Dark Age Legends

[Dude Man]

//Arg! Where is Zeros'? I could have knocked him out twice by now.\\

"Yep, that's defiantly a fortress." Wilham said with a grin. "So, you cowards ready to see if we can get inside?"

"Sir, are you sure that's wise?" One of the mages asked.

"Hmm...Guess not." Wilhman muttered.

"Thank you sir."

"No, by 'guess not' I was referring to that you're not ready to go inside."

"Well, sir." The other mage spoke. "the Elders said that the forces here are hostile. They could attack us on sight."

"Listen, we were sent here to find out who the force is, why they are here and how much power they have." Wilham snapped back. "Now, if you guys are too damn chicken to come with me and see why there is a mountain fortress here, then go back home."

The two mages looked at each other.

"Oh and by the way." Wilham added. "As Grand General, I'd reject any promotion requests for you too." He then turned around and looked at the two. "So in other words, get off your lazy asses and follow!"

--- ---

A Dark Dragon flew across the sky, over Ophelia and Rex's group and then off into the distance. Only the shape of the flying lizard could be made out in the night sky...

Rex had some great eyesight. His home world Thanatos was also literately really dark, so nighttimes on Gaian seemed just as clear as day. The demon scanned the area, mostly around Asgarnia, he then noticed somebody exited the city. It appeared to be a human with wings. Which was odd, because he knew for a fact that humans didn't have wings, however half humans did. Judgeing by how the wings looked, he could come to the conclusion that it was half demon.

"Ophelia, do you see that?" Rex said, pointing in the direction of the stranger.

"No..." Ophelia said softly back.

"It's a human and demon crossbreed, from the looks of it. Or...maybe it could be one of those mutants that Vandrin guy has."

"Maybe..."

"Well, we're going to check it out."

[Xorlak]

The lulling hum of the airship all around him was comforting, but Renard couldn't sleep.

He was told to stay in bed, but he couldn't do that either, so he just sat at the table provided in his private dorm, watching the lone candle burn up it's wick.  At least the furniture here was properly made, as the chair had an opening for him to slip his tail through.

There was a knock at his door.

"Come in."

Helix, his fellow Battle Mage, poked his head in, those long strands of silver fur sticking out of the top of hid head reflecting the candle light.

"... You okay, Renard?"

"... Yeah, just tired..."

"Too tired to sleep?"  The taller silver fox shut the door quietly behind him, chuckling slightly.  Renard didn't make any effort to smile. "You sure about that?  I mean, the mental energies you're throwing out are enough to keep me up next door," Helix said as he slipped into the chair opposite Renard.

Renard's eyes widened slightly.  "Oh, sorry..."

"No prob.  You need to talk about something...?"

Renard just shrugged, folding his arms and looking away.

"No."

Helix leaned back and waited a moment before talking again.  "One of those wraith things delivered a message to Lord Virmir just a little while ago...  I think we might have another mission."

Renard looked up as his friend finally.  "Any idea what?"

"No, Virmir didn't say."

Another silence.  Helix's eyes turned to the sheet of parchment face down on the table.

"Hey, what's this?"

Renard's pointed ears shot up.  "Uh, nothing..."

Helix grabbed the paper before Renard could and turned it over.  He pursed his lips as he studied the image there.  It was a charcoal sketch of some odd buildings, definitely not of Velken design.  Renard lowered his eyes again.  Helix finally recognized the architecture.  It was Asgarnia.   But not Asgarnia as it was now.  The city in the picture was not run down, its buildings not crumbling, and no litter in the streets.  It was a nice piece of work, though a little rough around the edges and only halfway done.

"You're really getting good at this, Renard."

"... Thanks."

Another silence.  Helix replaced the parchment back on the table, though face up this time.  Renard shifted his weight, running his right claw over the freshly changed bandages upon his left arm.

"Hey, Helix..."

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever get the feeling..."

Helix leaned closer, his ears angling towards his comrade.  Renard paused, lowering his eyes again.

"... that... maybe... maybe we're not doing the right thing...?

----

Henri moved closer to the ship, holding his light as high as possible so that he could see better.

"This insignia..."

It was a four winged dragon painted on the side...

"The Dark Empire?"  Ven ventured.

"No, look, this is a solid red.  This is the insignia Draven used for his Crimson Empire."

