Dark Age Legends

[ElderScrollinIt]

"We must escape encounters with any of these soldiers as much as we can. MOVE!!!" Arata and the prisoner ran quickly down the dark corridors of the castle, the soldier staying behind. Finally, they got to a mysteriously empty area of the castle. There was a door that lead down a flight of stairs, guarded by two lizards, holding weapons similar to the prisoner's.

"I think we've lost him-"

"Shh!!! Up ahead, look! We'll take them out silently, you hear?"

"Right... Silently..." Arata unsheathed his katana with little noise an crept forwards in the darkness of the wall next to the door. He held his blade back, ready to stab, then lunged forwards and hit the side of one of the lizards, twisting it upwards and slashing back, cutting his upper body in half.

"What in the...! Intrud-"

"Shut it!" The prisoner brought his broadsword up and cut the lizard's head off, spilling more blood on the floor.

"Good job... Now then, let's find out what they're guarding, shall we? Oh, and one more thing. What's your name?"

"My... name?"

"Well, yeah. I never got the chance to ask. You do have a name, don't you?"

"Of course I do! It's Jackwell Richend, and I'm damn proud of it!"

"Calm down, now, I was just askin'. Alright, let's go." The two entered the door that lead down a flight of stairs, but unknown to them, at the bottem waited Virmir and his Velkens.

--- ---

"Hey, what's that?" Ko'ji's ears perked up as she heard a racket up the stairs. She walked over to Virmir. "Sir, I think someone else is here. They're on the stairs..."

[Mikado]

"Nyeee~!" The small girl crawled a little back. "Wh-what is this for greeting, muuu.."

She stood up still trembling a bit, and slapped the dust of her clothes.  "Don't be such a meany.." She mumbled.
"You are totally alone at such a scary place, and aren't happy to see someone else!?" Her ears moved a little, and she looked a bit upset now, resembling a child changing her emotions this quickly.

---------

Still among the skies, a giant white bird was flying. A blond haired man and a more demon-looking fellow where sitting on it.
On the shoulders of Shui a small cat was sitting.

They weren't talking, they just sat, and waited until they would reach their undefined destination. Then suddenly, the bird began to crumble a little. Shui looked back, and saw the look on Reigrattos face, and immediately without speaking, he bit his thumb, and began to draw on the Statue. Slowly it began to reform, but also it lowered.

"We are going down, just look at him.." Shui said seriously, pointing at the cat on his shoulder. "He's all trembling." Indeed, the cat was trembling, looked around him like he thought something would attack him.

"Maybe too much strain.." Reigratto mentioned.

"Yea that's probably it.." Shui mumbled. "It can't be.. no.. I would feel it then too.. but still..  I cannot risk."

After a few minutes the stone statue landed, and once Shui and Reigratto stopped touching it, it crumbled away into sand, that disappeared in the grass in a few moments.

"Reigratto how do you feel?" Shuichi asked.

"Heh? I feel.. good. Good first time in a few years.." Reigratto responed.

Shuis frowned face disappeared. He looked really happy now.

"Very well... then it's time for you to get sealed."

[Dude Man]

She glared at the young girl. "I came here to be alone." She stated.

This was great, she thought, she had spent the entire day trying to redeem herself and some young brat comes around and starts calling her a 'meany'. How old was this girl?

"I don't want to be with anyone else right now. I have enough problems as is, so do not continue to bother me further."

[Mikado]

The little girl began swapping her arms around.

"Why would you want to be alone?! It's just plain boring and sad! I don't understand!"
She pointed at the woman.

"At least tell me your name! You have that don't you?" she asked still a little angry, tilting her head to the right.

[Xorlak]

Valos' fiery punch hit the dragon's skull dead on.   With an earth-shattering roar the thing's head exploded, bursting into a thousand shimmering pieces.  The skeletal dragon spiraled to the ground, crumpling into a lifeless heap.

