RP:Queen of Hearts

Leafy Lodgings Hidden walkways all intersect here, moving between thick tree trunks and under leafy blankets. This nook is well secluded and quiet, save for the serene cries of nature; the kree of some song bird methodically expels from the boughs above, thickly plastered with fronds and lichen. The air here is moist and warm, perfection for anything or anyone who simply wants to wait around. Many makeshift beds have been erected around, probably by past travellers. Some are made of piles of leaves and grass, while others are of sanded sticks, padded with moss. Many lay just before the only entrances and exits to this exclusive glade, one north and west.

The sounds of a drake could be heard. The might beast laying protectively around the beaten and battered man. The avian was laid up against a tree, shirtless and burned. His flesh was burned from ankles to neck. The flesh on his hands blackened and flaking away. He was almost gone, having channeled way too much divine magic through himself at one time.

Sabrina always wandered these parts, the call of the Drake bringing her to pay closer attention. She would approach, not so cautiously as one would expect, given the timid characteristics of its kind. She spied the winged male, familiar only from a previous encounter and lucky she had not yet slept or she may have remembered less than enough to quantify genuine concern. “Dammit.” The Drake, protective over its person snaps angrily at her approach, the Druidess does not seem impressed. Those younglings had tendencies just like their elders; an prism of emotions of which she could manipulate to her advantage. ‘Saesa omentien lle, Saesa omentien lle’ she would whisper at the calming creature... a greeting no more, no less. Its snaps at her extended hand were only warnings, the girl having a gift with most creatures of some intelligence. When her fingers alight on its jaw its head drops, bowing at the Elfess with cautioned permission to approach the charbroiled Avian. She did not recall his name, but she kneels infront of Dogma, head cant sidewards to see if he still breathes, and her hand never leaving the contact of the beasty that guards him. “E’thwei… wake up.” She pokes him in a tiny patch of not-black flesh at the dip in his shoulder “E’thwei…” She wished she’d have gotten his name.

Dogma 's eyes snapped open. Those haunted blue eyes spinning wildly about as the holy sigils on his body started to glow. Thr burns grew and grew. Finally, he seemed to recall the woman and gave a cracked grin. " My faborite damsel in distress..." His tone was low and horse blood ran from his mouth as he talked. Evidence of his throat having been severely damaged. His eyes snapped over to the drake that he now called ally." Peace battle buddy...I doubt she means me harm..." The drake gave a snort but curled back around the duo, ever protective in its duties to the man. The avian just slumped against the tree further, the charred flesh flaking away from his hands. If she looked to his hip she'd see the *good book* was missing. It had been shattered channeling the power of the divine.

Sabrina channels what power she is capable of, nature being her ever-faithful ally. Her eyes are already turning from mint to moss, glittering lightly as tendrils of tiny grassblades guide the paladin’s body down the tree, helping him to slump until he lays comfortably flat. Sabrina’s hand had since been stole from the cold scaly jawbone of the creature that so protected his champion. She thinks on how she can touch him without further damaging the grossness that was his flesh. A small squirrel chitters its way to her and she sends it off with a sharp glance to the north. It leaves to fetch a friend, or perhaps bury a nut, difficult to say with squirrels being all squirrely and such. “I am going to help you…” it wasn’t really a question, more of an announcement of what she intended to do. “I owe you, remember?” She fully expected him to argue the point.

Dogma found himself laying flat on his back. Bits of flesh still attached to the tree behind him. Now that the drake has shifted and the avian was uncurled the extent of the wounds could be seen. Metal armor was fused to his flesh in random places. Divine sigils still burning against his skin. The paladin just gave a small smile at her words." There is no need to help me... And you owe me nothing at all." More blood ran from his mouth, but he continued to speak, forcing his body to work. " I never do anything for the thanks or for you to owe me anything. " The paladin was beaten and damaged, But the easy smile on his face was at odds with his horrible wounds. The drake stood up for a moment nudging the paladin with its snout. The paladin slowly placed his burnt hand on the drake's snout. Then noticed his left hand was covered in bits of melted metallic slag. Running down his arm the metal only got worse, larger and larger clumps of the stuff was fused against the flesh. Without the armor covering his body it was easy to see the tattoos and brands that covered his body. A prayer ran across his chest in bright golden lettering. *For he saved my soul from the the darkness, so I shall always walk in the light.* Random brands and marks littered his body. And running down his ride side was golden tally marks one for every sin he had committed before becoming a paladin. Two hundred and seven sins. And still counting.

Sabrina took in every grievance, and the extent thereof. She searched, puzzled on where to start, he obviously overdid himself. Her first thought on a beginning is to address the internal damage, skin would be the last of her worries, though this degree of burning could easily be fatal in itself. “Shh.” It was not a consulate effort, she really wanted him to shut up so she could listen; the sound of his breath, the beating of his heart…and an odd squishing of semi-melted organs. She makes a face. His lungs sounded crystallized, and so he would need new ones. She apologetically looks to his drake before shaking the thought from her head. She places a hand on the ground beside his head, holding her hair back in a pony with the other. Gently, and careful not to touch him she leans over his face, her lips hovering just over his as she whispers a cooling breath into his body. The ground where her hand lay planted begins to die, a circular pattern spreading from her fingertips and outward as grasses whither and curl into dust. If he did not protest it would pull his lungs open to full birth, cracking the burnt surface open to create fresh bleeding wounds so that they may heal unscathed and fully formed.

