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Reinier
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Lost Traveler's Empty Soul

Post by Reinier » Sun Apr 10, 2005 6:45 pm

How many roads must one travel to find their answers to life? Forty-two.

The events leading up to the group returning to Mac Anu still stay a blur to Taimat, as the defrosting process had been like he had been bludgeoned with a massive golden fiddle then shot in the foot with a fish for no particular reason. He felt as if he had twelve too many tequila shots as he and the group watched the massive ice castle of Melzas crumble in to pieces. Before he knew it, the rings had fallen and the group had returned home. Taimat scanned over the root town, and caught a small glimpse of the sun, and gave out a small moan. The dragon looked down to the ground and began walking down the steps with some of the group.

Taimat’s nose began to tingle, as if a very small midget had climbed up his nose and began to run around. His upper lip began to quiver, his eyes shriveled, and his snout raised to the air. “Ah…. Ahhh…. AHHHCCHOOOO!!” the dragon roared. A massive amount of mucus and just plain slime smashed up against Hacorie’s back, knocking him to the ground. Taimat’s feet had become wobbly and he had troubles standing. He muttered a few incoherent sentences and continued onwards towards the Hideout. He could hear the sounds of a high pitched player singing an odd song, which seemed to have little to no meaning.

“Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, kicker of elves.
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, kicker of elves.
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, kicker of elves.
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, kicker of elves…”

Taimat’s left eye began to twitch as his head slowly cocked towards the source of the “music.” In the distance, Taimat spied a little Twinblade humming and rocking back and forth to the “music.” Taimat gradually approached the Twinblade until he could feel the heavy and scorching breath of the dragon. The poor Twinblade looked at the dragon and smiled, and said, “Hello doggy! Have you heard about the /pizz-” before he could finish his statement, Taimat decided to finish it for him. “Shut… the fuck… UP!” roared the angered dragon. He lunged forwards and grabbed the player by the leg, and tossed him in the air. He tossed the poor Twinblade at an angle so he would land in the water, but that wouldn’t make the person suffer enough, not for the dragon at least. “Vak Kruz…” The dragon muttered softly to himself.

Flames converged and engulfed upon the poor unsuspecting player, and instantly set him aflame. With a screech and holler, he quickly descended in to the river of Mac Anu, with more or less no one caring or noticing. Taimat let out another sneeze, and continued onwards towards the Hideout. He staggered towards the Hideout and soon found a problem with the course he decided to take. A nice canal decided to put itself in front of the dragon and the confines of the Hideout. With a grumble and sneeze, Taimat gracefully hopped up and flapped over to the Hideout door. He entered the Hideout and found the closest couch, and almost instantly collapsed on the nearest couch. With another sneeze, which knocked down another vase most likely to Nighthand’s dismay as he seemed to love the pottery around the Hideout, Taimat passed out in to a state of not-quite-asleep, but not-quite-awake.

For some reason, the dragon started to remember the days before the Freedom Fighters, before meeting Reinier, and the day he had been ordered to follow the Heavy Blade around. He remembered of the days in which he could run rampant in the fields without a care in The World. The days in which he didn’t have to worry whether or not if he would be frozen that day, or if some odd hacker would chop him up with a twelve foot scythe. Thoughts of the field he loved oh so dearly quickly re-entered his mind as he drifted off in to a nap.

Hrm, a general message. Perfect. I might as well head back up there… I wonder if Taimat’s still asleep…

Yes he is, now shut the fuck up, please‘kaythanks.

I just want a pet who’s not evil… why… common God…



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A massive field of flowers in which animals of all kinds freely lived in, a near paradise for all. The field had been vacant to monsters ever since its’ creation. The dragon lazed atop his favorite hill, which overlooked most of the field. He watched the butterflies flutter, the foxes goof around, and the fish fodder about in small ponds. He had been wondering about his creation, his purpose for most of the day, and had come up with no answers. He stared off in to the sky dismally for answers, and received one. It came in the form of “chirp chrip,” which had no meaning to Taimat mainly because he had no idea what the bird said.

The dragon gave off a sigh and continued looking up towards the skies for answers. “Hey Taimat…” a figure said from behind. Taimat tu- BAM!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Crash!

A small moaning echoed throughout the Hideout. Taimat moved his head around to see what happened, only to see Nighthand laying on the ground moaning and groaning. The dragon looked around for the culprit of Nighthand’s pain but could find nothing. A small stone lay in his hand, glowing a deep blackish purple color. A deep black would be the only way to describe it, as it gave the appearance of being further away then it really was. It appeared to be a bottomless pit, when in reality the actual width was an inch or two.

It clicked in Taimat’s head what the gem’s purpose and who it actually belonged to. Taimat came to his feet, and noticed another odd thing. At Nighthand’s foot, two gems lay on the ground, both of which belonged to Reinier. The dragon climbed off of his couch and looked around for signs of the player, but to find none. He began sniffing, not for trying to find a scent, but because he had gained a small cold in the time of being frozen. He rose his snout once more to the air, and felt his nose and upper lip quiver. “Ahhh…. Ahhhhhh… AHHHCHOOO!!!” The dragon once again howled. Snot and mucus poured out of his nose on to the unconscious Nighthand’s legs. The dragon cringed a bit and slowly backed away. He hopped back on his chair, curled up as he had been earlier, and pretended to be asleep.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Why are we here? What is our purpose? Where do we find the answers to our questions? These are the questions people constantly ask themselves. ‘Why do we eat? What is there to eat? Where is the closest place to eat?’ are just some of the questions people ask themselves. One might come to the conclusion that our lives revolve around these questions, and if they were answered the universe would end and restart with harder questions to answer. Others just kind of give up on these questions and trudge on through life. Either way, life is always long, drawn out, and pretty boring.

Reinier gradually peaked his head out from the ally he had lodged his body in to and looked to the right for the massive mob which followed him. Nobody in sight, a good sign to the running Heavy Blade. The boy let out a sigh and came out from the ally and casually walked to the Trading Center. He plopped down in to a seat and looked up to the sky. He slid down in to his seat to the point where his neck rested on the rim of the headrest of the lawn chair like seat. He looked up to the sky and watched birds freely fly by while enjoying the air beneath their wings. Reinier sighed and wished he had the abilities to just fly away with no cares in the world, no obligations to go on this endless tirade of fighting hackers.

I need a way to just… escape. I’m tired of fighting hackers, I’m tired of always dying… I just want to wake up from all of this. I might as well talk to Nighthand about all of this… wait… even if I did leave this group, I’d be sought out by the hackers because of the Twilight Virus running through my veins… God damn you Nall! Why did you chose me!? I didn’t ask for this…

In this time, Reinier had gone from slouching to resting his head on the table, with his arms wrapped around his head. “S’cuse me sir,” someone hovering over Reinier said. Inch by inch he rose his head and looked up in to the eyes of a dripping wet Twin Blade. “I, KiCkEr_Of_ElVeS demand an apology!” A cruel and menacing smile crept across Reinier’s face as he looked in to the player’s eyes. He leaned back in to his chair and crossed his arms, his right hand brandishing the handle of the Holy Cross. The cruel and masochistic smile stayed on Reinier’s face as he peered in to Kicker’s eyes.

“I do believe you have no power to demand anything…” said Reinier. He leaped to his feet and kicked the chair at one of Kicker’s followers. He pulled out his Holy Cross in to a slash attack, arcing it upwards at Kicker. The golden arc pierced the Twin Blade’s jugular, causing him to fly backwards. Gurgled screams echoed as Reinier laughed. He looked down and watched the players all rush towards the felled Twin Blade as he grabbed his neck in vein. A puddle of blood quickly amassed underneath the player’s body, causing several of his followers to give a hesitant, “Are you okay…?”

One player, a male Wavemaster, stood up from the bloody and gurgle-screaming Kicker and looked at Reinier. “d00d, ur n0t nic3!1! Im reporting u!!” Reinier’s left eyebrow twitched a tad and sheathed his sword. He brought up the sheathed weapon leveled out with the Wavemaster’s head with his left hand, and put his right hand on the handle. With a quick thrust, he smashed in the Wavemaster’s cheekbone with the butt of his sword. After hitting the Wavemaster he continued to draw out his sword in to a downwards slash at the person’s mouth as he continued to fall. The slash caused him to smash down in to the ground at a quicker force, head first. His head piled in to the ground, soon to be followed by the rest of his body. Three players suddenly logged out.

Reinier sheathed his sword, and watched Kicker stand up. He pointed at Reinier and yelled, “You haven’t seen the last of me! I know people in high places!!… brb, /pizza.” Kicker thusly logged out, along with his small “posse.” Reinier stepped on the Wavemaster’s chest, swished his heel around in his ribs a bit, and continued onwards towards the Hideout. Odd enough, no Admin even bothered to appear in front of Reinier to interrogate him on why he did that to a player. Reinier shrugged slightly to himself as he approached the Hideout, organizing his thoughts. He decided he would talk to Nighthand later on about the “goin’ solo” thing later on, after he became more powerful. He stepped in to the Hideout and to his right, noticed a massive sleeping dragon. Nighthand sat in a chair in the back of the room.

“I like the decoration of a dragon… it adds a certain… finesse to the room… Anyway, I got this gem from Melzas, and well… I can’t work it. I think I need someone who’s amassed a certain amount of powers to activate it. And well, you’ve certainly done a good job of this…” Reinier walked over to Nighthand and pulled off the gem from his bracelet. It seemed like an ordinary rock, mainly because no glow encased the gem like its’ brothers.

“Well then, let me take a look at it. I might be able to do something with it... Darkness IS my favorite,” Nighthand said, raising his hand out for the gem. Reinier tossed the gem to the Mage Blade who fumbled it around a bit before truly catching it. After a short period of silence he held out his hand while still peering in to the gem and said, “Alright, now let me see the ice one…” Reinier sighed and pulled out the ice gem from his bracelet and set it in Night’s hand. He compared the two gems silently for a moment, grinned and said, “I thought so. There's some kind of block; like it wasn't formed completely. It should only take a second to fix.”

Reinier nodded and watched as Nighthand pulled out a small scroll and held it above the darkness gem. It seemed to melt in to a cloud of black smoke, which quickly formed in to a black orb. He shoved the orb in to gem, which seemed to be shaking violently. “Is that nat-” Reinier had been quickly cut off. In a massive explosion of what seemed to be pure darkness energy, Reinier felt himself be flung backwards, and quickly lost consciousness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Reinier looked around to see he among a few other Freedom Fighters had gathered in a field. He clasped his head, feeling as if he had been violently blasted in to oblivion, remade, then blasted in to oblivion once again. The field they had gathered in definitely took the award for oddest. A thick black fog had settled over the earth, which hung under a massive blood-red cloudless sky. A white moon hung in the sky, looming over the characters which gathered to the field. Reinier gulped and looked over to Nighthand. “What’s goin-” He began to say, but he felt an unnatural increase in temperature. Reinier turned around to see a man drenched in a considerable amount of… it looked like fire.

Reinier didn’t know if the tint of the field or some unseen force had altered the look, but the traditional fire didn’t engulf this man. A blackish purple flame spurred up from the person’s feet, with the flames barely flaring off the body. With a lightning-quick movement, the person shot off at an angle towards Nighthand who seemed to also sense the anomaly and had his sword drawn. Nighthand dropped his sword from a horizontal, but the man seemed to just laugh. A cold, heartless laugh filled with malice and pure hate, the likes only the devil would be able to conjure up. The man seemed to will in to existence a flat hammer, without the handle, around his fist, and threw it upwards in to Nighthand’s sword.

A massive crack spider webbed outwards from where the hammer had connected with the blade, and a subtle profanity echoed out of Nighthand’s mouth. The man shot downwards in to a crouch, then formed what seemed to be a dagger with his left hand. With a quick thrust of the arm, he had soon felt the intestines of Nighthand. With a groan and a quick spout of blood on the flaming impaler, Nighthand muttered, “Damnit, not again…” which didn’t make much sense to Reinier. With his right hand, the man went from one-eighty degrees to ninety, hitting Night with such a force that even when the hammer stopped moving, his head kept going. The head shifted halfway around to getting to its’ original place when the man lifted the hammer above his head and delivered another blow to the head, causing Nighthand’s eyes to seemingly pop out of his head, and his neck to crack in places unknown to man.

He continued to laugh as he shoved Nighthand off of his arm, and turned towards his next target: Gingitsune. With a quick dash, he sprinted towards the unknowing Wavemistriss. Reinier thrust out his hand and readied to scream her name, but it didn’t, or rather wouldn’t, do any good. The dagger and hammer which willed themselves in to existence quickly evaporated, and in the hammer’s wake, a sword appeared. A long, thin five foot sword whose purpose seemed to be nothing more then killing the innocent. Gingi realized what came towards her, and simply threw out Cybelle. The wand aimed for the point between his eyes, and readied to fire. She amassed a large amount of light energy, but in vain, for the man parried the wand like a cat bats away a play toy.

The blast of energy shot downwards in to the ground, sending Gingi airborne. The man leaped in to the air in a cartwheel like form, and delivered a single slash across Gingi’s stomach, then thrust upwards impaling her from kidney to kidney. The man lightly touched down on the ground, spinning the Wavemistriss around a tad. He held her above his head, as she began to creep down the long of the sword while facing behind the player. He simply let her slide down the sword a bit before pulling backwards a bit, then plunging his sword downwards in to the ground, crushing her entire right side of her body, and causing her head to bob up and down against the rocky earth.

Once more the sword became his hand, and he bent down and picked up the Wavemistriss by the face. With a whip-like movement he snapped her upwards then effortlessly back down to the Earth, pummeling her head in to the ground. The man inched his way back up and turned towards Reinier and began rushing. Reinier reached to his right hand for his Ice gem, but found nothing. Not his charm bracelet, nothing. His eyes widened as he started to reach for his sword, but soon came face to face with the man. Before Reinier could react, he felt his jaw fly upwards along with the rest of his body, and noticed the scenery looked particularly nice when upside down.

