Dark Age Legends

[Dude Man]

"Quite curious..." Marshal said. "Well, I'm sure he'll be alright."

Duilin, narrowed his eyes, and then turned to Zeros'. "Well, we could toss him somewhere, yet then, he might wake up and report what he saw, or we could kill him, yet then that would set the empire into alert, if they found the body, unless we vaporize the body."

"I say, we just toss him somewhere, I'm sure if he gets good knock on the head he'll get amnesia." Rink chuckled.

"That probabilities of that are quite low, my little red friend." Marshal replied.

"Ah, even if he dose blab about us, it won't matter. I was able to fight of an entire army plus two golems, so I'm used to having empires wishing my death." Duilin said

[Mark of the Dragon]

As he stood in the courtyard, totally illuminated by the moonlight, and soaked in his own sweat, Isaloer practiced his sacred martial art's final form repeatedly. Every step, he exhaled softly, but the techniques themselves created a mighty gust in the winds. For hours, Isaloer would train every night, perfecting his already perfect form, whilst trying not to wake the head priest and his fellow apprentice clerics, for had they known he knew this art, he would not only be expelled from the temple, but put to death.

When his form came to an end, a soft but stern voice spoke from the shadows.

"Your talent is out of the ordinary. However, as a cleric, you are forbidden to follow such barbaric practices." It was Galen, the head priest himself. His garb was of pure ruby-red silk, glistening in the winds. "It is not unknown to me that you are the only master of this art...I have read that journal you kept under your pillow, and I have seen you practice your art in the dead of the night."

Isaloer glared at the elderly priest, a flicker of hate in his eyes. "You call yourself a priest, but you read an individual's private journal as if it were open to the public?" He turned away and began to head into his quarters. He stopped just before he arrived at the main door, and turned to the priest. "How am I to be punished for practicing my family's art?"

The old man smiled calmly and walked toward the youth. "Since you are a talented fighter, and an overly skilled cleric, I cannnot end your life. However, since you have broken our rules...I have no choice but ot banish you from this temple. Get your belongings together, and leave."

Isaloer nodded and retrieved his bags, and left the temple, never looking back.



//Sorry for the delay, guys. My computer's been weird about me posting here 0_0;; //

[Xorlak]

(Actually, the forums themselves have been on the fritz for a while.)

Draven raised an eyebrow and the remaining bodyguards glanced at each other.

"Erhm... yes..."

I suppose it's better than him randomly destroying things...

"Prisoners, huh?  I don't just give things away...  make me an offer and I might give you some consideration..."

Obviously Ragnar is up to something, but what use is a few worthless prisoners?  Draven wasn't in the mood for an epic battle outside his capital's gates, anyway...

[Zeros']

Zeros' threw the mage uncermoniously to the ground.

"We could always interogate him for anwsers about the Crimson Empire," he said, thoughtfully.

[Haraldur]

"Ah, so I see your memory remains damaged. No matter, I am sure it will heal itself in time, comrade. As for what I should offer, I have no idea, so I suggest you think about that. However, I will tell you one thing for free: Zeros' and company are following me, and are likely to be those whose sounds we heard. I thought you might like to know who you sent the scout to. He will not be reporting back. Worst of all, they now know that you know that someone is here. Well, Lord Retan always did say that you acted before thinking."

[Xorlak]

Draven brought his right fist before him, clenching it tightly.  Yep, he pressed the right buttons...

"Memory?  What in blazes are you babbling about now?  Secondly, fly-boy and his merry men are of no concern to me, as are you, you washed up has-been!"

The bodyguards took a good three steps back as a faint crimson aura appeared around the man.

"I'll have none of your games, Ragnar.  If you wish to offer further petty critiques or find something of my interest for a reasonable trade, leave your message at the door and I may decide to read it if I have time at the end of the day."

He brought his right hand up in a waving motion, signaling the airship above to continue on.  It did so, slowly moving over the city walls.

The aura disappeared from Draven and he promptly walked past Haraldur, giving Telsa a quick glare, towards the gates of the capital, the three elites following.

[Zeros']

Zeros' felt the faint fiery spike of power, and nodded.

