Dark Age Legends

[Dark Spartan]

//It's been too long, sorry. All this stuff with my grandmother and just overall being busy. Finally got the time to write a post.\

Why do humans dream? Is it lingering memories that penetrate the unconscious mind? Why do they allow themselves to have nightmares? Underlying fears they are unwilling to overcome? This one has no nightmares. He has no fear. If only the last could have followed his example… Is it human nature to fear the unknown? If so, why do they allow the unknown to exist? I was unknown to him. But then he realized what I was, and overcame that fear. His dreams are pure and innocent. He has no fear of death, as he knows it is inevitable. How can they fear the inevitable? I fear I may never know the answer…

--

Cold shock swept over Alex. Midna had thrown snow on him to wake him up.

“Gah! What the hell—Midna!”

“Sorry, but it was the only way you would wake up. We need to get a move on, the sun comes up in only a few more hours.”

The blizzard had finally subsided, and unfortunately, so had the dark clouds. Moonlight cast the familiar pale blue glow on the landscape. Reflected off the snow and ice, it seemed bright as day.

Ugh…daylight at night. A considerable inconvenience.

The Shroud finally retracted, leaving the two to themselves.

I shall rejoin you when conditions are more…suitable to my liking.

Alex took out the Twili pendant and cradled it in his hands. “Your people certainly have a lot of faith in me,” he said. “I’m still not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do once we get to the capital…”

“All in due time, Alex,” Midna said. “And once we get there, hopefully I’ll be far more useful to the cause.”

“Still, we’re two beings against thousands. Could we possibly win? The odds are overwhelmingly in their favor.”

“I will admit, the last Warrior failed for a number of reasons. He was a Warrior, but he was flawed. He was selfish and fearful, and for that, his enemies consumed him. But you’re different. You’re not like he was. You can win.”

“Here’s hoping,” Alex said, digging one of his armored forearm claws into the ice. He pulled up, and soon ascended the vertical ice face. The serrated claws provided a substantial amount of traction. “But first we’ve got to deal with those dogs dogging us.”

“As long as we keep moving we can stay ahead of them, but once we reach the capital, they’ll be the least of our concerns.”

“Figured as much. Glacia City is just up ahead. We can warm up there.”

--

The Commission was about to break camp, headed for their next destination.

“So boss, where we headed?” Estacado asked.

“Back home, I guess,” Carmine sighed.

“What? Why?”

“Well, think about it. How much are we going to get done if we follow him around, only for him to move again? To me it seems logical, since he’s headed for the capital anyway, to just wait for him there.”

“But what if he doesn’t come?”

“Oh, he will. It may just take longer than we thought. Still, the more time we have to prepare for his arrival, the better. It’s his ass getting kicked, so he can take as much time as he wants.”

“What about the Colonel?”

“You let me worry about the Colonel. He seems to like me, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“I dunno, boss. The Colonel can be a real hard-ass at times.”

“Good point. I just hope he’s in a good mood when we get there.”

Les limped up. “What’s the plan?”

“Les, we’re headed home. We’ll wait for Alex there. Tell the others, and tell them to have their wyverns ready in fifteen minutes.”

“You got it.” Les limped off.

“What should I do, boss?”

“Help Sig load that heavy stuff onto the wyverns. We need to be out of here before the sun comes up.”

Indeed, morning was not too far off. A new day would no doubt mean new threats, for both the Commission and Alex.

[Dude Man]

Nex's weapons flew back towards him, but faded away into the air before they actually touched him. The demon clenched his fists; he was starting to get angry. Sparks of red electricity started to rapidly spew from his hands, and an eerie blood red coloured glow came from underneath his helmet-mask.

"To be good, your annoyance as for ridicule! It has started to make me be irritated!!"

An aura of red lightning surrounded him and his cloak began to flow as he floated higher in the air...

[Mikado]

The red man went to the showed him place.

"Me?" Shui pointed at himself supriced.
"I never worked with THAT kind of runes.. I may make a mistake. That could cost my friends life, I would prefer you to do it, as you are more expierienced with your kind of runes..."
Shui laughed nerviously, and looked at his kitten. The cat just kept looking at the woman.

[Jenia]

Indher spat.

"Bah! Theres really no room for mistake. All you do is activate them, like this..."

Indher bent down, the runes lit up faintly.

"You could say all I did was push a button, really."

The red skinned man was surrounded by purple light, which then became mist, and then turned blue as red mist was released from it.

"Theeeeeeeeere you go...""

The red mist hurled itself at the rock, first surrounding it.
Soon, the rock turned bright-crimson as the mist was absorbed into it.
A few moments later, the blue mist began to dissipate...