Before he could enjoy falling down in to the ground, he felt something begin to pierce his body, almost suddenly then followed by a barrage of hits to the stomach. The two people smashed down against the ground, but Reinier didn’t know what was happening. An assault of hits to the stomach left Reinier hungry and in a massive amount of pain. The man stood and kicked upwards off of Reinier’s jaw, causing his head to smash backwards in to the ground. Reinier placed his hand on his stomach and had been greeted by blood. He sat up and looked down to see an unnatural amount of blood and stab wounds from the normal amount of none. He coughed up a small amount of blood which slithered down the side of his mouth, as he looked up at the man who loomed overhead.
The man brought up what seemed to be a jagged, blunt axe above his head. This would be where the hero would miraculously pull out a shot gun and blast his enemy’s head off and dance around and with the heroine.

Not in Reinier’s adventures. That would mean him having fun and not being in pain. With a flick of the wrist the axe plummeted down in to Reinier’s skull, and dragged downwards in to his sternum.
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
Awakened Player
Posts: 164
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:49 am
Location: UNKNOWN ERROR, please try again later
Contact:

Post by Reinier » Sun Apr 24, 2005 8:02 pm

Screaming echoed throughout the Maneki Library. An inhuman scream which seemed to be a mix between a Chupacobra and Wookie, but inhuman none the less. A boy writhed in pain on the ground in the middle of an isle, screaming and clutching his stomach in agony. He curled up in a ball while clutching his stomach, beginning to feel tears curl out of his eyes which soon mixed with the pooling blood. The boy had been awake for little over two minutes now, and had grown a massive fear of opening up his eyes to the sight which inevitably would greet him. He ran his hand along his stomach and felt several small open wounds gushing thickly with crimson streams. He coughed and felt more of the blood splat out of his mouth on to his legs, and the remnants curl down his cheek to his neck.

Meanwhile in another different section of the library, a woman by the name of Neona had finally finished organizing the newbie guides in front of the library, under the massive neon pink sign with double bolded letters, by difficulty level, thickness, and weight. The keeper of the library wore a long white robe which draped down to the ground, with blue runes which ran around the bottom of the robe, the top around the neck line, and along both sleeves. The sleeves extended beyond her hands, which made reading and organizing a difficult task for she would always throw her arms up to adjust the sleeves. She wore a cloth around her waist that acted like a strap to 1) make it seem like she wasn’t wearing a massive blanket, and 2) she liked the look. Going with the blue theme of the runes, her short hair which dangled a little past her shoulders had a sparkling blue going, with literally sparkled due to the fact every morning she washed her hair with a shampoo with glitter dumped in the mix. The most noticeable quality about the woman would most likely be her eyes, as they were a piercing cyan color, which somehow reminded everyone who peered in to them about the ocean and smoothies.

The screaming reached the front of the library, which instantly sent chills up Neona’s spine. She turned around to try and figure out originated from, but the echoes of the massive library turned over nothing. The blue-haired librarian held out her right wrist upwards and pulled back a bit of sleeve. She tapped what seemed to be a marble lodged in his wrist, which opened up a small holographic screen in front of her face. She clicked around a few times and eventually came up to one screen showing a red-haired boy writhing in pain in the Mystery section of the library. She cringed a bit, closed the screen, and ran off to see what happened to the boy.

Neona came to sliding stop in front of the section of the library, and looked across the floor to see the boy once more.“Well this bloody mess just won’t do…” the woman muttered. She threw out her hand a muttered, “Phal Repth.” A small, clear blue dome erected itself around the boy, and almost instantly filled with a thick dark blue smoke. The screaming stopped, and when the smoke had settled, the boy had already been sitting up looking around trying to figure out his bearings. He felt around on his stomach to make sure had didn’t still have stab wounds some how, and to his delight, he didn’t. He looked up to the girl puzzled, confused, and sort of hungry.

“Who… what… where.. Am I?” he asked confused. He had no idea where he had landed. In all actuality, he had more of an idea where he was compared to who he was. He looked around to see that he had been marinating in his own blood, and from the massive amounts of blood around him, it had been awhile since he began bleeding. He looked up to the woman, fear and confusion embedded in his heart, and asked, “Do you know who I am…?” He placed his hands on the ground to try and push himself to his feet, only to discover a sword at his side. He picked up the sword and gazed at the odd runes on the sheath which seemed to dance around and laugh joyously at life. He pulled the sword out of the sheath a tad, and noticed it seemed to have an unnatural glow circulating around the blade. “Well that’s queer…” he muttered looking at the sword.

The woman cringed while rubbing the back of her neck, having no idea what to do in this case. The last time something of this level of abnormality happened, she swore to always carry around an admin booklet on what to do. That lasted a week before she inevitably lost it along with three pens, five librarian renewal forms, and an Aloe Vera plant. She had no idea what to tell the boy, but then she noticed the irregular glow to the sword he held in his hand, and almost immediately recognized what it was and how to find out who owned it. She threw out her wrist and pressed the marble looking appendage, pulling up a small screen once more. Using a Google-like system, she typed in two words: “Holy Cross.”

She knew the sword because for a week, to her what felt like an eternity, players of The World completely forgot what a library was and partook in a tournament of wits, skill, and power. The fighting boiled down to two fighters, Rhilla and Retn, and in a cheesy and unentertaining way the battle went to Retn because the two fell off a building and Rhilla hit the ground first and broke her neck. The awards that went to the two were that Retn got a full grown Grunty, and Rhilla received the Holy Cross. Neona pulled up a search file on present owner of the Holy Cross, his name: Reinier. She attempted to pull up a file on the player, but to no avail. The screen immediately shut down and sent a massive shock through her body, which sent her backwards against some books. She gaped at the player below who looked up to her with puppy dog eyes, just wanting to know his identity.

“Well, according to my files your name is Reinier. Other then that, I can’t figure out because it would seem you have a corrupt file, the server is down, or they just don’t have a file on you, which would be pretty odd. Do you have any idea who you are, where you come from, or how you got here?” She asked Reinier. He simply looked around some more at the library, then peered up to her, and shrugged. The librarian sighed and shook her head. She really didn’t know how to tell the poor Heavy Blade that she had no idea who he was, why he was here, and that she would have to kick him out of the library in ten minutes for lunch.

My name is… Reinier… okay, I can deal with that. Odd name though, I’ve never heard anyone called that… I’m more used to hearing “Brent Reed,” or “Tom Smith,” or just plain “Chris.” I guess I’m just an odd one… whatever. I really should do something about these blood soaked clothes… maybe the nice lady over there can get me some. I love how strangers are always nice. I wonder what else there is to do in here… I’ll have plenty of time to figure that out I guess.

Reinier looked up to the girl and asked, “I’m kind of hungry, do you have anything to eat?” She simply looked down at him and blinked. In The World, food had no real use seeing as how people just played it as a game. Little did she know that Reinier thought 1) this wasn’t a video game as much as the real world, and 2) he was in a coma. She gawked at him, not knowing what to say. He crept up to his feet, and stretched his back forwards while cracking his neck side to side. He ran his hand through his hair, only to notice a pair of goggles atop his head, which he found kind of odd.

He looked over to the girl, who still seemed to be organizing her thoughts, and sighed. He looked around the massive building, noting the shelves of books, and wondered what kind of books the place had. It felt more like he was standing inside of a football stadium with heaps of book shelves then an actual library. “What books do ya’ll have here… uh… you never told me your name, did you? What do you do here?” Reinier said, winking at the blue haired librarian.

She blushed a bit and said, “My name is Neona, keeper of the Maneki Library. As an NCP of the library, it is my duty to make sure everything stays in working order around here. I organize the books, fix the computers, etcetera. I also like to keep the desk all neat and tidy, even though I myself am far from organized and tidy… Oh, I also open up the library every morning for players and close every day, like now… in ten minutes…” She explained this while giving the subtle hint for Reinier to get ready to leave, even though he didn’t pick up on it.

“Players like me? What do you mean by that…? What’s an NCP?” Reinier asked. Neona blinked a few times, not able to quite fathom that a person playing a video game didn’t understand what a “player” was, or what “NCP” stood for. She ran her hands over her face, starting to get a tad frustrated with the odd player which seemed to just appear out of no where. She always had the thought that the mysterious players where always intelligent, quick to pick up on subtle hints, and far less bloody.

“This is an odd question indeed… you know… what you are… a player in this game, The World…? I don’t know how better to explain it other then that…” She told Reinier this, and upon gazing on his dumbstruck look, she knew she would have to think on how to better explain it. “Well, I have some work to do so… um… You should go around and read some of the books here. I’ll go in back to get you some nice clothing, okay?” With that said, the woman turned around and left the Heavy Blade alone in the Mystery Section of the library.

Reinier sighed, wondering what to do. He didn’t remember who he was, why he was in a library, or what to do from here. He turned around and walked in the opposite direction of Neona to try and find some answers from other’s knowledge. He strolled out of the Mystery Section in to another section which he didn’t care to notice the name. A small, rustic brown book with a gold lining caught Reinier’s eye, causing him to come to a rather sudden stop. He reached out and picked up the book, flipping it to the first page.

What is a clear aquamarine color...
usually found in liquid form...
has a mind but no body...
has no eyes but can see...
Lives but feels no pain...
and can take the form of whatever it wishes…


No answer to the riddle. Reinier sighed and muttered, “What a let down…” He flipped to another random page looking for a slightly better riddle.

You are one yet not the same...
You are together yet alone...
What one may see, the other may too...
But the way you see them, will be a game...
The clue for one is East, South, North and West...
The clue for the other is West, North, South and East...
The trick to this clue is in the way you are facing...
One is going north...
One is going south...
Which is which you ask?
Find that out yourself!


What the fuck is this? These are pretty crappy riddles… they barely make any sense… I’ll have to ask Neona later about’em or something…

Reinier shut the book and placed it back in to its’ place in the bookshelf. He continued walking forward towards the end of the Maneki Library. He found himself in a massive opening in the center of the library. Not a soul appeared to be in the place, except for a single man. He lounged in a chair, flipping through a magazine. Round wooden tables of a rustic metal color littered the area in no real pattern. Neatly stacked books stood atop some of the tables, others held none. In the distance, Reinier spied Neona frantically running around behind the main desk of the library, shuffling through papers and her wrist computer, every so often going in to the back room behind the desk.

Reinier chuckled a bit to himself, and continued exploring the library. He looked to the right, and noticed a massive sign crowning a doorway. The sign read in massive bolded letters, “Valley of Legends.” Reinier brushed his hair back in to a scratching of his back neck, and muttered, “Why not? Maybe I’ll recognize someone…” He chuckled knowing that he would definitely not recognize anyone. He strolled over to the entrance, navigating his way through the obscenely overstocked amount of books the library had to offer. As he walked towards the Valley, Reinier had to admit one thing: Neona sure did know how to keep a library nice and tidy. No books were left out in the open for people to trip on, the stools short people need to use to get to the higher shelves had their own compartment on the bottom of the shelf, and all the books were, of course, in a very specific order. She managed to have it so that the books gradually grew taller, no two colors touched each other, and yet they were still in alphabetical order. She knew how to do her job with ease it would seem.

A massive archway stood under the “Valley of Legends” sign, but an odd aura surrounded the arch. Even though Reinier stood right in front of the arch, all he could see was a foreboding darkness. He inched his foot in to the archway, and tried to touch the floor. Before that happened though, Reinier felt his whole body get sucked in to the void, chopped in to giblets, pasted back together, then dropped down in to a grassy field with a single path. An azure sky with few clouds hung overhead, and in the distance he spied what seemed to be statues lining the road. A voice came from behind Reinier, which caught him off guard and semi freaked him out. He leaped around, ripping out the Holy Cross from its’ sheath, and thrust it forward.

The blade stopped upon the neck of what seemed to be a sixty year old butler. Reinier let out a small sigh of relief and sheathed his sword. “Greetings Sir. Welcome to the Valley of Legends. I am Bobble. My soul design is to act as a welcoming party to all players of The World and as an information kiosk to anyone in need. If you need help during your visit of the Valley of Legends, do not hesitate to come and ask.” Reinier blinked at the statement of the helper. Before he could ask anything, three golden rings, with what seemed to be runes along the middle, fell over Bobble causing him to disappear.

“What the hell…? Why does everyone keep referring to me as a ‘Player?’ What is The World? This place is really messed up… Hopefully Neona will know what’s going on…” Reinier mumbled to himself. Reinier began to walk down the pathway of the Valley, and began to peer at the massive statues intricately placed along the road. The statues were unlike any he had ever seen, he thinks, because they didn’t seem like statues as much as life like figurines. Instead of gold or rock statues, they were more life like, complete with clothes that fluttered in the wind, and weaponry.

Reinier continued along the road, noticing a demonic looking person with a staff, and a Mongol looking warrior with a spear afterwards. After passing those two, most likely “Players,” Reinier came to two people holding up their swords in an X formation above the road. On the left, an armor clad warrior with wings, an odd sight indeed. On the other, a man covered in face paint and no shirt. Reinier read the names, “Balmung of the Azure Sky… and Orca of the Azure Sea…” He scratched the back of his head, wondering where people got these names. He then remembered his name, Reinier, and knew he had no place to argue, so he continued onwards.

After a small stroll through the Valley, he came up to a slightly smaller section which seemed to honor those who used whips, bows and arrows, and bare hands. One statue stuck out to Reinier for some reason, the statue named after “Asgard.” This statue encased in silver had a fist enclosed in flames, while the other fist had been covered in ice. “Asgard… why does that sound familiar…” Before he could do much more thinking, three bells rang. Reinier looked around, but found nothing.

