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 Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 11:25 am
"What is the purpose of such a ceremony?" another voice questioned. Well, all the voices would sound the same, so it really just sounded like one, with an occasional echo or light whisper of the exact same words.
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:45 am
The stranger grimaced yet again.
???: Well, I expected as much...and yet I am loathe to give them information.
He turned, seeking the source of the voice as his voice rang out in the negative energy-induced silence.
???: "The purpose is to communicate with Anubis, guide of souls..." And, if I'm lucky, Osiris himself.
The stranger then waited, tapping one foot as he continued to look for what spoke to him.
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:54 am
Silence filled the grounds for a moment as if the wraits discussed the topic silently.
"Your request has been granted." came the answer, however, as it was on their grounds, their property if you so wish to say, and as such there was a condition, "We shall observe."
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:11 am
The stranger almost sighed in relief when he heard the verdict of the wraiths.
???: "Yes, thank you. You may observe...but I don't know if you will be able to understand it all."
He reached back into his trenchcoat for the divining rod, which he then began to explain as he walked, sweeping it back and forth.
???: "First I must find the place where the Underworld touches our world with the least resistance. Then the odds that the ceremony will succeed increase."
Without warning, the divining rod quivers and dips to point at a spot near the Demon's Chasm. The stranger smiled and walked with the pull of the divining rod until it pointed straight at the ground.
???: "Excellent. This is the strongest response I've gotten from it."
He then reached inside his trenchcoat and pulled out a flask and a small bag of what appeared to be grain. Then he began to chant in a strange tongue, sketching a jackal's head over the spot the divining rod was drawn to, then pouring out the flask and the bag of grain over the jackal's head. Finally, he lit a match and dropped it onto the moistened grain...which burst into flames. In the flickering light of the flames, it almost appeared that the mouth of the jackal was...moving? The stranger stared at the flames, entranced, and his lips moved soundlessly as though carrying on a conversation with some force invisible to most observers. Finally:
???: "How can I be sure it will work?! ...Yes. I trust your judgement, my lord. My faith is lacking...I have seen little to help it grow...my thanks, my lord. I shall follow the steps as you described them. Thanks to your aid, the warrior will be brought back."
Shaking his head as though to clear it, the stranger swept the smouldering pile of grain and the hieroglyph into oblivion as he stood. He looked around aimlessly, attempting to catch a glimpse of a wraith to speak towards.
???: "My task is complete...however, I may need to return to conduct it again."
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Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:45 pm
"Next time, there will be a price." The wraiths spoke, and were silent, awaiting the man to leave.
In such a place as Sorrow's Keep, a 'price' was not something so simple as money. The man may end up paying with a task, a sacrifice, blood, or information. The choice was ultimately up to him.
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Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:29 pm
???: "Then I pray I need not return."
As promised, the stranger put the ruins to his back, making his way into warmer and warmer air as the concentration of negative energy decreased. With a relieved sigh, the stranger unbuttoned his trenchcoat and let the wind carry it once he hopped the badly-constructed fence. The wind parted its front to reveal a sundisc of Ra hanging about his neck.
???: And for your protection in dark places, Ra, I thank thee.
The stranger strode to a waiting SUV parked nearby. Within, an anxious face peered out an opened window as the wind whipped the trenchcoat that hung loosely on the stranger's frame.
Driver: "Well, sir? Did it work?"
???: "Yes, it worked. Let us leave this dark place."
Driver: "Yes sir, Mr. Ra."
With a great amount of relief, the driver started the engine of the SUV and tore away from the dark remains of the keep. In the back, Amon puzzled over the meaning of the words of Anubis.
Amon: Make the mark of Horus upon the eye Osiris lost...next make the mark of eternity on his back...then make the mark of the scarab over his heart. Hmm...and he said this would aid what I have already accomplished.
The mind of Amon Ra was occupied by how to accomplish the word of Anubis for the duration of the travel home...
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:15 pm
With a flash of 'moonlight', a figured used up the last of his magical energies to transport himself into the vicinity. Rather, a hundred yards or so away.
