Post by Delashano on May 6, 2014 0:07:40 GMT -5
Jenn sighed as she made her way a bit further out into the castle’s property, there was quite a bit of it and for today’s bit of training she wanted to be as far away from the castle proper as possible, she had no interest in being joined by any of the others, the only ones she could feel any level of personal trust towards were Bear and Anri, the issue with Bear was that there still was a chance that he had turned and as well being TOO close to him if he hadn’t would make his efforts to get on Kemuri’s good side more difficult, she had her own plans on how to work with Bear that if done correctly might even end up helping in that aspect along with providing the drunk warrior with a clear message that if he DID truly betray the Earth that it would be her wrath that he would face, as for Anri well.. she WANTED to trust him, wanted even to be friends with the Vennor but his loyalties lay with the highest bidder and she had no money to offer and even if she DID have any it would likely pale in comparison to what Kemuri could offer as King of the Earth and of course her backup plan had failed utterly as Anri wasn’t one to risk ‘confirmed’ payment for the potential of a wish. Jenn scowled slightly at the thought. She should have held off on that, she knew as much now, attempted when they were friendlier with one another but she hadn’t been thinking clearly and as well there was no telling exactly how long they had.
Jenn let out a huff at the thought of her foolish actions, now she avoided Anri out of spite, he represented both a person she very much wanted to become friends with while also somehow representing a number of aspects about the nature of people that she despised, namely greed and a lack of care for others. It still disturbed her slightly how little Anri cared that he would likely be ordered to kill someone as young as Carla. But still despite these glaring faults he still managed to accomplish seeming like a decent man he seemed to understand her on some level which was a rare feat to say the least. Aside from Anri and Bear the others were simply utterly untrustworthy and it was easy enough to rule them out as people she wanted around. Finding herself far enough from the castle Jenn put aside thoughts of the others, she had better things to do, namely working out the secrets of the Staff, she’d neglected to work with it because truthfully she didn’t really know what to make of it. Simply HOLDING it had provided her with much of what she needed to know of the staff, if attuned to its wielded properly it would grow stronger based on its wielders strength and at the same time expand the powers of its wielder, such as all the tricks it had provided Erebos with, unfortunately it hadn’t provided information on which techniques of the Unity agent had been provided by the staff or had been talents he had already possessed. All that she knew was that it had provided her with the Efreeti Flame Tongue, a technique that’s name had come to her somewhere out of her subconscious.
It made a certain amount of sense that it had brought out an ‘Efreeti’ technique, she knew little of her heritage and what it meant for her abilities overall which meant that if there were Efreeti techniques that should be ‘normal’ for her she didn’t know them but the staff was enough to bring at least one of them forth and oh had it been useful, it had done quite a number on Anri throughout their battle, provided some fun when dealing with Rosen, and of course had been her key to victory against Agent Saruto. Jenn frowned slightly at the thought of Agent Saruto, that was not a particularly pleasant memory enough so that she almost immediately drove it away in favor of summoning forth the staff from her its spot on her wrist like drawing it like a sword from a sheath, despite the clear age to it the weapon was of impressive make now that she had a chance to really look it over, she could not quite identify the wood that made up the majority of the mystical artifact but she was almost certain the golden hoop at its head was made of mystically treated gold, drawing it close Jenn could see a vast array of ancient runes scripted into the gold it was tough even for her to follow the meaning behind them and that made it very clear that whoever had created this staff had put immense effort into it.
Twisting the staff around in her grip a few times Jenn gave it a few more practice swings, the balance on it was thrown off slightly by the metal hoop, manifesting a training dummy jenn began testing various ways of wielding the staff to see what worked best a few minutes of work yielded one very important piece of information the staff was VERY powerful at first Jenn had started off light not wanting to risk damaging the weapon mostly just testing to see the quality of the gold, when done properly mystically treated gold could very easily match any other metal in durability but of course if it was NOT done properly then it would likely end worse than using actual gold as a weapon. But the power coursing through the staff made it quite obvious after a time that everything was in order, with that jenn had begun to push a bit harder with how much strength she put into swinging the staff and found that no matter how hard she pushed he staff would hold strong, the testing of its durability was also more than enough time for her to find a few good methods of wielding the staff, the best was of course focusing on attacking with the golden hoop, it had a sharp edge that could do some very serious damage and the staff was light enough that wielding it in one hand was actually an option. Definitely a big plus as it gave her a solid weapon to use alongside her shields.
Now that she knew she actually enjoyed using the staff it was time to work on becoming more properly attuned to it, the information that had been implanted within her mind by the staff indicated that simply receiving power from the staff was not the true extent of the staff, you needed to actually create a bond with the weapon one that would fuel the staff as much as it fueled it’s wielder. Taking a seat on the grass Jenn placed the staff in her lap, meditation was a bit part of how she forged her bond to the items that acted as her vessels, and so to Jenn it made enough sense to attempt to bond with the staff in a similar manner SHOULD work well enough, the only sad thing was that there wasn’t any chance of accidentally placing her ‘lamp’ binding onto the staff and thus removing it from Kemuri, she needed him to be involved in the process for that to work and Jenn was rather doubtful of the hyena’s interest in such.
