Silas was trying to be careful when he brushed the vase off the ledge and send it clattering thousands of feet down. Waking every dozing Mooncalf within the spire, which immediately roused at the noise agitated. Silas couldn't see Damien but assumed he facepalmed.
Damien walked quietly, knowing how to stay silent. Even if you knew where he was, you couldn't see him. After over half a century of practice, Damien could just...blend into the shadows. You knew he was there, you just couldn't find him. Damien shivered as he saw the Mooncalves. "Bloodsuckin' bastards..." Damien thought. He remembered them from the Star Spire.
He saw Silas knock a vase over the ledge. Damien's eyes widened as he tried to catch it with his staff. He watched as the vase fell down the ungodly height and ring at the bottom, an unholy racket. "gotta give 'em this- Veil goods are built to last." Damien then watched as all the Mooncalves woke up from the noise. Damien covered his face with his left hand, as if to separate himself from this reality, make it so it didn't happen. "Silas," He groaned, "You have no idea how much I hate you right now." Damien sighed as he brought his staff down on a Mooncalf, the creature making a squelching sound as it disappeared from reality. Still, thousands upon millions of the Star-spawn cannon fodders rose up, ready to swarm the questers.
Zyphe giggled as the moon calves stumbled toward them. He knocked one of the path with his staff, sending it hurtling down toward the ground. He waved his hand as one of the calves became weak, Aging it backwards. "First bit of action ive seen in a while!"
Deios smiled, an excited look on his face, then raised both of his hands high, his palms errupting into bright red flame, he immediately punched the two nearest moonclaves with a single fist, knocking them out of the sky and sending a shockwave of fire continuing the line of his strike, engulfing several others.
"Some action at last," he said with a chuckle as he used his rod to heat and pop the eyes of five claves, sending them flying around blindly, as they passed him he reached up and crushed two between his fists with a fiery crash.
A moonclave attempted to bite down on Kin from behind, but his armor got in its way. Before it could even think about having to wrestle its way between the plates of fine steel, Kin grabbed it by its arm and threw it over himself. It lander with a hard thud in front of him and was quickly finished with Kins hunters knife through its throat.
He recovered back to a standing position and sliced at another, dropping it with the same grace as the first. "We dont have time for this." He murmured.
Then spoke aloud to the group, " Hey boys! As much as I love whole sale slaughter, we have a job to do!"
Ivan swung his scythe, slicing through several Mooncalves, the sycthe blade automatically shifting around at the end of the arc for a second sweep, he stepped forward and struck at another few mooncalves, they were more of a nuisance than a threat, he continued to mow down more but there seemed to be no end to them.
"i've had enough of this" drawing on as much power as he dared he wrenched up a chunk of the floor above the center of the group as well as several shells of stone to shield everyone, the floating chunk of rock started to shake before exploding into thousands of minute shards heading in every direction, taking out almost all of the mooncalves in the immediate area, finally the shells broke away into dust, leaving everyone untouched.
"i think we should move before the next lot reaches us." he said as he cut down a few survivors.
Silas nodded trying to doge a cheeky, low flying one attempting to latch on to his head. "Lets keep ascending!" he shouted over the din of buzzing, incomprehensible star speak. One of the Guardians, whose name escaped Silas at the time, went down when a Mooncalf latched on to his ehad and in a fruitless attempt to dislodge it stumbled over the side and careened down the open space of the tower before the echoing sound of *skrunch* went up the tower. "Ouch" muttered Silas "Guess I'm going to be writing someones mother when I get back"
The tower was immense, and the Mooncalves did not stop assailing them...until they stopped. Fleeing from the level they'd passed. Silas knew they could fly higher, but something was scaring them away. Then Silas noticed one of the immense gargoyles had moved, its faceless visage carved with a bloody rune and its horns were curved and made of sharp metal. Silas blinked and it had moved again, closer and crawling from its sconce. Silas blinked again and it had a hand on the staircase, keeping it from turning to realign with the next staircase above them that rotated in space. "Guys, first guardian!" Silas shouted pointing, trying not to blink.
