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Shifting Negative Frame-> Taimat's Story

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:19 pm
by Reinier
Welcome to The World, a wonderful world of infinite possibilities!

I remember it like it was yesterday… Reading that very statement off the back of the box on the ride home from the mall. I played that game with my friends everyday… I just never owned it. How was I supposed to know on that ride home, that it truly did have infinite possibilities? That eventually I would actually be apart of the game itself? I feel as if I’ve been apart of the game so long that living involves a sword in hand and a monster staring you down.

Xenobia. The mistress of nature, the holder of the Master's Crown and the corrupt lance, the Treeweaver. The horribly wicked woman who caused me the ability to feel pain, to suffer within the game. Her and the other “Hacker Elites” had the soul purpose in life to reign destruction, to make every player in The World comatose. It was now my job, along with the other “Freedom Fighters” to bring a stop to this.

Nall… ex-Hacker Elite, led the group on their adventures. The sheer amount of power he yields seemed to be impossible to gauge. Whenever the group was in danger of losing, he would manage to pull through and bring them to a victory, or at least a nice retreat in which they would live to fight another day. As with every Hacker Elite, he had a Twilight Item. The Amulet of Twilight allowed him to manipulate time itself to his every whim. For every Hacker Elite the group defeated, he grew more powerful. He now held three items: the Cape of Deciet, the Twilight Tear, and the Titan's Armor. What would Nall do once all the hackers had been destroyed? Would we find our escape from our purgatory?

Taimat… the fire dragon, and faithful friend of mine. The dragon appeared to me the day I had been plunged in to the life of a comatose Freedom Fighter. I never fully learned as to why he followed me around, or as to why he was always such a smart ass to me… Even though he was a pretty big ass hole at every point possible, I really enjoyed his company. I wonder how he’s fairing? He left rather abruptly when I needed him most…


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

Shifting Negative Frame. Ominous keywords to say the least. It felt as if every passing moment, the tick of time itself, had become stagnant. At this very moment, as Reinier had been smashed against every possible place in the cathedral, the memories of his experiences in The World began to fly back in to his mind. Thoughts of his new friends, of the Freedom Fighters, of the Hacker Elite, of his only true friend Taimat… they all flew deep in to his mind as he passed in and out of consciousness.

The Churches in the real world always symbolized hope to Garrett. Even after he shed his old identity and became Reinier, they symbolized this hope. In The World, Reinier would constantly visit a certain area which held only a church floating upon small cliff in a sea of nothingness. Whenever he had become sad, lonely, or just needed guidance, he would go to the church to remind himself that even though he had been trapped in the game, there would be hope of something better.

What of this hope now? It disappeared with every blow that landed upon Reinier’s body. Reinier flew across the room, smashing against a wall and slithering down to the floor, landing in an upright position. A crimson trail followed him down to the floor, and became an insignificant puddle under his body. His head rested on his right shoulder, his eyes closed, with his right unable to open even if it wanted to. The echo of footsteps grew louder as a man approached the corpse-like Reinier.

Taimat you son of a bitch… of all the times to leave me alone, why now?

The man stopped a few feet in front of Reinier, glaring down upon the crippled fighter. In a soft voice, a few words escaped Reinier’s lips. “What now… gonna do to me what you’ve done to Taimat…? Rats… are more noble… then you…!” Reinier coughed upon his last statement. Blood trickled down the side of his lips, dripping off his face on to his earthen armor. The armor, granted to him by the his gem stone of earth, had been demolished by the warrior. The only protected part of his body left was his shoulders, and even that piece of armor had been cracked beyond decent repair.

“The trouble with that is the fact that he is, or was rather, so much stronger then you. You’re only plus is those gems I’m about to take from you,” The towering man said. Reinier scoffed, knowing that he had no chance in keeping his gems at this point. He turned his face upwards up to the man, a smile creeping across his face. Reinier shifted his palm upwards, and unclenched his fist, turning his hand in to a bowl. The remainder of his armor disappeared, and reappeared in his hand. His other gems, Kou, Rue, Vak, and Ani, began to appear in his hands as well. Each gem chimed a note, glowing brilliantly the color of the element as it chimed. “Just giving them away? Pathetic.”

Reinier’s left eye gradually opened to look his foe in the face. “You think I’m giving this to you…?” Another small laugh escaped Reinier, just before he took his action. He clenched his fist, causing the gems to glow brilliantly through his fist. With the last ounce of energy he held, he pound his fist deep in to his chest, the fist passing through his chest which felt like it had become water. He ripped out his hand, and held it up to the man. “No more gems, Demetrius… They’re apart of my soul now… There’s only one weapon out there with the power to rip out souls, and I watched the man die with it…” Reinier gradually began to breath heavier, as he grasped his chest. Pings of pain rained throughout his body, causing Reinier to let out death wails. He collapsed on his side, still grabbing his chest.

“Well… Guess we do this the hard way…” Demetrius muttered to himself. He bent down, grabbing Reinier by the hair. He dragged the man through the isle of crushed and demolished pews. Shrieks and wails echoed throughout the cathedral, shattering the hope it once represented.

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

This is not how it is supposed to happen! We were supposed to win, and everything would return to normal… but instead I’ve dragged more people in to this… Reinier… now his best friend… I owe it to him to save him… but how? I’m trapped now too. That charlatan’s beaten me twice now… I felt stronger then the first time I fought her… I knew her tactics, her strengths, her weaknesses… I even had help this time, and this is how it ends… no, I won’t let it!

Taimat lay chained to the earth, unable to move his wings, legs, and barely his head. The golden chains had intricately been strewn across Taimat’s body around his legs, atop his body painfully constricting his wings, and wrapped tightly over his neck. Under his body, an incantation had been summoned to constrict his ability to breath fire. His captors didn’t even have the decency to confine him outdoors. They placed him in a pit twenty feet underground, with an insignificantly small hole over head which let in a small amount of sunlight and moon light every so often. Of all the things they could do to Taimat, that had been the worse. His love for the fresh air and outdoors seemed to be the only thing keeping him sane ever since his transformation. But now they truly had taken away everything dear to the poor dragon.

“DEMETRIUS! SHOW YOURSELF YOU COWARD!” The dragon bellowed. In a wisp of white smoke, the mage appeared in front of the chained dragon. “What have you done with the boy? And how long do you plan on keeping me in this hell hole?”

“It’s not much of a hell hole… it’s too dark to be considered a hell. As for the boy, I wouldn‘t worry about him. We’re treating him with the same, if not more, hospitality we have been giving you. He seems to be enjoying himself, though, if that is any consolation. As for you… You know too much. We can’t let you go out there in to The World trying to gather more recruits against us, now can we? But if they’re as strong as your last friend, it probably wouldn’t hurt us terribly much… Though, eventually, you will be ‘free,’ so don’t worry.” Demetrious let out a small chuckle as he said free.

“You’re a sick son of a bitch. When I’m free, I’ll be eating your head, along with the rest of your friends!” The dragon roared. Demetrious simply laughed at the dragon’s threat, not worried at all. The dragon writhed in pain, trying to free himself from his entrapment, but to no avail.

“Give it up, you’re just pathetic… Well, until we next meet… good bye my friend.” And with that said, the mage disappeared in another wisp of white smoke. The dragon bellowed a massive roar, as he continued to free himself.

Reinier… I’m sorry…

((OOC: There ya go. Short, yes, but meaningful. Keep in mind this solo’s going to be done just a tad different then the conventional way. I would read the little title thing at the beginning of each post. It will help clear up certain things.))

Reinier's View

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:10 pm
by Reinier
Reinier! WAKE UP!

Reinier rolled over to his side, only to be greeted by the floor. He rolled off the couch, plummeting to the floor, wondering where the voice came from. “Tai… Taimat?” Reinier muttered, shifting his head around on the floor. The red-haired man’s fiery crimson companion was no where to be seen. He inched his way up to a sitting position on the floor, raising his left leg upwards in to a forty-five degree arch, and wrapped his left arm around his knee. He looked over his shoulders, to see no one else in the small room with him. On his right side lay his sword, most likely placed there by one of his friends. A chime resembling a school tardy bell rang in Reinier’s ear, a sound he hadn’t heard in a long time. “Who would Flashmail me…?” He muttered softly to himself.

Flashmail!

To: Reinier
From: Dionysus
Subject: Theta

Reinier, it’s your old friend from the jail cell. I’ve got a present for you, head to the Theta Server. I’ll be waiting for you near the Grunty Stable.

~Dionysus

End Flashmail


So the old man’s name is Dionysus…? Huh… go figure… Wow, if his name is that of a God… he must be older then I tell people… Those names are the ones that people take quickest… Might as well go to the Theta Server…

Reinier slid his right leg up to match the left, put both of his hands behind his back on the ground, pushed up, and gradually rose to his feet, grabbing his sword on the way up. He chained the sheathed sword around his waist, and began to leave the hideout. Reinier walked forward, popping the door open, and was immediately attacked by the bright sunlight. “Shit!” he yelled, closing his eyes and throwing his head downwards.

The blinded warrior wobbled outside, shutting the door behind him with his leg. Reinier trudged forward at a snail’s pace, keeping his eyes low to avoid the intense light. If anyone at the moment watched the scarlet haired warrior trip through Mac Anu, their first guess would be he was drunk. And it really did seem that way, the way his body swayed to and fro, how he occasionally tripped over pieces of uneven pavement, and especially by how he just ran in to the railing of the bridge. The railing popped out of nowhere to uppercut Reinier in the stomach, a little below the ribs.

Reinier braced himself, grabbing the railing with both hands and falling over it a tad. His whole upper body rested upon the railing, as he stared down in to the sapphire waters of the river. “What’s happening to me…?” he muttered to himself. “I see why Nall always rests after battles… Lazy son of a bitch…” With what little power he had left, he pushed off the rail and stumbled backwards, in to a robed Wavemaster. “Sorry,” Reinier muttered, as he continued to walk towards the Chaos Gate.

What’s my purpose in this group of cursed souls? Why was I even brought in? I’m the weakest of the group… Besides that Zan kid, but hell… he willingly came along with us… He just didn’t know what he was bargaining for… I just want my old life back… If my time machine worked, I’d go back in time and swear off video games… all the wasted hours… all in the name of what? Fame amongst thousands of people I don’t know?… well… I guess I wouldn’t totally swear off video games…

One, three, four, six. Reinier took the stairs at odd intervals before looking up at the Chaos Gate. One word escaped his lips, “Theta.” Runic rings of a brilliant gold passed over his body, transporting him instantly to the Theta Server. Once more, three rings passed over his body, and he found himself in a new area. “The lag is a killer when you’re in a coma,” he muttered sarcastically to himself. He let out a sigh as he surveyed the area. This was the server he lost his humanity… this is where it all began… He had been taken back here by Nall, just after he became a victim of the Twilight Virus.

He continued forward, brandishing the bottom of his sword, the Devil’s Blade. Everything in The World seemed to revolve around demons and the thought of never making it out alive, now especially. “REINIER!” The sound of the fighter’s name echoed through the server, echoing from near the gate. Reinier uttered a silent swear, knowing that with his luck the caller of his name did not come in peace. A small gasp escaped his lips at the sight of the person who called his name. Behind this character lay an old friend, the friend who got him hooked on the game, the person who caused him to be a warrior within the game…

“Godric…” Reinier managed to say. The green draped player ran towards him waving his arms frantically. “Knai of the Diminishing Forest, how goes it?” Reinier said bleakly. It was all he could think to say. Now he felt like one of those Role-Players who ran around the game, acting like something they weren’t. Reinier suddenly felt like he was about to make a hypocrite out of himself. Knai wore rustic brown boots, no younger then twenty years of age, which were draped over by his jeans, which had been stained permanently by dirt and dried blood. He wore an old green jacket, with one pocket over the heart, over an aged black shirt. So aged that it had turned more grey then anything else. His spiked green hair pointed downwards toward his left eye matched the two wave symbols on his cheeks, both meaning the same thing: Forest. He had always loved nature and the woods…

“Cut the formalities Garrett. I could have sworn I heard through the grape vine you were sick and in the hospital… I haven’t seen Andie in forever, come to think of it… What have you been up to?” Godric always knew just how to hit Garrett in the sore spots.

“Everything’s great!(Everything was not great) Just been cruising ‘round the game… lookin’ for greatness, y’know.(That was the last thing I want. I want OUT) Andrea is fine, she’s the one who’s been sick. I planned on visiting her in the hospital later today.(That’s a good question my friend. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her either…) What about you? What have you been up to?” Reinier said. He released a mental sigh, glad that he could put up a small act to pretend everything was fine, when in all actuality, the shit had hit the fan.

“Same old, same old… I’m actually heading out soon to a field here, Shifting Negative Frame, to help someone with a monster. They posted on the BBS that they were having a hellacious problem with a monster, they think it might be a hack. I volunteered to go help out.” He rubbed the back of his head and smirked. Reinier missed the little animations you could do all with the type of a slash mark.

Same old Godric… in and out of the game he’s always helping… I always envied him for the way people opened up to him, always looking for his help…

Trying not to get lost in his thoughts, Reinier asked, “What level are you now, eighty?” He smiled at the smart ass comment he made, knowing there was no possible way he could possibly be that high of a player.

“Actually…” he began, his voice trailing off. “I’ve reached level eighty-one. I helped out a low player the other day, he couldn’t have been any higher then three. Well, turns out he had a high level friend. Well, we went questing. Frequently. Before I knew it, I was eighty-one. Come to think of it, there was something odd about that field… But whatever, yeah, I’m eighty-one now… I hate to have to say this, but I’ve got to go.” Reinier let out a nod, knowing he had places to go, people to save… “Y’know what? Here, take my member address. I never gave it to you, we kinda just quested and never made it formal…” A chiming mini-bells sounded it Reinier’s ear. To anyone else, it would sound like a wonderful, warm sound of wedding bells.

But the programmers of The World never expected people to be in a coma when receiving a member address, and thusly wouldn’t know that if you’re trapped in the game and receive one, what it would sound like. The sound reverberated in Reinier’s ear, as if he were standing under a massive church bell that rang for noon. He let out a scream, grabbing his right ear with his right hand, and falling down on the ground to his left. He rubbed his ear with his hand, looking down at the ground through his propped up legs. Reinier looked up to a puzzled Knai, he was scratching his head. “Never seen that command before… oh well, we’ll talk about it later. Catchya later Garrett!” The two exchanged waves, and before Reinier knew it, his old friend had disappeared.

“Well… it was good seeing him…” Reinier muttered to himself. “Man… I wonder how Andrea is doing… I haven’t seen her since…” he paused. “Since I became a part of the game…” Another sigh. He seemed to be letting out a lot of sighs now a days. Not a good thing. Before he could think of anything else to put himself in a bigger state of misery, he felt hot. Really hot.

A concentrated stream of flames flew by his head, over his right shoulder, smashing in to the ground a few feet in front of him. His eyes widened as he leaped to his feet, swirling around to see an odd sight indeed. The robed Wavemaster he had bumped to earlier had taken over a new persona. But then again, Reinier hadn’t learned of his original persona to judge yet.

The Wavemaster wore white robes which draped over his feet, tied together at his waist with a light purple belt. The robes came together symmetrically at the belt line, in a V-shape. He wore a golden undershirt under his robes. The sleeves of his robes ran past his hands to the point where normally, his fingers would barely be shown. Runes undistinguishable by Reinier traveled in a circle around the ends of his sleeves, and at the bottom of his robe around his feet. Long purple hair, the same hue as his belt draped down his back, reaching a little above his belt line. The man had soft features, and in any normal situation could probably be thought of as girl, maybe even confused for one at times.