"It seems... Draven has learned how to control that temper of his. No matter... we will deal with him when the time comes," said Zeros'. He picked up the air mage again and slammed him against a tree. The tree groaned against the force, a small impression of the man's body forming in the tree, a small spiderweb of cracks forming outwards.

Zeros' stepped away from the tree and muttered some words under his breath. He waved his hands in the man's general direction. White ropes appeared around the man and tied him secruely around the tree. He stepped forwards and tugged at the experimentally. He nodded, seeing they were secure.

He extended his pointer finger and touched another point on the back of his neck, making the man come out his his unconcious state. Zeros' stepped back from the man and addressed him.

"Hello there. As you may have guessed, you were knocked out by none other then me," said Zeros', extended his wings to their full length before folding them back. He also reverted his transformation back to his half-demon form, his hair turning from white to silver and wings from white to midnight black.

"Now. I want information on the Crimson Empire and I want it now," he said calmly, but one could hear the demand in his voice. "Oh and if you struggle... let's just say there's an unpleasent surprise," he smirked then.

//The surprise is the ropes will pull tighter as he struggles and will become surrounded in fire as long as he struggles. The flames also extended upwards and downwards of a foot each from where the ropes are. Sort of like quicksand, as you keep sinking as long as you struggle.\\

[Haraldur]

"I am afraid I do not have the time, I am almost as impatient as you, Lord Draven."

Haraldur looked towards Tesla and said, "I am afraid it is with deepest regret that we must carry out plan B." Tesla grinned and Haraldur chuckled.

They started slowly flying towards the city walls.

___________________________________________________________

Deep in the silver mines below the Crimson capital, a group of prisoners were having a break in a hollow in a tunnel wall. All were male, and all were bare-chested, and all with a tatoo of one man surrounded by ten other men on their arms. They were each chewing on some hard bread, the stuff they were given everyday. They were waiting, as  they always had done, for the signal they had been promised for years.

In the middle of the hollow a glow started slowly to appear, forming into a hologram of the same symbol of eleven men, slowly turning around and around in the darkness. The time had come to carry out the plan they had prepared for for years.

Away, on the other side of the mines, was hidden an explosive charge. It would go off in a few minutes, activated by the signal they had been given. And it would open up a tunnel where the prisoners were, due to the nature of the fault line which created the mines.

The prisoners backed away to the side walls, waiting for the blast...

[Trent]

Zion glared at Mavas after breaking the spell, panting very heavily. He turned  and limped away. Xenai arrived at that moment.

"You okay, man?"

"Not really."

[Haraldur]

Haraldur and Tesla reach the city walls, and sit, near an otherwise quite ordinary stetch of cliff.

<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Impact'>BANG!</span></span>

The half of the city on the opposite side to Tesla and Haraldur had exploded, and been utterly pulverised, bodies flying through the air.

The bit of cliff they were near to had collapsed, revealing a tunnel created where the fault had just moved. Out of it, those tatooed prisoners were rushing. Haraldur and Tesla threw food and water to them.

Then the group of about fifty, including our two heroes, ran into the forest, and hid.

[Dude Man]

"Holy smokes!" Valos yelled. He climbed back down off the walls, and ran up to Draven and the elites.

"Lord Draven! Lord Draven! I saw them, they went threw the forest!" Valos yelled

------

"Ha ha!" Duilin laughed as he saw the explotion. "Yeah, that's defenatly the same Haraldur."

"He allways has to make a big scean dosen't he." Rink chuckled

"My word, that's going to take an extremly long time to clean up." Marshal sighed

"Zeros', should we follow Haraldur and see what he's up to?" Duilin asked

[Haraldur]

A severed arm landed on Haraldur's shoulder. He brushed it off. Seeing the emaciated bodies of the former prisoners, Haraldur decided that their safety was paramount.

He opened a hole in the air, and motioned for everyone to get in. Tesla and the prisoners did so, entering Haraldur's dimension, but keeping the hole open. Haraldur took the hole and folded it up, and put in in the pouch on his belt.

The second charge would be going off soon, to give them something to remember him by, the bastards.

He checked his aura was off, and started slowly walking south through the forest, hoping not to be noticed, and that the second blast would be a sufficient distraction.

___________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, above the city, a symbol similar to the one before appeared in the sky, this time pointing south east, and saying again, "Follow".

