Dark Age Legends

[Ted Der]

"Alright, I think I got my head straight," said Akran. He still didn't know exactly who this guy was, but at least he now knew what had happened. "Aye, I guess I should introduce myself."

Martin looked relieved that his Captain started to act normal. His head was resting on an angle and he was grinning stupidly.

"This here," continued Akran, "Is my crew. That there, is Martin."

Martin quickly snapped out of it as he was being addressed. "Hi sir!" he said saluting the stranger.

Akran shook his head apologetically. "My name is Akran Drennen. We just came back from fighting Royen's crew - the, uh, guy you just mentioned actually." He held up the Raven Bow with his abnormal right hand. "...And you were talking about this? This is the bow I took from that pirate after we sunk his ship."

He looked down at the Majeuri Spinel which was roughly carved into the grip. Maybe he shouldn't mention that. Instead he grinned proudly and said, "I thought of the name myself..."

An ugly thought struck Akran and he quickly said, "Wait. You two weren't friends with him, were you?" He laughed nervously, glancing back and forth between the tattooed man and the winged man. They looked pretty tough. "I mean, heh, you knew him, but weren't chummy, right?"

Martin helped Akran to change the subject. "Maybe, um, we can help out here with this, uh, situation with that 'annoying' thing over there?" Martin said pointing to the giant beetle.

[Xorlak]

- Glimmer Spire, Spire City, Phoenicia -

Just as Kelmarr finished his last sentence in his chat with Indher, a cowled man walking down the hallway slammed directly into him, and the two toppled to the ground.  His sword went clattering upon the floor.

"Oh, dear me!  Sorry, sorry..."

The robed man helped him up and retrieved the sword as Kelmarr grumbled.  The skunk dusted himself off a few times, though it wasn't like the floor made him any dirtier.  "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine... just watch it next time."

The man nodded and then went on his way, pausing to bow to Indher once respectfully.

Kelmarr *harumphed* as he scratched his headfur.  Moronic student or something...  Kids were like that, never looking where they were going, blast it.  He slung the sword over his shoulder and continued walking.

[Mikado]

~ ~ Silver Root ~ ~

Even though Rokushio/Mishio had to cover his face with his hand to hide is grin when Eris spoke of defeating them, Heil spoke with a concerned voice.

- "I see. Well I'm sorry for that then, just report to your leader that only one ship is entering his realms, and that we wish, no, I wish to meet him, for leaders speak better with each other than generals with leaders..."

At the same moment the two other ships were sinking... they lowered as if flying inside the deeps of the sea... to be hidden to keep the civilians out of the war...

[D. Ein]

- Pistis council room -

-"He will want to hear my word before yours, Mocarny. And as I said, you did not makes a very good impression. Those two stifling their girly giggles do nothing to help. I can not guarantee your seeing the Sovereign."

Eris swiped her hand over her empty amulet slot, and a dark-purple shadow appeared out of the floor. It grasped the captain, pulling her into the dark abyss, and vanished.

She rematerialized down on the ground, just where she dropped the stone from her amulet. Angrily jerking it out of the soil, she stuffed it back inside its slot, and made away back to her outpost.

[Jenia]

~Glimmer Spire, Spire City, Phoenicia~

Indher patiently listened to Kelmarr while trying to figure out what is going on when some suspicious cowled person slammed into him.

She stopped and took a look at the source of suspicion.

"Wait... Cowl?" she muttered at first, but then accusingly pointed at the shady person.

"Hey you! What's up with that cowl!"

She took a moment to think about what she just said.

"I don't remember giving any man obsessive with cloaks premission to come in here!"

Probably a curious child, she thought to herself. It really was the worst time to sneak into the Glimmer spire to check it out...

"I ask that you identify yourself... Unless you want to experience resurrection again, that is..."

Indher didn't really mean any harm in this one case - she would have him sent away with a warning as soon as she has his name.

[Dude Man]

- South-Eastern Kandarinian coast -

"Finally." Duilin sighed. He jumped into the air and then flew towards the beetle, he slowed down as he shot lighting from his hands at the beetle.

