Dark Age Legends

[Xorlak]

Draven wasn't quite paying attention to Nex, who had quite suddenly become the least of his worries.  Thus he was smacked by the lightning head-on and sent tumbling down a hill, dust kicking up in his wake as the red electrical discharge wrapped around him.  At the bottom of he hill he tried to crawl to his feet, but an odd pain in his legs kept him on the ground.  He snarled, his hair beginning to wave in his rage...

"Cur.  I did not give you permission to strike him," Retan's deep voice boomed throughout the wasteland.

His eyes flashed crimson and the ground split in two, a huge fissure rumbling across the rocky field.  The crack in the ground split right between Draven and Nex, just barely missing Valos' head (and leaving him on Draven's side) and separated the two combatants by a chasm several hundred feet wide.  Deep below was nothing but blackness... an endless void...  

Seven of the steam demons simply lost their balance and flew right in as it formed.  When they fell far enough into the blackness, it seemed a hand grabbed each greedily took them under, and they existed no more...  Even the steam they emitted as they fell was sucked into the void.

"Demon slave, you will bow to me and beg for mercy," he said to the much larger Nex, "I will not tolerate interruption.  Should you comply, as an example of my unbounded generosity I will allow you to continue existing-- as my slave."

----

The cloaked figure lead Duilin a short ways into the forest.  Here the dead tree limbs eerily snarled around, and the dim red light from the black clouded sky made only the faintest of outlines visible.

"We don't have much time," the much smaller figure whispered, a vulpine muzzle protruding from his cowl.  Renard drew the cloth back just enough for Duilin to see his face.  "And this is our only chance..."

He turned and pointed to the spires of North Point in the distance, away from the chaotic battle to the south... Something bad was happening there... "His attention is diverted... All of theirs are...  We have to do this right now..."  He looked at the ground. "But your party is way too big to travel through the portal.  We dare not open it wide enough to let more than one or two through... Maybe the others can set up a distraction."

He looked up at Duilin, a sense of urgency in his eyes.  "My best friend's life depends on this... All of our lives do now...  But if you can free us, then I promise you...

"... you will have an entire army of pissed-off Velkens on your side."

----

The Lizard Men knew what those cannons meant...

As Aaron's army ran towards the caves,  the lizards fled back toward the city.  After only a moment's more humming, the ship turned its flank completely towards the cave entrance and let loose upon the fleeing army...

By then Aaron's men were almost completely withdrawn, soon only a few were killed in the gargantuan black explosions that ripped through the battlefield.  The blasts were loud and vibrant, shaking the very cores of the mountains that surrounded the city, yet little rubble was expelled from the terrible bursts of blackness-- rather they simply left gaping holes upon the landscape.  Within seconds the stress was too much for the mountain the cavern bore through, and the cave exit collapsed in the ensuing avalanche just as the last of Aaron's men skittered safely through.

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Well, shit..." Aaron put his crystaline sword back into its sheath on his belt. A few of his men lit tourches in the blocked passage. They were forced to withdraw from Tjed. At least for the moment, they began to make their way out of the caves and back to the port city.

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

"AHH!!! I can feel him! It's only a matter of time before he finds me! Get out of here, all of you!" Valiko held his hands on the sides of his head. Retan's power was crushing the light in side him.

Ben walked forwards. "But Valiko, we can't just leave you-"

"I SAID GO! DO YOU 'WANT' TO DIE!?" Valiko ran away from the party and headed south. He could feel a dark pule in his heart. For some reason, it felt good. It felt like he wasn't holding back anymore, as if all this time he had been. It began to frighten him, but it sunk in deeper and deeper.

"Damn, this isn't good," the light side said to itself.

"Hah! Your power was never as strong as mine, infirior being," the darker side said.

"I've not much time left here! Valiko, snap out of it!"

"No, embrace it." Embrace it... this echoed through his head. He stopped to find Retan in front of him.

"Heh... So, you're the 'Dark Emporer' huh? I just might enjoy serving under you."

