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Eloquent Conversationalist
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 Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:19 am
Ryugi sat there for a moment, staring blankly into the floor of their glass conveyance. The sand whipped by below, blown by the angry wind as the massive ball wobbled ever onward towards their ultimate destination. The walking motion of the legs caused him to sway back and forth in a steady rhythm. It was then that it struck him.
He was upset over something that happened centuries ago. He wasn't going to let something that ancient ruin his friendship with his best friend. He had to move ahead and not dwell on the mistakes of his past. He stood up and sighed, then walked straight into the door that Maximos had left behind...
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Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:33 am
Now the bravery and strength motivating our dear Dragon hero were infact quite admirable. Moving even. To see the dragon stand and follow after his friend, even despite what was said was a wonderful thing.
But should he have walked through that shadowy black outline of a door, Ryugi would have been in for something of a surprise. Something having to do with Shadow magic, and being shadow touched, thusly only allowing certain sorts of transferal, in the end, Ryugi would have walked face first into the solid black brick wall of their make shift castle.
Thankfully, he likely would not make it that far, because just as he reached the door a voice called out. It said.
Where are you going?!
And it seemed quite surprised to see he was attempting to leave. The voice came from directly behind him, and if he spun around he would see a certain Shadow stepping up out of his own shadow, cast long across the floor. Maximos stepped up a set of non-descript stairs as if Ryugi's shadow were the cellar door and he was casually leaving it.
In Max's hands were two bowls, and as he walked he continued.
I must have lain it on a bit thick...
He held up both bowls, both had spoons sticking out of them and held a white thick substance in them.
I just stole these from the kitchen. And to my shame, I didnt pay a cent. Walter hates when I have snacks before lunch.
Max walked directly up to Ryugi and presented him a bowl of ice cream. There was some sort of purple syrup over it, and little tiny sprinkles which made it look like something you might serve a 4 or 5 year old. But Max offered it with pride regardless. In this sweltering heat, it just seemed the perfect dessert.
And as he offered it, Max said with a sly grin.
I suppose that makes us both thieves.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:42 pm
Straight into the door indeed...
With a loud "oomph!" Ryugi rubbed his nose as he turned and spied Maximos handing him the bowl of ice cream. If the shock to his system from walking face-first into a door didn't throw his mind for a spin, the change in tone certainly did. But, Ryugi's brain didn't have time to dwell on such things.
There was food to be had. And something apparently tasty at that!
Ryugi gave Max a sheepish grin and accepted the frosty bowl of goodness.
I suppose it does, doesn't it? This looks delicious...
He eyed the purple syrup for a moment, and took a few sniffs. Ryugi had a habit of sniffing new foods before he tasted them, and this was too sweet not to sample with his nose first.
What is this purple syrup? Another Arian treat I'd imagine?
Ryugi poked at the purple liquid with his spoon for a moment before he took a bite, sampling the taste as he awaited an answer to his question.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:15 pm
I suppose it does, doesn't it? This looks delicious...
Maximos was grinning now. He was grinning in that Maximos sort of way, which so closely resembled a little child's grin, and yet was placed on a grown man, and still somehow fit just as well. He nodded emphatically and spooned a scoop full in eager agreement. It was delicious, is delicious.
What is this purple syrup? Another Arian treat I'd imagine?
Ryugi asked, but Maximos' mouth was full. And to speak with ones mouthful was rude, but despite moving the cold cream around in his mouth Maximos managed a sort of smile. Ryugi, however, was doing something the Shadow did not expect. Not in the slightest, and yet at the same time it was something that the shadow wholly expected, in every way.
Ryugi sniffed the food.
To see Ryugi, the human sniff a food almost took Maximos' aback. He cocked an eyebrow and even tilted his head a tad to the side. And then he saw Ryugi the dragon sniffing food. And what, really, was odd about an animal...even a very large, very old, very wise animal...sniffing food? Max was gaining a new appreciation for how easy it was for to forget what Ryugi was. This realization however, put a slight twist at the edge of his grin that the dragon before him may or may not notice.
Ryugi took a spoon full of the ice cream, and Maximos with a hair of mischief about him swallowed his mouthful and said.
Its all natural herbal recipe Walter discovered, I thought would fit the occasion. You basically add alot of sugar to a highly concentrated mote of dragonsbane, its tasty but harmless to us nondra--
And then Maximos suddenly stopped mid sentence, his face looked as if it had gone suddenly even more pale. His eye snapped open wide as he looked, almost panicked, from the bowl to Ryugi and then back to the bowl. His mouth hung open, ice cream still staining the edges, but in every way his silence said, You just ate enough to give you a life span, in seconds, shorter than the letters in your name.