Three golden rings fell in front of Reinier, and in front of him stood the aged figure of Bobble. “Greetings Sir. Your presence is requested by Neona. Would you like me to warp you there?” Before he could say anything, three golden rings fell over Reinier’s body. He had that “Instant Giblets” feel to himself once more, and before he knew it, found himself in front of Neona.

“Hello again! Did you enjoy the Valley of Legends? I’m sorry if you didn’t get to see them all, but I’ve found you some new clothes. Granted, they are from last year’s Halloween Festival, but you look like you can make due. There’s a backroom behind me, you can go change in there.” The blue-haired woman said with a smile. Reinier smiled back and took the clothes. He went behind the counter and into the backroom, locking the door as he shut it. He placed the neatly folded clothes on the closest table and kicked of his shoes. He peered in to the boots that came with the outfit, noting a pair of socks in the set. He plopped down on the ground an pulled off his socks and tossed them in to his old shoes. He stood back up, and unstrapped the sword that hung by his belt, which he took off next.

Reinier stripped off his old tattered blue pants, and tossed them on his shoes. He set his new boots on the ground and grabbed his new black jeans. He hopped in to his new pants, and made sure to zip up. Putting his new leather belt through the loops, he then strapped the Holy Cross to it. Humming to himself, he unbuttoned the cuffs to his bloody shirt. He unbuttoned the rest of the shirt and tossed it on the ground on the pants, which seemed to be growing quite well as a pile. When he tossed the shirt, he noticed something very out of the ordinary. On his right hand, a golden rune encased by a circle. He looked down at his left hand, and saw a dark purple encircled rune. On both arms, more faded runes strewn together by a deep black tribal-like tattoo. Four on his right arm, three on his left. On the top of his right arm, a blue glow pulsed at the same intensity and regularity of the other two runes.

He stared at the runes for a moment or two, and then decided it must be tattoos from his more wild years and now he was over it. That being the only conclusion he felt like thinking up. He tossed on his black shirt, which had an odd design atop his chest. A crimson circle a break going from the bottom left to the top right. Two streaks of crimson came out from the odd circle on his chest; one going around the top of left shoulder, and the other going under his right arm. The sleeves came up a few inches above his elbows, giving him plenty of stretching room. He picked up a leather vest and threw it around his arms, then cracked his neck to the left and right. He looked down at the table, and noticed two black, leather gauntlets laying on the table. He picked them up and slipped them both on, and liked how they showed the top two notches on his fingers, and the top notch of his thumb. The gauntlets came up to about halfway on his arm, covering up all the runes.

Reinier plopped down on the ground and popped on his socks, which came up a few inches above the ankle. He strapped on his boots, which came up to halfway on his leg. Three straps and buckles adorned he boots, one around the ankle, one at the mid point between the ankle and top of the boot, and finally one at the top of the boot. But once Reinier slipped down his jeans over the boots, you could only see the lowest one. He came up to his feet, and before he could do anything else, he heard a pinging noise. In front of his body, at chest level, a rolled up parchment hovered.

Flashmail!
To: Reinier
From: Gravis
Subject: Hello

It’s been a long time Reinier. I haven’t seen nor talked to you for far too long, and I would like to see you once again. A friend has told me of your current predicament, so come over to my field and we’ll catch up and see if we can get your memory back one way or another. The field is Delta: Lost Traveler’s Empty Soul. No need to bring anyone.

End Flashmail!


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A single man sat in the Maneki Library, skimming over a book labeled The Art of Demotivation. He turned around and heard people talking, Neona the Librarian and another unknown person. After a while of eavesdropping, he heard the name “Reinier,” which quickly caught his attention.

Flashmail!
To: Gravis
From: 01154B
Subject: Reinier

A red flagged character you told us to watch out for has been spotted in the Maneki Library. He has no recollection of who he is. This would be the perfect time to contact him.

End Flashmail!
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
Awakened Player
Posts: 164
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:49 am
Location: UNKNOWN ERROR, please try again later
Contact:

Post by Reinier » Wed May 04, 2005 3:45 am

Reinier emerged from the backroom in his new outfit feeling refreshed and glad to be out of the bloody clothes. He had thrown away soaked clothes in to the nearest trash can, but still held the parchment in his hand. He came to the counter, which he abruptly plopped his body on top of. He looked over to Neona, his legs rocking back and forth, and asked, “I just got something called a… ‘Flashmail.’ It told me to go to a ‘field’ or something, how do I do that?” Reinier asked. Neona looked over at Reinier and half smiled and half sighed. She felt weird having to explain these things to a player in a game, but then again oddities happen every once and awhile.

“Well, at the other end of this server, Mac Anu, there’s a thing called a “Chaos Gate.” It’s a big swirling blue circle with a golden rim, you can’t miss it. From there, you can change servers or go to a field. In the fields you fight monsters to level up, pretty much the point of the game minus the fact there’s always the fun little events the administration sets up. Honestly though, I think you should log out and go grab a sandwich or a soda. Clear your head, you seem really out there, even for most players in this game…” Neona said.

Never tell anyone you’re in a coma and can’t log out. Especially admin, they’ll hunt you down quicker then you would think. That’s the last thing we need right now…

Reinier grabbed clutched his head with his right hand, not knowing who said that, or really what it meant. It seemed his memory liked to return in bits and pieces, not as a huge chunk like he would love to happen. He wondered about this coma business and “logging out,” whatever that meant. Reinier looked up to Neona and smiled, “Thanks for the information and advice. I think I’ll go do that now.” With that said and done, he gave one final wave before exiting out of the Maneki Library.

“Wait! I have a gift for you before you leave!” Neona called. Reinier’s ears perked, and her turned around to see Neona waving her arms in the air frantically. She shuffled through a few papers on her desk, then popped open a few drawers. She muttered words softly to herself as she did this, until she finally yelled, “Found it!” By this time, Reinier had already walked back over to the desk and waited to see what she had for him. She stretched out one closed hand towards Reinier and smiled. He outstretched his open hand, and felt a small thud when it went under the woman’s. He looked down in to his hand to see a rather large ring, with nine different colored jewels adorning the edge of the ring. In the middle, a gap where a slightly larger jewel would fit.

“Oh wow, this is cool… Why the gift? Not that I’m not thankful, it’s just odd seeing as how we’ve barely met,” Reinier asked, peering down at the ring. A thick silver ring, and along the top laid nine different colored stones; each stone organized from lightest to darkest in a clockwise pattern. He looked on the inside to see the words “Neona’s Keepsake” written in italic cursive writing. He slipped the ring on his right ring finger and looked up to a smiling Neona.

“Well, whenever I can’t remember anything I just hold the ring for awhile, and I found it just calms me down a little… I normally then remember what I’ve forgotten, or lost all interest in trying to remember what I forgot and move on with my life.” After the last part, she gave off a small, school girlish giggle. “It’s an old ring anyway, and far too large for my fingers… it seems to be better suited with you.”

Reinier smiled, gazing down upon the ring. “Wow, I don’t know what to say… this is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me I think. I’ll treasure it forever, and I’ll definitely never lose it. Eventually, I’ll return here and give it back to you, because I feel bad taking this from you…” He rubbed the ring against the side of his shirt to polish the silver a bit and gave a small nod. She giggled and nodded back. Once more he walked off towards the exit. He gave another small wave and left the library.

Upon stepping on to the cobble stone floor outside of the library, an intense wave of light enveloped around him, nearly blinding him. He shielded his eyes with his arm, while blinking a bit much and looked down on the ground. He rubbed his eyes and looked around upon the majestic “Mac Anu.” Reinier looked around to see many people wandering about the town, their own agendas in mind, each clad in a type of armor and caring a weapon of sorts. Reinier blended in rather easily, but at the same time felt very out of place. He looked around for the Chaos Gate that Neona talked about, but no where did he see a big blue swirling circle. “How am I to go to a field when I have no idea where the gate is…?” Reinier muttered, not quite understanding his own statement.

“Idiots! The hacks you all carry with you are like giant beacons! Coming out here without me is like waving a giant flag that says 'Look! We're all alone without any guidance! Come kill us Mr. Hackers!”

Another head pounding memory which made little to no sense. Reinier looked around for a nice place to go to sit and think, but to no avail. To his left, Reinier spied two little indentions to either side of a staircase. He walked over and sat in one of the indentions, which laid between the stairs and the library. After sitting down in the corner, he leaned back a bit and looked up on the clouds hanging over the city. He let out a sigh and wished the answer would fall out of the sky and land out in front of him, but he had that sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t happen.

Okay, I’ve got to think on this one… I can only remember so many things, and the two strongest things I remember is not to tell anyone I’m in a coma… and that the “hacks you all carry” is a giant beckon. Can’t log out… hacks… players… video game slang basically… There’s no way… no, I’m not stuck in a video game. That’s pretty impossible. If at all, I’m playing a video game and I’m just really absent minded right now… but, that pain I felt earlier… it was so intense…

He wondered how to pop up the main menu, then suddenly it popped up without warning. He shrugged at the simplicity of it, and scanned down the menu. “Log Out” sat at the bottom of the menu in nice golden letters. With a jab, he poked the option to log out. A loud buzzing rang in his ears, and the main menu flickered and said a few words:

UNKNOWN ERROR:
Unable to log out, sorry for the inconvenience. Please try again later, and thank you for using The World.


Reinier stared blankly at this for a small amount of time, trying to gather his thoughts together. His butt began to slide forward, causing his whole body to slouch forward, until his neck and head were at a ninety degree angle. “What… the… hell…” He managed to finally say. He looked around upon the happy players wandering around, and suddenly felt a massive amount of animosity begin to harbor inside his heart. He wondered what to do as his next move, seeing as how his new revelation had a few more drawbacks then he previously thought it would. He let out a sigh, but remembered he received a message from Gravis, one of his friends in the game.

“Delta, Lost Traveler’s Empty Soul…”
Reinier muttered softly to himself. The name didn’t sound creepy or foreboding the least bit when said aloud, but for some reason Reinier’s gut screamed not to go. He inched his way up to his feet and cracked his neck to both sides, letting out a small sigh. He began to stretch his arms back and forth in a scissor movement in front of his chest, still trying to decide how smart it is to go to a place with a name containing the words “Empty Soul.” He came to the obvious choice of “It’s not,” but then remembered he had no other choice because really he had no other leads as to what to do.

He nodded his head to himself, and hopped up the stairs sitting next to him. He blindly walked through the streets lined with archaic buildings on either side and every so often a small bridge atop the same river which seemed to encase the town. He emerged from an alley to bare witness to a girl screaming at an NCP, “I tell you man! This is not real cheese!” Reinier chuckled a bit at this statement and continued on his way. Reinier guessed by the huge mass of people gathering about, that he had managed to find the center of town. It seemed to revolve around an ancient, moldy bridge which had the four main shops within easy reach.

Up atop a staircase in the distance, a massive, azure blue circle swirled around in giving it the appearance of a sphere. “That must be the Chaos Gate…” Reinier muttered softly to himself. He wondered why it was called a “Chaos Gate,” but after a few seconds of thinking he came to the conclusion of not caring much. He once more took off towards the gate which loomed above the city. He weaved in and out of players as he moved towards the gate, all the while wondering why people played the game, and more importantly why he played the game in the first place. After too much weaving through people he soon stood in front of the gate, staring up blankly at it, not knowing how to operate it.

A small group of three players walked up to the gate, each chattering about some miniscule event from previous quests. The head of the group came up to the gate, not paying much attention to Reinier. He called out a random set of keywords, and without warning, three rings fell over the small group of players warping them to a field. Reinier looked over to the gate, cleared his throat and called out, “Uh… Lost Traveler’s Empty Soul?” Three golden rings fell over Reinier’s body, and he suddenly got that “hit over the head with a lemon wrapped up in a gold brick” feeling once again.

Three golden, rune laced rings fell over Reinier’s body taking him to a barren field. No grass or shrubs in sight, no signs of life, and sadly no other players waiting for him. Australia, or how it is depicted in pictures and people’s thoughts of Australia, would be the only way to describe the area. The only difference between the barren continent and the field would be no tall mountains near or around. A red hot sun beamed down upon the field, and Reinier, as a small wind kicked up the red clay earth around his feet. He looked around the area and let out a small sigh of dissatisfaction.

The earth under Reinier’s feet suddenly decided to rumble and quake, until abruptly four large spires of red clay earth shot upwards and converged upon each other. As soon as each spire came together, a second group of spires converged upon the last grouping to scale about ten feet high. Light began to creek out from small cracks in the attachment of the earth, until it soon reached a pinnacle and shattered, revealing a player. He appeared from the clay spires on his left knee, with a clenched right fist in the ground and the other loosely hanging over the knee. The player looked up to Reinier with a smile plastered on his face.

… Not hard seeing as how that’s how the mask had been made. No face could be seen behind the mask, only black. The mask wore resembled the masks of theater, the one with a happy and sad face, with ribbon connecting the two. The player slowly rose to his feet, revealing the odd clothes he clad himself in. Large baggy cream colored pants with runes and symbols scattered about. He wore a large, puffy, cream colored jacket which formed a V pattern down the middle of his chest. The jacket had also been clad in odd runes and symbols.

He ran his hand through his short, spiked up coffee colored hair, and looked over at Reinier. He crossed his arms and simply peered over at Reinier, not saying a word. After a few seconds of this, the earth quaked once more. Next to him a fissure in the earth formed, and out popped a bandaged hand. A second hand popped out of the earth, matching the previous one, and the two clawed a body from out beneath the earth. The first thing Reinier noticed about this figure was the mask he wore. The counter part of the smiling mask, a horribly sad mask. Other then that, the only noticeable thing would be that he had no skin showing, and where skin would have been shown white bandages were in place.

