Round robin. WAR OF LORE!

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 2:02 pm

From the end of the bridge Skyrate could just make out the end of another bridge far away over the dark waters. Had the demons on the other side not had demonic lamps, not even the best elf could see it for it was very dark and foggy.

"Bring me a transport." He said to the demon leader following him.

"Yes, Master." The creature replied in it's hissing voice. It gave a shrill, shriek-like, hiss and soon a dinghy with a skeletal rower in it came towards them. Skyrate got in and the skeleton began rowing him towards the other dock.

When the boat reached the other bridge it was met with almost the same screech-like hisses as the other demon spoke in.

"What are you doing over here? Retur-Oh, my Lord Dulcien. I did not recognize you in this fog. Forgive me, Master." It changed it's tone as Skyrate stepped out of the boat. He began walking towards the land, with the demon following him hissing orders to workers as they passed.

When they reached the other side Skyrate said, "Good work. Continue." and he turned and walked towards the city. The demon turned around and returned to overlook the construction.

The city was about half a mile away from shore, with black spiked walls 30 feet tall. The gates, equally as tall as the walls, were also spiked. They began opening and a group of demons came out.

He met the group about halfway between the city and the shore. The group had 4 of the same troll-demon mixes with gremlins on them. Each of these were pulling carts of supplies. Multiple smaller demons sat and stood on these resource wagons. In the front, leading the group, was another black cloaked humanoid who stood a little shorter than Skyrate.

"Lord Dulcien." The leader said with a feminine voice and bowed.

"Graaah! Master is in the Dark City! This is an imposter!" one of the Gremlins on the trolls said.

The leader turned around sharply and said, "Lord Dulcien does as he pleases. He left the Dark City to check the work on the bridge. You should thank him for not ending your life right now."

The giant trolls bent over a little, trying to bow, and the gremlins also bowed their heads.

"Continue on. Lord Dulcien and I must talk." She said.

The group continued towards the bridge and the leader and Skyrate walked east towards the woods.

"You handle them well." Skyrate said after they were out of sight.

"After five years of this you get used to it. I'm second only to Dulcien himself." She said.

"Five years is far too long to be away, Sylena, you must return soon."

"I know. But we both know I must remain here until the war. This war was year's in the making. Psychosis is the one that helped Dulcien gain the power to start this.

"He's also the one who tainted Timrak when we sieged the fortress."

"He was very angry when you cleansed Timrak in the Eastern project. Timrak was his best warrior."

"Vigorn has replaced Timrak, hasn't he? I felt the same dark presence I felt when fighting Karmit whenever I was near Vigroy.

"Yes. Vigorn is even more powerful though, because he never had a pure heart. He wanted to do evil from the start."

There was a pause in their conversation and then Sylena continued, "Dulcien is going to test his creation against Fremmenik. Vyrevolves-a combination vyrewatch and werewolf. Vigorn is going to lead the attack with his creature, Tizm, the one you wounded in Port Sarim."

"What of the Gormons? We banished most of them in the Zarosian war."

"Dulcien has found some way to bring them back from Eqru-Nahk. He has not shared it with me, only with his summoners in The Pit. They summon a few more each day. He has close to 500 now."

"Gielinor is not ready to defeat an army of that calibre. None of the mortals alive today fought them. Very few of the immortals of that age are still around."

"The Gormons have one weakness. There is a small patch of soft skin behind each ear. An arrow or spear in this would penetrate it and pierce their brain, resulting in instant death."

"One thing Dulcien has not been able to overcome," she continued, "is that the Gormons must be bound to something. He's tried gems but all have shattered and the Gormon returned to Eqru-Nahk, even dragonstone and onyx broke. He's tried ore and runes, dragonite and soul runes failed also. He has even tried binding them to his summoners, which resulted in the summoner dieing. The only thing he's found that they can bind to is...himself. If he was to be seriously injured or defeated they would be released and sent back to Eqru-Nahk."

A loud, deep, horn blew from inside the Dark City.

"That is the meeting of Dulcien's commanders. I must leave and go to it now.

As she walked away Skyrate said, "Becareful, Sylena."

"I've lasted this long." She said with a slight giggle and winked as she turned and walked towards the Dark City.

Skyrate faded away out of the wilderness.

________________________________

Name: Sylena ShadowScythe
Age: 12,196 (She looks in her 20s)
Race: Imlandrian
Gender: Female
Alignment: Good, you can tell from her voice.
Personality: Kind and considerate to most people, serious and concentrated when fighting
Class: Rogue, Shadow Rider(Master)
Weapons:
Faeris Palaris, Wrist Blade
Faeris Palaris is a blue bladed, silver handled Wrist Blade. It is made of a metal known only to Sylena and Skyrate.

Airion, Blade of the Night, Wrist Blade
Airion's blade is pure black, its hilt & handle is a faint maroon. It is made of a metal known only to Sylena and Skyrate.

Airion is a Magick-Bender, an extremely rare type of weapon which can deflect, redirect, and even hold most spells.

Faeris Palaris and Airion are sheathed on either side of her waist.

Tenkys(10), Throwing Stars
Tenkys are black, star shaped, throwing stars. They are made of an unknown metal which is strong and lightweight.

Armor: She doesn't appear to have any except for her midnight black clothing.
Strengths: Incredible Dexterity, Speed, and Agility.
Weaknesses: Her Dexterity comes at the cost of being fairly fragile, and thus cannot sustain many physical wounds.
Physical Description: A dark figure with Asian(tan-brown) colored skin and long black hair which comes down to her waist(or, when braided, comes to the middle of her back), she has pretty brown eyes. She's 5'5" and of a light, slender build. She wears a light black cloak with hood, which is sometimes shadowing her face.
History: Sylena was not recorded in any histories until around a thousand years ago, where she was written of as 'The blade of the night'.

Adbot · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 2:02 pm

Alex 43 · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 3:55 pm

Alex opened his eyes.

"Molten glass." he said, his mind wrapped around an incredibly stupid, but desperate stroke of inspiration. Koyl tilted its cap to face him.

"Inject the blood into a condensed ball of molten glass while it cools in the water."

"Molten? Molten as in incredibly hot?" Koyl asked with concern.

Alex hesitated.

"… yeah." Alex nodded. He didn't doubt it might be painful, but it was the only way without inflicting anything long-term against Koyl. But now that he thought about it, it did seem like a really stupid-

"Let us do it, then." Koyl replied confidently. It had already signed its life over to Alex, and didn't care what was going to happen to it.

Pumped with sudden excite, Alex wasted no time. He pulled himself out of the pool and, still dripping, dashed up the stairs and into the furnace room. Wood, coal, and lightning combined to give it life (Saradomin having returned, it felt good to finally call it forth from a different source), and while it heated, Alex was outside gathering the necessary ingredients. Sand, soda ash, and a finer type of soil he found helped prevent the glass from splitting holes as it was blown and cooled. Of course, lacking the ability to do it himself, Alex had to rely on Gia's breath to create anything round and hollow, but this time was an exception. Within the course of half an hour, Alex was stirring the familiar liquid in a large cast-iron pan.

He brought it down to the cavern while still in a glowing hot state. Setting it down for a moment, he stuck his hand in the water and immediately felt the thin, rubber-like strip partially wrap around his gauntlet.

"Quick question:" Alex said, "How will I know if the blood is good?"

"It will take on a murky green tint if it becomes contaminated." Koyl replied.

An obvious difference. Good to know. Alex steeled himself, hesitated, and decided that they were going to continue with this act of foolish bravado.

"All right, this is how it'll work." Alex explained, "I will hesitate twice, and then immediately stick the glass into the water very quickly. You have only but a half-second to get the blood inside, and then get your tentacle out of there before it condenses over it. Otherwise, it will leave a hole, and water will get in. That, and it will might severely burn you. Can you do it?"

There was nervousness in its thoughts, but it still replied, "I will try."

"You only have so much blood you can spare. Don't inject unless you're fully confident. I can always make more glass."

Koyl didn't reply, but it understood. The red squid-like creature positioned itself at the edge of the pool, getting as close to the edge as possible while leaving room for Alex to dip the glass in. One tentacle was pressed against the rock, holding itself down, while the other exposed the needle and was ready to strike.

Alex scooped out a big glob of glass with a large sieved spoon. This would hold the glass together and expose enough for his friend to puncture. Upon injecting, the orb would inflate, and upon removing its limb, the glass would condense over itself pushing the air out and keeping the blood in a vacuumed state without exposing it. Sure, the water was a stupid way to cool it because it would create large bubbles on the surface, but he wasn't trying to impress anybody with craftsmanship here. He needed to get a fluid inside the glass itself. That was the theory, anyways. Only one way to find out if it worked.

Saying his last minute prayers that extreme heat and glass itself didn't affect Oocon blood, Alex held the spoon of glowing material over the surface of the water for Koyl to see. He counted to three, making two very apparent hesitations as he said 1 and 2. On three, he tensed himself, forced himself not to hesitate, and immediately dropped the glass into the water.

*PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHH!*

Ah yes, that's right. When something incredibly hot touches water, the water converts to steam. Lots of steam. Would've been more convenient to remember that. A blast of hot evaporated water exploded where he dipped the glass, and after forcing himself to hold it down there for a couple of seconds, he brought it right back out and backed away from the uncomfortable conditions. Immediately his concern focused on Koyl's wellbeing, but he had to hold the glass until it solidified itself. The immediate cooling gave it an incredibly rough-looking texture, but the inside was still glowing hot. That was good, because this meant its density would force the inside contents upwards to the cooled, airtight shell while the rest filled up the injection hole.

