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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:42 pm
Rei ran out through the nearby door, into the massive courtyard, accompanied by his friend Nils, among many unknown faces. As soon as the druid and bard made their way out of the door, they were swarmed by enemy soldiers.
"Heh. Already? Well, okay then, if you insist!" Rei said, letting out a slight chuckle. In a flash, he'd already taken out a Flux tome and started channeling the dark energies inside it. And with a motion of his hand, the dark energy turned into large, black orbs, which then coated the enemies, killing them almost instantly.
A few of the soldiers backed up, letting a Bishop walk closer. The holy man laughed at the boy, harnessing light magic through his staff. The staff charged with divine force, to the point where it was radiant. The bishop raised the staff, and then a bone-shattering snap echoed throughout the area.
Rei had slammed his Heal Staff into the skull of the bishop, giving him at least a concussion. This... lapse... in his magical assault led to a rush of enemies flowing towards him. Another earsplitting noise, and the enemies were bowled over by a giant boulder with what looked vaguely like a wyvern stuck to it.
"Well, okay." Rei laughed. "That was... weird. Whatever." The druid had taken his tome out again, and resumed making the immediate area relatively safe from the invading forces.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:42 pm
Nils smiled lightly, bringing his golden flute to his lips and playing his signature and up-beat tune. Around his finger was Filla’s Might, so the song didn’t have its usual restorative effects; instead, it increased the attack power of his ally.
Or, in this case, the magical power of his ally.
He stood close by his best friend, Rei, who fought against the oncoming army. Around the dragon bard’s neck was the dragonstone, the one he got from a sage during Christmas. He seldom used the stone, but kept it close by anyways, for security purposes. Hanging from his belt was another flute, a one the color of ebony, another gift from Christmas. Of course, he swore never to use the flute again after an episode, but, again, he kept it close anyways. The flute was cursed, and was giving to him by Siegell.
“Siegell... Why?” Nils murmured to himself. The bard never did fully trust the masked man, but to attack with such a huge army so suddenly? He just didn’t want to believe it.
The scents of blood, burning flesh, and death were too strong and overwhelming for him to just simply ignore. Screams of pain and agony echoed through his ears, pleading for their lives. All around him spells echoed, weapons clattered, voices shouted.
Once again, Nils had a feeling of hopelessness deep inside. His eyes drifted to the right.
And then, he noticed it. A swordsmaster, one of Siegell’s men, rushing towards Rei, silver sword drawn and ready to be used in an instant. If the swordsmaster hit… well, it could be pretty bad for Rei.
The bard acted. He shoved Rei out of the swordsmaster’s path, taking the blow for the druid.
It was a truly spontaneous act.
The sword sliced Nils, making a deep gash from his right knee up to his right shoulder, cutting through his clothes and belt. He fell to the ground. His skin and clothes were soon soaked and stained with his own blood.
“R-Rei… are you alright?” The bard saw the druid unharmed, and couldn’t help but smile lightly. “Oh, thank god you’re—” He burst into a coughing fit.
Once settled down, he looked to his friend sadly. “They… they’re going to be mad at me, aren’t they…?” Nils asked shakily, thinking of all of the people who cared for him: the rest of the Host Club, his sister, the Fire Dragon, and the other people of the kingdom. “No…” He whispered softly. He coughed once more, and he stared up at the sky. “I-I should have just stayed… back at the castle… Just stayed… out of the way…” With one hand, he reached up towards Rei, and ultimately towards the sky above him.
“I…”
His hand dropped. His eyes closed.
He exhaled.
Everything stopped.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:43 pm
The druid held the bard in his arms, choking back tears, shocked by his friend's sacrifice.
"No..." The tears started flowing. "You weren't in the way... you were just... I was..." Rei looked out of the corner of his eye at the laughing swordsman.
"You b*****d." He stood up, tears flowing down his cheeks.
"You killed him. He's GONE." Rei pulled out another tome.
"He didn't do anything, and you killed him." He opened the book. A pure, primal fear erupted in the swordsman, causing him to take a few cautionary steps back, for it was all his body would let him do.
"You've put him through so much pain." The pages started flipping from the magic coursing through Rei's entire body. "It's only fair to make you go through worse." A dark aura formed around the druid, flowing and ebbing with the wind.