A thick breast plate covered his body up to the bottom of his ribs, and the rest of his upper body had been wrapped around in bandages down in to his pants. Connected to the plate were shoulder guards that went out at a downward angle for a few inches. Thick gauntlets that came up to halfway between his wrist and elbow, with claw-like fingernails and a long curved blade that reached up to his elbow adorned his hands. For pants he must have liked comfort, because he went with simple blue jeans, and for shoes he decided upon commando combat boots. Bandages wrapped themselves around his neck, and up in to his hair where they cut themselves off and showed only his long, gnarled, jet black hair. Another oddity about the fighter would probably be the fact he held no weapon, unless you counted the back of his gauntlets as his weapon.

The second person to emerge from the earth stepped up next to the first one, as the earth behind the two slowly closed back up to its’ former glory. It must had been the sun, or something along those lines, because Reinier could have sworn that at that exact moment, the top of each of the player’s masks gave off a glint of light, as if reflecting it from the sun. He thought nothing of it as he raised his hand in to a wave and made an uneasy smile. “Uh… hey? Is one of you ‘Gravis?’ He called me over here and I really don’t know much about myself or the game… helpful hints, clues, something?” Reinier asked, trying to break the ice.

The first person who came up from the red earth simply laughed in Reinier’s direction, and the second player crossed his arms and looked over at the first player and scoffed. The laughing player yelled out to Reinier, “Gravis? Yes, I know of Gravis! The only reason we’re here is because of Gravis! He gave us our powers, which we get to use out on you! I am Comedy. I don’t quite know why, but I’ve gained a reputation of ‘toying’ with the people I kill.”

Before Comedy had a chance to speak again, the second player spoke up. “And I am Tragedy. I am the mercy of this team, as my esteemed friend has none,” Tragedy spoke. Reinier blinked a bit and slowly slid his left hand on the top of his sword. Comedy began laughing, most likely seeing Reinier going for his sword. He stomped his foot down in to the ground, and instantly a long spear shot out from the earth. He swung his hand around in an arc and grabbed the spear, then brought it down in to a low stance with the blade hovering inches above the ground.

The spear measured out to be six feet in length, seven with the blade included. The blade slowly elongated in width as it stretched out in length. The overall look of the blade was a curved form, where the blade came up to a point, then got shorter as the blade goes inwards. The top of the blade had points where it would form wave like edges along the top of the blade. Comedy chuckled a bit, and shook his spear a bit, causing red clay to shatter off the blade of the spear, revealing a very fine, metallic blade instead of the a rock like one. “Why are we going to fight now?”

Can’t we all just get along? Neona was nice, why can’t these guys be nice? Sheesh, what jerks. I hope this game isn’t full of’em… who am I kidding? There’s probably an ass load of’em.
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
Awakened Player
Posts: 164
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:49 am
Location: UNKNOWN ERROR, please try again later
Contact:

Post by Reinier » Mon May 09, 2005 1:19 am

Reinier took a step backwards away from Comedy, his hand still resting on the top of his sword. Oddly enough, he remembered something from when he tried to log out: the fact that he had special skills. Of course they would help him in this kind of battle, but he didn’t quite know how yet. And of course before he had time to figure this out, his enemy lunged forward. Kicking off with his right foot, Reinier leaped forward in to a run. He swung his right hand around and drew his sword.

He held out his spear as if it were a pool cue, and consequently enough began to attack as if he were using one. He unleashed a barrage of quick, short attacks aimed at Reinier’s chest. He parried most of the attacks, but more often then naught he found himself being driven back. The foe landed an attack, which cut through his shoulder, but since he aimed for the chest the attack continued going. The blade grazed the top of his left shoulder, and left Comedy wide open for an attack.

Crouching a bit, Reinier leaped forward in to Comedy’s stomach, and delivered a straight punch in to his stomach. After the blunt of the attack hit, he slid his sword across his stomach, sending him flying backwards. Blood flew across the ground in the same arc as the blade, as Comedy landed against the clay with a thud. Reinier fell to his knees, dropping his sword and clutching his shoulder in pain. Bringing up the main menu screen, he flipped to skills and found the healing spell, along with others, Repth. He muttered the word and felt his shoulder become instantly healed. Astonished, he came up to his feet and grabbed his sword.

Comedy had already hopped back to his feet, chuckling softly to himself. “That’s it? I was wide open and that was it!? You’re not worth my time! That’s why I have others to do work for me…” He laughed aloud at his own statement. Blood trickled down from his open wound down in to the red earth matching the color to an extent. He threw his right hand in the air, aiming the spear towards the heavens. “Clay Puppet!” As with everything this person did, the earth began to shake violently.

Reinier looked around for signs of change in the ground or himself, but found nothing. After a short time of waiting, the earth began to pool together. From the ground up rocks joined together, and soon began to take the shape of a person. The rocks formed a simple person, no real features. Behind the forming person Comedy stood with his legs spread and his arms out stretched, with his fingers open towards the sky. An odd cream colored aura encased the Comedy and it seemed that in order for him to keep the person together his full concentration was needed. A wave of the aura erupted from his body in a shockwave, causing more rocks and clay to be shaken from the earth for the purpose of his “puppet.”

More rocks encased the clay man, giving it the shape of thick armor. It looked as if he wore four thick, double plated gauntlets around his arms, each lined with spikes that came up an inch around his arms. The armor piled on to the puppet seemed even more extravagant and unnecessary, giving him the look of a massive linebacker on steroids. Two curved claw-like spikes adorned both sides of his shoulders, both facing his face, the outermost spike longer then the inner. The earthen plating around the legs matched that of the gauntlets, with spikes going up the legs at a curve towards his body, six in all. A smooth helmet adorn his head, that went along the top of his head where hair would be, and down the back of his neck until it curved upwards a bit, with small thin needle-like spines along the frill. A mask like face protector connected itself to the helmet. The mask looked as if someone made a casing of their hands cupped together and smacked it along with the helmet.

The eyes. The golden glowing orbs were eyes would be gave the beast an overall look of a devilish monster. The puppet that started off at about the same size as Reinier managed to be turned in to a monstrous creation more then double his size and most likely strength. It stretched out its’ arm towards Reinier, its’ wrist and hand limp. His arm began to quake, and out from the top of the wrist a small bump began to form. Without warning, a long, then blade about two inches in diameter shot out of its’ wrist and hovered in front of the puppet. It created a blade from itself, a sword about five and half feet long, straight as can be, with a simple handle. Nothing fancy, just a nice long sword to chop up enemies.

It created a blade from its’ arm… maybe if I can hit that arm hard enough it’ll collapse…

Reinier brought his sword up in to a high attack stance, gulped, and stretched his right leg forward and leaned towards the puppet. The puppet leisurely grabbed the end of the sword, and brought it down towards his waist where its’ other hand grabbed the bottom of the handle. With lightning-quick movements, the puppet jolted forward towards Reinier. Reinier’s eyes widened, as he too rushed towards his enemy, thrusting his sword forward. The monster parried the sword with ease, pushing it down in to the red earth.

Bringing its’ right arm down with its’ sword and Reinier’s, it parted its’ left arm away in the air as it brought up its’ right leg upwards. Reinier’s eyes widened as he muttered the words, “Oh shit…” The spikes pierced the flesh then exited, sending Reinier hovering in the air. His arms outstretched and let go of his sword, as he flew backwards. He flew backwards and slammed against the ground in to a single roll, and came to a skidding stop. He slowly curled up in a fetal position as he grabbed his stab wounds from the kick to the stomach, as he coughed up bits of blood. His vision blurry, he looked up to see the puppet taking its’ time in walking towards Reinier.

He reached in to his pocket and felt a small vile, and crushed it. The healing effects of the drink seeped in to his leg, then in turn surged throughout his body. The wounds in his leg sealed up rather swiftly, and allowed him the strength to get back up on his feet. He clutched his stomach as he peered towards the puppet coming closer and closer, and tried to think of a plan that wouldn’t involve him getting another leg to the chest. An idea clicked in his head, a rather rash and foolish idea of course, but an idea none of the less.

He began running towards the puppet, starting off in a jog then slowly working his way up to a full sprint. To his liking, when he reached the puppet it threw its’ blade forward in a lunge, and Reinier just leapt on the blade and continued running. He hopped forward, kicking backwards in the head of the beast and went on with his sprinting. He sprinted towards Comedy, and halfway there picked up his sword which he lost in the kicking. Twenty feet away… ten…

A howl through the wind echoed as six objects smacked against the ground on either side of Reinier, one piercing his leg. He screamed a profanity as he tripped down on the ground, landing in a kneeling position. He looked down to see a rather large shard of earth embedded in his leg. He ripped the shard out of his left leg with his left hand and came up to his feet, and looked over at the clay beast with its’ left arm outstretched to its’ side, spiking expanding out of its’ arm. “He can shoot those…? Jesus…”

He limped up to his feet and pulled up his sword aimed at the puppet. It had already began walking towards Reinier, its’ sword gently scraping against the clay leaving a small trail from where he started. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying not to think of the pain, but think of a good way to destroy the puppet and Comedy at the same time. By the time he opened his eyes, the puppet had already began running and was feet away from striking distance.

Reinier spread his legs open and brought the blade of his sword at chest level. He rested the blade between his thumb and forefinger, and wondered how well defense would work against a monster of this stature. The monster rushed Reinier, its’ sword above and behind its’ head, most likely going for an overhead smash-slash. It leaped in to the air, its’ sword stretching even further backwards. It had a very nice leap, at least six feet, but only because Comedy manipulated it up that high. “Ap Do…” Reinier muttered. The puppet curled forward and swung downwards when it reached three feet above Reinier.

With a quick roll to the right, Reinier avoided the attack. The creature landed upon the earth, leaving a small crater, but an even larger V-shaped crater where its’ sword would have impaled Reinier. He managed to roll to the right and hop up on his feet all in one swift move. When he hopped up to his feet, he stopped himself from sliding back too far by digging his hands in the ground, his sword at an odd angle facing his sword. The puppet turned to see Reinier hovering over him, sword yielded executioner style above his head.

Reinier threw the sword downwards towards the head of the massive clay monster. It threw its’ left arm upwards to block, only to have it shattered. The sword pierced the arm, sending a spider web crack throughout the arm, breaking off its’ hand. The sword sliced downwards in to the back of the monster’s neck, sending another spider web crack throughout the body of the clay puppet. Reinier’s sword ran downwards through the ground, as he watched the monster slump forwards in to the ground. He ripped his sword out of the ground as he inched his way away from the monster. He breathed deeply as he inspected his sword for any major damage and found none. He peered over towards Comedy to see him still encased in the aura, his arms still outstretched. He seemed to be concentrating even stronger then before.

Reinier panned downwards and inspected the body to see it standing, headless. The parts that had been amputated hovered for a bit, then made their way back to where they where before the sword had hit. The creature looked as if it had never seen the cold edge of a sword before, and simply rose its’ own sword towards Reinier. His eyes widened as he brought his sword up in to a defensive stance once again, trying to formulate another plan.

The beast lunged forward with its’ earthen blade aimed for Reinier’s chest. With his sword resting between his thumb and forefinger, he too lunged forward, and brought down his sword. With a grunt, he threw his sword upwards in to the foe’s, and shot down towards his knees, and through his sword upwards in to a slash in to the stomach of the foe. The sword pierced the stomach and exited out of the spine region, and Reinier began to come up to his feet, all the while twisting his body around. Grunting once more, he twisted his whole body around, ripping the sword from the side of the monster in to a downwards slash in to its’ back.

He slashed through the whole of the beasts’ back, the blade grazing the red earth beneath. Due to the force of the attack, the monster jolted down a bit, just long enough for Reinier to continue on with his attacking. The cross laid in his left hand from the attack. He ran forward hopping up the monster’s back. He dragged the blade upwards in to the air, arcing it through the monster’s back. Once the blade reached the air, Reinier grabbed the sword with both hands, and began to swing it downwards. He dropped the blade downwards until it rested in his hands so that the blade pointed downwards. He stood on the monster’s shoulders, as he held the sword downwards. And just as Link plunged the sword in to the altar, so did Reinier plunge his sword in to the monster’s head.

The blade entered the skull of the monster, and exited outside of the ribcage, causing clay to shoot out of the chest as the blade exited. The monster slumped forwards and once more hit against the red earth, hopefully defeated this time. Reinier hopped off the monster, yanking his sword from the skull and looked up to Comedy. By this time he had began to shake rather violently, like a very frightened dog. Reinier looked down and sighed as the puppet had already began to clamber back up to its’ feet. The monster once more brought up its’ massive sword up in to an attack stance, this time from below its’ waist line and behind its’ back.

The blade shot out of the handle, much to Reinier’s surprise. Just as he did before, he rolled down on the ground to the right, then ran upwards to the foe. He began to unleash a onslaught of attacks in to the monster’s stomach. He unleashed arched attacks from the left to right, and right to left, in a string of attacks pushing the monster closer to Comedy then he would probably have liked. Clay flew from side to side as the monster was shoved closer and closer to its’ master, its’ arms outstretched over its’ attacker.

The monster reached closer and closer to Comedy, who at this time had fallen down to one knee, his hands still outstretched. Reinier roared as his sword reached his left side, as he screamed his lightning skill, “RAIRIKU!” Erupting from the handle of the sword, a stream of lightning surged from the handle of the sword and arched upwards towards the clay puppet. The attack effortlessly cut through the monster from the hip and continued up in to the body of the monster. As if it where a warm knife cutting through butter, the sword sliced through the monster and exited from the shoulder.

The two halves of clay flew in opposite directions, connected by small streams of golden lightning for a few seconds. Reinier let go of the blade with his left hand, and let the sword fly high, until he let it go to let it fly upwards in to the sky. The blade spiraled in a rotating circle through the air, as Reinier ran forward, having to push some clay out of his way. He rushed forward towards Comedy until he was face to face with his smiling foe, and uttered two words: “Payback fucker.”

