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 Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:40 pm
"You don't know? You're all impure."
Orthrus sat down again, now wiggling on his back and rubbing his paws at his face like any puppy would. Soren idly rubbed the creature's belly and murmured to it in hushed tones. "Yes, you're a good boy, aren't you? Are you going to wait for your big brother to come back? Are you?" He picked up the pup with both of his hands, putting their small faces to his nose and nuzzling. "But he's dead! He's dead, yes he is! Yes he is!" the mage cooed, and Orthrus merely wagged his tail and licked at the mage's face, not understanding a word he was saying.
He put Orthrus back down and scratched the pup's belly. "Yes. You've all been blinded by temptation and selfish righteousness," he proceeded calmly. "Some of you are still stained by love, both fostered and scorned, some of you bubbling with yearning for what you miss the most." He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the point. "But we will fix that. You will be cleansed and then you may begin a crusades to purify the rest of the world. Of ambition, of desire, of the same lusts that loop into themselves again and again and cause ourselves to become hated and despised."
His eyes shone in the blue and crimson beams of light. The puppy curled up under his hand, falling asleep, and the tea in their cups began to shift and bubble and pop like they were boiling, though no steam rose to indicate it. "We, who have protected you. We, who have nurtured you. You have forgotten us, stomped on us. You have been poisoned, and we will save you." And now his body began to shake, a strange clattering sound rising with it.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:55 pm
"Im...pure?"
Blossom watched quietly as he tended to his puppy, then went back to explaining what the heck he even meant by calling them impure to begin with. His words, though, served to first confuse her.
Blossom thought momentarily at one the later parts. Bubbling with yearning for what you miss the most. She thought for a moment of Aidan, the skinny boy with the scruffy hair and green cloak. She hadn't even seen him outside the tower when she managed to get out; did anyone even know where he was now? Had he returned to Eyris, or continued traveling, or... or...
Blossom's eyes snapped up with Soren's continuation, and her musing was replaced by a sudden shock.
"Cl-Cleansed? What, do... do you mean wipe out all of our emotions?" she demanded. "I mean... even if that's not exactly the case, you can't just go about screwing around with people's heads like that! It's completely unethical, and-- yaugh!" Blossom flinched as she heard the tea boiling under an invisible fire, watching it in shock. There was no steam, and yet it boiled. Was it magic?
Her blue-grey eyes went back to Soren as he apparently began to start breaking down, even literally--she could hear his joints rattle as his body trembled. "We... we aren't poisoned!" Blossom gripped more tightly onto her sword. "And we don't need you to 'save' us!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:56 pm
Every time he gets comfortable in a chair, it seems, crazy things happen. Every time he sat down during the war with Madrianna, when he decided to study in the library during both Asami's attack and Mika's infiltration, and now when he's in this odd realm of indescribable something-or-other. What, were chairs cursed now, for this poor Druid? Would he be forced to stand the rest of his life, in fear of cosmic horrors attacking him? But the half-asleep postwriter digresses, quite a lot.
Oh joy, the crazy man was getting crazier. Blathering on about 'fixing the impurities of the world' and all that rubbish. Any time someone goes on one of those speeches, they may as well be insane. Fixing all the problems in people is like trying to fix all the problems in a sack of angry wolverines. The moment you try to solve one problem (one of said wolverines) then there are more problems (scratches, gashes, bite marks, dropping said wolvering on the ground, etc)! But of course, coming from Soren, this was even more outlandish. So much so, that Rei didn't even humor the man. All he did do, however, was pull Blossom to her feet along with himself, and talk rather quietly in her ear. "Don't even try to talk sense into him, it's not going to work."
With himself and the only other who sat down now standing once more, Rei's hand impulsively hovered dangerously close to his tomes. Combat seemed nearly inevitable, so he would have to be ready.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:07 pm
Charice let out a long sigh, reclining in the nearest chair she could find as Aph simply looked at the food, wondering whether it was alright to eat food in such a bizarre world.
"Ahhh... glad to hear that everything's the way it should be," she replied, at last removing the cloth mask and hood (and regretting it--her hair was in a shambles from all the sweat). I'll let the "fixing us" part slide--in a place like this, doubtless we DO look out of place. Maybe he's been here a bit too long, or he's some sort of... I don't know, keeper of the dead or something?
