might wear, but they were trained to be vigilant and strategic. This girl was anything but. She was young...Val'Thaeiv allowed himself a question.

"What Path have you chosen? You're not a cleric or a wizard, niether a rogue nor an archer. A warrior would be my guess, but you're so pathetic looking that I question what it is they're teaching up there, and when they became so open as to let such unhealthy prospects into their schools." he breathed, never raising his voice above the angry hiss that he had begun with. Trained as a rogue, he always opted for stealth above emotion.

Monience tilted her head to the side as if it was a strange question. "I'm a warrior...I'm not very good though. I tend to miss out on a lot of info." She got a determined look on her face a moment later. "I will become better and become a strong warrior like my father. I want to help people!...just like he did...." She ended her sentence sadly. Her determination fading just as fast as it rose. She shook her head a moment later and stepped over the line that divided the world they were in. "I can help you too! just give me a chance." She said bringing her fists up to her chests staring up at the man before her. she wasn't about to let another chance slip by.

Sneering, Val'Thaeiv turned his body away from the girl, readying his bow hand if she tried to move towards him. He didn't know if an arrow would penetrate the barrier, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

"You cannot help me, Human. Not unless you are a cleric or wizard of the first division. Instead of dealing with magic that beyond your very comprehension, I suggest you run along back to your school and stay there. You will not even become a warrior of the fifth division if you don't stop with your childish hopes and dreams. They never helped anyone else, why would they you?"

Monience glared at the man. "How can you say that!? Don't you live and hope for the day you get back up here?! Don't you have hopes and dreams too!? Just because it seems impossible doesn't mean it is. I will become the best! I will!" She shouted stomping her feet, her anger growing. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "My mom used to have a saying. The difficult I'll do right now, the impossible will take a little while. She lived day in and day out by that belief." She took a determined step toward him. She didn't know what was going to happen. But she didn't care either. She wanted to help and prove this man wrong.

"Of course I live and hope that I will escape this damned prison; all of my people do! We haved hoped and dreamed that we would be released for centuries past, and each and every day that hope was crushed." he growled darkly, bow materializing in his hand. He thrust it towards her, but did not touch the circle. "It is because of your people that I have become a scourge among my own! It is because of your people that we do not remember what the sun looks like, or what water, or trees look like. It is because of your people that we are withering away beneath the earth while you all thrive above!" the bow burst into small particles that were sucked into the Binding Circle. "We have hoped and dreamed from the day our ancestors were imprisoned a millenia ago, and what has it gotten us? Nothing." Val'Thaeiv hissed, stepping away from the seal and the Human on the other side. "Dreams do nothing, little girl. It is best that you learn that now. Your mother was a fool for believing that the impossible could be accomplished, as are you."

Luckily, he thought, breaking the Circle was not impossible. Difficult yes, but not impossible. Xelveth had promised, and with each day he grew stronger. On the next renewal day, six months from now, he would shatter the Circle and lead the Exiled back to their rightful home.

Monience sighed. "You're wrong....Dreams are what keep us going.... They are what gets us up the next day and try harder than the last!" She started to follow the man determined to get her message through. "You say you cannot accomplish the impossible, but looking into your eyes I saw the truth. You believe you can get out. You hold onto that hope desperately even as your words carry them. I may be clumsy, I maybe naive, but I am empathetic, and I can hear your truth, I can see your truth, I can feel your truth. It may hurt, but the desire to get out keeps your hope alive... As is my desire to become as strong as my father, even stronger. I admit, I am lucky to live on the surface. I'm sorry you can't live up here too. but I truly want to help you." She kept following him in this strange world as the division between them got further and further away.

She didn't know where she was, but Monience didn't feel she was in danger. She was confident in her ability to dodge attacks that any danger to present itself would have a hard time pinning her down.

The bow was back in Val'Thaeiv's hand, risen, drawn and fired in an instant. He watched the stands of hair he had sliced off drift to the ground, eyes returning to the girl's face where a shallow cut on her cheek bled slightly.

"Do not mistake me for someone who will show mercy to a child. You are just like the rest of them, no matter what you say. Words hold no value with me, and your stupidity of crossing the barrier will be your undoing. I give you one chance and one chance only to return to the Upper Earth, or I shall call on my God to make sure you will never return; dead or alive." he warned, stringing another arrow for quick release. Already he could feel Xelveth creeping into his mind, conscious connecting with his own to better see what was happening. Val'Thaeiv could feel His anger grow at the sight of a Human within His domain; could feel his cold intellect work out how she had passed through the Circle and begin to decide if she could be useful to him. The Drow knew that if Xelveth didn't want her dead, she was untouchable. He let none of this show on his face or in his eyes, the murky grey swirling with the activation of his magic.

Monience stared wide eyed for a moment at what the man had done. She didn't want to fight but it was clear that her message wouldn't get across with out it. Her face took on a look of determination. as she quickly closed the distance between the two in a second she clumsily pulled her weapons from her back to attack but he just dodged and fired another arrow. 'Crap crap crap!' She thought as she dodged the airborne missile moving in for another strike missing again. He managed to jump out of the way again and fired a barrage of arrows. She managed to barely dodge the arrows, losing one of her wooden swords in the process when she tried to block one.

