Dark Age Legends

[D. Ein]

"Right.

Well.

Looks to me like hiring eccentrics to do scientists' job wasn't a completely dull idea. After sleeping through 4 hours of a lecture by one of these individuals, Ryleh informed me that, in short, the pseudo-scientist found evidence of a near-indestructible metal deep beneath the planet's crust. Unfortunately for us, the metal stays strong only as long as it's heated to ridiculous temperatures - but those eggheads from the subterranean labs told me that they'll think of something. They'd better.

A nice muscle-stretching walk is all I need, I thought to myself, as I left the lecture hall.

It was still pleasantly cold outside, and the city still slept with activity. The mountains encircling us from the inner continent looked particularly distant this morning, an effect to which I could attribute no cause...

...curse Draven! Why must my minions be so weak to fire? After Retan's fall, quite naturally, I'm planning to double-cross the damn vermin. But how? With what? What will be the device of Draven's downfall? Plague upon your house..."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Blast it! Wraiths!" Ben flung his hand to his side and burst out a blast of white energy, condensing and taking the form of a sword. He grabbed the blade of energy with both hands and thrust it forwards at one of the creatures with the scythes.

"I hope this isn't a sign of what I'm thinking." Valiko unsheathed his demonic sword and threw it into the air. A blast of red energy surrounded it and two more swords came down. Valiko held his right arm out, directed at the dark figures; they started to float in front of him and swung at the wraiths, or so Ben had called them.

Tiberius began to transform into a Wyvern; his body disappeared and was replaced with a bright light that started to take the shape of a small dragon like creature; a wyvern no less.

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

"Hmph. We'll want to leave, and quickly." Valimore lead Dori out of the field and behind an area near the port. There were still people from ariosis there, trading and such as if nothing was happening around them. As the army marched across the fields and to the caves, the over all expression of the port changed.

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

"I forgot how long a walk it was through the caves..." Aaron though aloud. He lead his men into the caves and had them light a few torches, telling the mages to cast light around themselves. The caves were lit with a bright glow as the soldiers of Dranniville marched through.

Some of the Drannivolkans that fought in the earlier war were there, ready to pay back the Tjedians for their help. The clearing was nearby, glowing a strange green. "Put out your tourches!" Aaron shouted through the caves. They were shortly covered in darkness.

"Draw blades!" He shouted once again. The caves echoed with the scraping "sching" that probably alearted the lizardmen. They weren't very bright, however, so they might not have noticed. The definately would soon enough, however.

"CHARGE!!!" Aaron rushed out of the caves followed by his men, pouring into the fields just in front of Tjedon. The city was covered in a translucent green dome. The men behind Aaron all shouted as they raced out into the field and soon the city gate.

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

[Dude Man]

Nex stood over the unconscious man.

"He's still alive. He was able to protect his himself and stay alive, even in death. Such a strong spirit in this one..."

The man slowly started to move. "Where...am...I..."

"You're alive..."

"Who are you?"

"You don't recognize me? I haven't changed that much."

"Nex..." the man began coughing and wheezing. "Why won't you leave me alone!?"

"Because I just love annoying people. Yet I don't like being on the receiving end, so much. Heheh..."

"Your voice..."

"I can't speak in this form, so I result into sending telepathic messages. Thanks for asking. Now if you don't mind, I think it's about time you..."

"Emperor!!" The man shouted, but then started coughing and wheezing, and passed out.

"Hmm...it appears I'm running low on energy. I need to keep this form up until at least I kill these two fools."

Nex floated high into the air, and was surrounded by a spherical aura of red energy around him. Several of the Steam Demons then fired at Nex as if they were specifically told to. That slowing weakening energy inside him, started to regenerate as the protectiles were absorbed into Nex...

"Nyahahah!!"

[Coriko]

"Oh geez!"

Coriko made his hand searing hot and put it on the squid creature. It wiggled and squirmed and then fell off of Wilham. The creature hit the ground and started to try to move.

"Oh, that is just gross."

Coriko fired a blast of fire at the squid, vapourizing it.

"Are you okay there Wilham? Did it break the skin?"

[Xorlak]

"Ape?  Bite me, metal-face."

Draven's aura exploded in flame as he circled around the chaos that was the battlefield, weaving around projectiles of molten metal.  Just as one of the tin-demon-things was about to destroy what appeared to be a writhing soul, he sent a tremendously high speed orb of crimson energy into its metal-grated face.

