Dark Age Legends

[D. Ein]

-"I will, keep your helmet on..."

Ein carefully guided the crossbow square into the middle of the other island. With the previous failure, he couldn't take any chances.

-"...there it goes..."

The bolt shot out of the crossbow, making a loud whistle as it cut through the air, spinning. However, as it reached the island, something strange happened.

-"...and here it comes."

The bolt didn't even put a scratch into the island. It just fell back down into the atmospheric bubble. Ein inspected the bolt carefully, then his crossbow.

-"Nothing wrong with either of the devices. Must be the screwed-up laws of gravity, or something. Perhaps the air outside isn't really air at all... that would explain how the bolt sped up when it left the bubble."

He shoved the bolt back into the quiver on his thigh.

-"Well, I got an idea."

He took out a different bolt. Its tip was somehow different... it was as if transparent, made of glass... the light shining through it reflected inside of the tip, pleasing the eye.

-"This is a bolt with a diamond head. I only got a few left... Only use em for emergencies... the good thing, though, is that it never breaks."

He opened up a handle on the front of the crossbow, placed it on the ground and stepped on it. Some kind of a mechanism clicked inside, and a new spinny thingy protrouded from the rear end of the crossbow. Ein spun it, and as he did, the crossbow's string got pulled back significantly further than the last time.

-"I can't remember the last time I used this thing... funny how the crossbow itself has a really intricate design, and I barely use the whole thing."

He aimed at the previous spot, and fired. The bolt moved so fast that one could not even see a blur on where it passed, and barely any sound - just a faint 'click'...

As Ein looked up, he saw the bolt wedged tightly in the island. Immediately afterwards, a deathly chill creeped down his spine.

-"OMG! I'm a freakin' MORON!!! I FORGOT TO ATTACH THE DAMNED ROPE!!!"

Enraged at his stupidity, Ein rushed to the edge of the island.

-"GOD DAMN IT!!!"

It seems he was quite nerved up, as as soon as he left the bubble, he... jumped. Basically, the same thing happened as before - a sudden jolt thrusted him upwards, but not as violently. He safely landed on top of the other island.

-"Hmm... maybe I was lucky not to attach that rope, after all."

[Dude Man]

//Finally.\\

Duilin looked towards the inn. "I'll stop in there when I get some new clothing."

Rink looked around. "What do the rest of us do?"

Duilin turned around. "I dunno, mingle. Or see if anyone knows the latest news on the empire."

Aegidius looked at Duilin in concern. "You sure it's safe to just wander around town, I mean you don't blend in so much."

Duilin laughed. "And you do?" He then walked down the street, pointing and waving to the people staring at him.

"What an odd fellow." Aegidius commented

"Hey watch it, new boy." Rink snapped.

"What?"

"I mean, you can't just come in here, all 'Oh I'm sent by the gods, I'm more important then everyone else and everyone is odd.' It's just not right. I mean, we don't even know you."

"Well, there isn't much really. I'm just a typical angelic elite guardian. I enjoy long walks on the beach and viewing plays. I hope to some day have each world rid of it's evil."

"Buddy..." Rink said, shaking his head. He placed his hand on his leg as one would on somebody's shoulder. "Come with me, you've got a LOT to learn about REAL life..."

The two then walked towards the inn (to spend time at the pub)

----

Duilin stepped into a fancy looking clothing shop.

The clerk seemed a bit surprised with him stepping in. "Huh, you must be one of them flyboys everyone's talking about."

"I guess so." Duilin smiled he stepped towards the counter. "I'm looking for some new clothing."

The clerk looked at Duilin's torn bits of clothing clinging onto Duilin. "No shit..." He laughed. "Well, let me show you what I've got. I might be able to get something for somebody of your, shape..." He stared at his wings a bit, and guided Duilin through the store.

[Trent]

Zion and Xenai went into the shop after Duilin. "You got two more flyboys to clothe, pal," said Xenai. Zion was already looking around for something to catch his eye. The wings that Seijin gave are translucent. They don't rip through clothes, so they can buy normal clothing. They got their wings from Seijin when they were young.

[Dark Spartan]

Alex looked up at Ein with a sort of comical amazement. Ein must have been extremely athletic to perform something like that, even with reduced gravity.

"Holy..." mumbled Alex. There was no way that he could make that jump. There had to be another way.

Ein waited patiently at the top for him. Alex didn't want to risk another of Ein's screw-ups, so he took his chances. He took off to the edge of the island. As soon as he kicked off from the island, something happened. The same voice from inside the suit before said this statement,

"Long jump module activated."

Suddenly, a burst of energy kicked Alex upwards on a parabolic path. Bewildered, Alex rode out the jump until he planted his feet on the other island. Alex caught his breath to the extent he could. The suit's air was recycled.

"Wow, that was amazing!" exclaimed Alex. "Dr. Kleiner never told me about that feature."