----

"Should you have begged for mercy when you returned, rather than insist on stirring trouble, then perhaps I would have shown you leniency and, as an example of my infinite generosity, would have offered you a minor officer's position within my legions."  Retan remained floating above the waves.

Draven sneered, holding his hand out and summoning a bright red orb.  "Instead I killed that cretin you called a son.  Lot more fun."

Retan's crimson eyes narrowed. "He had made too many mistakes.  He had what was coming.  Much like you."

The orb doubled in size. "Resorting to threats now?  Of course you are... I killed one draken... what's one more?  Seems you tossed away the prime member of the human race a little too early..."

"You had help, if I recall.  A great deal.  And I am surprised you still consider yourself that, elemental."

Draven's eyebrow raised. "What?"

"I hand selected you because you are a fire elemental.  The fire elemental.  But it seems you are trapped in that body, and thus your strength is severely limited.  You have reached your peak.  A pathetic one.  I thought you might free yourself, but you cannot.  You are useless to me."

Draven scowled.  By now the surging fireball was over five feet in diameter. "Tch!  We'll see."  With that, he let loose the flaming sphere upon Retan.  The Dark Emperor removed a hand from under his cape, and a furious explosion rocked the air between the two...

----

Velkens flooded in through the gate now and quickly filled up the room.  The chamber became so crowded that it was difficult for them all to stand, so many took to simply floating around in the air.  Only a few of the short gray fox-like people bore weapons, though.  The rest wore simple robes and really didn't look like they had a clue how to defend themselves.

One of the Velkens floated up to Duiln's face.  "Human?"  He looked smaller and younger than Renard.  He sniffed the half-demon a few times.  Well you seem... Velken-like I guess.  Maybe a little..."

"Right!"  Renard turned to Rikarl. "We need to get to Tjed.  Helix is in trouble... We need the Priestess'--"

"What is this now?"

A white clad vixen stepped through the crowd, closely guarded by four black clad Velkens baring spears as long as they were tall.  Her soft blue eyes fell upon Renard, though they were full of worry.  "Galry Renard.  It is wonderful to see you again.  What has happen to your friend?"

"Lady Urocy..."  He bowed on one knee respectfully.  Please... my best friend has been struck down by some undead... we don't know what's wrong with him..."

"I see..." She brought one hand to her dainty muzzle.

"Renard," Rikarl placed a claw on his shoulder, "this Tjed... Is this where Lord Virmir is stationed?"

"Yes." Renard's ears perked, and he stood. "Oh, no..."  He looked at Duilin and then back to the black-eared squad leader. "Our orders were to kill all the humans... There's a huge city there... I fear if we do not make it back in time..."

"These humans.  You think they will ally with us?"  Rikarl brought his hand to his chin.

"They don't deserve to die, regardless." The priestess shot Rikarl a stern glance.

"Of course, my Lady."

"Every one is accounted for!' A voice said from up in the rafters.  The portal's light faded away.

"Excellent... then we will find refuge in this Tjed.  After escaping from here, of course..."

"Mwa hah hah hah hah..."

The doors suddenly shut, locking them all in the room, and it slowly grew very dark...

"You've broken the rules.  Those that do not play by the rules... D I E !"

Two burning crimson eyes appeared over the sealed doorway, revealing them to be part of a large draconic head that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.  An impossibly long, thick black scaled serpentine body melded out of the walls, surrounding the entirely of the room several times over.  The entire room was in fact coiled around by a giant snake...

(Yar.  Others tomorrow.)

[Jenia]

Another day, another rune, another cow...

Indher's stretching didn't help her sore muscles much.
When some of the townspeople asked for livestock, she felt obligated to answer their 'plea' by creating a cow-spawning rune.
While creating nonintelligent animals was not a problem as long as one knew what they are made of, scribbling on the ground all day isn't exactly a good thing...

As she pondered the matter, an old man's voice voice had reached her ears.

"Well, lookie here! This one's white! Maybe it's vampiric?"

Indher's eyes went wide and her pupils shrunk.
Expecting the worst, she hurried back to the place where she scribbled to cow-spawning rune only to find a midget dressed in tartan.