"Hmm, don't you think they would have changed it back?"

Henri looked around.

"We are near where the once mighty fortress of Bandervil stood.  As far as I know, it was completely destroyed, though I imagine it could very well have had underground bunkers.  Perhaps this is a dock they simply had forgotten about?"

"Or one the Crimson Empire built, so the Dark Empire doesn't know about..."  Ven smiled, pleased at his reasoning.

"Indeed."

[Zeros']

Zeros' grimaced and quickly stepped to the side, watching the weapon slam into the ground beside him. Before Gorus had a chance to retaliate, Zeros' grabbed the chain and started to pull it towards himself, with surprising strength. His hands were cut, blood dripping out from the sharp wounds the mace inflicted.

---

Allen frowned and wiped his forehead. He silenty followed behind the two from Tjed. He was still recovering his energy.

"What do you sense, Henri?" he murmured, low. He wasn't sure what was down this tunnel.

[Dude Man]

Duilin spotted the strange group of scouts coming towards him. He could see the hulking mass of the lizard warriors and he could see two human shapes with them. He assumed they were with the Dark Empire. He could make out a few faces from the light of a torch one of the lizard men was holding.

"What do you want?" Duilin asked. He wasn't in the mood to give an appropriate greeting.

"What are you doing traveling around after hours?" Said the deep voice of what appeared to be a demon. He stepped towards Duilin. "You're lucky we found you before the dragons did, now what are you doing outside city limits? Lone travel is not permitted for commoners. I suggest you go back into Asgarnia."

"I'll go wherever I want to. I'm not afraid." Duilin sneered back.

"I don't like your tone. What's your name?"

"Who's asking?"

The demon glared at Duilin but he decided to play along. "Captain Rex Vondran, of the Dark Empire. Now tell me your name."

"Duilin."

"Duilin...Talonscar?" Ask a strange masked woman, in jester-like clothing.

"Uhh yeah. How'd you know?" Duilin replied back to the woman.

"I don't know...But you seem familiar...sort of...My name is Ophelia...just Ophelia."

Rex looked oddly at Ophelia and Duilin. "Have you two met before?"

"No. I'd probably remember somebody like her." Duilin said. "Anyways. Can I just go now? I can take care of myself."

"I cannot allow you go. There have been too many rebels out and about. And I've got a feeling you're one of them."

"Rex...do you have to do this?" Ophelia sighed. "...I'm sure this man is of no harm?"

"Well...he looks human. And he doesn't have anything or anyone that proves that he authorized to go about free."

"Uhh..." Duilin extracted the pendent from his pocket. "I uh...have this..."

"What meaning does this have?" Rex asked, sounding irritated.

"The Skyward High General gave it to me, Virmir."

"That..." Rex looked closer at the pendent. "That means nothing to me. I only take orders from the generals under Jayce's division, and Jayce and Retan themselves!"

Duilin pocketed the pendent. "Well, that's all I have. I'm sure Vimir wouldn't be too happy to see a hero of the nation get attacked by you."

"I don't care about Vimir. All I see is a human rebel who is likely plotting a rebellion on one of our fortresses!"

"Well, what I see is some stupid moron looking just looking for a fight. Can't say I blame you, a good fight is hard to come across these days."

"Well, that sounds like an invitation!" Rex smiled and then drew his sword. The demon growled and swung his blade at the half human, which parried back avoiding the swing.

"Rex! You don't need to do this!" Ophelia yelled. The two lizard men pushed the woman aside and drew their large blades, and stomped towards Duilin to join the fight...

---- ----

//Ah, there you are Zeros'!\\

Gorus snorted. "Don't even!" He snarled. He then clicked the trigger of the blaster again and the chain began to whirl back with great force, either slipping free from Zeros' pull or dragging him closer.

(If the later was successful he'd attempt to grab Zeros' with his free hand, lift him up and throw him...)

[Xorlak]

The right thing?  Helix's ears shot straight up.

"What do you mean?"

By contrast, Renard's fell back tightly against his head, his tail curling around his legs as he touched his fingers together nervously.

"Well... I... uh..."

"By preserving our people?"  Helix's voice fell to a whisper as he leaned over the table.  "You know what will happen to our families if you talk like that..."

Renard nodded slightly.  Helix leaned back.  He didn't mean to scare his friend like that.  After all, he was the one who asked Renard what was wrong.

