The Guardians of Light: Second Edition CHAPTER TWO- CLOSED, ACCEPTING CHARS FOR NEXT CHAPTER

[Xero Scythe]

Damien growled as he stepped outside and looked at the mayhem. He pulled Kin onto the airship and clapped his hands a single time. A peal of silence ripped through the deck, much akin to pressure building up in one's ear. Immediately all magic stopped. "Congratulations, you all have officially been cut off from the World Tree's magic. You can rejoin the flow when you stop using the gift like a FUCKING TOY!" He snapped his fingers imperiously, causing all three of them to float over to him. "I got real tired of diapers and boys teasin' girls when your father hit 7 Silas, how pissed do you think I am now? And Maeve-" Here he spun around and faced her. "You should not have gone with Silas. That was personal. More so, you shouldn't have gotten into a goddamn competition over who's better over such trivial things! You will go apologize to Lisette. Now, Kin might not want to be the bastard who sticks his nose into everything, but I sure as hell stopped caring about that around when I blew past 30. And if any of you thinks they can still overpower me, you are more than welcome to try. I've been getting a little rusty against humanoid enemies."

Here Damien seemed more akin to a demon prince in all its pride and splendor rather than an Avalonian high priest. Damien dropped his angry tone and adopted a far more serious one. "Listen. We are all about to enter a death fog that no-one knows about. I know one thing, though: if we don't completely trust each other with our lives and harbor any feeling of hatred, I will turn this ship around personally. And it doesn't matter if I crash it into the sea or a mountain range, because if we don't trust each other in there, we. Will. All. Die. Get it? If it makes you feel better, you can all hate me- I reckon I can take it. But you all have to be united in thought, action, and heart. Got it?"

 

[Hussmann54]

"With all due respect high master, Im not the one who needs to be reminded to keep his focus." Kin said. He wasnt about to be chewed out for a trivial retaliation to such an aggressive gesture.
"I was simply trying to send the same message you were without such blunt use of powers as yourself and Silas. And shouting in my face isnt going to intimidate me, I have had plenty of that in my life already, neither will fighting threats from a man who is preaching unity to the converted."

Kin let his focus go physical, and he pulled himself down to the ground and broke from Damiens grip. He began to make for the door, but turned. "Im sorry if I crossed a personal line Silas. Wont happen again." And he walked out.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas had crashed into a wall by that point and was upside down when Damien floated him over to him. "Blood is kinda rushing to my head here..." said Silas, dizzy. He hung upside down for the whole speech before Damien turned him right side up. "Thats better..." said Silas. "I'm sorry we are being childish, Damien, and I assure you it won't happen agai...."

The Malachi bellowed loudly in his mind's ear " NO, CALLIDUS! LET HIM OPEN IT FROM HIS SIDE! YOU'LL REND YOURSELF APART!"
"Ow, dammit Malachi don't shout so loudly...." said Silas, covering his ears as they rang.
"Apologies, master. The Maledictum grows impatient upon the other side..."
"Let them wait, ow my ears are ringing now..." said Silas, rubbing a finger in his right ear.
"Damien, the hovering is relaxing and all but...."
Silas crashed into the floor with a thud "Hello, floor. Nice to see you!" said Silas, his face buried in the metal of the promenade.
"Can I have my magnetism back now?" asked Silas.
"You don't need it anymore, Silas. Your power lies in perdition now..." said Malachi in his mind's ear at a much lower level.

~~~

Later, Silas had cornered Lisette somewhere within the gantries between the gas bags that kept the great airship afloat. She was leaning over the rail and looking down as the metal framework below. It was hot within, as the machinery which worked the propellers pumped in the background. She turned away when Silas went to stand near her.
"I understand why you are angry with me..." he started.
She looked over at him and said with a bitter voice "Why did you have that necromancer raise me from the dead if you were just going to dump me?"
"That was not my intention, Lisette, and you know it. I had that necromancer raise you because I owed it to you. You died because my my stupid mistake..." said Silas calmly, but he had some frustration in his voice.
"Well, you can't make it all better by dragging me out of the primal nether all in pieces. You aren't the only one who was torn up at having to leave me..." said Lisette, biting back.
"I'm sorry, I truly am. But I am a different man now, and I have moved on. When I had the chance to bring you back I took it. I don't know why...but I had to. I felt like it was my sovereign duty..." said Silas, bowing his head to look at the machinery and the skeleton of the hull below.
"Well, I'm here now. What are you going to do with me?" asked Lisette.
So Silas turned and hugged her tightly.
"Unexpected...you're kind of crushing me...." she said, strained.
Silas let her go and she said "Alright, I forgive you but you've got a lot of work to do to prove you're not going to stomp all over me again."
Silas nodded and said "I look foreward to being friends."
Lisette smiled and said, while walking her forefinger and middle up Silas' arm, "Does this friendship have anything special coming with it?"
"If you want presents now and then, don't hesitate to ask. I'll make sure to send you things on special occasions..."
Lisette smiled and said "You're so easy to get stuff from. Did you know that?" and she pushed his shoulder. "Pushover."
Silas smiled "It isn't like we'd be able to have any children anyways. You're a corpse, I'm sure that would count as necrophilia."
Lisette bit her lip and said "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." then she brightened and tugged on Silas' horns "It's nice to know we are still friends. Now, go back to your dark haired girl." and Lisette skipped away, humming.
"I can see how you would have been interested..." remarked Malachi.
"You've no idea what it was like back then, Malachi." said Silas in return. Silas left the gantries and returned to his room.

