Dark Age Legends

[Dude Man]

Duilin watched in amazement with the illusion. He kept mostly silent during Renard's story. At first he thought that Renard was lying to him, about this but as the Velken continued his speech he felt the truth of Renard and he started to feel sorry for him. He started to regret being so angry at him, but what he still did was wrong. But, Duilin would likely do the same thing in his position. In fact he's done worse. He served the empire just to save himself. Although he has saved many lives, and if he had died back then, the Dark Empire would likey have gained full control much more quickly, so he doesn't regret his actions. But Renards' entire race was at stake, even though he was helping to destroy the human race Duilin would likely do the same thing, he wouldn't be able to sacrifice every human being in the world. What the Velkens are doing is still wrong, but they only had one choice.
 
"I understand, Renard." Duilin replied, he sheathed the Iduran and rested his mace on his shoulder. "The things you have done are wrong, but I see why you can't rebel. I'd likely do the same thing. I know what it's like to loose family members, my mother and my two younger brothers are dead. In fact I have two older brothers who were corrupted by evil, I feel sorry for them..."

Duilin closed his eyes tight for a second, but then opened them and kneeled down towards Renard and put his hand on his shoulder. "But me killing you isn't going to help anything. I understand your pain, and when I was younger, I wished someday that would happen to me. But trust me Renard, I thank the gods each morning that I'm still alive, here to protect people, despite my terrible job. At least I'm doing something, at least I can do something, and I'm thankful for it. Trust me Renard, maybe not now, but someday you can escape this. Earlier I told you that if the people of Gaian, fight hard enough then the Emperor can be stopped."

"I understand you think it's too late, and you just want a release. But how would your little sister feel? Wouldn't she be as grief stricken as you? From what you're telling me, it seems that it is too late for Welken, but that doesn't mean it is too late for your people."

Duilin sighed, and stood back up looking at the illusions of the wonderful world and the Velkens about.

"I was so wrong, at what I thought about your kind, Renard. I thought of you as soulless monsters, but you're not. What you've shown me has taught me that I shouldn't be so prejudice, I thank you for this. It seems that humans and Velkens are very much the same, as are all races." Duilin paused for moment "Maybe even Drakens..." He shrugged.

"The Velkens are in peril and I won't allow your people to be treated like this. But I will defend people from your group, and I swear Virmir will not succeed in another mission. But I made a promise to myself and everyone else that I won't let Retan enslave anyone, any longer. And I also promise you, I will see to that Velkens will be saved too. I don't know how it could be done, but it I know that it's possible..."

He looked Renard in the eye, and waited for his reply.

--- ---

The elite attempted to jump out of the way but he was caught in the monster's jaw. Yet the elite was still alive as it was caught in Beta Vraigus' mouth. The elite began to enhanced his strength and it's muscle mass began to increase as it attempted to stand up in the creatures' mouth and push the two jaws apart.

The other elite pointed his hands towards Beta Vraigus' and shot forth two ropes from his palms, appearing to be an orange-red semi translucent spinal cord. One of the demonic ropes attached onto his upper jaw and the other onto the lower, he then pulled the two cords to help release his captured comrade.

"Quit bothering yourself with the hors d'oeuvres!" Nex sneered. "Why don't you try the main course?!"

Nex's scythe began to glow red, the demon then slashed forward the scythe shooting a vertical line of four red electric bolts towards the dragon...

[Trent]

Anti and Drake had landed and witnessed the entire thing go down. Anti gave a low whistle upon witnessing the explosion. "Your moves have style. That I'll definitely give you." The snow seemed repulsed at Anti's existence too, but then again, he was pure energy. Drake was normal, though. The snow held no fear for him. And he held no fear for the opposition either. He whipped out a handgun-looking device, pointing it at the same spot as Draven. Anti followed suit with a finger.

Drake smirked and spoke up. "Is this really any way to treat guests?"

[D. Ein]

"Due to the lack of death in my land, I almost flinched when I felt five souls released from their bodies at almost the same time. Concerned, I turned my attention to the south-eastern wall of Gros Morne, where the deaths appeared to originate..."

