Dark Age Legends

[Dark Spartan]

Alex was in his room tinkering with his rifle when Marshall's hollering to him derailed his concentration. He dropped one of the pieces on the floor. Alarmed that it might be broken, Alex picked it up and inspected it thoroughly. To his relief, the part had not been damaged. Alex hollered back to Marshall,

"Damn it, Marshall! I'm a little busy right now. Trying to repair my rifle, and it takes utter concentration. Check it yourself."

No reply.

Now irritated, Alex put down his tools and stepped out into the crystalline moonlight. The tremors came again, but this time, stronger. Off in the distance, Alex laid his eyes on the large tower powering the shield defending Asgarnia. The tremors came again, this time so powerful they nearly knocked Alex off of his feet. Grabbing a wooden beam supporting the veranda, he witnessed in horror as the shield spire collapsed to the ground, almost in slow motion. All that was left was a large cloud of debris rising high into the air, illuminated by the moonlight. Alex felt his blood drain from his face.

"Oh, God no....Asgarnia has fallen."

Asgarnia may have fallen, but Kleiner managed to get out safely. All that remained now was to make contact with him. With a heavy heart, Alex returned to the cabin, regretting to be the bearer of bad news.

"Guys, I've got some terrible news," Alex started, clearly sounding upset. "Asgarnia...has fallen."

[Burton_projects]

//Ein the army isn't attacking your troops there going to attack northpoint....\\

The men kept moving in a steady formation, looking like a large metal half-sphere. The large towering sheild must just be a one time thing there to heavy for combat Nick thought as he silently followed within shadows.

[Xorlak]

"Spare me the glib pleasantries."

Draven's aura cut out in a flash, and he free fell some twenty feet, deftly landing upon the ridge of one of the many jagged foothills that jutted up around the southern rim of the peninsula which contained the fortress of North Point.  On a clear day, the many Vi'zar surrounding the southern gates would look like ants from this vantage point, but they were quite invisible in the darkness of this night, numerous points of torchlight peppering the grounds below instead.

"I've come to offer you a proposition, one that may very well save your pathetic lives..."

He folded his arms as his cape blew.  The wind was beginning to pick up, the bright flashes of lighting that tore through the clouds more frequent.

"You've managed to piss Retan off.  Congrats."

He said that with a slight smirk.  But that faded as he became dead serious.

"There is no force on this planet that can hope to compete with the Dark Emperor's strength.  Not even that idiot son of his.  Not me.  Not all of you together.  He wants you erased, and you just walked into his trap."

A flash of lightning illuminated the darkened half of his face.

"This isn't some half baked revolutionary who's choking on his own magic, or some glorified magician who's invented a religion based upon himself.  This is the real deal.  A Draken who has reached full maturity.  A dragon of the highest class..."

He extended his right hand, curling the gloved fingers almost like a claw.

"Join me.  It is the only way.  If you become my servants I will vouch for you, let it be known how you aided me against Ragnar these past years.  He might listen.  I may be able to save some of you...  If you refuse, then our alliance must end here and forever..."

[D. Ein]

//Ah. Well, you mentioned Asgarnia, didn't you? And there was absolutely nothing in any of your posts about North Point, so I got confused. BTW: oh noes! a comment-only post!\\

[Dude Man]

Duilin completely lowered his expression; it was a combination of disgust, surprise and confusion. Join Draven?

Yeah, sure he's been a great help, and with Retan here, he'd be very useful, but no. This alliance was getting too far ever since the Grey Empire got into the picture.

Then again, what if it is true. Maybe joining Draven would be the only chance of survival. Yet, would death be better then serving evil?

He was thinking for too long, time to answer.

Rink was looking at Duilin, he hopped of and stood on the ground and looked up at Duilin. He wasn't sure if he'd give the right answer, considering how close he came to evil earlier. But whatever choice Duilin made, Rink would follow him, and watch out for his friend.