The clincher of his wardrobe: the elemental dragon swirling around his body. “A hacker…” Reinier muttered. The dragon he wore around his robes appeared from the bottom of his robes, and twisted around his legs until it reached the belt line, in which it ran over his right shoulder and twisted three times around his arm, until its’ head slithered above his arm. The dragon had been made of pure fire, which flickered about downwards from the head, which had the other sustenance of the figure. Two diamond colored horns thrust out from the back of its’ head, extending out at least a foot or two. The eyes, which were mere inches below the horns, where nothing but two deep glowing topaz colored ores of flame. The dragon opened its’ mouth which contained no teeth, but having four teeth-like structures made of flame, two on the top and bottom of the mouth in the front, and let out an ear shattering roar, which killed off three passing lowbies.

Reinier let out a small groan as he plugged his ears to try and muffle the roars of the dragon. He looked at the Wavemaster whose cold smile gave Reinier chills down his spine. “I am the Sapphire Flame, Demetrious,” The man said. And that was all he said, for he raised his hand, along with the dragon, and unleashed another stream of concentrated fire. Reinier’s eyes widened as he pushed off the ground in to a barrel roll to the right to avoid being incinerated. Another blast, another roll. On this time, before the roll, Reinier managed to grab his weapon. His weapon being a small aquamarine gem held inside his gauntlet.

Reinier rolled to his feet, and thrust his gem outwards. “Shuriken of the Crystal Lake,” Reinier called, a hint of boredom in his voice. The gem glistened a brilliant azure and began to envelope Reinier’s left arm. His gauntlet shifted in shape, covering his arm up to the elbow, and producing four claws, all of which aimed towards his hand, but with one on the bottom of his wrist. The top three aimed forward towards his knuckles, these were more important then the bottom claw, especially when it came to when he had to use his special skill. Out of the top of the gauntlet, an orb of sapphire light emerged and floated in to Reinier’s right hand, which he crushed in his hand. The shuriken, two feet in diameter, sprung out from his clenched fist, which he lowered down to his waist.

“So the report is accurate. I was correct in thinking you’re the Reinier the boss has been talking about… Excellent. Looks like you get to live.” Demetrious said. Reinier stood strong, not flinching. He didn’t care about what the man was saying now, he had been flung in to a fury and was ready to kill. He had the added incentive that the three dead players were bound to report the man for Player-Killing, and for hacking especially. The Admins, the upholders of law, would swarm upon the two players and delete them. Reinier didn’t want to stick around to see what happens if he gets deleted.

Reinier lowered his body, rolling the shuriken downwards to rest it upon the ground. He ran his left wrist across the blade of the shuriken, inserting the claw which allowed him to control the weapon to an extent. He threw his body forward, arching his upper body back, and like throwing a spear, reeled back his arm in to a throw. He planted his left leg in the ground, thrust his body forward and released the shuriken forward at Demetrious.

Without warning, a brilliant scarlet wing thrust itself out of the Wavemaster’s back, and with one flap, he was propelled in to the air. Demetrious hovered above the ground, looking down at the shuriken. Dust had be flung in to the air, but before it could settle, four holes blasted out of the dust in to the air. A small gasp escaped his lips as four transparent wires latched around his body. His head shot upwards to Reinier, whose smile had grown from ear to ear.

Reinier had no longer been hunched down, but stood tall. His left rested at his side, the sun reflecting off the wires running down in to the ground. His arm bent, his hand upturned, fingers crushed down, shone a brilliant and bright blue. An orb, incasing his hand, swirled about violently causing the dust which blew rapidly as it was, to fly away from Reinier. “We’re done here,” Reinier said, shifting his body forward. He moved his right leg forward and outstretched his arm, aiming the orb at Demetrious.

Like a bullet from a rifle, the orb shot out of his hand. Dirt intensely shot backwards from the blast of the orb. Demetrious struggled with the cords, writhing to and fro, trying to free himself. He shifted his arms to the point of slicing open his robes. A scarlet stream ran down his robes, sullying his pearl colored robes. The dragon, not truly being solid, rolled over the string, and breathed a flame strong enough to push Demetrious away from the blast, but not fully. The icy blast smashed in to Demetrious’ shoulder, knocking him out of the air, causing him to spiral down to the ground.

The cords returned to Reinier, and the shuriken returned with a flick of the wrist. He caught the massive weapon as if it were a baseball. He recalled the weapon in to its’ original form, making it in to its’ original form, a small aquamarine jewel. He placed the gem in his gauntlet, and looked toward Demetrious, who seemed to be getting up. He threw his left arm in the air, shattering the ice which encased shoulder and most of his arm. He opened the palm of his hand, and called out, “Galeru! Emerge!”

He began screaming, as the dragon emerged from the palm of his hand. Just as the other dragon had, it latched around his legs, around his body, and twisted itself around his arm. A magnificent sapphire wing shot out of his shoulder blade, and flapped once to announce itself. The new dragon’s head swayed, its’ mouth open and releasing a cold breath of air. Two fin like wings where flapping on the side of its’ cheeks, and just like the fire dragon, they were the only solid part of the beast. “You honestly didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” The robed man said, laughing.

I was hoping it was, if that matters.

Laughing, he outstretched his arms in a God-like fashion and began to flap his wings. He ascended to the sky, and without warning, the dragons began to breath an element breath attack to his side. The attack twisted around each other as they too ascended in to the sky, until they reached a climax high above his head, and began to merge. An orb of blue fire swirled about, a sight everyone in Dun Lorieg could see from a mile away. “Crap,” Reinier muttered to himself, attempting to back away, but tripping on a rock and falling on his butt.

The concentrated blast of flame and ice began its’ dissention upon Reinier, who had ran out of ideas. Reinier closed his eyes, and in his moment of cowardness, looked away towards the ground, waiting for the inevitable. Moments felt like hours while he waited for obliteration, and eventually he opened his eyes to see an odd sight. Everything around him had been smoldered, cooled, and frozen. He looked forward to see an outstretched leg inches away from his right leg, and ahead, a left foot near his. Reinier looked up to see a man in front of him, his back arched, and in combination with his leg, looking like a ramp. The man, stern and stalwart, stood in front of Reinier. He left arm down near his chest, his fist clenched, looking as if he were preparing to upper cut someone. In his other hand, a small dagger, blade pointed toward the blast which he seemed to reflect effortlessly. The blade shot outwards from the left of his fist, which had been “punched” in to the center of concentrated blast created by Demetrious.

Dionysus had made his appearance.

The Divine Drunk

Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:58 pm
by Reinier
Ten Minutes before the Demetrious conflict…

An old man sat upon a roof of a building in Mac Anu, his legs against his chest, his back arched, his arms wrapped around his legs. He looked up the beautiful city, his aged eyes taking in every sight of root server of The World. He took in a deep breath of air, finding peace within himself. He loved nothing more then to play the game, even after everything he had been through. Without warning, a truly odd sight appeared before him, a dragon. He studied every detail of the beast, the scales running down its’ back, the foot long arched claw at the end of the swaying tail, the way the wings of the beast where a light red and nearly transparent. He knew the dragon the second his eyes set sight upon it.

“Hello Taimat,” the old man said, smiling. The dragon swirled around, his teeth bared, flames writhing and abundant within his mouth. After a second of studying the man, the teeth gradually disappeared, and the flames subsided. The dragon floated on to the roof, keeping his distance away from the old man.

“Old man… what do you want?” Taimat said with his normal elegance. The “old man” had once helped out Taimat in an hour of need, when he searched for Reinier. His clothes had changed, however, from his prison garb. Baggy cream colored pants draped down his legs, giving his lower half an almost robe like appearance. Clasped around his feet where almost slipper like sandals, but they didn’t appear to be coming off anytime soon. Just as a master would wear to a karate class, so did this man, as the top he wore was a long sleeved, folded over orange shirt that needed to be tied together. Tied together with a dark purple belt, he man looked like he was ready for class to begin. Taimat called him old man for a reason. With paper colored eye brows which draped over his eyes, and a beard that touched his chest, he seemed like he could pass as Santa in a few more pounds.

“Manners of a raging bull, still? No surprise… I’m actually waiting for your friend, Reinier. His powers intrigue me… Sadly, I’m not the only one who’s interested in his powers, my irate friend. There’s a band of three fighters out to capture his keystones, and then use him to find the others. The leader of the group, Flau, is pretty hell bent in retrieving his powers…” The old man drifted off on his last sentence. That didn’t matter, because he stoke a cord with Taimat.

“Flau!?” The dragon roared. Flames and smoke shot out of his mouth as he said this name, as he leaped to his feet, looking at the man. His chest pounded, his tail shivered, and his wings contracted at the mention of the woman.“S-… she…” Taimat tried to speak, but the words were lost in his throat. A miracle anything came out of his mouth, actually.

“She’s the one who made you how you are, I know. I knew the moment I laid my eyes on you that you were Flau’s work. A cold, heartless woman, isn’t she? Well, I know where she is. You’ve been to the field before, haven’t you? Shifting Negative Frame. It’s in the Theta server,” and before anything else could come out of his mouth, the dragon’s wings shot out wide, and with one massive flap, he became airborne. The man shielded his eyes from the wayward debris and shingles, and let out a sigh as he watched the massive beast fly away. “He won’t defeat her… She’ll know the second he manages to get in to the field… I‘d better head off, anyway,” the old man muttered to himself.

The man gradually climbed to his feet, popping his aged neck to the left, then to the right. “This old bones still got some kick in’em!” he claimed, chuckling to himself. He knelt forward, and with a leap, hopped to the building in front of him. He did this several times before eventually landing on the bridge of Mac Anu. He continued to run forward, until reaching the Chaos Gate. “Theta server!” the old man bellowed. Three golden rings flew over his head, warping him to the next server. “Damned lag…” he muttered softly to himself. He began walking towards the back of the city of Dun Lorieg, to the part of the city where the Grunty Stables were kept. He pulled up the Flashmail screen as he walked, and began typing up his message.

To: Reinier
From: Dionysus
Subject: Theta

Reinier, it’s your old friend from the jail cell. I’ve got a present for you, head to the Theta Server. I’ll be waiting for you near the Grunty Stable.

~Dionysus

End Flash mail


And with a press of the enter button, the message was sent. He bumped in to the edge of the stable, and chuckled a bit as his clumsiness. He turned around and hopped up on to the edge of the pin, and waited for his friend to arrive. He hummed tenderly to himself, his old vocal cords reverberating an old song no one around this day and age would remember. “I’m at a place called Vertigo…” escaped the man’s lips, instead of just the odd melody of the song. The air around felt as if the temperature dropped ten degrees, an odd feeling to the old man. “The weather’s always so nice in Theta…” The man said to himself, looking up from the ground. His eyes shot open, as he noticed an oddity.

He pushed off the edge of the stable in to a sprint for dear life. He leaped from solid ground to solid ground, avoiding the bridges altogether. “No no no no… he can’t be here…!” he yelled as he ran, using every ounce of energy left in his old bones to propel himself to the front of the city. He looked up to see a coward on the ground, eyes shut, begging for death. Dionysus ripped out the dagger from his belt, and leaped in front of the scarlet haired boy, just in time to reflect a blast of frightenly cold proportions.

The blast had been stopped by the dagger, which Dionysus held differently then he normally would. He held the small piece of steel up towards the sky, blade pointing out from his pinky. He held his left fist close to his stomach, and began to debate. He didn’t know whether or not to pull out his secret weapon and try to defeat Demetrious there and then. He could, he had been preparing for this day for a long time now, but the trouble was all the on lookers… “O-… Old man!?” a voice from behind managed to yell out.

Dionysus ignored the boy behind him, as he began to angle the blade towards the Elf’s Heaven to the right. The blast reflected perfectly, and shot towards the right, freezing the side of the building in scarlet ice. The dust which encased he two people on the earth, caused by the sudden start and stop of the blast of energy, began to subside, as a winged figure descended from the skies. “So, you’ve decided to make an unwanted appearance… No matter, I’ll just have to defeat you both…” The man said, outstretching his fist. The flaming dragon which wrapped itself around his fist let out a roar, and began to charge flames within its’ mouth.

“Ten seconds before the admin come, Demetrious. Be smart for once and leave,” Dionysus said. His voice had changed drastically, losing its’ normal warmth and sincerity and changing in to a cool and unforgiving roar. Demetrious flinched, retracting both dragons in to a garnet and sapphire gems, both of which he stuffed in his pocket. Without another word, he turned and gated out via Chaos Gate. Dionysus turned around, and looked down upon the scarlet haired warrior still sitting on the ground. “Looks like you’re going to have to stop playing in the sand, we’re going to a new field. Taimat should already be there, Shifting Negative Frame.” Reinier’s eyes widened, and before he could say anything, Dionysus grabbed the fighter by the shoulder, and dragged him to the Chaos Gate.

“Shifting Negative Frame!” He called out, hoping he wasn’t too late. Three golden rings flew over the duo, warping them to a new field. A field of flowers greeted the two fighters, as the rings fell over their body. Dusk seemed to be the time of day, which set the mood of the field. Deep orange and purple skies hung over head, along with a field of scarlet, pearl, violet, and jade roses cascaded the area. Dionysus let out a deep sigh of relief, letting go of Reinier’s shoulder. He plopped down on the ground, next to the confused warrior. “We made it… Hopefully we’re out of the red,” the relieved old man said.

“I wanted you to come to Theta server for a reason, you see. This field is cursed, basically, by a witch. Her name is Flau, and she is a pretty strong magician. She made Taimat how he is, a story which I can’t do justice to. When we find him, I’ll have him tell the story… Anyway, she’s out on the look for you. Demetrious, the man who tried to obliterate you back there, is one of her lackeys. They’re out to get your gemstones, and from there, they’ll use you to find the ones you haven’t. This field is one of their outposts. They have many, each in a different server,” the man let out a sigh, finishing up his story.

“My friend’s in this field! He’s supposed to be helping out some low leveled person or something… what does this mean?” Reinier said, leaping to his feet. Dionysus looked deep in to his eyes, then turned away, shaking his head back and forth, letting out another sigh. Reinier clenched his fist, stepping forward towards the old man.

“Hurting me won’t solve anything. Only I know the puzzles that lie in this field, and only I know how to defeat Demetrious, the person who will greet us so happily at the Chapel of White Nights. That is assuming you can make it there, without me. This whole field is made to Flau’s liking, and anyone who takes up a French name is bound to be insane, you should have learned that through life already. The ball is in your court, I can either be killed, or I can teach you the way to defeat Demetrious,” the old man said, looking up to Reinier. He reached in to a satchel, attached near the sheath of his dagger. He pulled out a clear, diamond like gem. “This, you see, can entrap Ladon, the fire dragon. You have the key to defeating Galeru, if I remember correctly…” With that said, the man threw the gem to Reinier.

“What does it do, exactly?” He asked, puzzled. He inspected the clear gem, trying to find what powers it held. Dionysus let out an unheard groan, climbing to his feet. He picked the dagger up off the ground, closed his eyes, an imagined what weapon he wanted it to become. The dagger grew a bright crimson, and began to elongate. The weapon glistened, becoming a weapon which looked rather simple. A thin blade, no thicker then two inches, but long in length, measuring out at least five feet. Two golden hooks extended outwards with the blade from the handle, no longer then four inches long. A very simple weapon indeed, and very puzzling to Reinier as to why he would call out that weapon.

“This,” Dionysus said, walking backwards, as he inspected the sword, “Is the Hero’s Breath. It is a level fifty-five Blademaster weapon. One slice with this and you’re dead. That’s not why I summoned it. The reason is, it’s a fire elemental weapon.” The blade engulfed itself in flames, which Dionysus thusly began to scrape off. He scraped off enough fire to make a fairly large fire ball in the palm of his left hand. “Hold out the blank gem if you wish to live,” Dionysus said, stepping backwards one last time, holding the flames close to his body.

