Ethari walked down the familiar beaten path towards the training arena, humming a happy song, his dove, Cataraza perched on his shoulder, and his Balance priest, Tarkin by his side with a newt, Rahu clinging to his back. It had been a while since he had visited the place, especial since his last visit. He had ran into Morgo Domanu, a psychotic orc, bent on Chaos and destruction, and killed just for pleasure.

Ethari quit humming, his mood changing as he recalled the moment. Morgo had insisted on a debate, on why Balance was a better way of life than Chaos. That had shocked Ethari. He knew that the orc was smart, but he had no idea that he upheld the way of Chaos with such passion. After they had debated, Morgo demanded a fight, and sure enough, the next day, a fight had broke out. Morgo was a Frenzied Acolyte, and eager to test his skills.

The fight ended quickly, with Ethari blinding Morgo, then stabbing him. Morgo's words still rang in his head "Finish me if you like! But look around you! Chaos still prevails." After a fit of coughing he continued "Kill me if you like, Ethari. I will never die! My legacy in Arda is immortal!" That was the chance he had to kill him. But he couldn't, for a child was caught in the near by flames, and Ethari was forced to rescue him, leaving Morgo with the chance to escape. Ethari had vowed he would kill him.

Ethari soon found himself at the entrance to the arena, after reminiscing for quite some time. He entered, inhaling the scent of the to familiar place. A lady was seated a desk, working diligently on some papers. Ethari approached and coughed slightly, so the lady would look up from her diligent work. She looked up with a sigh, saying "would you like some thing sir?" Ethari shuffled around, and said politely "Were can I find a place to train." She let out a louder sigh and said bluntly " The west wing is were all the equipment is kept, and the east wing has some lodgings and the north wing has the trainers, and if you head outside, you'll find the arena."

Ethari muttered a thanks and headed towards the door leading outside. Several arena's were scattered around, including archery rings, and sparring and fencing circles. There were chairs around the rings, and the most active fights had many people applauding and cheering, and watching diligently. Ethari walked past the crowded arena's and entered the farthest one. He threw his things on the ground and drew his long sword. He didn't want to draw his diamond blade, for fear of it being stolen. He looked at the stitched dummy, with a familiar glance. "Calan!" Ethari shouted. It was his old arena, that he trained a while back. He broke his dummy, and with the help with a local, stitched it back together.

"Tarkin, go ahead and head to another ring if you would like to train." Tarkin nodded and headed to the neighboring arena and began to spar with his own dummy, along with Ethari in the neighboring ring.

((What's cool about being on Arda for a while, is that all things in my post, about Morgo and the dummy, actually happened! :lol: )

Zenith Meria had been in so many battles as of late that he had not had time to just get in some basic training, you know without the risk of being torn apart by the person he was facing, and so the Archangel of Life had set off to train at the Outdoor Training Arena in the Grasslands of Salquedor. However the angel had not set off for the Training Arena on his own, he was accompanied by his Guardian Angel known as Elzareth as well as a tiny little grey mouse by the name of Keal that rested on the shoulder of the angel as the group drew in closer for the large training grounds ahead of him.

Elzareth had been granted to Zenith from the Goddess of Life and he was equipped with a Paladins Chain mail, a set of Priests Robes and a mighty Unicorn Spear, while on this day Zenith had chosen to wear his basic clerical clothes which consisted of a somewhat baggy pair of black pants as well as a sleeveless black and white cleric top. The weapon of choice that the Archangel of Life had taken with him for his training was his usual blade that he used in almost every battle, a blade that was marked with the rune of Lothlómendil so it would hurt all evil that were to make contact with it. The blade was called Salvations Judgement and it was a combined Holy Blade and Resplendent Countering Longsword making it a very effective weapon in the midst of combat against almost anyone.

Once the group had reached the Training Arena the woman seated at her desk looked up with a small smile, she knew Zenith rather well since the angel had been there so many times before in his rather short life. The woman waved Zenith through as if telling him he could just go through as he wished, the angel nodded in reply before setting off to his usual training spot. As he walked towards the area he noticed many other warriors all training together, the most impressive by far being the ones fighting each other with a polearm weapon. Zenith had always wanted to train and master the art of polearm combat as it looked amazingly skilled as well as very helpful for a lot of situations that the Archangel found himself in during his lifetime.