"No." Duilin said, giving a stern look. "I'll never join you!"

Aegidius took a few steps back, he felt too out of place, he barely knew any of them, but the answer was clearly also no for him, he looked at Draven and shook his head, and remained silent.

Duilin stepped towards Draven. "I'm not going to speak for my friends. Nor will I let them speak for me. But my answer is no, Draven." His fingers twitched a bit, a small spark of black lightning quickly appeared and disappeared in his hands. "I can deal with Retan, without you! I'd rather die fighting then give up like some coward."

Rink took a deep breath and looked at Zeros', wile Duilin glared at Draven.

[Zeros']

Zeros' grinned a bit and shook his head.

"Thank you for your... kind offer, but you already know my anwser to my offer, as I'm sure you knew that we'd all say no, am I correct?" he said, amused.

"And, even if he does want to get rid of us, you should know me better then that, at least. It'll take more then one Draken to stop me from protecting this planet," he said. "Oh and thanks for telling us we pissed him off. I've always wanted to hear that, but... I could guess we had already pissed him off, considering he was banished from the planet for... five years?"

He shook his head.

"The anwser is no, Draven. And that's final."

[Coriko]

Awoken by a tremor in a cold sweat, Coriko jumped to his feet, forgetting he was just in a massive fight a few hours prior. As soon as he had planted his feet he collapsed onto his knees. He tried to suppress a groan but it still escaped his mouth. Fighting the urge to lie down in the grass and sleep it off he knew what he had to do. He started to walk, Asgarnia his destination.

[Xorlak]

Draven shook his head slowly.

"Of course..."

Bringing both arms to his sides, his aura suddenly erupted in a crimson fury, his hair and cape waving, the bright red cutting through the surrounding darkness like a knife.

"Then I shall at least grant you an honorable death..."


The ground began to tremble...  The lizards were coming... thousands of them...  Not from the north, as those were still at the fortress' base, but from all sides...  Boulders dislodged as they emerged from cavernous cracks, the mindless Vi'zar tromping through the darkness, slithering through the rocky terrain with their teeth barred...


And the lightning flashed all around...


The black gates of North Point below burst open, The Dark Emperor Retan emerging, leading the entourage of evil.

"They would be arriving right over that ridge by now, my friend," he mused to Kronos, "do your worst..."

Jayce ran out in front of the dark group, glaring at the bright plume of flame burning atop the hill.

"What?!  How did he get there before us?!"

With a giant leap, the younger Draken was airborne, blazing towards the ridge at an inhuman speed, his right gauntlet clutching the hilt of the massive scimitar at his back.

Retan too began to float eerily, and most of the rest of the group followed suit...  Two of the demons took off after Jayce, eager to help their lord.

The Velkins, now numbering the full 11 as the others had rejoined and provided their High General with his weapons, stayed close to the Dark Emperor.  It seemed it was going to be a melee, and Virmir had no intentions to get involved until ordered.

[Coriko]

Atop a building Coriko stood still surveying the scene before him. What lay in front of him hardened him forever. The destruction and horror that happened here was almost unbearable. He saw something move around the corner of a building a few metres from him. He drew his bow and arrow and had it ready to fire in an instance. He held the arrow beside his ear, breathing heavily, and waiting for anything to show him the slightest sign as to where his target was.

There! He let the arrow fly. He heard a groan and a thud as the body hit the ground. He saw that the arrow was sticking out of the creature?s forehead. He was sure that was the same sort of thing that attacked him in the field. He stood up to his full height. No sooner had he done this then a massive tremor hit and the building he was on crumbled. He knew he was falling yet he couldn?t do anything. He braced himself for the fall.

?This ain?t gonna pretty.?

 He landed with a hard thud and rolled to absorb the landing. *Schwing* A massive axe landed where he was just a second ago. He jumped to his feet. He saw a giant zombie standing with his hands on the axes handle; he had an arrow sticking out of his forehead.

?Have we met??