Ryugi's mouth would be filled with tingles, because regardless of what Maximos had just said, slight tingles like pop-rocks were part of the recipes effect. It was sweet, sweeter than sweet and taste like a tropical mixture between a pinapple and a banana. Or was it a mango? It could have even been a coconut. It was sort of hard to place flavors that didnt exist in this world. But it was so sweet it put a spoon full of sugar coated honey to shame.
Being a Reaper, Maximos had a Your about to die, face that put most others to absolute shame. And he wore it like a priceless and flawless mask. And then he broke out into a fit of laughter and plopped his spoon back into his bowl. Being a Reaper, Maximos also had an exceedingly morbid sense of humor.
While still laughing at a joke Ryugi may or may not have found funny, Maximos waved his free had dismissively and said.
I joke. I kid. We call the fruit Noctis, it grows back on the islands were I grew up. I've never really found anything like it on Gaia, until Walter found a few for sale in a sort of inter dimensional black market.
Max's laughter was now a few broken chuckles, and his free hand had returned to swirling the spoon in the bowl and turning his ice cream from white with purple stripes, to entirely purple as it spread.
If you crack the fruit open, this is what you find inside. Noctis, Vel Jouvenet Jestin'. All I can truly say is that its spawned many a late night high speed adventure across the sandy beaches. What do you think?
Despite the fact it gave the mother of all sugar rushes, flavor was still something open to interpretation, and Maximos was curious.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:58 pm
Maximos Ryugi took a spoon full of the ice cream, and Maximos with a hair of mischief about him swallowed his mouthful and said. Its all natural herbal recipe Walter discovered, I thought would fit the occasion. You basically add alot of sugar to a highly concentrated mote of dragonsbane, its tasty but harmless to us nondra--Maximos would pause, but possibly not quite from the reason he might have originally intended, for he was about to be covered in little bits of ice cream... PFFFFFFTT!!!!Ice cream and the delightfully sweet purple substance would spray forth like a sweetened geyser from Ryugi's mouth, all over Maximos. Even with his glowing eye, it was unlikely he would have forseen that. Luckily it was only a single spoonful, and wasn't enough to make a horribly sticky mess. It was a natural reaction to finding out something in one's mouth was actually a deadly poison... Ryugi would dance around wiping his tounge off with his gloved hand, completely oblivious to Maximos' serous look, though it would have added to the moment that came next as Maximos spoke again, and burst into laughter. Maximos I joke. I kid. We call the fruit Noctis, it grows back on the islands were I grew up. I've never really found anything like it on Gaia, until Walter found a few for sale in a sort of inter dimensional black market. It was then that Ryugi grinned, and grinned hard. The look on his face was awfully odd for one who just a moment ago must have thought they were going to die. Or was it? I figured as much. It didn't taste like dragonsbane anyway. Not enough tingle...Did that mean that Ryugi knew the whole time? And that he'd sprayed Max with ice cream on a whim at the morbidly hilarious joke? If Ryugi knew, he wasn't telling. Though, even if he had, it was fair to say that Maximos probably deserved it for that joke. Even still, did that mean that Ryugi had tasted dragonsbane sometime before? So many questions! But, right now, Ryugi focussed on listening to Maximos and his tale about the fruit. Maximos If you crack the fruit open, this is what you find inside. Noctis, Vel Jouvenet Jestin'. All I can truly say is that its spawned many a late night high speed adventure across the sandy beaches. What do you think? Ryugi took another spoonful of his ice cream, which, miraculously, hadn't spilled during his antics, tasting it a bit more, before nodding as if in agreement with the flavor. I think its a delightful flavor, Max. You and Walter have amazingly diverse pallets.
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:50 am
WHAT IS IT WITH DRAGONS AND THE SPITTING?!
Max's face froze. He was already smiling and grinning wide, and that grin stood and through nothing more than sheer luck, nothing got in his mouth. Max laughed, but without moving his mouth. It wasnt until he pulled a kerchief from from his jacket inside pocket and wiped a streak off his face that he actually spoke.
And even as he spoke, the edges of his mouth seemed to twitch involuntarily. Lets face it. Max was a gentleman, and he had just been spit on. Hardcore. By a dragon no less, he was handling it quite sportingly.