Marshall held his amulet and it glowed as he shot the familiar mist from his hands which formed into a wyvern. "Wyvern's have a fairly strong hide so you should be able to etch some runes on it without causing too much damage to it. It's not actually alive or anything, but it might react in 'pain' just to let you know that it's taking damage."

[Xorlak]

- Glimmer Spire, Spire City, Phoenicia -

Kelmarr turned around and sighed.  Blast it, now she wanted to interrogate the moron who slammed into him.  Ugh.  He folded his arms and watched as the man spun around, shock on his face as he lowered the hood, revealing a blond haired young man with a green jewel centered in his forehead.

"Apologies, ma'am.  I didn't realize... I mean... well... I'm new here..."  He bowed slightly. "My name is Charles Vangauld, first year rune student under Professor Hesney."

"Maybe you should watch where you're going, kid."  Kelmarr grumbled from behind Indher.  He instinctively reached for a cigar, but remembered they were all ruined.  Blast it, he needed a smoke!  That was gonna be priority two on his list.

The young runecaster looked at Kelmarr with a hint of anger, then it vanished as he bowed to him.  "Again, sorry sir, it was my mistake..."

[D. Ein]

- South-Eastern Kandarinian coast -

-"As I said before, I don't want you interfering before I know you aren't a Kandarinian spy," Ein spat. "Besides, these memory lapses of yours seem a bit dangerous for a combat situation."

He quickly mounted the wyvern, which soared up way higher than he wanted it to. Then again, that did give him more time to spend on glyph creation. Using a dagger he wore on his belt, he began to lightly trace a rune into the wyvern's scaly back, as to not alert it.

Meanwhile, the beetle creature easily snapped the attacking minotaur in half with its massive mandibles. Duilin's attack proved to be a little more effective, but not by much. Its only visible effect were minute chippings of bones bursting in small fountains from where the lightnings hit. The dents were quickly mended by the corpses of the dead soldiers. However, the purpose of the attack succeeded: the beetle's attention now appeared to be focused at Duilin instead of the escaping troopers. Its spines slowly pulled into its body, one by one, preparing for an attack. (12)

--- --- ---

- A fair distance away from the South-Eastern battle -

-"The battle is almost over, pan Manteia," Joseph shouted through the howling winds, while tightly gripping his undead mount. "Captain Goethe asked us to clean up whatever is remaining after the dust settles!"

-"No matter how small the force may be," Ekaterina added, "pani Goethe insisted that we use all power at our disposition. She certainly wants them off the Continent; or so it seems to me, at least. She's a strange one, she is. Come to think of it... have either of you two panowe ever even seen that captain? The mission objectives were delivered through a courier, carrying a signet-sealed scroll..."

(14 posts until arrival)

[Ted Der]

- South Kandarinian Ocean -

The sky darkened around the ruins of the Gilden Warship. A sort of hissing was coming from above. Suddenly, shadows of translucent flying creatures came down from the clouds and circled the ship. They were the Malanos - spies of Kraaz. As they saw the dead body of Royen floating on the water a piercing shreik came from them. The beastkeeper's beasts were angry.

--- --- ---

- South-Eastern Kandarinian coast -

"Well how am I supposed to prove that, eh?" replied Akran, "By just telling you that I am not a spy, will you believe me?"

Akran tightened his grip on his bow. Is nobody ever polite any more? "As Martin just said, we will help fight against this evil. I don't know what else we can do to prove to you our alliances." He watched as the winged man started to shoot lightning bolts out of his hands at the creature. He didn't even know his name.

"Maybe you could tell us your name? ...And then we could help fight this thing." Akran glanced back at his crew. They have never let him down in a cobat situation. He chuckled. "You don't expect us to just watch, do you?"

[Mikado]

~ ~ Silver Root ~ ~

Mishio sighted.

"I wonder how she could see my smirk trough my hand? It is almost as if this all was a roleplaying game, and someone decided to have his character know everything he reads, and defying with that all sense and logic."

Heil laughed.

"Hmm... that would be really weird wouldn't it? But don't worry, she was just a captain, only Kronos is of our concern."

Smiech tilted his head.

"That feminine crap is not wut worris meh. I wunder about the hammer..."

Heil felt a dislike to him, but he didn't show it.