"Baurus, you again?"

Her tone was quite inquisitively at first, but then her jaw dropped.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?"

She grabbed the midget by his jacket and carefully placed him not too far from his original position. The midget appeared furious.

"Am I crazy!? What do YOU think you are doing, picking me up like that!?"

Indher said nothing. She pointed at the runeset, or rather, a single rune which has been smeared off.

"You idiot... You stepped on it! This one gives the cow a pigment!"

Baurus' face went pale. He looked from the rune to the nearby cow, which seemed to do nothing but stand around merrily chewing on the grass.

"Oh! Well... I'm sorry... Does that mean we have an albino cow now?"

Indher sighed at Baurus' pitiful attempt at changing the subject.

"Look, why don't you go do your thing... Like preach or criticize?"

Baurus humpfed and turned around, slowly walking away.
Indher was now left alone with a pure white, red eyed cow.

A while and a rune amending later, Indher was back at the square.
The engineers already had the pump running, so the fountain and all the complete houses had running water.
She thought it strange...
The pipes - most of which were as high as the common houses' roof - did't fit the town's Marble Cubes design.
Well, the houses were obviously not made of marbles - just polished stone. It was pretty much marble in appearance, though.
At first she thought that rounded roofs would do the trick, but she quickly shook off the thought as this was not the time for decorations.
It has been a while... Elphos did not yet return. Then again, she couldn't expect him to, really. He did say it would take several weeks, after all.

A young man carrying a report ran to her.

"Where are you getting this paper, anyway?" she asked him as he handed her the report "Not to mention the pens and ink..."

The man scratched his head.

"Erm, Elphos tought me how to create paper and ink earlier... As for the pen, I found a shark piece of wood..."

Indher slapped her forehead. So they are using pencils now?
Why wasn't she informed? Then again, maybe teacher the civilians the art of runemaking wouldn't be such a bad idea. After all, it would allow them to come this much closer to independance...

She hastly snatched the report from the man's hands and sent him away.
Skimming it, she realized that most of the core town was complete.
A good number of houses, several worshops, a public school, the square and a library building (which was literally empty at the time).
Several farms on what was supposed to be the outskirts were complete as well.
And yet, the people-to-houses ratio didn't look good at all.
The rest of the information on the report was useless.
Indher finished reading it, crumpled the piece of paper and threw it away.

"Now, I believe I earned some rest. I haven't slept in a while..."

She walked outside of the town and climbed up a sturdy looking tree.

"...Will do..."

Having kicked off an angry squirrel, she descended into a deep sleep...

[Dude Man]

Valos raised his arms in the air and roared in victory. He then looked down at the corpse of the dragon. He gave a crazed grin and then started shooting a series of fireballs down at the dead creature. After a few moments he stopped and then took several deep breaths. He did it, he slew a dragon. Humanity has once again prevailed. Now it's time to catch up with Draven, he might need help...

--- ---

"Heheh." Duilin snickered as the young Velken sniffed him. He then started to look rather worried when the others mentioned that it might be to late to save those at Tjed.

"We need to go as fast as possible, then." Duilin stated. "Like, really. I already have the guilt of failing to save one noble kingdom, I just can't let that happen again."

"But yes, the humans will alley with you. A lot of them might be a little uneasy however..."

Duilin started to cool himself off a bit, trying to relax. However, once the lighting went out, he started to get more uneasy. His eyes widened as the image of a giant black snake appeared in the room.

"Great..."

[D. Ein]

"My expression went blank for a second, as I scouted the area outside and above the ship through a minion's eyes.

-"No, there's no pirates. We've arrived to some island, by the looks of it. We've bumped into a rock."

The ship was incapacitated - the rudder was completely broken. Looks like I'm stuck here on this island with that... that.

I sent a few minions out to land to scout the island. It was inhabited, but the shelters built on the island were temporary, at best. My minion also made note of many ships at anchor in a small bay on the other side of the island.

