Dark Age Legends

[D. Ein]

//Xorlak, could you get Vincent up to the top of the fortress? Kronos sent for him the other post, so I apologize if that wasn't clear.\

"I arose to the top of the Citadel. Looks like Gros Morne is taking a beating... I decided to watch the KAF troops fail miserably to defend the city from the Lizard Men. I felt nothing but contempt for my falling warriors, not even bothering to resurrect them. That tag of theirs should be removed and replaced with big shiny badges with the words "I SUCK" on them. Seriously, who aims like that?

In confirmation of my thoughts, I barely phase-shifted in time for an incoming spear from a spear gun. It harmlessly passed through me. Needless to say, I lost what little respect I had remaining for my army.

A slave ran up to the top of the fortress, carrying an M-Grid orb in his hand. He clearly looked agitated, and was headed toward me. Just for the fun of it, I decided to ignore him, and see what he did.

-"Sovereign! SOVEREIGN!!!"

Ugh. There goes my ignorance.

-"Eh?"

-"Sovereign! The Stalker Corps are requesting advice on how to continue!"

-"How many Stalkers do we have in Gros Morne?"

-"Nine out of fifteen, sir."

-"I see."

I took the crystal sphere from the servant, who promptly bowed and ran off. A small hologram of a male Stalker mage sprung up in front of me as soon as the glass touched my palm.

-"Sir!", the hologram declared. "Should we engage the army?"

I was about to snap at the Stalker for not doing so earlier, when I noticed an especially large Lizard Man running about Gros Morne. Squinting my eyes, I noticed some familiar details... Interesting. He must be someone of importance. Even if he isn't, he'd make a fine addition to my zoo.

-"First of all, tell me exactly how many of what kind of Stalkers am I dealing with."

-"Three melees, two rangers and four elementals, Sovereign."

-"I see. I want two melees, one elemental, and one ranger to engage the main force. The third melee, as well as one ranger and the three other elementals are to seek out the pack leader and bring him up here - alive."

-"Yes, sir!"

The image faded and vanished. I neatly put the orb away into my cloak. Who knows when else I'll need it?

I immediately saw the effects of my conversation with the Stalker. Nine figures exited the Citadel from below, splitting into two groups of four and five. The four charged straight for the front line of the invading army, engaging it as they went. I quickly sensed a sharp decline in the Lizard Men's souls. Pop, pop, pop - the souls were being released from their bodies at a very pleasing rate. A definite step up from maybe two or three "pops" from when the KAF were left to their own devices. In fact, my soldiers were out-dying the Lizard Men at a rate of six to one, even though they out-manned the lizard army two to one.

The rest of the Stalker warriors went for that big specimen over there. Damn, should've told them not to injure him too much - wouldn't want his blood splattering all over my snow-white Moa bird I got the other day. Note to self: move his cage away from the more expensive animals. I didn't exactly enjoy the idea of a big ugly hunk of green skin sitting next to the fragile white Moa, marring the view..."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Fine then. Marrik! Help out this man! The rest of you, follow me. We need to find the others and get out of this castle." One of the elites walked towards Arata and Jack.

"After you," he said, somewhat coldly. The others were already on their way down the castle halls, just about to reach the door to the area where they came in. "I think this one's it, my lord."

"Yes, I'm nearly sure of it." He opened the door, and there stood the seven other Drannivolkan guards. They straightened up when they saw Aaron come in.

"Get in gear, men. We're leaving the castle."

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

[Xorlak]

(Post was clear.  Free time wasn't.)

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you in person at last, my dear Sovereign."

Vincent approached the lich from behind, idly tinkering with his bright golden shotgun.  Blast... this guy was at least a big a freak show as Draven.  The alchemist eyed the crown-like feathers in his head, and the way his robes flowed around when he became translucent.  Vincent needed to meet him in person, though, to decide if he wanted to betray him or that dufus Ryleh.  Maybe both.  Depended on the potential earnings, and if it was worth the risk.

An explosion rocked the side of the fortress, which he ignored entirely as he snapped some odd cartridge onto the top of the weapon.  A frigid arctic wind followed the blast, blowing his ponytail around his shoulder.  "At least the weather is pleasant."

