Scorched Earth Policy

**Date Started:** Nov 27 2019
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Users Involved:** User:PuddingCups, User:Jmayfie01
**Setting:** Unknown
**Characters Involved:**
* Diablo Alma: Karnilla

## A Burning Nymph

The guild master sat in his throne, having called upon Karnilla for a special task, she soon arrived, standing before him and awaiting orders. "Ah, Karnilla. I'm sure you've heard of our trouble with the Withered Nymph Guild... have you not?" It was a small dark guild, one that Diablo Alma had tried to force under its wing for quite some time but when they did accept, they unfortunately did not follow through with the plans. Believing they had a choice in this was their first mistake. "The ones who defy us? Who give empty promises?" Karnilla asked, receiving a nod in response. "Snuff them out." Moloch said menacingly, the doors opening behind her, shedding moonlight into the dark room. Mounting her broomstick, Karnilla flew from the castle and took to the skies, she had work to do.

It was a peaceful night, the stars were out and you could hear the crickets chirping, well, you could have if Diablo Alma actually allowed creatures within it's borders. Much of the surrounding forest was dead or dying, the grass blackened by dark magic, nearly nothing was alive! The Withered Nymph Guild Hall was actually a good distance away, but thanks to her broom, traveling was made easy and she was there in only an hour! A red magic circle appeared in the sky, a small dragon being summoned on Karnilla's shoulder, wrapping its tail around her arm and nuzzling itself against her cheek. "Oh Salamander, tonight we teach them a lesson. Don't make a deal with the devil you can't keep." The dragon roared in agreeance, sending multiple balls of fire raining down on the guild hall, which resembled a tree house of sorts. People screamed as the flames engulfed them, the bark blackening, and the trees disintegrating, the powerful blaze lighting up the night sky.

Meliae had been resting on a nearby tree, not near enough for her to be burned but close enough for her to hear the screams of the nearby guild, they weren't great people but nonetheless she did treat them with respect, warning them that if they continued to wither the forest that she would burn their bodies into ash and scatter it to make the soil fertile. Though this wasn't them causing any trouble, No. She saw fire! Flames that seemed to erupt higher than normal ones, caused by something from above. "What could that be..? A rogue nature spirit?" Meliae considered this, but then saw the woman on the dragon, how strange.. Usually dragons didn't exist but it seems this woman somehow has one.

A truly difficult choice, the woman was honestly doing her a favor.. The people living in withering Nymph didn't care about the trees at all, all they wanted was to spread their evil deeds and to even keep their magic tree alive, they would suck up the life from all the greenery around it! Which disgusted her but she never fought back, until now. The ground started shaking, meliae was siphoning the magic power from their guild tree, drawing it into herself with the roots of the tree acting as a conduit, soon, meliae was riding on a large tree root towards the guild. The tree root was large, about twice the size of herself but it moved towards the guild and with their look of disgust at the tree hugger, she let one word escape her mouth. "Bleve." With that word, the guild in front of her was doused with a fiery explosion that started destroying their guild, along with some of the people.

Karnilla was shocked at what she was seeing, magic flew from the guild's tree, entering into the night sky like a shining beacon of light before floating away too... a girl? Impossible! No one in The Withered Nymph was that strong! Hardly any of them even had real magic! With the tree's roots twisting and turning, digging up the earth and growing at rapid speeds before... BAM! They exploded, adding to the fiery mess.

Karnilla's fist clenched her broom as Salamander returned to her. Who was this person! Shaking her head as if to wake her up from the terrible nightmare. Once she was finally concentrated on the problem at hand, she could see that a few of the mages had managed to make it out alive, one in particular, who was using their water magic to put out the fire. Karnilla was presented with a choice, investigate the mysterious nature person or fight the guild and of course she chose to fight.