-"Well, then, time to explore," I said, grabbing the shape-shifting amulet off the table. "I will play my part as a merchant, and you will be my slave. My minions will stay here and guard whatever is left of the ship. We might be able to salvage it later on."

Of course, all this was hardly necessary, for I could easily construct a wyvern out of any bones that can be lying around this island. But where's the adventure in that?

I climbed out of the ship, and put on my amulet. Nothing changed, in my perspective: I still had gray skin, dark red and beige robes, detachedly wavering in the wind. The feathered crown on my head was still messing up my hair, but no one but me saw any of this. Shapeshifting - truly a work of a genius.

-"Akran, get out of there. We'll be heading over to that settlement over by the shore. Other than getting a place to stay and a way to get out of here, they'll serve as a potential target for my invasion. I best investigate exactly what I will be subjugating. Hurry up!"

--- --- ---

Meanwhile, deep below Kandarin in a secret laboratory...

-"Herr Orff! Ve haff compleeted zee faynal piece of zee Khammer!"

-"Perfekt, Herr Bauer. I was just showing Herr Doktor Von Göth here our full project. Show him the piece you have just completed, danke."

-"Ja, Herr Orff!"

Doctor Bauer pulled a lever somewhere to the left of him. The eastern doors in the massive subterranean labs screeched open, revealing a gigantic crystal ring. The ring, which resembled a human iris, was at least twenty meters in diameter. Von Göth was watching the contraption, visibly unimpressed.

-"Herr Orff, please don't tell me that this is the Hammer itself. A prism of this size will never gather enough power for the Sovereign's requests."

-"But Herr Doktor Von Göth, have you not been listening? This is but one piece of the Hammer. We have nineteen other pieces, some larger than this one!"

Von Göth's eyes widened.

-"Now I'm interested. Show me the blueprints."

Orff gave Von Göth a blue-coloured scroll. It depicted a roughly circular device, somewhat thicker in the middle, with eight spider-like appendages around the center. Indeed, right in its middle was the relatively insignificant piece that was just shown to the Doktor.

-"Well, I'll be... Orff, you've outdone yourself. Do tell, how does the device function?"

-"The device will be in close proximity to our sun. Not too close, because the temperatures might melt the crystal. The lens that you see right up there will adjust the focus of the prism, and aim it at the ship that Herr Eldridge's team is working on. The ship will reflect the beam, and --"

Orff made an explosion gesture with his hand.

-"I see... What are those leg things for?"

Herr Bauer, who returned from the lever, cut in:

-"Ach, ja, zee leg sings. Zee leg sings are used for cooling zee devais, Herr Doktor. However, vhen zee devais is firing, zee leg sings bend a littel tovards zee beem, making it schtronger."

-"An ingenious touch, Bauer," said Von Göth. "So the crystal will not burn after one use?"

-"Nevarr! Me, Herr Orff, und Herr Pfitzner made zee crystal near impossibel to melt!"

-"Very, very good... Herr Scribe will be pleased to hear this..."

--- --- ---

-"Impressive. Now all you have to do is get it to stay in the air. At that point, I will be glad to discuss your reward for this service."

With those words, Cain disappeared in the dark doors...

-"Eurika!", yelled Dr. Smizlworf, seconds after the Scribe left. "I think I have the solution to the flight problem, Mr. Eldridge."

He hurried over to Vincent, with a crude sketch he was clenching in his hand.

-"It is possible to use a Nightshade Gravity Orb as a propulsion device. The vortex that the NGO creates closes after a certain amount of air has been sucked through it. Since there is no air in the Aether, as I'm sure you are aware, we can (in theory) keep it open at all times. Its sucking property will be gone, due to the absence of air, so there is no threat to the ship. However, increased gravity pull is a natural property of the vortex. So here is the plan: we use your airship crystal to push us above the clouds, and at that point, we activate the NGO. The vortex will be enclosed inside of a cage-like apparatus, which in turn will be attached to a series of beams outside of the ship, much like an orrery's rings. These rings will allow us to move the vortex around the ship, changing the direction of flight. The only problem is positioning the rings so that they will not interfere with the firing trajectory of the Hammer. What do you think?"