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

[Ted Der]

Keeping the merchant in sight, Akran went from tree to tree staying in the shadows as much as possible. As he neared the docked ship, the merchant stopped to talk to the captain. Akran leaned against a tree and watched. He was so very experienced at following people.

When Akran was a boy, he and his brother, Kraaz, liked to chase each other around the forest. It wasn’t quite like tag though. One of them pretended to be an unaware civilian, and the other practiced to follow them by keeping silent in the shadows. Sometimes, especially when they got older, the ‘hunter’ would become so quiet; the other didn’t know he was still following him. It was all fun and games, until they were both around seventeen; then it got to the point where they watched each other almost constantly.

That was around the time when Akran saw his brother kill another human being.

Anyway, the merchant was moving again. It seemed as though he had lost some sort of argument with the ship’s captain, and was now moving slowly towards a pail of gutted fish. With a surprising swift maneuver, this obese merchant grabbed a skeleton fish and thrust it into the captain’s back. With a slight squirm, the captain slid down and hit the deck with a thud.

Ok, thought Akran, I didn’t see that coming. But it wasn’t over. The body moved. Did an arm twitch? To Akran’s astonishment, the captain stiffly rose to his feet, and slowly pulled the fish bone from his back. What the hell? The previously dead captain wielded the fish as a weapon, charged up the pier and onto the ship.

Akran whipped his head back around the tree, his eyes frightfully wide open. Can this obese merchant raise dead? After a few seconds Akran shook his head to organize his thoughts. He had seen something like this before, so long ago… but that was different. This guy could literally bring the dead to life. Amazing. A thought suddenly struck him, Wait. Maybe he can help me find what I’m looking for. It was worth a shot. Akran adjusted his bow on his shoulders and disappeared behind the trees.

Shortly afterwards, Akran had found a different route to the side of the ship. In no time at all, he was hidden safely down in the hold. This ship was surprising easy to board. All of the crew members had these blank, inexperienced looks. Oh well, better for me.

[Dude Man]

"Renard! It is you." Duilin smiled.

"I saw what was going on, down there." He said stepping next to Renard. "It also had me fully distracted." He looked down at the ground. "I think these guys..." He shook his head, he shouldn't think about that now.

"But yeah, I'm ready. We can do this." Duilin said, looking at Renard smiling. "So are you going to come with me?" He asked. "I think they'll probably trust me more if you come with."

He sent a telepathic message to the others.

"Make sure nobody gets into North Point, but remember not to draw to much attention."

--- ---

Nex was shocked as we witnessed the steam demons getting sucked into the black nothing ness. Twenty-five left, it was still more than enough, and he could keep this up.

"Your slave?" Nex floated higher so he could get closer towards the black vessel.

"You're insane Nex." Valos sent a telepathic message to Nex. "Just give up."

"Don't you talk to me!!" Nex's voice shot towards Valos. "How dare you even think about talking...human."

"Am I suppost to be offended!?" Valos retorted. "I am a human, who has survived hell. I have survived death."

"Tch. You only survived death because you never died in the first place."

"True, but I still made it out. Those demons couldn't catch me. They failed."

"While you prevail at being a coward."

"Let's see you talk like that to Retan." Valos needed to push Nex, to fight him. Deep down inside he new Nex had become to strong for him and Draven to fight, especially with those steam demons. But now that Retan is here, he can do the job for them...

"I don't fear Retan. I am fear!"

---

Valos smirked as he saw Nex fly up towards the Black Vessel. He then went to the aid of his Emperor.

"Lord Draven, don't worry." Valos said, kneeling down. "It's just in your head, just block it from your mind and it will pass."

He then looked at Nex who was now in the distance.

"Nex's about to get himself killed. Maybe he might be able to distract him so we can get out of here." Valos said, with a smirk.

---

Nex continued to fly towards the Black Vessel, but as he got closer he began to feel doubt...

When the Dark Empire first arrived on Gaian, he was drawn to his power and felt like betraying his master, Abodahon. He remember the punishment he gave him, those giant gauntlets smashing into him, crushing him, and his very soul being tortured by his puppet like minion, Pheonix...