Soon, not to far ahead of him, Zenith could see another angel training by battling a dummy in his little ring, not to far from said angel was what Zenith thought to be a monk also training hard against a battle dummy. Walking closer towards these two beings Zenith said, “Good day there fellow angel. How are you fairing on such a fine day as this? Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself to you.” He then took a small pause in his words before continuing on to say, “My name is Zenith Meria, and the other angel next to me is well, my Guardian Angel known as Elzareth and the little mouse you see here is my friend Keal. It seems this place is rather busy on this day, and in order to save some space for others I was wondering if you would be interested in training along side me?” Zenith then stopped his pattern of speech and waited on the reply from the other angel.

Ethari ran to the back of the arena, ready to try a move he had been working on for a while. He then began to glide rapidly, long sword held high, and then flew up, sword cutting at the dummy, and then changed his sword position so his sword pointed down, and using his wings to propel him down, stabbed the dummy. Ethari pulled his sword out the the beaten dummy, sweat beginning to bead on his brow. He noticed two angels approaching. They were both rather tall, and both held a regal looking status. Ethari turned from his training and looked at the two, sheathing his simple long sword.

One of the angels began to speak,"Good day there fellow angel. How are you fairing on such a fine day as this? Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself to you. My name is Zenith Meria, and the other angel next to me is well, my Guardian Angel known as Elzareth and the little mouse you see here is my friend Keal. It seems this place is rather busy on this day, and in order to save some space for others I was wondering if you would be interested in training along side me?” After he finished, he looked expectantly, awaiting a response.

"Greetings Zenith, it is a pleasure meeting another angel, for they are sparse in Arda. My name is Ethari Xilophent, and the monk," he said, gesturing towards the robed man, who was now looking from his training, "is Tarkin, a Balance priest. And the dove and newt," he continued, motioning towards the wooden gate were his dove and newt were perched, playfully nipping at each other, "are Cataraza and Rahu. As for your request to spar, it would be a pleasure for us, as in Tarkin and I, for we haven't enjoyed the company of others for quite some time now." Ethari drew his long sword again and said "I'm in the process of training in the arts of aerial moves. You see, to me, aerial combat can give a upper hand in combat, and give you an advantage to win, and that most winged creatures should take advantage of the gift of their wings and use them to gain a upper hand. Would you happen to know any aerial moves, for my knowledge on them is quite limited, for I haven't seen many winged humaniods for a while." Ethari looked on for a response from one of the angels.

Keeping his eyes locked onto the angelic being before him Zenith soon heard him say, “Greetings Zenith, it is a pleasure meeting another angel, for they are sparse in Arda. My name is Ethari Xilophent, and the monk, is Tarkin, a Balance priest. And the dove and newt are Cataraza and Rahu. As for your request to spar, it would be a pleasure for us, as in Tarkin and I, for we haven't enjoyed the company of others for quite some time now." Zenith then watched as the angel once again withdrew his Longsword from its sheath. It was clear that this weapon was rather basic, and old at that. The Archangel of Life then smiled a little as Ethari went on to then say, "I'm in the process of training in the arts of aerial moves. You see, to me, aerial combat can give an upper hand in combat, and give you an advantage to win, and that most winged creatures should take advantage of the gift of their wings and use them to gain an upper hand. Would you happen to know any aerial moves, for my knowledge on them is quite limited, for I haven't seen many winged humanoids for a while." So he was looking to master aerial combat? This day was going to prove most interesting.

Zenith noticed that Elzareth had walked over towards Tarkin as if the pair were going to spar with each other, the Archangel of Life then returned his attention back to Ethari before he said, “I know a fair few aerial moves, but in truth you should not rely on them to much Ethari. You see the wings of us angels can be both an advantage and disadvantage in a battle. Yes it may bring you the upper hand in your own battle, but during a large-scale war your wings will be seen as nothing more as bait for the archers. Believe me when I say this, my wings have been impaled on many different occasions during my short life.” Zenith then let out a small sigh after saying as he thought of the last battle he was in during the war where his wings had basically become pin cushions for arrows, it was not a very pleasant sight to behold really.