"Lost souls, behold!" he bellowed as he flew skyward, "for I have come to deliver you from these wretches!"  He pointed at Nex, his whole body wrapped in flame. "Fight back, and together we shall rule Gaian!"

Draven heard the word 'Emperor' shouted at the point, seeing a familiar body lying upon the charred, steaming ground.  Was that... Valos?  A gring crossed his visage.  This whole pulling minions out of the underworld wasn't part of his plan... but it might actually work.  He zipped down and hovered several feet above the body, to protect it.  As he saw the steam demons regenerate Nex, a devilish grin crossed his face.

He threw both hands up into the air...

----

The wraith took Duilin's fireball head on, and screamed wretchedly as flames engulfed it.  Another wraith approached unseen from the half-demon's left, and rose its blade to cleave his head.  However, a shadow zipped out of the dark forest and, flying through the air as a blur, circled the spectre once and disappeared back where it came from.  A glowing red circle appeared above the wraith as it wailed, and then its body disintegrated into nothing...

----

When the warriors of Ariosis where halfway out of the caves and running down the incline towards the domed city, they were suddenly very violently hit-- from behind!

A huge onslaught of snarling Lizard Men poured out of the many side-crannies throughout the tunnel, trapping the tail end of the army in the dangerously cramped tunnels.  At the same time, a complement of some 800 large lizards began their charge up the hill, brandishing gigantic swords, maces, and mauls-- not to mention razor sharp teeth and claws.  In addition to this, another group of lizards was positioned closer to the city walls, but they seemed to be waiting for orders rather than joining in on the fray.

Commander Vlak cackled as he watched those foolish Ariosians walk right into his trap.  Perched high above Tjedion upon the highest command tower of his flying ship-- The Death Evan-- he had a positively wonderful view of the battle.  And of course, there was no way he could lose.  Even if things turned sour, he'd just order The Sinistral, the second of the three airships under his command to break away from its position over the city and freaking carpet bomb them to death.  Oh how hilarious that would be!

He wondered what sort of weakling Retan sent to conquer Ariosis in the first place.  It did not matter, now they would taste the true might of the Dark Empire-- The Skyward Division!  He was certain his performance here would gain him the favor of the Dark Emperor.  Recognition, at last!

Of course, that was if those blasted Velkens didn't interfere. Cursed flying mammals...  He grinned.  No, High General Virmir was taking care of the inner city.  Vlak was to watch the outside by his order, and that was where the action was!

[Xorlak]

(Forgot about these two... blast it!)

Before Ko'ji could finish the sentence, Anselm had his sword buried deep within the spectral demon's prone side.  It gaped once, then fizzled into nothing.

But somehow the second one made its way around him-- perhaps because he was so tired-- and lifted its sword up...  Suddenly it exploded with a violent shock of lightning.   The creature faded.  Anselm was about to thank Riuki for the save, but then realized she was in no position to cast the spell.  But then, who..."

Helix stood there, right claw extended, crackling with electricity.  "Anselm...?  Riuki...?" His eyes widened as he looked at his hand, which was even more translucent than his squad-mates.  With a gasp of terror he looked down at his feet, which were completely gone, as were most of his legs.  Half of his tail was missing, and his translucent body seemed to be very slowly fading away...  He clutched his stomach as if in pain and leaned foward.  "Wha... what's happening to me...?"

Anselm stood by his side, fighting back rising panic...  He clutched his squad-mate by the shoulder.  "Helix... your soul has been poisoned...  We're here to help keep you in one piece until help arrives..."  He just wished he knew how long that would take...

[Dude Man]

"Yeah, I'm fine." Wilham said rubbing the back of his head. "I think he was trying to eat my brain or something..."

"Quick let's catch up with the others..." He said, as he started to head through the hallway.


--- ---

"Yes listen to him, you post-mortem-atic fiends! Nex's voice cheered. "My Steam Demons love it when you put in a fight."

The lost souls were far too weak in comparison to the mighty steam demons. The ones fighting back, even the ones who could even use magic, couldn't do enough to take them down. Body parts were flying all over the place, but none of them were dieing. It's almost as if they couldn't. Disembodied heads were shouting in pain, and crying for help.