--- ---

The sergeant was visibly shocked, but he stood his ground. He pointed a shaking finger towards Draven.

-"Y-you... you're gonna pay for that, you know..."

Then the four smoking corpses stood back up, shook cinders off of their bodies, and pointed whatever was left of their spear guns at Draven. They didn't appear to be aware of what happened to them. Finally, the fifth corpse arose, but it was different - its eyes were glowing a purplish colour.

-"Hello, Draven. Interesting how the second I feel your aura, five of my soldiers die. Five of a non-replenishible 8,000. Explain yourself. Now."

The corpse slowly turned to Drake, then concentrating on Anti.

-"I see you've brought your pawns with you as well. Was it something I said at that banquet?"

--- ---

"So Draven himself pays me a visit, hm? Most interesting. I wonder what he wants... must be serious, if he bothers to bring those two freak-shows with him.

Then it hit me. That's DRAVEN I'm talking about here, not a worthless peasant... and I don't even know about the other two. My nation is equipped to take on armies, not ridiculously powerful psychopathic pyromaniacs. What to do, how to control him! Curses!!!

Then, once again, it hit me. Curses... That's exactly how. I just remembered that my Scribe of Undeath, Eve, was almost right next to that location. I took out my M-Grid orb.

-"South-eastern wall... defense bunker... The Scribe of Undeath, Eve."

Eve's face appeared over the orb.

-"Yes, Sovereign?"

-"Eve, there's some visitors almost next to you. Give them a special welcome for me."

-"I just sent six guards to check them out, my lord. What happened?"

-"It's Draven, the ex-Crimson Emperor. He's also got some henchmen, by the looks of it. I don't want them to be causing trouble around Gros Morne."

-"Understood, Sovereign. I know just the thing."

Her face vanished."

--- ---

//Xorlak+Trent: it was only at the time of writing this post that I realized I had no efficient way to fight Draven & Co., so I didn't have time to send you guys both PMs and read the replies in time for this post. If you've any problem with the following actions, please don't hesitate to tell me, and I'll be sure to put something else.\

Somewhere behind the sergeant, a tall woman in a long black leather coat and an ushanka hat emerged from seemingly beneath the snow. She approached the commotion, throwing disgusted glances at the charred zombies. Without fully approaching the dangerous party of three, she took out a small tome from her pocket, and opened it at a seemingly random page:

-"Ilon erecon iuqouq ni maniradnak!"

As soon as the strange words were uttered, two wreaths of two olive branches appeared above both Drake's and Draven's heads. An almost translucent layer of energy manifested around Anti.

-"For my more human guests, I'd highly advise against taking any offensive action towards a citizen of Kandarin, unless you want your pretty skulls crushed to bits. Oh, and don't try to remove the circlets, either - they have a rather annoying habit of turning to metal and tightening around your heads if they are attempted to remove..."

She turned to Anti.

-"Your power is simply blocked, for now."

The corpse with glowing eyes spoke again:

-"Both of these hexes require tremendous amounts of energy to sustain. If you leave Gros Morne, they will dissipate. For now, I am willing to overlook your rather rough entrance. All three of you are now guests of Kandarin. The Scribe will show you to my citadel."

--- --- ---

Ophion looked at the wyvern in flight, and waited until it was out of sight. When that happened, he took out his M-Grid orb.

-"Gros Morne... the Academy... the Colonel's quarters."

The Colonel once again appeared over the orb.

-"Sir, sorry to disturb you. I have just sent a possible impostor to Gros Morne, claiming that he is Vincent Eldridge. Please advise either the Sovereign or one of the Scribes to check him out. He could be the real thing, but I doubt it."

[Drannic_Lord01]

Ben turned around and looked at Virmir, his tail waving back and forth. His eyes were caught up for a moment, but he then regained focus. He poured a bit more energy into his sword to make it wider, much like a broadsword, but very long. He held his blade to his side and spun his body around to make five shockwaves at once.

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

Justin and Tiberius both changed back to human form. It was easier to change back than it was to change into a dragon. They both exhausted much of their energy doing this, and needed a break.

"Alright then. Lead us to Tjedon. I hope we'll be able to find some sleep there..." Justin and Tiberius caught up with the rest of the group. However, there was a man in black robes following them. Jacobie saw him first.