Hovering down she landed near the base of the giant burnt tree house, three mages trembled with fear upon seeing her, the water mage included. "I see the nymphs haven't quite learned their lesson, still have fighting spirit? Huh? Well, we'll see about that. Salamander." The dragon roared, flying forward and growing to the size of an average human. It didn't seem like much, but it did increase his power. A beam of fire escaped his mouth, but the water mage fought back with a whirling rapid shield. The team protected inside began to devise a plan, whilst Karnilla slowly walked toward their bubble barrier. "You can't get in witch! Haha, good thing fires weak to water!" The water mage teased, clearly confident in her abilities. The other wizards inside seemed so as well, ready to fight at any moment if need be.

Karnilla simply waved her finger in the air, as if to symbolize no. "I don't think you get it, do you? It doesn't matter what magic you have... not if I'm stronger." Taking her witch hat and pulling it down a bit, she sent Salamander crashing into the water barrier, it was a fight, a brief one, using fiery claws he was easily able to break the barrier and annihilate the team with just one blow before returning to his normal size and perching on his masters broomstick. Now to find the nature girl.

Nature girl, or as her real name was, Meliae, was standing on top of a large tree. Her eyes glistened in pain as she watched the people below her get killed, her attack wouldn't kill them but rather teach them a lesson though Karnilla's magic.. It was deadly. Something so powerful yet basic, able to put destruction to the lands with her fiery pet.. Who Meliae still wasn't sure if it was a type of magic or simply a pet she had domesticated. Meliae's plant magic kicked in, with various large carnivorous flytraps appearing below a few of the mages and closing, bring them into the ground and then gathering them somewhere safe. Now to talk with the fiery woman.

Meliae's branch extended to be on face level with the woman. "What is your business here? Destroying the forest with your pet and killing various mages?" Meliae didn't show any anger, but rather curiosity. She had no idea what qualms or troubles these mages might have caused the woman so she normally wouldn't intervene but the fire could spread to the trees and she wasn't sure if this woman was attacking for the right reasons! "The smell of burning corpses isn't something I want tainting a luscious forest.." Her eyes fixated on the womans.

Karnilla thought she had finished off the guild for good but as this woman appeared she knew that wasn't the case. This stranger had saved them! Mounting her broom and hovering slightly, Karnilla pondered on a response, holding her finger to her cheek as she thought. "Well, I could lie to you, but I don't really feel like doing that. The woman crossed her legs, as if to add dramatic effect to her next words. "I'm a guild member of Diablo Alma, sent here to destroy this guild and if you don't stay out of my way, you'll be joining them." Karnilla then pointed to a pile of ashes on the forests floor, cackling like a witch at her clever joke.

Meliae sighed, it was sad to see that these mages had sacrificed their lives but in the end, they were indeed sinners who did terrible things. "Ash is a substance that is associated with death, though also new life." A beautiful red rose grew up from the ash pile, stunningly glowing in the moonlight. Meliae took out a wooden tea cup that she had made quickly, grabbing a tea leaf from the branch and putting it in. "We could talk over some tea, instead of meaningless brutality." A bellflower sprouted on the branch as well, moving down to scoop up some water from the puddle below and pouring it into the cup. "We can use your fire magic to heat it up and enjoy a nice cup!" Meliae smiled, the vines in her hair blossoming into easter lily's.

"I think I prefer menacing brutality." Karnilla spat, crossing her arms while her dragon flared his nostrils and prepared to attack. "But I'm feeling nice, so give up the Nymphs and then we'll talk." Karnilla placed her elbow into her lap, resting her head on her hand, now eye level with the girl, as if she was peering into her soul.

"I don't think I will." The woman picked a fruit from the branch she was resting on and threw it at karnilla, causing a decent sized explosion as the power of the earth had been condensed into the fruit. It would damage her a bit but the girl was strong, she wouldn't go down that easily.

## Fighting Fire With Fire

As the berry made contact with her, it exploded, though it was powerful it wasn't enough to do any real damage, a warning shot of sorts. Once the smoke from the explosion blew away Karnilla and her dragon could be seen, a little higher in the sky this time. "Fine then... burn with the rest of them!" Karnilla shouted, flying higher into the air, her dragon still in it's baby form blowing balls of fire from it's mouth and directly into the sky, they arched over and rained down on the woman like shooting stars.