[Mikado]

No screaming. Reigratto couldn't hear anything..  He didn't feel or smell. He only saw.
"What's happening..." He wanted to say, but the words didn't come out of his mouth. He only saw himself. And he was feeling more empty and empty...
"This needs to stop.. This is going bad! Master! Master! SHUICHI!"
But no words came out of his mouth.
But also when he felt so empty.. he didn't feel the pain he used to feel. He was free. But not only of the pain. He was free of hisself to.

" ....craaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaa-aaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaa-aaaa-aaa-a-a-a-a---a----a---a--------------a---a-------------------------a---------ap"

Then he got himself back. He felt alive again.

It could feel again.
He was the person who he was before.

It felt great.

[Trent]

//Well Anti can afford to take quite a few hits. Razz

He was about to catch the fists in his hands, but... that's what they wanted him to do. He simply dropped backwards onto his hands, in effect dodging the punches, and flung his feet upwards in an attempt to kick 'em in the jaw.

--- --- ---

"That's terrible," said Zion.
"I remember our first encounter with Retan," said Xenai.
"You know, that's probably what Anti's after," said Aura.
"Huh?" "Huh?" "Huh?"
"He probably just wants to fight Retan. I had to go to Kandarin in order to lure him out. Why he went there and the country's still intact... He's probably allied with someone there, who has something against Retan. Draven is probably in on it too, since you were able to sense Retan and Draven near each other."
"And if he offs Retan..." started Xenai,
"...He'll start to off the rest of Gaian," finished Tsu.
"Y'know, Anti might work in favor for your guys' objective, though," said Zion. "That's really ironic."

[Dude Man]

"Well, I'm worried if we ask for Draven's help, he'll probably try and make Retan destroy the Velken world, since it’s an easier and quicker solution." Duilin said solemnly. "This Anti guy you're speaking of seems just as nasty as Draven. If their world was destroyed, it would probably have the Velkens loose all their loyalty to the emperor, but they would likely be pretty angry at who ever lead Retan to dropping the spell."

Duilin dropped his head.

"The one that told me all about this said he would kill himself..."

He lifted his head, and ran his hand through his hair.

"Anyways, we should probably get going now." Duilin said. "We can follow Tiberius' and Valiko's trail."

Duilin then started following the light trail they left, assuming the others were coming. He overheard Tiberius mention that Valiko was a draken. So that is what was familiar about his aura. This might also mean he was right about that theoretical comment he made about not all Drakens being evil. But of course, he can't assume that he's a ‘good guy’ right off the bat, he'd just have to watch and see.

Then again for all he knew Bjendell could be evil. Yet his un-angelic outbursts and death-threats he gives to his foes might show that he might be a fallen angel, which are usually nasty fellows, from the stories he's heard. However he had to remember he was a half-demon, and could transform into that demon lord form. That even freaked himself out. He actually didn't like his Demon Lord form so much. But man was he one hell of a fighter in that form.

--- ---

The elites' jaws were both kicked, causing them to fall on the ground. Yet that didn't finish them off, they simply got back up. One of them started to glow in a flaming golden aura and then flew himself forward like a rocket hopping to smash right into his target and make a point blank explosion attack.

The other one stood back and began to start focusing his energy...

--- ---

"Well the herb looks like..."

Rink fluttered over to a writing desk in the room and drew the outline of a strange looking plant, and then fluttered over towards Justin and handed it to him.

"It looks like this. If you're too worried, I could just go if you want to. In dark areas I'm often mistaken for a large bat, and even when I'm seen they sometimes don't even care. I just need to make sure Ven's wound doesn't get over infected."

[TK Game Boy]

//ACK! I dunno what happened to me but I kinda forgot about this RP. OI! Well I'll try to make it up

The light was dim but it soon got brighter and brighter. It was a torch light. Quadricentennial got up. He looked around and saw that he was in a room. He was lying on a bed. He smelled of burnt and ash. "Ah, you've awoken." It was Johnny's voice. Quad tried to get up but he felt really exhausted as if all his stamina was drained from him. "What...happened?" he asked.

"You did good Q. The beast is gone, we won't have to worry about it ever again."

"It is?"

"Yes."

"But I don't remember a thing. It's all a blank."

"You don't? Well that's peculiar. Regardless you have accomplished the feat." Quad felt really tired and drained. "I'd like to rest now."

"Oh yes. Of course." Johnny left to have Quadricentennial to his rest. Quad rested his aching body from a fight he could not remember. He closed his eyes, unaware of what had happened.