Cruelty had invaded Reinier’s eyes, as he reared back a clenched fist, and delivered a mean right-hook. Hitting right where a nose would be, he hit Comedy hard enough to send him flying back in a shower of porcelain and blood. Comedy flew backwards, hitting the ground, bouncing a few feet, then smacking downwards in to the earth once more. He came to a sliding stop, his arms and legs both facing downwards in the same fashion, reminding Reinier of when a dog stretched outwards on the ground during its’ sleep.

Reinier’s blade came to a screaming stop as it hit the ground, at the same time he had hit Comedy. Reinier noticed that at this time the monster had been reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble, as he back tracked and picked up his sword, and began to slowly trot towards a crawling Comedy. Comedy managed to crawl up on to his knees, his hand grasping a bloody, exposed section of his face. The punch sent cracks throughout the mask in every direction, and made a massive chunk of the right portion to come flying off. A crimson stream had sprung from the top of his face and pooled down the side of his face as he watched Reinier walk towards him.

Comedy growled as Reinier approached, as he inched his way back up to his feet. He threw down both his hands at his waist, and let out a yell. He thrust his arms up in to the air above his head, making it look like he held a large basket ball above him. His arms took on that glow once more, and two rather massive spires of earth shot up from behind him. He inched his hands from above his head down to his chest, still keeping that ball-like form with his hands. The spires floated forward to either side of Comedy, and flipped forward to aim at Reinier. The portion of face Reinier could see from outside of the mask smiled, and the odd aura had enveloped over his eye. “Finally!” He screamed, thrusting his arms forward.

Using some quick thinking and luck, Reinier yelled, “Juk Rom!” In a flurry of leaves and bright green light, Comedy quickly became encased in probably his greatest weakness. He lost all concentration and constricted upwards to resemble a snake. He let out a massive scream, only for it to be overshadowed by the sounds of his own attack falling half flaccidly in to the earth at an angle, then loosing all ability to levitate and fall flat down in to the ground. The spell subsided and Comedy fell down to the ground, breathing heavily. It was at this time Tragedy appeared.

Tragedy unhurriedly made his way to where Comedy lay on the ground, his scythe still in hand. Comedy, still breathing heavily, turned around and looked up to his partner with a smile. “This is why I’ve always liked you… you’re always here to save the day and heal me… I owe you… I’m too tired and drained from controlling the Clay Puppet to continue fighting, I think it’s your turn now…” Comedy said with a chuckle.

Tragedy loomed overhead, stern and unflinching. “I’ve saved you too much over the years. You have always been the weaker one, and quite frankly I’ve begun to find you rather useless to the cause we fight for. I can complete more jobs for Gravis in a week then you could ever hope to, and frankly, you’ve far exhausted your cause. I’ve already run it through with the leader and well, you’re fired.” Tragedy spoke to his partner, or in this case ex-partner.

He raised his massive scythe in to the air, and drove it downwards in to Comedy’s chest. He let out a howling scream, only to be silenced by Tragedy’s heel in his throat. Comedy struggled for air, as Tragedy placed his foot on Comedy’s chest, and pulled the scythe backwards up through his throat, cracking the jaw, and pulling it out of his skull. A crimson pool of blood poured out of Comedy’s opened skull, along with some brain matter, and parts of the throat.

He pulled the scythe from out of the ground, place his right hand barely below blade and shook it up and down to get rid of the blood and left over brain residue. He nodded slightly, convinced his job had been done correctly and swiftly, and looked up to Reinier. “Now, time for more pressing matters. Defeat me and you can talk to Gravis. Don’t defeat me, then well… you get to talk to a body bag,” he said calmly, as if life were a simple toy. Reinier brought up his sword and nodded, knowing that if he ever wanted to find out who he was, he would have to defeat Tragedy.

… Although, if he simply gave in and died, he wouldn’t even have to worry anymore about who he was. Decisions decisions…
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
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Post by Reinier » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:43 am

Tragedy raised his scythe towards Reinier, then brought it at horizontally in front of him. He held it in the middle, and inched his hands away from each other as he spread out his legs. One hand pressed up against the blade of the scythe while the other extended down near the bottom of the pole. In a spider web formation, the earth shattered under him, and began to rise. A small bit of earth rested under the fighter, while all around him gaped a massive hole. Memories of watching the Coyote try and blow up the Roadrunner, only to leave doughnut-like holes underneath him flooded back to Reinier. Only here, no comedy would be involved if something blew up in Reinier’s face.

The earth cascaded upwards in a spiral shape up and around Tragedy, and bit by bit began to converge upon his body. In a matter of seconds Tragedy had created a thick layer of armor, matching that of the Clay Puppet’s armor. Three spine like curved blades cascaded upwards on the side of his arm. Two inverted spikes of the same manner rested atop his shoulders, as did three more pointing upwards on the bottom potion of his legs. The armor he created matched that of a man’s chest if he had been working out for years and taken Steroids. His mask had stayed the same, but now the earth had covered his neck and back of his head, and two long, goat-like horns shot outwards of his head.

Tragedy lowered his scythe so that the butt rested down on the ground, and kept on his right hand wrapped around the middle of the pole. Reinier grasped his sword, and peered upon the enemy he would have to face now. He knew his speed enhancement spell still had its’ effects running through his veins, but for how long he didn’t know. Common sense would dictate that his opponents’ speed would be weighed down greatly by the armor, but something just didn’t feel right about that armor. Reinier closed his eyes and cleared his mind of any and all thoughts.

He opened his eyes, and charged forward. He leaped upwards from the chasm in the earth, and pulled his sword over his head and let it rest against his back. He swung his sword over head in to a downwards slash towards Tragedy’s head, only to be interrupted. He felt a ripple surge throughout his body, followed by a mass of enormous pain. His arms and legs snapped forward, as did his neck. He looked forward to see Tragedy standing further and further away every second, his scythe outstretched to the right, the rest of his body still statuesque.

Reinier smashed against the ground in to a barrel roll, until he came to a skidding stop, his head bobbing against the ground lightly. His vision blurry, his chest a searing torrent of pain, his legs jell-o like, he wondering how he could defeat this kind of enemy. Reinier slithered up to his feet, shaking back and forth, peered upon Tragedy. He had his scythe raised in the air, for some unknown reason to Reinier. Next thing he knew, the sword pounded in to the ground in front of him, covered in earth up a little past the handle. Reinier’s eyes widened as he wondered what he was up against.

He broke off pieces of earth from his sword as he contemplated his next move. He remembered he had one attack, Dek Ganz. It decreased earthen powers, which Tragedy drew all his energy from. Reinier scrubbed most of the clay from the sword and brought it up, resting it on his shoulder. He reached in to his pocket and drew out a vile filled to the brim with a Health Drink. Ripping off the cork with his teeth, then popping it out of his mouth on to the ground, Reinier downed the drink and cringed a bit as it slithered down his throat. Reinier tossed the vile aside and cracked his neck to the left then right.

Once more, he rushed towards Tragedy with a plan in mind. He hoped this plan would work better then the last one he thought up. Once more he leapt from the chasm, but this time he threw his sword towards Tragedy. “DEK GANZ!” Reinier called out, and below him he could hear Tragedy mutter something. A debilitating miasma encased Tragedy, causing him to stumble backwards. Brining his sword under his waist, Reinier landed in front of the coughing Tragedy, and delivered an upward slash to the gullet of his opponent.

In a hail of falling clay and sand, Tragedy flew across the chasm, barely making to the other side, and landed in to a skidding stop. Reinier leaped across the round fissure, and landing in a run, barreled towards Tragedy he began to get up to his feet. Pulling his sword around like a windmill, Reinier shot his sword upwards in to Tragedy’s chest, sending him flying backwards once again, this time landing on top of Comedy’s corpse. Scooping a bit of sand up in his fist, Tragedy rose to his feet. Bits of his earthen armor continued to detach from his body, as he shook with anger.

“DIE!” Tragedy screamed pulling his whole body backwards as he thrust out his scythe. A dark golden aura encased his body, and glowed most brilliantly around the scythe. He lunged forward, hurling the scythe forward at Reinier. He uttered a small profanity as he watched the scythe coming towards him at a relatively fast speed. Not wanting to pull some rash, stupid move, Reinier leaped to the right just in time to avoid being sliced in half.

Tragedy landed back on his left leg, kicking up a small amount of dust as he held out his right arm to control the movements of the scythe. The glow, centered just in his hand now, gave him the control of the scythe. He pulled upwards gracefully with his hand, and with that movement, as did the scythe. Pulling down and back with his hand, the scythe came screaming downwards towards Reinier. He pulled up his sword in his right hand, juggling it around so that the blade twisted around clockwise. The scythe leveled off after getting closer to the ground, and came barreling towards Reinier.

Charging forward, he sprinted towards the scythe which seemed more saw blade like then anything else. He leaped forward, stretching out his body in to a Superman like pose, and shifted his sword downwards. The scythe smacked against the sword, causing the sword to shoot upwards in to Reinier’s leg. His whole body flipped upside down, making him land on his back on the ground. He groaned as he watched the scythe arc around for another swoop. His arms and legs were spread out as if he were making a dirt angel, and his head laid backwards watching the scythe coming towards him. Angling at a ninety degree angle, the spinning scythe plunged in to the ground. Truly looking like a saw blade, it came towards his head at a swift speed.

A plan struck Reinier in the head, and he had an idea on how to stop the scythe. Inches away from his head, Reinier rolled to the right and watched the scythe speed by. Pushing himself forward, he jumped up from the ground running towards Tragedy. The Ap Do from earlier still in effect, he reached Tragedy in no time. He readied his sword at his waist for an upwards slash, but the loud whistling scream of the scythe howled in his ear. As a late minute change of plans, he fell down to the ground on his stomach as if an air raid had been announced. He looked up in time to watch Tragedy catch the scythe and look down on Reinier.

“Did you honestly believe that would work? Do you know how many people have tried to do that exact same move on me, all to fail? Six hundred and eighty-two. Eighty-three now. I grow bored of you, so I think it’s time to stop playing around…” he trailed off as he held his scythe at a horizontally. With no warning the earth shot upwards, encasing his body up to his rib cage. His only free limb, his left hand, pointed down at Reinier. Three chain-like pieces of earth shot upwards in to the air, out from the new rock around Tragedy. The cords that shot out from the earth resembled dark earthen colored rusted chains, with pointed tip reaching out four inches at the top of the chain.

“Damn it…” Reinier muttered taking a step back and raised his sword with both hands. The spikes descended down upon Reinier, each aiming for a different part of his body. He leaped back, parrying two of the spikes and crouching under a third. The spike which overshot him smashed down in to the ground and molded with the earth once more, only to resurface to Reinier’s right. The spikes descended upon him rapidly, and pushed him back far away from Tragedy’s stationary body. He bounced the spikes off of his blade with a struggle, but he managed to keep his own.

A fourth chained spike appeared from the ground, and it too began a barrage against Reinier. He managed to parry one more spike after the rising of the fourth, but that was it as the fourth spike pierced his wrist, exited his wrist, then pierced Reinier’s other wrist. He let out a scream as he watched the chains swiftly move through his wrists, then come around and wrap around them. He dropped his sword, unable to use his hands from the pain, and soon found himself beginning to float in the air by his arms. He dangled in the air, kicking his legs about, looking up at the bloody mess the chains created.

Like tentacles of some distorted creature, they hovered in front of Reinier lashing back and forth. One of the tentacles lashed back, then forward and slashed across Reinier’s chest, causing him to fly back, but the chains around his wrists wouldn’t allow this. The other two tentacles followed suit and slashed across Reinier’s body, causing him to rock back and forth helplessly. He felt the chains around his hands loosen, and slip out from his wrists. He plummeted to the ground, landing on his chest. Reaching in to his pocket, he pulled out a vile of a deep blue substance. Popping off the cork with his teeth, he poured the liquid in to his mouth. He gagged a little from the liquid, but felt rejuvenated. He climbed to his feet, and picked up his sword.

He stepped forward as to begin running forward, but felt something wrap around his back leg. “No…” he muttered, as he felt his whole body jerk back and fall to the ground. He felt his body being dragged across the field towards Tragedy, he seemed to be rather enjoying himself. The chain stopped in front of Tragedy and brought Reinier up by his leg, so that he peered in to Tragedy’s eyes upside down. Reinier attempted to swing at Tragedy’s face, only to be jerked higher up so that he missed his head completely. The chain jerked backwards and tossed him back on the ground. Four chains wrapped around his wrists and ankles, shifted his body around, and a slab of earth came upwards and faced Tragedy.

Reinier struggled, trying to free either of his arms from the chains. “Struggling only makes the experience more painful. Just settle back and welcome the end of your existence. I must say, you’ve put up a better fight then most would. Normally Gaia’s Chains finishes everyone off, but you’re different. I thought you deserved a better death, especially seeing as how you managed to defeat Comedy. So, how do you wish to die?” Tragedy asked. Reinier scoffed, and looked around for some way to get out of this. He had a little amount of SP, not enough pull anything fancy. He leaned back and sighed, but felt something behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied a sword handle. He forgot about the massive sword he had, the Absorber.

He smiled and said, “I’m not dying.” He threw his body forward, then pushed backwards in to the sword and smashed the buckle that held the strap together. He smashed his head against the handle of the sword, causing it to swing around in a counter clockwise movement. The sword shattered the chains that bound his left hand, and it continued to swing and shattered the top part of the chain of his right hand before losing its’ momentum to do any more damage. He pushed forward with his freed hands, and grabbed the handle of the sword as he slipped out of the bottom chains. He leaped forward from the slab and brought the sword above his right shoulder with both hands.

A bloodlust roar erupted from Reinier as he descended down on Tragedy. Throwing his whole body in to the attack, he delivered a massive arced swing in to Tragedy’s chest. The blow connected, shattering his chest plate, and the rock casing around his body, sending him flying backwards, and landing on his back after coming to a sliding stop. Reinier breathed heavily as he pulled the sword out of the remnants of the earthen casing. He brought up a main menu and stored away the sword, and watched it disappear in a shimmering light. He jogged back and picked up the Holy Cross, and came up in to a mid-stance, his legs spread out with both hands on the handle, the sword tilted down a bit but for the most part vertical.