He stepped up to the side of the Sovereign and grasped the railing that lined the fortress overlook with one gloved hand, tapping the gun upon his shoulder idly with the other.  "Hmmm, troop deployment vessels," he nodded at the airships, "not much in the way of firepower compared to some of the other ships in the Dark Empire's possession, but extremely tough armor and plenty of room on board for ground troops..."

[ElderScrollinIt]

//The Velkens are on the deck of the Death Evan, right? Not inside?

"Right, uh... let's take the window, then." Arata leapt down the window and onto a bridge already created by Marrik. It looked more like a set of stairs than a bridge though.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Jack hadn't seen anything like this before. Arata didn't either, but he wasn't so impressed. They climbed the air-staircase with Marrik at the rear as it stretched from the castle window to the Death Evan. When he finally reached the top, he noticed that the stairway didn't quite go over the railing. He'd have to jump up. This would be no problem for a Drannivolkan, but for a human, there's a bit of a difference.

"Well then, throw me up."

"I'm sorry, what!?"

"THROW ME UP!" Marrik grabbed Arata's back and launched him above the railing. He landed neatly on the deck. Jack was thrown as well, landing next to Arata in a not-so neat fashion. He fell on his back, but quickly regained his stance. At last, the Drannivolkan Leapt up and landed in between the other two, the air-stairway fading as he did.

Arata, ignoring the others, walked up to Virmir and sheathed his katana. He looked down into the eyes of the small Velken. "Well, you've got another blade under your command, High General. Three, actually. That wolven guy has already told us of your good intent. How 'bout it? Will you have us?"

Meanwhile, Ko'ji was standing next to Helix. She was still a bit worried about him, but he seemed fine. She was glad, and smiled knowing that he was okay. "You look like you've seen better days! Still, I'm really glad to see you again! I kept you safe from those other worldly things, but you know that already... so, how do you feel?"

[Coriko]

Kain entered the city, startled by the attack going on.

"Just my luck."

He continued on towards the citidal.

---

"I don't know Wilham, i feel something bad will happen if we fight. But then again these guys dont look so tough."

Coriko tossed a fireball at one of the mutos who screamed and twitched with pain until it collapsed.

"We can fight for a little while, but summon those things now in case we need a quick get away."

[Ted Der]

Okay… Akran was lost. What is going on? Akran gazed out at the strange lizard people fighting Kronos’ army. This was too much for him. He didn’t even know if he was now officially on Kronos’ side. Akran’s allegiance stood with the people who he could benefit from the most. So far, he had only seen a little of Kronos and what he could do. Still skeptical… still uncertain…

But what mattered at the moment, was what Akran should do. He couldn’t fight anyone without knowing who he was killing. I have to get away, he thought.

Akran turned to leave, but something stopped him. A strange sensation ran down his spine and he turned back and looked at Kronos.  The way he treated the people he commanded was terrible. Like slaves, he thought.  And that led him to ponder why Kronos was treating him differently. Sure, when he met him, Kronos expressed that he wanted Akran as a slave, but he didn’t insist. Did his people have any choice? Why is he treating me differently?

“I have to get out of here,” Akran suddenly said, “I don’t belong in this battle. I’ll be making my way back to the Margonites to find the lady who said her name was Gwen. From there I’ll hopefully have some lead to where the Majeuri Spinel is.”

Akran turned away. Over his shoulder he called out to Kronos as he was walking away, “If you want to find me, ask you sister, she seems to know those kinds of things.”

Akran ran down the steps and hurried towards the port to find some sort of vessel. Hopefully, there won’t be much trouble to leave and not too many of those freaky lizard things in the way so that I can’t sneak by.

[D. Ein]

-"Leaving? So early? That's unfortunate."

I took out the M-Grid orb and quickly found the coordinates of the closest Stalker. It was a Ranger. A cold whisper resounded in my head:

-"Tethys here, Sovereign."

Really, I could care less what his name is.

-"Follow the target leaving the Gros Morne Citadel."

-"Shall I leave my current task, sir?"

-"Yes. As of this point, he is your priority. How are the other Stalkers doing?"

-"They are fending off quite well, sir. One is wounded; they will not last for long."

-"I see. Go now. Find Akran, but do not engage. Follow him... Stalk him, if you will."

-"I understand, Sovereign. I shall keep in contact."