Truthfully, whether Ryugi did it on purpose or otherwise, Max probably deserved it for the morbid joke. But the truth was, that there was a joke, in his joke. Which he revealed when Ryugi said.
I think its a delightful flavor, Max. You and Walter have amazingly diverse pallets.
And Max proceeded to take a heaping spoonful, slide it around inside his mouth then swallow and say.
I'm glad you like it. I really wasnt sure of the leaf would work for you.
He nodded and took another spoonful.
You see, Noctis is poison.
Max said it in the same sort of tone one might say. Hey its raining outside today. Very matter of factly, and very pleasantly. But most importantly, very honestly.
The fruit has a soft syrupy center, but one bite from its outer shell is enough to kill 10 men. It has an almost immediate necrotizing effect. To get to the center we have to crack the shell, which falls apart much like a fragile egg.
Max waved his spoon dismissively, in the same manner one might wave away concerns about bad weather, or a traffic jam. His tone was entirely non-challant.
Pieces always fall in when I make this...but you get used to it.
He took yet another spoonful, his voice just as honest as last time. Really now, it was bad form to tell the same joke twice. Now was a good time for Max to crack a grin and reveal the plot twist...but he wasnt.
See, I mix in a dash of Life Leaf. It counteracts the Death effects. And it makes your mouth tingle. See?
Max proceeded to open his mouth and stick out his tongue. His tongue was black now, black as his left eye, though even as Ryugi looked it would begin fading to pink at which point Max would slip it back behind his pale lips.
...It makes your mouth sort of die, and your tongue a very neat color!
And in went another spoonful. Playing with poison. Skirting death. Arians were weird, dangerous people. But boy did they know their snacks!
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:10 pm
I've got to hand it to you Max. For something that is so well prepared that it literally kills you and brings to back to life at the same time, its pretty tasty. Not as good as dragonfruit perhaps, but a fitting snack for this particular circumstance.
Ryugi took another bite of the ice cream and enjoyed the tingle. It certainly was a unique snack.
** Time passed for our snacking heroes as they made their way across the vast expanses of Suhalla's searing sand. They'd already been traveling for quite some time inside their glass conveyance, and soon, they wandered deeper into the rolling dunes than many had ever gone, save for a select few. Then, as they crested a rather large dune, something came into view. **
Ryugi was busy watching the dunes ahead of them through the glass walls of their walking shelter, when he spied something sticking out of the sand. It was covered in sand, but shaped almost like a dragon's mouth, poking its snout and part of its lower jaw out from the sand beneath.
Max! Max, look! Over there!
Ryugi called to his friend and pointed in the direction of the strange phenomena. He'd never seen anything like it before, however, given that it was the only significant structure he'd seen since leaving Suhalla, there was only one thing it could possibly be...
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:53 pm
All and all, as vacations go, this was a definite success. It didnt matter that a deadly sandstorm was raging outside. Inside, Maximos had taken a seat, leaning against Ankokuko and spooning mouthfuls of desert. When the desert was gone, he pulled a paintbrush from seemingly the air in a sleight of hand motion, and drew a symbol on the ground which opened into a black sort of hole, and instructed Ryugi to insert the dishes in there.
Now, Max had taken to staring out through one of the many holes in the wall past the glass bubble, at the rolling, undulating dunes. They moved like a giant beige snake, or a perhaps even a rolling tan oriental dragon. There were devices Maximos had seen in shops which displayed water rolling, or wind blowing, for the sake of relaxation. This was all of that, and more. He could feel his troubles slipping away. With each rise and fall a piece of his worries were left behind on some sandy location far from where he never need worry.
A storm may have been raging outside, but inside Max had become so relaxed that the normally awake and energetic shadow, sporting dark shadows under sleepless eyes, belied his entire nature. He fell silently asleep. It was a nap, nothing more, and moments later he was awoken by...
Max! Max, look! Over there!
Without hesitation the shadow sprang to his feet. His head moved back and forth as his eyes darted around, worried he may be missing some amazing sight. And then he saw it. His eyes snapped open wide, but thee wasnt time for shocked amazement. Max craned his arm back, grabbing Ankokuko's hilt and shoving it forward with a loud, crunchy click. In one fluid motion, Max spun around, and kicked the side of the sword, dislodging it and flinging it up over his shoulder. The sword moved in its perch like a lever. The massive and crude legs rolling their large glass conveyance across, came to a stop. Although they were on a large sandy hill, and so gravity had its way and continued to tug them slowly. Then as the sword left its home, the legs all together vanished.