However getting back on topic Zenith quickly drew his golden blade from its sheath and said, “This attack may come in handy if you are able to fully master it Ethari.” Zenith then vanished from sight due to his Teleport spell and appeared in the air with his large white wings spread out into the wind, the angel then began to fly down towards the dummy Ethari had been facing only moments before. As he drew in closer to the dummy Zenith tucked his right wing into his side and outstretched his left wing farther making his swerve quickly to the left. By doing this Zenith was able to make a perfect strike for the neck of the dummy which, had it been a real person, would have instantly died from the force of the strike. He then landed softly onto the ground once more and looked back towards Ethari to see what he thought of the attack and whether he could do it himself.

Ethari listened patiently as Zenith began to respond to his question, pleased that he was going to clear up the matter for him. “I know a fair few aerial moves, but in truth you should not rely on them to much Ethari. You see the wings of us angels can be both an advantage and disadvantage in a battle. Yes it may bring you the upper hand in your own battle, but during a large-scale war your wings will be seen as nothing more as bait for the archers. Believe me when I say this, my wings have been impaled on many different occasions during my short life.” Ethari watched as his gaze faltered for a second. He must have had some bad experience with archers.

Zenith regained his composure quickly, and continued. “This attack may come in handy if you are able to fully master it Ethari.” Ethari noticed a muscle contraction, thanks to his Intellect ability granted from Therenody, but only for a second. Zenith had disappeared, only to reappear higher up. Ethari looked at him and followed his movements attentively, trying his hardest not to miss a thing.

Zenith began to plummet towards the dummy at high speeds, as if to stab him, but quickly pivoted to the right. That would catch a normal enemy off guard. Zenith followed the move through, and ended slashing at the dummy's throat, who swayed unresponsively. He landed gently on the ground, and looked towards Ethari for a response.

Ethari clapped for a bit, and said "That was a great move! I have actually tried that move once before, except I didn't think to aim for the throat. That is clever, catching the opponent off guard, and then striking at a vital point." Ethari continued and said "would you happen to be ambidextrous. If you are, I have done a move on an opponent, and it proved successful, though the move itself is rather under developed, and I'm beginning to think it of a fluke that it was successful." Ethari called to Tarkin. Tarkin approached and Ethari said "I was hoping to show Zenith here a move, would you mind helping me?"

"Not at all Ethari" Tarkin said, assuming battle position. "Attack me lightly," Ethari said to Tarkin. Tarkin began a slow series of punches and kicks, easy for Ethari to dodge. Tarkin punched Ethari with a side ward jab, to the right side, and Ethari accepted the blow. As Tarkin recovered from the blow, Ethari tossed his sword to his left hand, and caught it, and swung it at Tarkin, stopping as his blade touched his side gently. Ethari recovered and looked towards Zenith for a response.

Looking back towards the angel known as Ethari Zenith heard him say, "That was a great move! I have actually tried that move once before, except I didn't think to aim for the throat. That is clever, catching the opponent off guard, and then striking at a vital point. Would you happen to be ambidextrous? If you are, I have done a move on an opponent, and it proved successful, though the move itself is rather under developed, and I'm beginning to think it of a fluke that it was successful. I was hoping to show Zenith here a move, would you mind helping me?" Before Tarkin could reply Zenith raised his right hand up towards his face and slowly moved some of his hair from his face. It was then that Tarkin said, "Not at all Ethari" The Archangel was starting to wonder exactly what Ethari and Tarkin were about to do.

He then heard Ethari say, "Attack me lightly," after which Tarkin began to do a combination of slow punches and kicks at the angel. Zenith then watched Ethari as he accepted one of the blows and then switched his blade into his other hand before aiming a strike at Tarkin. The move was rather impressive and Zenith could help but nod in acknowledgment, he then softly said, “Very impressive Ethari, but have you ever been in battle with someone using a polearm weapon? If not then I advise you to learn how to combat against them, as well as all other weapon types. Infact allow me to show you a basic strike you could do when attacked by a polearm, Elzareth shall we?” Elzareth nodded in reply to Zenith before raising his Unicorn spear and start an attack towards the Archangel of Life.