******************

Slow steps of caution were best used right now. Who knows what would happened if he awoken the large beast. The rubber of his shoes were gone and the metal plate on the soul were all that were left to protect his feet. He was sweating but not by alot. Looking up at the massive beast made of fire, Quadricentennial got closer and closer. He finally got close enough to have it's flames right on his face. It was burning furiously. The flames were like a part of this birds body for it flowed like it was sensing danger. The light illuminating from the beast was very high and brighter than the sun itself. Quad was not blinded nor could he see. He did not know how far was the flames. He could only see the monsters skin through it's damaged area which was around it's neck. All others were extreme heat. He took no chances and decided to hurl the blade towards the exposed flesh. He grabbed his blade and took aim straight into the neck where the scar was. He hurled it as strong as he could. The blade went flying, like an arrow shot from it's bow. It hit the bird but it did nothing. It bounced off and hit the floor. It's skin was damaged but not pierced. Quad now need a new idea.

The bird flinched. It's eye opened as it got up. The attack must have awoken it. Quad now had to figure out what to do fast. The bird spread it's wings. The flames grew higher and wider. It was a magnificent creature to behold but he bet that all who looked at him would be the last thing they ever saw. The bird spotted Quadricentennial and it gave a loud, hard, hollering screech. It apparently didn't like company. Quad ran for his blade but the bird stomped his enormous foot in the way to keep Quad from getting to it. Quad was unarmed and had nothing to defend himself from this beast. What could he do now? The bird lifted its foot once again and aimed it at Quad. It quickly raced it's foot to grab Quad but he was not as quick for Quadricentennial dodged it. He landed on the hot floor with the blade facing him. He quickly grabbed it but the blade was stuck on the floor. He attempted to pull it out but was no good for the bird snatched him. He still held on to the blades handle and would not let go. The bird was desperately trying to pry him off but Quadricentennial was holding on to it. Quad was amazed. He didn't knew he had such strength to keep a tight grip while his life was being crushed away from a beast. The fire falcon decided to change plans and slammed Quad to the floor. He pounded the floor with his foot. He grabbed him again. This time Quad was not stuck to the floor and proceeded to eat him whole. He tossed him in the air and the Facon quickly made a meal of him.

Now with the unwanted guest out of the way, the falcon resumed it's rest. He layed down, comforted himself, and resumed his rest. The falcon was then interrupted. His throat was starting feel a bit uncomfortable. It was a bit itchy. The feeling turn from itchy to painful as a giant hole was made in the birds throat. Red smoke, assuming it was it's blood vaporated, arosed. There rose Quadricentennial within the gap of the beast. With his green blade in hand,  he jumped out while the falcon was in tantrum. It was too tall to survive the fall and saw a cliff. As he humped off, he targeted at a jagged edge of the cliff within this massive cave. The bird was in very much pain. Red smoke was filling the air and the bird could not handle the terrible stench it was making. He was flying about, smashing into walls, the ceiling. Quadricentennial grabbed on to the ledge, only to be caught in one of the falcons barbed feathers. It's flames were gone and he was now exposed. He had black and red feathers with a bit of yellow around it. It was a magnificent bird indeed but there was no time to enjoy the sight of this bird for it broke through the ceiling. Screeching loudly and horridly for the pain. It kept crashing the ceiling of whatever room it was on. It finally rose into the sky, screeching all the way. Quadricentennial unhooked himself and started fall on the ground. He suddenly realized he was too far off the ground. Probably 40 feet or so. He looked about and saw the gigantic fire bird, without the flames now, fly away before he heard a hard smash. All suddenly went dark.

[Xorlak]

Having distracted the monster for exactly twenty seconds,  Anslem zipped out of the way.

"NOW!"  Renard yelled.  The two Velken Battle Mages thrust their hands towards the zombie rat creature, and the white circle tightened around it like a noose.  The thing threw its head back and squealed, a brilliant flash of white engulfing the entirety of the room.  Bit by bit, the creature's bones flaked off, disintegrating into nothing, the light dying as the last specks of dust disappeared into thin air.

Anslem floated down next to Renard.  "That was... rather unexpected."

Renard nodded, lashing his bushy sliver tail around in thought. "It's amazing the humans lived with it under here.  I wonder if it was some sort of guardian?"

Anlsem began floating towards a large sewer pipe.  "Well, we should be off."

"Guys..."  Helix moaned.  Both turned to see him wobbling in the air, as if he were having a great deal of trouble hovering.  His feet touched the ground and he took a few uncertain steps.  "I don't... feel very good..."  With that, the fox crashed upon the floor face first.