Uh oh...
He said, pausing to look at Ankokuko with a sort of horror on his face. The sort of look you give while standing on a shore gazing up at a wall of rushing water. The glass ball, was, by degree of the laws of physics, leaning forward. Suddenly, Max realized his sleepy mind had made a mistake. A big mistake. They were in a giant glass ball, and the legs kept it from spinning like...a ball. Without them, the glass house was going to tumble end over end, as if in a dryer, down the large sand dune until inertia let it come to a rest.
They were in for a ride...
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:34 pm
Maximos They were in for a ride... And what a ride it was. The both of them suddenly found themselves falling down as the large glass ball tumbled towards the base of the dune, and the Gave of Glass. Swords, boots, canteens, and bodies clanked and clunked off the walls of the ball as it rolled, eyes seeing sky for a moment before returning to sand, then back to sky, then sand, repeating itself as the ball moved down the seventy foot high dune. With a final flop, Ryugi landed face down on the "floor" of the glass ball in a big white and black heap, followed shortly thereafter by his canteen, which landed on his head with a plunk, before water began to pour onto his head. It was a silly and sad sight to see a soggy spiky haired dragon with a less than satisfied look on his visage. Well... That was fun.Soggy from the canteen, Ryugi picked himself up and replaced the top, shaking his head off as droplets of water spattered the sides of the glass enclosure. His hair was still upright, despite being soaked. After he'd attended to himself, he checked to see how Max had fared. Max?
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:29 pm
Max?
Could not, had not, and would likely never be able to laugh so hard as he was at that exact moment. Ryugi was sopping wet, with his spiked hair seemingly trying very hard to remain actually spiked and not transform the dragon, from a dry fire drake, to a wet cake. And he looked utterly displeased. No so displeased that any good friend would actually try and run to his aid, just displeased enough for it to be well...hilarious.
Max was laughing so hard, he couldnt stand, he was rolling on his back. The idea of it all may have seemed so hilarious because he was so light headed from being put through the spin cycle. But, he laughed none the less.
Ryugi might also notice that he could not see Max. Not immediately, this was because Max was not on the ground. Max was, as further inspection would reveal, completely upside down on the roof. His hand wrapped to either side of Ankokuko who was, embedded back in the floor/ceiling. Small pools of black around his feet and rump, were the evidence that Max was Shadow Walking. And laughing.
Laughing so hard, that he kicked Ankokuko accidentally from its perch, and unceremoniously fell from the ceiling/floor, to the floor/ceiling, with a loud thud...and continued laughing.
Eventually, as impossible as it seemed, the laughter would fade. Max, all smiles would sit up, laying the Caller of Darkness across his lap and look all around until he saw the cave formation, at which point he turn to Ryugi, and with a sort of puzzled expression he would say.
How do you think we can get out of here without impaling ourselves on a thousand shards of glass rain?
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 6:05 pm
Maximos How do you think we can get out of here without impaling ourselves on a thousand shards of glass rain? Ryugi grinned knowingly. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled a bit. Either Max was still dizzy from all the laughing, or dizzy from the spinning, because the answer was literally sitting right below their feet. The dragon warrior brushed a hand through his quickly drying hair and grabbed Ragnarok's handle as he shook himself out. Max, I'm surprised you didn't think of this.Ryugi spoke matter-of-factly as he gripped Ragnarok's handle with both hands and the tip appeared to glow slightly. It's simple really. The sphere is completely round on every side, making it easy to roll around. The sides and ceiling would likely cause the ball to collapse on top of us. However, the bottom wouldn't...As Ryugi paused, he quickly stabbed the blade of Ragnarok into the bottom of the ball, and with a small pulse of energy, the area below his and Max's feet cracked and shattered from the blow. Now, all that's left is getting the proper force directed towards the side... and...Ryugi replaced Ragnarok on his back and backed up against the far wall of the sphere. He shook himself out again, ducked down slightly, and then charged, jumping up slightly at the very last moment to strike at the upper side area of the wall. In an instant, Ryugi's force caused the ball to roll up and over Max's standing form, leaving him standing on a large pile of glass shards, while Ryugi was still inside the glass ball, with his hole on the top. All it took was a simple leap, and Ryugi jumped up and out of the hole he had made, landing on the sand, before brushing himself off. Easy as anything.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:47 am
In a moment, Max found himself standing completely still in glass ball. In the very next moment, the ball was off of him and away, glimmering and sheening most impressively in the sun and showering him with a wave of sand set free by its sudden tumble.