“… What?” Reinier said, watching the man. He pulled back, and suddenly hurled the flame forward at Reinier. His eyes widened, and as a natural reaction thrust the gem forward, pulled his face back, and closed his eyes. He held the gem in-between his thumb and forefinger, pointed towards his attacker. He could feel the flames against his fist, but then felt nothing. He opened his eyes and looked at the gem to see it glowing a faint red. “That’s not natural…” He muttered, looking up to Dionysus.

“Of course not. It’s the same principal as if Demetrious was attacking you. Now, it won’t work on normal monsters’ attacks, but it will work with his and Flau’s. Now come, we’ve got a long trek ahead of us… not that it makes much of a difference here…” He muttered to himself the last part of the statement. Reinier seemed to be too much in amazement to care to notice. The scarlet haired warrior put the gem safely away with his others, and followed the aged man, who had begun to walk in a different direction.

The duo reached the top of a hill, the tallest in the field it felt like, which over looked most of the other parts of the enchanted area. Reinier stood next to Dionysus, as the two looked over looked the dungeon below. “It’s not a normal dungeon, if you were going to ask. It’s riddled with puzzles… most unforgiving. She has a cruel and sadistic personality, which is shown through what we’re about to go through. Taimat could already be dead, if he’s here,” Dionysus said coldly. He heard Reinier gulp, but continued forward anyway. At this point, the only thing that mattered to the man was the defeat of Demetrious.

He did, after all, have a life to get back to.

Two Friends of Reinier

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:59 pm
by Reinier
A foggy translucent haze erupted from Taimat’s mouth, as he rose his head from the ground. He let out a mighty yawn, one strong enough to wake the dead. And yet, Reinier still slept. The dragon’s head scanned the room, his eyes open as tiny slits, looking for any sign of life. No living soul crept in the hideout, with the exception of Reinier, but in his passed out state, his usefulness had been reduced to nil. With a snort, the dragon rose to his feet, and began to shake his body, as a dog does after a bath. With one last look at Reinier, the dragon proceeded to the door, which he opened with his tail.

The dragon trotted through the door, and closed it with his hind leg. Taimat let out a snort from the intense sunlight of the day. He sheltered his eyes and rubbed his eyelids with one of his knuckles. He spread out his wings, and with a few flaps of his wings, he became airborne. “I need some peace and quiet…” the dragon muttered to himself. He hovered up gradually to the roof of the hideout, most likely the safest and quietest place for Taimat to rest, besides the hideout.

“Hello Taimat,” a voice called from behind. The dragon twirled around, his tail arched, and along with his legs, towards his chest. He mustered flames from deep inside his gullet, which began to writhe about within his mouth, dancing along and beside his teeth in a Mexican hat dance. After a few seconds of inspection, the flames subsided in to nothing more then smog. The dragon shut his mouth, blowing smoke out of his nostrils.

It’s the old man… Has it been that long since I last saw him? He’s changed clothes… ‘sides that, nothin’ new.

Taimat pushed off, flapping a few times, to fly over next to the old man, but to keep his distance for a just in case reason. The dragon touched the aged wooden roof, and laid down, resembling a dog in front of a recliner. “Old man… what do you want?” Taimat said with a certain distinct finesse only found in beasts with enlarged medulla oblongata’s.

“Manners of a raging bull, still? No surprise… I’m actually waiting for your friend, Reinier. His powers intrigue me… Sadly, I’m not the only one who’s interested in his powers, my irate friend. There’s a band of three fighters out to capture his keystones, and then use him to find the others. The leader of the group, Flau, is pretty hell bent in retrieving his powers…” The man continued, but didn’t have the chance to finish.

Taimat leaped to his feet, and with a breath of uncontrolled flames roared the woman’s name. Shivers cascaded down his spine, his tail wrapped itself around hind leg, and his wings contracted around his body. Taimat stuttered, trying to find words in his vocal cords. “S-… she…” He managed to say, but nothing more.

It’s that harlot’s fault I’m like this… I… I need to know where she is!

Before he could ask where her location was, the old man continued to speak. “She’s the one who made you how you are, I know. I knew the moment I laid my eyes on you that you were Flau’s work. A cold, heartless woman, isn’t she? Well, I know where she is. You’ve been to the field before, haven’t you? Shifting Negative Frame. It’s in the Theta server,” and before the old man could finish his statement, Taimat’s wings shot open, and he took off to the skies. Shingles shot outward in his wake, as the dragon flew towards the Chaos Gate

I won’t lose, I won’t lose, I WON’T LOSE! I want my old life back, my body… that whore’s getting hers! She won last time because I didn’t know what she was capable of… Not this time! I’m ready! I’ll show her!

The rambling of the dragon in his own mind continued for several minutes, even after he reached the Chaos Gate. It’s an oddity how he could use the Chaos Gate, like a normal player would access one, but it managed to work. A roar erupted from the dragon, a demand to take him to the Theta server. The Chaos Gate granted his demands, and three golden rings fell over his body.

No one questioned why a dragon used the Chaos Gate.

Three golden rings fell over the body of the dragon, warping him to the windy city of Dun Lorieg.Shifting Negative Frame,” Taimat muttered. If, by some small chance, someone questioned why a dragon used the Chaos Gate, he didn’t want to be tracked down, or possibly hunted, by people thinking he’s an event. Three golden rings fell over his body once more, and once more, he felt his body being teleported.

The rings passed over his body, and he found himself in the field of flowers once more. The stench of failure reeked in this area. The dragon’s wings opened wide, and with a massive flap, he took to the skies. He flew towards the highest point in the field, a spot where the only shift in the field existed, creating the highest and lowest point in the field. The dragon found the hill with ease, and when he found it, he touched down on the earth, and stayed. He looked down in to the valley where the dungeon lay. Taimat breathed in, then breathed out. This could be his last adventure.

The dragon leaped forward, gliding down in to the valley to the dungeon. A rather simple dungeon, a cave opening with two six foot, golden candle holders. Simplistic, the holders had everything necessary to be considered a holder. Round base, place for the candle, everyone’s happy. The flames danced upon the wick of the cream colored candles, flames which reminded Taimat of his first excursion to the field.

He shook the memories out of his head, and continued forward in to the dungeon. The first room, normally it would be the safest room in the dungeon, for it guarantees no fights in this room. This was not a normal dungeon, so normal rules did not apply. The doors slammed shut behind Taimat, as he continued walking forward. No monster portal. The only other door lay straight ahead, but it too had been sealed.

Taimat inspected the second door, his eye twitched at the thought of not being able to continue after just one room. He twisted around and delivered a smashing blow to the door, only to discover nothing happened. A deep low growl echoed through the room as the dragon turned around and trudged away from the door.

Chains of bright gold erupted from the ground, entrapping the dragon. “Son of a bitch!” He roared. Every muscle had been confined to the ground, as the chains did a good job of binding his body to the ground. The chains crisscrossed every inch of his body, keeping him immobile. He tried to flap his wings, only to find it hurt more to move his wings. Even wiggling the tip of his tail sent pings of pain through his spine.

“I always thought your temper tantrums were kind of cute…” A soft voice said from behind the dragon. Taimat felt two tiny feet rest upon his back, which he began to try to shake off. No movement occurred, just more pain. “Aw, you poor thing… don’t worry, the pain will stop soon… a green haired boy will be arriving soon, so don’t worry too much. I want you to test his strength, although he is a little more powerful then you… Don’t fret, cute little guy! I’ll give you a nice boost when he arrives,” the voice continued on. A crimson powder fluttered in front of Taimat’s snout, causing him to sneeze.

A giggle echoed through the damp and dismal room, as a flash of light flashed from behind Taimat. He growled, knowing his chance had just come and gone. A sliding of stone against stone reverberated in darkness, twice. The door had been opened, then shut closed. The powder, as it turned out had been sprinkled all around Taimat, shined a bright, yet dark, vermillion red. The chains melted against Taimat’s skin as he rose to his feet, roaring. The roars continued for minutes at a time as a sudden uncontrolled rage entered his mind.

The dragon grew in size, extending out twelve feet and growing tall to be near four. The dragon jumped to its’ hind legs, and raring its’ head up, spouted flames into the air. Normally the flames would deteriorate in to nothingness, no harm done… but in this dungeon, a ceiling hung over head. The flames smashed in to the ceiling, which seemed to ignite on contact with the flames. The ceiling caught flame, which hung dismally above the human and beast. An upside down bond fire hung over head, every so often sending down a pillar of flames down to the ground, scorching the earth. “No matter…” the fighter across the room muttered.

Taimat watched as the boy reached down in to his ragged jeans, pulling out a tiny emerald. He held up the gem to the sky and called out, “Armor of Thorns!” The earth rumbled underneath the dragon, as if something from under were being sucked away. The dragon looked towards the fighting, but reverted his eyes as the gem he held shone a gallant jade. A tree shot up from the earth from under the fighter, making Taimat question the intelligence of his opponent. The fighter somersaulted from the branches of the oak, completely reformed from his normal, ragged look.

Woven, twisted branches covered the body of the fighter, truly an armor of thorns. The chest plate of the armor was that of tree bark, and from afar, would appear to be copper armor. Taimat’s keen eyes showed him the intricate valleys of the bark. Two branches of at least four inches thickness shot out from his shoulders, arching downwards, six inches max. Around his arms and legs, the branches continuously moved around his body, showing off his control of the woods. The only skin showing, besides his face, was that of his finger tips. The branches moved around his hands, writhing about and around his fingers, but never encasing them. His head piece was that of a brazen helmet, made of tree bark, of course. The helmet covered the bulk of his head, a visor of thorns coming down near the top of his eye brows. The helmet covered his ears, before curving down his cheeks in to two claw like thorns. The two symbols on his face, most likely meaning “forest,” glowed a bright emerald.

The fighter rose his arms toward Taimat, fingers extended outwards. He clenched his fists, and as if a katana had been unsheathed, two thorns shot outwards from above his wrists, each at least four feet long. He shifted his weight forward, raising his right arm in a shield like position, his left near his chest ready to jab. Agitated with waiting, the dragon began to rain flames upon the fighter. A blaze erupted from his mouth towards the fighter, and as if surprised by the concept of a dragon breathing fire, the fighter dodged to the right. He barrel rolled on the ground, springing back up to his feet, shaken up a bit by the heat of the dragon.

He charged forward, dodging to and fro away from the cylinder fire pillars which descended from the ceiling above. The dragon unleashed wave after wave of flames, and each time the fighter managed to dodge with a leap, or a simple slide under. The wood clad fighter leaped forward, throwing his left arm forward. The thorn which extended out from his arm shot out like a bullet from a pistol, aimed at the dragon’s heart. The dragon twisted around, knocking the thorn in to its’ tail, completely accident. His intent was to twist around and bash the thorn away, or by luck at the fighter, but that didn’t work to his favor.

The dragon roared in anguish, pained by the fact he had been reduced to nothing more then a pawn in her sick game. The fighter grinned as rolled forward from his leaping attack, and continued running towards the dragon. He delivered two deep slashes in to the dragon’s ribs. Another roar of pain irrupted from Taimat, as he raised his arm up and smacked the fighter away like a fly. The boy flew across the room, his body landing against the wall. He slithered off the wall, landing on his butt, he grabbed his chest and began breathing heavily. He looked up to the dragon, which shifted its’ body toward him. Flames began to writhe about in its’ mouth, as it conjured up its’ breath attack.

He pointed at the dragon with his thorn-like sword and called out, “Krake Ch!” The ground tossed and turned, as the summoned beast erupted from the ground. A focused beam of jade energy shot out from the beasts’ chest, directly at Taimat’s face. The force of the beam caused the dragon to fall over in to the ground, then be dragged backwards by the ray of energy.

The fighter took this opportunity to get to his feet and get a running start to the dragon before it arose. “Ap Do!” He called as he ran. The focused rays of blue light and energy were absorbed in to his feet as he sprinted faster then he had before. He charged forward at supernatural speeds, and leaped in to the air, pulling the right side of his body backwards in to one final strike. He descended upon the dragon, and plunged the spear-like thorn in to the beast’s jaw.

Now, if you’ve ever sat on a tack before, you know it will make you jump up immediately. Same principal as what happened to Taimat. The beast leaped to his feet, dragging his head up from the ground last, and smashed his head against the wall with as much force as possible. Crimson rain poured on to the earth, as the shrill roars of the beast echoed throughout the room. His head writhed in pain as he swung the fighter of the forest by the left arm.

The right arm managed to get away, as it simply ejected the thorn in to the jaw. His left, however, got stuck as he tried to push off the dragon’s head. He attempted to push off the dragon’s snout, but that had been too close to the mouth of the beast. He opened and clamped down upon the man’s left arm. The ear shattering roars of the dragon rang through the fighter’s head, as he propped both his feet against the dragon’s mouth, and began to push off, to try to free himself.

Once more, the dragon smashed the fighter against the wall, causing him to lose his balance on the snout. The dragon couldn’t stand the pain much longer, as the thorn had been driven deep I to his jaw, mainly due to the fact of him smashing it in to the wall. The thorn had punctured his jaw, ran across the top of his tongue, and pierced a part of the inside of the other side of his jaw. The dragon clamped down on the fighter’s arm once more, causing him to cry out in pain.

Bits of flame managed to escape the closed jaws of the dragon. The thorn had become incinerated, causing flames to shoot out from his jaws. The original opening caused by the thorn shot out flames, which hit the fighter in the right shoulder. The force of which the flames hit him caused him to twist around from his chest to his back, thusly breaking his shoulder. Eventually he slithered down from the mouth of the beast, and with a thud, landed on the ground.

Shrieks of pain sounded from his mouth, but no sympathy greeted him. The fighter looked down at his left arm, tears rolling down his eyes. Two inches from his elbow, nothing but a charred nub extended. The serrated teeth of the dragon sliced off the arm, and the flames cauterized the wound. Broken bones, cuts, bruises… all could be healed by Repth. But a severed arm? Could that be healed too?

He rolled over on his back, a pillar of flames descending from the ceiling near his head. The dragon gazed down upon the broken fighter. A grin crossed his face as he lifted his left front leg, and gradually put on the warrior’s chest. He began to press down, enjoying the echo of the boy’s ribs cracking and shattering. His right hand managed to remain free, as the dragon had taken his time to press his foot against his chest.

He smashed the back of his hand against the ground, causing a spike of two feet in length to extend. He rose his arm, against the ground up toward the dragon’s chest, and readied to give one last attack. The dragon realized what was going on, and stopped the agonizing torture.

He opted for a quicker and louder attack. He began to raise and smash his foot against the boy’s chest, the sound of his massive foot hitting the ground and his chest sounding like a person ringing a church bell. Two hits, five, ten, the fighter lost count of how many he had been delivered. His health points had reached the point of the red zone, and one more hit would finish him off.

The dragon lifted his foot up, ready to finish the boy off. With nothing to lose, he rolled away to get further under the beast. He rolled one complete cycle, and raised his arm up, the thorn grazing the belly of the dragon. He clenched his fist, causing more thorns to shoot out of his arm, all pointed towards the dragon. Ten total, each extending out at different angles. He closed his eyes as he felt the thorns leave his arm, spraying outwards in to the stomach of the dragon.

Blood began to rain down upon the fighter, dripping all over his body. He blinked as a drop splashed the top of his forehead. He became dazed, and seemed to forget where he was. He shook himself out of it, rolling over a few times and scrambling to his feet. The dragon roared, and collapsed on its’ left side. The sounds of the tiny bones in its’ left wing shattering and splintering out echoed through the room, as it had been folded under the massive corpse of a dragon.