"Fearsome hellfire, I call upon thee to consume my enemies! FENRIR!" Dark flame poured from the tome, gliding straight into the soldier's body, and down the stairs, burning all in its path, and leaving only charred corpses.
"Ancient forces of darkness, I summon thee to drag these souls into the abyss!" The sky darkened, the clouds disappeared. The area nearest to Rei had become as black as night, with all the people stunned, looking skywards. "APOCALYPSE!" A dark vortex had formed in the sky above the druid, and started sucking in all that was nearby. Trees were uprooted, a nearby village turned into flying shingles, and combatants from both sides were pulled into the sky, disappearing into the swirling vortex. The swordmaster, clinging to life, was gripping onto a railing, screaming like it would somehow save his life. Rei walked over to the man, sadistic smirk on his face.
"Please! I beg you! I'll do anything, just spare me from this fate! Please!" The man shrieked, bawling like a baby.
An eerie silence crept into the area, as if all was waiting for Rei's response. "...I'll see you in Hell." The druid said, using his magic to corrode the fingers of the poor soul, and watching it flail helplessly, crying like a lamb, getting ever closer to the vortex. As it got to the swirling mass of energy, it began to disintegrate. First, the clothing and skin, followed by the muscles, and then the bones. The cries finally ceased when the man's skull started to disappear. When the body was completely gone, Rei closed his eyes, outstretched his hand, and clenched it into a fist, making the portal dissipate, and causing all that it was still pulling in to fall the height of the castle, surely killing whatever in the area that may have survived the portal itself.
With the tears dried, Rei turned around, and walked back to Nils' body. He lightly picked it up, with one arm at the back of the knees, the other at the neck. As he started walking past the wreckage of his spell, he bent his head down, and softly spoke to the corpse, as if it were still alive. "Don't worry, Nils, I'll get you out of here, and then I'll destroy the swine that did this to you." Tears welled up in his eyes again, and he did nothing to stop them from flowing. "I'm so sorry..."
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:10 pm
Maiara's breathing was worsening as she continued to cast. She didn't know how much energy she had left out here, casting Elfire after Elfire at the enemies. They seemed to spawn out of nowhere, as if their b*****d commander controlled the vast power of hammerspace. She turned the page, realizing just how fast she was casting; already the Elfire, which had been nearly pristine when she received it, was half-used. How many more infantry were going to come on them? Maiara didn't think she could keep going.
Maiara began to walk backwards as she cast, panting. There was too much noise, the ringing of weapons crashing and spells exploding into the air. In the air, she could see pegasi riders and wyvern riders clashing, throwing spears or swinging swords. "I can't get scared," she muttered, her eyebrows knitting together. An Elfire grazed against a Sage that threw an identical spell in her direction. It was enough to knock her right over, sending her skidding back a few feet.
She coughed, pulling herself up. Resistance to the crippling effects of magic was one thing, but the sheer sense of being overwhelmed muddled her thoughts. Maiara got herself to her feet, leaning on her staff. The Sage was about to cast at her again, clearly considering her an easy target, but before he could lift his hands, began to lift off of the air. Maiara blinked.
It was then that she realized her hair was whipping to the left. There was no wind. She turned to that direction. Her amber eyes widened impossibly. An inert body, stained scarlet, sat near a familiar Druid, his green hair lashing about in the force of the magic he produced. She recognized the blood-stained body. Maiara had always been kind of annoyed at him; it really pissed her off to be studying and be interrupted by the sudden high-pitched noise of someone practicing with a flute. But did she ever expect him to die?
Why did he even come out, anyway?? Maiara thought desperately, her breath hitching in her chest. This was getting too much. It was too chaotic out here, and now she realized just how many of their group was dead; she saw the crushed wyvern, her rider, the vague clues to the hapless fighters that had been caught in the crossfire, and now Nils dead, and more of their army sucked along with the enemies into a swirling vortex...
Her vision dimmed. No. No. She couldn't die out here. This was too much. Get to safety. ******** trying to help, she wanted to get where it was safe. She couldn't do anything out here right now. She had to calm down. But where? Maiara ran, the pounding of her feet loud in her ears. Or was that her blood pulsing? Was she being a coward, running away? She stumbled as she leaped over a trampled, headless body, nearly retching when she recognized the armor around the torso. Screw worrying about being a coward, she thought, running. She turned as she remembered how the castle was aflame; that was no place of refuge. Maiara moved to one side, then another, then set off at a run towards the nearest exit out of the castle town. Get out of the battle zone. Get where things were calm. Get your energy back. Then get back in there...!