This was how charmed magical orbs were originally made. Magically enchanted trinkets incased within a prison of glass used to magnify its limited powers to a usable extent, thereby making even the toughest enchantments easier to reproduce for a less experienced user. However, the technique of holding the charms inside was lost, but telekinesis revived the art to an extent.

After several unnerving minutes, the steam fog dissipated and the glass cooled enough for Alex to see that, to his surprise, a large glob of brilliant, perfectly red liquid was suspended within the upper section of the solid glass orb. No murky tint. Koyl had done it! But was it all right? He carefully set it down on the ground, ran over to the pool, and without thinking, jumped right in.

There was Koyl. It appeared to be all right, save for its incredibly burnt tentacle, which it waved around in obvious pain. It was darkened and blistered half-way to the main body, with the end almost completely blackened. Upon seeing Alex, it raced over and immediately made contact.

"Are you all right?" was Alex's immediate question.

"Did … did it work?" Koyl asked. There was indeed pain in its voice- … well, thoughts.

"Yeah, it did." Alex replied, pleased with it. First try, too.

"That- ah … that is good. Thank the Great One." it said.

"You sure you're all right?" Alex asked, "Be honest with me."

Koyl paused, tensing up somewhat. It would be biting its lip right now if it was human.

"It hurts." Koyl complained, reminding Alex of a young human child getting hurt for the first time, "Very much. I stuck it in too far, but I injected anyways. I was scared I might have gone through the glass."

"This was a dumb idea. I am so sorry." Alex said. All he knew about bravado, pride, and confidence in himself was, at that moment, no longer existent.

"No, it- … it worked." Koyl replied, "This … is good pain. I do not like this feeling. But there is something-ow … something about it that is good."

Alex couldn't help but smile. What you are feeling is called "achievement", he thought. This is what we as beings live for, is to experience this feeling as much as possible. Like an addiction. You poor creatures have been living meaningless existences and had never experienced true happiness like you are right now

For a moment, Koyl let go of Alex and just drifted over towards the underwater cavern. The pain was leaving it at a steady rate, and by looking more directly at it, Alex noticed how it was already beginning to heal at a rapid rate. Their own blood at work, he imagined.

He then got to thinking. Indeed, by what he learned from his siblings, this mysterious race stayed hidden within that crystalline city for perhaps longer than Gia's time. It seemed that, not once did they decide to venture out and away to explore their surroundings. Even when Koyl went to retrieve the Karambwan, Alex noted that there was no way it could've done it so quickly unless they were either breeding the things or had their own nearby habitat. Did Macan keep them protected and concealed because they were too afraid of the outside world? Or was it something else?

Koyl returned and allowed Alex to grip its burnt tentacle. It felt considerably crispy, and Alex was afraid that squeezing it would cause it to crack apart.

"Do you think … the Great One wanted to protect us from this addiction? Just to keep us safe?" Koyl asked.

"Macan does things for a strange reason." Alex replied, then was suddenly shocked that he said his brother's name without a reinterpretation. Had Koyl suddenly lost his confidence and faith in Macan?

"He speaks to us almost in riddles." Koyl didn't take much notice, "Most of the time nobody can understand his thoughts. He can speak our language back to us, but he uses a lot of very complicated words."

"He does it to us too," Alex assured it, "I usually have to strain my brain to grasp the subject. And poor Venos can't understand him at all."

He paused, and then added.

"But that's Macan for you. It's his lifestyle and choice, and that's what sets him and anyone else apart from each other."

There was a long pause. Spirit and Oocon just sat there, pondering over their conversation of thoughts. How easy it was to speak one's mind without having to translate it into a discernible language. Perhaps the greatest invention of all time resided in the back of his gauntlet, given as an unexpected side-effect by a gift indented for otherworldly communication. Gods were mysterious beings, all right. If they wanted a planet to prosper and thrive off mutual understanding- heck, if K wanted universal unity in a heartbeat, this would be just the key to unlock it.

But that would seem almost too easy. Where would any of the excitement go in discovery if all it takes is a touch to learn all that another mind knows?

"Well, I'd better go add this to the potion before it starts to leak." Alex said, regarding their newly created orb, "Thank you very much for your help."

"Any time." Koyl said, whizzing around in delight.

"Before I go, though, what will you do now?" he asked, getting up and preparing to ascend the ledge.

Koyl paused for a moment.

"I do not know." it answered, "I know now where to go if I ever want to see you, so I think I will go exploring. Learn more about what is around us. Do not worry, I will see you again soon. I promise."

"Take care, then, Koyl." Alex said, "Beware of sharks."

Koyl was about to jet off when it immediately u-turned and touched Alex again.

"Sharks? What are those?" it asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Alex simply replied, almost trying to sound like Macan as a joke.

If Koyl had a face, it would be frowning at him. But Alex laughed in good humour, Koyl said its last farewells, and Alex watched as it zipped down towards the tunnel and vanished into the dark murky ocean water.

So free … so careless, Alex thought, but …

But that was all right.

At least he felt he had something to fight for now.

momsrascal93 · **Posted:** January 17th, 2010, 6:52 pm

Tenshi woke up, slightly refreshed from his nap. His minor injuries had already healed though his arm was still broken. It would heal slower than usual without a cast. A delightful smell drifted through his cell and in front of him was an other bowel of curry. Most likely left there by Marie, he thought. His stomach growled. He didn't really realize how hungry he was until he developed an appetite. He eagerly ate the curry.

Looking around his cell, it was completely bare. The skeleton in the corner was gone. Marie probably cleaned it out while he slept. Growing quite bored from the dullness of his cell he wanted something to do. He carefully got up and walked to the bars. He looked around. There wasn't a single guard to be found. However a hellhound slept in the corner, in a bed made for it. It wore a dog tag which read 'Thrasher'. It was probably someone's pet he presumed. He looked towards where he fell into this dungeon. His weapons were still there. They were pushed against the wall. That was probably as much as they could move them. Tenshi sat down with his back leaned against the bars. What else could he do but sit around? He heard the door open. Was it Marie? His heart instantly sank as he looked over to see a black knight poking his head in from the other side of the door.

"Thrasher!" He called down the hall. "Meal time!"

The hellhound woke up and ran down the hall after the black knight. The door shut again and he was left completely by himself. He had to admit that the solitude was sort of getting to him. If Lawrence weren't so overconfident, he might have had a guard to make small talk with...

Meanwhile in the deepest wilderness...

Kate looked at the beacon they recovered. Admittedly they knew little about how these things worked. What they knew, however, would be enough for Kate. She wanted to figure out how the beacon's shields worked so that they could use them for themselves. Her parents stood by. She would need them for reactivating the beacon. Dark energies started gathering from the air Lawrence, and Darkrascal, and began pouring into the beacon. After a few minutes of this the beacon reactivated and she began examining it.

Lawrence watched his daughter. Something didn't feel right and Kate knew this about a minute later. She noticed all of the holy aura had not dissipated. She quickly deactivated the beacon before teleporting and taking it with them. It didn't matter. She had the information she wanted now.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** January 20th, 2010, 9:28 pm

A flash of light burst from behind the northeastern volcano. Nothing, aside from a couple of nearby dragons took attention to it. It was an unnatural light compared to the ones they were used to seeing in the wilderness. Rather than the usual flash of yellow and orange from the bursts of a newfound volcano struggling to erupt itself from the ground, this one was a strange, bright blue color. Their many years of experience had taught them that unnatural light usually meant that something had caused it. And since no dragon (save for the King Black, who never came up there anyways) would able to produce such a light, perhaps something edible had caused it instead.

These were old dragons, too. A male and a female - both mates, but one could hardly tell which is the female. Both of them bore a great many scars that signified previous conflicts that, proven by their still living, have ended in victories. They knew that their inky black scales were, for the most part, repellant to most magics. Why else would the feeble humans skin their kin down and mockingly wear their hides around their territory? Protection from the elements, of course. They knew their natural capabilities better than anything else.

Both were of muscular, partially feminized stature. He had a thinner belly, but longer and sharper horns, which was clearly a more impressive show-off by any other creature. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her belly was stretched from the multiple births she endured to spread their legacy and teachings throughout their fantastic breed of dragon, showing off not only their ability to survive so long and reproduce so much, but that they also had been together for a great long time as mates. This was something rare in the species, for usually one of the mates would leave the other if it sensed inadequacies in her and the child, and another would only take his place if the female didn't look like she had previously given birth for a long time to avoid any impurities in his.

The male turned towards the female and emitted a low growl, and the female prepared to move down the other side. It wasn't mating season yet, and neither of them had any children to care for at the moment, so she was able to join him in the hunt. Once again, their many years of experience had taught them a number of things, including the importance of hunting in groups of at least two. Should one of them get pinned down by an inaccessible ranger, the other would sneak around and take it from behind. Again, they wouldn't be alive today had they not exercised that tactic.

It wasn't necessary, though. The creature that walked around the left side of the volcano on two legs, exposing itself rather blandly, didn't appear to have a bow despite looking much like a human. He signalled her attention again and their focus was now on it. The human didn't wear their kin's mangled hides, nor did its body shine with the impenetrability of stone and metal. Therefore, with the light shining to confirm it, it must be a mage, and any dragon that knew anything knew that magi were among the easiest targets of a dragon, as they bore no defence against tooth and claw.