Taking deep breaths Jenn began clearing her mind and slowly focusing her energy toward the staff, on the outside smoke would begin billowing around her and coalescing around the staff however deeper than that Jenns energy was actually mingling with the staff itself working into the wood and gold until finally Jenn’s eyes snapped open as she reached something deep within the staff, another energy source that at first felt quite foreign but with a sudden shift it became VERY familiar as the energy within the staff quickly split off. As Jenns eyes opened and her vision came into focus she held her breath, it couldn’t be, there was no way. Looking up Jenn’s gaze fell upon a familiar face sitting casually in front of her.
“Hello Jenn” Astos said giving her one of his ever frustrating grins that Jenn had half a mind to jump at him and start strangling the idiot, of course that temptation was held back by just how joyous she was that he was HERE she didn’t even care HOW it had happened, but soon Jenn realized something was just a bit off about Astos, namely that she could see through him and her expression fell as she realized he was not truly back, this was some form of his spirit, close but not quite there “Astos.. How?” Jenn managed after a few moments, even if she knew he was not REALLY back it was still an astounding feat that his spirit was here at all especially so long after his passing. “That’s a rather interesting story, you see that.” Astos said pointing to the staff still sitting in Jenns lap “was a staff created by an ancestor of mine, the Staff of One. He used it to ensure that are family would have as much magical strength as possible having as many of us bond with it as possible to ensure that there were many mystically talented individuals in the family and hoping that they would pass on the trait and when they DIDN’T he would have those children bond with the staff, because once your bonded with the staff properly once the talents stay with you even if you pass on the staff. Eventually the staff was stolen but the work had already been done and we were a mystical family that even if a few were born without the talent already accessible we had enough with the talent that we could teach them.” Astos said taking a moment to pause and let Jenn take the information in.
“Now I don’t know much about what happened to the Staff after it was stolen from out family but now that you know that bit I can explain why I’m here. As you know the staff takes as much as it gives, never in a damaging way but it sort of makes a record of the power of the people that it has belonged to and from what I can tell nobody outside of my family has TRULY bonded with the staff until now and even we never quite reached as far as you did. It figures you would be able to go deeper considering that you’re a bit more acquainted with the concept, you touched the very core of the staff the culmination of hundreds of my family members additions to its mystical core and in response the staff tried to make contact right back at you, it was not about to send just anyone though just a random member of my family would not really MEAN anything so it wend a bit deeper, pulled from your memories and worked its magic to extrapolate from my family to bring ME here” he said with a laugh “Not sure how long I’ll last but I do know that the staff has a purpose for me, it wants me to show you what it can do because it can’t show you itself. So we’re lucky, we get to spend a bit more time together and I get to play teacher again, I’m so glad it went with my younger appearance, this would have been a pain to do as an old man..” Astos said with a laugh as Jenn sat stunned by the knowledge.
“So you’re not actually a spirit?” Jenn asked, it was the simplest of her millions of questions as she tried to grasp at everything she had just been told “Not quite, pretty close I’d say but I’m more like a magicaly infused memory. I remember everything of our time together, even my own personal memories, things you wouldn't have known such as my work during you’re time with the people of Earth. I’m not quite sure what I’d classify myself as really.” Astos said with a shrug “I’m probably the next best thing though” he said with another laugh before powering up slightly and in doing so his form began to become more solid until finally it was as if he were really there “Well that’s an interesting development.” Astos said looking just as surprised as Jenn “How... I don’t even … Astos stop breaking the universe!” Jenn said running her hands across had face and through her hair in a mix of confusion and frustration.
Astos laughed and she heard him jump to his feet “I don’t think I’m actually any more ‘real’ now than I was before, just a bit more solid that’s to all the energy. I appear to have access to as much energy as you and oh man Jenn have you gotten strong. “ Astos said earning a small laugh from Jenn “There we go! No more of that sad look Jenn.” Astos said before taking a look around “Where are we?” He asked answering one of the other questions Jenn had been meaning to ask but far too overwhelmed with the situation to get out, evidently Astos’ memories were limited to only what he had known. “A very long way from home… Were probably a couple thousand years away from when I last saw you Astos.” Jenn said doing her best to keep a fairly neutral expression, Astos was clearly quite surprised by that revalation as he rubbed the back of his neck “Wow… How has everything been?” Astos said not entirely sure where to even begin now. “Things went very well for a while, Vitam did an amazing job its too bad you couldn't have seen him.” Jenn said bringing a smile to her face briefly as she thought of him “After Vitam things didn't quite go very well, Hazezon did his best but there was a magician who made life on Earth VERY rough, I don’t even really know what happened fully we needed to use all of my wishes and.. well nobody was able to reclaim my lamp and when I was next awakened in this era the Guardian didn’t even know who Hazezon was let alone you, Vitam, or Sei…” Jenn said with a heavy sigh deciding not to mention her frustrations over the presence of the other Genie.
“Not long after I was released Kaladar was captured by a man named Kemuri along with the King of the Earth.” Jenn said earning a raised eyebrow from Astos both from the idea that a Guardian was taken down by a normal man AND that there was a King of the entire Earth “A number of warriors were summoned to try and aid them and take down Kemuri but during the fight Kemuri revealed that he had my ring, stole it off of Kaladar, I’ve been forced into his command ever since and he’s gearing up for one big final battle against Kaladar and the others.” Jenn said with a heavy sigh deciding to leave out the bit about UNITY for the time being “I… wow I’m sorry Jenn. “ He said earning a shake of the head from Jenn “Not much you could do, I just need to hope that one of them can get the ring away from the bastard. Then I’ll show Kemuri why the old stories painted such a bad picture of me.” Jenn said her eyes darkening as she balled her hands into fists.