~~~

The low thwock-thwock of the engines dulled to a low beat as the airship descended over the ground and came to a gentle rest on the ground. People jumped off with ropes and steel pins to tie the great vessel off as it tried to rise off the ground again. They were on a hilltop, overlooking a sea of fog. People piled out and began offloading supplies near the gangway. The tinkers were fiddling with calling stones, trying to find the owls in place around the perimeter to collect their findings.
Silas, however, was still asleep. His horns tangled in his bedsheets.

 

[Hussmann54]

Kin was one of the first on the ground. He landed with a lurch rather than a thud, as one might expect from the armor. One had to learn the ins and outs of staying mobile in armor that heavy. He raised the rifle and lined the sights up, unsure of the fog and what it could be hiding. Two other guardians followed in step, landing and beginning to clear the landing zone.

Nigel was up top with a rifle, an M1 grand with a scope. He spoke through the telepathic link.
"Hows it look little brother?"
"Too calm... I dont like it."
"I am, unfortunately, not surprised. If anything in there can see up past the fog cover, that means they have had ample time to prepare...."
"Send me the eyes..."
"On their way..."
Nigel set the rifle down and took a bag tied to a rope and began to lower it slowly down. When it reached the ground, Kin, still weary of his surroundings, untied the bag and tugged the rope. A second or so later, Nigel began pulling it back up.

Nicholas opened the bag and took out some of the pool balls. He whistled to the others, who briefly looked away from their perimeter. The tension was thicker than the fog, everybody was on edge, and rightly so. Kin tossed each of them a ball.
"Get a fix, then chuck `em." He explained, taking one out and focusing for a moment before hurling it as far out into the fog as he could.

At first he saw nothing but a thick swirling layer of fog as the ball was launched. Then a thud was heard as it hit the ground. He looked around, but to no avail. The fog was simply too thick here. A few blades of dew covered grass was all he could make out.

He yelled back to the other two, both of whom were imperiomancers he had recruited to help him.
"Im getting nothing here!"
"Same." They replied.

Meanwhile the elder Kin brother was pulling up the rope back up to one of the upper decks. He took a moment crouch down and coil it, knowing from a brief service in the British navy, how much a pain in the ass a tangled rope was on a ship of any sort. He finished and gently laid it back down, then stood up to return to his rifle. But the rifle was gone....
Nigel quickly ran and looked over the edge, but it wasnt on the ground. Besides, he could have sworn he placed it in a secure location where it would fall off.
"Damn...." He murmured.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas woke and untangled himself and tried his best to dress himself. Fortunately the horns on his head did not cause too much of a problem.
He attached the scabbard to his belt and walked outside, his head bare for the first time in a long time. He pulled the collar of his coat up and jumped off the airship.

A tinker was fiddling with an owl, as he approached the owl clicked a little and out of its bottom dropped a glowing crystal. The man was looking at the crystal in the light and said as Silas approached "I'd be careful where you walk..."
"Why?" asked Silas
"We're on faerie ground now.....they might be watching us now...." said the man, dreamily.
"I'm not going to be afraid of two inch tall pixies...what are they going to do? Shower me in sparkling dust?"
"Shh! They might hear you." said the man, looking at Silas. "The fog is expanding quickly."
"Then we had best get moving." said Silas.

He walked up to where Kin was standing and where the other Guardians were arming up. "Sometimes, I think the fumes those tinkers work with gets to them." and he tapped his temple for emphasis.
Malachi spoke "I sense great shadow within...send out some of your fire..."
Silas lit a tiny green ball of energy and flicked it at the fog and it pushed away from the tiny spark like soap in dirty water. The fog quickly snapped back, though.

~~~

The squad of ten Guardians worked their way through the fog with Silas' hellish flames pushing the fog back. Every so often, Kin threw one of his scrying orbs, looking for movement or landmarks. Silas was silent, focusing on the jet of flame he was pushing out at the front.

They were deep into the thicket of the fog wen one of Kin's orbs hit something. There was a small yelp and a patter of footfalls. Everyone stopped and Silas let out a large jet of flame upwards to signal the people on the outside they had stopped. Quickly, a Guardian tossed Silas torches one at a time that he lit up and placed, pushing the fog back around them. Shadows were moving ominously.

Thats when it happened, like a drop of ink in a glass of clear water. The fog around them turned black as night. Hooded figures erupted from the darkness, forming from it. They surrounded the Guardians, who took a phalanx stance. One of the hooded figures dropped its hood. It was a man with a green symbol, an Acryphic rune for "Death". The others were the same and took off their hoods and the darkness lifted. "We had worried London had fallen..." said the man who had doffed his hood first.
"Necromancers, are you?" asked Silas.
"Yes, the local chapter of Cornwall. We've been shadowing this fog for days, but haven't been able to find a way out. It grows as we walk."
Silas motioned everyone to stand down.
The necromancers were all somber and pale faced. They looked thirsty and they all sat down with the Guardians. Silas offered their leader his canteen of water which he took and thanked Silas for it.
"So, horned one. I assume you are here to stop whatever it is thats taken to haunting our town?" asked a necromancer.
Silas nodded and said "Tell me everything."