"Pathetic. Even when immortal, humans are nothing but cannon fodder."

The man slowly got up. It was indeed Valos, at least what remained of him. His body was covered in scars and burns, chunks of flesh were missing from him, his eyes were blood shot and every limb in his body seemed out of shape as if they've been broken many times over the past. But he was alive. He held his chest, as he spoke.

"My lord...General Valos...is reporting and ready to serve..."

He lost his balance and fell to the ground exhausted.

"Or...order...orders sir?" He mumbled weakly as he was on the ground with his eyes facing towards the sky. He was so dizzy he couldn't tell where Draven was, but he saw him a second ago, so he knew he was there...

[D. Ein]

"Coming back to my palace, I couldn't be more bitter. What the hell: everyone's busy, and I'm the only one that has nothing to do.

Unless...

Ahh, yes. The ultimate boredom-killer and adrenaline-rusher.

Quickly grabbing a small commorb from a table nearby, I rushed to the top of the citadel. There, an assembled wyvern was already waiting for me..."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Come on, then!" Aaron shouted as his men slashed through the lizardmen onslaught. The field was evenly matched as the lizards strength appeared to match the army's intelligence. It was just a matter of numbers, and the army's over all morale.

Some of Aaron's men were able to escape the caves, but a few remained trapped by lizards. Without warning, the caves blasted open with a blaze of lightning, throwing lizardmen back as far as fifty feet. In the enterance to the caves stood a Drannivolkan spellsword. He was an elite, along with nine other Drannivolkan attackers. If the army did not survive, they would.

The other nine bolted out of the caves and slashed a group of lizardmen who were about to get up. There speed was amazing, similar to that of a velken, but they could still probably run circles around the Drannivolkan elite. Their build was also quite large for their race. They just about looked like the lizardmen that attacked.

"Hah! What kind of army is this? To not even know magic defense?" The first elite pulled his blade out of a fallen lizardman.

"It appears that the Dark Empire isn't quite ready for the advanced tactical training it once had ages ago," another elite said after slashing through a few more lizards.

"Please, for the love of Dran, don't lecture us as we fight!" a third elite merely stepped over a few corpses of dead lizards and Drannivolkans.

"It appears that general Virmir is here. I can smell his scent... I'm going to enjoy gutting that bastard for what he's done to the humans!" A fourth elite charged further into the field followed by his commrads. He wielded a giant hammer, plowing through the smaller lizardmen.

"I believe the skyward division is going to make this harder for us. The army will fall..." a fifth elite shot energy blasts into the air that landed in the middle of the charging lizard force.

From behind, more lizardmen poured out of the caves and attacked the Drannivolkan army. The armies weren't getting anywhere. If the Drannivolkans tried to enter the gates, more lizardmen would keep them at bay. It the lizards tried to gang up on others, the Drannivolkans kept them off.

"This is fun!" a sixth elite yelled as he swung his sword through planty of lizardmen throats. He looked like a child paying, as if ripping the wings off of an insect. The last of the four elites fought to protect Aaron. This battle would last quite a long time...

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

"What the hell?" Ben saw as the wraith vanished into nothing, as well as the blur that had appeared to have caused it. He ignored it for the moment and thrust his blade of energy through the wraith. It screamed as the blade of light pierced it's black heart. The light stretched from around the blade on the wraith, and soon, it exploded into a white dust of light.

Valiko began moving his arm in fast motions and began making weird symbols in the air. The two ghost blades went back into the first. He grabbed the blade from the air and cleaved the wraith that was attacking him. It was cut in half.

Tiberius finished transforming into a black wyvern. This would probably help the group blend in. He was still able to talk in this form, so they would know it was him. "We should probably try not to get into battles like this until we get to North Point. Let's move on."

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

[ElderScrollinIt]

"Helix, don't waste your energy!" Ko'ji raced over to Helix's side along with Anselm. She held her hand out towards Helix and a flash of blue light appeared. She'd taken some of her spirit energy and gave it to him. This left her extremely exhausted, however.

--- ---

"Damn this blasted army!" Arata thought to himself as he scaled the mountain. Doing this in daylight was much easier, he thought. The wind didn't seem to be in his favor either, as it was faster this night, and it continually pushed against him.

He made it to the peak of a mountain near Tjedon and saw the green dome covering the entire city. Right outside the city, the army he'd seen earlier was fighting lizardmen. This had excited Arata greatly.