The human, robes in a dark purple-dyed cloak, wore a shining yellow mask over its face that appeared to be directly stitched to the hood, completely hiding its head from view. Large shining yellow gauntlets and grieves complimented the mask, along with the shining trim around every edge of the human's detailed outfit. It bore a cape of similar material, as did its partially exposed legs from under the lower half-split leg robe. He walked at a slight angle and with a little unnecessary force, as though it was in a hurry.

It continued to walk towards them, almost as though it didn't realize they were there. It will know soon enough. He nodded to her, and she began to prowl up the mountain in preparations to cut off his escape with elevation. He would draw his attention with a straight-on attack, and she would pounce from behind.

It stopped. A puff of steam pressed out of the bottom of its mask. The mask was pointed straight at him. He has its attention, and hopefully will keep it long enough for her to take it down. Noting she was behind it off-set to the right, he started moving left, inching closer. Good, the mask was following.

The human slowly reached into its robe and slowly pulled out some strange spiky tool he had never seen before. What is that? Some kind of … woodcutting tool? He had seen a few humans use a similarly shaped blade to whack at the trees nearby so they could light them to keep warm. This one, however, almost seemed way too jutted out to be of any effect against wood.

Such a flawed design. If it won't work against wood, it certainly won't do anything to dragon scales. This human was a fool!

His mate was in position and was circling with him. They inched closer, ready to strike. Still, the human had its eyes on him and gave no sign that it was aware of her. The human stood its ground for several seconds, muttering something to his weapon.

Suddenly, it thrust its hand up the shaft, yanked, and the weapon came apart in two identical halves, save for the lower section of the handle. It swung around a full 180 degrees before stopping, and with a pressing and snapping motion into itself, the weapon was converted into a dual-bladed staff. Not a second after the conversion, the human let out a burst of energy and whipped it around himself in a threatening dance.

An ear-piercing scream sliced through the air, and both dragons tensed. It wasn't the human. It was the weapon. As it whizzed through the air, a loud high-pitched whine shook the ground, changing in perfect synchronization to the staff's movements. Once it stopped, his mate immediately made her move and leapt at the human.

It saw the attack coming a mile away. It immediately twirled the staff around, used it to propel itself off the ground, and drove it down into the dragon as it majestically sailed over.

It wasn't just a beheading. The human cleaved its staff-like weapon clean through the entirety of her body, splitting her diagonally in half. The piece containing the head let out a loud screech of pain before blood burst from its mouth and it fell in opposite directions with the other.

Her protector wasn't at all pleased with the result. He bellowed a great flame forth and engulfed the human in flame. But the loud screeching was heard again, and the flames were blown away with the rapid twirling of the weapon.

Once the flames stopped, the human then threw the staff into the air. It was raising its hands in front. The tell-tale sign of a magic attack! No time to think. It dove forwards and held its head down to smash the human between its horns. It would take great satisfaction in making the foul creature explode in a splatter of its own organs.

*VOOM*

A sudden set of waves burst from the human's hands and overlapped his head. A loud metallic sound rapped its ears and a sharp pain split its brain, forcing its eyes closed. Stunned, it crashed into the ground headfirst, hearing a loud buzzing sound from the vibration that overlapped the screeching of the staff as it flipped in the air.

He was angry now. The pain subsided, and it turned out no limbs were broken. The result of his magic-resistant scales. It opened its eyes to glare angrily at his opponent and take aim for another strike.

They weren't there.

A stream of blood gushed out of his empty eye sockets and he clawed at them in pain, letting out loud howls of agony. Without eyes, it was now unable to see the human catch and twirl its staff back into an axe-like weapon and walk part it while looking over the horizon, leaving it to suffer. He was thrashing too loudly to hear it mutter something in its own garbled language.

It shouted in its own:

The pain … too much! MAKE IT STOP!!!

___________________________________________

A good choice, he thought.

He looked over the horizon. The sky was choked with ash, and the sun was nowhere in sight. A vast darkness loomed over the distant landscape, hiding everything he knew. Volcanos. Craters. Lava. Death. He imagined his Lord must've been pleased with all the sacrifices he made. Lest it be a bone offering from the salvaged remains of a desecrated body, or the blood tithe of the common, foolish adventurer.

His skills were to be feared. Spending his whole life devoted to the arts, he mastered the most advanced techniques one could do with a Hingaerd. The bright, metallic-blue weapon shone with a miraculously clean and fresh look, immune to stains and dullness through the basic enchantments. Flipped up, it served as a twin-bladed axe, used for chopping and shredding targets. Flipped out, it became a double-bladed staff, and was used for more longer-ranged fighting and slicing clean through some of the toughest hides the wilderness invoked through natural selection. Either way he swung it, it let out a high-pitched humming sound as it whizzed through the air. Stealth was never a concern. He wanted his enemies to know he was coming, he was killing, and who was truly the better.

Cold, dark moisture pressed itself out of the small rectangular mouth-slit on the lower section of his mask. The eye slits were too thin to see into, but large enough to see out. The mask bore no other marks aside from facetted edges that intertwined itself in and out of the hood fabrics of his dark, purple and gold-trimmed robe. Thin padded shoulder-blades helps secure the long, thin cape that trailed behind as fluidly as though made from water. The front of the robe was banded together to conceal the golden chest-plate that displayed his religion in a bright red alloy.

Though he couldn't see anything through the dark clouds, he gazed upwards regardless, almost hoping something would come out. A bird, another dragon, the feeble efforts of sunlight poking through a conveniently positioned hole attempting to make its mark before getting snuffed out by another nearby eruption.

He had heard it in the air. The call for blood. The glory of battle. Finally, the wilderness had become more, and was striving for even greater heights. He was a part of it.

He will not disappoint the air. He will answer the call. He will go to battle.

Even if it wasn't his.

The dragon still lashing around behind him, he leapt into the air. Gravity? Who needs it? He flipped and sailed 30 feet in the air before twirling upright and landing on the dragon's back and drove his weapon into the back of its neck, severing the surrounding muscle but just missing the spinal cord between the blades. It couldn't bend its neck anymore, and was now in ten times the pain.

He twisted the axe. The dragon followed and moved its body left, hoping that it would ease the pain if only a bit since it couldn't move its neck anymore. It did, but only for a moment. The human then twisted it sharply, and the dragon spun around until it stopped. It was pulled back, and the dragon reared upwards, trying to shake the human off. Blindly, it flailed around for a few minutes before finally stretching out its great wings and flew off, attempting to get away from this source of pain.

But it followed. It kept flying, but it felt the jerks still, and had no choice but to move in that direction, It was no longer thinking. The wellbeing of its mate, its dignity, where it was even going - it just didn't care anymore. All that was left in its mind was to fly; to get away, as fast as possible, from this source of pain.

The human on its back with one hand on its axe, however, knew exactly where it was going, and this dragon's attempt to flee will get him there faster through the proper manipulation. Behind the mask, a gleeful smile stretched across his face.

This was a good choice indeed.

_______________________________________________________

Name: Konwen Hunt
Age: 58
Race: Human
Religion: Zamorakian
Personality: Somewhat egotistic. Likes to think that the world will one day revolve around him. Stubborn and impatient, but usually relaxed. Likes nothing more than the thrill of combat and the satisfaction of cleaving his enemies in two.
Style: Wields a medium-length, double-bladed axe-like weapon called Hingaerd that, when swung on a hinge at its base, converts to a double-sided staff-like weapon. Also uses a short-ranged antimatter attack spell.
Biography: Dedicating his life to Zamorak, he spent the majority of his life meditating as a hermit in the depths of the Burnt Forest within a hidden cave. Many years of practice and development has turned him into a master with his incredibly versatile weapon, which can cleave steel bars in two in mid-air. His meditation towards the mystical arts has granted him a strange, short-range magical ability that allows him to physically "remove" small objects from existence by creating a split-second ball of antimatter around it and removing it in an instant along with whatever it surrounds. Such an ability is extensively taxing on the mind, and cannot be used too much.
Likes: Making things suffer.
Dislikes: Having to stop for any reason.
Strengths: Short and mid-ranged fighting.
Weaknesses: Being a hermit nearly his entire life, does not know how to incorporate proper teamwork, and will kill his own allies no matter the importance if he feels they're hindering him. That, and bears no defense to ranged or magic.

momsrascal93 · **Posted:** January 31st, 2010, 11:24 am

The wilderness had indeed spread. More territory meant more candidates for sacrifice.

The large hole that gave way to nothing but a pulsing cloud of blue lightning got no attention from him. He already knew how it happened. He saw it happen. In fact, he was glad it did. Destruction at such an incredible scale. It was quite entertaining to observe. No doubt that Lord Zamorak enjoyed it too.

That is good.

Peering through the slits in his mask, he felt a large presence to the southwest. Life. He hoped there was a war going on. How better to please his Lord than to jump down from the sky like a calling and win the entire thing single-handedly? He felt he was capable, after all. With his weapon, armor, and magic technique, he was unstoppable!

The dragon spiralled uncontrollably down and crashed into the burnt grass, sliding several feet down the field before rolling over in misery. The human had already jumped off, however, and with its Hingaerd back into a staff, he landed just next it. Annoyed by its constant thrashing, he whipped the screaming blade around and sliced its head clean off in an uppercut, catching it and flipping the blade back into an axe in one fluid movement.