"Hey, who're you? Have you been following us?"

"More or less... My name's not really all that important. I'm just looking for Tjed's capitol-"

"Tjedon? We're headed that way right now. What's your business there, might I ask?"

"I'm a chancelor from Dranniville. I'm looking for some Velkens in Tjedon. I can feel their presence... quite a few of them, no less." The black robed man stared into Jacobie's eyes. He had a mysterious red stare... He was no chancelor from Dranniville. He'd just made all of that nonsense up!

"Tell the truth." Jacobie put one hand one of his katanas.

"Alright, fine. I didn't want to break it to you, but your castle was attacked while you were away. Can't any of you feel that strong presence? It's the Dark Empire!" Everyone stopped and turned around.

"I can feel a presence," Justin began, "but it can't be!"

"Oh, yes. It's them. They've not been to happy with the death of their most favored minnion... Jayce..."

"How do you know about Jayce? Who are you, really?" Tiberius put his hands on his claymore on his back.

"Who doesn't know of Jayce? Come on! He's a Draken!"

"You keep ignoring that question! What's your name!?"

"Fine. My name's Valiko Vraoumoria. I'm nobody, as of right now, but if you're interested, I'm a Draken, too."

"So that's how you knew Jayce... wait, you're a Draken?"

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

[Dude Man]

//Well, I think I might as well update Vandrin and company. Forgive me if this post seems lacking. I'm not in the mood to continue the battle scene.\

After about twenty minutes the battle was finally over, other than Vandrin, Roland and Hypnos only a few speargunners and vanguards which were on top of the buildings were still alive. The lizard men were too strong for the bladesmen, so all of them were killed.

The remaining KAF troops carried the unconscious lizard men into the carriage to be carried back to the base camp and then shipped off to Gros Morne.
 
“Well, we’ve help you with your task, at the cost of many lives. But perhaps they’ll serve just as well as undeads.” Roland said to the count.

“Now, I suppose you want me to help you towards my castle?” Vandrin asked.

“Indeed. It will be just us three. A smaller group will make us less detectable.” Roland said.

“You know; if we want stealth, why not just send Hypnos?” Vandrin suggested.

“Oh, I might as well spill the beans.” Roland laughed. “True, I do wish to find the tablet, but I will also need help in exterminated a specific person here.”

“Don’t tell me you want to kill the High General…”

“No, no. This one is a summoner like me, but he’s been rather tricky to kill. I’ve been hunting him down for over a year now. It’s been getting on my nerves. I want him dead.”

“Oh, so a personal matter? You’re pretty independent for an undead.” Vandrin smirked.

“And you’re pretty co-dependent for a non dead.” Roland retorted.

“Hmph.” Vandrin grunted. “Let’s just go, shall we?”

[Jenia]

The black being's expression turned awefully sour, as if in dissapointment.

...Tell me one thing...

He raised his hand in front of himself, light gathering into it and darkness spreading around it...

...Why did you command your summoner to bind my location to the place of your being...

The light intensified, but did not grow. The darkness, on the other hand, grew at an alarming rate...

... And to use your own life-force to power up this bind...

The being's pupils seemed to expand as it waved it's tail around like a flail.

... Even if you are so certain I cannot kill you and free myself, why pick a method which limits your use of me...?

A silent groan followed, as if the being questioned his own questioning.
The light in it's hand kept intensifying, and the darkness now surrounded the entire crater.

-----

Kerig moaned.

"Ooh, why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?"

"That's because something bad WILL happen..."
A familiar voice responded
"...if you don't hurry up and get to that cave."

Kerig snickered.

"Oh, you are so funny, Welly... Oh look, I think that's the place!"
Kerig pointed at a rather large hole among several crumbled rocks.
He proceeded to cheerfully glide in...

As soon as he was inside, he encountered a confused mage.
A ghost of one, anyway.

"Ghosty!" Kerig exclaimed happily, waving his arms around.
A bright, celestial aura surrounded his right arms as he grabbed the ghost by the head.
"Bon apetite, Welly!"
The spiritual entity grumbled, but the ghost began to scream as it dissipates, turning to smoke and being absorbed into Kerig...

