Chapter 04 - Farusto, Jaerskov

~Jaerskov & Farusto~


The Sands of Power. The legendary plane of existence that was reserved for the powerful, the brave, and the ambitious. Here was where the gods themselves trained in battle. Here was where the legendary mages came to meditate and grow in strength. Here was where Farusto himself had found his strength.

Jaerskov had not bargained for this. Here, far beyond the realm of what he deemed possible, in the relative safety of a small bubble protecting a miniscule wizard's town - erected for the popular mage tournaments - amidst a vast, never ending desert, was truly the end of his imagination. Beside him was Farusto, a fighter of legendary prowess. In every story that featured Silverpaw or Nova, Farusto was there as well, matching the might of magic with the might of pure, unshakable brawn.

Farusto spoke. "You step out, simple. There's no trick. There's no easy way. You either do, or don't. Now do."

Jaerskov looked like he wanted nothing better than to stay put. Even in the safety of the shield, he could feel the ether of the plane itself groping around it, feeling for a weakness, trying to penetrate and leech at the energies within.

"This is where the gods train, Sensei."

"And this is where I train. And now you. Go, or I'll put you out."

"Am I powerful, brave and ambitious, or weak, cowardly, and content with living a life of mediocrity?" Steeling himself, he took a step out. Not a tentative step, but a confident stride. That confidence turned to agony as he left the protective bubble. He fell to his knees, unable to even stand as he felt the strong drain on his energy.

Farusto stepped out and stood over him, eyes cold as steel. "Do, or don't. Are you a puny human, happy with being trodden on by all the larger creatures, or are you a Draconian, the greatest of the races?"

Jaerskov, emboldened by this, began fighting the draw on his power. He fought to his feet, and he fought to remain standing. He fought to throw off the feeling of immense pressure on his shoulders.

He won the fight, and stood steadily, a Draconian, not a mere man.

Farusto attacked. He threw a barrage of punches, kicks, and tail lashes, and the training began.

In the Sands of Power, there is no daylight versus nighttime. It is always glaringly bright. So time is what you make of it. Jaerskov had no way of telling when they started, or how long they went for. Farusto never stopped, never softened. This was the way of the worlds, Farusto had said. It was "do, or do not". In this case, as it was for Farusto, it was "do or die".

Punching, kicking, and tail lashing turned to chi blasts, which turned to chi waves, which then turned to techniques that Jaerskov had never even thought of under normal circumstances. But then, these weren't normal circumstances. Then, quite suddenly, it was over. Jaerskov's right leg landed quite soundly – On Farusto's waiting arm. His other arm was held up, signaling a stop. The general crowd that had gathered on the other side of the protective bubble had long since disappeared. But there was one man standing there, waiting.

Farusto strode over to the bubble and stepped inside. Jaerskov followed, and upon stepping inside, he understood so much more. Farusto had him out there for who knew how long. It was unrelenting training; grueling, cruel, and painful. But if he had felt stronger outside, and able to reach past what he had remembered in what he remembered as the harsh landscapes of Stratus, he now felt weightless. It was as if there was no force of gravity at all in here. He wondered if this was how Farusto always felt.

The man that was there spoke to Farusto in a hushed voice that Jaerskov did not hear. Farusto then turned to Jaerskov. "It seems there is need of us on the Realms. Mark this town for your return. I will teach you that next."

Jaerskov nodded, moving to mark where he stood with his Chi. Farusto shook his head.

"Out there."

"You mean for me to teleport myself directly -- Yes Sensei." Upon seeing Farusto's face when he went to question him, he fell silent at once. He left the safety of the bubble and felt the plane attempt to leech from him once more. The training paid off, however, and he fought it off. After placing a beacon with his chi, he returned, and Farusto instructed him on how to use Chi to transport oneself from beacon to beacon. Taking Jaerskov alongside him as a demonstration, they teleported.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Arriving in Longwhisper, the massive forms of two Draconians standing at twice the height of a normal man drew much attention. As they strode through the city towards the military district, eyes followed them everywhere. Even some of the trained soldiers drilling in the military district, who had never seen Draconians before, couldn't help but stare.

Heading into the main headquarters of the district, they told the poor terrified troops standing at CQ their business, and they argued as to which one would have to stay and keep watch on these massive creatures while the other was able to safely deliver their message to the war room. In the end, they elected to play Rock, Paper, Scissors and the loser went to deliver the message. Jaerskov was unused to being seen as so intimidating, having grown up amongst his fellow Storm Draconians in Stratus.

The troop that had lost the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors returned, and bade the two follow him to the war room. Upon entering, Farusto let a great whoop out and strode across the room.

"Atila! Nova! Silverpaw!" he bellowed, eagerly shaking hands with each in turn, "This is quite an interesting meeting! I hope you don't mind, I brought my prize student. This is Jaerskov."

All eyes turned to Jaerskov, who bowed and said in a rough voice "It is an honor to meet you all."

Silverpaw gave short greetings before, it seemed, returning to a previous thought. "This is Duality; it is a rare form of magic. My limited studies of it show that it is what would occur should you fuse the psychic sphere and any sphere of the Influence path with the Fate path. It creates a new sphere of magic beneath the Sorcery path of magic called, as we know, Duality. Depending on which sphere of Influence you chose, the result would be different each time."