Zenith started to dodge the blows sent at him by Elzareth and then as the Guardian Angel went for a impaling blow to Zenith he quickly brought up Salvations Judgement and placed it in such a way that the spear ran across its hand guard as it headed for Zeniths form. Quickly the angel then turned his blade so that the spears head imbedded itself in the ground of the training arena, with the spear now stuck Zenith threw Salvations Judgement into his other hand while turning his body. Once his body had fully turned the angels blade was lightly pressing against the rib area of Elzareth. Zenith then said, “You see in a real battle if I had went all the way with this attack then my blade would have ripped into the polearm users ribs and then I could easily push them back with my shield afterwards.” Once saying this Zenith slowly slid Salvations Judgement back into its sheath.

Ethari listined to Zenith's response, as he said “Very impressive Ethari, but have you ever been in battle with someone using a pole arm weapon? If not then I advise you to learn how to combat against them, as well as all other weapon types. In fact allow me to show you a basic strike you could do when attacked by a pole arm, Elzareth shall we?” Ethari watched as the two began to gently spar with each other, Zenith with his sword, and Elzerth with his unicorn spear.

After Zenith had dodged some blows, Elzerth attempted to stab Zenith with his spear. Zenith held his sword up, and the Unicorn spear ran across his blades hand guard. He then turned his blade, forcing the spear to turn downwards and pierce into the ground. This would allow Zenith an easy opportunity to counter attack, and he did just that. Zenith threw his blade to his other hand, similarly to what Ethari had down, but instead, he rotated around, and ended in a position where he was on the other side of the Guardian Angel, and had his sword was pressed at his ribs.

"Clever move Zenith," Ethari said ,"It's almost a continuation of my move for a pole arm. As for what you said before, I most agree. It is different for all forms of combat. You have to be ready for pole arms, whips, maces, axes, dual wielding, and even martial combat. There is so many ways to fight, that it would take decades to even hope to master all the styles of fighting and how to defend with each form of fighting."

Ethari continued, "I have another move that I have been trying, but it is extremely risky, and involves aerial moves." Without another word, Ethari ready his blade and walked to the other side of the arena. He then pushed himself off the ground, about ten feet. He then began to fly towards the dummy, also began to increase his speed. He was approaching the dummy, and fast. He was soon flat horizontally, and his sword was outstretched, aimed for the dummy. An average foe wouldn't have time to react to the speeding bullet.

His sword pierced the dummy, and Ethari pulled his wings close to the dummy, and turned his sword sideways. Then, using his feet and wings, kicked off and landed about ten feet away from the dummy. Ethari sheathed his long sword and looked towards Zenith for a response.

It seemed that Ethari thought well of Zeniths fighting style as he said, "Clever move Zenith, It's almost a continuation of my move for a pole arm. As for what you said before, I most agree. It is different for all forms of combat. You have to be ready for pole arms, whips, maces, axes, dual wielding, and even martial combat. There is so many ways to fight, that it would take decades to even hope to master all the styles of fighting and how to defend with each form of fighting." He then paused for a brief moment before he went on to say, "I have another move that I have been trying, but it is extremely risky, and involves aerial moves." It was with all this said that Ethari made ready his next attack.

Zenith watched him as he walked off into the distance before leaping into the air and spreading his wings to maintain height. Once air born Ethari manoeuvred through the air and straight towards the battle dummy. The angel seemed to be moving rather fast and before Zenith knew it Ethari had embedded his blade deep into the body of the battle dummy. He then cleverly used both his legs and wings to jump away from the dummy a fair distance, which if used in a real battle would have given Ethari, amply time to deliver another powerful attack while his opponent recovered from the first strike.

Looking towards Ethari the Archangel of Life soon said, “It was impressive Ethari, but keep in mind that if you were to use that, while it may give you a good chance for a second strike, it can easily be blocked and even reversed so that you take the damage. For while you are headed for the enemy they need only get the perfect timing them move the side and raise there own blade. In doing so they could very easily kill you. Be careful.” Then with a small smile across his lips Zenith walked over to where Ethari was, he then calmly said, “Now for something very tricky to do in battle, it requires both perfect timing in physical combat as well as arcane combat!” Once he was done saying this Zenith spread out his large white angelic wings and thus took to the air once more.