Tragedy climbed up to his feet, and inspected the massive gash in his chest that stretched from around his kidneys to his shoulder. He grunted as he looked up to Reinier, who remained stationary. With a roar, he threw out his right arm in to the air, summoning thin pointed spires, about six inches in diameter to rise up from the ground behind him. Six spires rose, shifted downwards to point at Reinier, and with a drop of Tragedy’s arm, shot towards the Heavy Blade warrior. He crouched down a bit, and at the right moment, rolled to the left out of the way of the spires. One of the long spikes nicked him in the shoulder, but not enough to make any noticeable damage.

As he hit his back on his roll, Reinier felt something tap up against his back. The light tap turned in to a thrust, as he was sent flying in to the air by a spire that appeared from practically no where. He corkscrewed through the air, landing on one knee and his left hand, his right hand with his sword reared behind him. Spires began to spring up from all directions now, no real thought put in to where they erected. In a slight dancing motion, Reinier began to step around each spire, able to see where each would appear because a small nub of it would appear before shooting out from the ground.

He peered over at Tragedy, whose arms raised up to the air. He no longer looked at Reinier, as he seemed dazed and staring up to the heavens. Reinier began running towards Tragedy, the spires shooting up all around him. Running in a zigzag pattern to avoid the spires, he made his way towards Tragedy. A spire began to come up in front of Reinier, so he decided to take advantage of this. He placed his right foot on top of it, bent his knee, and flew up in to the air. He flew in to the air, and pulled his body down wards so that he darted down towards Tragedy.

A spire shot towards Reinier aimed towards his face, but with a simple slash from the right he shattered the wayward spire. From the slash he brought the sword above him, and placed his left hand under the sword. The lightning that normally simply flickered about on the blade began to concentrate itself at the base of the blade, and soon shot upwards throughout the sword. “RAIRIKU!” Reinier screamed, flicking the sword downwards with his wrist, bringing that in to a full slash. The lightning from the blade converged upon the gash in to his chest, and sent Tragedy flying backwards.

Blood erupted from the former wound, but the lightning instantly cauterized the wound and sealed it up. The wound still glowed a brilliant blue color, as his limp body came to a stop near Comedy’s. Reinier came up to his feet, and standing tall, slid his sword back in to its’ sheath. He walked over to the bodies of his fallen foes and gave one final inspection of the two. A flicker of light gleamed from the mask of Tragedy, something unusual from such a dull looking mask. He crouched down and inspected the mask.

A dull, rustic colored gem had been imbedded inside of his mask, right above his eyes. Reinier picked it off, and placed it in to his pocket. “It’s probably worth a pretty penny…” he muttered as he stood. He looked over at Comedy, and noticed a gleam from in front of him. “Hello…” he muttered as he wondered over to where noticed the spec of light. He knelt down and found the source, another gem. He pulled out the one from his pocket, and noticed that they seemed to be two halves of a whole. He chuckled as he stuffed one of them in one pocket, and the other in his shoe, for security reasons. Namely, if he had a hole in his pocket he wouldn’t lose both gems.

Reinier looked up, and noticed something peculiar. The sky and ground seemed to bend, at in an instant, an odd structure made itself apparent. It looked like a slumped over zombie trying to emerge from the ground with its’ arms stretched out. The only thing was, the zombie was a sleek chrome with no head. Reinier began walking towards the dome-like structure with outstretched appendages, until he reached the actual dome. He looked up and wondered what to do.

“Welcome Sir! We are so glad you were able to make it. Sorry about the inconvenience you faced. Lord Gravis just wanted to make sure you were the real deal, and he thought Sir Comedy and Sir Tragedy would be the perfect test. If you’ll step in to the elevator, we will be able to give you a proper greeting.” The voice spoke from an unseen speaker. It spooked Reinier a tad, but not enough to make him draw his sword or anything of the sort.

With what sounded like someone puncturing a pressurized can, a door opened ahead of Reinier. He proceeded in to the door way, which instantly shut behind him. Seats lined the small, circular room. Reinier made himself comfortable and sat down, leaning against the wall. With a jolt, the elevator descended downwards. A small hologram appeared in the middle of the elevator. A small robed man, with his hood up so you couldn’t see his face, appeared. Clear blue form, with bits of static all about. “I’m so glad you could join us. When you exit the elevator, you shall be in the Main Corridor. You shall be greeted by some of our lower soldiers, who will take you on a tour then to meet Gravis. I do hope you enjoy your stay.” With that, the hologram disappeared.

Something’s just not right about this… I’m just being overly worried. I’m just wondering why I had to fight those two…
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
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Post by Reinier » Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:15 pm

Reinier leaned against the thick glass wall of the elevator as he watched the earthen crust zoom upwards as he traveled down. He wrapped his right arm across his stomach and put his left elbow on his arm. He brought up his left arm parallel to his chest and rested his head on his clenched fist as he stared down at the ground. He struggled to pull and former memories from the depths of his mind, only to fail. It felt as if some kind of mental block surrounded his memories, and it pained him a little to remember anything. He spread out his legs a bit more, and rested both his elbows on his knees. He slouched down as he did this, and continued to watch the earth rush by, until finally they reached the bottom. Oddly enough, what surrounded him was not a dark, dank cave with little light and no life, but a brightly lit, thriving village with the hustle and bustle of people scrambling around the town.

Reinier gasped at the sights around him, unable to take it all in at once. He turned around to look behind him, and found a massive lake as far as the eye could see, with structures atop the lake and around it. He turned back around and peered further out, and noticed a monolithic structure, resembling a castle. Spectacular buildings laid under the shadow of the castle, homes, businesses, and goods stores. “Amazing…” Reinier managed to say. He wished he could have gazed more in to the horizon, but the elevator entered in to what he guessed to be the “Main Corridor.” A steel structure surrounded the elevator, a major difference from before. The elevator came to a screeching halt at ground level and the two glass doors slid open in opposite directions, making a sound that seemed like a big rig letting loose air pressure from its’ breaks.

Reinier stood up and cracked his neck to the right and left, then moved around the hologram projector in the middle of the elevator. He stepped out in to a brightly lit room, and two robed men waited for him in the middle of the room to greet him. One man wore bright blue robes which cloaked his whole body, except for his head. A hood did adorn his robes, but he chose to keep it down. A light haired boy with soft facial features and a glowing smile he was, and in his hand he held an odd deep blue staff, with an orb which constantly levitated above a small round indention in to the staff. Unlike his counterpart, the other greeter wore deep crimson and black robes, with his hood resting on top of his head concealing his eyes. Strapped to the back of his belt, a long and winding black sword with a silver hand guard and dark crimson handle. The circular room, which revolved around the elevator, had been decorated with pillars every so often all the way around, with paintings in between every two pillars except for the two ahead of Reinier which held doors.

The two men approached Reinier and halted in the middle of the room. “Thank you for joining us, we shall escort you throughout the village…” The man in blue said in a light tone. The man in red nodded, turned around, and began walking out of the corridor. Reinier and his counterpart followed suit, and exited the room. The group exited the room to be immediately welcomed by a flash of bright light. Reinier shielded his eyes until they adjusted from the dimly lit corridor to summer-like village. The trio of warriors traveled down a light colored paved road passing by small stone homes. Each home seemed modeled after the same one: a garden in front of the house to the left and right, stairs leading up to the front door, a pillar on each side of the house, and a vertical triangle-structure holding murals. The structures seemed more Greek then anything else, but Reinier didn’t really notice or care.

Small, colorful and assorted flowers lined the paved road that the group traveled down. It seemed everything in the village had been enveloped in a colorful array of flowers, as they lined the gardens, roads, and windowsills of the buildings. The one thing he did notice that wasn’t colorful was the lake to their backs. Reinier turned to his light colored companion, while they continued to walk, and asked, “So do the people go to the lake much? I didn’t notice any people on the shores. The only thing I did notice was oddly shaped buildings out there.”

The man turned to Reinier and said, “No one is allowed to go to the Sacred Lake. It is forbidden by Lord Gravis. It is the source of all life in our small village, and is not to be tainted by the steps of anyone. Punishment for going to the lake is death, so few have ever tried to go out to the lake.” Reinier gulped and continued looking around the village. To After awhile, no more houses where along the roads as much as businesses. One business, larger then two homes put together, had a sign hanging from in front of its’ door. Two mugs clashing together with foam going all about.

Two other shops down the ways, a weapons shop and a magic shop. More people seemed to flock to the Tavern then these shops, but business is business. The group came to a halt in front of a massive castle which loomed over the village. The outside walls alone were larger then most homes in the area. Reinier gazed upwards on the gates which secluded the castle from the rest of the world. The gate stood twenty feet tall, with the long rails going in an arch. The two players turned to Reinier and bowed. The red cloaked figured said in a deep, gruff voice, “This is where we part. Inside, Gravis awaits you. He has been notified of your presence and has been expecting you.”

Reinier nodded, gave a wave, and walked forward up to the gate. The rails on the furthest most end began to creek upwards, and in a domino like fashion, the rest of the rails followed suit. A cascade of rails ascended upwards in to the gate and out of the top. Reinier let out a small gasp before continuing onwards. The gates were so huge that it seemed like a separate building. The gates seemed like a rather large home, and the rails were the doors. As soon as he walked past the first section of gates, they closed and the second section opened ahead of him. He jogged forward and exited out of the gates, which slammed downwards behind him, lacking the finesse it had rising.

Reinier continued forward on a polished marble walkway, which divided another nice garden. Blooming rose bushes, neatly cut to be square, surrounded a three bowl fountain, the bowls starting out large, then medium, then finally small where the water poured out of; this structure had been duplicated on either side of you to greet you as you entered the castle. Reinier walked past the structures that lined the road and entered under a ten foot tall archway in to the castle.

Reinier let out a small gasp at the sights of the building. A deep velvet rug lined the path forward up to the stairs which forked and corkscrewed upwards to the second floor. Paintings of beautiful scenery, ancient kings, and mythical beasts lined the walls, and guarding each painting, a gallant golden suit of armor. Tall torches every few meters lit the room, as well did a large, dangling chandler ten feet in diameter. The chandler had four “layers” with the largest, and bottom, layer being ten feet and it decreasing as it went up in to the higher layer. Long candles with wax dripping down rested elegantly around the chandler, adding on to the castle’s look.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A deep voice echoed. A man cascaded down the left stairway, a long cape dangling in his wake. Thick obsidian armor encased his body, the details too fine to be seen from where Reinier stood. His long black hair dangled gracefully behind him as he walked down the stairs. He stopped in the middle of the forked stairwell, and turned to Reinier. “Welcome back to my paradise, Reinier!” He called out, raising his arms to shoulder length and outstretching his finger tips. A wave of unrest struck Reinier, as he did not feel he could trust this man. He stepped forward, and put on a smile for his host. “I’m sure you have many questions, especially in your current condition. Come, we dine first. I shall answer all your questions later…” he said, trailing off in the end. He turned to his right and began to walk up the right stairwell.

Reinier followed suit and jogged up the stairs until he followed behind Gravis. “Would you like to change clothes? That fight against Tragedy must have taken it out of you. I should know, seeing as how I gave him his powers,” Gravis said, chuckling a bit. Reinier continued following the dark figure, until he suddenly stopped in front of a door in the middle of the second floor. The middle section of the floor had been cut out so you were able to peer down upon the first floor. If they had continued further, they would have gone to a stairwell leading up to the third floor, which seemed to be a straight pathway from two rooms, from what Reinier could see. Gravis turned around and motioned towards the door. “The Reinier I know would never wear that. Go in there, your normal clothes are in the room next to me.”

Reinier nodded and entered the room. A chandler half the size of the one in the main room of the castle rested high in the room, looming over a nice sized bed. A few bookcases lined the room, as did a suit of armor and a painting, but other then that the room was rather bare. Resting on the bed, some clothes for Reinier to put on as promised by Gravis. Reinier kicked off his boots and took off his belt and pants. He placed the articles of clothing on to his boots and picked up his new pants. He changed into the new pair of pants and sat down on the bed. They seemed the same as his old pants, only a finer, darker leather. He put on the new belt with a golden belt buckle of a lunging dragon. To tighten the pants even more, two sets of belts ran down from his hips to the back of his hamstrings. A flap started the belt which went down at a forty degree angle in to the three rings which ended at a second flap. He found no need to put on new socks, seeing as how they lasted forever most of the time until you just grow out of them.

He looked down at the new boots and decided he liked his old ones, so he threw off the pants and belt resting atop them, and put them on. He tightened the buckle that ran along his ankle, and stood tall once more. He tossed off his vest and took off his shirt, and looked at the new clothing he had picked out for him. He tossed on the new long sleeve shirt, skin tight which ended at his wrists. He picked up the next article of clothing and put it on. A vest which extended down a little below his knees, with a black fluff trail, which seemed like a fox’s tail, extended around the inner part of the vest around his neck and down to the beginning of his abs. He ran his hands long the fluff trail, enjoying the feel of the cloth running along his fingers.

A pair of odd gauntlets lay on the bed for him to put on, if he so chose. And he did. For his left arm, a long thick, crimson gauntlet which extended a few inches above his arm. A ring rested atop his wrist, about two inches thick with an indecipherable script running around the length of the ring. Extending up from the base of the ring, a second ring below his elbow, holding every symbol for the elements, which Reinier took a liking to. Extending further up to a little below his arm pit, the final ring as thick as the other two, this one having a dragon etched in to the metal. Reinier slipped on the second gauntlet, which was more of metal knuckles then the last one. A thick circle of metal rested atop each of his knuckles. The plating of the knuckles extended about one to two inches, and from the base of that, a thick leather which extended through to his wrist. Ending the second gauntlet, a bracelet like ring wrapped around the bottom of his wrist. Each element lined this bracelet as well.

