Dark Age Legends

[Xorlak]

(Also, no problem, DM.  Heh...)

----

Grav seemed to have disappeared entirely for a moment until he peaked out from behind the massive minotaur's leg, shaking.  He snapped out of  it after a moment, stepping forward and commandingly smacking the tip of his staff into the stone floor.

"Right--"

The skunk creature immediately bent into Indher's field of vision.  He was wearing leather armor with a great deal of daggers strapped to his hips and chest.  He smiled widely, revealing a set of yellowed pointy teeth and breath that reeked of smoke.

"Darling, I couldn't help but notice what beautiful eyes you have..."

Grav jumped up and smacked him in the head with his staff, sending him flying into the wall.  The short Lizard Man hopped onto the soapbox and straightened his black robe, looking all the personal henchman to the Emperor that he was.

"You are located deep in the dungeons of the Tower of Heaven's Bane, my dear," the lizard said.  "You'd best behave yourself, as there's twenty floors of elite guards between here and the surface..."

He tapped the wooden box beneath his feet once with the staff.

"All we want to know is what this is, and how you did it..."

He dropped the oozing stone back on the altar with Indher, which was knocked off during her tantrum.  The black substance that dripped from it reeked of the foul aura of the underworld...

----

Draven idly scratched an itch on his chin with a gloved hand.

"Tch... if you are looking to defeat the strongest, my purple friend, then I know just the opponent for you...  Of course, I hoped you wouldn't come along so easily..."

Without warning, Draven extended the hand full length in front of him, a violent blast of flame exploding from the palm.  Within an instant a sweltering orb of crimson energy materialized, and it rocketed through the sky towards the violet aura-ed demon, helixes of fire spiraling in its wake...

[Dude Man]

As so he did see him, excellent. Apparently this is a legitimate connection she has with Duilin. She was about to question the nightmare demon further, but then the High General came down. She had never met him in person, but knew of him. He noticed that he was trying to intimidate him, yet she didn’t seem to react to his fear inducing glance.

Rufokanno however looked a little uncomfortable; he saw this very being slice his friend in half. Scrums was a very skilled bounty hunter yet he was tossed around like a rag doll by this guy. He still gave a bit of a glare at him, the other members of The Malefactors were his friends, and he wanted revenge. Yet Brice was his closest friend, and if he had to ally himself with this Velken, to kill Duilin, then he would.

Ophelia bowed before he replied to Virmir, may as well show some respect to the High General, to get some cooperation. "Greetings, High General. I am Lieutenant Ophelia. And this is assassin I hired, Rufokanno. We are searching for a man named Duilin Talonscar, who we believed was involved in the battle that took place yesterday. We only got here around last night, so we didn’t witness the death of High General Jayce, but I was able to sense that he died earlier, with my aura detection abilities."

"I was wondering if Rufokanno and I could possibly join you. I need to find this Duilin Talonscar, and question him. I'll hand him over to you right after so he may be killed."

Rufokanno stepped forward. "Rufokanno, would like the honour of killing Duilin. You not mind this, do you?" He asked the Velken.

[Trent]

It grinned... The kind of insane grin that lusted for battle. It smacked the blast away with one hand, and with the other, fired a blast that was about 1.5x as big.

Drake frowned a little bit. It better not get reckless. It can't fire blasts wildly, or spend a lot on big ones. Granted... it needs very little time to charge, because it itself IS energy. But for that same reason, firing too many big blasts will drain its strength, and it takes time for its energy to return to it. It's a mammoth where raw power is concerned, even if it does drain itself a bit, but if it does shoot too much, it could become VERY vulnerable.

//I'm probably going to give Anti a gender soon for the sake of simplicity. I edit way too much as it is now, forgetting to put "it" rather than "he".

[Drannic_Lord01]

"I'm afraid your time on this realm ends here, fools!" Ben made a violent jerk upwards while holding his darkly-powered energy blade. He flew up into the air, rising the blade and making a horizontal wave of dark energy, followed by one straight across where the two angels were. They're forms disentigrated into a black mist, and then disappeared.

Ben floated back to the ground, landing a few feet in front of his wall of energy, which was now a dark purple. He held his hand back behind him and quickly absorbed the energy he used to create the wall. It now seemed where ever he stepped, he created a dark red aura that sparked around him.