'He's good. I can't land a hit on him....Then again mostly my own fault....My teacher's going to kill me for breaking my weapon....' She thought as she stared down the man getting ready to dodge another attack.

Xelveth's decision was like ice in his mind; the girl was useless to Him. Murky eyes landed on the young warrior's form and Val'Thaeiv spoke a word in Drow. His arrow glowed a moment before returning to it's original color, with a black glyph on the end.

"My God has spoken. You stay and you will die; you will not and cannot escape this arrow. Leave. Now." he hissed, the final warning as he fixed the arrow to point at the girl. If she did not leave, even if she dodged, the arrow would follow. The Tracking glyph was his most used, and it had not failed once, not even against the Watchers he had trained with. Not even against the Judicator that had corrected his Path. They had been wearing sealed armor that had protected them, but this girl's would not stop his arrow in the slightest way. It would slice clean through her and all he had to do was release it. "This is your last warning, Human."

Monience growled. "Fire all you want. None will hit." She closed her eyes for a moment. 'All I need to do is concentrate...I got one weapon left. No doubt this arrow can slice through it too. Leaving me almost weaponless.' She thought about her dagger she had hidden under the back of her uniform. Her teacher found it once and scolded her for having a weapon she didn't know how to use. It was the one thing her mom taught her before she died. Always have a back up plan in place. She charged one more time dodging the arrow. It turned around mid-flight and came back on her. "What the?!" She watched as the arrow tracked her movements and kept pace with her. She tried to block it with her weapon in a mid dodge but it just broke the sword and kept going. 'Clever....An arrow that tracks it's target no matter what....even if I had proper armor which would slow me down significantly, I'd still cut clean through.' She kept jumping around getting tired quickly weighing her options. 'If I ignore the arrow, it will kill me, if I pay attention to the arrow it will kill me.... I guess I have but one choice....' She jumped out of the way of the arrow and moved as fast as she could over to the man, pulling out her dagger in the process. As soon as she got close she lunged as hard as she could watching the arrow just incase she needed to move out of the way.

Val'Thaeiv side-stepped the thrust, grabbed the girl's wrist and twisted it behind her back. Spinning them around, the Drow halted his arrow in mid air, letting it hover near the girls forehead.

"You are in way over your head little girl. I don't understand why you are so insistent on dying by my hand when you could fall on your own dagger easily enough and be done with it." he whispered, pushing her forwards slightly so that the tip of the arrow dug into her skin, making another clean cut, but only deep enough to bleed. "You are not a warrior, and you never will be. Dodging, fighting with wooden swords. The only thing warrior-like about you is your ability to under-estimate your opponent, and even apprentices know better than to do that."

Moving the arrow, Val'Thaeiv shoved the girl forward hard enough that she stumbled back to her side of the circle before falling. "Go back. You are not welcome here, and you never will be."

Monience stared at the man, holding her wound. She couldn't believe it. This man not only soiled her name but mocked her. "Next time we do meet, I will be stronger..." She had the determination in her eyes. She was done fooling around. She couldn't help but watch the man feeling reminded of someone from her past. A strong man determined man fighting for what he believed is right. She shook her head yelling out in frustration. Not only had everyone else looked down on her but this man too. She hated it. She knelt down slamming her fist into the ground. She was certain she broke a few bones with that move, but she didn't care.

Val'Thaeiv only stared at the irl. He did not respond to her words, merely watched her frustration and pain and determination and hate. The Circle between them started to glow faintly and the Drow's bow dissipated, as did the arrow. Murky eyes watch the seal shine brighter and he knew that this was the end of his meeting with a Human. He did not say good-bye, did not tell her to prove him wrong. Val'Thaeiv just watched her fade back into the Upper Earth, while the Dark Plain once again materialized behind him. The bright flash came again, and he was back in the small cave that housed the Binding.

He turned, seeing no one, and began making his way back to his camp. Once again, he would be asked where he went and what he found and why he came back at all. Again, the answer would be 'I follow Xelveth's will, and that is why I returned.'

Monience appeared in the area where the wizards were done with the renewal. An Elderly Wizard noticed the wounds and broken hand as well as her lack of weaponry. He walked up to her kneeling down next to her sensing she was clearly upset about something.

"Child, what happened?" He asked her.
Monience didn't bother to look up. "I don't know.....But I do know, I must get stronger. Who ever that man was, he'll regret what he's done." Everyone kept watching her wondering what happened to make her change so much in less than an hour.

"Child, you must tell me who he is. What did he look like?"
"If I tell you, you'll just stop me...."
"Of course child, if one of those monsters from below got up here we'd all be-" Monience didn't let the wizard finish his sentence. She stood up and walked away muttering "Who are the real monsters?" Not expecting an answer from anyone. She was upset, but she didn't know what to believe. She needed answers. She was going to study in Upper Earth learn all she can, and get stronger. Then she was going back down into that cave next chance she could to learn what they have to say... It was her only course of action. But first she needed to find someone to patch her up before she could get stronger.