"I'm sorry..."

Renard could only look at the ground.  Helix continued after a moment.

"Without the Dark Emperor we wouldn't exist.  The raging flame would have consumed our parents decades ago, and Welkin would have been no more.  It is Retan's darkness that saved us...  We are eternally indebted to him.  We belong to him...  We don't need to make such judgments on our own...  We're creatures of darkness now..."

Renard only nodded dumbly at the words that have been drilled into his mind since his youth.

----

Henri turned around to Allen.

"I sensed this airship standing here before us, probably it's magical core.  Do you think it still runs?"

"Ven's eyes widened."

"You can't be serious.  I mean, how can we even get it out.  We're underground!"

"Pah, let's take a look."

Henri lead the way right up to a ramp leading to an open door, holding the light up so that all could see their way, though just barely.  It was not a huge warship, but rather a smaller transport vessel.  A fast one, judging by the sleek design.  The whole thing was probably 70 feet long or so.  They would be able to get back to Tjed fairly quickly in this, Henri surmised.

The inside was pitch black, save for Henri's light, which illuminated the halls a bit.

"Any ideas?"

"I would assume we have to activate its core or something."

[Dude Man]

Rex gave a rapid series of swings and slashes towards Duilin, but the half demon was too quick for the slow demon. Duilin then swung his palm forward and blasted a fireball at Rex, pushing him back.

"Hah! Hah!" Rex laughed as Duilin's flame struck him. "You call that pain?"

"No." Duilin replied. "It was more of an insult. Where the heck did you learn to fight? You're terrible with the sword."

Rex growled. He then pointed at Duilin. "Kill him!"

The two lizard warriors dashed towards. One slashed down his sword at Duilin, who jumped backwards. The sword was stuck in the ground; Duilin then jumped up and kicked the lizard under the jaw. The creature dropped its blade and clutched its strained jaw.

The other lizard warrior swung its sword at Duilin. The half demon back flipped away and landed next to wear the first lizard dropped its sword. He picked up the weapon just in time to block a second swing coming at him. Duilin pushed back the sword, surprising the lizard with his demonic strength. Duilin then enflamed the blade with his fire magic and then flurried his sword at lizard, delivering several strikes. The warrior was able to block the first few, but was struck along the upper torso, then across the face, and a final stab in the chest finished him off, the burning corpse then fell to the ground. The jaw strained lizard then recovered and dived at Duilin grabbing him by the shirt, and then tossed him a couple of yards.

Duilin tumbled on the ground, landing back up. He dropped the enchanted sword and the flame extinguished as it hit the ground. The lizard then dashed towards Duilin, and then brought up it's foot right above the half demon's head ready to stomp on it. Duilin then rolled over and grabbed the lizard foot and pushed him back. The lizard lost balance and fell to the ground like a tree. Duilin picked up the sword, and twirled it around just before stabbing it down on the lizard man's chest.

Rex laughed. "Well, I guess you're not just a commoner then, you're probably even comparable to those rebel leaders the emperor got rid of a year ago."

"Oh I'm more comparable then you know." Duilin hissed back.

"Ophelia, Help me with this tough guy! That's an order!"

Ophelia tilted her head. "As you wish, Captain..." Ophelia then lifted off a large maul from her back. The weapon was about six feet, bigger then her. It was interesting that she was able to use it. The mysterious woman then held her maul forward and her and her weapon glowed in a white aura. She then jumped up several feet in the air and flew above the two demons and landed before of Duilin, smashing her maul right in front of him...

[Xorlak]

Renard spoke after looking at the ground for a while.

"It's just that... these humans... they're kinda like us..."

Helix folded his arms.

"Renard, they're just animals..."

"But they have culture... and society..."

"So did the Rrathians.  And the Urkans."

"..."

"If this is about that human that saved you, I'm sure Lord Virmir can offer him asylum."

"... But we're still killing his people..."

Helix sighed.  "The Dark Emperor decreed that humans are inferior, below the Lizard Men even.  His order is absolute.  We simply cannot coexist."

----

"I'll take a look at the core.  Ven, see if you can find the bridge or something."

Another orb of light appeared in Henri's hand and he offered it to the knight.

"But, my lord!  I don't think that's a good--"

Henri was already down the hall, waving his hand behind him.