[Trent]

Anti had gotten sick of waiting. He could feel many energies coming toward him too. They'd be there soon. The flyboys were among them. That would be troublesome. Dealing with this guy, and then the other people coming? He didn't have time for that. Anti smirked up at Valiko. "Screw you, buddy! I'm going for the prize!" He took off then, towards Retan, flying at an incredible speed.

[Dude Man]

"Who is that?" Valos asked himself seeing the Zerobi no Anti flying towards Retan and Draven's aura signature. He then flew following Anti's direction. When he was peaking through the Nex's hell gate, he saw what he believed was the same being aiding Draven, perhaps he is an alley of him? He didn't like that, his aura felt demonic. Obviously can not be trusted, but for now he'll need him as an ally. Valos then flew faster, trying to catch up.

"You, demon!" He shouted to Anti trying to get his attention.

[Xorlak]

"Hrrrraahhh!!!"

Draven burst through the explosion, body in flames, ans surged a fiery punch straight at Retan's face...

The Dark Emperor blocked the attack with his left pinky finger, and Draven was sent spiraling backwards 50 feet.  Scowling, Draven struck again and again, and each time was thrown back, the deafening explosions from the blows illuminating the night skies over the ocean...

----

"Galry~!"

"Sis...? Sis!!"  Renard turned as a little Velken flew out of the crowd and into his arms.  He hugged her tightly just as the chaos broke loose...

Explosions and screams ripped through the room...  Black tendrils of Dark Thunder pulsed from the snake-like body that surrounded them, striking down Velken after Velken.  Rikarl drew a sword and dove straight at the monster's face. "Shadow-fiend, drake, A-Class!!  Theta-1B, NOW!"

A huge circle of black-clad Battle Mages surged around the serpentine head.  Renard's eyes widened as a circle of magic lines appeared in the thin air between them.  A twenty-point star?  Holy crap!!  "Get down!" he screamed as he pushed his sister to the floor.  A translucent shield appeared over the two Velkens and Duilin.

A white flash utterly engulfed everything.  Several seconds passed before the blinding glare subsided enough to see.  Huge chunks of debris flew up into the air, along with the dragon, into the dark clouds above.

They had blasted a hole 1,000 feet wide in the fortress of North Point...

Like angry wasps, Rikarl and a troupe of Velkens followed the black serpentine dragon as it flew skyward, still reeling from the intense explosion.  They swarmed around it, stabbing the scales with their short swords, blasting fireballs and lightning bolts at its head.  It writhed in pain, but then recovered and began spewing black masses of energy of its own, swatting at the tiny flying foxes like flies.

Renard flew out of the hole in the fortress in utter shock, his trembling sister in his arms.  All around him, reptilian wyvern riders dove around, swinging their huge halberds at they relatively small gray creatures.  But the Velkens were much too fast, and spun circles around them before giving their clunky foes a quick stab to the neck or other exposed area.  Fireballs, lightning bolts, blasts of wind, icicles... everything flew around in every direction as the aerial battle raged above the towers of North Point.  It was utter madness...

"Renard!"  Lady Urocy flew next to him, her white dress almost glowing among the dismal surroundings.  Her four black clad guards circled around her as she approached. They would never enter the battle unless it meant protecting the vixen priestess.  They would die before leaving her side.  "Sir Rikarl will take care of things here.  We must hurry to Tjed to save Helix, and meet up with Lord Virmir."

Renard nodded. "R-right." He looked around and spotted a sleek airship parked at the top of a tower down below.  He then shouted down at his half-demon friend, "Duilin!  Will you come with us, or will you stay and fight?"

----

Virmir's left ear turned toward the stairwell.  Wordlessly, he pointed a finger up.  All the other Velkens disapeared, flying up to the ceiling and the corners of the wall above the stairs in the blink of an eye, leaving he and Ko'ji standing alone in the center of the room.