------------

Aaron focused his gaze on the new man that appeared. He ran forwards and prepared a fireball in his hands. He then threw himself forwards with an extreme force that made him fall to the ground. A greatly sized fireball could be seen racing towards the man who conjured the illusion.

"Let's take the other ones out!" Justin pulled out his demon fang and slashed it at a human soldier that came near him. His slash missed and he was punched to the ground. Behind the human soldier, Jacobie was fighting four lizards at a time. He was handling them pretty well until another one jumped in, giving him more of a challenge.

The last five lizardmean headed for Tiberius, obsidian longsword at the side, ready for a fast and powerful slash. Tiberius took out his blade and started combat with them, followed by Valimore, or Dranniconias as he calls himself now. Doriana was fighting the four other human soldiers along with Verronica, Aaron's wife.

------------

[Jenia]

Indher looked at the skunk creature as he jumped upon her platform.

"A real charmer, aern't we?" she managed to respond sarcasticly before he was sent into a nearby wall by the tiny lizard's staff. She didn't bother assuming he was able to see the true form of her eyes...
She kept staring at him the entire time he talked appearing bored and uninterested.
She took a look at the orb.

"Hmm... Well, I can't really tell what this is." she said hesitantly.
She tried bending down to take a closer look, but her still chained leg was in the way.
She sighed, and pulled it and the chains broke away, proceeding to take a closer look at the orb.

"...Corrupt,corrupt indeed...I guess it would make sense..." she muttered to herself for a while, and then turned to the lizard.

"It was close by, wasn't it? Meh, in any case, I tried summoning a godlike being, and I didn't have enough energy to drag something so powerful into this world, but his presence was here for but a moment... I think that's what corrupted it."

-----

As Elphos, Balse and the woman left the cave, they noticed a small object bouncing off the dragon as he begins to breathe flames in a furious manner.
The three hurried in his direction.

"Sir Dragon...!" The woman spoke, a hint of worry in her voice "...Is everything all right...?"

Elphos stepped away from the two, as he observed the tiny object still lying on the ground...

"Two joined hemispheres... One red, one white... Intriguing..."

He picked it up and tugged it into his shirt.

"...Might be usefull... I'll show it to Fernis when she returns..."

[Dark Spartan]

“…And so that’s what happened,” Midna sighed.

“Dear me,” Equinox muttered, “this is most unfortunate news…the last Twilight Warrior, if you will remember, succumbed to the Shroud’s control quite easily…”

“But there’s something about Alex,” Midna went on, “his will is stronger than the last one…I noticed the Shroud had yet to take full control. Alex could still think for himself…”

“Then the Shroud will take over gradually,” Eclipse replied, “until then, Alex has a limited control over the Shroud’s powers, being able to choose whether or not to manifest it when he wants to, which makes perfect for the situation he’s in, with that Kandarinian squad hunting him down. However, it’s only a matter of time before he loses all control…”

“No, I believe in Alex,” Solstice spoke up. “He’s shown time and again how resistant he is to anyone forcing his will. I have no doubt he’ll resist the Shroud enough to entice it to leave…”

“On the other hand,” Eclipse said, “the Shroud is just as stubborn, so extracting it from him will not be easy. But that’s for another time. Midna, I want you to follow him, see what he does, see what kind of control he has over the Shroud. Perhaps some good can come out of this mess…”

“As you wish,” Midna replied, bowing to leave.



Yes…there lies the meal…

From behind a tree Alex saw a Kandarinian scouting party, sent ahead to look for Alex. Carmine wasn’t present, neither was de Sade, but to the Shroud, one meal was as good as any.

“Normally I wouldn’t hesitate to kill them, but isn’t this a little over the top?”

Nonsense…these are your enemies! Who better to kill than your enemies? Allow me to have the first strike.

One of the Demon Heads slithered out from behind, down onto the ground, and began slithering towards the scouting party, which sat around a glowing fire. One of the men noticed something.

He stood up. “What is that?” he asked, pointing toward the Demon Head slithering toward them. “Some kind of snake--”

The head lunged upward, snapping through the poor man’s armor and into his chest, right at his heart. The man fell backwards with a scream, and soon died from the loss of his blood pump. The other men stood up and drew their spearguns, firing at the head.