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:26 pm
Akihi's eyes widened as the vortex appeared out of nowhere, threatening to pull anyone who was too close into the darkness. His mind screamed to run, to stop staring at the spell and get himself away. His body, however, felt rooted to the spot.
He only reacted once the stuff began to fall from the sky. Although he was far enough away to not get hit (if only barely), adrenaline and panic still came to him and he ran as fast as he could (which isn't that fast) away from the chaos the druid had conjured.
There were bodies and weapons everywhere, littering the ground around him. The sage tried his best to avoid stepping on the corpses, but... at this point, he just wanted to get away. Along the way, he spotted a basic Fire tome, with a good amount of uses left. Without a hesitation, he picked up the discarded tome, ignoring the blood that dripped from the cover and the edges of the pages. Akihi's desire to run soon vanished, the desire to protect the helpless rising inside him. He was tired of running, when he knew that he could fight. And hell, his own sister, his only obstacle in life, wasn't even around! It'd be just wrong for him to run now!
He held the tome carefully in his hands. "Just in case..." He muttered to himself, flipping quickly through the book to make sure the pages were still readable. Once satisfied, he began the offensive again, aiming fireballs at any enemy unit that wasn't already gone with deadly precision.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:37 am
Darkness. Nothing but the dark abyss with no light, sound, or even the temperature filled the unlimited void. Laying in the mist of darkness was a form in the shape of the young boy.
Though the clothes were tattered and the body was covered in blood, there was a peaceful look in the aqua-green haired boy's face that looked like he was sleeping.
Suddenly another figure came and loomed over the boy's figure. The figure looked at the sleeping form for a minute or two before kneeing down. As the figure's finger traced the wound on the boy's body, the cut slowly began to mend together. Blood that was gashing out quickly went back into the body before the cut closed up. When the cut was healed, there were no scar but a long red mark from his right shoulder to his right knee.
When the figure pulled the finger away, the boy slowly stirred. As the boy woke up drowsily, his red eyes quickly changed from groggy to terrified for what he saw before him. Sitting in front of him was a woman with pale skin and black hair. But what terrified him the most was the familiar but unemotional face with yellow eyes staring down at him.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:24 pm
The boy, Nils, slowly began to wake up. His hands twitched slightly. His legs shifted slightly.
Finally, his eyes opened. He stared at the pallid skin, the dark hair, the golden eyes, taking it all in before realizing what having those features actually meant. His eyes widened with terror, and he realized that he actually knew who the woman was, too.
“Gr-Grishelda?!”
He wanted to scream, to run away, but he knew that there was nowhere to run to. All around him was a darkness that seemed to stretch on forever.
And, except for the morph, he was completely and utterly alone.
Nils then looked down at himself. He gasped softly and pressed a hand to his chest in confusion. The wound, the one that he gotten from protecting Rei and the one that ultimately killed him, was no longer bleeding, and left only a red mark and a painful memory. He looked back up at figure shakily, body trembling ever-so-slightly.
“Did... did you do this?” He questioned softly, gesturing to the mark. The boy looked around, his natural curiosity rising. “... Where am I? Why are you here? A-aren’t you supposed to be dead?” His voice broke slightly. “… I-is this death?”
His eyes closed and his hands clenched tightly into fists. “... Is there any way for me to... be brought back? To live again?” Nils asked, not even waiting for a response before continuing on with his questioning. He opened his eyes and looked curiously at the woman, red meeting the yellow. “There must be… tell me, please. I’ve…” Tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I’ve got people waiting for me, back in Learania… I’ve got family, friends, people who love me… I-I want to go back home…” He sobbed pathetically, his mind refusing to separate from the people he left behind, the dreams he had he wasn’t able to accomplish, and, most of all, the thoughts of Rei. The druid was barely holding back his own tears as the boy had died. The image haunted Nils, and more than anything else he wanted to apologize. “Please… Tell me… I-I beg of you…”
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:24 am
The woman cocked her eyebrow at the crying boy, asking her of how to escape this darkness void. Nothing but the cry of the boy took over the conversation for a minute or two. Suddenly, she rose up from her kneeling and turned her back around.
Though her face remained unemotional, she could feel that deep down in her body that there were some tints of happiness and exciting. What was it that she was enjoying about? Was it because she was glad that there was someone else besides herself? Or was it something else? Whatever it was, it didn't help out this situation.