Now in the air Zenith changed the way his wings were set so that his body went down at a dive towards the dummy. Once close enough the angel threw Salvations Judgement deep into the shoulder of the dummy and used his wings to elevate high into the air again, now high above the dummy Zenith cast one of his spells, however due to his training in spell casting Zenith no longer had to use words or even gestures in order to cast his spells so with nothing more than a simple thought Zenith caused a powerful bolt of lightning to crash from the sky and make contact with Salvations Judgement. The blade caused the lightning to flow through the dummy with amazing force, which could especially been seen as the outside layer of the dummy ignited in flames. With the dummy now on fire Zenith used his Telekinesis to return his blade to him and place into its sheath once more.

((Sorry if it sounds bad, I was rushed :grr: ))
Zenith looked at Ethari and said “It was impressive Ethari, but keep in mind that if you were to use that, while it may give you a good chance for a second strike, it can easily be blocked and even reversed so that you take the damage. For while you are headed for the enemy they need only get the perfect timing them move the side and raise there own blade. In doing so they could very easily kill you. Be careful.” Ethari nodded his head in approval. He rarely used aerial combat, for fear of losing his wing. The attack was extremely risky, but if successful, it would have a devastating effect on the opponent. Ethari had only used his wings in combat to dodge, and give him an advantage with a jumping move.

Zenith then smiled and continued, saying “Now for something very tricky to do in battle, it requires both perfect timing in physical combat as well as arcane combat!” Zenith flew in the air, high up, which would give him an advantage in a real fight. He then threw his sword, which embedded itself in the dummy's shoulder. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the dummy, which had been amplified due to the sword piercing the dummy. The dummy ignited and caught fire. Zenith then lowered himself to the ground, his blade flying to him, and then he sheathed it.

Ethari was startled by the bolt of lightning and said "Was that you who caused the bolt?!? I heard no Arcane words or saw no hand signs. If that was you, you must be a skilled magician to cast with a mere thought. As for the move itself, I must admit it is extremely impressive and clever. As for me, I'm not to sure it would work, besides that I cannot use that spell. I use a diamond blade in combat, and I'm not all that sure if the diamond would conduct the electricity as well as your blade did."

Ethari continued, saying "Since we're on the matter of arcane combat, there has been a move that I've been meaning to try in combat, but I've never had the chance to." Without another word, Ethari walked to the other side of the arena, drawing his long sword, and said "Its hard to do with a dummy, but I'll try." With that, Ethari outstretched his hand and said some Arcane words. After he said the words, two purple masses hurdled towards the dummy and soon took shape of two magical nets. One was head right for the dummy, and one to the left. Ethari flew towards the dummy on the right side, which would trap the dummy. Ethari stopped, and the two nets dissipated, and he looked towards Zenith for a response.

It seemed that Ethari was rather startled as the angel quickly said, "Was that you who caused the bolt?!? I heard no Arcane words or saw no hand signs. If that was you, you must be a skilled magician to cast with a mere thought. As for the move itself, I must admit it is extremely impressive and clever. As for me, I'm not too sure it would work, besides that I cannot use that spell. I use a diamond blade in combat, and I'm not all that sure if the diamond would conduct the electricity as well as your blade did." Zenith nodded to Ethari once hearing this and said in reply, “Well Ethari in answer to your first question yes I did create the bolt of Lightning, although I am skilled in the art of armed combat I am more of a mage however I find the best way to use my spells in battle is to cast them from my blade itself. As for the spell, if you do not know it I could also teach it to you my friend, oh yes and about the Diamond blade I am very sure that would work, after all the blade of that sword will only be covered in Diamonds around the edges meaning the handle will still be made of metal in order to conduct the lightning!” Once saying this Zenith waited to see what else Ethari was going to say.

Moments later Ethari went on to say, "Since we're on the matter of arcane combat, there has been a move that I've been meaning to try in combat, but I've never had the chance to." The angel then drew forth his basic Longsword once more before continuing on to say, "It’s hard to do with a dummy, but I'll try." Zenith then watched on as Ethari preformed his next attack, the attack made use of the magical net spells which Zenith thought was rather impressive. The Archangel of Life smiled seeing the attack then softly said, “I can see why it would be difficult to use on a dummy, but that attack could come in handy during actual physical combat. Nice work, now I guess it is once again my turn to try and do a special kind of attack then hmm?” As Zenith finished saying this a sly smirk grew over his lips as he took Salvations Judgement from its sheath again and headed for the dummy.