“What the hell is that?!” one of them cried.

“This can’t be real!” another one shouted.

The head retracted back to Alex, who manifested the Shroud and stood out in the open. The remaining soldiers began firing wildly at them, the spears being deflected by some unseen force.

“This isn’t working!” the third soldier screamed.

The markings on the sides of the Demon Heads then changed to a glowing blue color, the markings forming a spiral. As they continued firing, a bottomless black hole opened behind them, which proceeded to suck them in.

“What the hell is this?!” a soldier screamed, resisting the intense pull. Finally, all three of the soldiers lost their fight against gravity, and were pulled into the hole, whirled around violently and flung out into the ground, obviously dead. When all was over, the two Demon Heads drew power from the darkness.

This is merely a fraction of the powers I offer to you…it is time to find those who have wronged you…until then, you will appear as normal…

The Demon Heads and tentacles retracted, leaving Alex alone in the forest. He fell to his knees, at a loss for words.

I can see you are not like the last warrior…you have a pure heart…a pure will…during the day you will be normal…but at night…in the presence of evil…the Shroud will take over…for this one night I will offer you a reprieve…unless you go out looking for trouble…

“I need to keep looking for that Carmine guy…he’ll lead me to the others…”

Then it shall be a night to feast.



Within moments of leaving, Hannibal Roth had returned to Carmine and his squad, de Sade’s soulstone in hand.

“I believe this is what you will need, Captain,” holding up the stone, then passing it on to Carmine, de Sade sitting silently inside.

“The Sovereignty thanks you,” Carmine replied, accepting the stone. “Just one question though.”

The assassin sighed. “Make it quick.”

“How do I get him out?”

“The answers are in your hands, Captain,” Hannibal replied, pointing to Amon’s icy blade Carmine held.

“I don’t exactly follow…” Carmine admitted, feeling a little oblivious.

“When Amon came to you first,” Hannibal explained, “this gem was what he asked for. I suppose he'd know how to get de Sade out, especially if Amon himself is a Lilithian.”

“Gotcha,” Carmine replied, “and thanks again.”

“Glad to be of service,” muttered the assassin, though not exactly looking glad. “Well, Captain. This is your mission, what is the first order of business?”

Carmine pondered for moment, realizing his squad just gained another member. “Well…I suppose we return to the mainland and search for Alex…”

“I heard from some of the off-duty intel officers,” Odessa spoke up, “that Alex is still hanging around Asgarnia. Maybe we could find him there?”

“Good idea,” Carmine replied, “that’s our route.”

[Dude Man]

Duilin looked at Ben. "That's some rather dark looking magic you have their. Well, for an angel that is. I've got scarier spells than that."

He hovers around in the air for a bit before landing back on the ground next to Ben. "I don't see them Ben. Any idea what that was? I don't like leaving, with arrow shooting people here. We should do something them..."

--- ---

"Castle!" The shadow mutant said pointing towards Vandrin's Castle which was in plain view for about five minutes.

"Thanks, now get outta here." One of the vanguards said waving his hand, motioning him to leave.

The mutant gave a low growling sound but then jogged off.

"Okay, it looks like the Lizard Men haven't made their way here yet. But we can bet they'll get here soon enough."

The troops then approached the metal cage gates of the castle. A servant of Vandrin jogged over to the gate and began to unlock it. "Thank the gods you're here." He said. "We had no idea when the lizard army would get here. They've almost destroyed half of the area already. Very few people remain."

"Yeah, yeah. Listen were just here to test out our new toys. But our Marshal does have a message for the count. Take us to him."

The servant looked at them with wide eyes, and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Come on." The gates opened and the servant ran to the main door of the castle and opened it up. "Hurry, hurry!"

The Kandarins looked at each other and shrugged and jogged to the entrance. Why were they so afraid? These lizard men weren't THAT strong. So far they haven't even lost any men. I guess time will tell.

---

Gorus came across the dead bodies of a group of five lizard men. He noticed they had been stabbed repeatedly, by some sort of blade. He was a bit confused here; the mutants didn't have weapons like this. There must be other people out there.

Suddenly a blurring figure shot by Gorus, the lizard general turned around to see what it was. "It's an invisible mutant..." He snarled.