"Grishelda? Learania? What are you talking about?" She said in a husky tone. "I do not know of what you've speak of nor how do you escape from this.... place."
This boy..... He feel familiar to her, but she couldn't place her finger where. All she knew was that this boy had a mysterious, powerful aura but it was not a threat to her. In addition, she sensed that the boy was not what he appeared to be. Whatever it was, maybe it might help out this situation.
"Even though I do not know how to escape, I have a feeling what this..... place is." The woman continued to talk. "This existence we're in..... it is neither death nor the living. Neither the life or afterlife. Not even Hell or Heaven to those who believe of those places. If it's either of those, we should be seeing the landscape before us. People who we either..... loved or killed. A place of where we should be..... belonged to.
What we are here is the existence where the souls linger. The existence where the souls were trapped between the barriers of the living or dead. The existence where the souls wander in this voided abyss, couldn't decide whether to continue exist in the world of living or to be perished into the world of dead."
She turned her head around to see the boy looked surprised. She lowered her eyelids. "If you don't believe me, take a really good look into the space surrounded us."
As she said those words, she could see the gleam of different colors started to form around them. One by one, cloud of ball began to form itself. Some were big and some were little. Some took the take of steady cloud of balls while others were wild and frisky as if they were fireballs. Though the balls formed and stood where they were, they were surrounding the two figures.
A look of coldness and annoyance appeared on her face as she looked into the colorful group of balls. "They were once in the shapes of human when they entered in this existence and they must decide whether to go back to the world of living or not. But as time moved forward and they couldn't decide, they began to lost their human forms and became what they are before us. These are the souls that forever wander in this existence."
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:07 pm
Nils wiped his tears with the back of his hand. He was just completely and utterly confused and overwhelmed. Just when he thought he knew what was going on, the truth had to show up and tell him that his assumptions were wrong. The boy swore he was right, that this was just some messed-up mind game that some spirit was playing on him, but still he couldn’t help but think that he was completely wrong, and what the woman said was right. He didn't want to believe her, for everything seemed so outrageous and unbelievable, but somehow... somehow, he knew that her words were true.
The boy sat up completely, pulling his knees to his chest. “The place... where souls linger...” He repeated softly to himself. Red eyes stared at the multi-colored balls, the souls that didn't decide where their destination would be and suffer for their indecisiveness. He rested his chin in his palm and his elbow against his left knee, closing his eyes for a moment. “So, you don't know how to escape... shouldn't it be as simple as wishing that you want to go back to the world of the living? Did you ever try to leave? What have you tried to do to escape this… place?” The boy looked up at her with a mixture of curiosity, innocence, sorrow, and sympathy. “… Aren’t you lonely? Don’t you have someone you want to return to?”
He wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling them even closer to his chest. He rested his chin on his knees, a small frown on his face. “How… how long have you been here? Do you... ever regret the decisions you made?” He stared at one of the souls, one that was a deep green. “Oh... I'm sorry. I'm just asking questions of the top of my head, aren't I?” He laughed weakly, his voice cracking and getting softer as his laughs faded to silence.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:51 am
The woman let out a crackling, but familiar laugh. "If I knew how to escape, then I should not be lingering with these poor excuses that were called souls....."
Her smirk later changed into a frown. She casted her golden eyes down, unsure of what she wished to seek. "But then again, maybe there's a reason why I'm trapped here and had never escaped.
"I do not know how long have I been in this existence. There is no time or day that shall tell you how long you've been trapped. However, I cannot deny that I tried to escape. Wishing to go to either the world of living or dead didn't work.
I wished to be perished, but still I linger in this existence. I knew that I had some unfinished business back in the world, but I could not tell what that business was. As for loneliness...... It is hard to tell for I cannot feel these emotions." The woman replied as she placed her hand over her face. A smirk suddenly sprung out from her frown and she let out a haunting laugh.
"It can be that the reason why I linger in this existence is because maybe.... I don't have a soul to begin with. Hohohohoho!!!!"
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:36 pm
Nils’ eyes widened as the woman spoke. If what the woman said was the truth… how long had he been there?
Minutes?
Hours?
Days?
Weeks?
Years?
He had no way to actually tell. The boy only had to assume he hadn’t been there too long. He decided not to dwell on the thought.