He waited for them to reach the bottom of the stairs and enter the room.  He did not draw either of his swords or take up any offensive position, but rather kept his arms hanging loosely to his sides as his tail flowed slowly behind him.

"Gentlemen," at that word two Velken Blade Knights fell from the ceiling and crossed their blades over the exit to the stairs. The other fell to the left, right and front of the escapees, surrounding them. "Please drop your weapons upon the floor and place your hands atop your heads."

----

"Hmmm..." Vincent nodded as he looked over the schematics.  "This... may very well work...  The rings will get in the way of the triple-flight-crystal propulsion we currently have set up, but we can merely modify the design to drop them after they've maxed out in altitude.  The NGO should have enough power to do the trick, as one nearly brought down the Crimson Capital as I recall, and that island uses the largest flight crystal in existence."

He took the sketch and scribbled over it, adjusting some things.  The team of scientists began hacking away at refitting the existing diagrams, and then began work on adjusting the model they had build upon the table.  After a few hours of work, some arguing, and only two dead ends, an agreement was reached.  Vincent leaned back in his chair and sneered.

"Send a message to our dear Scribe and inform him that the design is ready to send to the construction team..."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"NO!!! DAMN YOU, GET BACK HERE!!!" The air around Valiko was swirling around him, picking up chunks of gravel and spinning around the intense orb of power, which was now almost nine feet in diameter.

"DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!" Out of rage, Valiko raised himself up to grab the orb, put a last bit of energy ito it, and pulled it forwards. It was very condense, moving barely an inch, then Valiko put more force into it and it blasted across the sky, aimed at Anti. The recoil threw him back a few feet in the air.

Just then, he could feel another presence approach him. Perhapse he would toy with them for a while, until his rage was satisfied. He dropped to the ground and folded his arms, waiting for the party to get close enough. Now, their energies could be felt a bit more easily, so he decided to charge them.

"Heh. These fool had better not run. Eat this!" He held right arm up and supported it with his left hand, aiming it at those approaching him. He charged his dark energy and channeled it through his body. His aura began to increase, and raged all around him like a black inferno.

"Here's a little gift from me to you. EAT THIS!" Just then, all of his power diverted to his hand, and he shot dark beams of energy at an insane rate, about three per second. They weren't as powerful, but could still be devistating if one was hit with enough blasts. The Draken laughed maniacally as he shot the dark beams of energy at rapid fire, like a machine gun.

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

"Watch out!" Ben grabbed Jannis and flew out of the way, pulling her from the blasts of energy. The others would see this, and probably have enough time to evade, he thought. He then got a safe enough distance back and set her on the ground. Tiberius, still in death wyvern form, flew out of the way as well. As he landed on the ground, he changed shape again, back to human form.

"This doesn't look to good. He's reopened his connection with darkness! Keep your guard up. He seems to be much more powerful in this form!" Ben threw his hand to the side and blasted out a white beam of energy. He grabbed the beam, put more power into it, and shaped it into a sword.

"How are we supposed to fight a Draken!?" Tiberius grabbed his claymore and took up a defensive stance, near the others.

"With help... We can ask those that are with us to help."

"Gaia knows we need it..."

"Gaia? Heh. The gods have inferior power, and cannot hope to mach mine!" Valiko finished his attack and stood before the three of them. He slowly raised his hand and blasted the ground around them to shreds. He laughed insanely as he tore the ground apart, chunks of earth flying in all ways around him... but they were gone. They fled out of range. Valiko stopped.

"Damn you! YOU WILL NOT RUN FROM ME!!!!!!" He charged up his power again, letting off another menacing aura of black and purple energy.

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

"Xenai, Tsu, Aura! We need help! Valiko is--"

"Right behind you!" The Draken raced up to Ben and smashed him with a back fist, right in the face. It sent him flipping around in the air, crashing down into the gravel.