Dogma gave a slight groan as the woman hovered over him. The way his lungs rattled and barely expanded in his chest showed they had crystalised and partially melted internally. The sudden feeling of death around the paladin sent shivers down his spine, more flesh flaking off and falling to the ground around him. The lungs tore, expanded, healed, all in the span of moments, and then the paladin took a shuddering breath. His eyes snapping open as if for the first time all over again. The breath of life spreading into his body was heavenly. His chest clenched in the sudden pain as he rolled his head to the side coughing blood and bile from his lungs. Turning his attention back to her he was curious as to why she was going through this ordeal to heal him. His heart beat slowly, sluggishly, partially liquefied in his chest. It would need to be the next thing that needs to be healed.

Sabrina could recognize the signs of organ failure, the weak sputtering noise in his chest rattling her sensitive ears to its dilemma. She looks to the drake apologetically again. There really was no choice. She rises from her position, making way to the hatchling’s face and cradling its maw in the nook between her neck and shoulder. She was speaking to it softly, a tear rolling down her cheek. If she failed, it would die. Dogma would die. She sighs heavily and addresses her concerns with the hatchling. By nod of head it is understood that the deal had been accepted, the consequences and risks clearly delivered. The bonding would take place, at least, an attempt if both hearts were willing. Both Drake and Elfess rise, the hatchling only needing to further encircle its form around Dogma so the Avian could lay his head ‘pon its chest. They would need to keep that contact while Sabrina did her work. She apologizes in advance for what she was about to do, and so, takes a thin blade from her trusses and drives it upwards into the chestplate of the beasty. It whines something awful, a noise akin to brink-of-death as the blade slips between scales and begins carving an amber cavity for Sabrina to reach into later. Likewise she would take a similar blade to the Avian, forcing her hand to do the work of two healers, if she would be any kind of healer at all. She needed to work quickly, memory was the only direction she would be given as she tended to the more intricate detail of removing half of the beating fixture from the beast before removing Dogma’s heart entirely. Memory rarely served her well, but having been through this before it was really an unforgettable procedure. Both arms delve into the hot squish of tissues to the crying hatchling, fingers messing about but specifically detailing their venture. Another blade is sure to be produced as the carving to the heart is exactly so the arteries and veins remained intact to its vessel. She quickly diverts to removing as much, and as little as possible from the Avian’s own structure… an easy task since some of it melted into a gelatinous goo between her fingers. If she didn’t help he would die anyway, given the current state of this intricate piece. She looks to both patients while wiping her arm across her forehead, smearing a mixture of fluids there while she checks for signs she should just give up.

Dogma :: Pain that was the only thought that raced through his mind as the power of the divine filled him.The power of the gods was the only thing keeping him alive for the moments sabrina sliced open his chest and removed his heart. His bright blue eyes simply stared into her own. The words thank you forming on his lips and dieing in the same moment. The paladin had been on death's doorstep numerous times, but never in the sense he was in now. His heart goo running between her fingers and dripping down to his chest. His newest battle companion... The poor thing having to give up its own life to be linked to his... The avian was truly sorry... and it would need to be another life he had stolen. Another tally mark branded onto his skin.

Sabrina was encouraged to see neither party had given up just yet, with any luck they would both survive… or neither. She pressed the two sections of hearts together, the Drake would jerk uncontrollably, nearly forcing their bond to break. That would be the end, a sense of panic has Sabrina begin a chanting, Elvish, of course; something ancient if anyone were to pick up dialects. Despite the closing of her eyes a bright green light emits through the fleshy crease. Moss turns viridian, viridian to emerald. The heart forms a similarly colored crack where it is joined as one and the Drake’s head lies forceably flat along the lush ground. The whole heart is returned to the Paladin, in doing both wounds scar over jaggedly, emitting a healing upsurge centrally from its origin. The chest of the Drake would heave, labored but healthily strong. This alone was promising. It looked in pain, the jolt of its subconscious would weave through the paladin’s memories and this would reciprocate like a free flowing path of personal information. The senses would awaken, a breath of fresh air and suffocating knowledge flooding each participant as the bond would surpass both their abilities to fight it. Sabrina would be knocked back, her hands caked with bloods and mud and grasses as she continued to chant, the familiar essence of elfspeech enshrouding her petite figure in hazy bluish white. The process would do nothing for Dogma’s burns, but his insides would boil with a new vigor that forced unimaginable energy through his form- the life essence of a Drake is a strong will to bond.

Dogma :: The sudden breath of life surged through him as the thoughts and bond of the drake slammed into his mind. The paladin gave groan his innards healing themselves together quickly, Fixing what he had stupidly given up. The man's eyes snapped open once more looking at the drake as the divine magics rushed through the bond The first effect would be the drakes scales turning a bright white, horns growing from his head , scales started to grow thicker over the wound on its chest. The divine bond snapped back onto dogma the burnt ashen skin reverting back to its original ,pale skin color. The avian suddenly sat up his hand grabbing the horn of the drake as the drake merely placed its snout on the avian's head. " You are my mount... And my friend..." No blood his throat was healed. Almost as one the duo turned their gaze to the elf that had healed them. " I can't... Explain... the thanks I feel towards you at the moment... Ma'am " He had never gotten her name. Had never had the chance.

Sabrina hands burned, her eyes hurt, her body weakened. She stands slowly, not much for saying things when it was supposed to mean something prefect and profound. Where she rose stood a circle of deadened earth with a rooted path that wound up an elder tree whose blackened leaves already began to fall and branches cracked in dry rot. Nothing would grow in this spot for some time. She looked pale as she began to wander aimlessly north, coated from elbows to dripping fingers in a mixture of the life fluids from both those before her. Her heart was racing far more than normally healthy and she had one thought and one destination. Home. The transfer of all that energy, all at once… she stopped in her tracks and puked.