"...Excellent..." Weloss sounded pleased "This one is as good as about 20 normal, ungifted people."

With nothing but dusty ectoplasm left on the floor, Kerig moved deeper into the damp cavern...

"All-RIGHT!" Kerig's voice echoed pretty deep into the cave "Here we come, ghosties!"

[Xorlak]

Renard didn't say anything for a long while.  He just stood there staring at the ground.  Finally, he sighed.

"I guess... you're right... Thank you, Duilin..."

He plopped down on the ground, crossing his legs and looking quite exhausted.  He curled his tail around into his lap.  "But... I just don't know what to do... I don't want to kill any more, but if I stop my family is dead..."

He paused to watch two translucent Velken children running by playing with a ball.  They tumbled over each other like squirrels.  One of them wrestled the ball out of the other's hands and zoomed into the air, thirty feet straight up.  The other followed, hot on his tail.

"I don't even know if my comrades feel the same way, or even if they know what's going on.  I'm... I'm afraid... they'll turn me in.  I'm putting all of their families' lives at risk just by talking to you."

He shook his head.

"But Virmir is a good man.  Please don't hurt him.  He appears cold, but he really cares about us. We would all be dead if it weren't for him...  He's trying so hard within his authority not to kill, but he can't afford to compromise his loyalty to the Dark Empire.  If you continue to fight Retan, we're going to have to fight you.  Even if you defeat the Dark Emperor, Welkin is doomed.  The spells he has keeping that place stable will fade if Retan dies.  I don't know what will happen, but we can't risk it..."

He started clutching his head and shaking it again.

"I just... I just don't know what to do..."

Suddenly his ears perked, and there was a tiny glint of hope in his eyes for the first time.  "Unless..."

His ears folded again, and the glint disappeared... No, that would never work...  There'd be no way they'd be able to evacuate Welkin without the Dark Emperor finding out..  Much less even break into the impenetrable fortress of North Point, where the only portal to that dimension was sealed...

----

More shockwaves.  Virmir stood still until the last instant, then bounded skyward again.  He ducked and weaved through the blasts of energy skirting upon the edges of the deadly waves, then bounded far overhead, flipping once more over the angel and landing in the exact same place where he began the duel.

 This time he held his long thin blade in both hands, angling it in his adversary's direction.  His eyes remained as emotionless as ever, and his tail continued to weave.  Still he seemed to have no intentions of attacking just yet.

"Your skills are lacking.  I am loathe to strike down a messenger of Asgard, but I will do so if I am forced."  His voice was commanding and powerful.  "Surrender now and I will petition the Dark Emperor to spare your life."

----

(Can we wrap up the crazy-death-god story arc soon?  Retan needs to get back on his throne, brood, and yell at people.  Heh...)

The darkness above Retan's head grew shimmered, sucking the light into it like a greedy vortex.

"As I said, I do not need you.  As an example of my unbound generosity I have pulled you from a plane I intend to destroy because it is unfit to rule, and offered you a chance of glorious servitude and continued existence.  However, you have deemed yourself unfit by refusing to bend to my will.  Therefore, you will be sent to the Void.  A plane where there is no death.  There, in total solitude, you will sit and think about what path you've chosen for the next 10,000 years."


Vraigus spat out the elite like so much chewed tobacco, then flipped his long neck upwards, catapulting the other elite with the rope hundreds of feet into the air like a sling.

He smiled widely at the wraith-like Nex and began gingerly trotting at the demon with open claws.  The red energy danced around his body with no effect at all.  It was if magic could not touch him...

With a gaping maw, he bit down at the demon...

----

Not now...

Vincent felt that pain again...  Flying high above on the undead wyvern, he wondered if he'd be able to find a solution in a nation that dabbled in so much necromancy.  It wasn't exactly the solution he was looking for, but some of the principles were the same.

He didn't have anything to loose by trying.  At this rate he had only a few days left to live anyway...

----

"Blast it."  Ven muttered under his breath.  He didn't like this fellow one bit.  He drew his blade and listened as the others talked.  He wasn't quite ready to lead an admitted Draken through the caverns to the capital.  What did this guy want anyway?