He flipped the head around to look at it and, with one blade, opened its eyelid to gaze at the interior of its skull.

"Lowly feelings is best shown through the eyes." it spoke. His voice was deep, dark, and, due to the mask, metallic, "Be thankful you at least died with dignity."

It didn't respond. Just because it was missing both eyes and the rest of its body didn't exactly mean he was expecting it to, however.

The castle looming ahead, he confidently and forcibly walked over with the Hingaerd in one hand and the dragon's head in the other. Large metal-tipped boots parted the soggy mud under his feet with unnecessary force.

______________________________________________________

He stood at the gate. Nothing happened. Nobody sounded off his presence. Nobody demanded his alignment. Nobody shouted for battle. A castle such as this, and not even a watchful eye over the grounds?

He half-expected it. Placing his weapon back into his cloak, he swung the dragon head around and hurled it up and over the wall.

It landed in a bowl of hot soup resting on the lap of the nearby sentry guard. Had it been a pebble, a stick, or some bird droppings, the sentry would've cursed lightly to himself before dumping the rest out and returning to his duty with a less-than-satisfied stomach. The fact that it was the severed head of an old, mighty dragon caused a different response altogether. One that resulted in several choice words screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Do your JOB!" the stranger shouted.

The screaming stopped. Adrenaline rushing through, the guard snatched his nearby crossbow, loaded a good bolt, and heaved his body up and against the battlements, pointing the bow at the visitor. Upon immediately seeing a stranger in a robe color unlike one he recognized, he fired. The bolt flew straight and true - a perfect shot.

… and it missed? What the heck, he thought, the guy didn't even move! The bolt just vanished! Did he catch it, or did it land behind him?

"Who the [choice word here] are YOU?!?" he shouted, biting his lip to ease the pain of the collision. Getting hit with such a heavy, blunt projectile would definitely cause a bruise, and he didn't like that.

"My name is Konwen Hunt, but call me Hunt in battle if you want to win it." the masked man shouted, crossing his arms, "And that is all I'm saying about me. I don't like to raise my voice when there's no need, so allow me access to your fortress if you wish to know more."

The guard was not amused.

"State your allegiance!"

Hunt pulled his cloak back to expose the large Zamorakian symbol on his chest, "What does it look like?"

"I want to hear you say it!" he retaliated.

Hunt motionlessly stood for an unnerving moment before finally responding, "I am an ally of power. As I accumulate it, I advertise it. Let me in, or you will become an example!"

The guard hesitated, fumbled for another bolt, finally abandoned the idea, and shouted, "I will go ask!". Turning, he hurried toward the keep and towards the throne room.

"I don't like to wait, either!" he shouted after the running archer. After a moment, he sighed, shook his head, and walked towards the castle wall with a different intention in mind.

______________________________________________________

"Lawrence!" the guard shouted, "Sorry to interrupt, m'lord, but there's some stranger outside asking for entry!"

"I told you not to let anyone in." Lawrence shouted.

"I didn't!" the guard replied, "He creeps me out too much. I told him to wait outside the castle walls. He said his name is Hunt or something."

Lawrence paused, looking at the guard, "Is he wearing a gilded purple robe and golden mask, by any chance?"

The guard hesitated, "Yes … sir, do you know him?"

"Turn around, you fool." Hunt ordered from behind.

The guard didn't. He was just too afraid to. Raising his crossbow in dismissal, he walked to the corner of the room and simply stood there.

Hunt walked towards Lawrence, his cloak flapping to a wind that didn't exist.

"It's hard to believe," he said, pressing steam out of his mask's mouth-hole, "That such a poorly disciplined army has come this far."

Lawrence challenged him, "What do YOU know about my army?"

Hunt leaned forward. A slow, steady mist flowed out of the mask.

"I know how to bring it victory." he replied. His weapon made a low whine as he offered it up.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** January 31st, 2010, 5:49 pm

The heroes were about to start a meeting in the Star room as Skyrate walked in.

"Just in time. Momsrascal, Karmadin, and Timrak have returned from the Dark Fortress and Elise, Conter, Gia, and Michael have returned from the cave." Jason said as Skyrate walked over to his chair near Timrak.

"Some-" Jason began but was interrupted as the Lieutenant from the Beacon room ran in, almost out of breath.

"Sorry sir," he said breathing heavily, "The Ardougne beacon," he took a breath, "has been," another breath, "activated."

Almost everyone said 'What?' simultaneously, with a few 'How's?' coming shortly thereafter.

"24, 18 North," he said and took another breath, "27, 33 East."

"Sk-" Jason started to say but stopped when he saw Skyrate and Timrak disappear.

__________________________________

24 Degrees 18 Minutes North
27 Degrees 33 Minutes East
Wilderness, Rogue's Castle
__________________________________

They saw three figures teleport away.

"Missed them." Timrak said.

"Kate could feel the connection to the Tower when she reactivated the orb." Skyrate said.

"How'd she reactivate it without the defence activating?"

"Calytha will explain when we return." He said and searched the ground. "It was set down here, she kneeled to concentrate better, Lawrence and Darkrascal stood behind...There were no others."

"Odd."

"They knew the beacon would reactivate and send a message. They didn't need their blundering black knights around."

They searched more but couldn't find anything else worth noting so the faded.

__________________________________

Tower of the Star, Star Room
__________________________________

They reappeared in the Star room, where the beacon lieutenant was sitting in a chair that had been brought in and had caught his breath. Another Star Knight walked in promptly with a report and handed it to Jason who read it to himself and then began reading it aloud.

"Beacon ARD:
'Beacon reactivation unauthorized.
Systems power unknown, unauthorized.
Systems operator unknown, unauthorized.
Activating defences...
Defences failed, defence check result...
Defences disabled by unknown source.
Systems start initiated...
Systems restarted successfully.
WARNING: Beacon injured!
Coordinates: 24 Degrees 18 Minutes North, 27 Degrees 33 Minutes East
Notifying The Tower of the Star...
Dread Beir Increase, notifying The Tower of the Star...
ALERT: Dread within 5 feet.
Dread type: Humanoid, unknown race.
Dread Beir read, 3,174.
Notifying The Tower of the Star...
WARNING: Beacon injured!
Systems operator unknown, unauthorized.
Enter authorization:
Failed.
Data not allowed to remain in unknown control.
Self Destruct started...
Notifying The Tower of the Star...
5...
4...
Beacon Terminated.'

Beacon signal end."

"We saw where the beacon had been set and the operater kneeled to concentrate better. There were two other sets of foot prints, all three were humans." Timrak said, he and Skyrate sitting down.

Calytha walked in. "I was told it's been reactivated." She said.

"That's right." Jason said and offered her the report. She walked over and took it and read it.

"Translation?" Nimrock asked in a half joking tone. It was obvious the beacon had been reactivated and someone had found a way to control it, partially atleast, but most of those in the room didn't understand most of the message.

"Interesting..." Calytha said as she read the report, "The beacon was activated by unholy energy. Somehow the operator was able to disable the defences before the beacon was on. It tried activating the defences immediately because it couldn't identify the operator, power source, and because it had no activation code. When the defences failed it continued to start the systems like usual and it immediately noticed it was damaged (not surprising since it's supposed to search for damage). The system is built to notify us with some basic information when acitvated: The operator, power source, and location. It couldn't find the first two but it found the coordinates. Once those were sent to the Tower it noticed the Dread beir level was high so notified the tower about that also. It said it was damaged twice because the damage was severe. The operator was then prompted with a second authorization. Since they failed this one also it figured it had fallen into the wrong hands so it began the countdown sequence. There's a 5 second delay on this incase the authorization is somehow failed by a legitimate operator. The person who activated the beacon disabled it before its self-destruct sequence finished by removing the unholy power. The only thing the operator should've seen was something along the lines of this:"

She started writing on a piece of paper on the table.

Beacon reactivation unauthorized.
Systems power unknown, unauthorized.
Systems operator unknown, unauthorized.
Systems start initiated...
Systems started successfully.
WARNING: Beacon injured!
....
WARNING: Beacon injured!
Systems operator unknown, unauthorized.
Enter authorization:
Failed.
Data not allowed to remain in unknown control.
Self Destruct started...
5...
4...

"The only people we know of that are capable of doing this would be Darkrascal and Lawrence." Jason said.

"Neither are capable of focusing the magic or divine energy required. Since that's what was done, right?" Momsrascal asked, looking at Calytha.

"Right. Either magic or divine energy could be used, though there isn't a known magic source strong enough to keep it activated for more than a few seconds. Since the beacon said the power was unknown than it couldn't have been holy energy, meaning it had to be unholy." Calytha explained.

"That young mage in the courtyard, Kate I think she was called, could've." Timrak said.

"Kate, Lawrence, and Darkrascal." Skyrate said, "The tracks line up. One set was smaller and another was lighter than the other. Child, female, male. Kate doesn't have enough unholy energy by herself. She needs their energy to focus into the beacon to keep it activated."

"So now we know who did it and how." Nimrock said.

"But why?" Elise asked.

