A symphony of Flame and Sorrow

Dear everyone. Please ignore us.

It had been a long day for the travelling Warlock as she passed through the forests. There were only a few days left until midsummer eve, and she was far away from her goal. Having burnt down part of the forest, Lilith had to move quickly despite her injuries, for the threat of being found was more present than ever.

What was left of Atella's territory rustled in the wind, bringing the scent of blood and destruction to her nostrils. She growled and scanned the ground with ochre-brown eagle eyes, her razor sight leaving no movement untouched. She clutched the edge of the cliff she was on with ivory claws as a humanoid figure caught her attention, battle-scarred and worn.

Lillith was exhausted, and as much as she urged herself to move on, her body would no longer cope. She had managed to fight off the human scouting party, but one of them had struck her a painful blow. The wound in her side still caused her to lose blood, and the pain sneered through her entire body. It wouldn't be long before she was entirely exhausted.

Sitting down on a comfortable looking rock, Lillith nursed her wounds, and cast what healing spells she knew - none of which were powerful - to try and lessen the burning ache, but mostly in vain. After nursing her wounds, Lilith lay down next to the rock on the warm moss, hoping she would live to see the next day. As she rested she could just make out a small dot appearing in the sky, as a bird of prey circling above her, before she fell asleep.

The air rushed past the Skystorm's wings, holding her gently aloft. She hovered in place, flapping her wings every minute or so to stay airborne, keeping an eye on the humanoid below her. She appeared to be resting, but Atella kept her distance, sizing up her potential opponent.

She appeared powerful, though her energy seemed drained by the fight before. Normally the Skystorm would run; after all, she wasn't built for combat. However, as the intruder seemed weak (and she had a bone to pick), she hung around, waiting for her to wake before challenging her.

Lillith lay on the ground, a bit awake but mostly asleep, for what seemed an eternity to her. In real time, however, she laid there for about fifteen minutes. The pain in her left side had started to ebb away, and she stood up to check her surroundings, when suddenly she was urged to look up. Above her hung the same 'bird or prey' she had seen before, but it was now far closer and, as she could see now, far bigger than she had expected. Seeing it had spotted her, she quickly made her way out of the clearing she was in, hoping to reach the dense trees where wings cannot reach.

Atella's target moved, heading towards the trees. She snarled as the humanoid vanished from her sight and half-folded her wings, her body dipping down in a steep dive to catch up with her target. Ancient instinct spiked through her blood as she pulled out of the dive and into the forest at high speed, flaring her tail feathers to make sharper turns, darting through the forest with expertise.

A snarl ripped though her throat, growing into a screech. As she flew, her feathers shook and built up static which pooled in her plumes, causing her entire body to spark with electricity. The back of the warlock came into view, and Atella drew her head back in response, the lightning in her plumes jolting toward her target in bolt form.

Lillith ran as fast as she could, but the clearing was large, and the trees were still metres away. She could hear the bird, or at least she thought it might be a bird, approaching very quickly and she noticed she wasn't going to make it. Acting on instinct, she cast an illusion spell and a small smoke bomb. The illusion kept running and was intercepted, then killed by what she had now identified as a Dragonoid creature, and she had ducked to the ground in the cover of the smoke.

As the Dragonoid inspected its prey, Lillith got up to her feet slowly. The illusion disappeared and before it could react, she struck a blow to its tail with her staff. The Dragonoid screeched, and she moved into defensive position.

Lillith began casting a spell, but came to a halt to think. She did, in normal situations, only make use of powerful spells, capable of vanquishing an enemy instantly. These spells required a lot of power and time to cast, neither of which she could access now. Deciding to try for her escape again, she grabbed some sand from her pocket and attempted and threw it at the approaching beast, casting a sleep spell.