He slid down a steep slope and leapt off, rolling on the ground to break his fall. He unsheathed his katana and slashed apart anything that got in his way. His bloodlust would not be settled until all were dead...

[Dude Man]

"What the hell was that?" Duilin asked. "Somebody up there likes me. Or at least just doesn't want me dead..."

Duilin blocked the scythe blade of one of the wraiths with his mace, knocking it away. With his free hand he shot a fireball knocking it to the ground, burning it up. He looked about and saw the others wraiths were dead.

"That's all of them? Heh, okay then." Duilin made a brief grin and then rested his mace back on his shoulder. He noticed that Tiberius was talking in his wyvern form.

"Wow. I was under the impression gepardi's couldn't talk in their animal forms."

He remembered his old gepardi friend Cheetah, who he traveled with at Romme. He remembers how awkward talking to him when he was in the form of a wyvern or a cheetah.

"But I don't think we can do anything to avoid battles like that. Those guys came out of nowhere for no reason." Duilin replied. "But if anything we should make sure we avoid battles when we are at north point. I think stealth may be the key for when we get there. But who the hell knows?" Duilin continued moving. "I'm just guessin' stuff..."

[Jenia]

A sigh.

Several houses were already finished.

For recently resurrected people, these guys sure work fast she thought.
But all was not meant to be well.
That much she has already learned from life. Her birth, her path, her plan...
All went wrong at some point. So far, she had managed to deal with every problem, but how long will she last...?

"Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrniiiiiiiiiiiiiis...!"

Indher was startled by the distant, familiar voice calling out to her.
She recognized the approaching man as her apprentice, Elphos.
Her thoughts began to float...

She remembered the day she met him...
That day, she found an entire village drowned in human blood. Back then, she didn't much care for it, but now that those beings are her responsibility, shouldn't they be under her faithful protection, as well...?

"Fernis! Hey, master, stop daydreaming!"

Being shaken by her apprentice brought her back to reality.
Alas, he was right. This truly was not the time to get lost in old memories.

"What is it, Elphos?"

She was quite curious as to what was the commotion all about.
It has been a while since she saw him in such a hurry, but she couldn't quite pinpoint that last time it happened...

"Err, I... WE have a problem!"

A sigh.
Now she remembers.
Last time it happened, Elphos tried turning a piece of wood into a piece of meat - using the standard rune for dealing with metals. The thing exploded in his face and started a forest fire.
He was lucky he wasn't scarred from the incident...

"So, what happened this time?"

Indher then noticed a couple approaching from behind her panicky apprentice.
One of them was a gray-haired, old and wrinkled man who wore simple farmer's clothing consisting of a striped green shirt, tattered gray cloth pants with many stains of mud and wooden sandals. By his side was a black haired young woman, no older than thirty by appearance, who the very exact same set of clothes the man did.
Occupied by the couple's odd fashion sense, it took her a while to notice that the woman was holding a strange, feathery creature in her hands. It seemed to be sleeping, and quite peacefully, too. Nearly wondering off to her own world again, Indher managed to retain the grasp on reality and proceeded to ask the obvious question -

"What is this...?"

The face of her apprentice went bright red. She never really understood it-
Why do humans try to hide their most obvious emotions?
She noted to herself that she should ask Elphos about it later, and proceeded to await a response from her (apparently) embarrassed apprentice.

"I, erm, they asked me for a chicken..."

The rest was obvious. Indher didn't teach him much about the runic structure of living beings, and only made him memorize the basic structure of a roach and a rat.
Since only the world's biggest idiot would try to make a living avian in the form of an insect, the problem became all too obvious...

"A rat shaped chicken? That's a first. Let this one be, it might actually be productive."

The couple seemed to be delighted at this.
This was another thing Indher found to be puzzling -
If they wanted to keep it, why did they come to her?
If there's no problem to complain about, there's no need to complain. Do humans not understand these simple things...?

A sigh.
After telling Elphos to go back to what he is best at (that is, shaping existing matter) I began walking up the hill knowing the newfound village's material supply won't run out anytime soon.

It is sad how the only being on this island intelligent enough to talk to is the same one who doesn't want to talk...

[Xorlak]

Well blast, that is one dedicated solider.  He should probably give him a raise.  Or something.