"Helix!"  Renard was at his side in a heartbeat, trying to lift his friend's limp body from the grimy floor.  He withdrew his hand when he touched Helix's back, finding the crimson blood staining his fur much more visible than on the black robe.  "Oh... gods!"

Anslem's calm façade broke immediately.  "Oh, blast it!"  It was obvious he had less training than Virmir.  He landed by the felled fox's side and pryed his eye open, watching the pupil. "That thing poisoned him.  We must get him back to the ships."

"R-right," Renard said uncertainly, fear laced in his eyes.  The two picked up the unconscious Velken by the shoulders and flew back the way they came as quickly as possible.

----

=NEX used CONFUSION=

The auras around Draven's palms doubled in size and brightness, and the flames magnified.

He raised an eyebrow.

"To be... wait, what?"

=It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!=

----

Vincent smiled.

"Actually, my good sir..."  He extended his right hand, and it began to loose form.  "My last transmutation... didn't quite go as planned.  But I've discovered something... interesting."

He whole arm, clothing and all, took on a metallic sheen, and solidified into a very sharp spike, the fingers melding together at the point.  The blade of liquid metal extended twice the length of the original arm and continued extending as he spoke.

"I believe I will be keeping this body.   Although I am still quite interested in joining the Kandarinian Sovereignty regardless."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"We're almost out... I can see light at the end of the tunnel!" Tiberius started to walk a bit more faster and faster. Finally, he ereached the outside of the castle walls.

"Well, that was a lot shorter than I had expected... But who cares. We're out. Now we just have to find our way through the caves... heh."

"Oh crap. I forgot about that..."

"Well, let's not waste any more time. Come on!"

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

"No, I think I can handle it. Thanks." Justin headed out the door and saw that Jacobie's wrist was wounded. He'd forgotten... and yet he was not poisoned...

"Where are you off to now, Justin?"

"Just getting this plant for Rink. Hey, how come you're not poisoned?"

"I'm resistant to most poisons. most A-class lizardmen are."

"Here, let me patch up that wound for you." Justin took out a long, white bandage and wraped it around Jacobie's wrist. A small bit of blood trickled down Justin's hand as he finished clipping the bandage together with a pin.

"Thanks! It feels much better now!"

"Glad I could... help... what the...?" The small amount of blood on Justin's arm started to swirl around his hand, and a small incision was made in his skin. The blood poured itself inside his veins, the slit in his hand sealed itself, and Justin's form changed... into Jacobie. He backed up and looked at his hands.

"What the hell!? How did that happen?"

"It must have been the blod from my wound. You are a Gepardi, right?"

"It's been so long since I captured a creature's essence... I'd forgotten how it worked."

"Well, this might be more convenient for you to walk around the streets. However, those white robes... might give it away."

"Blast... Oh well. I'll just act like a lizardman. They'll never see this comming!" Justin walked calmly down the street and to the castle courtyard. It wasn't that far away. As he passed through the castle's gate, two lizardmen, C-class, stood at his side.

"What white robes for? You some kind lizard mage?"

"Yeah! Tells us now! No wait, teach us!"

"Relax, I am no mage. I am just an alchemist, looking for a flower. Perhapse, if you helped me, I'd take oyu on as my apprentice..."

"REALLY!? What flower look like!?"

"Yeah, what flower look like?"

"Like this." Justin took out the drawing Rink made for him and showed it to the lizardmen. They seemed to know exactly what it looked like, and they both picked a bundle for Justin.

"Thanks... I'm sorry, do you want something?"

"Apprentices!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, right... here is your first lesson... could I ask you how you feel about the Dark Empire before we continue?"

"What you want know?"

"Just how you feel abouit being in the Empire." Both lizardmen looked at eachother with much confusion, as if they had not understood the question. Then, one of them looked back at Justin.

"Emporer Retan big meanie!" The other lizardman looked at the first, and then looked at Justin, nodding.

"Yeah! Big, BIG meanie!"

"Okay, next question. Do you like being under his service?"

"What that mean?"

"Do you like working for him?"

"No."

"Me too say no."

"Wow, that was easy."

"Apprentice!"

"Yeah, apprentice!"

"Alright, alright. your first lesson will be to resist the powers of the Dark Empire. You no longer work for them, but for me. Understood?" The two lizardmen followed Justin back to the house where Lagart and Jacobie was standing.

"Hey, Justin! You returned so quickly... and with company?"

"My apprentices. Could you two play along for a little bit? They don't even like Retan, let alone like working for him."

"Oh, right! Hello, my name's Jacobie! I'll be your instructor while Justin's away."