With the sword in his right hand Zenith placed his left hand down towards the ground and cast his Magic Missile spell, the blast of magic slammed into the ground sending up a wave of dust high into the air and thus covering the form of Zenith. Then suddenly out from the dust the angel shot forth towards the dummy aiming a strike for its chest area, but before the angel got close enough its form started to fade as it was nothing more that a mere illusion cast by Zenith Meria to distract his enemy while the real Zenith had Teleported behind the dummy and managed to push his golden blade deep into the dummies back, right where the human spine would normally be. It had served Zenith well many times in the past and the spells used for said attack would be easy once to teach Ethari if he did not already know them.

Ethari listened to Zenith as he responded softly. “I can see why it would be difficult to use on a dummy, but that attack could come in handy during actual physical combat. Nice work, now I guess it is once again my turn to try and do a special kind of attack then hmm?” Ethari smirked. He was running out of moves, and would start making them up pretty soon.

Ethari shook his head gently, clearing his mind as he watched Zenith perform his next move. He smirked slightly and drew his blade again, and readied for the move. Zenith put his hand towards the ground, and a magic missile hit the ground, spreading up dust everywhere. Ethari used his wing to cover his mouth and watched as the move progressed.

Zenith shot out of the dust, aiming for the dummy's chest. Ethari smirked, for he knew the purpose of the move. Zenith used the dust as a distraction, and then flew rapidly out of the cloud, witch would catch a normal opponent off guard, and allow a strong attack. After Zenith was close to the dummy, it disappeared, and faded away. Ethari was caught off guard, but realized the true meaning of the attack, after seeing the real Zenith behind the dummy, and stabbing it in its back.

Ethari heard slight clapping, and quickly turned around to see what was causing the noise. People were beginning to watch the match. It must have been from the lightning bolt or the dust cloud. Ethari then approached Zenith, saying "That was an impressive move, and realitivly simple to learn. I can create an illusion already, but I'm not too sure on how to create a dust cloud of such size. I'm sure that my wings could create a cloud of rather large size, but not nearly as large as the one you created. It was so large, it attracted an audience."

Ethari continued, and said "I do believe that it is my turn to show a move." He walked to the other side of the arena and drew his short bow, and drew an arrow. He muttered Arcane words, and the tip of his arrow began to glow with light. He released the arrow, and the arrow pierced the dummy's shoulder. Then, Ethari drew his long sword, but kept his short bow in hand, and charged the dummy, and slashed at it.

Ethari sheathed both his weapons, and faced Zenith, saying "The purpose of that attack is to somewhat blind the opponent, and then charge him. I'm not sure if I would use that in combat, because I can cast the Blind spell."

Once Zenith had finished his attack he noticed that a crowd had gathered around himself and Ethari and began clapping, it was then that Zenith heard the voice of the other angel say, "That was an impressive move, and relatively simple to learn. I can create an illusion already, but I'm not too sure on how to create a dust cloud of such size. I'm sure that my wings could create a cloud of rather large size, but not nearly as large as the one you created. It was so large, it attracted an audience." Hearing this Zenith let out a small laugh before Ethari said, "I do believe that it is my turn to show a move." The angel then moved to show another one of his attacks.

Soon Ethari had loaded his Short bow with an arrow, the arrow then began to glow a bright light as it was released from the bow and headed towards the battle dummy. Once the arrow had hit home Ethari forcefully attacked the dummy with his Longsword, then after the attack was over Ethari said, "The purpose of that attack is to somewhat blind the opponent, and then charge him. I'm not sure if I would use that in combat, because I can cast the Blind spell." Zenith nodded before saying in reply, “Yes that would work, but as you have said the Blind spell would be more effective, or if you learn how to teleport you could fire off a glowing arrow then teleport behind the person if you are fighting in pure darkness.” The angel looked towards the crowd that had gathered with a smile, it was as he did this that an idea came to the mind of Zenith Meria.

Turning back to face Ethari the Archangel of Life drew forth Salvations Judgement into his right hand with a forceful grip before he said, “Ethari, I have an idea that we could do. Since we now have a crowd gathered around us why don’t you and I have a little battle hmm? A spar with our weapons, that way the people truly will have a show to watch. What do you say?” Zenith then waited for the reply of Ethari hoping that the angel would be willing to spar with him as it had been so long since Zenith had been able to train with someone other than his Guardian Angel Elzareth.