~~~~

It wasn't long ago. Cornwall has been a sleepy place, no real monster wickedness. Then, all of a sudden, people were getting snatched out of their beds at night. Oh you might hear 'em scream but no one could catch whoever it was. We figured out this thing had weird footprints. Not human ones, they was boots with like an inner horseshoe. Except that horseshoe was backwards. We followed whoever it was but lost the trail out by the stone circle just outside of town. We kept vigil all over town, but we couldn't catch the best 'till one night we caught it. It was just walking the streets, looking in windows. The eyes we saw would've made you sick. Like a goat's eyes on a human face. Followed 'im to the circle and then he just vanished. Like he was there one second, the next he was gone. *poof* We were freakin' out then but there was nothin' we could'a done. The next day, one of our own was out patrollin'. They thought the Darkness had determined 'is time was up and we just let this...armored thing with more 'an one set of horns on his noggin drag him off. Didn't have any face under the armor but he just stared at us as he had out friend's wrist. He was kickin' and screamin' and said "You aren't the Darkness! Unhand me!"
Then the fog started rollin' in and people started just vanishing into thin air. Quiet as a mouse one minute someone is there, the next they aren't. Monstrous it was, we tried to go get help but as we left town the fog came rushing up to us like a wave and spread way out over the whole valley. It's unnatural, I say, bloody unnatural.

 

[Hussmann54]

Kin huffed under the mask. 'Obviously' he thought in response to the last remark.
"You said it had lots of horns and no face?" he said, still looking out towards the fog.
The leader nodded.
Kin turned towards the group and began to think and in doing so projected his mental image onto the outside of his face plate. It looked like a rough sketch done with a pencil, but lines moved of their own will, and swirled around eventually forming what he guessed it to look like.
"What do you think your man meant by "You aren't the darkness"?"

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"The Darkness is what we serve. Big followers of the Light call it "The Destroyer" but basically its this formless evil force which rolls the dice and decides when we are gonna go away forever. Like, thats how we die. It takes myriad forms, but we always know what the Darkness is even if we don't know when it will happen. It is like knowing an old friend." said the necromancer, handing the canteen back to Silas.

Silas puzzled and said "Malachi, what kind of shadow daemon has lots of horns and no face?"
Malachi's voice rumbled into being inside Silas' mind and said "If it wore faceless armor covered in spikes, with horseshoes hammered backwards on the boots, then you are looking at an example of an Emissary. Emissaries are members of the Forgotten, they are harbingers to a larger force. They abduct and study those they are going to invade and then commit their troops. The Forgotten sacked Rome, slew King Arthur, they've been behind many suspicious disappearances or deaths of those who might have learned the true name and weakness of them. The Destroyer's foot soldiers."

"It's Forgotten....but a different kind from a regular foot solider. Like, a harbinger. They come and study the people they are going to be fighting before they attack. Malachi, why do they have to keep re-analyzing Humans?" said Silas.
"Forgotten constantly are dying and being replaced by others. They only live for fifteen years though they mature by only one year. The Destroyer spawned them from himself, along with the Jahi, the Kokyi, the Soul Scourges and the Pretenders...." said Malachi.
Silas turned to Kin and asked him "If we fight Forgotten, we'll need your experience. How did you kill it again?"

 

[Hussmann54]

"Give me a moment." Kin said. The armored figure stood almost perfectly still. In his mind he was in counsel with Nigel, and the two search their collective subconsciousness for information. Eventually he snapped out of the trance like state.

"It isnt easy." Kin said, somewhat disturbed. "Magic has to penetrate their heart, but they are incredibly resilient. They can take a beating before they drop their defenses enough. That is how they win fights. They outlast their opponents. One must also burn the bodies within 24 hours of their death or they resurrect. That is their greatest strength. They assume human forms to hide their power, and they fight as weak as normal humans do. Then the enemy leaves the body unchecked..... And you can imagine what it would be like to be besieged by such a force....."

Kin pulled Silas aside. "This is big. When they show up, it changes everything. They are not bent on destroying the world or killing everyone in it, they just have a singular goal in mind. An Emissary killed President Lincoln, set the black plague loose. Did you know Atlantis was real? Well, it was until they got to it. If we are going to fight this, we cant engage in ioen war, we need to smother it fast, before it gets out of hand."