Adbot · **Posted:** January 31st, 2010, 5:49 pm

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 10th, 2010, 1:10 pm

Alex sat in his moderately comfortable seat, watching the unfinished potion simmer. In one hand, he held the orb full of precious natural healing fluid. In the other, a handful of the underground cavern moss healthy enough to have a herbal identifier. Pressing it between his fingers, he ground it into small fine blobs and sprinkled it into the swirling contents. There was no color change, but the potion thickened slightly. Something inside reacted to the moss to cause this.

Next up; the incredibly limited ingredient. One chance to get this right.

He grabbed a large scoop meant to stir the potion should the sides become too thick. Holding both arms above the large pot, Alex placed the scoop atop the orb. One chance at this. He closed his eyes and muttered a quick prayer, relaxing his body and mind. Then, he tensed, and with one fluid motion, drove them both down to the bottom of the pot. He felt the orb shatter under the force of the scoop, and there was immediate change within the fluid. The potion exploded from its somewhat dulled, dark green into a bright, pale pinkish color. Its moderate thickness and interesting scent made Alex immediately want to try some because such characteristics usually involved a delightful taste test.

Pink was good. From green to pink usually resulted in a chemical reaction, and because Oocon blood reacted to water by turning it green, whatever it did react to within the potion neutralized its ability to react with the water already inside. He had spent nearly six hours drawing up diagrams and theories before feeling confident enough to actually do it, and now that he did, he almost felt that all that time went to waste. He took a few minutes to stir the potion and use the sieved scoop to remove as much of the broken glass as possible.

Two more, and the potion would be finished. Their lord would be saved.

And his undying curiosity would be quenched.

He watched the potion bubble in a hot boil for a moment, then averted his attention towards gazing through the window. Venos and Macan were nowhere in sight. Neither was Gia, nor any of the heroes of the human race. He was really alone on the island for the first time in so long. Wisely using the time, he started thinking about their side of things.

Did they ever get through one of those portals? Have they gone on the aggressive yet? And how ravaged was the land of Gielinor now? Sure, his island was, for the moment, safe, but it was a mere isolation and escape from the mainland, which truly counted for everything that humanity has strived for. Great cities were build, vast libraries were written, and phenomenal landmarks on the land were crafted in an eternal stasis in memory of the trials and errors of intelligent races. Creatures of many shapes, sizes, and colors collaborating beliefs and experiences to share with future generations so they may further upgrade themselves.

He didn't usually let his mind wander like this. He didn't know why he was now. Was he stressed? Impatient? Perhaps just anxious. Or perhaps he was having second thoughts about not joining K. He felt he had to do something, but he was only a spirit in a suit of armor that could wear a spear proficiently. He had no idea what K saw in him, nor what he must've been like when he was Allezyamos that drew him towards such a hardcore alliance.

No sense hurting his mind over it. He set the flame under the cauldron to a simmer and went downstairs to prepare some kind of lunch for the trio. At least there was something good. Since he wasn't cooking for Gia, he was allowed to use all the meat he wanted.

______________________________________________________

A loud *SLAM* outside made Alex jump, and throwing open the doors revealed Venos satisfyingly pulling her claws out of the soil and shaking them clean.

"Do you really have to make a scene every time you land?" shouted Alex, feeling momentary remorse for his strawberry plants.

"If I said 'yes', what would you do about it?" she sneered. Her speech was half-garbled due to the "parcel" she carried in her mouth.

Alex stared, forgetting about the 3-year-old plants. Venos was indeed successful in identifying a unicorn, but by what he noticed, was unable to deliver it in an ideal state.

"… what?" she asked.

Alex said nothing, but instead slowly approached. She instantly got the message.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I saved it from a hunter." she explained, "… well, sorta. The human was shooting at it, and I swooped down and nabbed it away."

Alex looked in her eyes with a smirk, "So you're a heartless killer AND a thief."

Venos spat the bloody corpse out on top of the last remaining plant.

"Hey, I promised not to judge you anymore." she retorted, taking interest in the delightful smell coming from inside the chapel and moving inside.

Alex sighed and stooped down. The poor creature was no less dead than his appetite, so it saved him the morality. Using a scalpel, he carefully tore the surrounding fur, skin, and muscle away to reveal the otherwise untouched stomach. Cutting it free, he hurried upstairs and proceeded to transfer its contents to a large flask.

Fortune was with him, as it seemed the graceful creature had not eaten in the last few hours. A thick, clear liquid was squeezed out and filled the glass container halfway. Macan never did tell him the quantity, but Alex surmised it was merely the presence that mattered. That's how it was so far, since not even he received the exact measurements from Saradomin.

A loud clanging made him jump a second time.

"How do you open this thing?" shouted Venos from downstairs.

Alex rolled his eyes. Tossing the stomach out the window, he dashed back downstairs and proceeded to demonstrate to Venos how one carefully and easily opened the lid of a common everyday oven.

______________________________________________________

Venos was successful in devouring every last portion of the meal before Macan arrived. He was cutting the unicorn's horn off and burying it when the crystal dragon smoothly and gracefully landed lightly on the large flat rock that normal flying creatures were to land on during visitations. Usually blue dragons and the like. He momentarily took notice of the pummelled garden Alex had dug and announced that Venos had beaten him to the completion of their tasks.

"Yup." replied Alex, examining the otherwise perfectly formed horn, "I made a nice lunch for the both of you while you were gone, but Venos-"

"Say no more." Macan said, shaking his head slightly, "Sister Venos overly swaggers her ego the majority of the time. Good flavouring and appeasing of the senses are merely a luxury of the moment and a reward of the effort."

"You got the plant?" he asked, not bothering to translate the strangely simplified sentence.

Macan nodded, brandishing a small crystal to him with his tail. It fell apart in his hand, revealing several of the blackened, shrivelled leaves. He looked them over.

"Matching speculations over the distinctive properties involving this ingredient." Macan said, "I am suspect identically to, if not, extending yours."

"Yeah." Alex replied, "But Lord Saradomin told us this was an ingredient. … well, you told me, but Saradomin told you."

"Are you absolutely certain of this translation?" he asked.

Alex looked at him. His visor was twisted into the most serious-looking form he could muster. This plant has never, and perhaps will never, be used in a potion meant for recovery.

"No." he replied, "But there's nothing else that comes close to this."

Macan squinted slightly.

"With the retrieval of your key, perhaps investigation is in order." Macan said, "You may interview Lord Saradomin and get the proper translation for this ingredient."

Alex pondered the situation. It would take too much time to go all the way back and return. Especially since he was almost certain that this was the plant in question.

… so, why not bring Saradomin here and ask him?

"You're right." he said, "I will go ask him."

And he turned and entered the chapel with Macan following.

______________________________________________________

"HEY! What are you doing?" Venos barked from inside the kitchen. The bulky dragon took up almost the entire room by herself, and Alex could not help but hear breaking glass every minute or so.

"Contacting Saradomin." Alex said, pouring some energy into the symbol on his altar. Since he was no longer away, he would definitely respond to his call.

Venos fought her way out of the small room (Alex sighed; it would be a later project for him and Gia once this was all over) and approached him close enough to bite his helmet off.

"How do I know you're not going to contact HIM?" she asked.

"Because I cannot help him." he replied, "He's got Dex on his side. He's a much better ally and warrior than I'll ever be. He'll be a good match against the Unknown. No better if I join the fray."

Venos didn't blink. Alex held up the leaves.

"Besides, I need Saradomin to clear this up for me." he continued, "I know what my priority is now."

Venos continued to stare, but after a long, unnerving moment, she slowly stepped back and sat down, watching him carefully. He simply smiled and brought both hands together over his symbol, which began to glow a brilliant white that rivalled the sunlight shining through the broken stained glass windows.

"Lord Saradomin." he prayed.

There was a pause. Too long a pause for anything to be OK.

"Lord Saradomin?" he asked.

"Hello." came a voice from within his head.

Dangit, K!

"I need Saradomin. Where is he this time?" he went ahead and asked, flinching a blow from behind by Venos. It didn't come.

"Unavailable." K replied.

Alex tilted his head. That's it? No unnecessarily long and drawn-out sentence of wisdom?

"Any … reason why?" he asked.

"No." K simply said.

Something was strange, he thought. It wasn't like K to give him such indirect answers.

"Fine, what's going on over there?" he asked.

"Nothing."

And what was with his voice? If it wasn't for the symbol on his hand glowing, he wouldn't have been able to tell this was K. Who was he pretending to be?

"I want to talk to Saradomin." he said directly, "Transfer him over now."

"I can't."

There was something wrong. He felt too uneasy. Almost as though somebody else was-

He spun around. Venos had her eyes closed and was also pouring energy to the symbol. She was eavesdropping!

"Oh. I see." Alex replied, staring at her, "Fine, I'll try him later."

"Goodbye."

Alex wasted no time.

"Do you MIND?" he asked.

"You contacted HIM." she said.

"I didn't WANT to contact him. I wanted to contact Saradomin!" he retorted. This was no lie. He really didn't want to talk to K any more.

"But you contacted him." she replied.

"I said, I didn't mean to-"

"WHO WERE YOU TALKING TO?!?"

Alex froze, and Venos' eyes shot open. That voice. All-too familiar. out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the bright white illumination of the star on the altar had dimmed into an eerie dark blue and enveloped the room in a cold dark haze. Even the sun seemed to have gone out. His body grew rigid and uncomfortable.

"… a friend." Alex replied.

"Oh, of course!" the voice replied sarcastically, "No need to be specific! Today is "Generality Day"!"

"Where is Saradomin?!?" Venos demanded. He heard her voice in his head as well.