The shadow mutant then shot towards Gorus, noticeably dark violet glowing orbs appeared where his hands appeared to be. It shot forth two shadow orbs at Gorus who simply blocked the shots with his fists, receiving only minor burns to his hands.

The shadow mutant continued to dash towards Gorus, the mutant was ready to aim a jab right at the lizard's left eye, but as soon as he got close enough his neck got grabbed by the giant lizard. The mutant's invisibility shield dissipated and the creature was revealed.

"Gotcha sucka!" Gorus laughed. The lizard man, keeping his chocking grip on the mutant, spun around a few times and tossed the mutant several yards away. The mutant landed on the pavement head first breaking its neck...

[D. Ein]

//Final change to Kronos' title. Edited my previous post, check it out - he is now called Sovereign.\

Pub. Two Kandarinians are having a conversation.

-"So, Andre - I heard there's a new order for an academy of some sort."

-"You heard correct. The Sovereign ordered its construction a few hours ago. I don't know where we're going to get the unlife for it, though."

-"But they're just carcasses... Shouldn't be that hard to find, considering the amount of wars that occurred here in the past."

-"Another problem is the fact that we're running out of stone to build new things. I mean, that's one of the reasons they started using unlife as a building material in the first place. Now we've gotta have over thirty percent of fleshy materials in our buildings in order to have a solid rock base. I mean, on one hand, this makes the city nearly impervious to attack - the city itself can fight back, or just walk away to someplace else. On the other, even though we ourselves support the unlife, it will wear down eventually. Where will we get new shipments from?"

-"That's why we go to wars, isn't it? Many corpses, many captured resources. What I really want to know is why the Sovereign is building an academy."

-"I was charged with making the architectural blueprints for it. Looks like he wants some sort of an arena in it as well. I could honestly not begin to guess. Then again, who are we to doubt the Sovereign's motives?"

-"Oh, stop being such a Kandarinian. It's not like he can hear you over here or something."

-"Oh yeah? I dare you to say his name out loud."

-"..."

-"That's what I thought. Anyways, there's also rumours that he ordered mutagenic potions from count Vandrin, and that he's bringing back live specimens of lizards. Even though the academy isn't built yet, he's also got a new type of troops in training. Stalkers, they called them - elite lone soldiers put through grueling training with an estimated forty-two percent fatality rate and a ninety-seven dropout rate."

-"Good God... Maybe he wants to create a new army entirely, engineer it in the academy, and test it out in the arena."

-"Maybe he's building the arena purely for the convenience of building two things at once, and it will be used only for entertainment?"

-"Unlikely, but possible."

A third Kandarinian in battle armour enters the pub.

-"Andre! Jorge! The Sovereign just issued a salvage party to the old capital at Jovil. We've gotta look for some machine that's lying there, and you are needed as the science experts."

-"Got it. Let's go."

The three men exit the pub, and mount a large undead wyvern built specifically for transport.

[Coriko]

“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise! Here I was wondering if we would ever see you again and we run into each other! Well this is a happy coincidence.” Silas tightened his grip on Druid’s neck so he couldn’t speak. “Aw, I see you are so happy to see me you’re at a loss for words, touching! Now young man you and I have some unfinished business. But since I have learned to be so kind and generous over the years we’ll play a game. If you win this game you get a prize! This will be exciting?! And you will never guess the prize.” Silas pulled Druid up close so that he was speaking right into his ear. Silas then hissed into Druid’s ear, “You get to fight me.” Silas through Druid on the ground, who let out a painful groan.

   As soon as Druid put his hands on the ground he started to summon any residual shadow energy on Gaian. Any expended energy stays around because energy cannot be destroyed. It was a simple trick of tapping into this power. This would give him a significant energy boost. Plus the overload of energy would go towards healing his wounds. His hands sunk into the ground. This would allow for the process to go a lot faster because of the direct contact. The whole trick happened quickly and as soon as Druid was topped off he launched at Silas.

Silas leaped backwards up into the air. Shrieking with laughter. “The games haven’t started yet my friend.” The border world bog really screwed up Silas thought Druid. When he was flying backwards he clapped and out of the sand and ground a coliseum structure rose. Silas flew backwards and landed in what would be the king or emperors chair. All around the coliseum an army stood with primitive looking guns from their dimension.