The boy hobbled over to the dragon, to inspect it. A slight sound of stuffed up breathing sounded from the dragon’s nostrils. “Death is a funny guy… one minute you’re looking at him… the next he takes the guy next to ya…” He chuckled a little, clenching his fist. A thorn extended outward above his wrist, a five footer. With one smooth slice, he delivered a horizontal blow to the beast, from the chest to the stomach.

With one last breath, the dragon gave out a final, weak, half-flaccid roar. Taimat had been defeated…

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:33 pm
by Reinier
“Let’s go, I’m worried… I haven’t heard from Taimat in awhile,” Reinier spoke softly. Concern weighed heavy on his heart, for deep down, he knew something had gone wrong. Dionysus nodded, and the two began their descent to the dungeon. The valley below had been dimly lit and sheltered from the sun, but they had two beacons to go by. The descent had been a gradual one, for the hill became nearly vertical near the dungeon, and the valley became too narrow on the edges to go the safe route. The pair of fighters made their way by sliding down, using their legs to stop and go, and their hands to steady themselves.

Twenty minutes of sliding past before the two finally made their way to the bottom. An actual good time for how they went about the matter. The torches on either side of the dungeon door danced about, flickering to and fro in an almost mocking way. Reinier shrugged off the taunts of the fire and continued forward in to the dungeon. Upon entering the dungeon, the stagnant aroma of blood surged forward at Reinier. He let out a disgusted moan as he covered his nose and looked away. The room had been too dimly lit to be able to tell where the corpse lay, but the smell alone could guide them.

Dionysus pulled out the dagger, which became enveloped in a bright pearl light. The bearded man led the way to the corpse at the end of the room. Reinier clasped his mouth, falling to his knees. His friend in the game had been slain. Taimat lay in front of the two men, dead. And from the smell and look of the decomposition, he had been killed weeks ago. Maggots had taken refuge inside of his stomach, which had been open to all who wanted to enter. “Who… did this…” Reinier said, staring at the ground.

The old man sighed, acting as if it were nothing. Dionysus ran his finger along the edge of his dagger, pulling off the light as if it were a thick film, and tossed it in to the air. It hung over head, glowing like a guiding star. He closed his eyes, and clasped the blade. He slid his hand along the blade, which gradually began to change forms. The dagger began to take the form of two serpent like dragons, one white, the other black, which had entangled themselves in a double helix type of form. At the end, two feet long, the dragons bore their teeth to each other, and in the center, a glowing orb. A white and black wing acted as a hand protector, extending out their wings at the top of his hand.

The old man made his way towards the dragon, inspecting his every wound. “Splinters…” he muttered to himself. “Whoever he fought… this man had been a master of the forest…” Reinier had no longer been listening. He clutched the earth, tears apparent and sinking down in to the ground. He sat on his knees, hunched over, pounding the earth with his fist. “Pouting won’t bring Taimat back to life. This spell, however, will…” Dionysus said casually. Reinier turned his head to the old man, who pointed his wand towards the dragon. He ran the wand down the gashes and wounds of the dragon while singing an enchantment. The wounds began to seal themselves, the splinters and maggots disappearing, the old dragon’s eyes beginning to open.

The old man pulled away from the waking dragon, and tapped his wand down in the pool of blood. The blood of the dragon sucked itself up in to the wand, disappearing from the mud and roots all around. Taimat blinked, gathering up his location. Reinier sat on the ground, wide eyed and still full of tears. He ran over to the dragon and wrapped his arms around the beast’s massive neck, beginning to cry once more, only for joy. “Thank God you’re alive!” He yelled.

“Now, you see, we need to avoid this kind of senseless bloodshed more often. I won’t always be here to revive you two. If this were a battle, I might not have been able to pull that off… it’s hard wrenching souls from the beyond, ya hear!?” Dionysus scolded. The two nodded. Reinier let go of the Taimat’s neck, and plopped down on the ground. Dionysus peered in to Taimat’s deep yellow eyes and nodded. “I think,” Dionysus began, pulling his wand up to Taimat’s head, “it’s time to hear your story. The story of how you became Taimat the Fire Dragon, instead of what you originally are… Taimat of the Crimson Lake.”

He pressed the wand against the dragon’s head, and began to pull back. A thick, translucent stream of almost sludge like density began to come out from the dragon’s head. The substance followed along with the wand, until it had all come out of Taimat’s head. He dangled the goop from afar, until lowering his wand down, and then flinging it up in to the sky. The substance mixed with the flare above, and began to become unstable. The flare rumbled, shooting off tiny sparks occasionally. “This, my friends, is the most conventional way of story telling,” Dionysus said, sitting down on the ground. The three gazed upon the flare, until eventually, it exploded.

The orb imploded in to the center, which shot out in to a perfect circle across the room. The ring hit the wall, and from where it hit, ran down until it hit the ground. Another stream of energy shot up from the base of the wall, where the ring stayed, up to the ceiling. The walls around the room glowed sapphire, then colorless. The room turned in to nothingness around the three players, something that didn’t bode well with Reinier. The old man, and surprisingly Taimat, sat quiet and undisturbed, as if nothing had happened.

For someone who just died, Taimat’s pretty calm right now…

A plethora of colors and lights cascaded and rushed passed the three players, causing Reinier to leap to his feet and let out a scream. His head twisted in all directions, soaking up the massive amount of colors, trying to get a location. He suddenly recognized the area, as he had just come from there. Aqua Capital, Mac Anu. The passing scenery came to a sudden halt, and focus came upon a young Blademaster clad in crimson armor…

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

“Man… custom armor, custom sword, what next? Special skills? The admins seem to have taken a likin’ to you, Tai,” a voice said to the man in the armor. The boy carried a long staff in his arms, which had been crossed to give emphasis on his jealousy. The Wavemaster wore white robes which draped over his feet, tied together at his waist with a light purple belt. The robes came together symmetrically at the belt line, in a V-shape. He wore a golden undershirt under his robes. The sleeves of his robes ran past his hands to the point where normally, his fingers would barely be shown. Long purple hair, the same hue as his belt draped down his back, reaching a little above his belt line. The Wavemaster had fair features, bordering any girl’s in beauty.

“How could anyone not like me? Common, it’s me. You’ve known me forever Dem. Hell, remember that one time I sweet talked the teacher out of givin’ us detention? God I’m awesome,” he said, laughing. The crimson breast plate which lay upon the fighter’s chest gleamed in the bright sun hung above the city. Shoulder plates outstretched from the armor, six inches long and curving inwards to a point. Golden flames danced upon most of the armor, mainly around the edges around his gauntlets, shin guards, and shoulder plates. Overall, the armor hadn’t been as fancy as others, but it got the job done. Taimat’s way, short, simple, to the point, and it won’t get him killed. “Anyway, I think it’s time we head out. To Theta!” The armor clad warrior shouted. He struck a pose, thrusting out his left leg and arm forward, pointing upwards to the Chaos Gate.

“If I die because of you…” the Wavemaster began to say, but hadn’t had the time to finish. Taimat slapped him on the back, laughing, and pulled him in closer.

“You worry too much. If we die, hell, I’ll raise you up to the next level. You’re too weak anyway. This little excursion might do your character some good!” Taimat said, laughing up towards the air. The Wavemaster shot the warrior the, “Eat shit and go die,” look, before walking forward upon the bridge. Taimat followed, a grin ear from ear.

“Where are we going anyway? Some super secret mission made up by the admins?” The Wavemaster said, chuckling to himself.

“Better. Theta server, Shifting Negative Frame. I got an e-mail from some higher ups, askin’ me to check it out. Something’s wrong with the field. They need my glorious expertise to figure out what’s up. I’m kinda worried though, cus Flau said she was headin’ to that area… Hope she can hold out until we get there…” Taimat trailed off, stopping in front of the Chaos Gate. “Theta server!” the boy shouted to the gate. Golden, antediluvian rings fluttered over the duo, warping them to the next server.

“What kind of field are we going to, anyway? Is this another hacked field?” The Wavemaster asked as the rings fell over their bodies, as they found themselves in the Theta server. He looked over to Taimat, he seemed to be taking in a breath of air. He scoured the server, as if he were inspecting fine wine. Taking in every texture, taste, and smell.

“Amazing… they made it so that the field looks exactly like Dun Lorieg… damned hackers. It creates an unbalance in the game when someone cheats like this…” Taimat muttered to himself. Silence fell over the two.

“You do know we’re just in the root town, right?” The Wavemaster said, shaking his head. At this point he began to wonder why he continued to journey with the clearly insane warrior. Was it the fact they had been friends from birth? Or the fact he had no one else to really quest with? Whatever the matter, he had been stuck in an odd relation with an insane fighter.

“Don’t worry, I know it’s not the field. Just messin’ with you,” Taimat said, turning to his partner and smiling. “Well my gullible friend Demetrious… it’s time we leave to the field.” Taimat turned to the Chaos Gate, and shouted, “Theta: Shifting Negative Frame!” Three rings once more passed over the duo, as they soon found themselves in a new field.

“This is very dull… very drab. Who would make such a lackluster field?” Demetrius mused softly to himself. Flat plains of grass surrounded the two, no trees, no structures, just grass. In the distance, a tower of purple light could be seen either descending from the heavens, or ascending, just beyond the highest point of the field.

“An author will make his characters plain for reasons. Sometimes they won’t put much emphasis on their clothing, because the author wants you to see deeper then just looks. They want you to see that they have a personality, a deeper meaning… That’s why I made my character simple. I want people to know me for who I am,” Taimat said. He continued to look at the tower of violet energy as he said this. He finally looked over at his companion, and said, “My point. Whoever hacked this field wants you to focus on one thing.” Taimat raised his left index finger towards the tower. “Right there, that is where we’ll find our anomaly.” He lowered his finger, and began to walk forward.

Demetrius stood behind the fighter, mouth open askew. He couldn’t believe something meaningful could ever escape Taimat’s mind. He chuckled to himself and continued behind the warrior. “Odd… no monsters… I wanted to try out my new wand…” Demetrius muttered to himself, climbing up the hill with Taimat. The duo stood next to each other, peering down in to a valley, the source of the energy tower. “So the tower’s ascending to the heavens…” The Wavemaster said aloud.

“I don’t like the looks of this… Let’s head in, we should survey the dungeon, at least,” Taimat said. He looked over to the Wavemaster, and nodded. With a leap forward, he began to slide down the hill. He leaned his body back, his left leg forward, the right arched towards his chest, and his arms outstretched against the ground. The Blademaster came to a stumbling halt in front of the entrance of the dungeon. The edge of the hill slanted up, which made him fly up and stumble to his feet. He chuckled to himself, as regained his composure. Before he could truly do that, however, he felt a force knock against his ankles, causing him to do a back flip. He flipped over, and with a thud, landed on a comfortable figure under him.

Taimat opened his eyes to see white robes under him. He climbed up to his feet, and looked down to see Demetrius. “Felt like rolling down instead of the conventional way?” Taimat asked, leaning over to help his friend to his feet. Once the two got situated, the duo continued on with their quest. Taimat inspected the entrance, gazing upon the two large candle holders, which held two aged wax candles. The wax dripped down the side of the holder, and had been burnt to the wick. He shrugged this off, and continued onwards.

The two entered the dungeon, and almost immediately, the door shut behind them. Demetrius let out a mouse-like shriek as they both twisted around at the sudden blast of sound. “Fuck, it’s a trap…” Taimat muttered. He pulled out his sword, which he twisted around in his right hand. The blade looked rather claw like, as it curved downward from the handle. It had the appearance of fire, as all along the edge of the blade, that’s all it had been. Flames had been permanently made all along the edge of the blade, strengthening the weapon against ice creatures, but drastically reducing his effectiveness around other fire monsters. Runes glowed red along the middle of the blade, as they had been the incantation which kept the flames alive.

“I can barely see here… good thing you have that sword…” Demetrius said from behind Taimat, straining his eyes to see. Taimat lifted his sword in to the air, and focused his energies in to the blade. Flames erupted from the handle upwards, making the sword a massive torch. No monsters occupied the room, an oddity for when the doors shut. The room ahead of them had remained open, thusly being their only chance. “Crap, my ocarina isn’t working either… we’re trapped in here until we find whatever you’re looking for,” Demetrius said, anger apparent in his voice.

Taimat continued forward, paying no attention to his companion. The duo continued onwards, and on in to the next room. Six paths stood in their way, each sealed. The door smashed shut behind the two, leaving them trapped in the middle of the room. Taimat continued forward, and inspected the doors. “Runes… Elemental signs. One for each Wave. We can open any one, but we can’t go through anyone… The way I see it, we have two choices: Vak or Rue. There’s two possibilities. The room we enter will be filled of monsters strong to the element or weak…” Taimat said, turning around to look upon his companion.

“I choose Rue. It’s probably a better choice,” Demetrius said, raising his wand in to the air. “Rue Rom!” he shouted. The room burst full of a vibrant sapphire color, emitting from the magical attack, focused upon the door. The spell took effect, and the element on the door’s center glowed an aquamarine, and with a creak, opened up. The two continued forward through the arch, which shut close behind them.

Taimat slashed downwards, causing the flames to subside and become subtle, sporadic flickers of flame on his blade. The room had been brightly lit by the light from outside reflecting in to the room off the ice. Ice had been an abundant element the room, to say the least. Taimat looked around, discovering the room felt more like a massive skating rink then anything else. Cubes of ice would erratically drop, leaving a hole in the ground for someone to fall. “Ready to sprint?” Taimat asked, smiling.

“Ap Do”
“Ap Do”

A twirling ray of blue wind swirled around the duo’s legs, giving them enhanced speed. The two kicked off the ground and instantly discovered walking plus ice would always, always, equal no go. Taimat fell forward, landing on his face, while Demetrius slipped backwards on to his butt, both sliding off in opposite directions forward. In the distance, Taimat could see the ground drop right in front of him. As a natural reaction, he sliced down upon the ground, causing him to slide to the left, and avoid the ground breaking.

That was around the time he remembered his sword had been made of fire, which would melt exceptionally thin ice like the one he had been sitting on. The ice shattered outwards from where he had sliced, and even though he missed the hole, the ice around him shattered, causing him to fall in to the water.

Before he knew what happened, he found himself teleported back in to the front of the room. “Son of a bitch!… bitch… bitch… bitch…” Taimat shouted, the last word echoing for some time after it had been said. He peered across the room to see his friend had made it across, almost without trouble. A low growl erupted from Taimat’s gullet, as he filled with rage. “I can’t stand this… he’s always so good at these puzzles…” He sheathed his sword, and took in a breath.

He walked backwards, then charged forward. He leaped forward, outstretching his arms and legs in to a superman formation. His body clashed against the ice, as he began to claw his way across the ice. He dug his finger tips in to the ground, and pushed backwards as if doing a breast stroke across the ice. Occasionally he would kick his leg to the left or right to avoid falling through the ground, but for the most part his second try had been successful.

With a thud, he smacked his head face first in to a pile of snow. With the momentum he had gathered swimming across the ice, he buried himself deep in to the snow, at least up to his chest. He clawed his way out as he shuffled forward on to the snow. He leaned against a stalagmite of ice, and let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll take fighting any day over that crap,” Taimat said, his eyes shut.

“Eh, I like these kinds of puzzles… Occasional fight’s okay, I suppose, but these give the game more depth,” Demetrius said. He outstretched his hand, which Taimat grasped. The Wavemaster helped the warrior to his feet, and the continued onwards in through another doorway. Taimat glanced down the next room, noting five other exits. The duo continued forward, in through the only room in front of them.