“But in order for me to do that I need to get stronger he’s very powerful and right now I’m not able to use all of my strength because of these.” Jenn said holding up her arms to show off the bracers Astos was about to ask about them but halted when jenn gave him a familiar ‘I’ll tell you later’ look “Well then I guess we should get to work? You've already made the bond with the staff so everything you get from it from here on out is yours forever, most techniques that it brings out are unfortunately not as easy to bring out as the first. That’s just its attempt to pull SOMETHING, the others take work just like normal. But before we get on with that I think it would be best for you to see exactly what the staff is capable of.” Astos said earning a nod from Jenn “And I’m guessing your plan for that involves a spar like old times?” She said pulling herself up to her feet as she gave him a smirk; it was much easier to put aside the negative feelings with how positive Astos always was. “Perhaps not QUITE like old times. I think now I might have a pretty decent chance against you, I DO have as much power as you at my disposal after all” He said flashing her a grin, it had long been a bit of a point of amused frustration between Jenn and Astos that he simply lacked the power to stand against her in a fight he had many unique abilities but Jenn was able to match that with abilities of her own topped off with raw power and skill in combat. Jenn chuckled as Astos sunk into a combat stance manifesting a staff similar in design to the Staff of One “Well I suppose this will put the old debate to rest then wont it? “ Jenn said slipping into her own fighting stance as she twisted the staff around in her grasp finding herself actually somewhat excited for the coming battle, her fight with Anri had been good certainly but a chance to spar with a version of Astos that was as strong as herself was almost too good to be true.
The battle started without a single word with both Jenn and Astos darting at each other weapons clashing the two matching each other blow for blow however each time Astos’ staff properly clashed with the Staff of One the wood of his staff would start to crack and splinter a few more blows and the regular staff wielded by Astos split down the middle as he used the last of its strength to defend against a hard swipe from Jenn Astos quickly pulled back as he discarded the broken weapon “As you can now see Jenn the Staff of One is a much tougher weapon than a normal staff, my ancestor never wrote down exactly what it was made of but whatever that wood is it reacts well to being wielded by powerful people, the staff is generally very strong before a bond is formed and AFTER it then it can reach a level of strength comparable to its wielder, I’m not sure what effects will be brought on by how far you managed to push the bond but it should be interesting nonetheless.” Astos said with a grin “Now I think it’s time I stop pretending to be a warrior… and act like a mage.” Astos said with a grin bring a heavy sigh from Jenn as she began to pull back knowing full well some of what was about to come.
The energy at Astos’ fingertips began to crackle as it converted into electricity and as Astos raised his arms and pointed his hands at Jenn sparks would leap off of him and suddenly convert into much larger bolts of blue lightning tearing through the air right after Jenn, Jenn scowled releasing one hands grip on the staff as she summoned forth a shield, she was not entirely sure how well it would defend against Astos’ lightning arc but it was worth a try as the first bolt struck the shield causing the energy imbuned within to come to life displaying pale blue field of energy of the shield and bringing a grin to Jenns face at the look of surprise on Astos’ own “Well.. that’s new” She heard him mutter as electricity continued arcing around his hands, taking the moment of confusion Jenn charged forward closing the distance between them with surprising speed returning to melee with Astos much to his surprise.
She needed to see just how tough the staff was, was it strong enough to fend of the lightning arc with Astos being as strong as her? Now was the time to find out as Jenn began swinging at Astos again not giving a single moment for him to pull away easily, Astos for his part quickly transitioned to the other way in which he used the lightning arc building up the energy the electricity began to arc around his hands even faster creating a layer of electrical energy around his hands without even thinking he began defending himself as quickly as possible deflecting blows from the staff and pulling away as much as possible but try as he might every step away he took Jenn took two closer keeping him on his toes the whole time, it became clear that escape was not an option and thus he needed to press an attack, the electrical energy surged suddenly as Astos drew his hand abck and like a bolt of lightning his hand struck the staff creating a burst of energy followed by the sound of splintering wood, the impact of the attack sent Jenn and Astos skidding back enough to give Astos the space he needed to catch his breath
Had it not been for the distinct sound of snapping wood Jenn would have returned to the fray almost immediately, but looking down she found the Staff to be missing it’s lower half snapped almost perfectly in half “No worries Jenn, the staff isn't like a normal weapon, damage such as that isn't enough to make it useless, in fact so long as it has a wielder not even one bound to it the staff can’t even be utterly destroyed. Just give it a moment and you’ll see what I mean.” Astos said and Jenn did just that the battle paused as Jenn watched the bits and pieces of splintered wood around there battlefield disappear and slowly the staff itself began to reform piece by piece. “Letting it return to your wrist will speed up the process a bit but even while it’s out it will return to normal eventually, as well it will always reform for YOU because it is bound to you the stray pieces will disappear and become one with it again while pieces that have been reduced to nothing will reform as the staff draws upon its own and your energy.” Astos explained and soon enough the staff was whole again without even a sign that it had once been splintered in half.