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Malachi's voice made a low buzzing in Silas' head as Malachi thought.
"I fear this is just a small foray meant to capture and eliminate a single person. Emissaries take on human disguises but they are obviously inhuman. Not like the mark of a Pretender but it is in the way they act and talk, and you can see their flesh mask twitch and spasm. They use a living person and just wear their skin, it is barbaric. A person's mind is usually dead anyways....oh and I forgot to mention you still need to....."
"Hush, Malachi. I know, the portal. One thing at a time." said Silas in return.
Silas passed his torches around and the party walked further into the fog.

~~~

In the town itself, there was no one at all. Doors creaked creepily in the wind, unnerving Silas. Silas could hear the scrapes of feet on the rooftops. Silas signaled for everyone to stop. Silas listened close and followed the sound. A porch swing was rocking, making a sound like footsteps. Silas stopped it and looked around. He caught sight of a figure in the gloom and he sent a bolt of his energy out. It was just a tree, momentarily glittering in the light before the fog devoured it again. "This place keeps finding ways to scare me." commented Silas.
A voice, twisted and awkward, sounded from down the street "Do I scare you, Silas? Or should I call you Horn-Skull?"
Out of the gloomy fog came a figure with multiple weird looking horns sprouting from his skull in many curving paths. His eyes were ugly, goats eyes. It was Ivan, but whatever was in his body wasn't Ivan. He brandished his sword, long since corrupted and become demonic.
Silas took a battle stance "Ivan, this isn't you. This is the Forgotten playing puppet with your body. You don't want this."
Ivan cackled, and held up a staff in his other hand. His staff was, also, demonic and crackled with evil energy. "I hoped you would see my victory parade. Too bad you're too late, I already won."
"Iavn, this isn't you."
Ivan barked loudly and in an inhuman voice "There is no Ivan, only Zu'ul!"
Silas drew his sword and stood ready to fight. "I don't care who you are, Forgotten monstrosity. But you will not continue to defile the body of one of our own!"
Ivan shook with laughter "Then try and stop me, I dare you!"
Then Ivan/Zu'ul drove the staff into the ground. The ground began to shake, cracking and collapsing beneath their feet. Ivan's staff created a pinnacle on which he watched as the Guardians and the necromancers tried to avoid falling. Finally managing to jump across the falling earth he stood with the others on the edge and helped people out.

A great crater had opened where the town once was. Whatever daemonic magic Ivan/Zu'ul had in his hands, it dismissed the gray fog. The earth was twisted and corrupted with black tentacles and other ugly, spiky protruberances. Below, within the crater, a huge purple dragon was curled in slumber. Ivan raised his sword high and shouted for all to hear "LET THIS BE THE FIRST BLOW TO STRIKE DOWN THE LIGHT FROM ITS HOLY SHRINE. ALL GLORY TO THE DARKNESS!" and unleashed a bolt of red energy from himself and the sword. It shot into the dragon's body, bringing it to horrid life. Ivan's former body disintegrated under the magic's might. The Forgotten monster was like a black scaled lizard-headed monster. The dragon bellowed loud enough to shake the earth. Then Silas saw it, the sword driven into the monster's skull. He needed it!

Everyone prepared to fight for their lives.

 

[Hussmann54]

"HEY ZU'UL!" A gunshot rang out. The Figure that stood in Ivans place was rock backwards slightly as it attempted to materialize. Kin could tell it has used residual geomancy energy to slow down the bullet enough to stop its lethality.
"I know this asshole, lemme take him." Kin said in the link to Silas' mind.
"I GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA!" Kin shouted. "MEDELLIN, COLUMBIA!"
"Sharee koulta!" ((pronounce "Kul-da")) The demon shouted back. It was old demonic for "Face of mirrors" due to the reflective gold like substance of the mask. Kin had gotten used to the mantra by now, many Rhyle developed reputations. And this was not the first time these two had meet. Ku'ul took Ivans staff and used it like a pole vault off the pinnacle. When he struck the ground, some kind of dispersion energy launched him into the air. He landed with a hard crash and more energy was emitted. He landed in a sort of crouch position and stood up and laughed, pointing to his own face. "Koulta, you have something on your face." He was referring to the marks on the mask left by the tentacles in the void. "Yessssss.... I remember you........ When I burned down that officials house.... and you we just a.... little.... too.... late..."

Without warning the two struck at once. Kin fired another shot, but Zu'ul was faster and threw a bolt of energy which Kin only barely rolled out of the way in time, but Zu'ul had gotten faster than Kin remembered him being, and quickly closed the gap between them. As Kin steadied himself from the momentum of the role, Zu'ul swung Ivan's staff in a manner more akin to a baseball bat. It struck Kins back and shot him a good 6 or 7 feet forward. Kin rolled over, which was extremely uncomfortable in the armor.

It needed to go, it was slowing him too much to fight such a fast opponent. As he stood up, he reached under the breastplate and pulled a small cord. The heavy set of armor was jettisoned and underneath was lighter leather armor. With the breastplate went the armor plates on his upper arms. It all slide off in a smooth motion.

"Thats quite the parlor trick." Zu'ul smirked.
Kin grabbed his bandoleer and quickly swung it over his shoulder.