     “The rules are simple. There will be one round where you fight five of my personal champions. If all the champions are defeated successfully then you get to fight me. There is no point in attacking me until then either because my guards will kill you. Don’t cheat and have fun!” Silas let out a menacing cackle and yelled, “BEGIN”.

---

     Coriko reached the meeting point and looked around. He saw no signs of lifes but thought he might try calling out for his comrades.

     "MARSHALL? FIRSTMAN?"

[TK Game Boy]

"What's this?" Quadricentennial noticed light within the forest, which is strange for a forest that is extremely dark. "Why is there light here? What's going on?" He ran towards the light. "FIRE!!!"

The trees were beginning to burn down the forest. Yes, the tree's themselves have lit themselves up and destroy. "Mal Paugh?". In one story Quadricentennial read, there were legendary trees that obeyed their leader Fauxlo Scarrabarry. The trees were capable of using powers of earth, water, and fire but only earth and water were mostly used. Fire would sometimes literally back fire on them. But the book stated that the trees were long gone. "Could these trees be Mal Paugh? What is this?" Smoke was started to be visible. Quadricentennial had to leave immediately. He assumed his owls escaped so he left off. He ran towards a trail but a tree suddenly crashed in front of him. The flames were rising up. He ran to the left but another tree fell but this one had little flames on it. Quad quickly jumped over it only the surprised by another tree falling over. He was quick on his feet and jumped out of it's way. Another tree was ready to crush him and he jump out of it's way. Another tree and another. Every single tree he faced was falling. He was quick on his feet and was managing well but the fact remained that the trees were starting to pile up. He had to escape before he was trapped. He took a swipe from the claws on his hands but to his surprise they melted. The heat was immensely hot and the metal could not handle it. The knife on his feet too were starting to melt. He looked up and saw more and more trees falling on top of each other. No, the trees were not tall. All of them were equal in height. "What is this? How can these trees pile on themselves like so?" He jumped up and with his legs and feet repeled himself from a wall of black trees to the other, and another. Thinking he made it to the top, a giant tree smacked him to the ground. He fell hard and hurt his head but was still conscience. The smoke was starting to get thick. He was having trouble breathing.

[Xorlak]

Virmir's ears twitched forward when she mentioned 'Duilin'.  He brought his claw to his chin and stroked it for a moment.

"Yes, I have met this one called 'Duilin', though he has not committed any crimes against the Dark Empire as far as I know.  This was before the events of yesterday, mind you..."

He didn't bother looking up.  He just waved his hand behind him.

"Renard, come here."

High above, Renard felt as if his heart had been stabbed by an icicle. Clutching the scrying stone in his hands, he meekly flew down to Virmir and the others.  The remaining Velkens simply floated there watching until Helix dove after with an indignant growl.  The others shrugged and followed, and after a moment all eleven Velkens were on the ground next to the great black crater, or floating close to it.

"The stone," Virmir held out an open claw.  Renard handed it over, desperately trying not to shake.  Did he know?  Would he figure it out?  Oh, gods...!

Virmir took the black stone in both hands then slowly separated them as the stone remained afloat.  It began to spin in place, a blue aura surrounding it.

"As you may know," the vulpine High General explained, "whenever a spell is cast, the residual magic leaves its mark on the surrounding landscape.  A fingerprint, of sorts, though much, much more detailed."

He raised his hands, and the stone followed suit, moving over their heads.  A fog began to form above.

"Normally the residual fades quickly, yet stronger spells have stronger residuals that last longer, and also overlay smaller ones, preserving them as well."  His eyes motioned to the gargantuan crater behind him, then back to Ophelia. " Not only do the residuals provide information about the caster, but also a great deal of information about the environment at the time of the casting-- including who else was present."

Above their heads, images of the battle played out.  Jayce and Draven both sneering.  Fireballs flinging about.  An entire army trying to tackle a massive black dragon...  Blinding explosions every which way.  An image of a Lizard Man in red armor, a traitor that would be dealt with.  Some angelic figures.  Another Lizard Man traitor.  An old drow.  A silver knight.  Many more faces flashed by at blinding speed.  And then there were two figures in the sky, preparing two separate spells.  One was Draven, laughing maniacally as he held a burning sun above his head.  The other was another human, wearing white.  Virmir paused to consider the figure for a moment and Renard gulped.  The image zoomed in on his face, revealing an unfamiliar man with spiky black hair and a large curling mustache.