Damien walked calmly onwards, letting his aura loose. If anyone had good internal eyes, they would notice that magic was licking the air all around Damien, like he was surrounded in deadly flame. All the Mooncalves that hit this barrier instantly incinerated, and the rest felt a primal fear from Damien, a long forgotten predator that wasn't to be screwed with. "Thank you for the trick, Eliza." He said mentally.
Suddenly, all the Mooncalves disappeared. Damien headed up the stairs and looked at the gargoyle. He noticed Silas staring without blinking and decided there must be a good reason. Damien stared at the creature and began to whisper towards Silas. "How do you want to do this? Everyone gang up, or have one person stay behind and fight it while the rest continue onwards?"
"I will stay and fight if needed, i think i have an idea on how to fight it," deios said slowly while still staring at the gargoyle.
He edged up the stairs further, coming to a stop next to silas.
"I suppose we shouldn't take this thing lightly, it is a guardian after all," Habiev said, as he sprinted up behind the group. "Let's finish it fast and move on, there's no need to take unnecessary risks by leaving someone behind".
Nana strode through the chaos of the mooncalves, grim and unassailable. Her powers were not needed, and sure enough, their attackers fell back, only to be replaced by a new foe, more to Nana's liking. Moving forwards, she cracked her knuckles.
"I'll deal with this foe" she said, her voice soft but laced with subtle threat, "I know this kind of beast"
Moving forwards, she blinked once. When her eyes opened, it was staring straight at her, and their eyes met. For a moment there was nothing, then a mental assault began, the gargoyle battering at the old woman's mind, trying to break her concentration so it could trike
The attacks were strong, but they met defences far stronger; a fortress of metal discipline that absorbed every attack and only looked on, critical but disinterested. The attacks fell back, rallying for a second wave, and then the counter came. A focussed blast of rage cut through the gargoyles mind, followed by a sense of disdain, and even of disappointment, leaving behind it seeds of doubt, self hatred and despair. The gargoyles mind wavered, it's stability in the balance, then a single, sharp shock pushed it over the edge.
Nana blinked again, and when her eyes opened the gargoyle was once more frozen, it's thumbs deep into it's eyes and it's teeth visible where it hard bitten though it's own lips in agony and madness
Sorry if I stole the thunder a bit, but I felt this would be where Nana excels. I'll leave you the more combat orientated battles, where she's less use
The gargoyle has no face in case you didn't read its just a demonic sigil
The Gargoyle was halted a few inches from Nana's face....locked there in a deathly stillness. Silas turned to say to everyone else "Job well d...." but there were six more of these stone creatures crawling towards them....stone still as he looked at them buy every blink brought them closer.
Then Silas remembered. "Water magic, I need water magic! They disintegrate in water!"
"Not bad Nana...." Kin said as he admired her handy work, the now dead gargoyle.
"Try this one on for size though."
He began to circle one of the beasts. If it had eyes, they would have locked their gaze on him and trailed off to follow him. They began to stare into the reflective gold plate.
"Thats it...thats it my friend...." He began summoning up some of the veil energy to bolster his own.
"Keep looking right at me..... no no no... dont worry about your friends or mine, they are just fine" His steps were calm and controlled. almost like some other force was acting upon his body, he almost moved like one of them.
"..... thats it.... a little more...." He breathed under his mask, a low drone of a voice.
Then his tone changed. He dropped his sword and threw his hands up in mock surrender "Oh! you have me cornered.... I am done for.....I.... submit...."
He knelt down as if to bow, and the second his bare hand touched the ground, his power shot through it in an invisible stream, running unseen, straight to the gargoyles feet....
Without warning it lunged, but not towards Kin. Instead it grabbed one of its own and attempted to pound into it with a heavy fist. It managed to land several hard blows, merciless in its vigor, before it was seized by the others and torn apart.....
Kin could only give a low chuckle underneath the mask....
Silas blinked, but the others weren't moving. Everyone else was looking at them, so they were mostly stuck where they were. The team climbed higher, trying to keep their eyes on the gargoyles. When they had climbed high enough, the gargoyles stopped following.
However, the air was colder and things felt weird in that rotating abyss. Then he saw it, that wispy white spirit drifting like a puff of air. Silas sharply inhaled and the thing looked at him with its "face" since it was vaguely human shaped but that was it. "Breathdrinker" whispered Silas.