The zombie swung the axe at him again. Two more zombies came up behind the first. One had an axe and the other a sword, Coriko saw this.

?You brought friends, how sweet. Well go on introduce me,?

The axe once again swung for his head.

?Now that?s not nice! You almost hit me.?

Now the other two were joining in swinging their massive weapons at him. He kept rolling or jumping out of the way. He knew he couldn?t keep this up, he had to make a break for his bow. He flipped backwards and rolling down the other side of the ruined building. He was almost at his bow. He slid down the hill of rubble; the zombies were making their way over the pile towards him. He was crushed when he got to his destination to see his bow with a huge crack in it. He heard the rush of air as the axe was coming to wards him. Instinctively he held up the bow for protection, the axe broke right through it sending Coriko toppling backwards. Lying in front of him was his father?s now broken bow, now he was mad. He stood up to his full height. His hands ignited in flames. The zombie in front stopped hesitantly for a moment, but decided to press on. The zombie wound up to make the kill shot and that was when Coriko let him have it, a massive fire blast right in the chest. Blowing a whole right through it and the other two, collapsing into a pile on the ground. Unlike the first time Coriko was not sent backwards and instead stood there staring down at his broken bow, hands still on fire.

[Dude Man]

Marshall sighed. "Well, there has to be some survivors. I'm going out there." Marshall said, bravely. He walked past Alex and out the door, and looked at crumbled city in the distance. It was quite a frightening sight. Marshall took a deep breath and held out his amulet and from it blasted a blue spectre that quickly formed into a wyvern.

He looked at the others inside, as he hopped onto the creature's back. "If I'm not back in thirty minutes...just wait longer." He smiled, to add some releif, but shrugged as he assumed it was a failed attempt at a gloomy moment like this.

The wyvern flew close to the ground, only flying a few meters off the ground, as he carried Marshall to Asgarnia...

----

Duilin stepped backwards, as did Aegidius and Rink. Aegidius took out his golden rod and stood in a fighting stance.

Rink grabbed onto Duilin's leg, Duilin looked at the imp, and shook him off. 'Not now. Just get somewhere safe.' He messaged him.

Duilin then looked at Draven, he eyed Jayce and the two demons as they were flying towards him. 'Zeros', you take Jayce. I wanna go for Draven.'

"Alright come on Draven." Duilin said, storming towards him, as he was engulfed in a golden aura. "Honour me then!"

He dashed towards him, and swung his fist at the Crimson Emporer's head, making a yellow streak in the air as he swung his fist...

[Dark Spartan]

Now angered at the fall of such a wonderous city, Alex got his things together to head for Asgarnia as well. The rummaging sound got the cabin owner's attention.

"Oy! Where ya goin', lad?"

"Out," Alex said. "I'm heading to Asgarnia."

"Lad, are you daft?! You'll be overrun in a second!"

"I don't care. I still want to see if there's anything there worth saving. Innocent people. They didn't deserve this. Maybe I can save them."

"If you want to go riskin' yer life, I guess that's yer business," the man mused. "At least be safe."

"Don't worry about me," Alex replied. "I'll be fine. If Ein asks where we went, tell him."

"Not a problem, lad. Go on. People need ya."

"Thanks again for your hospitality," Alex called as he stepped out of the door. "I'm hoping I'll be back."

"Best of luck to ya!" hollered the man, waving.

Alex started down the path to Asgarnia, only a few miles away. A huge, coal-black pillar of smoke rose up from where the shield spire once stood. A beautiful contryside and utopian society had been replaced with a sickening vista of crystallized ground and flora from the released energy of the shield spire's explosion. If anyone at all survived the blast, it was a miracle. As Alex walked, the crystalline ground cracked under his feet, leaving a trail of broken footprints. As he walked, he put the finishing touches on repairing his rifle. To his relief, the final part locked firmly into place. He was combat-ready once again.