"Just wait till you see my next one!" Kin rushed him, sword drawn. Now he was in his element. Considerably faster, he matched Zu'ul move for move. The two dueled back and forth, oblivious to the world around them. Suddenly Kin got the upper hand. Zu'ul missed his step and left a window. Kin swung his sword wildly and allowed it to be knocked from his hand. The force of the swung made Zu'ul recoil, bending his legs and crouching. Then Kin jumped and pushed himself off of and over Zu'ul's body and landed behind him. Not an easy task, even in light armor. Kin didnt waste a moment, he drew his fist back, as if to punch his foes back, but right as it began to move forward, the retractable wrist blade shot out and soon cut a hole clean through Zu'uls chest.
"Told you I had more surprises." Kin whispered.
"Impressive...... but my dear Koulta..... its a shame.... you missed my heart..." Suddenly Zu'ul swung his head back and headbutted Kin, knocking him away.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas dodged the casual stamp on one of the dragon's massive clawed feet. Silas called up another one of those funny green fireballs and sent it like a javelin at the dragon. It batted the flame aside and licked the scorched scales before hissing loudly. It swiped its tail at Silas, and Silas grabbed on tight. He used his sword as leverage, stabbing it in and out like an ixe axe. He climbed up the dragon's back. It thrashed and howled as he climbed up before coming across the top of the creature's tail. He stabbed there multiple times, causing the creature to roar and buck, trying to dislodge his. He jumped and grabbed one of the long spikes growing from the dragon's back and held tight. It cut into his hands as he jumped from spike to spike. Calling up his fire, he shot it straight down into one of the spikes, dislodging it. He threw it at the sensitive wing membrane which made it roar and thrash, crashing into buildings. The Guardians below began shooting the beast, bullets pinged off the resilient scales.


Silas got to the back of the neck and using both hands called up all of his magnetic power. The creature's blood was like any normal living creatures, it had iron in it. Two huge spikes of metal sprouted out of its neck, which drooled blood. It coughed and hacked, the spikes were blocking its airways. It thrashed and bucked, throwing Silas into the air. He landed with a massive crash through a roof and down through to the floor below. He got up and dragged himself to the outside where the thing had fallen on its side, rolling in circles trying to pull the spikes out. Silas tried to stand, but his right leg was broken from the fall. He hobbled over and tried to get at the dragon's skull. The sword was within easy access, but it was not to be just yet. The dragon pulled one of the spikes out and could breathe and brought its tail around like a whip.

*crack* Silas went flying through the stone wall of a building, his horns were throbbing now. Malachi whispered "Your power is greater than you think, use it!"
Silas focused inside himself as the dragon began blowing gouts of flame at the buildings, searching for Silas. Ignoring the ineffectual bullets.
Silas felt a tingling energy forming within himself, he knew what power the void had given him now. Perditiomancy, the most deadly and powerful of magics. Pertidiomancy can disintegrate, burn, anchor the magic of others and even corrupt the physical form.
Silas felt the dragon glower down at him and take a deep breath. But the flame that came simply spread around him, like a stone in a river. Silas crossed his arms across his body and began chanting.
"By blood formed, by blood undone."
and made a slashing movement. The creature clutched at its chest, roaring.
Silas then reached out like he was pulling something with his mind. The creature's body began to erupt it ugly, black spikes and its flesh began to boil off. Blood began to pool below the creatures as it roared and thrashed, swiping its huge feet at the air before collapsing backwards and thrashing. All that was left was a skeleton whose eyes glowed evilly. Ectoplasm coated the creature and organs beat within the monster's now weak form. It growled and snapped its teeth. Silas conjured up a massive bolt of his energy and sent it out like a gunshot right at the things heart.

It exhaled and died, the light fading from the eyesockets. Silas dragged himself over to the skull, where the sword was, and lifted his right arm but it hurt to raise it above his waist. He gritted his teeth and reached out, his whole body shaking with pain and he finally grasped it and pulled the sword free. Silas suddenly felt new vigor enter him, like the sword was somehow healing him. His skin gave off steam as the sword glowed red hot and began to change from a simple sword into a massive flanged daemonic sword glittering with red runes. The rune's glow faded but the sword was forever changed by his grip, it seemed to hum with power.

Silas felt a change come over his and Malachi's voice said "Now, your true daemonic form is unlocked. Let us truly blend now, master."
Silas said "Do it!"
Silas was wreathed in an utterly dark curtain of energy and when he emerged from it he was no longer human. Huge muscles pulsed under his skin which was now coal black with purple glowing palms, his legs had hooves which also glowed with purple fire. Between his curled horns floated a glowing purple symbol, the symbol of agony that only harmed servants of the Darkness.
Silas spoke with a combined voice, Malachi's own twist echoing with him. "You, Zu'ul, Emissary of the Darkness. You are not meant for this plane, go from the Light's world and never return."
Zul'ul laughed as he did not turn from fighting Kin. "Love to, dearie. But I'm busy."
Silas took slow, deliberate steps. Leaving flaming hoofmarks as he walked. The necromancers, who had ceased fighting and were only staring stood aside as Silas approached where Kin fought. The demonic sword still in his hand, Silas roared and flapped his great bat wings. The dust went flying around him and he began to fly towards the spit of rock where Kin and Zu'ul fought.