“You’re ancestor was truly an impressive craftsmen to have created such a weapon, it’s sad that the ability to create items such as this had been mostly lost..” Jenn said with a sigh before returning to her fighting stance, the closest she knew of accomplishing something similar was her ability to imbue her manifested weapons with her own energy, though of course they lacked the permanence of a weapon such as the Staff of One a weapon that had lasted AGES if only she knew the secrets to such an art the amazing things she could create with such an ability “If that shield was any indication you’re well on your way, maybe it won’t be quite the same but I think down the road you might be able to figure it out Jenn, and the Staff might even be able to help with that you’re amazingly talented with magic” Astos said firing off a few bolts of energy at Jenn as the battle resumed Jenn ducking and weaving away from the bolts even knocking a few away with the staff finding it strong enough to hold against at the very least fairly basic energy attacks, Astos’ words were interesting to her perhaps he was right and it was simply a matter of continuing the path she had set herself on, perhaps it might not be EXACTLY like the techniques used to create something like the Staff of One but it didn’t NEED to be if it served her just as well.
“I suppose in that case I should put a bit more work into those techniques, the shield isn't all I have at my disposal and I've been meaning to work out the last parts on how to make this technique function properly” Jenn said with a smirk so devious that Astos couldn't help but cringe, he’d been the target of some of Jenns ‘tests’ before and knew the dangers involved without really thinking much of it Jenn began pouring energy into the Staff just as she would a manifested weapon, it hadn't quite crossed her mind that the staff was not such and that she had never actually attempted to imbue a non-manifested weapon shortly after beginning the process Jenn felt something akin to a wall form as she attempted to attune her energy to the Staff as she did with any weapon, not thinking much of it Jenn pushed past the wall shattering it effortlessly, where any other normal weapon would have begun to crack under the pressure of having so much energy poured into it the staff held firm as the influx of Jenns energy mingled with the ancient remnants of Astos’ family's energy and the energy she had used to bond with it.
Looking down at the staff she saw the wood glow a faint blue for a moment before returning to normal, the golden hoop however continued to glow with the energy imbued within shining brightest at the hoops sharp edge and in the tiny runic etchings. Astos saw a gleam in Jenns eyes and knew immediately to throw up a defense a few quick mystical words empowered his next techniques summoning forth massive stone slabs as he manifested for himself a heavy steel shield all the while greatly wishing he knew the metod behind Jenns imbuing technique, smirking at Astos’ efforts Jenn crashed through the walls with a few quick sweeps with the staff it was truly amazing what it could do, Jenn knew exactly how Astos’ earthen barriers worked, they were mostly just energy barriers that pulled the strongest materials from the area round them to further enhance there defensive capabilities, the wood if the staff was more than enough to break through the earthen materials and the blade sliced through the energy barriers themselves with a few quick sweeps, once those defenses were dispatched it was a simple matter to reach Astos, the shield didn’t fare particularly well against the staff the metal crunching under the impact of her first strike, Astos abandoned the shield not long after and put a bit more room between them by triggering an explosive rune added to the shield allowing him to spring backwards with the force of the blast while Jenn defended against it..
Once the blast settled Jenn was standing there smirking as she spun the staff around in her grip, the longer they fought the more natural it felt to use the staff, she was aquanted with staff combat prior to this but she had always preferred swords and thus her skills with a staff were nothing truly amazing but with THIS staff it all felt so much more natural even easier than any blade she had ever wielded even her own creations paled “There it is, you and the staff are synched now, I think your technique might have helped things a long a bit, you were coming along really well throughout the fight but that move skyrocketed your progress” Astos said with a nod receiving a strange look from Jenn “The reason I wanted to have this spar was because you needed to become more properly synced to the staff, over time it would have occurred even without combat but with the battle that you said is on the horizon I figured it best to get you synched up with it as quickly as possible, I’d say if you AREN'T in perfect synchronization with it now it’s only a matter of time. It feels like the perfect weapon doesn't it?” Astos said wanting to confirm his suspicions and receiving a nod from Jenn “Yeah, even with how little I use staffs it just feels completely natural, every movement just sort of comes to me now” She said looking over the staff as she pulled back the energy from it
“Excellent, I think overall that means my job is done though.” Astos said looking a bit sad at the thought as while he hadn't said it he had known that once his goal was completed that it would mean that the staff would no longer fuel the projection of himself “I don’t imagine that means anything good for you’re ability to stick around…” Jenn said with a sigh picking up on the meaning behind his words. “Sadly I don’t think it does, I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll be around for, probably until this projection runs out of energy. Thankfully though you've got an abundance of so I should be fine for a bit, perhaps enough to finish are spar?” He asked halfheartedly receiving a shake of the head from Jenn “I don’t think a fights how either of us want to spend the last of your time, lets just power down and relax. We can talk about old times and I can give you a more detailed version of everything that has gone on since you passed.” Jenn said letting her power fade work on figuring out the exact limtis of the imbuneing technique would be saved for later, she already had a rough idea of how the technique should work from her usage just moments ago but there were still a few parts that she wanted to test. But what was more important at the moment was getting to spend a bit of time with an old friend, she felt Astos’ power drop but his form remained mostly solid “Sounds good to me, we both know how the fight would really end anyway.” He said with a grin as they began to walk the further part of the castles property with Jenn giving Astos the most full descrption of the events after his passing, every big event in Vitams reign, the total description of her and Hazezons conflict with Litch, a more detailed battle with Kemuri, her escape from UNITY, meeting Anri. The two talked and talked until the sun set and the last bits of energy faded from Astos’ projection. Once he was gone Jenn sat where they had finished their stories for a while, ultimately she decided to stay there for the night not wanting to ruin her mood with the presence of Kemuri.