Reinier liked his new clothing quite well, much better then the last thing of clothes he had to wear. He shifted his shoulders around to get the feel of the clothes, and gave a slight nod to himself. He knelt down, and pulled the gem from out of the pocket of his old pants and stuffed it in to his new ones. He made sure the other half of the gem was still in his shoe, and it was, and he unlatched his sword. He latched the sheath to the back of his belt and stood up, then walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him, and found Gravis waiting for him like promised. “Very nice my friend… Come, to dinner,” he said, gesturing towards the stairs which led to the third floor. Reinier followed behind the black knight figure, watching his cape dangle in his wake.

They climbed up the stairs and took a left in to the room. A massive dinning hall with a long, polished wooden table capable of fitting at least twenty people on each side of the table in the middle of the room. Like every other room in the building, golden suits of armor guarding pictures and bookcases lined the room. At the opposite end of the room stood two open doors which led to a balcony overlooking the entire village. Gravis walked over to the table and sat at the head, his back facing the outside. A massive amount of food had been prepared for the occasion, ranging from simple corn and peas to a massive turkey, pig, and chicken, prepared in anyway imaginable.

Reinier walked over to the table and sat in the middle of the table and muttered to himself, “I never imagined you could deep fry a whole pig…” He gathered up various pieces of meat, fried chicken strips, a leg from most likely a pig, a breast of a duck, and then a little dipping bowl with some gravy inside. He began to devour the food, every so often stopping to take a breath or to, but then resumed. He stopped his act of gluttony, coughing. He pounded his chest a bit, and felt something walking up his throat. He pushed forward with his tongue, reached in with his fingers, and slowly pulled out a long chicken bone, a rib of some sorts.

“Enjoying the meal I see… quite. Well, I’ve grown weary, and it is starting to get late…” Gravis said, trailing off. Reinier looked over with an objecting look, but Gravis already knew he would object. “Tomorrow I shall give you all the answers you could possibly want, don’t worry.” Reinier sighed a bit, and stood, noticing that next to his plate stood a folded napkin. He unfolded the napkin and quickly wiped away any greasy residue still lingering on his fingers, and dropped the napkin on his plate. Gravis stood by the door, arms crossed, ready to leave. “I shall show you to your quarters,” he said. With a nod, Reinier followed his companion out the door.

The two walked the long and narrow walkway of the third floor in to the only other door of the floor. They entered a massive room, big enough to be a battlefield for two opposing armies to fight to the death. The two entered the room on a small balcony forking off in to two stairwells. Gravis turned towards Reinier and said in a low tone, “I shall be in the room next to yours, the one on the left.” He indicated the room by pointing down the stairwell to a room, indeed on the left. “… and you shall be in the room to the right.” And once again, pointed to a room located to the right. “I shall have a servant wake you in the morning, and we shall talk over breakfast. Good night, my friend.”

With that said, Gravis turned gracefully around, his cape whipping back in the wind as he descended down the stairs in to his room. Upset that he wouldn’t be able to ask questions about his situation, he hopped down the stairs and entered his room. A massive, oval like bed graced the middle of the room against the wall, with a large window looming over head. The large stain glass window which would normally filter in many bright and elegant colors had been dimmed, due to the fact it was nighttime outside. Reinier hopped up on the bed and crawled over to the window. He cracked the window open, and peered outside upon the village.

The forbidden lake glistened under the midnight moon, the main point Reinier could see from his position. “Something’s just not right about that place…” He muttered to himself. He decided to take it upon himself to inspect it, out of sheer nosiness. He looked down the vertical wall of the castle and knew this wouldn’t be easy. A patio stood under him, a floor below. He threw both his legs out, his butt still hanging in the room, with his hands resting on the window ceil. With a three count, he pushed forward, and landed down on the patio below. He hopped up on the rim of the patio and leaped forward over the edge, landing on the ground with a mild grunt. The main part of the grunt came from a conveniently placed guard who had happened to be walking by. “Crap…” Reinier muttered, grabbing the guard by the leg. He dragged the fallen guard in to a near by bush, and made it seem like nothing had been hidden there.

With that job done, he ran to the left towards the gates. Reinier jogged in a semi crouching position, his left hand glued to the sheath of his sword. A small precession of soldiers began walking out of the castle towards the gates, so they rose the gates up. Reinier sprinted forward, and hid in a corner of the gate and outer wall, able to watch the preoccupied soldiers. He stood pressed against the wall, holding in his breathing, watching the soldiers pass. Once the last warrior passed the gate, Reinier slipped around the corner in to the gate. He stealthily followed behind the soldiers as they marched along, never noticing the following figure. They finished leaving the gates, and Reinier took his own route, along the back of a few houses.

Reinier walked down the alleyway of the homes, his hand still on the sheath of his sword. The lights were out in every single home and business he passed, with the exception of the Tavern. Loud cries of laughter exited from the building, being the only living place in the village. He soon passed the main corridor, guarded by the two who toured Reinier throughout the city. He sprinted past the small building which led to the surface, and soon found himself staring down at the lake, but nothing stared back up to him. He knelt down by the water, and placed his hand down. Solid earth, not the slightest bit of wetness anywhere. Reinier blinked, and stood. He hopped forward in to the lake, only to find himself standing atop the crystal blue surface.

“I distinctly remember telling you no one is allowed in the lake…” Reinier heard someone say. Before he could turn around to see, he felt a large blow to the head, most likely because of a blunt object. The last thing he remembered was the lake feeling oddly like asphalt.
Last edited by Reinier on Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Reinier
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Post by Reinier » Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:02 pm

“Hey sonny, you might want to get up soon. It’s almost morning,” echoed a voice. Reinier groaned, slowly opening his eyes to find a dark void where light should have been. The absence of light didn’t bother him that much, but it still felt odd. He looked up to see a funnel of light, barred funnels of light, but light none the less. “You’ve been asleep for quite some time sonny. Best I’ve ever seen anyone sleep in one of these cages, actually!” the voice said with a chuckle.

Reinier rolled over on to his stomach, and pushed up on the floor with his hands. He cracked his neck to both sides, and did the quick to check to see if he was okay. He waved his left hand about, everything fine. His right hand to find the same result. He kicked his leg out a bit as if doing the Hokie-Pokie and found his leg was fine. He did the same to his other leg, and found the same result. He nodded his head as all things checked out fine. He placed his hand on his pocket, to find nothing. His eyes widened as he reached in and shuffled around, to find no gem. He uttered a small profanity and fell down to one knee, and checked the shoe he placed the second part of the gem in. It still rested underneath the ball of his ankle, thankfully.

He didn’t know why he worried so much about a gem he had looted from two corpses, but for some reason he had some sort of attachment to the two. Reinier stood up, and looked around. Once again, the absence of light didn’t bother him, it just made things a lot harder to find. He found it odd he had been caged up, but still had his clothes and weapon. “By this time, you’re probably thinking of escape. Trust me, it won’t work. I’ve tried many times over the course of my many years of imprisonment… Whoo boy that’s been a long time!” The man said with a laugh.

“Where am I? Who are you?” Reinier asked, turning towards where the voice originated. He began to walk towards the voice, only to be stopped by a long plank hitting him in the knee. He fell forward a bit, but caught himself against the wall. He pushed down on the plank, and felt around a bit of the plank. It extended quite far, long enough to be able to sit down on it. He plopped down on the second rate chair, and pressed his head against the wall.

“Oh? Me? I’ve long since forgotten my real name, seeing as how I’ve been here so long… they do call me ‘The Architect’ however. Damn well should, seeing as how I’ve designed everything you see in this God-forsaken building. This prison, his castle, even his special modes of transportation,” the man said with a heavy sigh.

“Wow. You must be good if you can’t even get out of a prison you built… And they repaid you by throwing you in this God-forsaken place? Well, when I get out, I’ll be sure to help you as much as possible,” Reinier said to the Architect.

“Really sonny? You think you could manage to pull that one off? If you can, I’ll give you something real nice. Something that’s in the final production stages of building for Gravis. What is your name, boy?”

“My name’s Reinier. What’s this thing now?” Reinier asked. Before he found an answer, he felt a jerk forward. He slowly began to rise up towards the light. He jumped to his feet and looked up, watching the bars open upwards towards the sky. Immerging from the black abyss, Reinier stood solidly, taking looks around the room. The gallant knights who acted as guards above ground now wore matching uniforms a black suits with their rank and number over their heart. No skin showed of the men, they wore gloves to cover their hands, but their face was still present. Each men held a sword, or had a sword dangling off their belt, and most likely had an array of skills they could use.

“Follow,” one man said, placing his sword on his shoulder. Reinier could see a second man go behind him, his sword in hand. With a loud thump, Reinier fell down to one knee, grabbing at his shoulder. He swung his head around to see a warrior looming over head, his sword hanging higher. “He said follow,” the second man said in a gruff voice. He grumbled and rose to his feet and followed the man ahead of him. They walked through brightly lit white halls with nothing adorning the walls. Every so often a door and a sign next to the door, and once they did pass a massive map to the whole complex, but other then that, nothing.

The two men dragged Reinier in to a nameless room, and pushed him inside. He scoffed, and continued to walk forward. He turned around to see the door closed and the two men gone. “Well that was kinda rude…” Reinier muttered to himself, walking over to the other side of the room. He crossed his arms and slumped against the wall, staring at the door. The door shifted open, and the caped warrior Gravis paraded in to the room. He approached Reinier, a dark look across his face.

“There’s a reason I brought you here, Reinier. You see your friend, the old man, made me certain items. This armor, this glove, a dagger, each with a special property. But the dagger, which should be able to shape shift in to any weapon you and your friends use, isn’t properly working. I’m constantly watching you all use your little skills against monsters, and I’ve grown found of what you’re able to do. But, I haven’t been able to quite use your weapons… That’s a problem,” Gravis said, looking at Reinier with a smile. Reinier gradually came forward, placing his left hand on the sheath of his sword. “No no, don’t worry about that… You’re a good man Reinier, it’s a shame the Freedom Fighters will lose you,” he said this, placing his right hand on Reinier’s shoulder.

Wait, did he say “glove”?

Before Reinier could say anything, Gravis’ glove began to pulse a deep green color, and he could feel a deep pain in his chest. He wanted to scream, but suddenly it felt as if someone else had taken over completely, as if he had no control over his own body…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Enter Taimat,” the red scaled dragon muttered to himself stepping in to the field. The remnants of the rings fell over his body, as he sniffed around the dark clayed field for Reinier’s scent. “He’s been here… I can smell it…” he muttered to himself strolling over to the two corpses of Comedy and Tragedy. “Oh what a tragedy… Reinier needs to learn to kill with finesse.” In the distance the dragon spied the building which led further underneath the earth. With common sense on his side, he unfolded his wings and took to the air.

Taimat gracefully glided through the air towards the building with thoughts of Reinier’s situation running through his mind. He descended from the skies towards the small building, knowing what he would do. Simple job, he would rush in there, kill a few people, find Reinier, and leave. Simple. The dragon landed on the doorstep of the building, and took in a deep breath. He continued taking in his breath, until he found what he was looking for. With a massive exhale aimed at the door, flames shot out from the deepest part of his gullet on to the door, melting it instantly. Even after there was no sign of a door any more, the dragon continued his flame thrower across the room in to the next set of doors, which was the elevator.

Taimat cut off the flow of fire and stepped through the newly made door, and continued to walk forward in to the room. He peered down the dark tunnel of the elevator, not seeing a light in sight. “Not a light in sight… heh, need to right that one down…” the dragon muttered to himself, sliding down in to the black abyss that was the elevator. He stretched out his front legs and folded his wings around his stomach so he could fit down the shaft of the elevator. A tight squeeze, but he managed to fit. A small light which gradually became larger appeared in front of Taimat like a train speeding ahead. Before long, the blinding light passed him and he was in the glass case of the elevator staring around at the village.

The dragon could have cared less at the sights of the village, all he wanted was to find Reinier and leave. He jolted upwards, shattering part of the glass with his snout on his way up. He thrust out his wings, shattering the remainder of the wings and slowing down his descent. He threw his body forward towards the city, and began to descend down upon the unsuspecting citizens. He streamlined his body by throwing his legs back, stretching out his tail, and wrapping his wings around his stomach. When he was feet away from crashing in to the ground, he threw out his wings and legs, and came to a screeching halt on the ground, crushing a wayward villager in his path. “Ew… it’s on my foot…” Taimat muttered to himself, looking at the corpse underneath. Taimat lifted his head and took a sniff, and grinned. “Oh yeah, he’s been here…”

A shaken guard approached Taimat, spear in both hands with the tip over his head. Everyone could tell how frightened he was due to the fact every fiber of his body shook as he approached the dragon. He cleared his throat and said, “Sir… um… sir… could you kindly um… leave?” Taimat looked down on the shaking guard and smiled.

“If you can tell me where my friend, Reinier, is, then sure I’ll leave. If not, be prepared to be roasted alive,” the dragon said with malice in his voice.

“I’ve heard stories of a red haired warrior seen by the lake, but once you go there, you never return… Could you please leave now… um… sir?” he said, shaking even worse due to the fact the dragon approached the guard. Taimat knelt down and stared at the guard in the eyes and smiled. The dragon’s heavy and heated breath flowed through the air on to the guards’ face, causing him to sweat even more then he already was.

“Thank you for your kindness,” The dragon said, taking in a breath. On the exhale, flames shot out of his mouth directly in the guard’s face. He did not have a chance to give a last request, nor scream, as he was incinerated. A headless, and chest-less, corpse fell to the ground, his arms barely connected to his body, still holding his spear. Taimat shifted his head around, sending flames all about the city setting fire to any and all things flammable. The once beautiful flowers had been scorched in flames, just as the houses they stood in front of. The dragon spread out his wings and once again took flight to the skies.