An odd sight indeed, compared to what they had been used to seeing. A chapel stood in front of them, towering three stories in to the air. That was the odd thing, the air. The roof of the dungeon had been removed, and the sky had been visible. The walls leading up to the chapel had been decorated with pictures of warriors and what appeared to be winged dragons. “Interesting…” Demetrius said, studying the wall. The scriptures that went along with the pictures had remained unknown to the two, but the pictures still had been interesting to see.

“Let’s move on, this won’t help us,” Taimat said, moving forward towards the chapel. Demetrius shrugged, and jogged to catch up to the Blademaster. One door of the chapel had remained opened, seeing as how it stood two stories tall this had been a blessing. Before Taimat could inspect the room, his eyes widened and he shouted, “Amanda!” he charged forward, coming to a sliding stop by her side. He lifted her head and shook her arm a tad. “Wake up… wake up…” he muttered, feeling tears swell up.

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:59 pm
by Reinier
Taimat held back the tears as he began to survey the body laying in front of him. Demetrious acted calm, cool, and collected as he gradually made his way through the massive church to the front of the altar, a few feet away in front of Taimat and the girl. “Flau is alive. You can tell from here. She’s breathing you dolt, so calm down and put her up on one of these pews,” the man said, agitation hinted in his voice. Demetrius inspected the podium, and noted the glowing symbol which hovered a few inches around. It appeared to be a mini-Chaos Gate, but instead of a transparent sapphire, there were runes. “Let’s continue on. She will be fine. Whatever did this to her is probably deeper in,” Demetrius said, turning around and facing Taimat.

Taimat gently set the woman on a pew, checked once more to see if she was breathing, and stood up straight. “I’m not leaving her,” Taimat said. He sat down next to the woman’s outstretched legs. He leaned back, stretching out his left arm on the top of the pew, and his right arm in the arm rest. “Besides, if you were in her condition, wouldn’t you want someone to be here for you? I sure as hell wouldn’t leave you, and I know neither of you would leave me.” A silence drifted through the church as Taimat finished his statement.

“I don’t think you would,” Demetrious finally said, breaking the silence. The symbol behind him began to radiate brighter. “I know she would, but you’re a different case. You’re too self-righteous and arrogant to see anything past your own problems and your own ambitions. You’re only here for her because you’re in love with her. Me? Fuck, you wouldn’t do that for me. You’d be gone with her already. Look, I’m tired and I just want out of this game. I’m tired of only doing this thing with you, and her. I’m a freakin’ third wheel, and you two seem fine with it. I’m tired of hearing ‘Oh, Amanda did this…’ and ‘It was great when Amanda…’ Well, has she told you about the ritual yet?” Demetrious asked, a smile crawling up his face.

“What ritual…?” Taimat asked, standing up. He looked down upon the sleeping woman, and then shifted up towards the smiling mage in front of him. Taimat rested his left hand on the top of his sword, and began to feel the anger building up inside his body. “What ritual, Demetrious?” Taimat asked once more, shifting his weight forward.

“Oh?” The mage’s voice high and sarcastic. “She hasn’t told you? Oh, well then, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say…” He trailed off, looking away. He shifted his face away for a few moments before looking back on Taimat. “A blood ritual. If you hadn’t rushed in and actually looked at the scriptures on the walls outside, you might know what would be coming. But you didn’t, so it’s not my problem,” Demetrious said, shifting his body forward. The mage raised his left hand, his index and middle finger outstretched, and placed his hand inches away from his face at eye level. “Shadow Technique,” He muttered.

An azure orb hovered out of Taimat’s shadow, and fluttered off in to the distance and submerged itself inside of the mage’s heart. A low chuckle erupted from the fighter as he reached in to his belt, and pulled out a wand. The wand had been no bigger then a foot long, and appeared to be that of a medical staff, with the two serpents intertwined and hissing at each other. An orb hovered in front of the two snakes, and behind them, a pair of angel wings. “How confident are you that you can defeat me, Tai? You’ve seen me fight, you’ve probably evaluated me… Think you can win?” He aimed his wand downwards, and aimed it upon Taimat’s head.

Taimat ripped the sword out of its’ sheath, and tossed it in to his right hand. He twirled the sword down and up in a clockwise motion and pointed it upwards to Demetrious. “I’ve always been able to defeat you, you little leech,” Taimat said. The flames of his anger peaked, and began to show to everyone in the room. Flames began to escape from around his knees, chest, elbows, hands, and feet.

“I’m finally going to be free…” Demetrious muttered. A shimmering sapphire light burned brightly on the tip of his wand. He raised his wand near his left shoulder, then slashed downwards. A strip of ice followed the slash, and flew over to Taimat. He took a step forward, and raised his left hand in a “STOP” position. Flames erupted from the earth in front of him, creating a wall of fire which indeed made the ice stop. He lowered his hand, and the flames subsided. He began to walk out of the isle of the pews, so that Flau wouldn’t be involved in the fighting.

As soon as Taimat stepped foot in the isle, Demetrious leaped in to the air, doing a corkscrew like twisting motion. He landed in a crouched position, his arms tucked in against his ribs. With a thrust forward, his arms shot out of his chest with his body twisted to the left and his left arm higher then the right. A concentrated stream of ice shot out of his fists, which became an avalanche of sharp spires of ice.

Taimat shot his left fist down, flames shooting downwards with the traveling fist. Upon impact, the flames shot Taimat in to the air, just high enough to avoid being trampled by the ice. He warrior landed on the ice, which had continued moving, and had been unable to stay standing. His body shifted forward, causing him to land face first upon the ice. When the ice had stopped moving around, Taimat gradually lifted his head to survey the area. The ice had encased the whole isle, part of the pews, and completely sealed the exit. He clambered up to his feet, and looked down on the solid brick of ice, which had remained smooth on the top.

Demetrious rushed forward on the ice, going faster then if he had been under the influence of Ap Do. In a matter of seconds, he stood in front of Taimat, a smile plastered against his face. He upper cut the air, and as his fist moved through the air, the ground also moved. Taimat leaped back, avoiding the attack by inches. Demetrious began to move his hands up and around to manipulate the ice which he had created. Spires of ice shot vertically, horizontally, and every other direction imaginable to try and impale the warrior. “I’m tired of these games,” Taimat growled.

He stood straight, and allowed a spire to impale him in the shoulder. He shrugged through the pain, and crossed his arms on his chest. His arms shot down to his side, and with it, flames erupted from his body. A swirling torrent of fire surrounded Taimat, melting the spires which tried to kill him. Taimat stabbed his sword down in to the ground, and placed his right hand on the butt of the sword, fingers outstretched, his left hand on top of the right, interlocked his fingers, and cascaded his fingers down the handle of the sword. The flames which swirled around his body would be enough protection while he conjured up his next spell. “Warriors of the Fire Kingdom!”

The fire torrent which swirled around his body split in to two pieces, and formed two crimson orbs. The orbs shimmered gallantly, and began to take the shape of a man. Two clones created of fire descended from the sky, and landed next to Taimat. The two clones leaped forward, brought up their left leg, then leaped up in to the air. Both landed on their left leg, and shot up their right. Two streams of fire emitted from the heels of the warriors. Demetrious, caught off guard, did the only thing which came to mind and brought up his left hand in a “STOP” position, just as Taimat had done, and raised a slab of ice to protect himself. Taimat, taking advantage of his foe’s condition, began his next spell.

Once more, flames swirled around body as he brought up his arms. He rested his left index and middle fingers against the top of his head, and brought his right arm to his chest level, fingers together and outstretched with the exception of his thumb. “Hidden Fire Summon,” Taimat muttered. Three circles appeared, each behind a warrior. A whirlwind of fire erupted from the circles, raising as high as the ceiling. The flames lasted a few moments, until subsiding and revealing three dragons created of flame. Their bodies had been solid fire, and the only solid the dragons held was in their horns, which appeared to be a polished ivory that extended out of their heads a few inches above their eyes. Their eyes had been bright golden topaz ores which glowed like embers of a fire.

The two fire clones halted their attack, and brought their legs back down to the ground. Demetrious brought down the slab of ice, and chuckled. “This is the best the Fire Kingdom has to offer? A few fire dolls and lizards? What a disappointment my friend. I had hoped that when you said you visited the kingdom, that you would bring back awesome skills for me to drag out of your soul later. Guess that was just too much to ask for from you,” Demetrious said, shaking his head.

Taimat ripped his sword from the ice underneath him, and proceeded forward to stand in the middle of his clones. He raised his arm up, and pointed his sword at the head of his foe. “Just a taste, my friend. Now, I’ve been wondering for some time why exactly you’re doing this, and if Ama is actually involved in this. One way to find out, huh?” The two clones outstretched their left arms, and tucked their right arms against the bottom of their ribs so that their fist faced upwards. The two stepped forward, shooting their right fists outwards and shifting their left so that it was tucked away to their ribs. Flames spewed out of their fists, streaming forward to Demetrious.

Once more, he raised the wall of ice. Taimat raised his left hand, and snapped, causing a tiny fireball appeared above his snapped fingers. He took in a breath, and breathed out as hard as he could. A concentrated stream of fire followed his breath, which spiraled around the air. The flames arced up then down, then as if it had stopped to get ready to jump, leaped over the ice wall. The flames gathered speed and shot forward towards Flau.

The ice wall collapsed as Demetrious sped backwards, pulled along by the ice, towards where Flau lay on a pew. He leaped out of the ice, and threw a punch towards where she lay. A column of ice shot out from the side of the raised platform of ice, and created a barrier around the sleeping mistress. The flames hit the ice, shooting outwards in all directions off the barrier. Taimat halted his attack, a frown on his face. “So you aren’t completely full of shit for once. Why are you doing this, Demetrious? We’re all in the same boat. We’re stuck in this game, and we will find a way out together. Why fight me? We all have our own techniques. We all have our special skills. We can get through this together, my friend,” Taimat said, gradually making his way down the isle of ice. The dragons and clones followed behind Taimat as he made his way down the ice to confront his friend.

“It’s not that easy, Tai. The ritual will go through as planned, and two of us shall be leaving this game… I’m sorry. But this is the way it must be. It was just the chance of fate. Your death won’t be in vain, I promise,” Demetrious said, standing back up. “So show me what you’re made of! I know the Fire Kingdom you sought after for so long taught you more then pathetic puppets and dogs with wings!”

Taimat raised his sword in the air, the blade pointed downwards, and smiled. “There’s the Demetrious I know!” The two clones faced Taimat, who continued to face Demetrious with his sword raised in the air, and clapped their hands together. Flames swirled around the two, which began to twist and writhe and swirl around the three of them. The dragons hovered above the three warriors, spaced out and formed a triangle. The sword Taimat held in the air burned vermilion, and began to contract in to his hand to form an orb of energy.

By this time, Demetrious had closed his eyes, and raised his hand up to eye level with his index and middle fingers raised. A whirlwind of water began to twist and swirl around his body, just as the flames moved around Taimat. An orb of water energy began to form the mage’s hand, which stood open near his stomach and faced towards the sky. The two friends looked up to each other and called out their respective skills.

“Tri-Dragon Armor: Sun’s Tear!”
“Shadow Skill: Moon’s Tear!”

The flames and water subsided and all that stood were the two warriors, each holding an orb of their respective elements. An orb four inches in diameter lay in their hands, shimmering dull crimson and gallant sapphire. Taimat placed the orb against his chest, took in a deep breath, and began to push it in to his body. Flames sizzled and emitted from his chest as he managed to completely purge the fiery orb in to his chest. His armor burned crimson, as it shifted around and became more then just rustic armor that he got from the pawn shop. Two dragons, mouths open, faced inwards towards his chest, which had melded to the shape of his chest. Two horns extended out from the dragon’s heads, just as they had from the original summons. Around his right wrist, the third dragon’s head. The mouth open in a roar, his hand extended outwards just enough to be able to hit a person without bashing them with the snout of the head. Two wings extended out from his back, which flapped and functionally worked like they were his own.

On the other end, Demetrious also had used his technique. The Moon’s Tear had been different from the Sun’s, in that instead of armor it gave him the summon. A serpent like dragon had wrapped itself around Demetrious. It’s head had located itself to his hand, wrapped itself around his chest so that the wings stayed on his back, and from there wrapped itself around his body until it chose to loosely hang it’s tail near his leg. “And you’re sure you wanna go through with this? Don’t start crying when I kick your ass,” Taimat said, releasing a breath of fire from his nostrils.

A smile crept up on his face, as he raised the dragon to Taimat. “Positive,” he said, letting out a breath of ice. Taimat took to the sky, avoiding the first wave of the blast. Demetrious brought up his arm and began to release a barrage of rapid ice attacks. Taimat began a dance in the air, dodging the shards of ice by twisting to and fro. He pointed his right arm down upon his foe, and felt the concentrated flames twisted and writhe within the dragon’s mouth. A concentrated stream of fire shot downwards in to Demetrious.

The water mage brought down his dragon’s head, and raised up his left hand holding his wand. Water burst out of the tip of the wand, and upon impact with the fire, created a mist which encased the entire church. Taimat hovered blindly in the air, trying to make out where his foe had gone off to. A sudden tinge of pain shot through his body, as he felt a spire of ice enter his shoulder. With a loud obscenity, he had been shot out of the air. He fell to the earth, falling on his back, bouncing once, then coming to a skidding stop. The fighter sat up, and peered around for signs of his foe. He looked down at the spire, no longer then two feet, which hovered in his shoulder. He gripped the short spear of ice, and felt it begin to melt in his fist. The spire melted, but the wound still stayed.

The ground began to rumble from underneath Taimat, as he looked for signs of the origin. He turned around to get a cursory glance at a mound of ice rushing towards him, just as it had earlier. This time, he had little to no time to react. The avalanche of pure ice energy grabbed the warrior, and the two flew across the church before stopping at a wall. The ice energy smashed Taimat against the wall, then dragged up higher as it began to solidify. The fire warrior’s arms hung up high, as they dangled in an L form on the ice. His head hung down, staring upon the ground.

The sheer shock of the attack took Taimat off his guard as it was, but the next thing he saw put him over. The mist had subsided, and down below Taimat, Flau stood. The brim of her stereotypical mage hat blocked the view of her face from Taimat. The hat had a large brim, which came towards the middle which shot upwards in to a point. The woman looked up, her pale amethyst eyes piercing Taimat’s heart, a frown plastered on her face. “I really never wanted it to come down to this, you know that, right? I’m truly sorry for what we must do, but the ritual is the only way out,” Flau said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“That’s a damned lie and you know it. You don’t need to do whatever this ritual is. We’ll get out, you just need to trust me. Common Amanda. We’ve gone too far, done too much, to let it end like this,” Taimat pleaded. He tried to move his body, but no response. He released a breath out of his nostrils, but it had been as bitter cold as the ice around him. “You can take your curse off me at anytime, Amanda.”

“I wish I could. I really do, but… I can’t. This is how it must be. I know you’re not going to willingly come with us deeper in to the dungeon… so…” And with that said, she began to climb up the ice, which began to take the shape of stairs. Demetrious stood in the back, ominous and silent, controlling the ice. She placed her hand against Taimat’s head.

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

Darkness had enveloped the area. Dionysus recalled his spell, and placed the memories back in to Taimat’s head. “What the fuck old man? Common, what happens? You can’t just leave me with that,” Reinier said, looking around. Taimat snorted, and Dionysus smiled.

“You’re like a child, Reinier. So greedy, so impatient. Well, the reason I recalled the memory was because it was over. She knocked him out, so of course we can’t watch the rest of it. Well, his friend-” Dionysus was cut off by a roar from Taimat.

“DON’T YOU DARE CALL THAT BACKSTABBING SON OF A BITCH MY FRIEND OLD MAN!” Taimat had climbed up to all four legs, flames escaping his nostrils. His eyes glowing a dull crimson.