He shuttered visibly when she laughed. “Y-you don’t have a soul…? H-how is that even possible? There’s no way you can’t have--” He gasped. “Y-you… I thought you were… You’re a morph, aren’t you? Y-you have to be… you fit the characteristics of one… The lack of a soul, the pale complexion, the dark hair, the golden eyes…” He pointed at her face, her hair, and then her eyes. He stared at her, waiting for an answer, an explanation, anything so he wouldn’t feel so lost and confused.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:36 am
((Too lazy to log into Grishelda's account. sweatdrop ))
When she heard what the boy said, she quickly stopped her laugh and stared at him astound. So that feeling she had about him was accurate. There was something familiar about him.
She went to the boy and cupped her hand under his chin, yanking him up from where he sat and up closed to her face. Her grip under his chin was becoming firm and hard, making him gasped for air. There was a glint of sadistic in her eyes as she let out a smirk.
"So you DO know me? I had a feeling that we'd met, but I couldn't figure out where or when did we met."
She then quickly slammed him down, causing him to feel the pain shocked through his back and head. She placed her foot on top of his stomach. Her hand was now gripping onto his throat, squeezing it a little harder than when she held him by the chin. She leaned her head down so their eyes were met.
"You see, I've been wandering around this abyss for ages, not knowing where I should go or what unknown business I had left behind. In fact, I don't even know who I really am.....
However, just because my mind doesn't remember what my existence is or who I am, it doesn't mean that this body of mine doesn't remember either. The body can remember what the mind doesn't. I guess you could say it's instinct."
Her gripped hand later went back to his chin and pulled him closer to her face. "So you say that I'm a morph? Maybe I am or maybe I'm not. What else do you know about me?"
That glint in her eyes suddenly became more visible as she smirked even wider. "And don't worry, I'm not going to let you linger into another world..... yet."
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:30 pm
Nils gasped for breath, his eyes wide with pure terror. He felt absolutely paralyzed. His head and back throbbed with pain. Breathing was difficult, due to the pressure on his stomach and the previous gripping of his throat. The woman was obviously strong, too strong for someone with a weak physique (like himself) could handle. The boy knew that she was not someone to mess around with. That fact, along with her last sentence, made the boy realize that it'd be in his best interest to answer her questions honestly.
He gulped. "I... I'm not sure... I-I think I know who you are, but... I'm not positive..." He closed his eyes for a moment.
"I-If I'm right... then I encountered you before, during an October... a-a necromancer tried to take over Learania... the land I mentioned before... an-and she created morphs... to fight... a whole bunch... and the necromancer... actually succeeded... but some... rose up against her... and eventually beat her... and the morphs she had created... that were still loyal to her..." He paused for a minute so he could catch his breath.
"... I think you're one... of her morphs..."
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:09 am
Tyr had been hiding in the woods during the entire battle, spying on both sides and contemplating on which one to join. As he scaled a near-by tree, the old man spotted fiery explosions, tornadoes, bolts of lightning, and streams of dark energies coming from the once peaceful castle. Even so far away, he could hear the screams of the wounded and dying.
Suddenly, the berserker's wolf-friend, Lo'Gash, let out a howl. The massive wolf had began attacking one of the forces that had come too near.
Releasing a loud battle-shout, Tyr threw his gigantic hammer at an oncoming soldier before leaping from the tree and crushing two archers. "It wouldn't have ta end in bloodshed if ya just woulda just left me be!" he said in a deep, rumbling voice as he grabbed his hammer.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:25 am
Tibarn wheeled around to face Janaff for a moment, then laughed, "Just like the good old days, huh? I need you to take out the Valkyrie down there, she's really making it tough to bring anyone down!" Once Janaff had set off on his mission, the great Hawk immediately turned and raced through the air, rolling to the side as a crack of Bolting dropped where he would have been had he not moved. He poured on more speed and burst through a cloud of billowing smoke, right behind a Wyvern Lord. Though he was quite a bit too large, he landed on the Wyvern's back and grabbed the rider's spear arm, then ripped it off as the wyvern fell, its wing torn apart by the Hawk King's talon.
With the rider's arm in his claws, the spear still clutched tightly in its hand, Tibarn flew upward, grinning, and sliced a long gash from a pegasus' chest to its chin. Blood gushed out as the winged horse fell, and Tibarn tossed the arm and spear away as he picked out his next target.
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