But again, there was the fact at how easily Abodahon agreed to let him join the Empire, as long as he kept the Talonscar with him. He claimed he wanted to take it out from the inside...but maybe he too was afraid. Did Abodahon feel fear? Did Retan? Maybe he should obey?

But the way Retan's kind enslaved his kind. Drakens were worse than demons. They were worse than demons, who were synonymous with the words evil, and cruel. No, he can't let Retan do this.

"Why would I ever serve you Retan? Your life, the things you've seen, the things you've lived through, is but a speck of dust compared to what I've seen. You my friend are a child. So let's play a game. It's called...Go to Hell."

[ElderScrollinIt]

"What in the... Airship... uh oh." Arata fled from the nearby area and hid behind a large boulder that was sturdy enough to protect him... for now.

"Why does this always happen when I get into battle?"

--- ---

"Ugh... I feel so... weak. How long does Virmir intend to have us trapped in this world?" Ko'ji felt dizzy. She was wobbling back and forth until she fell to the ground again.

"So... light... headed..." She shut her eyes in hopes to regain some of her energy. It was running out, and fast.

[Trent]

// I've been reading what I thought is only enough to keep me updated. I'm going to put a reminder system into Thunderbird to keep me up on this. This is BS. I'm pissed at me now. >:( *Sigh.* Let me know if I mess anything up with this post.

Xenai had his head in the clouds, while the other three seemed to be fully attentive. Yet he seemed to be the only one who noticed Duilin wander off with the dude in black. "Hey, where's he going?" The other three looked. "Let's just wait for him," said Zion.

A shooting sensation through his mind. "What the-?!"
Tsu and Aura caught it too, and Xenai was the last. They all looked toward North Point.

"...Retan..."

--- --- ---

Anti stayed high in the air, re-absorbing his energy, feeling like an idiot after having wasted all that energy with that hi-ougi. And it was a good one, too. He looked down and watched the commotion that unfolded with... Retan. That was the only reason he came on this journey. He wanted to fight the strongest being on Gaian. He slowly descended to the ground, landing gently. He still didn't have all of his energy back, so he figured he'd waste some time DBZ style, with a talking standoff.

He shouted at Nex from far behind him. "Stand aside! I'd like a word with the emperor."

[Ted Der]

Akran had been hiding in the hold of the ship for quite some time now, surrounded by shadow. No one could see him. Sometimes a crew member would fumble down the steps to get something, but they never saw him. Encased in his curtain of darkness, not even an owl; bird of the night could find him. He was invisible. So he thought…

Akran had gone without barely any food or water. In the entire time he was below the deck, he had never once heard the sound of food being prepared or eaten. Not once have they stopped to refill their water barrels either.  He hadn’t even heard the crew talking much. They seem to just do everything mundanely, as if they were all just puppets. How odd.

Something occurred to him. When he snuck on to the ship, no one seemed to notice him. The crew was all silent. When the merchant killed the captain, Akran saw the merchant somehow bring him back. Did the merchant kill the entire crew? What was this man capable of?

Still, he had to feed himself. Akran started to look around for some bread crumbs or something. BANG! Someone was coming down the steps. Akran hurriedly doused the lamp that hung from the ceiling and sucked the light into his cloak where it was safely unnoticeable. Prepared, Akran waited in the darkness.

Suddenly he heard an amused chuckle from behind him. The deep sound made his hair stand on end. Was it that merchant?

[D. Ein]

-"Hur, hur, hur," I heard myself chortle. "If it isn't our little stowaway."

Extending a thick finger decorated with a great big diamond ring, I pointed to the kid.

-"You'd be sadly mistaken if you assumed that I was not aware of your presence on board." A little lie never hurt anyone, did it? "So I will give you a choice, and please, do choose now: you stay with me and serve me, or you join my... friends... over there."

The white-eyed crew took a step towards the man.