"He is alive." the voice replied without missing a beat.

Well, at least it has a sense of humour.

"OK, that's good to know, because I was trying to contact Saradomin." Alex said, "But my "friend" intercepted me."

"How rude!" the voice replied, "That's unacceptable! If you let me know who it was, I can guarantee it will never happen again."

"Don't worry about it, I don't want to trouble you." Alex replied.

"Oh no. Please." the voice replied in an almost friendly tone, "It is my responsibility to ensure that order is maintained."

"Thank you, but it's really not necessary," Alex said, "I give second chances. But never thirds. If it happens again, I'll be sure to let you know immediately. May I speak to Saradomin now?"

There was a long pause. He was locked in a stare towards Venos, who was also in an uncomfortably paralyzed state.

"And why do you want to contact your Lord's agent?" it asked.

"I need to create a healing potion that will save our Lord, who is very ill." Alex said, thinking fast, "Saradomin knows what we need, and I need to talk to him to get the last ingredient. Once he is recovered, we can get to work retrieving your payment."

"Hmm. A noble cause." the voice finally replied, "I commend you for your dedication. Your responsibilities are aligned nicely."

Alex smiled at Venos hopefully. She emotionlessly stared back.

"But I am still unconfident about your allegiance." it replied, "So, given the circumstances, I will make a deal with you."

The smile vanished. Both spirits were listening intently.

"I will let you converse with Saradomin and let you save your Lord," the Unknown said, "IF you tell me exactly who you were talking to just now."

Neither of them responded. The blue light was intensifying slightly.

"It's not a hard choice, I'm sure." it said, "I would really appreciate it if you did."

It had waited a full minute, but neither of them responded, so it continued.

"In fact, I will take off half your owed payment if you tell me." it added promisingly.

Alex was looking at Venos, shaking his head. They couldn't endanger K like this. This was why he had disguised himself and gave indirect, untraceable answers. Not because Venos was eavesdropping, but because the Unknown was. But there was no telling what Venos was thinking. This was her one and only chance to get them all back on the Unknown's good side.

Too much time passed, and the symbol exploded behind him into a large blue flame.

"If you truly respected me, you wouldn't have to think about this!" the voice roared, rumbling the walls, "You WILL tell me now!"

Something stung inside Alex's head and he dropped on all fours. Venos also flinched.

"TELL ME! I will NOT BE DENIED WHAT I WANT!"

The pain intensified, and Venos roared in pain.

"TELL ME!!!"

With all the courage and strength he could muster, Alex shouted, "NO!"

*BRRRROOOOOOOOOOM!*

In an instant, everything flashed, and they both fell down. Panting, Alex stared at the wooden floorboards for longer than he wanted before his body found itself again and he strained to push himself back up.

Macan was standing in the open doorway, his tail still outstretched in front and sparking from an after-attack. Looking behind him momentarily, he saw the altar was blown away, and replacing it was a large black burnt patch covered in broken glass and burning cloth.

"Thanks, Macan." Alex said, gasping for air.

"Energy-related conversation proven hazardous to safety." Macan replied, sitting down, "Negotiations with enemy appear an unavailable, and perhaps unacceptable, tactic."

"I wasn't TRYING to contact the Unknown and negotiate with it!" Alex shouted, annoyed, "I was trying to call Saradomin. He intercepted it."

Macan tilted his head. His eyes widened slightly.

"An inconvenient turn of events." Macan replied, "You have angered it, and its patience is comparatively thin."

"Tell us something we don't know." Venos hissed, regaining her feet. Immediately, she shot an angered glare at Alex.

"It appears you DON'T have your priorities set after all." she growled.

"You're right." Alex said, keeping away from eye contact. He should've given K away to save his Lord. It was his duty to Sartranomin, after all.

So why didn't he? What compelled him in that moment to have such an adamant loyalty to this mysterious creature with high expectations for him? His head was already hurting, so he decided that it would be best for him to just accept what had happened and not reflect on it. He guiltily turned away from Venos.

"It appears you have consumed higher than normal capacity in attempt to prove your status. It has now backfired, resulting in opposite observers' opinion." Macan simply said.

Indeed, Venos had vomited from the experience, and her underbelly was now a mess. Alex immediately dismissed himself by announcing he had to check the potion, and with sore joints and a headache, limped his way upstairs.

Never fails. Just when he was beginning to have a good day ...

momsrascal93 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2010, 11:34 am

Lawrence was brimming with pride even before his next victory. Surely if they are successful here, it will make up for their humiliating defeat at Lumbridge. They had the potential to be victorious. No, they would be victorious. Armies of elite black knights and Vyrewatch and other assorted yet promising forces were hiding in key locations, waiting, ready to spring upon Rellekka upon command.

"We'll see who's undisciplined now." Lawrence boasted. "Kate! How are those battle ships coming along?" Lawrence asked.

"We're almost done!" Kate replied.

"Good." Lawrence said. The instant she was done, they would be ready to give the command.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** February 27th, 2010, 2:27 pm

"Hmm." Calytha said as she sat down, still looking at the report.

"'Hmm'?" Jason asked.

"I'm trying to think of why they would reactivate it." She said, "Kael, bring me the beacon we built for Oo'gloog that hasn't been sent there yet."

"Yes'm." Kael, the second messenger from the Beacon room, ran off to fetch the beacon.

"What are you thinking?" Jason asked.

"I'm going to operate the beacon and see what is accessible without authentication. Kate must've gotten something out of the beacon else she wouldn't have left it on so long. There's only a few things which she could possibly know the beacon has; a self-defense system, a coordinates location system, and a shielding system. All other aspects of the beacons are high security and only the operators and us know about them. The self-defense and shielding systems are easy to notice. All you have to do is try to attack the beacon. The Coordinates location system she could've learned of if Darkrascal and lawrence have spies in one of the cities we have beacons in. Like in Falador, if they had a White Knight spy they might've overheard our Beacon operator talking to Sir Amik or Sir Vyvin about the beacon."

Kael returned with the beacon in hand and set it on the table in front of Calytha.

"Thank you." She said and placed her hands on the beacon.

It started to glow faintly for about half a minute and then grew brighter. After about a minute its glow dissipated and it was dormant again.

"I was afraid of that."

The heroes all had their eyes fixed on her.

She continued, "I found a section in the start up that allowed me to disable the defenses without any verification. This is odd since we set it up to only allow the defenses to be changed from the inside. I guess we somehow left a 'back-door' if you get my meaning. With the defenses disabled Kate was able to access the pre-authorization files for about two minutes until the self-destruct started. The self-defense and Shielding systems are there because they have to activate before the beacon is fully started. The self-defense files were are encrypted so I doubt she could've understood them. The Shielding files aren't encrypted though. The only reason the self-defense systems are encrypted is because it allows the beacon to put more power into its self-defense weaponry. The Shielding systems were easy to read.

"So Kate knows how our Beacon Shields work." Jason said.

"Yes. I'm guessing she's going to try to rebuild the system to run off unholy energy. I don't really see what good it'll do. The systems can't be used for infantry use, we've already tried that."

"Perhaps the hope to fortify their Fortress." Nimrock proposed.

"Perhaps. But to engulf an area that large would require Lawrence or Darkrascal to focus energy into it. I'm thinking it's something smaller that they want to protect from small missile fire, such as arrows and low level spells."

"Ships." Celebram, Commander of the Elduvian Navy and one of the Star Generals, said as he walked in, "They're probably building a Navy and want to use the shields to protect their ships from our attacks."

"That could be. We've tried testing the defense technology on ships but haven't been able to stabilize a system to work over one of our frigates. So far we've only got a few caravels outfitted with the defenses." Calytha said.

"So far these caravels have held up surprisingly good under tests." Celebram said.

Calytha and Celebram had worked extensively together on the ships' defense systems and both knew how well the shields worked.

"It would take Kate a few days atleast to outfit a few small ships with the defenses." Calytha said.

"They're next attack will probably require or consist of a navy then." Jason said, turning to the map.

There was a silence for a few minutes as everyone studied the map.

"An assault on the Fremmeniks is most likely." Skyrate said, his stern voice breaking the silence.

"I was thinking they'd go for Entrana, it being a holy place and all and them having demons right under it." Nimrock said.

"Their only ports are in the deep wilderness and Wilderhaven. Wilderhaven hasn't been under their control long enough to have any ships at it. I've been to their wilderness port and they have quite a navy, though only a few ships small enough for the shields to work on." Skyrate replied.

"Yanile?" Momsrascal asked.

"That would require either sailing past us here at the Kailenian islands or sailing past the Fremmeniks, Gnomes, Elves, and Ogres. The Fremmeniks, Gnomes, and Elves already have beacons and the Ogres will be getting one soon so they'd be able to contact us and other allies near them to alert them. They've seen our beacons in Ardougne and Falador so far so they probably assume we have one in every big town. They might think the Fremmeniks are too primitive though." Jason said.

After some further discussion it was agreed that Fremmenik was the most likely candidate for the next attack.

"We can't keep just defending though, we must take the initiative." Nimrock said.

"Yes. Only defending is a losing effort, even if we always win." Timrak said.

"Ever since the Eastern Project we've been improving our ships," Celebram said, "we've reinforced the hulls and masts and with help from our Dwarven allies have engineered better artillery. I propose that we siege WilderHaven when the enemy attacks Fremmeniks. Most of the Siege would only require our navy and naval soldiers. Our artillery has a far enough range t'where we can sit safely in the bay firing on them and they can't reach us. When we feel it's safe enough we can send transports to land and deploy Elduvian and Star Knights."