"Just lie there and not die.  That'd be it for now," Draven replied to Valos, smirking slightly.  With both hands to the sky, he turned and sneered at Nex.  "You, on the the other hand..."

As if grasping an invisible force, Draven threw his hands downward. "Meteo!!"

Giant holes burst in the clouds above, gigantic burning boulders hurtling downward from the heavens.  With quick flips of his hands and some mad cackling, he directed the monoliths not at Nex, but at the freaky metal demon things, intending to smash them like children's toys...

----

The dark cloaked figure breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the last wraith that was attacking Duilin's group fade away.  Blasted random encounters... time was of the essence, and he hoped they'd be more careful next time.

Southward, the sky was red instead of black, and he knew something bad was happening there...  He floated to the treetops and stuck his head out just in time to see fireballs rain from the sky far over there.  Looking forward, to the west, his excellent night vision allowed him to make out the pointed black spires of North point.  Something seemed to be moving in the sky, away from the fortress... wyverns?  They were likely going to join in whatever mayhem was going on down south.  Good... the less troops there, the better...

----

"Careful, Riuki... don't use up all your strength."  Anselm said to the girl as she attempted to reinforce Helix's spirit energy.

Helix was still staring at himself, clearly disturbed.

"Where are we?"  He said as a groan.  He couldn't stand up anymore (his legs seemed more invisible, than missing) so he sat on the misty ground.

"We've left our bodies...  Lord Virmir has sent aid for you, and we will protect your spirit until it comes..."  Anselm looked around.  "Although thankfully I think we've seen the last of the demons for a while..."

----

After a long pause, Virmir looking at the city below, Bryce finally spoke up.  "How will we do it?"

"... As quietly as possible."  He turned, the familiar coldness in his eyes.  "We will take a handful at a time.  The mages will cast a sleep spell on them.  Then they will cast a poison gas spell.  They won't feel any pain when they die..."

Bryce gulped, his ears folding back against his head.

He had quite a bit of human blood on his hands.  But that was all from battle... This was the first time they actually had to kill civilians...  But humans were just animals... right?

He shuddered, a knot welling deep in his stomach.

As if seeing the uncertainty in his eyes, Virmir continued. "This order is directly from the Dark Emperor."

Bryce slowly nodded.  It was all he could do.

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Wyvern's aren't so dumb as not to be able to communicate verbally. We were taught how to talk back up in the arctic region. I'm sure there are actuall Wyverns who can speek human languages."

"Enough. North Point is west, and that's where we're headed. Let's hurry up and finish this so we can get the hell out of here!" Valiko seemed very eager to leave Terian as fast as possible. If the Dark Emporer were to find him, it would surely be his end...

"Calm your ass down! We're nearly there. I can see the gates from here." Ben wasn't quite sure how they were going to get in. "So... any ideas on how we bust in there?"

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

"We are perhapse better off leaving Tjed. I'm returning to my people in the Arctic Region... Perhapse things might not be as violent as I assume they've become. If you really wish to learn more of the past... You will follow me." Doriana followed without a word. The two walked over to the port that was nearby, and decided to board a ship from Ariosis.

"Raise anchor. We're leaving for the north..." Doriana did as Valimore requested. She lifted the anchor of the ship and the sails caught wind. The ship blasted out of the port with great speed. One thing the Ariosians knew how to do was craft fast ships.

"What about that human... from before?"

"What about him? He'll find us if he takes the right path. If not, then I don't suppose why we should really care that much. He was quite a bit violent, though. A good quality in a dark minion. Heh..."

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

[Trent]

// >_<!!!! I hope this isn't totally f'ed up. >_<!!!!

Anti jumped out of the way of the scythe and shot into the air, quite a distance away from Nex. He panted up there in the air, trying to think. He put way too much time into thinking, though. He came up with that the only way to do something... is to hit 'im with something really strong. A hi-ougi.

"Eat this, you inferior being!"

"Fragmented End!"

Six red and blue balls of oppositely charged energy appeared in the air in front of Anti, forming a circle with its opening pointed down toward Nex. They seemed to react with each other, and shot a huge beam of energy down at Nex.

35% of his energy is used up instantly...

--- --- ---

Zion shook his head and looked at the commotion that just happened. "What just happened?" From what he could tell, a bunch of wraiths attacked, and for some reason, all four of them were out of it and couldn't help.