But then others spoke up, and Charice's eyes narrowed as Soren explained what he really meant by "tweaking". Blinded by selfish righteousness, were they? Who was the REAL selfish self-righteous one here--the person lecturing them on ambition when he himself had an ambition to rid them of their ambition, or the people who, although full of ambition themselves, at least weren't so "blind" as to deny what they had?
But honestly, she had JUST sat down, JUST gotten comfortable, and now this guy wanted to fight. Or perhaps re-educate them. Or something.
"Look, maybe it's, err... been a hard day," she began. "We've come through battle after battle, smothered in a battle sandwich, you've," --she gestured around herself--"been in desperate need of redecoration. Maybe you just need a breath of fresh air!"
She stopped gesturing to the room at large and gave Soren a smile. It might have made her look pretty cute if her hair wasn't all messed up and stinky.
"...Or would that be falling under the category of ambition?"
Let it never be said that pegasi are stupider than people. At that moment, Aph came up behind her and bit down on the chair back, pulling Charice backward, making her fall over, forcing her to get up and, well, grab a weapon.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:44 pm
→ → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → →
 Abel's jaw dropped slightly, and his eye twitched, as he watched this man conduct himself, with his pet. He truly was a tad... off. Yes, 'off' would be the polite term...
Abel then bit his lip, as the man continued on and spoke of fostered love and yearning for what one missed the most. He couldn't deny that he had those things. Alihi, his brother... everyone he had lost... But these made him impure? Because he could feel these things? Abel couldn't believe a word of garbage that the man spoke. He just didn't believe it, he refused to.
Then the creepy man really started to freak Abel out, as the cups began to boil, and he began to shake, as his eyes put on a light show. Abel grew an angry expression, and scoffed. "...I knew something wasn't right!" He pulled his blade from his back. "Maybe we are impure... But we're not drones! WE'RE HUMAN!"
← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:32 am
Wandering through the aisle after he waited and no one else showed up, Soon trying his best to ignore the really messed up happenings he suddenly couldn't do that anymore as he reached the end of the hallway.
Thankfully standing at the end of said hallway was Akihi, and Alihi. Striding up behind them he clapped a hand on Akihi's shoulder.
"Good to see your alright." He glanced at Alihi and noticed a little girl, walking around the other two to her, he squatted on his knees down to her level "And this must be little Amara?" He smiled at her before standing up again. "Looks like I won that bet?" He told her.
Kind of an odd reunion in an even odder place. "Whoever lives here sure has an interesting taste in decorations doesn't he?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:07 pm
"It was you..." Ephraim murmured, still staring at the ground. He slowly raised his head, a befuddled, confused, hurt look washed over his face. All those times? Those images? That....hallucination..Impure? Losing our minds? That was all a joke..right? For sure this time, Ephraim knew he hadn't lost his mind but this was just insane! Yearning for the person missed most? Lyon? No, it was more then that in Ephraim's case. But somehow, it was all making sense..the pieces were slowly connecting.
"Tweaking..?" The lancer stood up, stumbling a bit as he took a step forward toward the others. "Im..pure..?" he continued, his gaze still hazy but he continued to move forward. "Who..Who are you to tell us that we are 'impure'..? We are but only Human! We are not your pawns in this...'game' you are playing with us!"
Talking didn't seem to work, and it will never work at this point. This one known as Soren, was already beyond listening. Ephraim shook his head, regaining at least a little of his composure, getting ready for what was to come. If he passed out now, what good would that do? He had to be ready..at the very least, be ready for what may come.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:40 pm
Vika paused, shifting her gaze down to the ground. "Y-yes...yes, it did..." she murmured.
But then she looked upon the apparition once again, and spoke a bit louder. "But she taught me that you can't dwell on the past, Neros. You have to move on with your life, get past all the bad stuff that's happened to you!" She stepped towards him, standing very near the table now. "I knew you wanted to feel like you had a place, but what are you doing now? What have you done?" She slid into a seat directly in front of Soren, but ignored the tea, instead sliding it to the side. "Are you aware that our actions have brought an ancient sorceress back to life? We have to stop this. What's happened to you?"