There didn't seemed to be much light around these forsaken ruins. Either that, or it was much later than Silver thought. Not that he could think clearly anyways. He was still terribly injured, and lacked the supplements he needed to live. Soon, the magical infestation would yet again corrupt him to his very core. This time around he wouldn't be able to withstand it, especially in his condition. Moonblade couldn't process the arcana properly at all, having adjusted to the anti-magic.
He was on his last legs, and something was apparently hitting his brain with a sledgehammer.
Even through the pain, there was a strong sense if foreboding. It was promptly ignored; what's the worst that could happen? He was dying, had been tortured, and witnessed the deaths of many a loved one. Spirits COULD just kill him or something, but that would be pointless. He was doomed, anyways.
Doomed to wander into the maw of darkness.
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:22 pm
Life. It drew them in. Shadows and shades, a glimpse of shape, a whisps of air, illusions abound. But this wasnt just another life, oh no, this was a weak life, that of a dying man, that of the damned. Were it not for this, the wraiths wouldnt be so attracted to something which would be one of them in such a heavily desecrated place.
One of us...
One of us...
One of us...
Like whispers in the wind or maybe a hallucination, Moonblade might even begin hearing the silent chanting, standing before the door of death. Metaphorically and figuratively. How much time did he have? Hours? Minutes?
"Speak your business." a chill hollow voice echoed out to the man who had come to this damned land.
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:30 pm
Was he... insane?
Silver would have sworn he was beginning to hear some faint chanting. Was it in his head? Were there spirits in the air? Was someone playing a trick on him?
No. Don't give in...
Finally, there was a cold, distinct call echoing throughout his entire frame. Perhaps this was more hallucination. Maybe this was all a nightmare. But he felt inclined, no, REQUIRED to answer.
"I've come to cheat the reapers."
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:37 pm
Join us...
Become one of us...
One of us...
Of us...
Join us...
There was a dark form in front of the man, almost human in shape except that it seemed to only be a torso, the space where the legs should be nothing more than whisps of blackness. Nothing but darkness, no defined features, only a shape. And two white pits where the eyes in the head would have been, burned brightly in the darkness. It did not speak, for it had no mouth. It simply held out an open hand.
And the echoes and whispers continued, louder, stronger.
JOIN US.
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:50 pm
So, this was death? To be swept into the eternal void in such a forsaken place. Perhaps it was just a manifestation of the spirits who were damned here, those cursed to wander endlessly. There was no way for him to be sure either way; the voices weren't helping any.
Though collectively they were quite...
Convincing.
Enticing.
Creepy as all ******** almost took the beings hand straight away, but there was lingering hesitation; was this his salvation or his damnation?
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:03 pm
Live...
Join us...
One of us...
The figure didnt move, it simply would stare at the man, hand open, still inviting as the other voices chimed in over one another.
Cheat...
Live or die, it was the man's choice to do as his free will will dictate, the decision his to make. But that was why he came was it not? To cheat that one thing which loomed so close to the man, and which saturated the surrounding land.
DEATH.
But what of morals? Would he give them up so easily for the chance to remain? To fulfil that which is unfulfilled? Can he throw such things away so that he may live and regret it later, or will he just simply die and be forgotten?
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:13 pm
I want... to accomplish...
The voices touched the very core of his being, clouding what was left of his thoughts. He came here for a reason, and he'd be damned if his final moments were going to be lived in vain.
...so I need... to live!
With a firm grasp, Silver took the being's hand. To hell with morals. It didn't matter if you cheat a little if you win in the long run. His code of conduct didn't match up with anyone else's, anyways.
((Bed. I gotta get up in the morning.))
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:21 pm
Cold black fingers clamped around the man's hand when he took it. The dark figure's eyes flaring a bright white in the process, and as Moonblade would grasp on, forsaking morals and 'goodness', his hand would feel like it was being burned by a flame so hot that it would feel ice cold.
It would last for but a split second, and then they were gone, whisked away by the darkness. Taken to who knows where. It all just disappeared into the night without a trace; the dark form, Moonblade, and the voices would die out quietly.
One of us...
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