The channel between me and the Stalker vanished. I turned my attention back to Vincent, who was observing the airships.

-"I can't risk him making off with the loot, especially of such great value. So if he happens to find the Majeuri Spinel, I won't have to hire some hot-headed adventurer to recover it for me in exchange for half my kingdom, infinite wealth, and a beautiful princess. Them Stalkers are quite the asset, you know?"

I paused for a second, letting the cold fragrance of death fill me from top to bottom. It wasn't oft that so many died in my immediate vicinity - I had to soak in the pleasure while it lasted.

-"It's all quite strange, if you think about it." I continued my speech, ignoring another foundation-shaking explosion. "My Stalker finds you and you build me a super weapon - just as it is completed, an army attacks me. Fate?

"The damnedest thing, though - of all these people, these soon-to-decrease 15,000 people, you have been in my service for the longest period of time. In fact, I believe I proposed an alliance very long ago - when I was still... human...

"At the same time, you are the one of the few I know next to nothing about. Looks life fate is not without its own curious sense of irony."

I paused again, this time to watch the Enlightenment break its bond with the Citadel, and rise up into the sky."

---

The Stalkers communicated with a series of clicks and whistles, deftly dodging incoming projectiles and incoming Lizard Men. The melee Stalker, Donthel, occasionally dispatched his lead-core hatchet at an unfortunate Lizard Man's skull. Their aim, however, were not the Lizard Men - it was the fat green obscenity that the Sovereign dispatched them to  capture.

Making their way through the city, they finally caught sight of the lizard shouting orders and wreaking general havoc in the city square. Almost unseen, the Stalkers swiftly assumed their positions all around the monster. They prepared their weapons - Donthel sharpened his kamas, while the Ranger, Eris, made sure that the obsidian darts were in place. She fastened the mini-crossbow gauntlet on her arm, and adjusted the power to accommodate for the lizard's tough hide.

A shrill whistle from one of the hidden elemental Stalkers meant the beginning of the attack - and Donthel, like a lightning, dashed right at Gorus. Altering his course in mid-air, he landed on the ground in front of the lizard. Just before landing, he launched his hatchet into the air up way over Gorus. In less than a second, the hatchet stuck in a wall in front of the Stalker - and the latter used the advantage to pull himself up while jumping. At the same time, he threw one of his kamas right on top of the General's head...

[Dude Man]

Nex's scythe was broken into several pieces.

"Oh no! My scythe! My ever shall I possibly do!?" Nex said in an over dramatic tone. The pieces of the scythe then disappeared and his scythe reappeared in his hands, good as new.

Nex laughed and then made another downwards slash at Puco, but his scythe was stopped.

Ophelia had grabbed the end under the blade. Her hands were glowing with a dark red.

Nex sighed. "You never learn do you?"

Nex's scythe faded away and back again, free from Ophelia's grip. With the blunt skull behind the blade, he rammed Ophelia in the chest knocking the wind out of her. He twirled his scythe with one hand, feeling almost sorry for the woman. He then turned around to deal with the young girl, who appeared to actually be strong. With his free hand he then shot a powerful red lightning bolt at Puco.

--- ---

"What the..." Gorus looked up and saw a partially invisible human flying towards him slashing a blade at his head.

He ducked down avoiding the blade from gouging him. He looked up at the wall to see what it was. It appeared to be the same type of human that he fought in Vandrin. The human that actually put up a fight.

"More of them?" Gorus asked himself. "Well, more guts, more glory." The lizard general then took out his grappling blaster and shot it at the stalker.

[Xorlak]

"Hmmm..."  Virmir scratched the underside of his muzzle as he observed the newcomers.  "Very well, but you must do exactly as I say.  Otherwise the situation could get out of control very quickly."

Standing in front of the door leading inside the ship, he scanned the group of humans, Velkens, and the half-demon.  "My squad will come with me, except for Renard, Helix, Anselm, and Riuki.  You four will remain here with the humans.  If blood must be shed, you will know it in a few minutes..."

Renard nodded.  He knew what that meant...

With that, Virmir entered the door and disappeared, followed by seven Velkens.