She slid her chair back, the scraping of the legs against the floor severely disturbing her at this point. "We...we don't need fixed, Neros." She raised her voice again, standing up, and called to the shadowy presence upon the wall. "We don't need fixed, you do!" She pounded both her fists upon the table, trying to seem intimidating. "Neros, whatever you have planned, I won't let you do it. I'll take you down. I'll do it. Really."
And upon the arrival of the chimes of aid behind her, her head shot around to glare at the lot of them. "Stay back," she hissed. "I started this, and I'll end it."
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:14 pm
At the word human, Neros calmly opened his eyes. The pupils glinted a bright green in the consuming darkness.
Tears resumed their flow down Soren's cheeks, but his head tilted to the side on seemingly artificial joints, another smile on his face.
"Go play, Orthrus," he quietly commanded the pup. Orthrus got up and happily bounded out of the chamber, disappearing into the bookcases. "There you go again. Condemning us, refusing us. Fighting us rather than embracing us." He shifted his weight onto one foot, his limbs swaying almost uselessly at his side. Then the mage whipped around and walked toward the wall upon which Neros was suspended.
"Poor Vika," he went on, stepping up toward the edge of the metaphorical curtain of blackness. "We took pity on you, we really did. You at least embraced us. But now you forsake us too, tainted by your comrades." It was suddenly apparent that Soren stood on a platform, for a green circle lit up around the mage and runes shone to life. The small platform lifted out of the floor and rose up to Neros's level, seemingly carried up by bolts of green magic that connected the platform to the runed stones surrounding it.
The platform slowed to a halt much like an elevator, Soren leering down at them. "Don't address the boy," he said, his voice carrying over without need to raise his volume. "He will not answer you."
Soren gently took Neros by the chin and turned his head toward him. He leaned in, pressed his lips against the other's. And then there was a violent motion of Soren whipping his head away, and a spurt of black blood flew, Neros's severed tongue now between Soren's teeth.
At the exact same time, Vika would feel her tongue torn out by invisible teeth.
Soren swallowed the meat and the platform lowered while Neros convulsed on the wall. When the platform was back in the ground, the figure ceased to lifelessness once more, and Soren put his thumb and index finger to his lips. He pulled out strands of the same black material out from his teeth. Then he flourished his hand, an onyx double-bladed scythe materializing from the gesture, secure in his hand.
Soren lifted the scythe up with both hands. With one powerful swing of the dual-headed weapon, a hot wind blasted across the chamber. The tea cups exploded and suddenly the leaves burned bright shades of red and crimson and orange and gold, bright as flames, every leaf on the marble floor sent up into a frenzy that surrounded the chamber. Red and crimson and orange and gold light poured down from the stained glass above. Hot winds circled them violently, biting at their faces, suddenly reminiscent of an inferno.
"It's time that you repent!!" Soren screamed, his robes going from black and gold to the colors of charcoal and embers. "You must all pay the price for your sins! Kneel and confess, or burn with the rest!!"
((Note to all: Damages such as Vika losing her tongue won't be permanent, so don't freak out if something horrible happens to your character. I'm also definitely not out to kill you, although I don't know if this guy is.))
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:48 pm
 ...Injured with pain and sadness, the you that cannot be healed
Shoulder the burden of the past that cannot be erased; don't throw away your will to live...[ X ][ O ]Blossom[ O ][ X ] →Blossom could feel her limbs shivering as she watched Soren. He was not human. He cannot be human. No human acts like that. He cannot be human. He can't be real. He can't be real...! Blossom couldn't believe he was really speaking something that made sense as he urged the puppy off, and then began to walk about. The marionette comparison really struck her then, watching his arms sway limp at his sides and his legs moving jerkily about the marble flooring, as if his control over those muscles was sporadic at best.
And what does he mean, 'us'?
Blossom felt helpless again as Soren used his magic to lift himself high into the air, higher and higher until he was far above their heads, facing an apparently-random part of the darkness. Blossom peered close, seeing nothing--and then his lips were connecting with something, and then there was a tongue between his teeth--
Blossom felt herself becoming quietly sick, her face tinging green. He had someone's tongue in his mouth. And he was eating it.
The sensation screeched to a halt as she heard blood spattering out to the floor. Blossom turned her head, brown hair whipping around her form and slapping her face. "VIKA!" Blossom's hands were shaking now. This... was going to be a lot harder than they would have ever thought, it seemed. He hadn't even touched her, or seemed to use any magic, and yet it had happened.