Easy as anything.
Said the Dragon, and in all complete and total honesty...Max was impressed. He was clapping, and there was a sincerely impressed smile on his face.
I have to hand it to you Ryugi, that was wonderfully played.
There wasnt a hint of sarcasm on his voice, and for good reason, he wasnt being sarcastic! His clapping hands moved to dusting himself off, and tug out some of the wrinkles in his clothing.
I must say, my skill with heat based abilities is severely lacking. I thought of cutting the glass, but thought of how it would require something far sharper or more precise than what I have on hand.
His backpack and canteen were on the ground before the glass moved, leaving them yet still on the ground now. Max began donning each again. He reformed Ankokuko's over-the-shoulder sheath, and then made two ring shapes with his hands by touching his index fingers to his thumbs. The two rings were brought up his eyes at which point the space between his fingers filled with black. He traced two lines back behind his hand, and by the time Max's hands fell, he was wearing a pair of black goggles. To keep the sand out of his eyes. And the glare from the gigantic glass marble. All the while he spoke.
To think, I was trying to work out some complex lunaic formula. Now, if only I could work out a sense of direction, where was that...
His words trailed off as he looked left to right searching for the rather auspicious cave mouth. The roll and tumble had cost the already directionally challenge shadow, any semblances of direction what so ever.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:26 pm
Ryugi grinned.
Well, I figured that trying to cut through that thickness would require alot of heat, and I couldn't use fire because we'd lose oxygen in that thing, or bake. So, I settled for some finely tuned brute force and a little clever thinking.
To him, it didn't seem all that fantastic, but he was flattered Max thought it so clever. He watched as Max looked around for the mouth of the cave. It was funny to see this man, who was usually so composed and so on task, fiddle around trying to make sense of his surroundings. It was certainly worthy of a chuckle, but Ryugi stifled it and cleared his throat.
Um... Max?
Ryugi crossed his arms, but raised his right and pointed behind Max. When Max turned, he would find the large open mouth of the Cave of Glass.
The cave was massive. It looked almost like the jaws of some great beast rising out of the sand. Who knew something made of sand, glass, and rock could be so imposing. The stalactites and stalagmites rising from the ceiling and the floor were almost like teeth in the mouth of the beast, and pieces of glass seemed to cling to the formations like crystalized saliva. It was an interesting geological structure, to say the least, but certainly didn't look natural.
Kinda imposing, don't you think?
Ryugi cracked his neck and straightened Ragnarok on his back before picking up his canteen and strapping it to his waist.
Well, let's get going. There's no telling how deep inside Ancalagon is.
Ryugi started walking towards the mouth of the massive cave. As he entered the cave, it got darker, and his boots crackled with sand and gravel on the cave floor. As he and Max looked up, the cave seemed to glow orange above them, sun filtering through the sand above and passing through the glass of the cave to provide some source of light in the darkness. As they continued to wander deeper still, even the columns and stalactites seemed to glow orange.
They had begun the last major leg of their journey...
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:49 am
Um... Max?
Max blinked a few times, quizzically, before spinning around on his heel. And there it was huge, and daunting. It looked, not as if they were entering a cave at all, but as if they were entering Ancalagon himself. He half expected the cave mouth to snap shut behind him and a gust of some sort of diamond dust breath to storm up the creatures gullet.
Yes! Well!
Max said, and pushed non-existent glasses up the bridge of his nose. It was a reflex reaction. But in doing so, he remembered exactly what had brought him here. Not only to Angara, but to this very spot, to this very cave. Ryugi and Maximos may not have slain and army, or ventured for years to get here, but it was an adventure. There was a greater ice fiend, there was a giant scorpion, and who could forget Ankokuko? It seemed to stir at his back with recognition. He stared up at the cave mouth with not the childish awe of earlier, but a sort of smirk. The Shadow felt something well inside his chest, something large and tight like a balloon. He felt proud. He felt, accomplished. And he felt something else, something he could not put words to until Ryugi said.
Kinda imposing, don't you think?
Its...exciting...
Maximos replied, naming the feeling that spread across his limbs like tree roots. That made him want to rush headlong into the cave. He spoke the single word as if it was a free floating entity somehow dis-attached from a missing sentence. It was said, then hung in the air, just as Max hung by the entrance.
Well, let's get going. There's no telling how deep inside Ancalagon is.