[Dude Man]

Duilin saw an interesting uniform. It was dark grey and the pants had an orange belt, simular to a karate belt.

"Hey, could you modify that for me?" Duilin asks. "Yeah, I guess so. So um..." The clerk looks at Duilin's wings again. "What's your...um...wing size?"

"Well, I don't know how to measure, my wing size." Duilin said, scratching his head.

"Neither do I, but let's take a look, sit down."

He measures Duilin's wings with a measureing strip (every clothing store manager has one handy). "Alright, so how exactly would I go about this?"

"Well, what I do, I make a slit for my wings and then I have like a string thing to tie over them." (or if anyone else has a better idea)

"Hmm, maybe I could have something like that. Anything else you want?"

"Yeah, could you maybe put this symbol..." He takes our the shard of metal from his pocket, with the Romme symbol on it. "..maybe around the heart area?"

"Yeah, sure just wait here..."

[Zeros']

Zeros' slowly rose to his feet, standing and dusting off his bare legs, looking around. He knew he had seen something. It wasn't a human either. Or demon.

He cranned his senses, trying to open them and find the strange entity. He shrugged and continued to walk forwards, keeping his senses open for anything or anyone.

[Xorlak]

A shadow suddenly appeared over Kerig? for something had descended from the heavens and ominously hovered over the youthful looking man as he merrily went about transferring his energy to the metallic bits and pieces strewn about?

Draven floated there still for several moments, arms folded and studying this man from some fifty feet in the air.  He pondered the jagged and mauled metallic remnants of whatever he was trying to fix and the absolutely decimated and scorched wasteland that was once Bandervil?  His cape and hair flowed to his left in the gentle breeze.

What in blazes is going on??

This tremendous destructive explosion that he detected from miles away? Is this man responsible?  Is this some sort of super weapon he is repairing?  Any sort of confusion would be hidden behind his demeanor.  His devilish smirk won out, and managed to barely show itself?

?Well now, what do we have here??

It was that dry, malevolent but slightly amused tone he often used.  The one he normally followed up with some sort of impalement if the victim gave the wrong answer.

He slowly floated downwards, his feet touching the ground some 25 feet behind Kerig.  His unseen aura blew dust away from his boots before they hit the ground.  Should he kill this man and take this... weapon?  Should he kill this man before he can fix it?

?It seems you made a mess of things.  I seem to be missing a fortress? I don?t like that??

[Dude Man]

"Okay, sir why don't you try this on." The man came back carrying the new suit.

"Ahh, thanks." Duilin took the clothing and stepped into the dressing room. After not to long of a period of time, he came out with his new clothing.

The clothing was dark grey with an orange cloth belt as described before. He clothing had straps, he attached his mace holster onto it, and had his pouch of gold coins. He opened it up. "So how much does this come to?"

"About 50 gold peices." He replied.

"Okay.." He started giving him the amount of coins

"Hey, wait a second, let me look at that." The man picked up a coin. "My, my this was the currency used a long, long time ago. I can tell, by the insignia. Yeah, just a couple of these will do. Thank you."

"You must know your coins." Duilin said.

"Oh yes, I collect them, I have a coin a bit like this, but it's in nowhere near as good of condition as this, where did somebody like you get this?"

"Um, an angel gave them to me." Duilin said, smiling and nodding his head.

The man started at Duilin, oddly. "Man, you flyboys are crazy you know that." He then looked at the others. "So, are these your friends?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I've been hangin' out with them for the past week. I met them about five years ago, in Laus I think." Duilin said. "Why?"

"Oh, well in case you haven't noticed, the word has spread around about you. You've become quite famous."

"Heh, heh. Well is that so?" Duilin seemed rather interested to hear that. He then turned to the others. "Hear that guys?"

[Dude Man]

//I forgot to update Marshall.\\

"Arg, enough of this!" Marshall snapped. "I can't stand just sitting here wile you two save the world." Marshall being the adventurous person, of cource didn't enjoy sitting around. "Find me a fraggin' rock so I can walk around with you guys!"

[D. Ein]

//Welcome back, Xorlak. DM: Way to double post.\\

Even with his passive sensors, Horus detected a strong presence nearby. The term "sensor", however, was not quite correct... the actual readings did not come from any sensors. He just knew something was there. However, the repairs were still incomplete. A few more armour plates had to be fused in place. The Convertion engine was a heavy loss, but Horus' energy capacitors were filled up quite nicely with the energy... borrowed... from Kerig. He needed a replacement soon, though.

Meanwhile, the machines concentrated on fusing the plates on top of the hull, rather than on the bottom. The empty Convertor hole was almost completely covered up now.

--- --- ---

Ein cursed, and took out another bolt. He scratched a sigil into it, and shot it around Marshall's feet.

-"Well, we wouldn't want to damage these rocks now, would we, dear Marshall? Anyway, get your ass up here. And you, Amaya, are free to follow us..."

