Ekim vs. Cadence
Cadence ponders and decides to hit the possible new mage with his favoritest attack ever. Pulling two twigs from his hair, he beats them together in the sound of a heartbeat. Within seconds, his opponent can feel that this rhythm matches that of his own heart. Cadence begins to slow the rhythm down, the beat of his sticks controlling the beat of Ekim's heartbeat. There's not much time before Ekim will become incapable of doing anything from lack of blood pressure, and not much more time before the poor new mage will cease to exist in the world of the living and breathing.
Ekim watches as Cadence takes two twigs and begins to make a rhythmic motion. His heart begins to first race and then slow down, beat by beat it becomes fainter until Ekim leans against a tree. Caressing it he passes the rhythm of the twigs onto the tree itself which absorbs it into its own rhythm of life. Ekim looks at cadence with his red eyes and slowly begins to speak the ancient tongue of the saemahs. Slowly the leaves from the trees begin to fall all about the area covering the ground like a snowfall. Ekim speaks again and the leaves begin to swirl about the small path. Each edge as sharp as a knife. A motion of the hand and the twisting of the leaves reaches a fever pitch as they surround Cadence and begin to close in on him, threatening to rip him to shreds
Cadence watches the leaves with curiosity. He stops his rhythm, as trees do not need a heartbeat. Smiling, Cadence enjoys that autumn sensation for a few moments before deciding he should rid himself of this danger. Putting his drumsticks together again, he creates an enchanting rhythm that makes everyone who hears it want to dance. The clouds begin to float about in unusual patterns, the grass rustles, the trees sway back and forth as if to an unseen wind, and the swirling leaves line up in a nice little single file line and dance away rather harmlessly. Turning to his opponent, the Master of Rhythms giggles hysterically. With a flick of his hand and a few seemingly senseless words, Cadence plops down to the ground and collapses into a fit of giggles. The oh-so-sensitive mucus glands in his opponent begin to work much faster than would be considered normal. Runny noses and yucky globs in the back of ones throat can be quite an inconvenience, but when you make their creator works harder and faster, they can be quite dangerous...in the whole joking and drowning scenes.
Ekim looks on as his opponent starts yet another rhythm affecting everything around him. As the leaves float away Ekim finds himself swaying back and forth. Soon feeling a tickle in his throat and the back of his nose. He begins spitting and sneezing uncontrollably as the pool seems to get larger and larger. Ekim dances over to a nearby tree and takes a small branch from it. He shoves the branch down his throat and into his nose, causing slight bleeding, the itchiness relieved by his actions. He begins to speak while still dancing. Speaking to the sticks in Cadences head Ekim coaxes from them small roots and fibers. Swiftly he moves kicking the Mucus pool. A small wave directed at cadences head to act as fertilizer for the new trees which may take root causing insanity
Cadence eyes his twigs oddly as they start moving and growing. With an expression of surprise on his face, he throws the sticks at his opponent's feet. Pulling another one out of his hair, he looks at it to make sure that won't happen to all of them. Satisfied that only the two he was using are effected, he puts it back in his big mess of purple hair. With a sigh, Cadence begins to make odd clucking noises, which become faster and faster. Holding his hands out to his wayward drumsticks, he adjusts the subtle rhythm of time. The sticks continue to sprout and begin to grow and an amazing rate. Cadence hopes that since the sticks are not made from trees, that perhaps Ekim's control over them will not be quite so strong. However, the sticks act very much like a tree would in fast forward. They begin to grow roots and grow up very quickly, rising at an extraordinary rate. Before long they have made their way high up into the sky, their trunks becoming quite wide. Their branches twist and twirl, swinging this way and that, creating a nice mess of twiggy knots. They seem to be intent on capturing the victim nearest them and perhaps crushing and twisting him into their knotted web.
Ekim realizes that the sticks are wood, yet not wood. As the two are thrown he looks in awe as they begin to take on a life of their own. Seeing them move as if in a exaggerated state. He sees them begin to take the shape of a net or web of sorts. Ekim slowly moves drawing the web to him and closer to the nearest tree. He speaks the tongue and gathers a bough from the tree. Praying over it as the web closes in he grows silent. Ekim crouches inside and plants the bough saying one final prayer The Bough explodes into a flaming torch which burns the web away while protecting Ekim in a small pocket as the flames die down. Ekim speaks quietly so that cadence cannot read the syntax of his voice and as cadence waits a huge rumbling is heard as roots of two mighty trees erupt from the ground. Gnarled, twisted, and pointy as swords with a word Ekim sends the roots towards Cadence to impale him into the trees behind him
Cadence mutters to himself and takes a deep breath. His body seems to expand a bit at he draws in the air. With a little wink, the little green man exhales a sharp, strong breath. A small laugh fills the air as Cadence lifts off the ground and goes flittering around in all sorts of different directions while deflating like an escaped balloon. Within moments, all that is left of the oddity that is Cadence is a little speck in the sky, far away from any danger below.
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