And Ryugi started walking towards the mouth of the massive cave. Max, snapped from his reverie, responded simply.
Indeed.
And gave a stout nod, and followed, catching up to and walking beside his dragon companion. His mismatched eyes scanned the ceiling and walls, and every facet of the cave that he could. Even if it was not natural, it was still breathtakingly gorgeous. Not only did a darkened orange spill through, but then it seemed to reflect or pass through, or otherwise stain and color every glass surface within the cave.
Like passing through a fun house, Max found himself checking walls and floors for their reflection. He wondered if it would be twisted and warped in amusing ways. After a few moments of silent traversing, he would say.
I've just...
Then pause, shake his head and chuckle lightly.
...I've never seen anything like it. I mean, I've imagined such, but never experienced it. This is the sort of place you read about, but which only exists in the authors words and memory and yet...
Two hands gestured all around him. Maximos had seen alot of places. He had done his fair share of visiting and exploring. But some places were lost, either by magic or time, they no longer existed. Or if they did exist, they existed in ruin, in recollection. But this...it was like walking through a legend. Like stepping into a fantasy. Max shook the his head, and simply said.
...astonishing.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:23 pm
Astonishing indeed...The pair would walk deeper into the cave, marching for what seemed like hours until they came to something truly massive. In front of them lay a titanic room with a vaulted ceiling. At the highest point the light from above shone brightly through the thick glass, and shimmered down among glittering columns adorning the walls. The room could have held the entire Leviathan Stadium within it. But the room itself was nothing compared to what greeted them at the center. It was a dragon. A dragon larger than any Maximos would have seen yet on his journey - which basically limited him to Ryugi as a size reference. Horns and claws were as black as obsidian as well as the tip of the tail. The scales soaked up what light shimmered down and seemed as pure as a crystal glass. And set in the skull behind powerful jaws and teeth were a pair of glistening crystal blue eyes that gazed down upon the two warriors. Ancalagon, the Legendary Dragon of Glass, seemed to examine the two fighters far below him. Ryugi and Max would be no more than tidbits to a creature of this size if he decided eating them was a good idea. They were no bigger than his snout... But, Ryugi was undaunted by the massive size of the legend made real, and he stepped forward. Ancalagon, mighty Dragon of Glass, we have traveled a great many distances to...But Ryugi didn't get to finish. He was quickly cut off by the booming disembodied draconic voice of the Dragon of Glass. You dare to address me in the human tongue? Have you no respect for your own kind? Do not bother me with such disrespect. I know why you have come here. You have come for the same reason they have all come before you...Ancalagon's mighty head nodded in the direction of the walls of the room, which suddenly became a little more clear. Surrounding the walls were skeletons, some eons older than even Ryugi. Knights with swords stuck through their forms, archers with arrows embedded in their eye sockets, mages with their bones marred by magical attacks, and countless more. They all came seeking the strongest and most powerful glass in all the world, but they were not strong enough to defeat their own foes. They have failed, and you too shall fail. I have seen more foolish deaths than I care to count, and you are no different.Ancalagon's form suddenly began to glow with energy from within, and two small forms appeared at his sides. One was dressed in black, carrying a dark sword forged in friendship and born from the shadows themselves, the Caller of Darkness, Ankokuko. The other dressed in white with silvery hair, carrying a sword forged in the beginning of the Great War, a sword first held by Eclipse, The Legendary Sword, Ragnarok. If you value your lives, you will turn back and not waste what time you have left chasing after something you are not strong enough to attain. However, if you believe that you can overcome the one who knows you better than any other in battle, then stay.
Defeat yourselves, and you shall be rewarded the item you desire...
Fail, and you shall join the countless warriors who came before you...As the booming voice subsided, the form of Ancalagon vanished, fading from view like the momentary reflection of a ghost in a mirror. And as he faded, the ground shook violently and a massive wall of glass shot up between the two warriors, leaving them able to see one another, but unable to assist... Maximos would look across the expanse to spy his own doppelganger place a finger on the tip of his nose, pushing up his glasses and moving down to fix his collar. A gentleman must always be polite. I do believe we've never met. Please, forgive my rudeness. I am Maximos Lucillien Dark, and I shall be your sparring partner.The Doppelganger Maximos gripped the Doppelganger Ankokuko and quickly turned to his side, spreading his legs apart and pointed the blade towards his opponent. Good luck, my worthy adversary...And with that, the Doppelganger charged...
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