-"No, thanks. I think I'll stay here, and observe. Maybe I'll notice something that eluded you?"

[Jenia]

Kerig realised quickly enough that a person was not too far behind him, but was too preoccupied to respond at first. After a few moments, his turned around, with his usual smile of innocence covering his face. He didn't stop pouring the energies.

"Ah, hello there, mister!" Kerig said, seeming happy to see the man despite his looks "Yes, there was quite a mess around here not too long ago...If you lost your fortress in the area, I'm afraid you won't find it around here any longer..."
Kerig's expression turned sad as he continued "This poor guy barely made it and I think it needs help...Mind giving me a hand here?"
He continued to sadly and innocently stare at the man, hoping for help.


A sudden auric jolt snapped from Kerig.
"Let ME tell you what is 'going on'..." Weloss spoke into Draven's mind.
"This pathetic being you see before you stuck his nose into other people's buisness at an excellent time and place...While he watched a whole army attack a giant spiritless foe, the spiritless one suddenly decided to blow up...
And about your castle? It was already in ruins by the time we got there."

[Xorlak]

(Probably just be around for the weekend.  We'll see.)

Draven grimaced when Weloss spoke to him.  Although he could not see the spiritual being, he could clearly detect him once the mind link had been established.  He held on to the telepathic tendril once the spirit finished speaking, his eyes following the path of energy to the black, horned spirit that now became visible to him, hovering over Kerig.  Hmm, a possession?  No, this was different.  Some sort of symbiotic relationship.  He had heard of these, but never had the chance to see one in person.  This alone quelled he desire to kill Kerig for curiosity's sake.  He would believe him, or pretend to until he had more information. At least for now.

Draven returned the message to the spirit telepathically, while raising an eyebrow in his direction:

"Ah, I see.  Thank you, spirit."

He then began to walk slowly towards Kerig's left, his eyes fixed on the heap of metal behind the man while speaking aloud:

"You should be more careful when choosing who... or what you're going to revive.  It's very difficult to tell who's on what side these days..."

He continued past the man, crouching down next to the nearest broken mass of metal.  He picked up a silver shard, about half the length of a sword, and flipped it over.  Some... thing... jumped from the underside, scurrying across the ground to join several others...  What in blazes are these...?  Are they... repairing it?  He watched as a hole in the largest hunk of scrap shrunk.

"My god... this is some sort of... war machine..."

[Dark Spartan]

Alex withdrew his rifle. Something about this island seemed amiss... The island that they had just arrived on was extremely rocky, with enormous spires reaching some hundred feet above ground. However, there was a circular pool of water about twenty feet wide to Alex's right. Upon closer inspection, the purple-tinged water seemed to have a glow coming off it.

Alex knelt down next to the pool's edge, and dipped his hand in. Even through the suit, Alex felt the effects of the strange liquid. The water seemed effervescent, completely unlike the atmosphere. In fact, Alex felt slightly rejuvenated just by putting his hand in. Pulling his hand out, he leaned over the pool. With a tiny-kick off from the ground, Alex drifted in the air for a moment before finally submerging into the pond. It was one of the most amazing sensations Alex had ever experienced. The water's magical properties recharged him. Alex had misjudged the depth of the pool. It was easily ten or so feet deep. With his renewed gusto, Alex leaped from the water and landed back on dry land, drops running down his suit and visor.

"That water is amazing. You should really try it."

[Dude Man]

Marshall tossed a blue spectre from his hand that had flown from his amulet that he now had around his neck again. The spectre gained its shape, colour and form of a wyvern. He hopped onto it's back and flew towards Alex and Ein's position, or at least as close as possible.

He looked at Alex. "Well, okay." He hopped off the wyvern. The creature just stared blankly into the distance, blinking only rarely. Normal behaviour for Marshall's creatures.

He knelt down at the shore of the glowing purple liquid. "Quite a beautiful sight. I wonder why it isn't floating in the air like the other liquids."

He dipped his hand into it. "Whoa, that feels interesting." Marshall commented on the effects of the water. He stepped into the water as well; he exhaled, sounding very rejuvenated. He treaded the water. "Whoa I could tread water forever, the water restores me right away. This is amazing."

[Jenia]

Kerig continued to blankly stare at the large, caped man with an expression of confusion.

"Careful?" he asked, puzzled "His alligence really shouldn't matter...I mean, won't it be our friend if we help it?"
Kerig's expression returned to his usual smile as he added "I bet it can be nice just like it can be aggressive..."

Kerig was still pouring his energies. He didn't plan on stopping until it can stand on it's feet again...
And was expecting the newly appeard caped man to help him as well.

"Don't even bother..." Weloss told Kerig "He won't listen to any convincing."
"Really?" Kerig was suprised at him "But..."
"He doesn't smell like the human filth though..." Weloss interrupted Kerig "And yet there is something I distinguish within him...In any case, do not attempt to use your normal methods of reasoning."
And with that, Weloss stopped and watched.