"And how is this magic cast?" Nova asked, "This caster must have a specific mark you can note"

Silverpaw nodded sagely. "It is really quite genius. He wrote runes directly over the irises, overlapping each other, giving them the distinctive grey color. There's the flaw in that, which is that the necessary runes made it impossible to cover every single bit of color in the irises, which is what gave it away."

"And does it show who wrote these runes?" Atila asked.

"I'm afraid not. It is very difficult to track the casters of runes without a sample of previous spells. Every caster has a signature, very much like everyone has unique handwriting. However without having some sort of sample from this one that we know of, it could be anyone that hasn't run into the MIC before. And that could be a lot of people."

Jaerskov was lost here. He knew little more magic than the Chi within him and the racial perks of being a humanoid dragon. Farusto nodded with some understanding. Atila, Nova, and half the officers and NCOs in the war room, however, had darkened expressions. Farusto spoke in his deep voice.

"That means this will be very difficult for us, obviously. Is there anything else we can do?"

"I suppose so. I myself will personally investigate this abroad, and I would urge Sergeant Haze to put a task force with an MIC member of my choosing to follow leads here in Cypress."

Kyzo spoke up "It will be done. This will not be my own group. I'll be choosing Sergeant Proudfangs to head that group. He is reliable."

Silverpaw nodded. "Nova, Farusto, will you be so kind as to join me in my search?"

Both Nova and Farusto spoke at once with a decisive "yes" and Farusto continued with a further thought.

"Sergeant Haze, would you allow my student to go with you?"

Kyzo looked slightly surprised at the request and spoke carefully "I had thought this a matter of stealth, but I know that I will likely end up abandoning this pretense sooner than I will have wished. Yes, we would be honored to have Jaerskov along with us."

Nova spoke up. "I will be sending my own student, Kayden, with you in my place as well. He is an able mage with prodigal skills and will bring much to the table." It was not a question. Kyzo nodded.

"That makes myself, Jaerskov, Kayden, September, Serren, and --" began Kyzo, who was interrupted by the noble whom Kyzo had threatened.

"Is there any more business, or is this meeting adjourned?"

Atila nodded and dismissed those who wished to leave, Kyzo glaring mutinously at the nobleman as he left.

"Is there anything else you need of me before we're done, Sergeant Haze?"

"No Sir, I've actually got to go arrange for my departure."

"Carry on, then" Atila said, after Kyzo snapped a salute at his dismissal.

Jaerskov followed Kyzo, with permission from Farusto. He spoke to Kyzo after they left the headquarters.


"If I am being sent with you, and Nova's favorite student is as well, who exactly are you? You do not look like any of the others in there. Frankly, you look like any old common thief."

Kyzo snorted. "Not common. I am Kyzo Haze, personal apprentice of the ninja Alucard. And this is my city. Yes, King Dakota runs it officially, but I was born in the deep pit that is the Roots of the city."

"The Roots?"

"It's the 'bad parts' of town. The ghetto. I was an urchin living there before Alucard found me."

"Ahh... And you are a..."

"A ninja of the Watcher clan, and soon to be commander of the Anti-Rogue Operatives units at large. Across all the Realms."

Jaerskov didn't know these names, but figured being commander of an entire group of units across all realms was very significant, so he simply said "Wow" and allowed Kyzo to continue the conversation.

"Kayden, September, Serren, Silver, you, and myself. I want this force to be small, but formidable. With a Draconian who also happens to be the personal student of the legendary Wagon Biter, we are on a good track for formidable, but lose points on small."

He and Jaerskov laughed together as they made their way to the Watcher headquarters.

Meanwhile, Farusto, Nova, Atila and Silverpaw remained in the war room. Atila was speaking.

"I don't like being on the sidelines in a war, Silverpaw."

"This isn't war, not yet." Silverpaw replied.

"Well, I would sooner join you three or one of Haze's teams than stay put."

"There will be need of you before long. Once the person who's been doing all of these runes has discovered that we've uncovered his secret, I'm sure he'll be forced to put whatever plan he has into action."

"I suppose. So what will you three do?"

"I plan to hunt down and interrogate Rasstik. Rumor has it he resides in the old home of Wrasslin, and if the three of us go, chances are he'll be willing to speak without opening hostilities."

"Now you're just teasing me." Atila said as Farusto chuckled. Nova looked troubled at this.

"Silverpaw," he said, "Do you think that's wise?"

Farusto gave a derisive laugh and banged his chest, interrupting Silverpaw as he opened his mouth to speak.

"HA! Wrasslin was weak then, and he is weak now. If he is fool enough to try and attack the three of us – Three of the most legendary fighters known to this age – He'd be sent back to the void that he reveres so much."

Silverpaw shrugged in a resigned manner, nodding as if to say "yeah, pretty much."

"It won't be just Rasstik there. Along with his students, you'll remember that god-damning Divine Slayer, Ty Lee, that Wrasslin was so fond of."

"TY LEE! That little girl, I will crush that sneaky little slippery thing. She won't escape!" Farusto boomed.

"Do not underestimate her, Farusto. She is prodigal. I'd say she's as skillful as you. Maybe not quite as strong, but surely quicker." Atila warned him, remembering a previous fight. "Austin and I encountered and fought against her together.

"Skillful as me? Skillful as ME?" roared Farusto, beating his chest again, outraged.

"Enough, enough. Atila, this city will need you soon. I will be going with Nova and Farusto to the Temple of the Blackest Shadow in Abyss. Haze's personal team will be going where he wills, and the other team will fan out around this realm and do their scouting."

Atila grudgingly agreed to this, and the three of them parted.