Altarial vs. Cadence (3)
Cadence pulls two twigs from his hair and looks around the courtyard. With a little grin, he begins to beat the sticks together. Dancing about the beat that he's created, Cadence waits for his magic to begin working. At first nothing seems to be happening, then you notice that the smell of perfumed oils seems to be getting stronger. As you look around, you realize that all the bottles on the shelves have taken to Cadence's dance. They slowly spin and twirl through the air, making their way over to the lovely Altarial. Dipping and tipping, they slowly begin to pamper her. Bubbles lift from the hot spring, growing into beautiful empty spheres. They spin and drift along until they also are circling around Cadence's gorgeous opponent. You begin to wonder how this could possibly be an attack, until a large crash draws your attention. As you look around, you realize that the marble tiles, candles, candle sticks, shelves, water, and even the grass are also moving to dance with the desirable Altarial. Unfortunately the grass and water twirl faster and faster, slowly getting close enough to smother and choke, while the larger and heavier objects seem to be intent on bashing and breaking their dance partner.
Altarial lets out a groan when she sees Cadence's sticks. She watches as his magic takes effect on the perfume bottles, instantly suspicious of what this could mean, as she has faced such seemingly benign attacks in the past. Before she becomes too crowded, she takes a small pinch of gray ash from the sack tied to her waist and quickly swallows it. As the articles swirl around her in a more threatening manner, closing in on her in a smothering and bashing fashion, she twists around for a moment, trying to match their movement. As she gets into the rhythm of it, her body suddenly starts to liquefy into a bright orange lava puddle. Her face and form rapidly disappear as all that is left is an incongruous mass of glowing, heated magma. Yet the pool of lava does not seem to be completely without function or direction, as it dissipates through the threatening objects and swirls up around Cadence's feet. The blob of lava encircles its opponent like a swirling vortex and closes in upon him, which is very bad considering how burned he would be if it succeeds in engulfing his flesh.
Cadence eeks and quickly remembers to keep all arms, legs, and random limbs inside the designated no smoking section. Then he quickly realizes that there isn't any designated no smoking section. Me holds his sticks close to himself, wanting them to be as unscorched as possible. Beating his little heart out, he reaches out to the rhythm of the planets rotating around Yasa. Day and night begins to fly by in only a few seconds time, and the seasons begin to change. After the third fall has passed, everything slows down again. Having brought Kuri to the furthest place in her orbit around Yasa, Cadence has brought the land to the dead of winter. Snow falls, water quickly turns to ice, and burning vortexes of lava freeze in place. Opening his mouth, Cadence lets out a screech that would easily cause the spontaneous combustion of a million screech owls. Knowing that ice and loud noises don't go well together, the frozen vortex of Altarial blobiness is in desperate danger of shattering into billions of tiny fragments and being swept away by the wind of the winter snowstorm.
Altarial cannot find any way to outwardly vent her frustration at this turn of events, as she is now a hardened rock of obsidian stone. However, she does not fail to think quickly to avert her fate as the fear of being blown away in a million pieces grips her. Cringing at the loud screetchingness of her opponent's voice, she suddenly cracks down the middle. Another crack forms along her other side, and then another until she is in four pieces, and falls away from her position near Cadence. As each rock hits the ground a tremor rips across the courtyard, causing everything to rattle, many objects falling over and shattering. As the fourth section of Altarial-stone hits the ground a steam vent suddenly erupts through the snow, superheating the immediate area. This warmth is enough to melt the lava rocks again, and four puddles quickly congeal into one, then begin to outline the form of the young mage as she retakes her original shape. She crosses her arms and frowns deeply to Cadence, not very happy that she is now standing in the middle of a snowstorm wearing a bikini. She takes another pinch of ash from her pouch and sprinkles it along the ground, each part opening up another steam vent. Soon, the courtyard has turned from a snowstorm to an immensely hot sauna, the snow melting away at a pace so rapid that the water cannot fully escape. As more and more steam vents spring up, the entire area near Cadence becomes like a super-heated pool, threatening to boil him alive like the proverbial frog in a pot.
Cadence happens to think Altarial looks very nice in her yellow, polka-dotted bikini in the middle of a snowstorm, and is not too thrilled about the whole sauna development. Grumbling about him being perfectly capable of warming her up by himself, he looks around to find a way to escape the thickening steam. Snapping his fingers as a little light bulb switches on above his head, Cadence grins and gets to work. Pointing his slightly scorched and now rather damp twigs this way and that, he begins to create tremors in earth. Patches of black, yellow, white, and many other colors begin to form on the surface of Kuri. Mineral deposits of all sorts separate and mix as Cadence directs them with his drumsticks. Glass walls suddenly form themselves around the perimeter of the courtyard. Before you even realize what is happening, you find yourself trapped in a huge greenhouse. For the final touches, Cadence lifts his sticks into the air, bringing many varieties of plants up through the soil. The thirsty plants soak up much of the moisture in the air, growing at an exponential rate. The heat spreads throughout the greenhouse, making a very nice, tropical environment, the excess heat wafting up and out through the vents in the top. Cadence has created a nice little paradise. At least, so you think until you remember the stories you've heard about carnivorous, man-eating jungle plants.
Altarial glances around her alarmedly because she does not like being closed in, even if it is by transparent walls. This plant development does not thrill her very much either, so she quickly sets to work. She begins to whistle a little tune as she approaches Cadence and walks up and down in front of him, shaking her bootie seductively. This, she hopes will distract him from her true purpose of walking around. With each step she takes, the footprint she leaves sizzles and blackens the ground. As the number of blackened footprints increases, it becomes apparent that they seem to be releasing deadly sulfurous fumes, killing all plant life in the immediate area. That is not all, however. In this closed in environment of the greenhouse the fumes quickly devour all traces of breathable oxygen, which is needed by more creatures than simply plants to survive. The volcanic mage continues to increase the pockets of gas all around, and particularly those close to her opponent, posing a direct problem to him should he not find some clean air soon.
Cadence oogles after his girlfriend, completely falling for the trap she's set. As his concentration fails, the greenhouse and plants within it slowly fade into nothingness. The deep blue sky above them gradually becomes visible. Unable to resist her charm, Cadence sweeps Altarial off her feet, and spins her around in a seductive embrace. With his opponents feet now well off the ground, the evil footsteps of death no longer pose much of a threat, and Cadence is free to give his adorable girlfriend the kiss she deserves.
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