"Do not worry, maybe we don't have much information about it, it won't take long untill we will. And then we surely will find a defense against it.

//no offense xP

~ ~ A less fair distance away from the South-Eastern battle ~ ~

Czernn looked up to the sky. This was the only thing that didn't move.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. However I heard she is quite a pani... unfortunately ja don't fall for people stronger than me..."

He wondered how this battle would look like. Oh, he would be glad to stand on the soil again, oh so glad...

[D. Ein]

//Offence taken. Unless Mishio completely buried his face with both his hands, a grin would still be visible. Next time you're next to a mirror, look at yourself smile while covering your mouth with one hand. The sides of your cheeks go up and your eyes squint, so unless Mishio took extremely drastic measures to hide his smile (which as I gathered from your post, he did not), Eris would have to be blind not to see it.\

- An even more so less fair distance from the South-Eastern battle -

-"You look a bit green there, pan Manteia," Joseph sighed. "I understand air travel is not for everyone, but unfortunately our town is the nearest to this location - so there is no way to use a portal to get here."

-"Bloods and solids," Ekaterina blurted. She had a very glassy-eyed expression on her face.

-"....what?"

She immediately snapped out of it.

-"Wha... huh? Did I say something?"

-"Yes... you said something about blood being solid. What was that?"

-"I... don't know..."

(24)

--- --- ---

- Regiment 6 headquarters -

-"Hello... Yes, this is Eris. Hello, Wing. ... What? I did not takes your axe. Find it yourselfs. ... Stop screaming at me, Wing. I don't want to talks to you. ... What accent? Bes you prefer I talkses this like? Thought so. Get me the General. ... Right. Yes, hello, General. The object over the coast - I've been insides it, talked with some people. They don't seems to be aggressive, but I found them to be somewhat lacking with basic logic. Makes me wonder how they built that ship. ... Yes... yes. Heil, yes, that was his name. How did you...? Right, sorry. In any direction, how do you wants me to proceed? ... Wha...? Hannibal? What's he got to do with this? ... I see. I understand. Thanks."

[Dude Man]

- South-Eastern Kandarinian coast -

Duilin noticed they were making some good progress. He was wondering if he could actually make a big enough blow to actually do some real damage, since he wasn't going all out right now. But probably whatever this beetle is going to do is going to hurt unless he does something to protect himself, but still keep attention.

"Hmm...I have an idea."

Duilin spread his arms apart and clenched his fists. He began to summon air magic energy around him to charge up an 'attack'. (1/2)

[Coriko]

Druid awoke to darkness, the same darkness that has plagued him for three years. He closed his eyes but remained awake. He listened to what was happening in the room. There was a liquid, most likely water, dripping from the roof. He figured that there must have been storm last night while he slept. The dripping continued. There was no chance the roof would be fixed since they were prisoners. Prisoners on his own land!

Druid summoned a ball of shadow energy. The binds that held Druid to the wall were almost indestructible and turned his magic against him. They were made out of an ancient material, as old as the universe, common to all worlds. It was used by demon hunters to bind their prisoners while they killed them or "deported" them back to hell. He grimaced as the energy seared his hands. The pain was intense. All the cuts on his hands reopened. The orb of shadow energy vanished as Druid de-summoned them. He couldn’t get angry. Druid took a few deep breathes to calm himself. He then turned his attentions to the other noises in the room. He could hear the inmates of other cells. Some were immersed in a restless sleep while others lay asleep like a log on their stone bed. The heavy breathing of one inmate could be heard above most of the others. He didn’t snore but he was a mouth breather, or so Druid thought based on what he heard. The deep gasps of air in and puffs out. He was dreaming, a man’s only escape from this hell. Druid dreamed. Nothing pleasant. No escape from the current hell that was his life. No, he relived every agonizing moment of the takeover.