Spoiler: Silas Daemonified

 

[Hussmann54]

Zu'ul looked up at Silas.
"Silas Silas Silas... Tenacious aren't we? But no...."
He formed a mass of anti-matter and hurled it at Silas in mid-flight.
"I want him...." He pointed at Kin. Kin ran and slid next to his armor, grabbing the knife from the sheath he raised it just in time to stop a blow from the staff. He rolled away and stood back up, flicking his left wrist and causing the small hand shield to spread out. It blocked another hard vertical swing from the staff. As the staff swung down, Kin aimed a kick at Zu'uls knee. He heard something pop and Zu'ul fell to one knee. Kin riased the hunting knife and brought it down into Zu'uls mouth.
" Thats it! Take it! TAKE IT!" Kin growled rotating, sliding and pulling the knife around Zu'uls throat. Then he released his grip on the knife and the wrist blade came back out.

This time Kin didnt miss. He penetrated the heart, and let imperiomancy take over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well look at you Koulta...." Zu'ul coughed. "Not bad..." He and Kin were in the blank white canvas of the meta-splinter. Zu'uls body looked just as bad as it did in the real world, as did Kins, had it actually been visible. No knife impaired his speech however. He lay on the ground, knee broken, mouth coughing up plenty of blood.
"Maybe diverting energy to that dragon wasnt the best move.... But it sure as shit scared you boys." He laughed, coughing and choking as he tried to maintain composure. Kin stood over him, a silent executioner. Suddenly a viscous image of a skull appeared as if it had been carved by an invisible trick. He then looked over. A small table had a beating heart on it. Kin drew his knife.
"Wanna tell me what you are up to before I end you?"
The demon laughed. "We both know I wont talk."
"Yea" the armored figure shrugged "figured it wouldnt work." His tone was solemn, but it still held notes of his cocky attitude he got when he began fighting. He walked over and drove the knife through the heart, and the world around him desolved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the real world, the demon was alive, but knew death was counting the seconds.

Kin still had the skull on the mask. It was a horrific sight to those who didnt expect it.
He began to walk away, looking at a Pyromancer who was amongst them. "End him when Silas is through with him."

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas caught the antimatter ball in his chest but it slid around him.....it barely hurt his flesh but it stripped away some of the shadowy barrier which seeped back into place. He landed with a loud thud and walked over to where Zu'ul lay in a pool of blood. "Too late, the kill....isn't....yours" said Zu'ul trying to cackle but choked on his blood. Silas put his cloven hoof on Zu'ul's chest and pushed gently until he heard something pop. Out of his side came a sharp spike all covered in blue runes. Silas picked up the lifeblood crystal and without looking, jammed the huge daemon sword into Zu'ul's chest and twisted it. Zu'ul died and began to turn into ectoplasm. The shadowy energy faded and slithered away from Silas, and he was normal again. The crystal, as Malachi had instructed, held the thoughts and memories of a Forgotten and would disintegrate to dust soon after the death of the body. He handed it to Kin.
"Search it for knowledge, but I fear the Nameless Ones lie beyond the rift here. The rift is not closed yet, it must be closed on the other side."
Kin took the crystal and asked "Nameless Ones?"
"Maledictii who stopped following the stoic path, they went over to the reformist path. However, these new demons were so wicked that hell threw them out too. They went to the Far Veil and took over control of the underlings of the Darkness. If the Forgotten are moving...." said Silas, trailing off

Damien had spread a thick sheet of white light as was using it as a walkway to approach Silas and Kin. Silas turned and said to Damien "Would you like to do the honors of burning the body before it can regenerate?"

 

[Xero Scythe]

Damien sighed as he looked down at the body of Ivan. "Damn. I hate when this happens." Damien sighed, resting heavily upon his staff. "Every damn time, they think the light isn't working for them, so they turn to evil." One could see stoic old Damien holding back tears of regret and anger. "If only, if only..." He chuckled miserably, while forming a ball of light, which erupted into a ball of white fire. Damien turned his palm towards Zu'ul/Ivan, and launched the white hot ball of fury. "May you find some peace in the next life." Damien said, turning away from the burning corpse. He shook his head and turned to the others, bloodlust in his eyes. "Who else feels like paying the Nammeless ones a visit? If they were demons that were thrown out of hell, I'll show them what hell is really like." Damien's Seal of the Sun on his left hand shoulder began to shine, showing it was holding back his vast reserves of power.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas patted Damien's shoulder. "Soon, Damien. First, we are going to welcome some friends."

Silas used some geomancy to pull up a staircase of stone down to the bottom of the crater. There was a black stone archway there, empty and cold. Silas even touched it, it felt like it had not been touched in a long time. Silas lifted the daemon sword to the gate and tapped on it with the tip but nothing happened. Silas then focused inwards and Malachi lead him to pushing some of his power out into the stone archway.