----

Draven blinked.  He just stood there for a moment before a snicker took control of his face.  He threw his head back and began laughing.  A haughty obnoxious outburst, the kind that rude fellows perform after someone in the room falls off a ladder or something.

With a sudden flick of the wrist he snapped off the olive branch on his head, the metal melting to a red hot slag in his hands, dripping and sizzling on the snow below.  He rolled a bit of the cooling metal around in his fingers, shaping it into a ball.

"That was the lamest, most ridiculous spell I have ever seen."  He fought back another chuckle. "And believe me, I've seen lots."

His smirk faded slightly, and he began walking towards the charred corpse with the glowing eyes.  "Little hint. Make sure your goons don't fire first next time."

He folded his arms, standing just before the head of the undead.

"And no, I'm not here to conquer your little ice rock...  Here's the deal-- and I'll make it quick since you are all so deathly afraid of fire.  You hate Retan.  I hate Retan."  He thumbed back to Anit and Drake. "And these two have nothing better to do."  He slammed his fist into his palm.  "We're going to go bash the Dark Emperor's face in then kick him out of our freaking dimension.  You in or not?"

[Drannic_Lord01]

Ben landed after the spin. He turned around and looked Virmir in the eye. He wasn't ready to give up, but he couldn't fight for much longer. He was running out of energy. He threw his arm out and absorbed the energy from his blade. That was more than enough for him to keep fighting... but he didn't feel like fighting another battle. He folded his arms and sighed.

"You're a Velken, right? If you really wanted to kill me, then you would have. I know about Welkin... about the raging sun burning your realm to ash. There is more than one solution." Ben knelt down on one knee and looked back up at Virmir.

"Your kind can live in Dranniville. There are people there like you, people who relate to your race! I have the ability to create a teleportation portal linking our worlds together... And the ability to keep you cool if you bring back your Velkens. But I need ten willing Velkens and a few side mages who are willing to aid me. What do you say, Velken?"

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

"Blast? What reason do you have to fear me, of all people? I am quite weak, and cannot even take dragon form. Here, take this." the draken handed his sword, sheathed, to Ven.

"Retan probably does not yet know of my existance, but he will find me if we don't save Tjed. I hope that we can put aside our differences and help eachother out... Knight."

[D. Ein]

"The M-Grid orb smashed against the wall, shattering to millions of pieces.

-"DAMN YOU, DRAVEN! DAMN YOU!!! How did he take that spell off so easily? HOW?!"

Nearly blinded by rage, I tried to calm myself down by punching the skull off of one of my undead guards. The guard, taken by surprise, nearly fell down as it began searching for its head.

-"That's it, dammit, that's IT, the second he's off my soil, I will train mages... Mages upon mages upon mages. I want alchemists! I want scientists! I want warlocks! I want everything and everyone that will grant me powerful individuals or powerful machinery. I WANT IT ALL!!! NOTHING - WILL - STOP - ME !!"

The one responsible for this must pay. Eve, you lazy ingrate, you weren't practicing your spells enough, were you? I sense an execution..."

--- ---

Eve's eyebrow raised as she saw the circlet crumble. Well, if that's the case, then there's no point in keeping the other ones up.

-"If you'll just follow me, then."

--- ---

The wyvern was clearly visible from a landing pad near the top of the Gros Morne's citadel. The landing overseer shot a very bright fireball in the sky to signal the wyvern where to land. Near the overseer, Cain Ryleh himself was awaiting the alchemist. The Scribe was there mostly to welcome the newcomer, but also to verify his identity.

[Trent]

// If I interpret the curses incorrectly, then I'm sorry. But Anti's supposed to be stronger than Draven (In my opinion; Xorlak might not agree. Razz), and if he can break free, Anti should be able to too. And Drake's not totally incompetent, either. Wink

Drake frowned. He didn't have the strength to snap the wreath off like Draven did. But you could almost see the lightbulb appearing over his head as he suddenly grinned. He pulled another device out of Hammer-space. It looked like a remote with an antenna coming from the tip. He pointed it at himself and pushed the big red button. He suddenly shrunk, to a really really tiny size, causing the wreath to just fall down around him. It would probably detect his shenanigans, though, and end up constricting in response. But he had anticipated that. Right before the wreath started to constrict, he pointed his handgun down at the ground, and held the trigger. He released it just in time, and launched himself out of the deadly shrinking ring.