The walls of the city had been completely decimated, the magical mortar and laser batteries now smoldering piles of metal and crystal. Though it was clearly nighttime, the released energy from the blast hung in the air, illuminating the sky in a neon-blue/green color. It was almost a disturbing beauty.

"My God," Alex said quietly. "The city's been almost completely leveled."

Indeed it was. The portal to the Borderworld was either destroyed or disabled from lack of interdimensional energy. The air was silent. No wind. No flowing rivers or teeming wildlife. Only the crunching glass under Alex's feet, and the occasional rustle of his gear. Alex couldn't help but walk slowly through the ruined lands. The earth and plants had been crystallized. The wildlife had probably been completely wiped out. The flowing rivers were now still pools of stagnant, toxic soup contaminated by extreme amounts of energetic release. The view was almost post-apocalyptic. How such a pristine landscape could be transformed into a tainted wasteland in the course of a few moments was unimaginable.

Finally, Alex recognized familiar territory. He was approaching the outskirts of the city. There was no telling how harmful the radiation from the explosion could be, but Alex didn't care. He just wanted to help people.

As Alex entered the city, he was oblivious to the malefactors occupying the city that would soon deter him...

[Dude Man]

Marshall spotted Alex, heading towards the outskirts of the city. "Yeah, it looks pretty bad." Marshall said glumly. He looked back into the city. He noticed a strange flash of light, as if a fireball had been tossed. "Arg. Looks like there is a fire mage in there, it could be a survivor, but perhaps it's somebody ridding the place of them."

His wyvern then flapped its wings faster and it flew towards the location of the fire mage, through the rubble he could get an image of a very oddly dressed character, with fire around his hands and hair. "You there!" He shouted.

[Coriko]

Coriko stood in his own world, lost in thought. However he was brought back to reality by the sound of someone talking behind him. Not wanting to take a chance he dropped down and rolled into a fighting stance, now facing the man who was talking, if in fact it was a man. Coriko had his hands out still in flamed ready for a fight. After what he had just been thought he didn?t want to risk anything.

?Who are you. Are you the one who destroyed Asgarnia??

[D. Ein]

"With a dark smirk, I glided out towards the savages, but didn't quite all the way next to them. I lowered myself on the ground, sat down, and closed my eyes. I swiftly went into phase shift, and began meditating. I am a true arcane conductor... nothing matters now... just... concentration..."

[Xorlak]

"Tch!  Out of the way, you miserable insect.  Flyboy is mine."

Draven began a dash, but immediately had to duck under the forceful swing of the impending fist.  The was no getting around the also winged half demon.

Anticipating a second swing, he did a full flip in the air as he shot backwards some ten feet.  Twin orbs of flame glowed in his palms as he landed.

"Very well, if this is what you truely desire."

His voice reverbed, a partial effect of the barren rocky cliffs.  Thrusting both palms together directly in front of him, the two spheres of fire merged and launched forward with the force of a cannon, waving the flame around the burning man wildly as the superheated projectile tore through the air, raging towards Duilin...

----

The Dark Emperor landed upon a cliff some distance away.

"No one draws near."

Virmir nodded in understanding.  In but a split second, the ten fox like warriors disappeared as blurs, reforming in a wide circle around Retan, though some twenty feet in the air.  They were so fast... Virmir himself remained at the Dark Emperor's side, folding his arms, his cloak and tail swaying in the fiercely blowing winds.

Grav had been left behind, but was now furiously clamoring up the steep cliffs, his claws dislodging large sections of gravel with each swipe.

"My lord!"

"SILENCE!"

Grav fell backwards at Retan's retort, rolling some fifteen feet down the hill.  Though he tried to do so as quitely as possible.

Retan lifted both hands skyward, his cape blowing, his crimson eyes burning... The black clouds began to part, slowly reshaping and circling above...

"The end is nigh..."

----

Retan's Cataclysmic Spell of Eternally Vengeful Banishment!! (CSEVB): 20%

(Chapter 10 ends upon its completion!)