Jenn let out a huff at the thought of her foolish actions, now she avoided Anri out of spite, he represented both a person she very much wanted to become friends with while also somehow representing a number of aspects about the nature of people that she despised, namely greed and a lack of care for others. It still disturbed her slightly how little Anri cared that he would likely be ordered to kill someone as young as Carla. But still despite these glaring faults he still managed to accomplish seeming like a decent man he seemed to understand her on some level which was a rare feat to say the least. Aside from Anri and Bear the others were simply utterly untrustworthy and it was easy enough to rule them out as people she wanted around. Finding herself far enough from the castle Jenn put aside thoughts of the others, she had better things to do, namely working out the secrets of the Staff, she’d neglected to work with it because truthfully she didn’t really know what to make of it. Simply HOLDING it had provided her with much of what she needed to know of the staff, if attuned to its wielded properly it would grow stronger based on its wielders strength and at the same time expand the powers of its wielder, such as all the tricks it had provided Erebos with, unfortunately it hadn’t provided information on which techniques of the Unity agent had been provided by the staff or had been talents he had already possessed. All that she knew was that it had provided her with the Efreeti Flame Tongue, a technique that’s name had come to her somewhere out of her subconscious.
It made a certain amount of sense that it had brought out an ‘Efreeti’ technique, she knew little of her heritage and what it meant for her abilities overall which meant that if there were Efreeti techniques that should be ‘normal’ for her she didn’t know them but the staff was enough to bring at least one of them forth and oh had it been useful, it had done quite a number on Anri throughout their battle, provided some fun when dealing with Rosen, and of course had been her key to victory against Agent Saruto. Jenn frowned slightly at the thought of Agent Saruto, that was not a particularly pleasant memory enough so that she almost immediately drove it away in favor of summoning forth the staff from her its spot on her wrist like drawing it like a sword from a sheath, despite the clear age to it the weapon was of impressive make now that she had a chance to really look it over, she could not quite identify the wood that made up the majority of the mystical artifact but she was almost certain the golden hoop at its head was made of mystically treated gold, drawing it close Jenn could see a vast array of ancient runes scripted into the gold it was tough even for her to follow the meaning behind them and that made it very clear that whoever had created this staff had put immense effort into it.
Twisting the staff around in her grip a few times Jenn gave it a few more practice swings, the balance on it was thrown off slightly by the metal hoop, manifesting a training dummy jenn began testing various ways of wielding the staff to see what worked best a few minutes of work yielded one very important piece of information the staff was VERY powerful at first Jenn had started off light not wanting to risk damaging the weapon mostly just testing to see the quality of the gold, when done properly mystically treated gold could very easily match any other metal in durability but of course if it was NOT done properly then it would likely end worse than using actual gold as a weapon. But the power coursing through the staff made it quite obvious after a time that everything was in order, with that jenn had begun to push a bit harder with how much strength she put into swinging the staff and found that no matter how hard she pushed he staff would hold strong, the testing of its durability was also more than enough time for her to find a few good methods of wielding the staff, the best was of course focusing on attacking with the golden hoop, it had a sharp edge that could do some very serious damage and the staff was light enough that wielding it in one hand was actually an option. Definitely a big plus as it gave her a solid weapon to use alongside her shields.
Now that she knew she actually enjoyed using the staff it was time to work on becoming more properly attuned to it, the information that had been implanted within her mind by the staff indicated that simply receiving power from the staff was not the true extent of the staff, you needed to actually create a bond with the weapon one that would fuel the staff as much as it fueled it’s wielder. Taking a seat on the grass Jenn placed the staff in her lap, meditation was a bit part of how she forged her bond to the items that acted as her vessels, and so to Jenn it made enough sense to attempt to bond with the staff in a similar manner SHOULD work well enough, the only sad thing was that there wasn’t any chance of accidentally placing her ‘lamp’ binding onto the staff and thus removing it from Kemuri, she needed him to be involved in the process for that to work and Jenn was rather doubtful of the hyena’s interest in such.
Taking deep breaths Jenn began clearing her mind and slowly focusing her energy toward the staff, on the outside smoke would begin billowing around her and coalescing around the staff however deeper than that Jenns energy was actually mingling with the staff itself working into the wood and gold until finally Jenn’s eyes snapped open as she reached something deep within the staff, another energy source that at first felt quite foreign but with a sudden shift it became VERY familiar as the energy within the staff quickly split off. As Jenns eyes opened and her vision came into focus she held her breath, it couldn’t be, there was no way. Looking up Jenn’s gaze fell upon a familiar face sitting casually in front of her.