Blossom looked back to Soren, wincing and throwing an arm over her eyes as the hot wind exploded upwards and the tea was sent spraying out across the room. She hadn't seen the heat before, but now she could certainly feel it; the scalding liquid was blocked by the fabric of her long white shirt (as she still hadn't been able to get out of that stupid Halloween costume) and the burns were minor, but she could feel the heat and it was enough to catch her breath in her throat.
It was getting hot. Very hot. Blossom coughed as a cluster of leaves flew into her face, but they were soon gone from her vision and her hands were back to Vezra's hilt. "I'll kneel to someone like you when I'm dead!" Blossom shrieked back. She shifted one foot back, bracing herself, and held Vezra up and out, leveling a glare directly at the scythe-wielding Sage. "Just try to make me burn."←  You'd better forget everything. Remember. . . your different Life?XXX
You'd better forget everything. Remember. . . though, we cannot returnXXXLike in times of warped memories, we can understand somedayXXX
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:06 pm
oh goddess what was this now? Was that..Ephraim dare not say it, he didn't even want to think it. Just the thought or someone mentioning what was swallowed made his stomach turn. Just what was this guy? Was he even Human to begin with!?
He couldn't even move right now. Did fear finally take over? No, that wasn't the case. Half of his weariness was due to not being able to rest since they left town. Get it together, Ephraim! Tea cups shattered in a mere matter of seconds, the lancer threw his arm up in front of him, covering any shards that were scattering the room. "you.." Ephraim whispered, arms still up. He rammed his spear against the marble floor, enough to get a small hold in between the cracks and looked up. His right hand was now holding the shaft of his spear, while the left held onto the hat that was still perched on his head "You are the last person I would be kneeling to..Confess? Don't make me laugh. Burn me..if you can"
(Crap crap post X_X)
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:28 pm
No time to be lazy
The journey is perfect The pace is so crazy
The race is so worth it ◄AKIHI►◄ALIHI►◄AMARA►
————————————————————
The trio remained silent, not daring to utter a single word; the child failed to understand what was going on, and the older twins had nothing to say. What they would have said was already spoken.
Akihi flinched visibly when Joshua's hand rested on his shoulder, though he did not dare to say a word. He was afraid, to put it bluntly; he was absolutely terrified at what was happening. Everything was just so strange and abnormal for the mage, and it left him quivering in his spot.
Alihi, however, was a bit calmer. This was due to the small child in her arms, the one she held so close to her body while covering the child's ears; the tactician did not want to show Amara through body language that something was horribly wrong.
Amara whimpered softly due to the uncertainty of what was happening, shielding her face away. She didn't understand anything that was going on. Her hearing was muffled, yet she could see the emotion on the other people's faces. What was going on? What was causing all of this? Why was this happening? When would it all end...?
When the scythe appeared in Soren's hands, Alihi instinctively wrapped her cloak around her daughter, as if hiding her from the world. This would both benefit and hurt Alihi; while it helped with keeping Amara safe, it also made both of her hands unusable. She flinched visibly, ducking her head slightly. Akihi tucked away Excalibur and Bolganone, keeping Elfire in his hand, ready for use at a moment's notice.
They bit their tongues, keeping quiet, though their message was clear; they had no intentions of kneeling. They were going to stand tall, and, if it came down to it, they were going to fight.
————————————————————
I will be with you
We'll do this together
Always together
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:58 pm
What was he going on about?!
"I haven't been tainted! I've--"
As Soren turned around, ignoring her, he rose into the air, levitating upon a mysterious green platform, rising to stand beside Neros, upon the wall. He took his counterpart by the chin, glared at him, and then--
Vika choked, a searing pain slicing through the back of her mouth. She gagged, and...and her tongue fell out. It landed upon the ground with a sickening, wet thud, and it was followed by drip, drip, and then it was pouring, deepened red blood, pouring from her mouth onto the ground. She hummed in pain frantically, the only sound she could physically make right now. Eyes bewildered, she turned back towards Soren, ready to transform, and was immediately struck by a searing blast that she didn't even have time to respond to. It swept her off her feet and threw her several paces back, her own blood trailing the ground where she had slid through it.