"It's fine.  Nothing else alive is on this ship.  Go on, now."

Ven sighed and turned around.  He could be so stubborn some times...  Using Henri's light, he wandered the halls for a bit until he came to a larger room with windows on all sides except the back wall.  There was a nautical type wooden steering wheel in the front center and odd navigational instruments, levers and such on all sides.

[Jenia]

At last, the two reached the shores of the forest-covered land.
"Fernis, are you sure we have enough supplies?" Elphos asked as he carried a light bag out of the cabin "We DID arrive late..."
In the meantime, Fernis appeared to be running around from side to side, trying to figure out the land.
"Nonsense, Elphos! We can actualy COOK here! We can always hunt or forage if we run out!"

Sighing, Elphos proceeded to leave the boat with the small bag of supplies on his back.
He was wondering what their next course of action would be, when suddenly the large grin of his master appeared before him.
"Eeeeak!" Elphos almost dropped the bag "Fernis, don't sneak up on me like that!"
His master giggled as mischivously as ever.
"Theres a peninsula nearby. We should be able to accomplish everything there..."
She then began walking in a hurry, not hiding her enthusiasm.
Elphos hurried after her.

Walking through the woods, Elphos decided it would be a good time to bring up an old question.
-"Hey, Fernis, will you tell me already why you wanted to come to this...place? What are you planning on?"
-"Oh, you'll see. Let's just say it involves the circle of recall with a built-in spirit sign...And a flesh rebuilding rune, I guess."
-"Wait, won't using a circle of recall with the spirit sign couse you to summon a ghost or something?"
-"Well, yeah, I guess."
-"Why would you want to do that!? And why here, of all places?!"
-"Were you listening? A flesh rebuilding rune is also involved!"
-"Are you trying to create a flesh golem??"
-"No, I'm going to use the flesh rebuilding rune INSIDE the circle, understand?"
-"What!? But won't that couse the ghost to become whatever it believes it should look like??"
-"Exactly!"
-"But isn't that dangerous!? What if we end up not having enough materials around for the flesh rebuild, and an undead dragon missing half it's torso attacks us!?"
-"I doubt that would happen! Rather, think of the possibilities! A person who has undergone a journey to death and has no remains in this world, a person who has experienced eternal rest first hand-"
-"Bbbbut that's necromancy! NECROMANCY!"
-"Will you let me finish? A person like that, suddenly reappears...Given new life and a youthful body. Might he not return with some sort of amazing powers gained in the afterlife??"
-"But Fernis..."

Elphos' expression turned grim. It was obvious to him what Fernis wants-
To be the first to discover an amazing new source of power and be the only one to control it.

[Dude Man]

Duilin was shaken a bit by the shockwave from the maul smashing so close towards him. Duilin then arched his left hand forward, pointing his fingers. He shot a bolt of lightning at Ophelia pushing her back and forcing her to let go of the maul. Duilin jumped on the sledge of the giant weapon and then jumped up and jump kicked Ophelia, pinning her to the ground.

Rex then dashed forward with his sword and slashed it forward at Duilin, who grabbed his sword with both hands and arched it to the side blocking the oncoming blade. Duilin then pushed Rex's weapon back and spun around to his opponent?s side and swung the blade and stuck Rex's back.

The demon then tumbled forward, but was able to keep him off the ground. He then turned to face Duilin, just in time to see himself kicked in the chest and hit the ground.

Ophelia got back up and then took out a strange deck of cards. The box opened and she tosses several cards at Duilin, the cards had a strange dark glow.

Duilin blocked a few cards with the blade but was struck across the cheek and leg by two of them. "That hurt a bit..." Duilin mumbled. He then dashed towards Ophelia, jumped in the air, performing a front flip and smashed the blade downwards upon Ophelia. The woman however blurred back a few feet, and then around Duilin, until he was at the man's back and swung a speedy kick at his back, pushing him forward. Duilin assumed she must be using some type of speed spell. She was clearly a user of white and or black magic.

Suddenly, Rex had shot forth a blast demon flame at Duilin, striking him at the side. Duilin yelped in pain as the flame hit him. Ophelia then jumped over to her maul and picked up the giant weapon and swung it at Duilin, who jumped backwards and out of the way. Duilin then flapped his wings to gain some height. He then charged up an orb of lightning energy in his left hand and began crafting the energy into an orb. He then focused on the electric current of the lightning orb and then threw the orb at Ophelia. The stun orb was a direct hit, and the woman was motionless...