“Hello Jenn” Astos said giving her one of his ever frustrating grins that Jenn had half a mind to jump at him and start strangling the idiot, of course that temptation was held back by just how joyous she was that he was HERE she didn’t even care HOW it had happened, but soon Jenn realized something was just a bit off about Astos, namely that she could see through him and her expression fell as she realized he was not truly back, this was some form of his spirit, close but not quite there “Astos.. How?” Jenn managed after a few moments, even if she knew he was not REALLY back it was still an astounding feat that his spirit was here at all especially so long after his passing. “That’s a rather interesting story, you see that.” Astos said pointing to the staff still sitting in Jenns lap “was a staff created by an ancestor of mine, the Staff of One. He used it to ensure that are family would have as much magical strength as possible having as many of us bond with it as possible to ensure that there were many mystically talented individuals in the family and hoping that they would pass on the trait and when they DIDN’T he would have those children bond with the staff, because once your bonded with the staff properly once the talents stay with you even if you pass on the staff. Eventually the staff was stolen but the work had already been done and we were a mystical family that even if a few were born without the talent already accessible we had enough with the talent that we could teach them.” Astos said taking a moment to pause and let Jenn take the information in.
“Now I don’t know much about what happened to the Staff after it was stolen from out family but now that you know that bit I can explain why I’m here. As you know the staff takes as much as it gives, never in a damaging way but it sort of makes a record of the power of the people that it has belonged to and from what I can tell nobody outside of my family has TRULY bonded with the staff until now and even we never quite reached as far as you did. It figures you would be able to go deeper considering that you’re a bit more acquainted with the concept, you touched the very core of the staff the culmination of hundreds of my family members additions to its mystical core and in response the staff tried to make contact right back at you, it was not about to send just anyone though just a random member of my family would not really MEAN anything so it wend a bit deeper, pulled from your memories and worked its magic to extrapolate from my family to bring ME here” he said with a laugh “Not sure how long I’ll last but I do know that the staff has a purpose for me, it wants me to show you what it can do because it can’t show you itself. So we’re lucky, we get to spend a bit more time together and I get to play teacher again, I’m so glad it went with my younger appearance, this would have been a pain to do as an old man..” Astos said with a laugh as Jenn sat stunned by the knowledge.
“So you’re not actually a spirit?” Jenn asked, it was the simplest of her millions of questions as she tried to grasp at everything she had just been told “Not quite, pretty close I’d say but I’m more like a magicaly infused memory. I remember everything of our time together, even my own personal memories, things you wouldn't have known such as my work during you’re time with the people of Earth. I’m not quite sure what I’d classify myself as really.” Astos said with a shrug “I’m probably the next best thing though” he said with another laugh before powering up slightly and in doing so his form began to become more solid until finally it was as if he were really there “Well that’s an interesting development.” Astos said looking just as surprised as Jenn “How... I don’t even … Astos stop breaking the universe!” Jenn said running her hands across had face and through her hair in a mix of confusion and frustration.
Astos laughed and she heard him jump to his feet “I don’t think I’m actually any more ‘real’ now than I was before, just a bit more solid that’s to all the energy. I appear to have access to as much energy as you and oh man Jenn have you gotten strong. “ Astos said earning a small laugh from Jenn “There we go! No more of that sad look Jenn.” Astos said before taking a look around “Where are we?” He asked answering one of the other questions Jenn had been meaning to ask but far too overwhelmed with the situation to get out, evidently Astos’ memories were limited to only what he had known. “A very long way from home… Were probably a couple thousand years away from when I last saw you Astos.” Jenn said doing her best to keep a fairly neutral expression, Astos was clearly quite surprised by that revalation as he rubbed the back of his neck “Wow… How has everything been?” Astos said not entirely sure where to even begin now. “Things went very well for a while, Vitam did an amazing job its too bad you couldn't have seen him.” Jenn said bringing a smile to her face briefly as she thought of him “After Vitam things didn't quite go very well, Hazezon did his best but there was a magician who made life on Earth VERY rough, I don’t even really know what happened fully we needed to use all of my wishes and.. well nobody was able to reclaim my lamp and when I was next awakened in this era the Guardian didn’t even know who Hazezon was let alone you, Vitam, or Sei…” Jenn said with a heavy sigh deciding not to mention her frustrations over the presence of the other Genie.
“Not long after I was released Kaladar was captured by a man named Kemuri along with the King of the Earth.” Jenn said earning a raised eyebrow from Astos both from the idea that a Guardian was taken down by a normal man AND that there was a King of the entire Earth “A number of warriors were summoned to try and aid them and take down Kemuri but during the fight Kemuri revealed that he had my ring, stole it off of Kaladar, I’ve been forced into his command ever since and he’s gearing up for one big final battle against Kaladar and the others.” Jenn said with a heavy sigh deciding to leave out the bit about UNITY for the time being “I… wow I’m sorry Jenn. “ He said earning a shake of the head from Jenn “Not much you could do, I just need to hope that one of them can get the ring away from the bastard. Then I’ll show Kemuri why the old stories painted such a bad picture of me.” Jenn said her eyes darkening as she balled her hands into fists.
