"Wow, impressive," The woman gasped, pressing her hand against the bleeding wound in her thigh. She looked from Marco to Oci. "I don't know what you're doing, but good for you." She threw a ball of purple light at Oci. He swiped a hand towards it, a blade of shadows cutting it in half before it could reach him.
"Why don't you just give up?" Oci asked coldly, taking a few more steps towards her. "We've won. It's two against one. You're injured. Just let us go."
Marco growled in agreement, dropping to all fours from where he'd been, shifting his weight in preparation for another attack.
"Hmm… no. That weapon will never leave this place again. Never." She said stonily, taking a deep breath. "Even if I have to kill everyone in this room, it will not leave."
"I think you'll have a very difficult time with that." Oci tilted his head to the side. "You're injured, and can hardly conjure up a strong enough fireball to hurt us."
Marco waited until she was distracted, waiting to attack once again.
"You're wrong." The woman closed her eyes, raising both her hands to her sides, palms raised towards the ceiling. "I am not weak. Just saving my strength."
"Uh… do you think she's doing what I think she's doing?" Oci asked, looking at Marco quickly. "Well, either way." He edged around her, keeping as quiet as he could. He gestured at Marco to follow him towards the stairs.
Marco didn't move, his attention solely on the lady. Then, in the blink of an eye he shifted, shifting into a tiny camouflaging lizard and scurrying towards the lady, nearly invisible.
"Marco, what are you doing?" Oci hissed, looking around the floor wildly for him. "Oh, Edding stars, do you know what she's doing?" The woman stayed where she was, but a small smile crept onto her lips. A bright purple light started glowing above her palms, growing brighter and brighter as Oci watched.
Marco suddenly shifted back, directly behind her, yelling an incantation as he struck the floor with his staff, a design swirling out around them, causing her violet light to fade, the blue light around Marco growing brighter.
"What are you doing?" Oci yelled, holding up his hand. The shadows swirling around his head streaked towards his hands, solidifying into a solid ball of shadow hovering over his hand. "Should I do something?"
"What are you doing?" The woman's eyes flew open and she spun to face Marco. "Stop!"
Marco kept it up, chanting quickly, before letting the power blow him back, causing the lady to drop to her knees. He was panting, but also grinning. "She's a shifter, a special kind!" he called, "Their kind can transform into mythical creatures, and only have two forms," he smirked, standing, "I'll explain later, but basically I just borrowed her abilities for awhile."
"Okay, then. Did you also take her ability to blow things up?" Oci asked. He looked annoyed, but his voice was impressed. Very impressed. "Also, do you need her alive? Because if not, I'll gladly take care of her."
"Yes," he said in response to the first question, grinning as the other shifter stared at him in shock, "And no, I don't need her alive."
"Good, good." Oci walked up to the woman and smashed the ball of shadows on her head. The tendrils of darkness curled around her head, and after a few seconds, she went limp. "Well, I hope she was the only one."
Marco nodded, letting his auras fade, before pulling up the sleeve of his left arm, watching a tattoo like mark draw itself onto his dark skin. "Staff to kill the king, and a new power." he hummed, smiling. "How'd you like to try flying home?" he asked Oci.
"That would be nice." Oci nodded. "So, what exactly will that new power let you do? Turn into a griffin? Because that would be awesome." He walked towards Marco and waved the staff at him. "We'll have to figure out if this has any special powers on the way there or something. Otherwise, we're going to be hitting the king over the head a bunch of times until he dies."
Marco hummed, "Thats pretty much exactly what it does." he said softly, showing him the new mark on his forearm. "This is the mark of a Seva Shifter, they have the ability to shift into the form of a mythical creature, but only that creature." he smirked, "Normally it makes them unbeatable, or close to it, but my abilities arent the norm for most, which is why I was able to take her by surprise." he grinned, "So, wanna go griffon riding?"
Oci grabbed Marco's arm and looked closely at the mark. "Well, this is super cool." He looked up at Marco. "What do you mean, your abilities aren't normal? What special things can you do?" Oci let go of Marco's arm and smiled with excitement. "And yes, I do."
Marco hummed, "Well lets just say I'm not your average shifter either.." he said vaguely, "I may explain more later, but no guarantees.." He hummed softly, "As for the second part, just gimme a moment to get myself straightened out, then we can go," he backed away from the other, backing towards the edge.
"Well, that sure clears it up." Oci sighed. "I really hope you do. And take your time. I don't think we have anything else to worry about. If we do, I'll take care of it." He gave Marco a wicked grin.
Marco grinned back, now on the edge of the gaping hole in the wall, "Be back in a moment!" he called, before stepping backwards off the edge, summoning his auras to shift, as it was harder to master the form of a mythic.
"I'm just going to assume that was supposed to happen," Oci muttered to himself, angry at the beat his heart skipped when he saw Marco go over the edge. It was just a reaction to someone leaping off a very high building. That was all.
Marco let himself fall several feet before finally shifting, letting it happen slowly as he could feel his limbs and bone structure shift, and extra set of limbs sprouting from his back, his jaw forming into a beak, his tailbone lengthening.
Oci couldn't help himself– he walked to the hole in the wall and looked down at Marco. He watched as he shifted, then looked up at the forest surrounding them. He was quite glad he wouldn't have to walk through it again.
Marco let himself melt into the shift, as it was much slower than usual. When it finally finished, taking about three minutes, he let his new wings catch the air around him, letting out a cry of excitement as he took to the sky, spiralling arounf the tower, doing loops and other manuvers.
Oci looked down at Marco again and laughed in delight, watching intently as he looped around in the air. "Hey, should we get going now?" Oci yelled at Marco. He wasn't sure he could hear him, but it was worth a shot.
.jpg)