"Duilin was not present at this battle," he said with finality.  "Our missions do not correlate.  From this point on this island is restricted from all access unless I explicitly give permission.  Please leave immediately."

Melface, quite bored with the whole spiel, suddenly became animated again.

"What about me?"

The image above paused upon an arctic fox hiding in the bushes, watching with wide eyes as the whole battle progressed.

"We have no further questions for you."

"But you didn't even--"

"Leave. Now."

The child-like demon began flailing his arms around.

"You can't just kick us off!!"  He desperately needed vengeance to help save his image.  He kicked the ground and sent a plume of dust into the air.  "Blast it!!"

----

The dark elf illusionist mage took the fireball to the chest.

"Ahhhhhh~!!!!"  He feebly screamed as he was engulfed in flames.

Blast, they were still outnumbered... Ven took up his sword and charged one of the lizards that surrounded Jacobie.  Good thing the Lizard Man wore that bright red armor, else he'd be pretty difficult to pick out from the enemy.  With a mighty slash he chopped off the tip of the black armored lizard's tail.  It quickly turned at screamed unintelligible obscenities, and the silver knight was quick to capitalize, driving his blade into the thing's neck...

The stranger allowed a group of lizards to approach him.  He smiled at the last instant.  As he pulled the trigger of his aimed weapon, an intense burst of flame streamed forth, utterly engulfing the reptiles.  They screamed as he torched them, waving his flamethrower back and forth in wide arcs, his shades reflecting the red light.

----

Grav's eyes were wide.  The Dark Empire was in need of summoners.  If he could present someone who knew how to call forth demons with such intense auras to his Emperor, then surely he would get that raise he so justly deserved!

"My dear, how would you like to perform your summonings with proper materials?  Surely you cannot hope to work in dismal caves all your life," the lizard said. "A summoner of the Dark Empire is a respectable position, and one I offer you should you pass a few... examinations..."

He leapt off the box, tapping his staff on the ground.

"Or do you prefer living amongst... humans...?"  He spat out the last word distastefully.  On the other side of the room, the skunk lit another cigar and winked at her.

-----

The dragon bowed his head low, so that his eyes were only ten feet above the small human woman's.  There were some blackened spots on the ground, and the air smelled faintly of a barbeque.

"'Tis nary a thing to worry about.  They're gone now..."

His head craned up to look at the three figures floating high above.  A red fireball streaked through the sky, then a violet one.

"... But more will come..."

----

Draven dodged to the right, just barely moving in time to avoid the intense blast of energy.

"Not bad, not bad..."  He smirked as he slowly floated sideways.  "Let's dance."

He brought his arms to his sides, clenching his fists and a violent burst of flame burst from his body, painting the sky with a crimson flash.  His muscles seemed to bulge slightly as he was wrapped in a burning aura of flame, and his black hair waved on end.

He leaned forward and shot towards the demon, the air parting before him in a sonic boom.  He drew his fist back and aimed a burning punch square towards the thing's missing face...

[Dude Man]

Ophelia's jaw dropped and then shut back and she gave a very cold and angry glare at Virmir yet this was all hidden behind her mask. "Very well, High General, we will leave."

Something is not right here. He could tell Melface suspected something as well. She made a quick decision, and sent a telepathic message to Melface. "Meet 5 miles over the water just north of here."

"Rufokanno is not happy with this General." The elf said pointing his finger at him.

"Let's go, Rufo." Ophelia ordered, before he started anything.

Rufo then turned away and pointed his hand at a wooden plank that was on the shore, which apparently he brought with him. The wooden plank floated towards the elf and then rotated and lowered untill it hovered a few centimetres off the ground, he hopped onto the plank and Ophelia stepped onto it after him and stood behind. The plank then hovered forward and off into the ocean.

"Go north and pick up the speed." Ophelia ordered.

The plank then pushed northward and gained speed, after a few minutes, Ophelia motioned for him to stop and they waited...