Deios grinned madly and at one of the approaching gargoyles,
"It's our time to shine," he yelled at Kin as he raised both his hands, a swirling inferno expanding from each, orange fire in one hand and blue fire in the other, he brought both hands crashing inwards on either side of the gargoyles head, the impact severely dented it's head inwards, but the fires engulfed it, turning it's stoney body into molten rock, as he continued to incinerate it, it melted into a red-hot ball of rock, the fires hissed and crackled with more intensity than was normally possible, but the veils magic strengthened him, he finally released it and it fell tumbling to the floor many feet below exploding into many tiny pieces at the bottom, then hardened onto the floor and was forever still.
The breathdrinker drifted near the group...silently it perused the face of the group as everyone stared. It was attracted to their breath, it wanted to pull it out of them and asphyxiate them where they stood. Silas knew they were held together by a weak field of magnetic particles and waited for it to come near before catching it and holding it still before moving on up. The top of the tower was near.
The central room at the top of the tower was surrounded by columns, the air was stiff and dry. A great black pyre burned in the middle of the room, attended by the Voice of the Obsidian Flame. It was simply an ashen shaped mass looking like a human, sleeping. It sensed their presence at their approach. Everyone was silent, waiting for Damien to say something.
Yo, Ascendant, I'm givin' you a little leeway since this is only the prologue, but try not to kill everything in a single post. The other guys are having fun bashing in the heads of gargoyes, when you suddenly move to a breathdrinker, which scares the shit out of Silas and is destroyed within 4 sentences of its creation. Don't be afraid to wait a little bit in the future, alright? Thank you.
Damien nodded to the Athame, who silently stepped behind Damien. Damien brought his staff up high and rapped it against the stones three times. "Obsidian Flame!" Damien boomed. "It is I, Damien Lier, High Priest of Avalon. We have come bearing the fire brandHeliophiasso that you might take guardianship of the unholy blade and purge us of future evils that could befall the Guardians of Light should we continue to hold such a weapon."
Damien handed his staff to Silas so that it would not be corrupted, then took Heliophias from Cadre Leader, shivering as the voices tried to corrupt him, tried to make him kill, pillage, rape, burn all that he saw. Damien whispered a protective spell under his breath. "Sanctus lux Custodi me a sibila blanda tenebris." He sighed with relief as the voices disappeared. Damien knelt on one knee, bowing his head and proffering the blade to the Obsidian Flame. "Will you not take away from us this heavy burden?" Damien begged the Flame.
The Obsidian Flame sat silent, the Voice did not move. Silas looked left and right, holding Damien's staff. Something wasn't right, everything sort of shivered and the air in the room vanished altogether. Silas gasped for air but found none, while everyone else stood normally. The Obsidian Flame crackled silently as Silas sank to the floor. As he drifted into unconsciousness the world shifted and voices began calling his name. A terrible ripping sound echoed through his head and Silas fell backwards.
He was on the stairs, still within the tower. His mind had been played with by the Breathdrinker which was sending its airy claws lashing at the others which held it at bay. Silas tried to get up but was gasping so hard and his head so dizzy he could barely stand.
"Damien" gasped Silas "The thing...is...held together...by magic...change its...polarity..."
Then Silas passed out.
You should remember to wait and let me explain things. We haven't fought a third guardian yet.
Ah. touche, mon ami. Alright, this is your win. I thought that was it, but now I remember you like trios. How to solve this...
!!!
...DREAM SEQUENCE!!!
Damien looked at Silas. "Shit!" He roared. He activated Brionac and sliced towards the creature, cutting it in half. He was rewarded with a gasp of breath from Silas as he once again found oxygen streaming into his lungs due to the Breathdrinker losing its grip, but was simultaneously punished as the Breathdrinker floated back together as if nothing happened. Damien continued to cut the creature, not wanting even a single atom of its being to touch him lest he end up like Silas. "Yo! Ivan! Anytime you wanna help and reverse the polarity of this bugger would be great!" Damien yelled, punctuated as Brionac jabbed towards the Breathdrinker, guillotining it again and again to slow it down. Yet continually, the Breathdrinker came closer and closer. If someone didn't do something quickly, Damien would suffer the same fate as Silas.
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