Helix scratched the back of his head as he talked with Ko'ji.  "Yeah... thanks.  I... uh... I really appreciate you looking out for me like that..."  He seemed a little nervous and he shifted around, balancing on his heals as his tail flicked about.  "But, I don't know what I'd do if you would have gotten hurt in there..."

----

"Commander Vlak!  Emergency transmission from North Point!"

"North Point?  Why would they contact us directly?"

Vlak shifted over to the magical orb in the center of the control room, tapping his claws together as the translucent image of another Lizard Man formed in the air.

Suddenly the orb exploded in a burst of flame, and the image vanished.

Vlak covered his face and swore.  "Who cast that spell?!"

This lizard commander snarled as he looked around the room.  The guards reached for their weapons, but suddenly stopped and stood at attention.

Virmir stood opposite the orb, hands behind his back, his eyes a deathly cold stare...  Above, Velkens floated in a circle, just inches away from the ceiling...

"Commander Vlak, I hope this day is treating you well."

Vlak snarled, but then forced a level response. "Well enough, High General.  To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Drop the shields and recall all your men to the airships."

"Wh... what?"

"Are you questioning my orders, commander?"

Vlak took a few steps in reverse, his toeclaws clicking on the metal floor.

"No... of course not..."

"Excellent." Virmir strode to the wide bridge window overlooking the deck.  "Prepare for immediate departure."

"My Lord...." Vlack stood next to the much smaller Velken, observing the view of the green-tinted mountains (due to the shield), "forgive me, but does this not contradict our orders?"

"Your orders are simply to obey me without question, commander.  If you fail to accomplish that, then I will have you removed.  Do you understand?"

Vlak sneered an enraged frown.  "... Yes... sir..."  He pulled his head back and studied the Velken for a moment, watching the silver fox as his tail swayed to and fro. The lizard commander turned, but suddenly stopped and clutched his head, pain lacing across his face.  He shut his eyes tightly.

When Vlak opened them, they burned crimson...

Vlak immediately drew his blade and brought it down at the fox's head while his back was turned...

Virmir flicked his wrist.  The Wind Serpent sung through the air, and the commander had a head no more.  With a thump and a crash, the body and head clattered to the ground.

In but three seconds, the reptilian guards were but carcasses, and the other Velkens removed their bloodied blades from their sides and necks.

"Alas.  He chose the uncivil way..."

Virmir sighed as he scanned the room and the dead bodies.  Suddenly his eyes widened in terror...

"My Lord?"  Bryce probed his master, not understanding why the extremely calm Virmir would display such emotion...

Virmir was the only one who could see them.  Like ghosts, black figures rose from the dead bodies-- all of them.  Ravens with crimson eyes...  The Watchers flew every which way like specters, escaping through walls, some flying deeper into the ship, some flying away...

Virmir snapped out of it, his lips curling back as he emitted a feral growl.  "The lizards... all of them must die..."  He bolted for the door.  "Immediately!"

----

Unfortunately for Valos, flora elemental attacks negate water, and not lightning, which would be negated by rock or ground based earth attacks.  The tendrils of plantlife disintegrated as they touched the bright yellow leg.  The spider monster snickered, seemingly saying "Heh..." and jumped some fifty feet straight up as it let loose a burning blast of flame with the bright red spike upon one of its legs...


After the six or seventh pong-bounce, the Shadow-Retan Anti was wailing on threw its arms up into the air and exploded in a fury of dark power.  Its cape and helmet seemed to fly off, revealing a spiky-haired silhouette with crimson eyes that was obviously rather irritated.

It crossed its arms in an X motion and its body blurred, splitting in two, then splitting again to reveal four shadows.  They disappeared in a flash and materialized on each side of the astral demon.  With insane speed, all four let loose a flurry of punches, their fists but streaks in the air...

----

(*Smacks forehead*  *Re-reads posts from May 2006*)

Vincent brought his hand to his chin.  Indeed this was the same man from that long ago.  Interesting he put it that way, as it really was just a small alliance or an exchange of favors more like.  Kronos looked somewhat different since he rejected his humanity, but upon closer inspection he did recognize his features.  He wore the same crown of feathers, after all.

"Indeed, much has changed since our last encounter.  And I wouldn't call it fate.  It was merely a matter of time before the Dark Empire found this place and struck.  They have hit every nation on the planet, by now..."