--- ---

"Hey I hear somebody." Firstman said to one of the Aspyes who was waiting with him, he climbed up the stair way and looked to see who it was. "It's Coriko!" He then waved towards him. "CORIKO! OVER HERE!"

[Jenia]

Indher sighed. As promising as the idea of using the dark empire's resources for her own needs sounds, this will probably not work.

"What's the point? I can't summon that thing unless I get at least a hundred expreienced mages to aid me in the summoning itself..."

She leapt off the altar, landing softly on the cold stone floor.
A thought occured to her, and she forcibly avoided grinnin, keeping a straight face.

"That, and the being is so powerful we will probably need the dark emperor himself present when the summoning takes place, you know, you prevent it from destroying everything in sight as soon as it appears..."

She gave the skunk a quick distastful look.

He should quit smoking.

She turned back to the lizard, sighing.

"Unless you can promise me all that, I won't be of any real use..."

-----

The woman seemed relieved.

"Al-Alright..."

She spoke as if she was used to having dragons for conversation partners.

"We really should go back, just to be safe... Sir Elphos, are you coming?"

Elphos turned around, appearing confused.

"Oh? Uh, yes, yes, of course..."

He approached the group just as Balse opened his mouth.

"Y'know, lad? This smell makes me think of some good chikeen... Which reminds me of our chikeen, Dolly. Aye, she was a wonderous fowl, a golden one, she was... Hey, ya think ya can reevive our Dolly?"

Elphos sighed. This is going to be a LOOONG time without Fernis...

[Drannic_Lord01]

"I guess we'd better get moving, Duilin. There's bound to be more angels chasing after me. I'm wanted for my intervention down at Tjed. It sparked a war off between the gods..." Ben's form changed back to normal. He looked more holy then dark now, his aura returning to a light blue.

"I'm sorry if I've gotten you in this mess. We'd better hurry out of here. I think we'll have to fly away from Tjedon and lay low for a while... unless you'd like to take them head on..." Ben smirked at that last remark. He cracked his neck a few times and bendaged his right shoulder, which had two burn marks in them where the arrows once were.

------------

"Blast it! They just keep coming!" Aaron said after he beat down two humans with his great metal fists. More and more human and lizard soldiers came from the hills, along with two wyvern-riding demons with obsidian greatswords. They flew towards the ground, wyverns shooting fireballs, greatswords flying through the air.

"Die you fools!" Verronica jumped forwards and caught blades with a demon, flinging him off of his wyvern. As the wyvern fell to the ground, she stabbed it through the heart and blood spilled through the air. She began combat with the other demon.

"I need some help over here!" Jacobie yelled as more lizards came his way. he was now fighting against ten lizards, only managing to kill three from before. He took out his second katana as they surrounded him. He spun around creating a red and blue energy wave, killing off five of the lizards. He stopped and continued to sword fight the other lizards.

"I can't take this much longer! Some one, help me out here!" Jacobie was once again surrounded by lizardmen, who for some reason only went after Jacobie. Tiberius and Justin jummped in and helped Jacobie fight off the lizards. Blades clashed together and sparks of metal flew through the air.

"We cannot hold off much longer like this! We need reinforcements." Aaron yelled as he was in combat with two more human soldiers.

"Reinforcements!?" Dori yelled, helping Aaron fight more human soldiers as they came his way. "Who's going to come to our aid? The Dark Empire has killed everyone here!"

"Not everyone." Said a distant voice. A stampede of horses could be heard from behind. Arian riders from the south had come to aid the heros in battle. One of them dismounted and slashed open three humans at a time with his longsword.

"We have three hundred strong and able, ready to fight for you, my lord." The soldier said as Aaron and Dori killed the last dark empire's human soldier.

"It would have been nicer had you'd shown up earlier. Still, we could use a hand."

"We have horses to spare, my lord."

"Finally, some good news." The last of the attackers were killed. Aaron made for one of the spare horses the riders had. "Mount a horse, all of you! We ride north for Azzkan Endor, the capital of Ariosis.

The last demon escaped on wyvern, not doubt flying off to tell of the emperor's return...