Duilin then landed on the ground, and twirled his sword. Rex readied his blade; he was ready for a final strike.

"I'll admit something kid." Rex said. "You fight well for a half human. Perhaps you'd like to end this fight and join us in the Dark Empire?"

"Pah!" Duilin spat. "I've been there, done that. Worst years of my life! You imperials make me sick to my stomach."

"You shouldn't back down, half-breed!" Rex said, pointing at him. "You have any idea, how powerful our emperor is? No matter how hard you try to fight us, you will be killed eventually."

"I'd rather die then go back to empire anyway." Duilin sneered. "Everyone in the Dark Empire deserves to die painfully."

"Well, we will just have to find out your fate now, half-breed!"

The two demons charged their demonic energy into the blade. Rex's was a blood red, wile Duilin's was a golden yellow. The two then dashed closer towards each other. As they were six years away from each other then jumped in the air, Rex made a vertical swing as Duilin came near, but Duilin spun himself, avoiding the blade and delivering a mighty swing of his sword right across Rex's waist.

Just as the two demons landed on the ground. Rex's upper half fell off and plopped to the ground, his lower half followed...

[Jenia]

Upon reaching a clearing, Fernis stopped.

"Alright, this is a good place." Fernis said seriously and bent down, putting her left hand's palm on the soft dirt. "We have a clearing on a peninsula... Which means easier flows of magical energies... Don't you feel excellent here, Elphos?"

Elphos did not reply. Instead, he put down the bag and began observing the nearby trees.
For a few moments, the only noise was the rustling of leaves.

"Fernis" Elphos spoke suddenly "You want that power for yourself don't you?
That's why you came here, the place where there is nobody to notice or stop you..."

He turned to her, his tone getting darker.
"That is it, isn't it?"

Fernis giggled.
"Oh, silly boy, you really think I'd be satisfied by that?" she said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "No, that's not it at all..."

"Then how do you explain our condition?!" Elphos shot at her angrily.
"Calm yourself, boy. You will see...Trust me, not I'm doing something that will be an amazingly awesome thing, but I'll be doing the world a favor, too!"
Fernis winked at him and grabbed a nearby stick.
She turned to face the dirt, still on her knees, and suddenly frowned and sighed.
"That's is, IF it works..."

Quickly returning to her enthusiastic mood, Fernis began to feverishly work on drawing runes in the dirt. Elphos watched her draw a large circle of recall, estimating it to have a 10 meter radius at least.

Taking a deep breathe as to not get angry of suspicion again, Elphos took a step towards his master.
"Umm, Fernis, why the hell are you making it so big? What are you planning to summon here, a kracken?"
The face of the usualy cheerful Fernis was completly serious now.
"Do not underestimate the dead. The cricle is big so I could channel more power into it...Who knows how much power will one require to summon anything from a distance greater than gaian itself, maybe even a thousand fold greater...?"

That which Fernis and Elphos called "Circle of Recall" was in fact two circles, one inside the other, with various simple runes between them.  As Fernis finished it, she added a few other runes around it, apperantly ones that direct the circle's power. However, Fernis was yet to draw the runes inside the inner circle, the ones which will only activate once the circle itself complete's it's function...

[Xorlak]

Renard didn't reply, but rather ran his claws over a crack in the table for a while.  The candle was nearly burnt out.

"Hey, Helix..."

"Yeah?"

"You ever wonder... what the sun looked like?  On Welkin, I mean..."

Helix was silent, just staring at the flicking flame of the candle thoughtfully.  Renard finally spoke.

"It's so nice here...  the places we didn't conqueror yet, without the black clouds...  The sky is so blue and the sun so warm..."

Helix waited a moment before speaking.

"Yeah, I guess."

There was another silence before Helix stood up, making his way to the door.

"Good night, Renard."

"Good night."

----

As Ven studied the odd controls of the room, he suddenly felt a rumbling from deep withing the bowels of the ship.  Suddenly the deep black cracks along the walls filled with a golden yellow light, and the airship sprung to life.  Ven could hear his majesty cry out from far down the halls.

"I got it!"

