Dark Age Legends

[Zeros']

Zeros' looked over towards Darak and looked at the cloaked man. He walked up behind the cloaked man and greeted Darak.

"Hello again, Darak," he said casually. Darak looked at Zeros' strangely, before turned back towards the cloaked man. Zeros' turned towards him, and, "accidently", his right arm went towards him.

[Xorlak]

(I take it Zeros', Duilin, and co. returned to the capital city, correct?  Just to clarify, Ven landed somewhere else, more southwards.)

As Ven continued up the rugged path, he was suddenly knocked to his knees by an intense blast of wind from above.  A large figure swooped overhead.  Ven moved to one knee as the large scaly talons of a black wyvern landed some five feet before him.  The thing was some 15 feet long from head to tail.  Perched atop was a fully armored man, his head invisible behind his mask.  Suddenly, the tip of a long halberd was inches from Ven's face.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"... A traveler... I'm... I'm just looking for someone."

"THE EMPEROR DOES NOT TAKE KINDLY TO STRANGERS..."

Ven rethought his strategy.

"... I am part of the alliance with Lord Draven against Haraldur..."

"...  HARALDUR... YOU MEAN RAGNAR...  VERY WELL..."

The wyvern sent another blast of wind towards Ven with its wings as it lifted skyward.  Ven stood up and watched the beast and rider as they nearly disappeared in the thick black clouds above, rejoining two other similar wyvern riders in the distance... boarder patrol...

Ven continued on.  After a half hour or so of rough climbing, he reached the summit of one of the many gray peaks.  Along the path below, which was mostly down hill, he could see the lights of a small village.  The only beacon in this dismal land...

[Trent]

//I need to come by here more often. x_x

Zion, Xenai, and Tsu are wherever Zeros' is. x_x Aura is nearby, but is hiding.

"Where did she go?" asked Tsu, more to himself.

"An admirer?" asked Zion.

"No, a victim of obsession that hates me."

Aura peeked out. "..." She then quietly left. She had no idea why, but she felt an urge building within her to destroy the man. She didn't hate him that much! But she had to find some way to do it! That Crimson Empire she's been hearing about. Perfect. She'll join it...

[Xorlak]

Ven had traveled briefly though the Crimson Empire before, so he knew it was a dismal place, but this area was more so.  It was a vast continent and he had never been to these reaches, anyway.  Of course, he had been halfway around the world chasing Mavas, so what's the difference?

He approached the wooden walls of the village, several torches lining them.  The ground was mostly barren.  Certainly this isn't a farming community.  The gates were wide open, and he entered.

A few villagers were walking about tending to their business, but the town wasn't exactly bustling.  A few soldiers eyed him from the tops of the walls, and one from a point near the open gate.  He approached this soldier, bowing his head politely.

"Excuse me sir, I was wondering if you've seen a man in black armor..."

The black armored soldier looked at a group of other soldiers in black armor.  At that same moment, a group of three haggard mercenary type fellows, all also in black armor, passed behind Ven and continued into the town.  The soldier looked at Ven as if he were an idiot.

"Uhh... I mean... A man wearing a red pendant.  It glows in a sort of pulsating fashion..."

The soldier mearly shook his head "no".

"Uhh... okay.  Well, thank you."

Ven continued walking into the center of the village.  Obviously Mavas was out of his reach once more... in addition to being in a place where he fit in quite nicely...

[Dude Man]

//Zeros' did you attack Darak or Yamvy? And FYI Yammy, Darak is an NPC that I made in Chapter four, but I decieded to have him come back, just for fun. Anyone can control him, just I'll choose if it's okay if he dies.//

Duilin turned his head, and saw the cloaked man. "What the hell!?" Duilin ran at him. Duilin turned to one soilder "Somebody's here!" He said to him. Saying that reminded him of when he was with the Dark Empire. The entire alliance reminded him of his old military days. He dashed a few yards toward him, and blasted a lightning bolt at Yamvy.

Rink seeing the comotion flue over atop on a near by building, and pearched down and observed what was going on. "Hmm, it appears we have a psycopathic murderer on our tail..." He said softly to himself not loud enough for anyone to hear.

-----

Marshal rubbed his chin. "Hmmm..." Marshal thought. "So, from what I am understanding from this, you plan to bring the world to peace by haveing one big war? I really find no reason for this. The world is fine how it is from my point of view."

[Haraldur]

"From what I understand, the Blue Minotaur is not exactly suffering hardship. The upper classes of the Dark Empire do not suffer hardship either: they are the priveleged few, who exploit and oppress those under them. The proletariat, the peasants, are my followers. Some of them are here, but most are not.

"Also, do not confuse war and revolution: war is the struggle between two groups of the priveleged, a revolution is a struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors. I plan to bring equality and high quality of life to all, and then leave (although they can recall me later, should they wish).

"The world is fine from your point of view, because you have not experienced it from the point of view of those who are poor."

[Zeros']

//I was going after the Cloaked man.\\

[Xorlak]

"What is the meaning of this?"

The soldier drew his sword.  It seemed out of nowhere, a group of some twenty heavily armed soldiers amassed (for the capital city is quite infested with them) and surrounded Duilin, the cloaked man, and the others.  A higher ranking lieutenant stepped out before the others, and yelled at Duilin (since he was seen performing the attack).

"We will have no acts of violence in the city by non authorized personnel."

They were interrupted at that moment, by a voice...

It was coming from a large orb positioned at the tip of a pole in the center of a square at the end of the cobblestone street they were on.  The orb was suspended high above so that it may be visible to large crowds of passerbyers.  It became evident that there were many orbs like this scattered throughout the city.