He pointed his ray back at himself, and pressed the button again. He returned to normal size, and kicked the wreath into the ocean. "Nice try, but brilliance and science prevails this time."


Anti, however, was savoring his future opposition's skill. The curse worked weirdly. He was made completely of energy, but could still move his limbs. He pointed his hand out at the ocean, and tried to fire an energy blast. But nothing fired. "This is impressive. No, srsly //Spelled it wrong on purpose. :]//, this is a pretty good curse." He already had an idea what was up, and what its weakness was, but he just had to confirm it. "Hmm..." He then attempts to use his shapeshifting abilities. He doubled the size of his hand. He predicted this anyways; His movement relies on his ability to shapeshift. He IS a mass of energy, he should easily be able to change his form. He returned the hand to normal size. And his last test to confirm how the barrier worked was an attempt to detach his hand. He failed. "I see."

If he wanted to fight, he still could via physical combat, which he is efficient at. However, energy attacks and magic are a no-go; the energy field is preventing any part of him or his energy from leaving. "It's good, but not good enough. Maybe next time... You should put a little more into it." He stepped back a few feet, to avoid knocking his companions over with his next move. He let out a loud yell and flared his aura as strongly and widely as he could, but it looked different. The aura looked more like an extension of his body. Projecting energy wouldn't work, but changing its shape would. The energy barrier in turn expanded to contain his energy, but at the same time, became less dense as it expanded. With one fierce yell, his aura pierced through many areas of the barrier at the same time, causing the rest of it to dissipate. The aura retracted into his body, and he crossed his arms. He had no intention of fighting at the moment, so he remained in this passive stance.


Drake scratched his chin as he listened to Draven's proposition. "Dark Emperor Retan, huh? I've heard of him. This one will be a good fight for you, Anti." He looked over to Anti, who gave absolutely no response.

[Dude Man]

“I can’t promise you that I won’t hurt him.” Duilin replied. “If I caught him before he attacked an innocent, especially a friend of mine, I would have too. But I pray not today.” Duilin looked up. “Too many people have died today. I don’t think anyone can handle anymore deaths…”

“I’ll admit I’m at loss of what to do, if somebody else tried to use their powers to keep Welken together, Retan would defiantly notice and release the spell before the other person could complete the spell. I could even a guy who would defiantly have the power to teleport into your dimension and evacuate your people, but for the same reasons, I guess Retan would notice…On top of that the guy who I have in mind, I believe is dead and on top of that I really don’t like him.”

Duilin thought for a moment. “I can only think of one way…But it’s a long shot, but it would be the only way to do it…”

Duilin took a deep breath. He wasn’t even sure if this would work, in fact it seemed as likely to work as finding a magic ability an Aspye didn’t know what to do, but it would probably be the most likely to work out of any idea.

“Retan would never suspect I’d be trying to save your world, likely only trying to save my own but…I could confront him, I’d have to fight him, and as much as I’d have to fight the urge, I’d have to let him live, and while he’s begging for his life, I’d force him to allow you to escape. But I would have to let him live…which might not even solve anything for my world, which is why I feel reluctant to do it…”

Duilin put his hand on his forehead. “What am I thinking…I can’t defeat Retan on my own…If I brought others with me, then how can I know they won’t kill Retan? And if I tell them not too…then Retan will suspect something.”

--- ---

The elites tumbled to the ground, in very different spots. They were both on the ground and almost totally motionless, but still alive.

Nex tilted his head, as he saw the two elites tumbling around like rag dolls. He then levelled himself as Vraigus flew towards him. He laughed as he saw the creature’s maw bite down on him. With extreme speed the demon parried backwards and tossed away his scythe which faded away into nothingness and then two cleavers appeared in his hands, just before the creature could snap down his jaw down, he tossed the two cleavers into the creatures mouth which spun and zoomed forward like ninja stars with jet engines attached.