Ven smiled to himself.  Though Henri was old, he was constantly trying to learn new things.  Magic had been his focus for the past several years, and it was starting to show.  Ven certainly wouldn't have had any idea how to activate the core at least.

Henri triumphantly entered the control room.

"Now we just have to figure out how to get it off the ground."

[Zeros']

Zeros' quickly let go of the chain, reaching down and wiping his bloodied hands on his coat. He reached inside of his pockets and took out a few bandages, wrapping his hands tight and quick. The bandages were immediately stained red from blood, but, no more blood dripped from the wounds.

He turned and looked at the device Gorus had and tilted his head.

"Hmm... Interesting weapon you got there..." he said, but he could see a weakness. The large, heavy weapon took time to be effective, which meant, if he got inside of Gorus' defenses, he wouldn't have time to swing the massive flail-like weapon around.

He bobbed his feet for a moment before dashing forwards, ghosting. He reappeared behind Gorus in seconds, his palm raise, with a ball of ki in it. He wasted no time, rearing back his hand and slamming it forwards, hoping he could at least hit or damage the massive lizard.

He had a feeling this would be an endurance fight...

---

Allen nodded and stepped forwards, titling his glasses and frowning.

"Yes... The only way we can get this airship turned in is if we activate it's core. If it's a magical core, we could jump start it - us three - with magic and alchemy," he said, gesturing to the sleek ship.

"Do you want to venture a try?"

[Dude Man]

Gorus was pushed forward as the ki energy was slammed into his back. He nearly fell to the ground but managed to keep his balance. He then saw that Zeros' figured out that he should be close, in order to avoid his chain. Perfect.

The mighty lizard then spun himself around, wile swinging a speedy kick towards Zeros' face. The force of the swing, plus the steel toes would be enough to at least knock him to the ground...

----

The A-Class lizard had the imp locked up in metal box, with only a few air holes in the lower floor of Lizaberg. He was carrying the box to be locked in a small room used to store random bits of junk, Gorus collects.

"So, who are you, exactly?" Rink asked.

"Sshhut up." The lizard hissed.

"Aw, come on. What's your name?"

"General Sssobra."

"How many S's is that? It's hard to tell with your 'accent'." Rink laughed.

General Ssobra tossed the metal box in the small room and locked the door.

[Xorlak]

(Zeros', I was implying that Henri activated the core himself in my last post.  Although we can assume your post happened just before and Allen helped out.  Heh... We need to move on to more exciting stuff, anyway!)

Ven turned around to see Henri and Allen entering the bridge of the ship.

"We've activated the core.  Now all we need to do is figure out how to fly it."

Ven placed a gauntlet on his head.

"Uh, that still doesn't solve the problem of..."

Henri was already at the nautical steering wheel.  After a moment of observing he finally pushed a lever forward.  The hum from deep within the ship intensified, and the vibration grew slightly.

"Allen, if you would be so kind as to man the navigational instruments."

Ven walked up behind his liege.  The two older men seemed to have it together, so he didn't want to get in the way.  He didn't have any idea what was going on, after all.

Henri pushed another lever forward slightly and turned the wheel.  Ven was suddenly thrown off his feet with a large crash.  The ship had slammed into the side of the stone port.  With much clanking of his metal armor, Ven struggled to stand up again.

"Ughhhh..."

"Oh, yeah.  You might want to hold on to something..."

"..."

Henri finally managed to move the transport vessel back out of the port.  The ride was smooth from then on, but they were still flying underground in a tunnel.  The yellow light emerging from the cracks around the black airship illuminated the stone walls on either side outside the many windows of the bridge.

"As I was saying, that still doesn't change the fact that we're underground..."  Ven said as he rested a gauntlet on his hip, the other firmly holding on to a handle of course.

[Tosoto]

((Throwing my guy somewhere so it doesn't look like I'm uninterested in participating. =D ))

Tosoto let out a sigh, things always seemed to take a turn for the worse. Lost in some forest, alone, nothing to build a fire with. Where the hell was he anyway?

He leaned back against a tree, laying his large sword on his lap.

"Guess I have no choice but to keep moving and find a town or city somewhere. " He stated as he relaxed his eyes and shoulders.

"I sure wish something exciting would happen...Get's awfully quiet by myself...." He whispered as he began to doze off.