_____________________________________________________________

After some walking Haraldur turns west and then north west, and carries on walking, being far away from the city. (This would be in a few posts' time).

[Zeros']

Zeros' turned his head and surveyed the group for a moment before sighing and turning to Rink.

"Rink," he said, "could you find someway to dispose of the man? I ask this of your because of your... interesting past. It's possible Draven could trace any sign of myself using any of my spell or abilties," he said quietly. He then swivled around and faced the main tied to the tree, his trench coat follow his movements. "It seem that Haraldur has found a way to disrupt our actions, once again," he said, chuckling mirthlessly.

He then glared up at the symbol and waved a hand in it's direction. The symbol disappeared in a shimmer of displaced air.

Then, we swirvled around again to face the southeast, his trench coat billowing behind him. He flapped his two, black angel wings experimently before gently hovering in the air.

And, without turning around, he addressed Marshal," Marshal, I warn you now. Draven is an extremely... violent man. He uses fire as his power. There is also and extremely high chance you might possibly lose your life," he said.

He then, rose into the air and started flapping his wings harder. After a few moment, Zeros' suddenly shot out like a bullet, his arms to his sides and his legs brought inwards towards his body. A sonic boom trailed in his wake. All he looked like to anyone was a blurred black, silver and black blur, his wings working in a blur.

[Xorlak]

(Haraldur, please DO NOT update three times before I can respond!)

Draven sighed as an explosion rocked part of the capital.  He pointed to a group of fleeing men, Haraldur in particular.

"Kill them all."

Auras engulfed the three men behind him, one was dark, one a bright blue, and one green, and they sped off into the air, seemingly flying in random directions.

Draven turned his head to the forest, and grinned his maniacal grin...

"I know, Valos."

It wasn't an aura of flame that surrounded him, but super-heated air.  He shot up into the sky.

----

From the darkness they watched the prisoners enter... and Haraldur close the opening on the other side.  The prisoners seemed alone...

The scraping of many swords being unsheathed echoed through the small dimension.

"That will be as far as you go."

It was the voice of a low ranking lieutenant in charge of exploring the various mini dimensions the Crimson Empire had recently learned to access.  A group of armed soldiers, comparable to the number of escapees, surrounded the men on three sides.

----

"Sir Valos!"

Three soldiers ran up to the officer, two carrying a heavy object.

"We've found this."

The two soldiers behind placed the heavy device on the ground.  It fell apart, in four or five pieces.

"The prisoners have somehow been planting bombs.  This one was disabled successfully, but we couldn't finish the first one in time..."

----

"That was somewhat impressive..."

Draven's voice echoed from above.  He came in from a diagonal direction with great speed and landed some twenty feet behind Haraldur in a crouching position, his cape falling around him and the dirt ground cracking under the intensity of the impact.

He slowly stood up, a blade of searing flame in his right hand pointed diagonally toward the ground.  

"I never would have guessed you had people on the inside.  Oh, well, I suppose I should have paid more attention to the details..."

He turned the sword of flame in an arc until it was perpendicular to the sky, bringing it infront of his face.  The sword seemed to scorch the very air...

"Oh yes, I've decided what I want in return...  your head..."

----

"What the--?  ARRRGHHH!!!"

The air mage struggled against the ropes, and found them to be burning him.  It took him about three tries to figure out that wasn't a good idea...

By this time Zeros' had left and he scowled at Duilin and the others.

"Errgh!! What do you want?!"

His eyes darted around, and he spotted the small metallic tube that he was carrying, on the ground in the same spot he dropped it when he was knocked unconscious... no one had seen it...

----

Finally free, Ven rushed out of the cave, running at full speed toward Zion and Xenai.

"What happened?!"

"Heh heh heh..."

Mavas slowly worked his way out of the thick foliage, the red gem around his neck beating steadily.  A large branch was stuck to his armor, and he dragged it along as he steadily walked towards the trio.

"Heh heh hah hah hahh....."

[Trent]

Zion looked to Ven. "Mavas tried to copy my best spell... And he did a dang good job of it, too!" He could see Mavas rising out of the corner of his eyes. He alerted Xenai and Ven to his presence immediately. "Look who's getting back up."

Xenai looked the guy over. "This the guy you were struggling against? The reason there were two Omnis being casted?"