Taimat flew over head of the village, which slowly began to be brightly lit by the wild fire. He chuckled at his excellent distraction, as most people would be struggling to put out the flames. “Paradise is overrated anyways,” he muttered to himself, descending towards the lake. He stopped right above the lake with a flap of the wings, and instantly noticed the water didn’t ripple as he stopped. He flew lower and scratched a nail across the top of the water, to find nothing at all. He dunked his head under to find a whole under ground society of fighters lounging around as if there were no giant dragon laying waste to their city.

Taimat descended down to the base, which had a deep blue tint to the area. He landed behind two guards who were lounging about, most likely not doing what they were supposed to be doing. “Hey Chuck, did a dragon just land behind us?” one of the guards asked.

“Yes, and you’re going to tell me the location of Reinier, your newest prisoner,” the dragon said softly to the two guards. “Chuck” didn’t bother to turn around, but instead ran off screaming and flailing his arms around. The other nervously turned around and looked up to see Taimat. He gulped and pointed towards a lone, gated building the size of a small barn.

“Tha-… that’s the prisoner barracks… he should be in there…” he managed to utter before fainting. Taimat shrugged and walked forward, crushing his ribs as he pressed forward. He came to the gates and with a small puff of fire, roasted through the metal fence enough to make an opening for him. He readied himself for another flame thrower, but someone so nicely opened the door for him. A shocked guard stood in front of the dragon, shaking wildly. Before he could say a word, Taimat lunged forward in to the room, grabbing the guard by the shoulder with his teeth. He pounced on the guard, throwing him to the ground. He stepped on his ribs, and smiled.

“I’m not going to kill you… yet. Bring up all the prisoners. Now.” the dragon said calmly. He let up his leg and watched the guard scramble to his feet to a control panel. With a few pushes, the cylinder like cages the prisoners were kept in slowly came up, none revealing Reinier. Taimat looked behind him to make sure the door had been closed, and it indeed was. He stepped towards the guard and looked him in the eyes. “Where. Is. Reinier?” Taimat said calmly.

The guard stared at the dragon, shaking violently. Before he knew it, he fell to the ground in a spastic seizure. Taimat sighed and looked around, confirming Reinier’s absence. An old man leisurely approached Taimat, chuckling. “Hohoho, that was a good show there sonny! You want to know where your friend is, eh? Well, you’ll take that door there and keep going forward until you see an unmarked room. Bust that door down, and you’ll find him. A good fellow, by the way.” Taimat stared at the old man, bewildered at his friendly demeanor.

“Well uh… thanks.” Taimat said shakenly. He didn’t know why, fear stricken him when he looked in to the eyes of the old man. Taimat turned away and prepared to leave.

“Something you might want to know though, sonny… By now, Gravis has stolen his soul. How do I know? I designed the weapon he uses to do it.” Taimat stopped and turned around to look at the old man. “Grabbed your attention I see. Well, here, drink this…” the old man said, reaching in to his pocket as he waddled over to Taimat. He pulled out a small vile of a blue potion, no bigger then his thumb. He threw the bottle in to Taimat’s mouth, which he thusly cracked in his teeth and swallowed. He shuddered and cringed at the taste of the potion, and looked at the old man. “Use your fire breath when the time is right. Act on instinct, not by thought. That’s the only way to save your friend. Also keep in mind it’s a one shot deal, so once you use it, you’ve used it… I’ll be here, waiting for you two to return.” the old man said, walking off to sit in a chair.

Taimat continued forward and went through the back way of the room, which the old man pointed out. With a head butt, he entered the next hallway. He galloped forward, knocking any and every person out of his way as he searched for the nameless room. He found the room, and before he could head butt his way in, Reinier opened the door. His eyes widened as he stopped mid step, and began to back away slowly. “Why my good friend… how… how are you?” he asked nervously as he continued to back away. Taimat continued walking forward, with the door closing behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, a black armored person lay on the ground, face first. No blood in sight. Taimat snorted a puff of blue smoke from his nostrils and peered in to Reinier’s eyes. He inched his right hand down towards a small dagger which stood against the side of his right leg, connected to one of the three loops of his belt. Without warning, Taimat shot out a stream of blue flames towards Reinier. He shot his right hand down and ripped out the foot long dagger which rest in its’ sheath, and brought it up to block the flames. Part of the flames were absorbed in to the blade, which began to glow blue. He took a step back, and placed his left hand against the butt of the blade to absorb the force of the flames.

“Damn… you… old man!” He managed to yell. The flames finally rushed past the dagger and engulfed Reinier’s chest. He threw his hands down, and the dagger glowed a brilliant red. The dagger blew up in to thousands of red orbs which flew about the room, each rushing towards the slumped over body. Taimat cut off the flow of the flames, and watched as the orbs funneled down in to the collapsed knight’s body. Reinier fell down to the ground, landing on his butt. “What the hell just happened…? Tai… Taimat? That’s his name…” Reinier muttered, looking at the dragon.

Gravis stood to his feet, dagger in his right hand, and brushed is hair back with his left. “I don’t need your powers… the ones of your friends are enough for now…” Gravis said, pushing his dagger out. It glowed a brilliant green, and shot out in both direction. It resembled many tree branches intertwined together. “Do you remember the Treeweaver? You should, seeing as how you’re in this coma because of it!” Gravis screamed. “That cursed gem wouldn’t work for me, even in your own body… So I guess I’ll have to kill you now…” he said, his eyes growing wide as he slowly approached Reinier. He reached in to his pocket and pulled out the half shard of the gem, wishing he knew what was happening.

Use the gems’ power! That coma is what gives you your powers. Just concentrate on the gem and it’ll form what you need!

I don’t know how… Wait.

Reinier reached in to his shoe and pulled out the second shard of the gem. He shook his head, knowing there was no way this would work. He smashed the two gems together, and instantly they began to glow a brilliant coffee color. The gem in his hand shot upwards, consequently shooting Reinier to his feet since his grasp on it was so tight. Brilliant rays of a golden brown color shot out of his hand, and without warning, the glow encased Reinier. Gravis stopped his movement and shielded his eyes from the brilliant glow.

Reinier gradually brought his hands down to his hips, and shrugged off the sleeveless coat around his shoulders. He unsheathed his sword with his right hand, and brought it down at his side. The glow came most brilliant around key points of his body, namely around his arms, his chest and shoulders, his hips, his legs, and finally his sword. All at once, the glow stopped, and revealed earthen armor around those places. New gauntlets had formed around his arms, smooth golden brown gauntlets with three dangling fins of earth growing larger as they got further away from his wrists. The armor around his shoulders chest took the shape of his chest, showing his abs and pecks as if he had been working out for once. On his shoulders, the armor had fanned outwards a few inches, with two curved spikes on his right shoulder aimed towards his head, the furthest most spike longer and curving over the inner. The left shoulder had a smoothed out, oval plate cascading down a ways over his arm, ending at the elbow to act as a mini shield.

A thick plate of earth wrapped around his waist to act as a belt, with two oval plates running down the long of his legs, ending above the knee. The symbol of Gan had been chiseled in to the plates, added no real significance to the armor. Wrapping above his ankles and going up to a little below his knees, a type of shin protectors. Flaring downwards from the middle of his lower leg, two smoothed out spikes going down a few inches.

The katana that was the Holy Cross had became more of a two handed sword now. A long, jagged hand protected had sprouted from the place where the handle and metal met, a little longer then the handle. The sword had elongated, and became more wavy. From the top of the blade, two jagged appendages had been added which rose a few inches up from the blade towards the user. It waved outwards a bit until a few inches up from the tip of the blade, where one jag came outwards towards the user. From there, it angled downwards to the tip of the blade. It waved downwards from the tip growing a few inches until it came back down to the handle, where an indention to the blade was made outwards, making it resemble a can opener of sorts. A small cross lay underneath the single extension before the tip of the blade, symbolizing the sword had once been the Holy Cross.

The gems… they’re connected somehow… I remember who I am…

Reinier stared at Gravis, who seemed dumbstruck by Reinier’s power. Reinier threw his sword forward towards Gravis’ face, and angled his head downwards a bit. A smile crossed his face, “Tisk, tisk, tisk… Taking advantage of me in my unknowing of the world around me position… now, y’see, this is where you die for taking advantage of me,” Reinier said with an evil grin. “You’re pathetic Gravis. Mind games, stealing powers… I recognized that as Lighteria’s orbs. I’ve fought harder scum then you. You’re just a pathetic, half baked hacker.”

“No no no… quiet, no… Shut up! You’re just like Nighthand! I AM more powerful! I’ll win! I can defeat you all!” He began screaming and flailing the Treeweaver around in the air, vines shooting out from the tips of its’ branches. Vines shot all around Reinier, each missing their target. Gravis looked down at Reinier, his eyes widening. He threw the fake Treeweaver towards Reinier, and shot a barrage of vines towards Reinier. He didn’t move an inch, and yet every vine that shot towards him missed.

“Just as I thought. Your copy cat skills fall short on the real thing. Go ahead and try to copy someone else’s skills. Try mine,” Reinier said laughing. With a maddened scream, he threw his spear in to the air, which took shape of Tokki’s Mistglaive in its’ simplest form. He basically held a blue stick with a globe of water perched at the top. He threw the spear down with an odd twitching smile and began to laugh.

“BLOCK THIS!” He screamed. All at once, water began to converge upon the staff, and erupted from the depths of the spear. A wave of ice shot forward towards Reinier, and without even reacting, the armor glowed. His arms shot together in a cross, then sliced outwards. The end result being the armor erupting outwards in to a massive dome of rock. The icy blast from the glaive shot on to the rock, but because of the force it hit the rock, and because Gravis had little control of the powers to begin with, it shot back at him.

He attempted to block the attack, but to no avail. He became encased in a thick layer of ice, and became immobile. The ice wrapped around his body, and trapped his legs down in to the ground. He could move his arms around, but barely. His head and from his elbows down had been left unfrozen. His jaw jolted up and down as he shivered. The dome of rock Reinier involuntarily used receded down back on to his body, some ice chippings on his chest. He walked over to Gravis’ frozen corpse, and stared in to the eyes of his foe. He ripped the fake Mistglaive from his grip, and watched as it reformed in to the small dagger it used to be.

Reinier closed his eyes, and concentrated. The armor around his body glowed, and reformed itself back in to the jewel it formerly had been. In his left hand he held the dagger, in his right, the gem. “Excellent… now to go find the rest of them… As for you Gravis, just chill for awhile,” Reinier said. He pocketed his gem, and shook his head from the horrible pun. He pulled out his Holy Cross and stabbed in to the ice. He continued until he felt the blade pierce the soft stomach of the hacker. He coughed up a bit of blood, and his head slumped forward as he passed out. He jerked out his sword, wiped the blood off, and sheathed it away until he needed it again.

He looked down upon the dagger, and thought to himself. He knew the dagger was too powerful to be in anyone’s hands, even his own. His friend from prison would know what to do with it. He sheathed the small blade in the pocket where it had been clipped on his right leg. He looked over to Taimat and said, “Let’s go, take wing form. It’ll look a bit odd if I walk around with a huge ass dragon next to me.” Taimat scoffed, and in a brilliant golden red color, became a small orb and flew over to Reinier, where he became two foot long wings on his back. Reinier walked over and picked up the sleeveless coat he dropped on the ground, and threw it around his shoulders. “Time to go talk to the crazy old man…”

Reinier walked out of the room, and immediately a guard came up to him. “My lord!! Reports of a dragon seen around the city! The village is in shambles! What do we do, my lord!?” Reinier sighed and looked over to him. He placed his hand on the soldiers’ shoulder and sighed.

“You take care of it, I’ve got work I must attend to.” With that, he walked past the soldier towards the prisoner barracks. He walked past many people frantically running around, trying to get things in order. He entered the barracks, and found the old man lounging in a chair, sipping some tea. “Comfortable I see…” Reinier muttered to himself. The old man laughed and crept up to his feet. He hobbled over to Reinier, and inspected the warrior. His eyes lit up as he stared at the sheathed dagger on his leg. The old man reached out and unclipped the dagger from Reinier’s leg.

“Great! You’ve got my precious dagger back!! Great great great… I really owe you… I know! I’ll give you what Gravis wanted… it’s still in its’ final stages, but once it’s done, I’ll let you know… here, take this!” the old man clipped the sheath on to his pants, and reached in to his pocket. He pulled out a black ring, which he clipped around Reinier’s upper arm. Ancient script wrapped along the arm bracelet, a script Reinier couldn’t read. “When the time is right, its’ use will present itself… For now, I have some friends I need to free from the hanger… I shall keep in touch, Reinier.” And before Reinier could say a word, the old man ran off quick as lightning.

For an old man he sure can run… well, what now Taimat?

Nighthand’s waiting for us near the Chaos Gate. He wants to take you somewhere.


Reinier sighed, and pulled up the menu. He clicked gate out, and with three golden rings, he was out of the barracks. Three golden rings fell over his body, and he soon found himself in front of Nighthand. With a scoff he looked at Reinier. “It's about time, sheesh. Come on, we have things to do,” the eager Nighthand said to Reinier. He sighed, and wondered what they would do next…

((OOC: There you have it. The solo has ended with many unanswered questions. Hope you liked the Architect, you'll be seeing a lot of him.))
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Reinier's Wishlist: Sakabatou|Sharktooth
Abraxas' Wishlist: Complementry|Summon
The Hack's Wishlist: Wall lvl 2

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Cypher
Exalted Player
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Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:01 pm
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Post by Cypher » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:49 am

Reinier =-=> 4 levels + "An Angels Spirit"
Wishlist: Ends of Earth (11 BM), Black Sharp Angel Wings, BM Swords (Rare/Common)

New sig coming soon!

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