A snarling lizard suddenly poked his head up and screamed at the two, having somehow scaled the side of the semi-floating fortress.  Without missing a beat in the conversation, Vincent stuck the barrel of his shotgun in the thing's mouth and blew his head off, sending the body hurdling backwards to splat on the ground hundreds of feet below.

"And yes, it seems I don't know you very well either.  Perhaps we should remedy this?"

Vincent bent over and slammed his free hand into the ground, a crimson circle of light appearing below him.  A disk cut from the fortress roof levitated under his feet, forming an odd propeller that propelled the black trench coated alchemist a few feet into the air.

"Those airships have flight crystals which would be very useful, considering they are extremely expensive and time consuming to make.  Would you care to join me in sabotaging the ships?  Surely watching the battle from up here must bore you..."

[Dude Man]

"Mother of ass!!" Valos growled in rage. "God damned flora and earth being different fucking elements. I officially hate magic. Fucking demonic witchcraft, is what it all is!!"

Valos who was deathly pissed off surrounded himself in an aura of dark flame and chased after the spider monster. It seems that one thing he 'kept' after his stay in Thanatos was his short temper. He always flipped out in battles, sometimes over the littlest things. Sometimes this helped him however, when fighting one on one. Despite what Valos just shouted he didn't hate magic. He needed it, and he wouldn't be where he is without it.

The angry warrior summoned a fireball in one hand and coated his fist in ice with his other hand. He then caught up with the spider and then smashed both of his fists into the green leg, ignoring the burning on his hands from the fire shooting out of the red leg.

//I'll update Duilin later.\

[D. Ein]

"Shall I be caught doing a slave's work, with a slave along? No; this man wasn't a mere slave. No matter how hard I may try to deny it, I know that a person who built me a superweapon is not a slave. Besides, it would be helpful to acquire the crystals, as well as see Vincent in action.

-"I don't see why not."

I opened the gate in front of me, clearing the way for a death-plunge. I stepped off, and right onto a wyvern which I previously built from the unfortunates below and summoned up to the fortress.

-"In that case, let's get moving."

[Dude Man]

//I assume Duilin, Renard and co. are still on that one balcony thing.\

Duilin leaned with mace the on railing of the balcony and put his hands on the railing and looked down at the city of Tjedon. He needed to contact the others so they would know he's alright, he was sure Bell and Rink might be a little worried.

Suddenly a strange bat-like figure started flying towards Duilin.

"What the..."

Suddenly a red creature landed on the railing startling Duilin, almost causing him to loose balance and fall on the floor.

"BAH!" Duilin yelped, he then lightly shook his head and noticed that it was Rink.

"So, I assume things went well at North Point?" Rink asked.

"As well as they could have." Duilin replied.

"So, you going to introduce me to your new friends?"

"Uh yeah." Duilin looked at Renard, and the others. "Guys, this is Rink. And Rink, this is Renard and that's Renard's friend Helix."

Rink noticed Helix was busy talking, so he nodded to Renard. "Nice to meet you, Renard."

[ElderScrollinIt]

"Heh... well, I'm pretty capable! I did save you, well... Anselm helped me quite a bit... still, I'm a part of the squad now, and that means I must look after the team. I'm sure you would have done the same... but anyways, you're welcome!" She smiled as she spoke to Helix, but stopped just barely in time to overhear Virmir from within the ship; his clear order, to kill all of the lizards. She then remembered that her hearing was exceptionally better than before. Perhapse she'd ask someone else if they heard. "Hey, Helix... did you hear that...?"

Meanwhile, Arata was simply sitting on the railing of the Death Evan. He observed the quiet city below, the green shield illuminating it in the darkness. Even though the dark empire was here and the shield covered the capital, the natural order of things still somewhat continued. The birds flew through the air, chirping as if nothing was going on. The fauna all around dashed off freely in the space between the city and the mountains. It looked too peaceful to be true. Arata hated it, the sense of peace and quiet.

"Damnit, when can we kill already? All this sittin' 'round is gettin' on my nerves..."

"Calm down, mate! Seriously, it's quite peaceful up here."

"That's the damn point, idiot! It's too peaceful, too quiet... and it's pissing me off. Where are the lizards? What's taking that man so long!?"

"Seriously, calm down. Nobody needs to hear this."