“-The mage, Demetrious, used his stolen powers to drag Taimat to the depths of this dungeon. Taimat had been waken from his forced sleep for the ritual, which we’ll watch soon. That is, of course, you have any questions… which I know you do…” Dionysus said, looking at Reinier.

“Demetri’s powers, explain them to me. He used that water dragon on me, and yet also had a fire dragon. I don’t understand. How are they trapped in the game? Are they in comas too? And what of the scriptures on the walls, what did they say?” Reinier asked. Those were the only lingering questions he had from the story.

“His powers… he’s a Doppelganger of sorts. He steals the powers of whomever he’s fighting, and twists it to his advantage. Let’s say you used your Flowstone armor. He would be able to manipulate this, and create an armor or weapon to which you would be weak to. Such as a sword of Juk element, or even armor of Juk, if he wanted. A very dangerous foe… he keeps all powers he manages to steal, both the power of the foe and the opposite power he himself used. If you were to fight him, it’s of dire importance that you don’t use your keystones. Rely on your inner strength,” Demetrious paused before answering the next question.

“Yes, they are trapped in the game. Just as any other comatose victim, their bodies are in the real world in a sleep-like state. They, just as you are, are looking for a way out. Flau would disappear from the group at random points for short periods of time, only to return without saying a word. My guess? She had been gathering information from this field from the scriptures on the wall. She discovered the ritual… and well, she figured it was her way out.”

“Wait wait wait… She knew of a way out? Taimat has a real body somewhere?… wait… how do you know so much about Flau and her gang?”
Reinier asked, looking dumbstruck by the amount of information.

He knows too much… I should kill him… Oh God I’m sounding like Nighthand.

“I was put in charge by the higher ups of my organization to keep tabs on Taimat and his group. I was doing pretty good, too. I would concentrate on Taimat because he and Demetrious were inseparable. With a gauntlet made by our forger, I could stay hidden from most of the outside world. They never knew I was watching… even during the ritual… But you’ll see how that turns out soon enough. As for the scriptures… you’ll also be seeing what they say, in the upcoming memory…” Dionysus said. He pulled out his wand, and pressed it against his temple. He pulled out a strand of translucent liquid, and began the spell once again to show all his own memories.

He really does know too much…

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:02 am
by Reinier
With her finger, Flau ripped a portal in the field. A spinning torrent of golden fire spun rapidly inside of the tare. “Let’s go Demetri. You always take forever. He’s not that heavy,” Flau said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. Demetrious shot Taimat out of the ice, causing him to hit the ground with a bounce, then hit the ground once more. Ice slithered along the ground, wrapped itself around the warrior, and dragged him in to the portal. Demetrious followed, not replying to Flau’s condescending remarks.

She’s a bigger bitch then I remember.

Dionysus followed behind Demetrious in to the portal, just before Flau could slip in. The old man found himself in a massive room, with a ceiling so high that he couldn’t see it, only darkness. The walls had been spaced apart to great lengths, to the point that he found it obscenely huge and the amount of space wasted absurd. Dionysus moved out of the way of the portal so that Flau wouldn’t run in to him when she walked out. He continued to gawk at the amount of unused space within the room.

In the middle of the room, a stalagmite hung over head. Demetrious dragged Taimat’s body near the stalactite, and stood back. Flau stood over his body before kneeling down on his right. She unclipped his gauntlet from his armor, and took it off. Around her waist, an intricately made dagger with ancient runes all about the handle. Golden runes began to shimmer brightly as she pierced the skin of Taimat’s wrist. She carved a curving line down his wrist to the joint of his elbow. She had the feeling that a lot of blood would be necessary for this.

And so she began to work under the stalactite, dipping her fingers inside his wrist for blood, then writing out some scriptures she had written down on a piece of paper. Dionysus stood over her, trying to decipher the scriptures. He could figure out none of them, but watched as she wrote these words in a circle. When she finished the outside of the circle, she painted a circle under the scriptures, then began again. This time, she began to draw what appeared to be Egyptian hieroglyphics.

For a woman writing in the blood of her best friend, she’s pretty calm.

As she drew near the end of her drawing, Dionysus knew what she had begun to write out in blood. The spell of Rip Mean, the spell of life. “Why that spell? He’s not dead… I wonder…” Dionysus wondered to himself. Demetrious moved in close, bring with him Taimat’s body. The large man slumped over his right shoulder, dangling helplessly. “Careful! We need him alive,” said the woman who had finished writing in the man’s blood.

Demetrious stood the man up straight, and held on to his shoulders so that he wouldn’t fall over. Flau stood, and closed her eyes. She clapped her hands together and began to recite the scriptures from the walls. “Fynneun uv Vena, oui crymm palusa essundym eh so aoac. Fedr ouin taydr, fa crymm pa cad vnaa. Fedr dra venac uv muja, oui crymm palusa essundym eh so raynd. E ys cunno, so muja, pid drec sicd pa tuha. Kuut poa…”

With that said, earth shot up around Taimat. The earth incased his body up to his waist, and dragged him upwards near the point of the stalactite. Flau pulled out a pinch of dust from a pouch hanging on her belt, and tossed it in to Taimat’s face. “Wake up,” she said. Taimat shook his head, and looked around. He seemed fully functional, as if he had never been asleep at all.

“What the fuck is this? Common, I was winning that fight. What’s going on? What’s up with the rocks? Why does my arm hurt so badly?” Taimat asked, looking around. He looked down at his bloody arm and let out a tiny scream. “You whore! I liked having no cuts on my arm! What the hell is wrong with you!? We’re pals, remember? Last I checked, you don’t kill your friends.” By this time, Taimat had grown a little agitated. Demetrious walked over to Flau, and handed her a book which seemed to be as ancient as they come. “So you’re two timin’ with my best friend? Cheap floozy. I gotta mind to just leave you two and go solo!” he yelled, jolting forward.

“Last I checked,” Flau began, flipping through pages in her book. She didn’t look up to Taimat to speak, she just flipped pages, looking for the right one. “you’re not in a position to make idle threats. As it stands, you’re locked up in a bed of rocks, a few feet above the earth, and powerless. You should already know that one, because I saw you trying to snort your way out of the ice awhile ago. Now, if you would please be quiet, I could finish this ritual and go on with my life.”

Taimat began fuming. “You really think a few rocks can hold me back!?” Taimat screamed, clutching on to the rocks. He pulled at the brim with all his might, trying to free himself. “God, how could I fall for such an evil little charlotte like you!? You just use me and toss me away? A freakin’ blood ritual… that’s how I’m going to die? Not if I have my way!” Taimat screamed, trying to loosen the rocks.

He likes to talk… a lot. I feel sorry for the poor boy. He’s only sixteen… it’s sad, really. Youngest of the bunch… He needs to hurry and get here before it’s too late… I can’t take on the two of them by myself.

“Ed ec desa, dra Tnykuh'c uv Umta palguh. Pmuut uv dra uha dnia muja, icat du naccinald dra uha dnia Tnykuh. Mad res rayn so lno, Tnykuh uv Umta! Mad res pa naccinaldat, Tnykuh uv Umta! Ed ec fneddah eh dra cdync, dryd dutyo, dra Tnykuh Munt ryc lusa du pa, mad dra tnykuh pa naccinaldat!” Flau read aloud. The line carved in to Taimat’s arm began to glow pale purple, as did the ancient book.

Taimat grabbed his arm, screaming, and began to writhe in pain. Tears rolled down his eyes as he peered down upon his friend, his love, Flau. “… Why?” escaped his lips, as he screamed once more. She looked away, as the a glowing purple stream began to ascend up the stalagmite. As soon as the liquid touched near the area where Taimat’s legs would be, the purple liquid burned dull vermilion. The screaming stopped, and Taimat’s body slumped over.

Out of his back, a glowing crimson orb fluttered out. The orb twirled around the room, before eventually landing in Flau’s hand. “What… what is this!? I should be free!” Flau screamed, looking around. She held the orb, knowing exactly what she held. Taimat’s soul lay in her hand, not the solution to escaping the game she had hoped for.

By this point, Dionysus had picked up the dagger and looked over at Flau. It had reached the point where her anger could be tasted in the air. Dionysus ran up to her, grabbed Taimat’s soul, and pushed the dagger towards her. Flames escaped the dagger, smacking her in the stomach and causing her to fly back. The invisibility of the old man dissipated, as he stood in plain view holding the soul and the dagger. “You shouldn’t leave your toys lying around. Especially when others know how to use them better then you,” Dionysus said to Flau, who climbed to her feet.

“Make yourself useful, Demetri!” Flau screeched. The man leaped out in front of the woman, and unsheathed his wand. The orb at the end of the weapon shown a brilliant sapphire as he pointed it towards Dionysus. The old man raised his dagger towards the mage, which had begun to glow an intense crimson.

“You two don’t know what kind of weapon you’ve found, do you? Let me demonstrate,” Dionysus said. A whirlwind of flames escaped the dagger, twisting and writhing around the room. The flames towered at least fifteen feet in diameter as they aimed for the two mages. Demetrious had no choice but to go on the defensive, and created an ice dome over Flau and himself.

Time to vamoose!

Dionysus pulled out his Sprite Ocarina, and with three golden rings, vanished from the dungeon. He narrowly escaped the two, but he hadn’t reached the clearing yet. He gated out of the field, and found himself once more in the Theta Server. He sheathed the dagger and searched for a quiet place to think and examine the situation. He trudged over a bridge, scratching his beard with his left hand while looking down at the glowing garnet. He leaped off the bridge, down to a secret area few knew about, a place he could do an experiment at. “Now, if I remember the scriptures right… then this should be able to free Taimat from his purgatory… sort of,” the old man mumbled to himself

“Tuusat cuim, lincat du fyhtan dra funmt eh yhudran vuns. Mad ku uv ouin unekehym vuns, yht dyga vmekrd, vun ouin haf vuns meac rettah. Mydahd vuns uv Taimat, yfygah!” Dionysus held up the orb as he said this. The orb’s glow died, as it began to vibrate within the man’s hand. The orb’s temperature shot up through the roof, feeling as though the old man had sunk his hand in to a pile of burning embers. Dionysus dropped the orb on the ground, and stepped back as he watched it rumble and jump around on the ground.

A pair of wings popped out of the orb first, which began to flutter about. The orb hovered a few feet above the ground, before the next noticeable figure began to appear. A tail. A tiny tail whipped around, growing outwards a few inches. Soon, a leg, two, three, finally four. Four legs. A snout began to appear, and soon the orb began to elongate. Before Dionysus knew what had happened, a massive dragon stood in front of him, legs shaking to support his weight. “What… the fuck… just happened…?” the dragon asked, looking around.

“Wow, would you believe I just dabbled in those scriptures for a few days? And here I am, creating life from pretty much nothing… huh… go figure. God of drunken orgies my ass. Anyways, welcome to your new life, Taimat. Your body is… well… I don’t know right now, but what I DO know is that you’re now your soul’s true form: a dragon. Rightfully so, with all that dragon armor and spells you got working for you… Anyways, your ‘friends’ tried to use your soul to find a way to get out of the game. I couldn’t have that. You’re too interesting to lose so early in the game…” Dionysus trailed off, turning around and scratching his beard. “Anyways, we should probably see if you can-…” The old man turned around, expecting to see a massive dragon still standing there. Nothing. “How the hell am I going to explain this one…?”

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

“And the rest, my friends… is history. I don’t know what came of Taimat after he left, but what I do know is you’ve been wrangled up in to this whole thing. Care to fill us in, Tai? It would be wonderful to know of your travels,” Dionysus asked, pulling his memories together and putting them back in to his mind.

“That information is not relevant to what we are about to do. What matters is I was able to save Reinier from that harlot before something seriously bad could happen. She found an old scripture, and has the ability to take the form of a fox… a fox that Reinier has met in his past travels. She probably sees something within him, something she can twist and manipulate. I had my suspicions, which were confirmed later on. I’m here to protect him, and to get my old body back. Now, let’s move,” Taimat growled, standing up.

Reinier continued sitting, still puzzled by the whole scheme of things. “Old man… who, or what, are you?” He asked, looking at Dionysus. He let out a sigh, and looked down in to the young boys eyes.

“Let’s just say I’m apart of a guild who’s been guarding a few different areas and their secrets… The Fire Kingdom got a visitor one day, this one here, Taimat. We kept him under surveillance. He learned a nice supply of skills from the kingdom, and we couldn’t have him just teaching anyone. Well, shortly after I saved him, bad things happened. Gravis… ugh… yeah, jail sucks, by the way,” Dionysus said, shuddering. “Well, if we’re done with the questions, we should be moving on. We’ll head to The Chapel. I’m almost certain we’ll have someone waiting for us there.”

Reinier nodded, and stood. He pulled out his sword, the Devil’s Blade, from its’ sheath and waited for Dionysus to move. “Do you still have the blank crystal?” Dionysus asked, looking at Reinier. He nodded, holding up gauntlet of gems. The old man gave a nod, and turned to Taimat. “I know you can’t stand listening to me, but it’s a must. If you wish to be human again, then follow and listen to me,” Dionysus said, and not waiting for a response, began heading towards the next room. The two followed behind the old man.

An oddity, however, stood in the way. In the memory, there had been a puzzle room before The Chapel. But here, no puzzle rooms. The two warriors and dragon stood in front of the gigantic chapel, surrounded by the ancient pictures of dragons and men. “This is peculiar… Keep your guard up, no telling what will happen. She’s toying with the field, now…” Dionysus muttered, brandishing his dagger. Reinier peered upwards, spying a tower of energy once more.

Bad omen.

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:37 pm
by Reinier
Taimat and Dionysus both stood together, gazing upon the walls filled with ancient portraits. Reinier, on the other hand, did not have that kind of patience or attention span. He walked past the two and continued on in to the chapel. By the time Dionysus and Taimat looked up for Reinier, it had been too late. He had entered the room, and the doors behind him had been sealed shut. Dionysus gaped at the fact that Reinier had been so foolish and just left without saying a word.

“Hello my dears. How are you two?”

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

“Welcome Reinier! Your friends are no longer here to protect you, so if you would like to just give up now, that would be for the best of all worlds!” A voice called from the altar, raising his arms up in the air as if he were a clergymen. Reinier looked around, and indeed, his friends weren’t here. He brandished the handle of his sword with his left hand as he began walking towards the man.

Shouldn’t have been so hasty… okay, he’s a power thief, so I gotta watch out for that. Gotta watch out for the fact he has both Rue and Vak powers under his belt thanks to Tai… and by now, he’s bound to have more powers. Fuck. This is going to suck. How can I beat someone like this?

“So, Demetrious, you think you can take me?” Reinier asked, before coming to a stop a few feet away from Demetrious. He shrugged his shoulders down, letting his vest slip down and flow down to the floor. He cracked his neck to the left, then to the right, and knelt down his a fighting stance. He placed his left hand on the sheath of his sword, his right on the actual handle.

Reinier shot forward running, leaped up the few steps up to the altar, and called out his attack, “Kannon!” flames began to escape from the sheath of the sword as Reinier pulled the blade out. A whirlwind of flames encased the blade as it began to make it’s ascent upon the mage, who continued to stand still. When the sword had become no more then a few inches away from the mage’s leg, he made his move.

His arm shot down, grabbing Reinier’s sword. He twisted his body around as if he were throwing the discus, and tossed Reinier like he were a rag doll. The boy flew over the podium, landing on an organ in the background. The sudden impact, plus the force he landed, decimated the organ, making it appear to be a broken wooden wall. “Goddamnit… I can’t do this without powers… I’ll take my chance,” Reinier muttered. He stood up, and began to wonder the hastiness of his actions.