------------

[D. Ein]

Jorge and Andre's wyvern was soon joined by three more. Two of them were carrying vanguards for heavy labor duties, and the third one, a smaller one, was occupied by only one person. Although it was obvious that this one was a soldier, neither Jorge or Andre ever saw such a warrior in Kandarinian ranks before. The only two things he had in common with the rest of KAF were the red gloves and the mask. His armour consisted of a simple cloak and hood, not large enough to cover his entire face. He had a hatchet attached to his belt, as well as two kamas. The strange soldier was staring ahead blankly.

-"Excuse me," began Jorge. "But who are you?"

The soldier turned to the scientist.

-"Hypnos. Stalker."

-"Wow, I didn't know that the Sovereign already had a legion of you guys."

-"First one."

-"Oh."

The rest of the relatively short flight was done in silence. I suppose the Sovereign is taking them out for a test drive, thought Jorge to himself. Maybe he wants to see how successful he would be before training a whole squad of them. Then again... what could they possibly encounter at the place of a ruined, disabled machine?

The wyverns landed on the ground; everyone got off. In total, there was one Speargunner, two Vanguards, Jorge and Andre, and Hypnos. Old Kandarin looked nothing like it used to: the thick mist covering the island changed into dark brownish smoke. The once-majestic buildings were mostly reduced to ruin from the implosion at Jovil. The group proceeded through the ghostly streets, finally reaching the half-crushed palace. There it was... just near the entrance, there were clobbered pieces of a yellowish humanoid machine.

Andre was about to go directly towards it, as Hypnos stopped him with a hand motion.

-"Stop," he whispered. "Steps."

Neither Jorge nor Andre could hear any, but in a few seconds they saw a strange human-like creature crawl over the machine. The poor soul had most of its skin burnt off, but was somehow still lingering to life.

-"It's the air," hissed Jorge. "I bet that machine there also has something to do with this."

The mutated Kandarinian crawled somewhere inside the machine, coming out with a large circular object. The object was almost a meter in diameter, and was clearly made of either metal or stone - but the creature was carrying it in one arm.

-"Stay. I'll deal."

Before Jorge could object, the Stalker was already gone. Without as much as a rustle, Hypnos made his way up the citadel's wall using his kamas to climb it. His cloak seemed to mirror the surface under him, making him nearly invisible to a normal eye. Soon, he was so high up on the wall that the scientists completely lost sight of him.

Meanwhile, the mutant clawed the round object open. Massive cracks in it gave way, but it appeared as though the cracks were a part of the design - they would normally open mechanically. The device was glowing from within, its core visible through the cracks. The creature leaned close to it, sticking its hands in front of it, as if in front of a fire.

-"Look," muttered Jorge. "that thing's burning the ground, and the mutant is just sitting there!"

Indeed, the glow from the orb was melting the ground into a glass-like surface. The mutant didn't seem to mind.

Just then, Hypnos leaped off the wall. Like two black lightnings, the kamas struck the mutant's skull, immediately cracking it open. The Stalker jumped to his feet, and ran towards the scientsits' hideout. He dove towards the ground, striking it with his weapons for leverage, and projecting himself right into the pit. The kamas, attached by a chain to his hands, followed. The entire event happened in a mere three seconds.

-"Whoa," commented one of the Vanguards. "Why'd you run? It's clear, there's nobody else th-"

-"HUSH!"

With one swift motion, Hypnos pushed the entire group down to the ground. For a good reason, too. In a few seconds, the remains of the machine were covered with hissing and spitting mutants. A few of them began to rip apart the slain mutant and consume what was left of its flesh.

The Stalker's eyes thinned. Using his kamas in a similar maneuver that he just performed, he shot himself out of the pit. His foot struck a mutant's head, sending it flying right off. By the time it hit the ground, Hypnos already silenced four more mutants, striking his kamas into the neck of the fifth one. He somersaulted over his head, keeping the sickles lodged deeply in the creature's body - then forcing the whole mutant forward, propelling it at two more, who were still gnawing off the arm of the first mutant. The Stalker was moving so fast that few mutants noticed his presence at all, before it was too late. Finally, there was only one mutant left. This one was rather big, with most of his body still intact. Hypnos looked at him through squinted eyes. He let his kamas hang down freely from his hands, chained to his wrists. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, in a matter of a quarter of a second, he unsheathed his hatchet. An eyeblink later, the mutant fell down headless. The hatchet returned back to Hypnos, attached by another, much smaller chain.

-"Clear now."