“But in order for me to do that I need to get stronger he’s very powerful and right now I’m not able to use all of my strength because of these.” Jenn said holding up her arms to show off the bracers Astos was about to ask about them but halted when jenn gave him a familiar ‘I’ll tell you later’ look “Well then I guess we should get to work? You've already made the bond with the staff so everything you get from it from here on out is yours forever, most techniques that it brings out are unfortunately not as easy to bring out as the first. That’s just its attempt to pull SOMETHING, the others take work just like normal. But before we get on with that I think it would be best for you to see exactly what the staff is capable of.” Astos said earning a nod from Jenn “And I’m guessing your plan for that involves a spar like old times?” She said pulling herself up to her feet as she gave him a smirk; it was much easier to put aside the negative feelings with how positive Astos always was. “Perhaps not QUITE like old times. I think now I might have a pretty decent chance against you, I DO have as much power as you at my disposal after all” He said flashing her a grin, it had long been a bit of a point of amused frustration between Jenn and Astos that he simply lacked the power to stand against her in a fight he had many unique abilities but Jenn was able to match that with abilities of her own topped off with raw power and skill in combat. Jenn chuckled as Astos sunk into a combat stance manifesting a staff similar in design to the Staff of One “Well I suppose this will put the old debate to rest then wont it? “ Jenn said slipping into her own fighting stance as she twisted the staff around in her grasp finding herself actually somewhat excited for the coming battle, her fight with Anri had been good certainly but a chance to spar with a version of Astos that was as strong as herself was almost too good to be true.
The battle started without a single word with both Jenn and Astos darting at each other weapons clashing the two matching each other blow for blow however each time Astos’ staff properly clashed with the Staff of One the wood of his staff would start to crack and splinter a few more blows and the regular staff wielded by Astos split down the middle as he used the last of its strength to defend against a hard swipe from Jenn Astos quickly pulled back as he discarded the broken weapon “As you can now see Jenn the Staff of One is a much tougher weapon than a normal staff, my ancestor never wrote down exactly what it was made of but whatever that wood is it reacts well to being wielded by powerful people, the staff is generally very strong before a bond is formed and AFTER it then it can reach a level of strength comparable to its wielder, I’m not sure what effects will be brought on by how far you managed to push the bond but it should be interesting nonetheless.” Astos said with a grin “Now I think it’s time I stop pretending to be a warrior… and act like a mage.” Astos said with a grin bring a heavy sigh from Jenn as she began to pull back knowing full well some of what was about to come.
The energy at Astos’ fingertips began to crackle as it converted into electricity and as Astos raised his arms and pointed his hands at Jenn sparks would leap off of him and suddenly convert into much larger bolts of blue lightning tearing through the air right after Jenn, Jenn scowled releasing one hands grip on the staff as she summoned forth a shield, she was not entirely sure how well it would defend against Astos’ lightning arc but it was worth a try as the first bolt struck the shield causing the energy imbuned within to come to life displaying pale blue field of energy of the shield and bringing a grin to Jenns face at the look of surprise on Astos’ own “Well.. that’s new” She heard him mutter as electricity continued arcing around his hands, taking the moment of confusion Jenn charged forward closing the distance between them with surprising speed returning to melee with Astos much to his surprise.
She needed to see just how tough the staff was, was it strong enough to fend of the lightning arc with Astos being as strong as her? Now was the time to find out as Jenn began swinging at Astos again not giving a single moment for him to pull away easily, Astos for his part quickly transitioned to the other way in which he used the lightning arc building up the energy the electricity began to arc around his hands even faster creating a layer of electrical energy around his hands without even thinking he began defending himself as quickly as possible deflecting blows from the staff and pulling away as much as possible but try as he might every step away he took Jenn took two closer keeping him on his toes the whole time, it became clear that escape was not an option and thus he needed to press an attack, the electrical energy surged suddenly as Astos drew his hand abck and like a bolt of lightning his hand struck the staff creating a burst of energy followed by the sound of splintering wood, the impact of the attack sent Jenn and Astos skidding back enough to give Astos the space he needed to catch his breath
Had it not been for the distinct sound of snapping wood Jenn would have returned to the fray almost immediately, but looking down she found the Staff to be missing it’s lower half snapped almost perfectly in half “No worries Jenn, the staff isn't like a normal weapon, damage such as that isn't enough to make it useless, in fact so long as it has a wielder not even one bound to it the staff can’t even be utterly destroyed. Just give it a moment and you’ll see what I mean.” Astos said and Jenn did just that the battle paused as Jenn watched the bits and pieces of splintered wood around there battlefield disappear and slowly the staff itself began to reform piece by piece. “Letting it return to your wrist will speed up the process a bit but even while it’s out it will return to normal eventually, as well it will always reform for YOU because it is bound to you the stray pieces will disappear and become one with it again while pieces that have been reduced to nothing will reform as the staff draws upon its own and your energy.” Astos explained and soon enough the staff was whole again without even a sign that it had once been splintered in half.