-"Please don't be alarmed by their unorthodox appearance. You see, I'm a Necromancer - or, rather, a Lich - and I have the ability to resurrect the dead. Necromancy is often misunderstood, you see, even though all it is is a way of asking someone to stick with you... permanently."

-"So, what will it be?"

[Dude Man]

"Yes it is." Wilham replied. "If we are able to attack it with multiple people, and have a combatant with skilled enough aim and sense of timing, you'd be able to take it out. But you'll need some big guns."

"What weapon did you use?" McNeil asked.

Wilham looked at Coriko. "He used a weapon from our world, magic."

"Magic? You mean he just shot a like, a shooting star from his hands?"

"No, a fireball."

McNeil rubbed his forehead. "You didn't even kill the Dalek did you?"

"Well of cource we did. Or else it would have killed us. You said yourself that they won't stop until they kill you."

McNeil sighed. "But it's still hard to believe that you people know magic!"

Wilham smiled. "Hand me that glass." He said pointing to a beaker on the table next to the officer. He took it from the table and handed it to Wilham. He held out the beaker, next to the wall. "Show him, Coriko."

[Coriko]

Coriko put his hand underneath the beaker. He quickly snapped his fingers, he could have just summoned it but this was cooler. Out of the top his index finger a small flame appeared. The members of the room gasped and moved backwards. Coriko moved his finger underneath the beaker. The flame then turned blue and the water started to boil rapidly.

"Now hand me the beaker please Wilham."

Coriko took the beaker from Wilham and set it on the ground. He then fired a fire ball at it. This vapourized the entire thing. All that was left was a black ash stain on the ground.

"Yeah so that is about it. Still doubt us?"

[Xorlak]

"Back off!"  Draven snarled at Valos.  He didn't seem quite in the mood to be helped.  He stood, dusting himself off.  By now his armor was dented and he was looking rather haggard.

Run?  No way!  He took a step forward... Ugh... Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea...  Best live and fight according to their original plan.  He wondered if that goofy necromancer found those weapons yet.

He looked up and watched Nex about to get himself killed.  If they took off now, Retan would stop them.  Best wait for the right moment.

"We'll wait until the time is right..."

----

"You make unreasonable assumptions and take them for truth.  How unfortunate."

Retan's eyes flashed.  The closest steam demon flew off the ground as if it were plucked by a gigantic hawk, then simply exploded, tiny shards of metal blasting in all directions in the wake of the thunderous boom.  Then a second soured into the air, its body writhing and twisting in pain before it suffered the same fate as the former, a second huge blast echoing across the rocky wasteland.

They continued flying off the ground, one by one, detonating in mid-air with no signs of letting up.  In but seconds ten of the creatures had been erased from existence.

----

"Shhhh..." Renard whispered, lifting a finger to his black nose, "we still need to be quiet."  He spun around as he pulled the cowl down over his head better, the tip of his tail just peaking out from under his robe.  "Yeah, I'll take care of things once we get in.  But I need you to open the portal.  It's configured so none of our kind can do it..."

With a blurring leap he dashed through the woods, towards the spires of North Point in the distance, and away from the battle with Retan to the south.  He moved animalistically from tree-limb to tree-limb, landing on all fours then pushing off with his hind legs to the next branch hundreds of feet away.

----

Vlak laughed hysterically as the airship blasted the mountains to ash.

"Congratulations, sir."

"Thank you.  I am quite the strategic genius, I know." He sneered, waving his scaly tail around.

The Sinistral ceased its fire when the entire area that used to be the cavern entrance was nothing more than a pile of rubble.  The black airship then slowly turned around and made its way back towards the shielded city to join the other two.

Blast... He would need permission to order it to pursue...  Curses!

"Captain!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Send a message to the High General requesting permission for one airship to break formation and pursue enemy army."

[Dude Man]

McNeil looked amazed.

"Glad you're on our side..."

--- ---

Valos stepped backwards, feeling a little offended with Draven's snappiness. He's gone through probably ten times worse then what Draven went through, but he thought he'd keep it to himself. He was probably still worried that Valos had that spirit demon still in him.