[Jenia]

All of a sudden, the light and darkness around the deity disappeared.
A smile spread across his face.
It began snickering, and soon burst into mad laughter, echoing throughout the crater.

My my, you really do enjoy wasting time, do you not?

It spread it's arms, as if accepting a friendly hug from the dark emperor.

...Very well then, send me back to place I call home...

It's smile was scary, in it's own special way. The edges of the mouth clearly seperated the face into two-parts, which looked as if they could actually disconnect.

...Send me back to the place from which you dragged me!

Tiny specs of light began to gather around his fingers...

And do hurry up, I tire of this...

[Xorlak]

Renard scratched the underside of his chin in thought.

"I don't know, Duilin, I just don't see the Dark Emperor begging for his life.  Ever."

The world began to wave and distort.  Renard stood up.

"Blast it... I can't maintain the illusion any longer...  We're going to have to fight again after this, or at least pretend to...  I'm going to try and get the others to understand you aren't our enemy.  We can't openly talk about any of this, even if we think we're alone...  There's something dark following us... I don't know what it is, and I think I'm the only one that realizes it.  It's like an inky shadow that clings to our souls... it listens to us...  It makes sure we're loyal..."

He folded his arms over his chest and shuddered.  "I can see it in my dreams... it's terrifying..."

He shook the fear off his face and smiled.  There was hope in his eyes for the first time.  "But thank you, Duilin.  Maybe... just maybe... we can beat this..."

The world faded to black.


There was a bright flash and Renard flew back, landing on the bloodied floor.  They were back in the meeting hall once more, the other Velkens surrounding the two battles going on.

Renard was looking worn and haggard, his fur ruffled and his eyes droopy.  Totally out of breath, he drew a claw back and it crackled with a blue energy, a wide grin on his face.

----

Virmir lowered his blade slightly and and shut his eyes.  The other Velkens all turned to him before he opened them again, a hint of some forgotten emotion there.  But he blinked and it was gone, the familiar coldness in its place.

"We are faithful servants of the Dark Emperor Retan, who saved us from destruction."  He flipped the blade up as he floated two feet into the air, hovering the long slender sword over the angel's head.  He paused for a moment, then lowered the blade to the side.

"But you have knelt to me, so I will see what I can do about sparing your life."  He pointed to the kneeling angel.  "Restrain him."

Two Blade Knights flew from the corners of the room carrying shackles.  The hand braces were made of a thick heavy metal, but instead of a metal chain between them, there was a bright blue stream of energy.

----

The two cleavers went right through the dragon's mouth and came out the other side, huge chunks of flesh sliced away.  Again, there was no blood, but large sections of bone were visible inside the dragon's maw.

The view was blotted out by an intense blast of blue flame that the dragon spewed right at Nex...



One of Retan's crimson eyes grew larger, and the other smaller.

"You are from The Void?"

He shot a horrific glance at a pile of rocks a quarter mile away.  Grav, who was peeking out from behind them, ducked down immediately, pressing his back against them.

"I was specifically told you hailed from The Underworld."

Grav mouthed the words "Oh crap..."

Retan returned his gaze to the deity of death.  "It is no wonder you are so brazen.  I would not be surprised if you are some other dark wizard's failed trash.  Very well.  Be gone."

With that, the churning blackness above his head flew towards the entity, and a darkness began to engulf him.  The Dark Emperor turned his attention back to the pile of rock.

"Grav. I will speak with you in my chamber.  Bring the summoner."

His body faded away, and he was gone...

Hiding behind the rock, Grav clenched his teeth, his eyes wide in terror.

"Y-yes, my Lord..."

----

Vincent rode the wyvern down to the landing pad, bracing himself as he was nearly thrown off when the thing landed.  He pushed his glasses up his nose and jumped down, nodding at the two waiting for him as he fixed the top button of his coat.

"Good day.  I take it you are expecting me?  The name is Vincent.  Vincent Elridge..."

----

Ven took the blade in his free hand, keeping his own drawn in his right.  Blast, he still didn't quite trust this guy, and he knew Drakens didn't need a weapon to do serious damage.  He just wasn't that comfortable around non-humans, unless they had proved themselves to him.  He then thought back to the Drannivolkas, who he thought strange at first, but they turn out to be capable loyal warriors.  So he nodded back at the man who claimed to be a Draken, and handed his sword back to him.