It burst into a purple light, like a gentle whirlpool in a lake. Silas stepped back, and as Damien and Kin stood beside him, out came the first Maledictii. It was tall and strong with grey skin like Silas and strong muscles. He was clad in close-fitting black and grey silks and a leather jerkin. He held a staff in his hand on which hung a strange, ovular black thing with several oblong portals covered in purple crystal with light coming from within. Soon, other Maledictii were about them. Grey skinned, tall, and fair to look upon they looked at the humans. Last came the bird-headed Anchorites and their Ibis-headed leader.

The first one to come through said, looking Silas in his eyes, "I am High-Lord Callidus. I am the leader of the Conclave of Shadows, the chamber of rulership over all Maledictii. What you see here, are the once-lords of the angelic host so long ago and the highest priests who served us in the world."
Silas bowed to High-Lord Callidus. But the High-Lord shook his head "You need not bow to me. I am only the right hand of our true leader. He comes now, a starlight apparition."
And the High-Lord stood back and kindled between them, like a breath of blue fire, came an image. It was as if Silas was looking into the Mirror of Things Yet To Pass. The translucent blue apparition was of Silas, aged with a graying stubble and his horns worn.
"Silas Grey, the time has come for you to become a true Illrian Knight. Swear to me your allegiance to the Light. For I am the Illrian Shadow."
Silas kneeled and said "I swear to serve the Light with faith and honor and to follow the bidding of the Great Guardian of my sign. My sword is the sword of the Light, may it strike down evil where ever it may hide." and he rose.
The Illrian Shadow said "Silas, you must know. I am you."
Silas was puzzled "How?"
"I am reaching out from your future to my past. Though I cannot tell you how, from those assembled before you will you truly learn the craft of the Illrian and you will control your vast power. You must know something though, so that perhaps in the future Kha'adaj may not come so soon."
Silas said "Tell me, then. I listen."
"Though the third Sa-Kahan, the Betrayer. Know that another one is soon to be made, you know him. Our brother will be Sa-Kahan, will be Kadajite as we say in Silrian."
Silas wiped sweat from his face and fought for words to say "How?" was all he could ask.
"You will assault the fortress of the Nameless Ones where you will find Azriel waiting. You will be clad in full Daemonite armor and with your blade you shall lead your people to smite down Azriel, darkest of the Fallen Ones and lord of the First Forgotten Legion. His tower, however, is his life and as long as it stands in the Far Veil he will return. You must pull every ounce of the corrupted energy which keeps the tower afloat. But Dorian will not relinquish all of the energy, he will keep some for himself. It will devour him....he comes to you even now with a host of Vampires at his command. See to it he promises to relinquish the energy when the time comes. Only the strongest of heart must pull the energy out and Malachi shall say how. Go with my blessing, Silas Grey of yesteryear." and the apparition faded from sight.
"Let us ascend" said the High-Lord, pointing up the staircase. As storm clouds blew over and thundered out a greeting. Silas mulled his thoughts and brooded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stone circle was, just as described by the lead necromancer, just a few standing stones in a circle. Silas looked at each one individually, they didn't resonate to any of his magic. Silas closed his eyes and used his geomancy to feel through the earth any caverns. He felt the enemy coming from his feet flow around a large, empty space below them. Silas opened his eyes and said "Theres a large cave below us." and he went to the stone tablet in the center of the circle and using his strength and mixing it with his geomancy he lifted it aside. There was an old stone staircase roughly hewn into the stone. Silas noticed it was starting to get dark. "Lets camp here for the night, I'd like Kin to come with me to bring some extra supplies over and we'll need some tinkers too. I'd like some of their explosives, should worse come to worse and we have to collapse the cave." he signaled to Kin and they walked together back to the airship.

 

[Hussmann54]

Kin sniffed the air as he turned. "I have the funny feeling I have been here before...."
He quickened his pace briefly to catch up to Silas. "..And I dont like it...."
He fidgeted with his armor as he readjusted it.

They walked for a bit. Kin finally broke the silence, he turned to Silas "So do you think that guy was really you?" A large question mark materialized on his mask as he voiced his thoughts.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"I don't know...but...deep down I think that it's true." replied Silas.

The airship was still tied down and everyone was sitting around, sleeping on boxes of munitions and other such things. "I think we overpacked..." remarked Silas as he stepped over some people. Silas found his mother sitting on top of a box of ammunition, reading a book while a tiny light hovered over her shoulder. Silas very briefly explained and asked "We could use a few things tomorrow...could you ask some tinkers in the morning?" his mother nodded and went back to her book. "You still have some of those pool balls, Kin? I'd like to try to get a look down there..."

 

[Hussmann54]

"Yeah, I still have five or six left." Kin nodded as he took off the mask.
"Could you do me a favor?" He then asked. "I need a silver lined blade, two in fact." He looked at the sword strapped to his back. "I figure a sword wouldnt be too hard for you, but this.."
He held up his hand and let the retractable blade shoot out.
"Well I was hoping to simply make two smaller blades, one of steel and the other of silver. I wanna grab one of your tinkerers and get this thing opened up, then you can have a look. And while your at it..." With a hopeful look, he held up the other, which was the small expanding shield piece."
