//------------------------------//
// Old Ties 
// Story: My Little Forumites are Magic 
// by Mx Story Anomalax 
//------------------------------//

The girl Jordan saw revealing herself from the tree canopies jumped down, her image becoming more solid each second. She had the attire of a maid of mind. Jordan brought his sword out of his captchalogue deck and held it out, knowing from experience that the woman had been manipulating the minds of others around her in order to appear invisible. Her face looked cracked at places, as though she had fallen apart and been put back together again. Her hood was up as she pulled a bladed ring weapon like Tira's from her own captchalogue deck.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you live." The voice was gentle and a little forced. Her eyes were wide, and matched her outfit. Jordan thought she looked pretty.

Jordan had to take a step back when the lady rushed him, her ring pushing his guard in significantly. She was obviously strong and very good with her weapon. He tried to shove her away, using the flat of his blade and pushing the end of it with his other hand. She jumped away and images of her appeared everywhere before she started closing in. Through strained strength Jordan pulled up as much as he could, trying to grab the weapons as they came at him with strengthened vines. Only one was caught and he slashed his sword out at her, a wave of doom hitting her but being absorbed into her skin, the cracks shimmering with the power of doom. She looked somewhat stronger after that. Jordan put his sword away, realizing it wasn't going to do him any good. He'd have to use his fists, as hard as that would be.

The lady jumped up high and into the branches of a tree, her image flickering in many different spots at once, as though, like Dave, she had been running at him from all directions but going back in time to feign attacks and make a real one. Jordan had a hard time keeping track and tried to catch some of the illusions to make sure they were just that, before he felt something slice against his back, a deep gash tearing into his clothes and skin. The blood soaked immediately into it as he cried out and turned around, fumbling with his steps, holding his back, thankful that it hadn't damaged his spine.

Jordan wasn't sure he could take this girl on. He'd been getting hit more and more and he was getting tired. The pain was substantial and he wished she would end him so that he could come back to life and heal. He figured she intended to incapacitate him instead, seeing as there wasn't an opportunity yet to take him out for good. Some rustling sounded from somewhere around him. He was having trouble figuring where things were coming - the lady was making his head spin.

"Yo, what's taking so lo-!? WHOA!" Typo ducked quickly as the ring blade embedded itself into the tree next to him. Had he been a little slower, and had not taken a slight amount of the element from his environment, he would have probably been cut in half. When he saw who it was - even though the image was faint for him, he recognized her. "Auryie?" He seemed shocked. "How are you here!?" Anger quickly rose to the surface and he chopped at the air horizontally, obviously confused about what was going on.

Jordan panted, "Auryie...? Who's... T-that...?"

Auryie responded simply. "It's been awhile Typo. And I'm sorry to say, but this reunion has to be cut short." She disappeared from sight, her voice hanging on the air for one final goodbye. "Oh, and you ought to think about what I said, child." There was a rush of leaves as the creatures around started to disappear, falling apart into black dust and seeping into the earth. Jordan, who had been keeping himself up by leaning on a nearby tree, fell to the ground in pain, wheezing.

Jordan wheezed out, "who was... That...?" Jordan felt like shit - mentally too. He felt a lot of despair.

Typo turned serious and determined. "There's no time for that." A tear started sliding down from one of his eyes. "She put us in an illusion. I can feel it, but I can't disable it because it's coming from an enchanted item. This is going to be difficult. Especially because I have to carry you."

"You... You do not...!" Jordan tried to get up but had a hard time. His attempt at flying took up too much strength and he fell quickly, his mind reeling from the encounter.