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

"They got away...? Keep following them! They might lead us to the enemy's main force! We'll crush them from the inside!" Aaron lead his men after Arata and that other man who was with him. The group of soldiers raced down hallway after hallway, following the bloody prints on the floor. They stopped at another group of dead lizardmen.

"They must have passed here already!"

"Not quite. That door is open." The group stood near the stairs that would lead them to Virmir. All of them passed through the door and walked quietly down the stairway.

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

"How's it going?"

"Not so good. I can't find any books at all."

"You looking in the right place?"

"I'm not sure. Your library isn't very orderly when I got here..."

"Did you not check the back shelf where I keep all my books of old lore?"

"No, I'll check there now."

"Please, do tell of your progress. When you find the ancient tome of Gaia, seek me out. It's written in Geocian."

"Will do. Good day, master."

"Master? No, I am but a teacher, don't you remember? And you are my student."

"Very well... Teacher."

"Quite. Now get going. I have matters of my own to attend."

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

[Dude Man]

Duilin was awestruck. These Velkens were amazing! He was getting more and more grateful that they were on his side now.

He really wanted to join in the battle, but he needed to get back to Tjed, he needed to make sure his friends were okay. Once everything is done there, then he needed to get ready to defeat the Dark Empire.

"I'm going with you." Duilin shouted back. He jumped in the air, flapping his wings several times before he soared off through the battle, avoiding any oncoming enemies and projectiles as well as he could. He then landed on the ground next to Renard. "Wait, hold on one second..." He put his hand of his right temple; the others were further away then before, except Zion was closer, hopefully he'll be able to receive a telepathic message.

'Zion, the Velkens have be rescued and they're on our side. But right now they're in a huge battle at North Point, you might be able to see it. I'm going back to Tjed, via airship. If you want to come with me, hurry because we aren't waiting. But you can help the Velkens fight, however.

"Alright." Duilin said to Renard. "You ready?"

--- ---

At the Tower of Heaven's Bane (or wherever Grav may be), a lizard man messenger approached the Prime Minister holding a formal request note form High General Gorus Van'deln.

Dear, Grav Hen Li'hik, Prime Minister of Mizar

I am aware that Emperor Retan is out at the time (don't ask how, I just do), so I thought I'd send this to you. My generals have asked me if I could request permission to invade the Kandarinian Sovereignty. They have officially declared war on us, during the battle of Vandrin County. It's likely they are planning something against us, so I believe it would be a wise move to take them out with one swipe as they are currently a small crumbling nation.

Sincerely, Gorus Van'deln, High General of the Dark Empire, Subterranean Division.

[Trent]

Zion recieved the telepathic message. Going back to Tjed? What for? He looked around, and he did indeed see the battle. Yeah, I'll help out. Good luck with whatever you're doing.

"Eternity Weapon!"

Ultima Eternity shot down towards the battlefield...

--- --- ---

"Whoa!" Xenai, Tsu, and Aura swooped out of the way of the blasts and looked toward Valiko. Xenai couldn't help but notice Anti off in the distance, though...

Anti had stopped and turned around. "Finally...! GAH HA HA HA HA!!!" He opened his arms, and took the blast head on.

"Sweet holy shit!!!" Xenai's eyes widened. Tsu and Aura saw it too, and they were in awe as well. When the dust had cleared... Anti was unharmed.
"My god," said Aura.
"The Omega Fist... Is considerably more effective on him," said Tsu.
"That's 'cos he's all energy," said Xenai. "Omega Fist uses energy to raise power."

They could hear Ben yell out to them, and looked off in that direction. Too late. Xenai got pissed, and fired off a Breaker attack right there. "Final Fury!" A greatsword appeared in his hand. He swooped forward and started slashing at Valiko like crazy.

Meanwhile, Tsu and Aura were some distance behind, preparing a Rasengan Chidori. They were currently in the phase where Aura causes the Chidori to swirl... But something was different. Tsu was wielding two Chidoris, and Aura was merely pointing her hands at them rather than striking them. It seems all that time apart had created an improvement!