Visible in the orb was an old man, neatly dressed with a braided white beard.  He had a certain priestly nature about him.  He spoke, his voice transmitted through the orb:

"Citizens of the Crimson Empire!  Our glorious Emperor has defeated the evil Ragnar and his nation of outlaws."

Some cheers and clapping emanated from the bystanders.  The transmission continued:

"But, our Emperor bids us caution!  For the evil Ragnar remains still at large!"

The image of the old man faded, and a new one appeared-- it was a still image of Haraldur, except he looked a bit more haggard, his eyes were more slanted, and he had a ridiculously exaggerated evil grin on his face.

"This is him!  The one who tried to destroy the world five years ago!  He is plotting to destroy us now!  But fear not, for he is no match for the might of our glorious Emperor!  If you see this man, report him immediately!"

The image faded, and the old man reappeared.

"Thank you citizens, and long live our Emperor!"

At that moment, the soldiers, the citizens, it seemed like the entire city faced the large crimson palace in the center, and thrust their right fist into the air, yelling a booming:

"LONG LIVE LORD DRAVEN!!"

----

Ven was startled by the transmission, and watched it curiously.  There was only one orb in the remote village, and it seemed like everyone came out to watch the transmission eagerly.  When it was over, they also all thrust their right fist into the air, yelling:

"LONG LIVE LORD DRAVEN!!"

... and went about their business.

The soldiers noticed Ven did not partake in this cheer and one of the approached him from behind.

"Why didn't you salute our Emperor?  You do know that is a crime..."

Ven turned around, startled.

"Oh, my apologies...  I don't live here... I'm a traveler... you see..."

"You should be more careful.  I'll let you go, but that sort of behavior would likely get you thrown in jail in one of the cities..."

----

The old man wiped his brow with a cloth and stepped away from the large blue glowing orb...

"There, it is done."

Draven was in the doorway, casually leaning on the door seal with his arms folded.

"Excellent.  Impressive speech as always, Vander."

[Dude Man]

Darak cheered "LONG LIVE LORD DRAVEN!!" with the others.

Duilin, quickly retracted his lightning blast. "Fine..." He then stepped toward the cloaked man. "Let us just talk instead of fighting. Who are you and what do you want?!" He asked demandingly.

----

Valos, was writeing something down. He was writeing a battle report about the 'battle' with the Aspyes. He was listing names of casulties and such. After he was done, he sealed it into an envolope and carried it outside of his quaters and handed it to a messenger. He saluted Valos and left. Valos then walked threw a few doorways untill he arived outside.

He heard the speeached and cheared "LONG LIVE LORD DRAVEN!!" with the others. He then pushed a few soilders away, in the large crowd around Duilin. "Stand down!" He ordered. He then looked at Duilin and the others, and crossed his arms, and sighed. He saw Duilin was talking to who appeared to be the person who attacked them earlier, so he waited untill he was done...

[Zeros']

"LONG LIVE LORD DRAVEN!"

When Zeros' heard that, he almost chuckled. Almost. Especially, from the image he put of Haraldur on the transmission orb. It was a gross exaggeration. Well.. Not of the unjoined Ragnar, but, of the current Haraldur, it was.

He pulled back his arm and stepped next to Duilin and looked at the man. He was that illusionist from earlier, but, if he was an illusion or not, was still to be determined.

If he assessed Draven's soldiers correctly, they would not stop a fight.. If it wasn't too dangerous. A brawl every now or then would get them a slap on the wrist and thrown into jail for a few days, more then likely.

It would be amusing to see how this played out..

[Xorlak]

"Y-yes, my lord!"

The lieutenant and the rest of the soldiers immediately saluted Valos.  The majority of them then left, but a few remained with the lieutenant, who was still curious about the situation.

----

Draven walked to the only window in the room, and gazed out into the city, his arms folded behind him.  Workers were still cleaning up parts of Haraldur's mess from earlier.

"You are excused."

The old man behind him bowed.

"As, you wish..."

The elderly Vander turned and exited the room, slowly making his way through the torch lit hallways.  He felt nervous...  He hadn't felt this way since Retan disappeared.  But Draven was hiding something as well... he could see it in his eyes.  With the exception of the single city of Laus to the south, uniting the continent, the young emperor hadn't made any efforts to conquest more territory.  Draven being a very active conquering general in the Dark Empire days, Vander found this behavior... uncharacteristic...  But of course, the old man was merely a messenger to the people now, so what would he know...?

[Dude Man]

Valos, seemed to noticed that the illusionist was staying silent. He walked towards them, standing next to Zeros' and Duilin. He looked at the illusionist, and narrowed his eys. "I ought to slice your head of right were you stand. But I'm curious about what you could possibly want being here." He then made an even more visous look "If you do not explain yourself, now I shall report this to Lord Draven, and he dose not take kindly to intruders." He then made a more calm but threatening look "Nore do I..."

----

'God, this guy is such an assface...' Rink thought, as he looked at Valos. 'I accually can't wait untill this alliance is over. I know what he's up to, but if I tell Duilin, I don't think he would belive me and he is starting to trust Valos, and if he knows I know, big trouble is going to happen.

[Haraldur]

//Er... Hello Dude Man?//

[Dude Man]

//Ooops, sorry. It's hard to keep track of all these characters sometimes. Laughing //

Marshal pondered about this for a moment. "I belive I may understand. I have no dought in my mind that the view to those less fourtunate is horrible..." He then looked out the window at all of the people. "I supose, what you are doing will be good in the view of the Blue Minotaur...well at least for me anyways. I'll talk with the Elders..." He then sighed. "I'm just worried they won't take it well..."

[Trent]

Too bad Aura was heading where Zion and his trio seemed to be... She'd have to avoid Tsu at all costs... How can she get into the Crimson Empire? How can she become a soldier? She will ascend the ranks, and eventually destroy Tsu with heightened power... But why is she gonna do that?