Three years he had been in this prison. It all happened so fast too. Druid was amassing his army and planning on world domination. He was the head of his own empire and everything was finally going well. Then it happened. When he summoned his island he brought along a “little” something extra. Druid always wondered how Silas was able to travel from their home dimension to this prison world. Silas was able to manifest all the rage, hatred, anger, violence, malevolence, and loathing he possessed into another body. What he created was an empty shell of pure wickedness and shadow energy. Silas traveled in a weakened state because he was just the mind of the beast. That is why Druid could so easily destroy him back in the desert; he was always smarter and more cunning than Silas. The being of pure malice and shadow energy was trapped on their home world, underneath the capital city, destined to spend eternity there. However that magic only lasted as long as they were on their home world. As soon as the beast realized its bonds were broken because of the change in location, it sprung out of the island.

This creature of pure iniquity destroyed his entire army in a matter of minutes. It quarantined the island as well. This meant that anyone from the island not standing on their native soil was killed instantly. Kain never stood a chance, however his death was quick compared to what Druid and Baird were suffering through. Anyone who tried to leave the island died and no one could travel to the island from the outside world. They were trapped.

Druid tried to fight the beast along with his generals. Both Druid and Baird were beaten half to death. The beast only keeps them around for torture and information. Onan and Yuri fled after Baird was knocked unconscious. Their location is still unknown and for all he knew they were dead. He and Baird were kept together but neither knew why.

A door opened. It was the door. The door which lead to hell, pain, and torture. The screams escaped that door and caused the hair on the back of Druid’s neck to stand on end. The agony attacked his soul like the hound of the Baskervilles. Now there was demon Druid didn’t want to see again. Baird would be returning soon. Every morning they took him in there. Baird was the only person Druid talked to and so they tried to pump him for information. Their captures did this everyday for three years. They had sawed off his arm and he had countless scars. Once Druid was free of his binds and free of this prison, he would replace Baird’s arm and heal him to the best of his ability. That is if he ever got out.

[Mikado]

// you shouldn't, it was a joke =P yet if you feel offended, sorry

~ ~ End of the black road ~ ~

Somewhere of the road a huge church alike building was placed. It had a cold aura around it, and it felt unholy. All windows were replaced by huge metallic plates. A cold breeze was felt.

"Here... the check point that the master gave us. The necromancers should be inside, otherwise they are late..."

The leader went forward, and the group followed apparently not taken away by the dark aura around the place. There was a small and thin path leading towards the entrance of the church, and red roses grew on both sides of it. They looked like wall, holding all visitors inside, trying to eat them with their sharp spikes...

They reached the entrance.
No sound was heard from inside, but the clouded feagure didn't feel like it was anything unusual for they too, came here without sound.

Slowly he opened the doors...

~ ~ An even more so less fair distance that one almost can't call it a distance from the South-Eastern battle ~ ~

Czernn tilted his head.

"Maybe you feel also troche sick? Necrolytes should be hidden i buried in the earth after all, and nie flying open in the blank skies..."

"Ciekawe, ciekawe... why did you become Necrolytes actually? Have wy any special reasons to do so?.."

[Ted Der]

- South-Eastern Kandarinian Coast -

"Hmph. Now what?" asked Martin as the guy they were just talking to flew up into the air.

Akran sighed. "Well, let's see what happens."

"Hey Captain! Look!" One of Akran's crew was shouting and pointing. Akran couldn't see what he was pointing to at first, but then he saw it. A storm was coming from the direction of the ocean. Only one patch of sky was dark and it totally blocked out the sun casting shadows that were creeping along the ground towards them.

The crew was shocked. No one moved. They all just stared as the darkness surrounded them at an incredible speed. Surprisingly, it wasn't even raining. Someone screamed as black figures swooped down from the clouds. The shadowed beasts started to circle the battle field. Flash! Lightning came down and hit the ground sending dirt flying everywhere.

Akran knew who these creatures were. They had come after him now just like they had come after him 3 years ago. This time they came in the form of a rainless storm. Luckily, he knew their one weakness. Their greatest offense - lighting - proved to be the most affective against them.

This was great for Akran. He could use this light to his advantage. It was only going to be difficult when they change into their solid forms.

Flash! Another lightning bolt came down quite near the crew. A few of them who were archers started to shoot arrows at the Malanos, and a the couple who knew magic helped. The familiar tingling sensation rose up Akran's arm as he got his bow ready.


//Feel free to control any of the Malanos. Arrows and lightning will work against them.