Anti looked toward the fiasco and cackled. "Have fun with your battle, fools!" He started off toward Retan once more, but found himself being called to. He halted and looked toward Valos. "What do you want?"

[D. Ein]

-"It is ready? Beautiful. Thank you, doctor. Please summon Mr. Eldridge to my chambers."

The scientist nodded, and left. Cain looked at the finished blueprints for a minute, then, seemingly satisfied, grabbed ahold of a nearby M-grid orb.

-"Yes; Foreman Kampard, yes, the final design is complete. I trust you have all the necessary materials ready?"

A highly distorted voice came from the orb, without an image: the recipient must have been really far away from Gros Morne.

-"The raw goods are all prepared, lord Scribe. Awaiting transfer of documents."

-"One minute, Foreman. Prepare to receive."

Ryleh put down the orb, and picked up a nearby chalk. He quickly scribbled a glyph on the wall, which resembled an H with three circles over the middle line, and a "^" over the left vertical line. The two vertical lines glowed, and transformed into a circle, which, in turn, transformed into a hole. The Scribe put the scroll of documents inside, and the hole vanished, along with the glyph. His M-grid orb lit up again.

-"Foreman Kampard here - documents received, lord Scribe. Both dead and live crews are already busy at work. Expect results within several hours."

--- --- ---

Meanwhile, deep below Kandarin in a secret laboratory...

-"Ah, yes, good of you to come, Herr Doktor Von Göth. All stations ready for dispatching the Hammer to the sun."

Von Göth and Orff, as well as Bauer and several other scientists were standing in a shielded room up above the main cavity below. The enormous eastern gates were open, revealing a row of crystalline shapes lined up in a corridor of sorts. Large undead abominations were busy creating some sort of a circular barrier in the middle of the room.

-"So," said Von Göth. "Exactly what are you planning to do?"

-"Well, Herr Doktor, it was really Herr Bauer's idea. You see, the NGOs which our Sovereign found in the Nightshade hideout work by opening a portal to Aether. We found a way to designate the opening coordinates, and that's how we will deliver the Hammer up there."

-"As I see it, the Hammer is in pieces right now. How are you planning to assemble it once it's out there? There isn't nearly enough space to send the whole thing up in one go."

Orff smiled, and another scientist, a short and chubby one, stepped forward.

-"That was one of our tougher problems," answered Orff. "Herr Pfitzner here managed to solve it. Each piece is inscribed with several sigils. Once all of the pieces are in the Aether, we will use a magic apparatus known as the Binding Glyph to make the sigils stick to their opposites. Thus, the Hammer will assemble itself. It will also become very tolerant of any impacts that the weapon may have to endure. Unfortunately, the Binding Glyph must remain active for the Hammer to stay in one piece. One could say that the Glyph is the key to compromise the entire project... Although on the bright side, it is also a fail safe, in case if the Hammer becomes under someone else's control."

-"That's hardly unfortunate," replied Von Göth. "A fail safe must always be in place no matter what. We have to be prepared for any and all emergencies. The key here is simply to hide the item so that only we may have access to it. What does it look like, anyway?"

-"It's right here, Herr Doktor."

Orff came to an opening in the wall, and whispered something into it. In the empty space appeared a small square frame, housing a crystal tablet inside, which appeared to hover right in the middle of the carcass. The tablet indeed had a glyph inscribed on it, but one of bizarre complexity. Many of the lines were so fine that at a distance of a meter they blurred into one dark area. The tablet also had many hair-thin black glass wires coming out of its sides, and disappearing in a near-invisible portal at the top of the construction. The crystal composition was unlike anything Von Göth had seen before - the light filtered through it appeared blue, though no blue was to be found in the tablet itself.

-"It is beyond beautiful," he whispered. "It would certainly be a shame to have to break that if something were to happen to the ship."

//Xorlak, a few questions: Will the ship have a name? Does it have a large enough space in it to accommodate passengers? Maybe a cool idea would be to control the Hammer from inside the ship, rather than from the ground.\