"Sort of like a squeeze. We defend at Rellekka and attack Wilderhaven while they attack Rellekka." Momsrascal said.

"I like the idea. They should have to pull most of their remaining troops from Wilderhaven and their Fortress to be able to attack Rellekka with a strong force." Karmadin said.

"The Fremmeniks are good fighters and there's many of them. When we reinforce their numbers with Star and Elduvian knights and estimate we'd have a few thousand." Timrak said.

"This is one battle that the Dwarves can be a part of! Keldagrim will send Dwarves from their tunnel to the east of Rellekka." Nimrock said.

It was decided this was the best course of action: The Heroes (Momsrascal, Elise, Michael, Gia, Karmadin, Skyrate, Timrak, Nimrock, and Conter) would be teleported to Rellekka with 50 Star Knights and 2,500 of each Elduvian Archers and Knights. Nimrock would send word to Keldagrim to meet them at Rellekka with as many troops as Keldagrim could spare. 25 Frigates & Ships-of-the-Line and the 5 Shielded Caravels would be sent to Rellekka to destroy the enemy navy and, if necessary, pickup the retreating heroes if the defense should go ill. Calytha would be leading this navy.

Celestina and Celebram would take 50 Frigates, 25 Ships-of-the-Line, and 75 Man-O-Wars to siege Wilderhaven. The Frigates, which are the strongest ships, would be in front and turn broadside and drop anchor once the Man-O-Wars were in sufficient range. The Ships-of-the-Line would be behind each carrying 5 Star Knights and 100 of each Elduvian Archers and Knights. The Man-O-Wars were outfitted with 2 mortars (or upward mounted cannons) each. They have specially designed ammo which explodes when it hits something.

Once the Heroes at Rellekka saw the enemy they would send word via the Rellekka beacon to the Star Tower who would notify Celestina and Celebram to start the siege.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** March 9th, 2010, 11:43 am

Time for you all to learn just how dark Hunt really is.

A dreaded cold aura filled the barracks as Hunt forced the door open powerfully. Conversations stopped, and all activity immediately ground to a halt. All eyes were suddenly and immediately gazing towards the mask, which shone a strange tinged light from the surrounding torches and enchanted light orbs. A slow, steady stream of mist pressed through the mouth-hole and dissipated quickly in the air.

Without exercising even a hint of shyness, the character took several steps forward before halting and examine those around him. Curiosity gave way to discomfort. Anxious stares slowly reverted into aggressive glares. The air became thick with unnerving tension.

Just the way he liked it.

"This is it?" he finally spoke, his deep voice resonating in a loud bass-like echo, "This is an example of the military of the future?"

The mask turned to face a gambling table.

"Cards?" he asked, "Are you not happy enough with what you already have? Are you really willing to compete against your own kin in attempt to deprive an ally to further strengthen yourself?"

They looked at each other. He wasn't discipling. He was invoking.

"You will never become strong. NONE OF YOU!" he lectured aloud, "Unless you are really willing to go hard enough to take it all for yourself. ALL … or NOTHING!"

He suddenly pointed at, in military terms, what would be the obvious sergeant of the group; a dark crimson, half-bred Ehc'havon demon wearing a series of interlinked pieces of chain armor attached at the joints through runite platemail.

"YOU! Line them up." he barked.

The sergeant rose from his stool and looked him right in the eyes, towering over the masked man.

"And who are YOU to start demanding this level of respect?" he barked back, sword at the ready.

Bad move. Nobody saw it coming. A loud, high-pitched whizzing sound was heard, and the sergeant was yanked off his feet by the Hingaerd, flipped over, and slammed to the ground.

"Knowledge is a luxury that is stemmed by war." Hunt disciplined, lightly jabbing the stunned officer in the back with the spiked blades, "Soldiers teach their bodies how to fight so they have no need to know anything but their orders. You wanna know something, you become a scholar. And this is no place for a scholar, is it?"

"Zamorakians, at attention!" the officer barked, and Hunt flipped his blade back up at the ready. Unwilling to disobey such a harsh man, black knights and demons alike stood fast next to each other in full attention. Arms stiff, backs straight, tails down, and claws retracted.

"Good speed." he muttered aloud, "At least you know that one well enough."

Nobody smiled. This guy was too scary. Who was he?

"Despite nobody asking me the honours, I've decided to personally examine Zamorak's forces." he announced, pacing down the row, "And make them into an army bent on winning."

Then he rose his voice.

"Do any of you want to die for Zamorak?" he called.

"SIR, YES SIR!" came the reply.

*ZZZZEEEEEEEEEEK*

Everybody cringed as he whipped his blade around his head to make the dreaded, ear-bleeding sound.

"You really want to?" he asked, "Oh, I don't think you do. I think it's better that you LIVE for Zamorak so that you may continue to serve him. You're not much useful dead. Even as zombies, skeletons, and whatever other unholy sorts of lifeless creatures plague your nightmares. Agreed?"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

*ZZZZZZ-*

"Are you agreeing only to satisfy me?" he quickly shouted, and another round of flinching rippled the line as he rose the blade quickly. Deciding against it, he lowered it once again.

"If it's one thing I hate more than everything the universe has to offer me," he shouted, gazing almost soullessly into each of their eyes, "It's liars. Creatures who mask the truth in an attempt to persuade somebody otherwise. For their own personal gain, usually, but MOSTLY …"

His blade, doubled up into the hatchet-shaped weapon, inched towards the visor of a randomly picked black knight. They wondered if his fear was too obvious.

"To avoid well-deserved consequences." he said. The blade held there for an unnerving moment, and then was slowly pulled back. Relief spilled over the knight like a vast waterfall of lukewarm water.

"Answer me this!" he shouted, continuing down the line, "Are you all liars?"

A silence.

"OK, I'll simplify it." he said, then waved his blade around the line before pointing it towards one of the larger black-skinned demons. Holding it in its direction, he hurried over in a powerwalk.

"Have you ever lied before in your life?" he asked, looking the demon straight in the eye. Its glowing fiery eyes reflected off the golden mask brilliantly, and yet failed to create even a sparkle within the darkness behind.

"Yes." it simply said.

"And why, using any excuse you choose, you would do such a disrespectful thing?" he asked, holding the blade closer.

"To lure a coward out of hiding so I could finish it off." it replied, smiling slightly at a satisfying recollection.

There was an anticipating pause. What was the stranger going to say now? Surely that was a good enough excuse to get him at least to think.

But he said nothing, and instead slowly brought his blade to point at the smaller demon next to him.

"Same questions." he said.

The demon nodded slightly, careful not to break eye contact.

"Yes. I lied, perhaps several times, to gain my enemies' trust."

Another pause, and Hunt moved onto the black knight beside it.

"Same thing." he said.

The knight paused for an uncomfortable amount of time. With each passing second, everyone wondered why Hunt didn't strike him down yet. It seemed as though any moment would unravel the anticipated result.

Finally, he spoke.

"Yes. I am a liar." he said, "And I am PROUD of it. In fact, once this war's over, I will continue to lie with every syllable that passes through my lips, because that is who I am! And if you don't like it-"

He didn't like it. The mask was at its full angle, bearing down upon the knight.

"Oh really?" Hunt slowly asked, pressing his blade against its armor.

The knight didn't respond. He was once again in a state of panic. However, Hunt was satisfied enough, and decided to leave it as it stood.

"All right, then." he said, walking back up the row to the first demon. He flipped his blade around in a looser holding position and looked all throughout the row. He had everyone's attention, all right. He suddenly leapt into a front-flip and slashed his blade down the demon's arm.

"You said you lied to lure a coward out of hiding." he revised, quickly and intensely, "Because you wanted to not only finish him off, but to prevent him from getting away and getting stronger. Personal gain AND avoiding consequence!"

He leapt sideways and slashed the second demon's arm with a spinning side-jump, ending in a low stance.

"You said to gain your enemies' trust, which would not only do you the advantage of getting favour from them, but also avoiding getting helplessly slain. Personal gain and avoiding consequence the COWARDS way!"

With "cowards", he dove at the demon, latching his blade back into its arm and using it to pull himself up to press foreheads together for a moment before letting go. For the first time in their lives, the humans saw fear in a demon's eyes.

Then he pointed his blade towards the black knight. He didn't attack, though.

"And what you told me;" he said, darkly, "Is that you're an avid liar, and are proud of it. A life choice, I imagine. You must have practiced the wretched art a lot to become so good at it."

The black knight feebly nodded. Hunt crossed his arms and walked closer.

"So answer me this:" he said, "Is you are such an incredible liar, why did you tell me the truth just now?"

He then immediately turned his back, as though he didn't want to hear any answer.

"Ah, but you didn't, did you? You're such a compulsive liar, you lied about being one. Therefore, you have almost NO practice in the art, and lied in a feeble attempt to make yourself sound more compelling."

He turned his hooded head back to face him.

"And, if by some freak chance you WERE telling the truth, you betrayed your own laws and ideals. Your own lifestyle! You are a born warrior who has decided that being a scholar is the way to go."

Nobody wanted to argue. He knew what he was talking about. Almost too much.

"Either way, you are avoiding consequence, it sounds like. What have you to gain from it?"

