The Enclave

"Oh, yes, I remember Levi... You know his death still kinda hurts. Strange as it sounds I'm still not that used to seeing people die. I shouldn't be so concerned about it. I've actually seen a glimpse of heaven once. Long story." She chuckled. "Well, I suppose one should never get used to death exactly. Fear of death, not just yourself but of your teammates, is the best motivator to strive for excellence in battle. Or so I've always speculated."

Jun quickly checks up on the crow, who seems to have gone back to orbiting the tower.

"So, you were the archmage for a while. Are your, uh, species all gifted in magic? I was rather ornery and... uh-" Jun remembered the substance that Zaltos had given her to help her relax during their sojourn into the Realm. It was of a very recreational nature.

"Well, let's just say I didn't have a mind to ask the right questions when I was in the Ether Realm. I was too busy trying to see straight and not laugh uncontrollably at bacon." Somehow she said this with a straight face. "But there's supposed to be some kind of connection between the magic of this world and the magic of yours, right?"

"Right, I remember now. There are areas where it isn't safe to use large amounts of magic. Sure, I wouldn't mind knowing where it is, or how to sense more of them."

Blackbean was starting to descend towards them. It seemed it was almost done with his "walk."

"So, if you don't mind me asking... just how strong are you anyways?" She asked with a grin. It was obvious that she was feeling a little competitive.

"The Black Tower. Oooh, yah." Jun grimaced. "You must mean Grandma. I've met her too. Yah, I wouldn't go messing with that. Well, I wouldn't mind a friendly spar. I haven't really fought anyone in almost a year so, I hope you don't mind if I'm a little rusty. I have however been training. I've also made some upgrades to my equipment."

Jun closed her eyes and flicked out her wrists. There would be a bright flash of blue light, followed by her body being encased in something like liquid sky, swirling and pulsating about. A second later, the substance would disappear, and the grey-robed Jun would be gone.

In her place was a petite, but formidable looking warrior. She was wearing not plate armor, but rather what looked like a heavy, pine colored silk suit. There were many layers of cloth, each several millimeters thick. Covering her torso, shoulders, and thighs were a lamellar style brigandine, pauldrons, and tassets which seemed to be made of emerald dragon scales. Covering Jun's head was a brass-like barbuta helmet with a Y-shaped opening.

Finally, Jun had acquired a brass-looking buckler with a sapphire sphere in the middle, and a chrome blue looking short sword.

Her hair was completely concealed by a dark green coif, and the bulky armor concealed her feminine form, so at first it would be hard to tell that this was the same person, except-

"Achoo!"

Jun's sneeze sounded distinctly like a small female's. When she sneezed there was a faint jangling, like chains, that seemed to come from her flared out sleeves.

"-Snort- Sorry. This might sound weird but, this armor still has some pollen in it. Long story. -Snort-" Her voice sounded a bit muffled underneath the helmet.

The large black crow meanwhile fluttered down to the grown to meet the pair. The enclave observers would finally see how large the creature was. Blackbean cocked his head slightly so that a single, vast black eye peered at Vigil's head.

Jun hobbled along in her very warm armor until they made it to the safe chamber. She decided to have Blackbean shrink down to his regular form and wait outside while she and Vigil both measured each of their non-existent sexual members.

"I agree to those terms. Good luck." She took a defensive stance with her buckler held forward in her left hand, knees bent, left foot forward and right hand wavering her sword in anticipation.

Not a second would go by before Vigil would suddenly feel a massive pull of both life and heat energy from all around the room towards a single point of light about a meter above her head. If Vigil could sense energy he would also sense the room's life force intermingling with her own mana pool, like thin streams flowing from her body upwards. The light was rapidly becoming brighter and brighter.

Vigil's attack was well-timed. Had it come a second later Jun would have had enough energy for something quite nasty. As it was the staff would connect against either her brigandine or helmet. It wouldn't do much damage, but it'd annoy and distract her. She'd stumble forward and then turn sideways to try to keep both the portal and Vigil in view. The light would start to expand like a glowing white balloon, but its luminosity would decrease as she lost focus on it.

"Believe me, you definitely slowed me down. But not for long!" As she said this the balloon of light would suddenly shift positions and leap onto her body like a second suit of armor. Something was beginning to take shape around her, a silhouette made of light. She kept her defensive stance in case Vigil was able to fire something off before her spell was complete, but with the spare energy from her failed attack it wouldn't take very long to cast. She kept an eye on both the portal and Vigil as she muttered a short three syllable phrase.

Jun braces herself to accept the magical missiles with her buckler, purposely delaying her spell by a fraction of a second so that when it completes the final product is at full health.

There's a loud clang as the missiles strike the sun metal buckler. Jun's arm is thrust painfully against her chest, wrenching her shoulder. She slides back and seems like she's going to fall over, but during a flash of light she's able to extend her other "hand" to the ground to steady herself.

Except it wasn't quite her hand that touched the ground. Instead it was a great, glowing hand of quartz with crystalline stones for phalanges. She was now encased inside a large translucent creature. Her body, in a fetal position, is just barely visible inside a great shimmering white sphere. The creature's body is humanoid, and its arms and legs appear to be large elongated glowing boulders. The creature doesn't have a head.

It is a light construct, an extension of Jun's will that is also protecting her.

Its body vibrates, causing it to emit a screech not unlike nails scratching a blackboard. After its battle-cry it starts to rush towards Vigil. Its footstep are thunks like stone on marble, but rather than act heavy the creature is surprisingly fast.

The creature's reaction to Vigil's flank is immediate. It swivels around one of its massive arms, expecting to collide with Vigil. Instead it would strike against his battlestaff, and like two heavy, powerful objects colliding, they would likely send each other stumbling apart with a sound like a great marble block splitting in two. The creature would quickly regain its balance and assume a defensive stance.

During the collision, tiny flecks of light would spray out from the battlestaff's point of impact, and a small crack would form on the creature's arm. The crack would slowly reseal if left unchecked.

Oooh crap crap crap crap crap-

Jun realizes she's in trouble the moment the orb passes through the first pillar. She instantly recognizes that this attack would be difficult to dodge and inflict damage on her if she didn't.

The only way to deal with it that she sees is to sacrifice her construct.

As quickly as they can, the limbs of the construct detach themselves from the main body, leaving its torso floating like a great white ping pong ball ball. There's a dull thud as the limbs all swivel to the back and strike the torso from the rear, sending it sliding forward but diagonally, just grazing Vigil's attack. The limbs would disappear as they are struck by Vigil's orb.

As Jun slid along the side of the pillar area, the torso of the former guardian would start to fade away, and Jun's silhouette would become increasingly visible. It would be apparent that she was holding up her buckler, which was emitting a bright blue light.