A smile appeared on Reinier’s face. “You should know this better then anyone. What’s the one element with no weakness? Kou,” Reinier said, lifting up a golden gem. He crushed down upon it with his fist, and it began to shine through the cracks of his hand. The two swords began to form within his hands, Heaven and Hell, both seemingly opposites yet the same. The glow on the blades dissipated, and in his hands the sword. The angel winged blade, Heaven, with a blade four feet long and only a few inches thick, with two gallant angel wings where the orb of the sword lay. A light blue cat eye blinked every now, only shown on right side of the sword. Hell, it’s brother, held devil wings and a crimson cat eye on the left of the blade.

Reinier swiped downwards with the right sword, Heaven, and uttered a spell. “Crystalline Oversoul!” Nine faeries spun out of the earth and fluttered delicately around Reinier, as if in an eternal waltz around the boy. “Your move. Try and manipulate this, ass hat,” Reinier said, smiling. Demetrious simply held out his hand, and without warning, two faeries fluttered away from Reinier. The two faeries landed on the mage’s hand, and rested there.

“Foolish child… Wand of Healing,” Demetrious said, crushing his hand in to a fist. Two impish screams echoed, as light escaped from his fist. Two ends of the wand shot outwards, forming a staff as long as five feet. The tip of the staff formed a spear head, which held two lesser points leading up to the final tip of the blade. The sharpened part of the staff, arched outwards then inwards on the bottom before becoming the tip. An orb lay in the middle of the blade, with a dark smog constantly twisting within it. From the end of the spear to the blade measured out six inches, and from there back a spiral of black corkscrewed down the crimson shaft of the staff. In the middle of the staff, a resting spot for the hand which appeared to be black leather, which measured out no longer then five inches. At the opposite end of the staff, a tiny double ended dagger which shot outwards three to four inches.

“My, no, your wand. You already knew this, though, right?” Demetrious asked, twisting the spear-like wand around and jamming the dagger end of the staff in to the ground. Reinier stood there, puzzled. He had still be shocked by the fact he took away his faeries like that to create a weapon of his own. “I’ll take it from the look on your face you don’t know what this is, or it’s powers for that matter. No matter, you’ll find out. Now, y’see, this isn’t apart of your weapons skills as much as a combination of mine…” He held up the end of the spear and flicked one of the points. A tiny fire ball appeared at its’ tip, and a memory of one of Taimat’s attacks came to mind in Reinier’s head.

Demetrious took in a massive breath, and let loose a river of flames. Without thinking, Reinier dropped his swords, and reached in to his pockets. He pulled out a minuscule crystal from his pocket, and held it up. Upon contact with the gem, the flames began to funnel inwards. Demetrious attempted to halt his attack, but to no avail. The flames continued pouring from his mouth, and soon, another entity as well.

The dragon of flames Demetrious summoned earlier in the Theta Server began to escape from his mouth. The serpent twisted and writhed around as it crawled out of his mouth, passed over the spear, and had been sucked in to the gem. Demetrious crumbled to the ground after all the fire had been expelled from his system. Reinier stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the fiery crimson gem in his hand.

Reinier snapped out of his trance after watching Demetrious regain his strength. Reinier recalled his light gem, and put it away in his gauntlet. He looked down upon Demetrious, holding the garnet in his palm. “New gem.. Fire element, Vak. Thanks, Demetri,” he said, crushing his hand upon the gem. A cherry glow shot out of his closed fist, and almost immediately, a pair of flaming wings fluttered out of his shoes near his ankles. With a growl, Demetrious sliced his wand towards Reinier, an ice blast shooting out of the tip of his wand.

Reinier leaped in to the air, ten feet, to avoid the beam of ice. He flipped backwards, and upon landing, fell down on his butt. “Increased jump… nice…” he muttered, standing up. He pulled out his sword, which beamed a crimson glow. Flames crawled up and down the blade, an oddity Reinier hadn’t seen before. Demetrious kept his wand aimed at Reinier and began walking forward. One shot after another of ice escaped his wand, no recoil from any shot. He gave no pause as the shots flew from the wand, and continued walking towards the boy.

With lightning speed, Reinier dodged the shots with ease. He simply ran backwards and in the opposite direction of the shots with little to no energy wasted. A trail of flames stood in the wake of the speeding boy, who laughed after Demetrious halted his attack to survey the area. “Increased speed too? Jeez, this is wonderful. Imagine how much it would suck to lose this power? Oh… right,” Reinier laughed a bit at his own joke.

The flame warrior knelt down in a starting position for a dash, and shot forward towards his foe. Before Demetrious knew what had happened, Reinier stood under him, his sword sheathed and on its’ move outward. The last word he heard had been, “Kannon!” The sword rocketed out of the sheath, flames roaring and hissing gallantly. The sword sliced through Demetrious, from the hip up through his body until it escaped out of his shoulder blade. The mage flew backwards, flying at least ten yards. Reinier held his sword high, still knelt down, the added flames making the blade appear to be ten feet long and three wide near the handle before gradually creating a point at the end.

Reinier stood, flicking his sword to make the flames dissipate. Fire still danced around the blade, even though the bulk had disappeared. “Added Vak attack, too, I suppose… You got very unlucky on this blow, backstabber,” Reinier called out, beginning to walk towards the body. He began to sit up, lightly placing a hand on the wound which had been cauterized on contact. Embers still burned red upon his cloak, sheering more flesh off his body, gradually. “Funny how much of a little bitch Death is, huh?”

“What’s more funny is how your friends are tied up in a basement right now, boy.” He shot out his hand, grabbing Reinier’s left foot. He stood, spinning Reinier off his feet, swung the red haired boy around and over his head until eventually letting go. Once more, Reinier had been airborne. He flew until eventually hitting pews, which broke his fall. Reinier sat up, pulling a stake of wood out of his shoulder, with an obscenity. Blood spurted out of his wound, which he covered with his hand.

“One last attack…” he muttered, holding out his left hand. The wings fluttered back in to his feet, and shot out the garnet gem in to his gauntlet. The elemental sign for earth, Ganz, burned copper. “Flow Stone Armor!” Reinier called out. The earth surrounded his body, and eventually crumbled, revealing Reinier’s new armor.

Demetrious inspected the armor, and chuckled. “You’re stupid, kid. Every two minutes you switch elements. Do you think your body can handle that kind of change so quickly? Your tearing your body apart. We need you alive, so I suggest you stop.”

“Good luck with that. If anyone does anything with my body, it’ll be me damn it. When I’m done with you, I’m going to go find Flau and kick her ass. Then, I’m going to hunt down whoever else you’re working with and kick their ass. Then, I’m going to find my friends and get Taimat back to normal. Then we’ll all go down and dance on your sorry ass graves!” Reinier shouted, stepping forward and pointing towards Demetrious.

Demetrious laughed, “You’re blind to what we’re doing. You could never understand, anyways.” He pointed up. Reinier looked, and before he knew it, he felt something wrapping around his leg. His eyes shot down to the ground, his eyes widening. The warrior shot upwards in to the sky by the leg, his head knocking down in to the ground under him on his flight upwards.

Not again…! I already died once this way!

Reinier dangled in the air, a single vine no thicker then two inches causing him to hover. He levitated in the air, fifteen feet above the ground, looking down upon Demetrious. “YOU SON OF A BITCH GET ME DOWN WHEN I GET I’LL KICK YOUR ASS SO HARD YOURPARENTS’LLFEELITSOGODDAMNITGETMETHE-” and before Reinier could continue his long winded string of obscenities, another vine appeared. And another, then another.

Vines cropped up all around the boy, and had begun to thrash him around like a rag doll. Whips all around, relentlessly beating the boy in to submission. The armor gave little protection against the vines, as they shattered the earthen made armor on contact. A few vines shot through his body, beat him, then pierced his skin once more to continue the process. Reinier began to pass out, as the room became red. The blood passed over his eyes, so thick nothing in the room became visible.

My first battle with an elite. God… I was so useless…Level four, hackless. Nall called me to that field, via Flashmail, and next thing I know, I’m in a coma. I felt so useless against the woman. She easily thrashed the Freedom Fighters, toying with them like a cat would to a mouse. Nall saved the day, sort of, defeating the hacker to an extent until the bomb appeared. When I awoke from that battle, I met that demon of a dragon, Taimat… And so, my new life began…

Hacker number two, Royce, the leader. Hacks didn’t matter in that field, as she had locked up all their skills. The power to make their hacks useless? What kind of group had he joined? After she seduced and killed Nighthand, the group managed to leave relatively unscathed…

Nothing felt better then that sauna. Thank God Nall’s friends were hackers and made that field a virtual Eden. It had been wonderful until he met that demon of a beast, Ruguderoll. With that scythe, he managed to lop off my head with such ease, it was like he cut through butter with a hot knife. No winner in this battle, unless you count Royce who kicked that guy’s ass.

Melzas… Icy kinda guy with a snake for a tongue. Yessss my preciousssssss…. Got our asses handed to us by him and that one girl… losin’ to a girl… embarrassing. Thank god we eventually won, sorta. He left, we kept the girl. Win win?

Jett… silent guy. Didn’t gather much up from him before we freakin’ crushed him to death. Me ‘n Zan ‘n Lights showed his over grown bird who’s the boss. Nall walked away with another nifty power, we walk away with one less enemy…


The memories of his new life in the world began to come to a close.

We never got to celebrate… killing Jett…

Reinier peered through one eye. He looked around, and noticed he lay against a wall, which he managed to partly destroy an overhanging picture. His armor crumbling on to the ground, barely able to keep his head up. Footsteps echoed as Reinier‘s eyes met Demetrious. A smile on his face, as he knew he had defeated the boy. “What now… gonna do to me what you’ve done to Taimat…? Rats… are more noble… then you…!” Blood poured out of his mouth when he yelled.

“The trouble with that is the fact that he is, or was rather, so much stronger then you. You’re only plus is those gems I’m about to take from you.” He looked down upon the boy, almost waiting for him to give him the gems. The only parts of the earth armor left on Reinier glowed a dull copper, and recalled in to his hand. The other gems he had acquired through his travels also accumulated in his hand. Vak, Kou, Rue, Ani, and Ganz… he had wished to collect them all one day, but that goal diminished with every passing second. “Just giving them away? Pathetic.”

The gems chimed dimly as Reinier laughed. Blood flowed out of his mouth, his ribs and sides aching as the laughter escaped his lips. “You think I’m giving this to you…?” He said, using his energy to bring his head higher. His hands wrapped around the gems, and his hand radiated a gold. With a thrust, his fist passed through his skin and bone, and entered a more spiritual part of his body: his soul. He let go of the gems, and pulled out his fist. The pain screamed throughout his body, more so then the lashings of his foe. “No more gems, Demetrius… They’re apart of my soul now… There’s only one weapon out there with the power to rip out souls, and I watched the man die with it…” A low chuckle escaped his lips as he crumbled to the floor, and eventually began screaming out in pain. The sheer amount of power he fused with his soul had been too much, and it began to tear his soul apart.

“Well… Guess we do this the hard way…” Demetrius muttered to himself. He bent down, grabbing Reinier by the hair. He dragged the man through the isle of crushed and demolished pews. Shrieks and wails echoed throughout the cathedral, shattering the hope it once represented.

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

Reinier awoke, unable to tell how much time had elapsed. The blood had been tried off his body, and his wounds stitched and bandaged. His clothes remained tattered, and he had become weaponless and shoeless. He sat up, taking a glance around the cramped cell which imprisoned him.

The click of heels echoed throughout the jail, as soon a woman stood in front of him. “Good morning my little troublemaker. You had me worried, that you wouldn’t awake. I’m glad to see you’re up and about. Well, Demetrious and I have to leave for the day, so I hope you don’t mind it too much if my guards try to get you to give up your gems for a little freedom. Either way, those gems will be mine eventually. Until we next meet…” And with that said, the woman giggled and waved good bye. The click of heels echoed throughout the jail as she left.

“Whore…”

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

And so now, everyday two men come to greet Reinier. They both wear the same black cloaks with the hood up, hiding their faces. And everyday, they cast a paralyzing spell upon the boy, before moving him to a new room. They tie up Reinier to a platform raised a few feet, which have him up on a raised wall. His arms outstretched, and his legs tied together, making a lower case “t” of sorts. They ask the same question, “Will you give us the gems?” And everyday, he gives the same answer of, “When my heart gives out, jackass.” With a flip of a switch, he is electrocuted until he passes out. This process is repeated twice more throughout the day. Eventually, they toss him back in to his cell and he is fed some food.

This has happened to Reinier everyday for the past year.

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:24 pm
by Reinier
The First Day

Reinier lay against the wall in his prison cell, drifting in and out of consciousness. The local healer of sorts had passed by his cell to cast a recovery spell upon the crimson haired warrior, but it did little in making him ache less. He wouldn’t die, that was a fact, but the beating he had gone through against the mage still left it’s mark on Reinier. The clicking of heels echoed throughout the dungeon as a woman appeared outside of Reinier’s cell. Before long, a woman began to speak out to Reinier. “Good morning, Reinier. You gave me quite a scare… for a second there, I didn’t think you would pull through. I made sure to give Demi a talking to about treating the people we need so harshly.” He gradually opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the lack of sunlight.

For the first time, Reinier had a decent look upon Flau, his newest adversary by association. The first thing he noticed, beyond the flowing blonde hair that reached down to her lower back, tied in to a pony tail with her bangs free, had been her piercing jade eyes. It seemed almost as if she could stare in to a persons’ soul with her eyes. He felt strange having her gazing upon him with such piercing eyes.

The dress she wore covered every inch of her body, with the exception of her hands, neck, and just enough of her feet to show off her heels. The dress zipped down in the front from the V-neck, and as the pulling part of the zipper, a circular medallion. A family crest, Reinier could only presume. Two white designs danced up the woman’s arms from the elbows up, the designs resembling the runes outside of the Chapel. Jade flames danced up the edge of her sleeves near her wrists, as well. Around the lower end of her waist, a brown belt wrapped itself around her body, connected by another crest. Four slips of cream colored cloth dangled from the belt, which dangled to the end of the dress. A golden X, and under the X, a dragon head with what appeared to be its’ spine dangling downwards. An odd crest indeed, to Reinier.

“Anyways, I’ve come to tell you that Demetrious and I shall be gone for the day. We’ve gotten wind of some interesting information, and it appears to be worth checking it out… Even though I doubt that they will be willing to give us the information for free, I will have it in the end. Everyman has his price…” She giggled as she waved good-bye to Reinier. “See you in a day…” And with that said, she walked off, the sound of her heels clicking against the ground eventually fading in to nothingness.

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

Reinier peered around his cell. Night had fallen, as the barred sunlight no longer shown through the window. He lay on his bed, and on the floor on a tray sat his dinner. An oil fueled lamp lit up his dank cell. With a deep sigh, the boy sat up and made a notch in the wall which he used to keep tally of how many days it’s been. Three weeks and one day since Flau had left.

He hopped off his bed, and began to indulge in the adequate amount of food they brought. Crumbs of the cheeseburger a few half eaten French Fries stayed on the plate, as the only remnants of the meal they provided. He finished the last of his root beer and began to think about his daily routine now. It struck him as odd that he had been locked up and tortured on a day to day basis, and yet they fed him so well. There were points in the day where he wished one of the Freedom Fighters inner Twilight Virus granted them the ability to be a master chef.

And so, week after week the process continued. A wonderful breakfast to start the day, a few hours of torture, lunch, an hour of free time, more torture, then dinner. He would sleep, and the whole cycle would repeat itself. Reinier had to admit, they had been very organized and routine about their torture. Even the torture methods had been repeated everyday. Two men would enter the cell, cast a paralyzing spell on Reinier (Even if he didn’t resist), and they would blind fold him. When the blind fold came off, he would find himself hand cuffed to a metal slab that held a copper cross in the middle. They would ask if he would like to give up his gems, and Reinier would reply with a humble “Go fuck yourself.”