"Very well, Lord Draven." Valos said plainly.

He still had a lot of the wounds from that. He could remember everything, that Pheonix when he was controlling his body and even his spirit. It was like a dream, but he knew it actually happened.

He observed his shoulders; there were still those circular wounds. He'd have to get them stitched, and he'd probably have to go through some heavy regeneration spells, as he could still feal the burns on his skin. He looked at his hands, and felt his face. It was disgusting; those demons were going to pay for what they've done to him.

He officially hated demons, he hated them all. He wanted every last one of things and their entire world to be wiped from existence...

---

Nex saw his steam demons getting destroyed. He could feel his energy was running low.

"Don't do that Retan." Nex warns. "You don't want to get me angry."

Nex floated closer. "Trust me. When you least expect it, the Talonscar is will sneak up and claw you in the ass, and it'll be all over. Your ancestors knew better, you should to."

"You can even kill me now, but I'll be back with an army so big even you'll be weeping into your cape. And if by some chance you beat that, we'll just keep coming and coming getting stronger and stronger, until you die. We are everywhere at all times. And we will kill you, that's what happens to everyone who ticks us off."

Nex spread open his arms.

"Think I'm bluffing? Try me, just try me."

---

Valos could hear everything Nex was saying.

"It's amazing how easy it is to hate that guy." He commented.

--- ---

Duilin covered his mouth. "Ooops...sorry." He said softly.

He then spread his wings open and started gently flying, following the Velken's path. But open the portal? He had no idea, how he could do that. He assumed Renard would show him, however.

[Drannic_Lord01]

"My lord! It appears one of our ships has gone missing from the dock!" Aaron was in no mood for bad news, but fortunately, most of his army had been depleted. He'd only had about five hundred men left, along with his elite.

"Captain Zethose, take the men back to Dranniville. I'm staying here with the elites."

"But my lord... the men need you with them!"

"DO NOT QUESTION ME!!! JUST DO IT!"

"Y-yes, my lord! Immediately! MEN, BOARD THE SHIPS AND MAKE FOR DRANNIVILLE!!!"

"Well, that takes care of the unessentials, my lord," an elite said.

"Yes, that was the plan," Aaron began, "We need to find a way to liberate the city, or perhapse stall them for a time...

"What's the plan, my lord?"

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

"Ahh... It's been forever since I've been here last..."

"Believe me, you haven't the faintest clue as to what forever means if you say that." The great Ariosian ship docked in a frozen port town. By the looks of it, the subjects were glad to see their leader return.

"Although it does seem like it's been a while, yes. Of that I'm sure. I'm glad to be back, at least..."

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

[Trent]

Anti watched as the steam demons were dispatched without any effort by Retan. "Hmm... impressive." His entire being started to glow a little bit. His anticipation was rising so much... "Even with Omega Fist, I probably won't be able to beat him. And then I'll have to revert to my true form to have any chance of surviving. ...I can't wait." Oh, my! Omega Fist? True form? It seems this whole time, he wasn't putting his all in!

[Ted Der]

//I know that D. Ein told me not to say anything, but I’m sorry for speaking for Kronos (the chuckle). It won’t happen again.\


A single bead of sweat slowly made its way down Akran's nose. It frightened him that he was so easily found. He was better than this. He must be out of practice.

The voice behind him spoke. It sounded strange, not something Akran would expect to hear from a merchant. The voice spoke of something called Necromancy; something to do with the blank look on the crew’s faces. The voice also told him that he must choose between - What was it? Serve him or die?

Akran had to act quickly. Serving someone did not sound very appealing, but neither did dying. He had to see who or what he was dealing with. His fingers tightened upon and arrow. In the blink of an eye, Akran spun around, latched an arrow, and pulled the bow string back. The light from the lamp he was storing in his cloak fused with his bow, creating an arc of shining white light that lit up the entire hold of the ship. Greasy black hair was covering one of his eyes, but the other met a pair of glistening, blue eyes.

“Who are you?” demanded Akran.