A moment later, she was back upon her feet. Her mouth hung open so the blood wouldn't collect in her mouth, giving her a morbid appearance as it ran down her face and stained her clothing. She turned to Blossom and grabbed a splintered piece of chair that had been displaced, hurling at her feet to get her attention. And then, she formed a vague hand gesture, and sent three blades of wind at the girl. Vortex: a little parting gift from Razevi.
That task done, she glared up at Soren again. She needed lift. She focused her inner abilities, morphed into her avian form, and cawed loudly. She spread massive wings, rose up into the air with the aid of the intense air currents circulating, and took advantage of them to wind around, gather speed, and hurtle at Soren, two more massive blades to attack him formed by flaps of her large wings. One struck Neros in his dormant position upon the wall, and the other kept with Vika as she tore through the air, poised to strike the chaotic mage.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:13 pm
A loud, terrible moan went up from the wall as Vika's attack struck Neros square. He contorted and black blood flew from his own mouth, spattering the marble below, practically obscured by the storm of fiery leaves and hot winds circling all around. The metal thorns rattled with the movement and murky blood leaked down from his newly formed wounds.
His image flickered visibly when Neros had taken the hit. But Soren turned, unfazed. In a strangely flexible way. As the raven came hurtling at him, he lurched to the side, curving around the attack, almost distorting...or stretching. He put his scythe in the raven's path, aiming to have her wound herself, and then when she passed by he followed it up with another swing of the scythe, sending a scorching blast of wind following the raven.
Another moan, shaking the chamber. Neros threw his head upward and the chains rattled. And then a greater roar, far more powerful and far more deep, gripped the area as a massive figure loomed in from the bookcases.
Ziaram's negative: a massive dragon, black in scale with eyes like coals. Riding the dragon's shoulder was Ephraim's negative, Lyon. On the other shoulder was Lugh.
As the dragon was getting into position, Soren sent a wide arc of hot air surging toward the rest of the group, then leapt back to the platform that would take him back up to Neros. The platform swiftly elevated. Once the apparition was there, he produced another string of black material from his teeth, creating a sewing needle from it and a length of string that he constantly drew from his throat. Soren sewed up the other's wounds while Neros just shook his head deliriously.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:40 pm
...Injured with pain and sadness, the you that cannot be healed
Shoulder the burden of the past that cannot be erased; don't throw away your will to live...[ X ][ O ]Blossom[ O ][ X ] →Blossom's panic was visible in her eyes, but she struggled to keep her composure as she glared at Soren. She hadn't remembered to pay attention to Vika until she felt something strike her feet. Blossom looked down, seeing the wood, and then looked to the thrower, and her face immediately turned a sickly green. The poor raven was absolutely covered in that blood, her own blood, and it was still dripping out of her mouth from her tongue being magically ripped out, but Blossom couldn't exactly focus on that--she was moving her hands, and then blades of wind were careening at her.
"Wh-Whah?!" Blossom yelped, immediately lifting Vezra's blade to absorb the magic. She heard the deep thrum of the first three runes lighting, felt the faint emanation of power from within the symbols, then paused. Oh. ...Oh! Blossom nodded once, then looked over to Soren. Vika had transformed, blood dripping down her beak, and was flying right for him, having sent more scythes of wind flying towards both him and the writhing mass in the darkness whose tongue Soren had removed. She could see the black blood splattering out as the person in the darkness was hit, but Soren easily dodged and struck back at Vika.
It was as he floated towards Neros, Blossom bracing herself against the hot air with her blade out, that she realized that she had an opening. She had not noticed the dragon yet, nor Lyon or Lugh. Not knowing either of the boys, only the first would have made her instinctively afraid.
He was all by himself up there; well, that wasn't right. He was open. He assumed they would be distracted for long enough for him to finish.
Like heck you'll just carry on like nothing's happening!
Blossom lifted Vezra's blade high, the runes glowing, and then swung the blade powerfully down, aiming right for Soren's chest. A sharp arcing burst of energy sliced through the warmed air for the Sage, and the three runes on her blade faded back to their normally-dim appearance. Hit him...! Hit him hit him!← You'd better forget everything. Remember. . . your different Life?XXX
You'd better forget everything. Remember. . . though, we cannot returnXXXLike in times of warped memories, we can understand somedayXXX
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