With a flip of the switch, they would electrocute the boy in to submission. They would turn the current on and off continuously for a few hours, but most of the time Reinier would avoid focusing on the pain. It didn’t help much, but at the excruciating levels of pain he had begun to reach, anything was worth a try. Eventually he would give in, and pass out from pain. When he awoke, he would be in his cell, healed of all wounds, and have a nice meal sitting out ready for him.

“Three hundred sixty-five… three hundred and sixty fucking five tallies… ‘Oh, I’ll be back in day, bleh bleh bleh, I’m a big fat whore, look how awesome I am. I can turn people in to dragons, doesn’t my hair look awesome? Blah blah blah.’ Reinier continued mumbling the imitation of the woman for quiet some time, until he heard a familiar clicking. He looked to his side from the bed, and sure enough, the green eyed woman stood in front of him, smiling.

“Gorgeous impression of me, really dear, it was. But focus on one thing at a time… like… your fighting. It’s atrocious,” Flau giggled at her remark. Reinier growled, wishing he had his sword so he could attempt to kick her ass. “Are you growling at me? What are you, a dog? Well, you are infected with the Twilight… guess you ARE a mutt of sorts. That’s besides the point. I’ve gathered up a few nice spells from my outing, so that leaves the position of ‘Guinea Pig’ open.” She waited for a reply.

“Is this where I jump up and down and graciously accept your hospitality and say that I’ll do it? Never. In fact,” at this point Reinier stood up. “I bite my thumb at thee, charlatan.” And with that said, Reinier lifted up his hand, and sure enough, bit down on his thumb.

The woman giggled. “Did thou bite thy thumb? Dost my eyes deceive me?” She asked mockingly. “Well Shakespeare, you’re going to be the guinea pig whether you like it or not! Hate to break it to you…” She snapped her fingers after trailing off her sentence. Reinier’s eyes shot open, his arms bolted down to his sides, and his legs snapped closed. He stood still, a virtual plank, as she entered the cell. She placed her hand over the top of his head, and gradually slipped her hand down Reinier’s face. “Sleeep…..” She whispered. His eyes closed with her passing hand…

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

FREE AT LAST! REINIER! BOY! YOU ALIVE!?

Reinier awoke. He took a glance around the room. A clear view of a room with a bit too much wasted space. It felt familiar… like he had been here before… He looked down, and found himself on a raised mound of rock. He peered upwards, and gazed upon a point looking down at his head. His arms, however, had been chained up to the ceiling. “Good morning sleepy head!” her voice pierced his ears, waking him up more then he had wanted to be.

I’m alive… for now… I’m where they held you, where are you Taimat? Why haven’t we spoken in so long? Where are you?

I just had a visitor, we’re on our way to free you. She brought back up, so we’ll be good for fending off Flau. We’re a bit far, but we should be there in… two minutes. Stall!


Reinier looked down upon a pair of jade eyes staring at him. “What exactly are you going to do?” Reinier took a look further down, and noticed an oddity. “… exactly how naked am I?” He couldn’t see further down then his belt line, but from what he could see, he had no shirt, and his gauntlets had been taken.

A slight giggle. “You’re so funny! We had to take off your shirt so we could scribble on your chest. (Reinier looked down to verify this. An odd circle scripture lay on his chest, written in black ink.) You see, this ritual is going to require an extreme amount of energy. So, I’ll just borrow… all of yours. I’ve already managed to extra the gems while you were asleep. They should do nicely.” The woman smiled and held up the gems. They chimed and glowed brightly in her hands.

An explosion in the background echoed. A hue of colorful smoke twisted and writhed through the room as two figures made their way in to the room, and another atop of a snake like creature. A man he had never seen before, draped in a black toga, stood next to Dionysus. “You dragged me out of my darkness for this half assed, poorly made field of low life hackers, Dionysus? Sad…” The man threw out his arm, fingers outstretched and yelled, “WRYNECK PHA!” He bellowed. His voice carried throughout the room and echoed many times. Silence fell over the room.

The demon made of darkness floated out of the earth, blasting Demetrious across the room out of view. Flau had conjured a shield around herself and Reinier, out of fear of having her test subject decimated by a powerful spell such as that. “Do you honestly believe that was necessary, Hades? A level two would have worked on’em,” the girl said, hopping off her nine headed serpent. Reinier looked upon her, his eyes widening out of astonishment.

“It’s… no… it can’t be… An… Andrea?” His voice cracked, saying his sister’s name. The girl looked up, smiling.

“What am I going to do with you? I left you in the Xenobia fight for a reason. You had to learn on your own how to fight. Can’t rely on your sister to bail you out ALL the time… but here I am, again, bailing you out. You’re sooooooo lucky you have such a-…” the sister had been cut off by Flau.

“THIS IS MY MOMENT! ALL OF YOU LEAVE!” Flau screeched, thrusting her arms in to the air. Different elemental dragons began to rise from the earth, three of each element. Fire, water, and forest, three of each of these elemental dragons appeared out of the earth. Rhilla pointed her finger forward, and her Hydra reacted. With lightning quick speed, the beast slithered around in front of her, and gathered up energy in each of its’ mouths. Three rays of fire, water, and pure earth energy shot out of the nine heads of the beast, obliterating the summoned dragons. “I’m no fool… I know when to quit. But, I’ll leave you with this…”

Flau turned around and raised both her arms up in a V. Energy swirled out of the earth, around her body, and in to the palms of her hands. When she gathered sufficient energy, she brought the orbs forward, and combined them. She reached in to her pocket and pulled out the Kou gem she managed to steal from Reinier. “A gift from his sister… funny how it’s going to change him forever, once again, huh?” With a cackle, she jammed the gem in to the orb of energy, and thrust it in to Reinier’s chest.

She held up the other gems and smiled, “I’ll just keep the rest…” a shard of concentrated dark energy shot in to the woman’s hand, and she gave a loud shriek of pain as she dropped two gems. Her hand clenched tight out of shock and reaction, as she ducked down to her knees, grasping the hand with her other. “This isn’t over… not by a long shot… it’s just begun…” With her last words said, she disappeared in a ray of green and black fire.

The screams of the scarlet-haired warrior echoed throughout the massive dungeon. By this time, Rhilla had already hopped up on to her Hydra and slithered to where Flau had left the field in hopes of chasing after her. No sign of Flau’s existence stood, however. The two other men had run up to Reinier to see what they could do. “That poor excuse of a witch didn’t…” Dionysus muttered to himself, stroking his beard.

“She did…” The dimly dressed man replied, examining Reinier. He writhed in pain, screaming, shaking back and forth trying to free himself. Two lines began to run down the bottom of his arm, glowing a magnificent gold. Two spires began to thrust out of his back as well, causing him even more pain. “I have an idea, but I don’t know how well it will work. It is a sealing spell using the powers of Wryneck. If it does not kill the boy, it will seal the powers of his light gem. Unless of course, you have a better idea my friend,” Hades turned to his friend, smiling.

Rhilla stood silently, looking at the two men for an answer as to what would happen to her brother. Dionysus smiled, “Don’t worry Rhilla, I promised you I would look after your brother.” He turned to Hades and gave a nod. By this time the other god had already pulled out a scroll. He seemed to have made up his mind even before Dionysus gave him the “Okay.”

Hades held the top of the scroll, and allowed it to drop down to reveal its’ scriptures. He let go of the top, and pressed his hand against the ancient and frayed paper, and called out, “Wryneck’s Seal.” The letters glowed a valiant violet, and appeared on Reinier’s chest. The boy let out a cough, a tiny shower of crimson rain escaping his lips. He had passed out from the pain.

An Hour Passes

How long did you say the boy would be asleep for? I’m worried. What if he dies? It would be all my fault, damnit. That bitch was my problem, not his God damnit! Fuckin’ aye… it’s all my fault…

Calm down, pup. It’s okay. My brother’s not gonna die so easy, ‘kay? We’ll get her, don’t worry. I asked you and that old man to watch over Garrett for a reason, because ya’ll are strong. Mentally and physically. He’ll get through this, thanks to ya’lls’ watchful eyes.

For a girl who just abandoned her own flesh and blood for her own selfish reasons, you are peculiarly calm about this whole situation. You do realize he will stay like this until we are able to defeat Flau, right?


“Stay like… what…” Reinier muttered, coughing once more. He began to blink, as he gradually began to sit up. He looked around the room, and smiled. He had been greeted by the people he loved to be with… and Taimat and a stranger. “What’s up, now?” He winced as he grabbed his chest. He felt an odd sensation rub against his leg, not a painful one for once, but instead something extremely soft. He instantly felt awake as he began to raise his arm in to the air. He held his arm higher then his head and gazed upon what dangled.

Feathers. A stream of feathers cascaded down his arm. His head shot to his other arm, and sure enough, more feathers. He stood up, his head shooting back and forth between the men and his sister. “What… the hell… is this!?” He screamed. Out of his peripheral vision when he looked around at the people, he noticed another oddity. He cranked his head completely around, and began to blink uncontrollably. For the next few minutes, he looked over both his shoulders, amazed at what he found. “Am I… dead?” Reinier finally managed to ask.

“Sadly, you are not apart of my realm, yet. You see, that woman cast a spell on you before she turned tail and ran. An odd spell, indeed. The only thing close to it that I can think of at the moment that you can relate to, is the one she used upon Taimat. Only… she used it while your soul and body were still connected,” Hades explained.

Rhilla jumped in. “Good thing we came when we did, or else your body woulda exploded, and you’d be somethin’ crazy and wild like Taimat over ’ere!” She said, giggling. The dragon shot her an evil look.

“You’re not dead, Reinier. We managed to stop the spell from completing, but… well… the only way to put it is now that you’re linked by two powerful elements, Kou and Ani. She had planned on separating your body and soul, like she did with Taimat. But we appeared, and she decided the way to win would be to do a half-assed job and cut out the middle man and just make your soul take its’ true form… while still in your body. Thus, the wings. I have no idea what your soul’s true form is, but it has wings apparently. We managed to stop the spell, but… yeah… not reverse it. So, good news and bad news, huh?” Dionysus said, smiling.

Reinier stood, and stretched. The soft white angel wings shot outwards, high in to the air. He relaxed his body, and the wings contracted. “This is… interesting… oh, and what of my gems..? How did she take them from me? And does she still have them all?” Reinier asked, stroking the feathers downward, on his left arm.

“I think where she went for the day was to the field, Lost Traveler’s Empty Soul. That is where you fought Gravis… She must have found my research and… well, she used the spell I gave you to extract the gems from your soul. We,” in the background, Hades muttered the letter “I.” “… Hades managed to recover two of your gems. Vak and Ganz.” He reached in to his pocket, and extracted the two gems. He placed them in to Reinier’s hand.

Rhilla smiled and walked over to her brother. “As much as the whole… no shirt thing… suits you, I think you need some clothes.” Reinier looked down and around, and gave a slight nod. Dionysus walked over to Reinier, and handed him a gauntlet.

“This was, of course, the gauntlet of Gravis. I made the armor for him. Just put on the gauntlet, and it will form to your inner likeness. His was massive and dark colored armor, to match the fact he was evil. It shouldn’t do the same for you, but instead it’ll look… well, it’s best that you just put it on, I suppose,” Dionysus said.

Hades coughed. He looked to Rhilla, then to Dionysus. Both gave a nod. “We must be taking our leave now, Reinier. I trust you will be able to leave the field on your own now… We’ve made this a password protected field, now. We won’t be here that often, but if a problem ever occurs and you need a place to hide out that is relatively safe… come here. The password to enter is Devil’s Cross. They’ve only been keeping tabs on your gems, not the regulated game weapons you use, so it should be a safe password.” With that said, three golden rings passed over the man’s body.

Dionysus took a few steps backwards. “We will be meeting again soon, my friend,” the old man said, while smiling. He turned to Taimat and said, “Take care of him. We’ll be needing him soon.” Just like his friend, three golden rings passed over his body. Rhilla ran up and gave her brother a hug.

“Make me proud, Garrett. I’ll be with them, hunting down Flau and her gang. We’ll keep in touch via Flashmail, okay!? And you better write me back when I send you something!” She giggled, hopping on to her Hydra. Reinier stepped forward, outstretching his hand a bit. Before he could say a word, she had vanished like the others. Silence crept through the dungeon, as the only other person with Reinier now was the dragon.

“Put on the gauntlet. Then we’ll head out as well. I want to get back to the hideout and get some shut eye…” the dragon muttered, standing up. Reinier gave a nod, and slipped on the leather gauntlet. As soon as it rested completely in his hand, it began to shine a bright scarlet. The glow overtook his body, and in a matter of seconds the shine began to dim, until brand new armor settled on his body.

The two gauntlets on his arms came up to the elbows, and flared downwards a few inches on to the wings on his arms. A slight curve extended out over his hands, which ended an inch out, a plate rested atop the hand. His fingers as well had its’ own armor plating, though to a lesser extent for flexibility reasons. From the elbows up, a soft black cloth which held little in the means of protection. The cloth wrapped itself around his whole body under the armor, with the exception of his face and neck.

The chest plate melded to the bulk of his body very well, leaving just enough room on his back for his wings to be able to move and flow normally. The chest plate’s design had been simple, as there was none. The plate split down the middle, taking the form of his pecks. The shoulder plates, however, were far more intricate. Two dragon heads sat atop the boy’s shoulders’, mouths open wide in a roar. Two short horns, a few inches long, inches above the eyes which were adorned with two garnets.

Two hip protectors had unfurled themselves down his thighs. The protectors were more of ovals cut in half with pointed ends, which ran down his thighs to a little above his knees. The black under pants showed once more on his legs until the knees. The armor wrapped itself around his legs, which spiked upwards from the knees in a thin triangle up his leg two or three inches. The metal boots conformed to his foot up past his ankles, even though the only parts of the shoe that were shorn were past the ankles where the armor cut off.

Reinier inspected his armor for awhile, trying to take in his new look all at once. “Whatta ‘bout you, Tai? How are you gonna do this now, see as how you can’t become wings…” He flapped his wings involuntarily upon saying this. The dragon scoffed and stood. He glowed gold, and disappeared. He reappeared on Reinier’s sword handle as a dragon head, mouth wide open with the sword coming out of his mouth. He acted as a hand protector for those “Just in case” happenings, now.

Happy? Let’s leave this hell already.

Reinier nodded, pulling out his Sprite Ocarina. Three golden rings passed over the boy’s body, as he found himself outside in a field of flowers. He felt incomplete right now, though.

Hey Taimat… do you know what Flau’s goals are? Who Dionysus and Hades exactly were? And my sister… where… where was she all this time? How did she get that Hydra? Tell me everything you know.

Not yet… you’ll learn soon enough. After we check in with Nighthand, I’ll take you to a place I’ve been to in the past… Rhilla should be there. It’s the Fire Kingdom. That armor you’re wearing is an altered form of my armor… which is peculiar. We’ll need to talk to the God of the Forge. For now, to Mac Anu. We’ll wait in the hideout.


Reinier nodded and let out a soft sigh. He wondered exactly what he managed to rope himself in to now. “All I wanted when I first started playing this game… was an escape from my world. But now… this is my world. I need an escape from here…” He chuckled at the cruel irony, as the three rings passed over his body, taking him to the Theta server.

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:49 pm
by Nighthand
Good job. As much as I always say you suck, you really don't, and this was great. Keep it up.

Reinier --> + 4 Levels + Horse Killer + 2 Flame Blast


Your Golden Orb Begins to Glow Faintly White