"Very well, you may keep this."  He sheathed his blade.  Blast it, he needed to lie down for a while.  His whole body was sore.  "We'll be off to the capital then.  This way."

He turned and began to make his way up the path towards the caves.  The ground was scorched and twisted from the battle with Jayce, but the foliage near the mountains remained untouched, and soon Tjed seemed to have regained its normal familiar beauty.

----

Draven smirked.

"Very well."

Folding his arms behind his back, he followed the female officer.

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Shackles? You really think these can hold me? I can help you! I can save your people! You've got to understand, Retan's using you for his own evil! LISTEN TO ME!!!" Ben burst the irons around his wrists and sent shards of metal flying across the room. He made sure none of the shards of metal hit anyone in the room.

"I CAN SAVE YOU!!!" He dug out a scroll from his robes and threw it before Virmir. It was a teleportation scroll, designed to get them to Welkin and back. The runes etched on the paper resembled that of ten Velkens, a few mages, and something that looked like a portal... This had to snap the Velken back into place. The other two Velkens held Ben down too tightly. He had to hope that Virmir would see... or he was doomed to face the wrath of Retan.

"Please listen to me... You have to... Retan was the one who doomed your people. He was the one that caused the furious rage of the sun to destroy your realm. Save your people... I can see you're still in there... Virmir..." Ben did not know this to be true, but that was what he believed, and hopefully he could get the others to believe as well.

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

Valiko took his sword back and buckled the sheath back on his belt. He observed the knight's distrust, but he knew distrust from where ever he walked. It was a sort of racial distaste. He could see it in people's eyes. Everyone kept their eyes on him, which was something he'd always hated... being watched every moment of his life, expected to be the spawn of Retan, a follower of the greatest Draken's footsteps. His goal is to prove them all wrong; that Drakens are capable of good.

"I'm sorry if I'm not a human... but I'm still damn sure that being human isn't always the solution. You might think of me as evil, but I am just trying to help..." Valiko was getting a bit agitated with these people, but he would soon show them who he really was. His anger kept him from showing his sadness and fear.

"Don't worry about it uhh, Valiko, was it? Almost none of us here are human, and look at what we've done so far!" Jacobie put a hand on Valiko's shoulder, only because he could feel the sadness swelled up within him. His arm was soon pushed off, but Valiko was still glad he got some show of respect...

"Here, knight. Take this. You look tired." Valiko took out an orange vile from his robe and handed it to Ven. "It's an endurance potion. I don't know very much about alchemy, but I crafted it myself. It should keep you on you feet... at least until you get yourself to your bed."

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

"General Zerkrand, I've spotted a few of them headed in our direction. Looks like they're headed for the caves..."

"So, I wonder what a knight, an assassin, a lizardman, and four mages are doing traveling through the caves..."

"My lord, that man traveling with them is a high knight of this region. His name is Ven Hyul, and he's taking them to Tjedon."

"You are quite a good spy, Vlamose... I am proud to have you under my command."

"Thank you, my lord. They already know of the assault that Virmir and his men have made, but they aren't quite aware of the king's death..."

"Virmir... what a fool. I'm glad the lord sent US to finish the job. Glad that he is begining to distrust that velken trash."

"With all due respect lord, Virmir is quite powerful. It's an honor to have him serve the Dark Empire with-"

"Shut your insolent mouth, you idiot! Velken trash like him should not even be aloud in our realm! He should be VERY glad that our lord is merciful..."

"For heaven's sake, lord! Don't talk down about him! He's higher rank then you are; at least show some respect!"

"Continue your mission, Vlamose. I will have a strike force ready in the caves."

"Yes my lord, I will get right on it!"

"They're going to pay for killing Jayce..."

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

[Coriko]

The area was dark as night at the moment. One of the summoners looked away and could see off in the far distant the sunlight beaming down. The clouds started to spiral and twist.

[Charging: 325]

---

Coriko looked at Firstman, "Alright, lead on."