Silas looked for a moment, then with a sigh "Sure.."
"Thanks." Kin handed Silas the gauntlets.
"You really dont like vampires, do you Kin?"
"No."
There was an awkward silence.
"Well why not?"

Kin took a deep breath, then sat down on an ammo crate.
"It wasnt always just the Brothers Kin. We had a younger sister. Natalia. One night, some vampires were out feeding. They saw her beauty and took advantage of her, and turned her into one of them in the process. But Stockholm Syndrome is a lot harder to fight when its vampires...."
He sighed. "Eventually, she became a strong devotee, and couldnt be swayed. Me and Nigel hunted them down and tried to find her, but to no avail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lexington, Virginia.
10 years earlier.
Near the Virginia Military Institute.
Nigel Kin and Nicholas Kin sent to neutralize vampire threat in the town.
Five Institute Cadets and four civilians found dead in two weeks.

The brothers Kin stood in a dark alleyway. No armor, just street clothes,but with concealed weapons; revolvers and short blades. A small bar called "The Palms" bustled with activity. Cadets frequented it on the weekends to relax from the strict military life. They waited.... and waited..... and waited.....

Eventually a Cadet emerged. Clinging to his arm was young beautiful thing. She was barely 19, but was "full bodied." The two stumbled out, the cadet having spent a considerable amount of cash to impress her and get her drunk. He had no idea what was really happening. The Brothers followed them. They stumbled into an alleyway. They watched as the Cadet began to force himself on her, but she didnt object.

It pained the Brothers. Nicholas couldnt help but turn his head away.
"Dammit Natalia, please stop...." He begged in his mind.

The girl was reaching a hand down towards the cadets belt when Nigel's voice rang through the alley.
"THATS ENOUGH SISTER!"
The Cadet groaned, thinking he had blown his chance. Kin drew a pistol.
"You, get out of here..." He pointed it at the Cadet who quickly began to back off, but then Natalia grabbed him and bit down on his neck. Nicholas fired a shot out, but Natalia wouldnt back off. The Cadet struggled and managed to break free, but was bleeding profusely. He passed out. A nasty combination of alcohol, rapid heart rate from arousal, then the shock of the bite and the loss of blood.....

Without warning, two more vampires appeared on the rooftops. The brothers opened fire, the shots woke the whole town up. Whistles were heard and soon an entire town built on martial ethics was stirring. This would not end well...

Nigel managed to land a hit and kill one of the blood suckers, but the other made it onto the street and Nicholas gave chase. Nigel had his sister cornered, or so he had thought. But her agility had increased significantly. Nicholas was also unsuccessful, loosing to the enhanced speed of the night walkers.

It took two months for local authorities and the Institute to sort things out, and the brothers Kin were held by the court systems for the duration for questioning, interrogation and inquiry, as well as private debriefing. Fortunately, Rhyle authority caught wind of the situation and sent an ambassador who happened to be an Alumni of the Institute to mediate. The Institute Commandant (president figure) has since, then, been briefed of the Rhyle, as well as other similar activities and groups.

A body, later confirmed to be Natalia Kin, was found rotting in a warehouse two years later.

Spoiler: OOC

My little shout out to Virginia Military Institute. My brother graduated from that school...

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Silas kicked a tinker who woke up flailing. "Morning, princess cuckoo. I need your help for a second..."

The blades attached to Kin's wrists were a complex and clockwork mechanism. The blade revealed, Silas took the silver bar in hand and with his geomancy bent it until it was liquid and laid it over the blade and let it seal over it and harden. While he was laying the rest of the silver on the other blade he said "You know, I wonder how sturdy my horns are...."
Kin probably had a puzzled look but the darn faceplate betrayed no emotion.
"So I can headbutt people....it might be a good trick...." finished Silas.

"The shield too?" and Kin nodded so he took another silver bar and began to let it seep over the shield. "Do you think we'll find anything down in that cavern???"

 

[Hussmann54]

"Yeah." Kin said, taking the mask off. He was considerably sweaty. Heat could build up fast underneath it.
"And with our luck, it will probably have many teeth and a nasty appetite"

As the tinkerer refitted the blade into the gauntlet, Kin watched.
When it was done, he slid the gauntlet on and pulled the two levers inside. They were small spring loaded things, one fired the blade out, and the other acted as a safety, easy to reach quickly, but almost impossible to accidentally extend and kill somebody mid-hug.

The blade was only slightly slower, this was quickly adjusted by disassembling the device again and getting a slightly thicker spring. Soon it moved with the same smooth action as before. Kin was gonna need this if what was said of Damien was true.

He also decided to leave the heavy upper armor piece behind. Vampires were always faster than him, he needed to level the playing field as much as possible.

Soon Nigel approached, he had a small box. "Happy Birthday little brother!" He said with a wit. He turned to Silas. "Id imagine you being quite the rock hound, so you will get this right off the bat. My dear brother on the other hand... not so much. So I will give you a hint." He opened the box and pulled out a single shotgun shell. Cracking it open to reveal a shiny powder, he continued. "On big charts, its called "AG".... familiar?" He held the powder from the shell up to Silas' nose.