"Oh, shut up, Jack. You know you want to kill something. Hell, you were in prison because of murder. Oh, how lovely it would be just to get bloody again. Shouldn't be too much longer, just have to wait it out, I guess-woah!" As Rink flew in, Arata fell backwards and onto the deck of the airship. He cursed as he got back to his feet.

"What in the hell was that? I just saw some red blur and then... oh, what in the bloody hell... an Imp?"

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Hmm... what am I to do now?" Marrik wondered, "I wish John was here, then I'd atleast have somebody to talk to." Out of boredom, the Drannivolkan got out his broadsword and twirled it around using his air magic. It spun around himself, doing a series of twirls and flips and figure eights in the air. If a person was holdin it, it would look like a form. As it finished its last twirl, the blade flew back to its master and sheathed itself.

Marrik didn't quite feel comfortable around anybody on the ship. He sat himself down on the deck and placed his hands over his knees, feeling the energy around him. The combination of power aboard the Death Evan was astonishing.

[Xorlak]

"Oh, uh, hello..."  Renard bowed slightly to Rink.  Imps were from the underworld like demons, weren't they?  He knew he shouldn't be nervous around them, but still demons put him on edge.  Duilin was half demon, he told himself, and a great guy.  He understood why Duilin lied about his demon heritage when they first met, though.


"Hear what?"  Helix's ears perked and he angled one towards the control deck.  He could of course hear several times better than a human, but still Riuki's level of hearing was beyond him.

He flinched when the window above exploded, a massive fireball surging over the deck.

Virmir shot out of the opening, the other Velkens following as blurs.  "Kill all the lizards right now!" he screamed as he flew overhead.

Helix didn't know what was happening, but when Lord Virmir screamed an order, let alone used the words 'right now' he knew it absolutely had to be done this instant.  He flashed Riuki a quick glance, his face full of shock and worry, then dove right over the side of the airship after his master.

Renard and Anselm followed suit, diving off the ship and descending faster than free-fall until they caught up with the formation as the others rocketed towards the sleeping town below...


Virmir hoped that explosion was enough to get Aaron's attention.  He told the wolf-man an explosion in the sky would be the signal for him to attack the lizards...  He had hoped to avoid doing so.  He wasn't sure, but he felt the lizards were as much as slaves to Retan as the Velkens were.  Their situation was far bleaker, however.  Many of the Lizard Men were genetically engineered and grown simply to serve the Dark Emperor.  He wondered if they all possessed a Watcher inside, ready to take over their bodies if too much free thought crossed their minds...


Two burly Lizard Men stood guard outside the house, keeping watch to ensure no humans ran the streets at night, as they've been ordered.  Suddenly they clutched their heads, writhing in pain as they shut their eyes tightly.  When they opened them, they glowed crimson...

The two trampled down the door as if it were cardboard and stormed into the dwelling admist the screams of the human family.  They rose their blades, one taking the mother by the collar and the other lifting a small child...

Two figures burst through the windows, zipping through the air as silver blurs.  Virmir impaled the first lizard with the Wind Serpent, driving the beast back into the wall and pining him there.  The Blade Knight Bryce stabbed the second under the ribs as the creature rose his arm.  The humans screamed in horror again at seeing the two foxes carrying bloodied blades, but the Velkens ignored them.

Virmir pointed towards the next building and zipped out the window, Bryce following suit as they raced for the next dwelling.

----

The propeller-driven-flying-disc-contraption Vincent stood on rose a few feet higher, then sped him in front of the lich sovereign.  He reached into his inner coat pocket and withdrew shaded lenses, which he clipped on over his glasses.  With a shotgun in his hand and trench coat blowing in the breeze, he looked absolutely insane riding on the flying disc.  Yet despite this he kept a calm placid expression on his face.

A squad of reptilian wyvern riders dove at the duo.  With the silhouette of the Enlightenment rising to the heavens in the background, the alchemist held his golden shotgun at his waist and let loose and intense stream of rapid-fire shots.  The air exploded around the wyverns, tearing them apart as their riders plummeted.  Expelling the entire round, he removed the cartridge from the top of the weapon and deftly replaced it with another, sending another volley forth as he tore a hole high above the city, soaring straight for the central airship...