“You’re ancestor was truly an impressive craftsmen to have created such a weapon, it’s sad that the ability to create items such as this had been mostly lost..” Jenn said with a sigh before returning to her fighting stance, the closest she knew of accomplishing something similar was her ability to imbue her manifested weapons with her own energy, though of course they lacked the permanence of a weapon such as the Staff of One a weapon that had lasted AGES if only she knew the secrets to such an art the amazing things she could create with such an ability “If that shield was any indication you’re well on your way, maybe it won’t be quite the same but I think down the road you might be able to figure it out Jenn, and the Staff might even be able to help with that you’re amazingly talented with magic” Astos said firing off a few bolts of energy at Jenn as the battle resumed Jenn ducking and weaving away from the bolts even knocking a few away with the staff finding it strong enough to hold against at the very least fairly basic energy attacks, Astos’ words were interesting to her perhaps he was right and it was simply a matter of continuing the path she had set herself on, perhaps it might not be EXACTLY like the techniques used to create something like the Staff of One but it didn’t NEED to be if it served her just as well.
“I suppose in that case I should put a bit more work into those techniques, the shield isn't all I have at my disposal and I've been meaning to work out the last parts on how to make this technique function properly” Jenn said with a smirk so devious that Astos couldn't help but cringe, he’d been the target of some of Jenns ‘tests’ before and knew the dangers involved without really thinking much of it Jenn began pouring energy into the Staff just as she would a manifested weapon, it hadn't quite crossed her mind that the staff was not such and that she had never actually attempted to imbue a non-manifested weapon shortly after beginning the process Jenn felt something akin to a wall form as she attempted to attune her energy to the Staff as she did with any weapon, not thinking much of it Jenn pushed past the wall shattering it effortlessly, where any other normal weapon would have begun to crack under the pressure of having so much energy poured into it the staff held firm as the influx of Jenns energy mingled with the ancient remnants of Astos’ family's energy and the energy she had used to bond with it.
Looking down at the staff she saw the wood glow a faint blue for a moment before returning to normal, the golden hoop however continued to glow with the energy imbued within shining brightest at the hoops sharp edge and in the tiny runic etchings. Astos saw a gleam in Jenns eyes and knew immediately to throw up a defense a few quick mystical words empowered his next techniques summoning forth massive stone slabs as he manifested for himself a heavy steel shield all the while greatly wishing he knew the metod behind Jenns imbuing technique, smirking at Astos’ efforts Jenn crashed through the walls with a few quick sweeps with the staff it was truly amazing what it could do, Jenn knew exactly how Astos’ earthen barriers worked, they were mostly just energy barriers that pulled the strongest materials from the area round them to further enhance there defensive capabilities, the wood if the staff was more than enough to break through the earthen materials and the blade sliced through the energy barriers themselves with a few quick sweeps, once those defenses were dispatched it was a simple matter to reach Astos, the shield didn’t fare particularly well against the staff the metal crunching under the impact of her first strike, Astos abandoned the shield not long after and put a bit more room between them by triggering an explosive rune added to the shield allowing him to spring backwards with the force of the blast while Jenn defended against it..
Once the blast settled Jenn was standing there smirking as she spun the staff around in her grip, the longer they fought the more natural it felt to use the staff, she was aquanted with staff combat prior to this but she had always preferred swords and thus her skills with a staff were nothing truly amazing but with THIS staff it all felt so much more natural even easier than any blade she had ever wielded even her own creations paled “There it is, you and the staff are synched now, I think your technique might have helped things a long a bit, you were coming along really well throughout the fight but that move skyrocketed your progress” Astos said with a nod receiving a strange look from Jenn “The reason I wanted to have this spar was because you needed to become more properly synced to the staff, over time it would have occurred even without combat but with the battle that you said is on the horizon I figured it best to get you synched up with it as quickly as possible, I’d say if you AREN'T in perfect synchronization with it now it’s only a matter of time. It feels like the perfect weapon doesn't it?” Astos said wanting to confirm his suspicions and receiving a nod from Jenn “Yeah, even with how little I use staffs it just feels completely natural, every movement just sort of comes to me now” She said looking over the staff as she pulled back the energy from it
“Excellent, I think overall that means my job is done though.” Astos said looking a bit sad at the thought as while he hadn't said it he had known that once his goal was completed that it would mean that the staff would no longer fuel the projection of himself “I don’t imagine that means anything good for you’re ability to stick around…” Jenn said with a sigh picking up on the meaning behind his words. “Sadly I don’t think it does, I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll be around for, probably until this projection runs out of energy. Thankfully though you've got an abundance of so I should be fine for a bit, perhaps enough to finish are spar?” He asked halfheartedly receiving a shake of the head from Jenn “I don’t think a fights how either of us want to spend the last of your time, lets just power down and relax. We can talk about old times and I can give you a more detailed version of everything that has gone on since you passed.” Jenn said letting her power fade work on figuring out the exact limtis of the imbuneing technique would be saved for later, she already had a rough idea of how the technique should work from her usage just moments ago but there were still a few parts that she wanted to test. But what was more important at the moment was getting to spend a bit of time with an old friend, she felt Astos’ power drop but his form remained mostly solid “Sounds good to me, we both know how the fight would really end anyway.” He said with a grin as they began to walk the further part of the castles property with Jenn giving Astos the most full descrption of the events after his passing, every big event in Vitams reign, the total description of her and Hazezons conflict with Litch, a more detailed battle with Kemuri, her escape from UNITY, meeting Anri. The two talked and talked until the sun set and the last bits of energy faded from Astos’ projection. Once he was gone Jenn sat where they had finished their stories for a while, ultimately she decided to stay there for the night not wanting to ruin her mood with the presence of Kemuri.