"Yeah!" both the lizardmen cheered. Justin walked in the house. Everyone looked confused, or shocked, but then Justin remembered he was a lizardman.

"Oh, right, this... Well, I cabn change into a Lizardman now, I guess... Anyways, I found more lizardmen who're against the Empire, and Jacobie's outside with them, and Lagart, I guess. Oh, and here are some plants. I hope this will be enough..." Justin took the large bundles of plants he was carrying and set them on a table.

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

[Dude Man]

Lagart gave a grin, as he saw the other lizard men. "Hello, I am Lagart." He greeted to the newcomers.

Meanwhile inside, Rink took the herbs from Jason. "Alright, now I forgot to mention something. This herb might not be enough to cure him, but I'm certain it should be a good enough treatment until we find out a cure. It's just depending on how big this rat was, and considering it was undead, this might be a more violent poison then I know how to fully cure." Rink explained.

Rink already had a grinding bowl set out, he put a few of the herbs into the bowl and started grinding them up. "Sprinkling some of this on the infected wound should fight the poison." After grinding the herbs into a dust, he fluttered over to the stove. "I'll need to light the stove and leave this on for a few minutes. It's best if they're warm and dry."

A few minutes later Rink took the bowl off the stove, not even burning himself from the heat. Belle and the housekeeper assumed it was some imp thing that prevented that, as did Rink. He then stood over Ven, and sprinkled some of the grinded herbs onto the wound.

"He'll need some rest, for awhile." Rink said.

---

Duilin tried to remember the way through the cave maze as well as he could, but he'd only been through twice, and one of those times he was unconscious...

"Man, this is gonna be a pain." Duilin groaned. "Plus, I hope nobody sees us leaving."

--- ---

"That's right! You heard me!" Nex laughed.

The glowing under his helmet and the amount of lightning energy shooting around his aura began to increase.

[ElderScrollinIt]

"That poison... I know a way to cure it, but we should leave this place first." Ko'ji flew over to the others and followed them through the sewers, hopefully out as well.

[Trent]

"The Zerobi no Anti is far nastier than even Draven and Retan," said Zion. "His sole purpose is to destroy anything and everything that exists. Anyways, I think I missed something. You're saying that the Velken world is destroyed if for any reason, Retan is unable to cast his spell?"

--- --- ---

Anti, seeing both the incoming rocket dude and the guy in the back focusing his energy, devised a plan. He already knew at least, how he'd deal with the rocket dude. He waits until the guy is really close, and jumps into the air. A hand is pointed straight down at the ground. "Grave!" Several large chunk-spikes of earth shoot out of the ground right where he was originally standing, and 5% of his energy is knocked off. He continues to ascend as he shifts attention to the other guy...

[Dude Man]

"Yeah. If he dies, then so does their world." Duilin replied. "He's using a spell to keep it together."

"So I guess it would be best to keep Anti away from this place, seeing how fragile it is." Duilin added. "Seeing how he wants to destroy everything."

--- ---

The rocketing elite then released an explosion around himself destroying the earth-spikes before they could impale him. He then flies upwards casing Anti, with his fists glowing...

The other one continues to focus his energy; the ground around him began to burn...

[Empty Space]

The ship smashing into a giant rock was the first indication to Xivilai that he had reached land. Being thrown into the wall of the ships cabin confirmed his suspicions.  Xivilai rummaged around the ships hold until he found some rope.  He then tied the rope to the side of the ship and rappelled down.  

Once off the ship, Xivilai surveyed the area.  He saw mountains.

Big surprise, this is Tjed after all.  

Xivilai vaguely recognized a peak and headed in that direction.  It led to Tjedon.  He needed to find out what happened while he was trapped on Romme.  

Besides, it might give me a chance to kill something.

The thought cheered him up considerably as started picking his way towards the mountains.  His spirit was dampened, however, when a bird, with a bolt sticking out of its eye, bounced off his head and fell at his feet.  Xivilai picked it up and looked at it distastefully.  

“Hey! That’s my bird” A voice yelled.  Xivilai looked in the direction the voice was coming from and saw an old man running towards him, reloading a crossbow.  “Give that here or I’ll put so many holes in you tha-” He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Xivilai’s face. He froze.

Xivilai slowly walked towards the man, who started gibbering slightly.  Xivilai grabbed the crossbow out of the man’s quivering hands and smashed the stock of the crossbow into his head.  He dropped like a rock.  Xivilai briefly examined the injury, the skull had been cracked, but the man was still alive.  He reached for his sword, but then stopped.  

I wonder what kind of carrion animals Tjed has

Grinning, he kicked the unconscious man once in the side and walked off to find a good vantage point.