His suddenly sunk into a battle-stance; his robe flapping away to reveal the glittering chest plate underneath. Everybody flinched.

"Nothing! You diminished your own status just to avoid consequence. You do not have the experience NOR the passion for strength! You are a COWARD!"

*ZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK*

Everybody tensed again. The bladed weapon tore into the black knight's armor, ripping it away into clean metal ribbons before coming around in an upward slice and launching the already-dead human into the wall behind them, splattering against it with such incredible force that the backsides of the soldiers were sprayed with the aftermath.

Nobody could help it. The line was broken, and they were trying to get was far away from this monster as possible while trying to make it seem like they were merely giving him space.

"Anyone going to miss him?" he asked, almost compassionately, "Or do I have to give you a lecture on morality?"

He slowly looked around the room, mist emitting through the mask as a slow, relaxed rate. Even a messenger, who stood in the doorway about to deliver his life's worth, stood paralyzed in terror. There was a long pause, and the room was incredibly still save for the flickering of the torches, which too seemed to almost slow down for everyone. Nobody dared speak up. Nobody dared to even make a sound. Everybody was even holding their breath and trying not to think anymore. This was the longest minute of anyone's life.

Finally, he spoke again.

"I could do this to all of you," he said, looking down the line while holding his stance, "But it would have turned the examination into a mass murdering. Rather inconvenient for those who had spent their lives training you."

He flipped his blade back up and began pacing again.

"Besides, I'd rather kill you all on the battlefield." he remarked, "A much more fitting place for a soldier to die, after all."

His gaze shot over to the sergeant, who immediately took the hint and ordered everyone to make the line again. After some hesitation, this was done. The fear in the room was too obvious for any observer.

"I imagine you are all scared of me by now." he said, chuckling, "Anybody dare to say otherwise?"

There was total silence.

"Good." he replied, "You should be scared of me. I imagine that by now, you'd definitely rather take on the enemy army in your shorts than endure another minute of my lecturing."

His blade menacingly waved around, threatening to make another loud screech.

"Am I right?"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" he shouted, and everyone jumped, "I want you so scared of me that your very SHADOWS will stop lying around and start pulling its weight around here!"

He stamped the ground, and a ripple of force shook everybody almost down to their knees.

"With fear comes respect! You fear the enemy, so you would subconsciously respect them. That is WRONG! You do not respect the enemy, you respect your SUPERIORS! You respect Zamorak! And myself! You will desecrate your enemies and spit on their remains! You will impale them with their own weapon so you have no need to make the effort to pull it back out!"

His blade whipped in front and pointed at another knight.

"YOU! Come at me." he said, flipping the Hingaerd into its staff-like form, pulling it behind his back and placing one hand in front in an obvious battle pose. He clearly wanted to test his mettle.

The knight hesitated.

"What's wrong? Imagine for a minute that I am your enemy. I don't think that's hard at all. HAVE AT!"

More hesitation, but he finally pulled his sword out and inched forward. No sooner then it was in a proper battle pose that Hunt rocketed forward, cleaved the blade into shards, and struck the knight's armor with a spinning heel kick that bashed him against the wall. He was stunned, and concussed, but otherwise still in one piece.

"Unacceptable." he shouted at a rapid rate, "Too slow! You see your enemy, you attack, unless ordered otherwise. Hesitating is like suicide! You are fighting for your very life! DO YOU NOT WANT TO SERVE ZAMORAK?"

He then pointed at a demon and repeated the gesture.

"YOU! Show me your stuff!" he barked.

The demon didn't disappoint. His weapon was out in an instant and it dashed forward, bellowing a loud war-cry:

"RAAAAARRRGGGH!"

Hunt whipped the blade around, anchored it to the sword, and yanked it into the ground beside him. Both now weaponless, Hunt flip-kicked the demon in the jaw, launching it upwards a few feet, and then with a powerful palm-thrust, launched the demon into the wall, missing the dazed knight by mere inches.

"Unacceptable!" he repeated, casually regaining his blade with one foot, "Too hasty. I saw you coming a mile away. Improper sword technique against someone with a staff-like weapon! Charging carelessly like that is ALSO suicide!"

His then pointed again into the rabble, but then slowly turned it to the left until it was fixed towards the sergeant.

"You." he said, returning to the battle pose, "You clearly have the experience, or else you wouldn't be the respected one here. Let us show them how it's done."

The sergeant didn't think. His blade was out and up in a diagonal position and it sidestepped towards Hunt, who followed the maneuver. Both demon and human circled a large empty space in front of the soldiers in a long moment of intense anticipating. The sergeant was staring down Hunt, but Hunt, remaining calm, was making it too obvious that he wanted the demon to make the first move.

He tensed. He faked. He feinted. Then he attacked. Hunt whipped the blade around and blocked it with the shaft. Everyone tensed, but then wondered why. Then they realized that Hunt had flipped his blade around backwards so it wouldn't make the loud sound as he swung it. He wanted everybody to watch the battle, not cringe in pain. The demon whipped its blade around, and it was deflected by Hunt, but rather than get dazed by the force of the clash, it had used that reflective force to move the sword back into a defensive position, and the Hingaerd came around to clash against it. Both weapons traded attack and defence, and when an opening was exposed, an attempt was made on the others' life, which was saved merely by either luck or instinctive reaction.

Both human and demon sparred for a good 5 minutes before Hunt held his hand up after parting the hundredth time.

"Enough. They get it now." he called, and the sergeant relaxed. He then turned slightly away from the demon and walked right past it.

Lawrence stood in the doorway. The messenger had finally gotten the courage to run back and report that, apparently, Hunt was being aggressive towards the other soldiers.

"What are you doing to my troops?" he demanded.

"Correcting your mistakes!" Hunt growled, pointing his golden gauntlet at Lawrence's throat.

"Correcting my mistakes?!?" Lawrence repeated in surprise, "You KILLED one of them and injured several others!"

"You can not persuade others of what is correct," Hunt replied, turning to look towards the fast-standing line, "Unless you can also prove why the wrong is wrong."

He flipped his blade back to a hatchet and crossed his arms.

"Strength in numbers is hardly enough when the enemy has got skill." he lectured, "What's the point in outnumbering them 50 to 1 if they can take down a hundred enemies each? There IS none! Even YOU must understand how important the balance of power is in a full-scale war of the factions!"

He turned back to Lawrence and stared him down.

"Zamorak must be ashamed of you by now." he disciplined, "I wouldn't be surprised if he's got every urge to jump down from the heavens and fight this war all by himself just for the sake of not having to witness such a failed display."

Hunt pressed Lawrence's throat with his gauntlet and shoved him back against the corner. Nobody said a word.

"Here is my proposal. Postpone your attack, recall all your troops, and give me three days with them," he requested, "And you will find yourself in control of an army that will jump to command merely at the raise of an eyebrow. One that will fire a wind-altering volley with not but the sound of your batting eyelid. One that will charge into battle despite it being a lost cause, and take down any number of puny heroes that have given you trouble until now."

Lawrence stared, stunned. The dark, unchanging expression of Hunt's mask bore down on him, and now that he thought of it, it was all he could really ever see anymore.

"Normally I would charge for this service," Hunt muttered loud enough, "But in this case, I have a reason to do it that surpasses value, so it's all on me."

His forehead touched the mask.

"Say the word. You know you want to." he hissed, and Lawrence felt his uncomfortably cold breath on his chin.

momsrascal93 · **Posted:** March 11th, 2010, 4:01 pm

Lawrence started to laugh.

"What can a loner like you possibly pound into the hollow heads of these soldiers hm?" Lawrence said between quiet snickering. "We're already prepared to attack, why give our enemies a chance to prepare?" He asked rhetorically. Hunt stood there, looking menacing to all but Lawrence. "Darkrascal, send out the order to attack, and get those ships to set sail!" Lawrence requested. "Sure thing, hun!" Darkrascal enthusiastically replied before sending out the orders. She and Lawrence then went to join their attacking forces.

From the dark recesses of the wilderness that surrounded Rellekka, sprang forth the Zamorakian legions! They were on foot, and in the air. A few on ships were also heading their way.

"Here they come!" Momsrascal announced drawing her swords. Their sheer numbers seemed overwhelming but they couldn't let that scare them. Momsrascal would try her hardest to assure that what happened to Ardougne would never happen to Rellekka. They all would. She suddenly felt Darkrascal's presence in that mob of Zamorakians. Lawrence would undoubtedly be nearby.

"Great..." Momsrascal said.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** March 17th, 2010, 2:45 pm

From the western shore of the Fremmenik province to Trollweiss Mountain Elduvian archers had been stationed - a line 500 men long and 5 men deep. Karmadin was in the center near the entrance of Rellekka on a rock and would command the archers. After each row of archers fired they would duck and reload while the next row fired and then ducked. A Star Knight was assigned to every squad of 100 archers.

The Elduvian Knights were lined 500 long like the archers except that there were three groups instead of one, the first two groups were two men deep and the third was one man deep. The Fremmeniks had their men stationed upfront with the Elduvian knights also. They had about 3,000 and made three groups, each group having two lines of 500. The Elduvian Knights and Fremmenik Warriors lines alternated through the layers: Knights, Fremmeniks, Knights, Fremmeniks, Knights, Fremmeniks. A Star Knight was stationed every 20 Elduvian knights through the first line and Honor guards were stationed every 20 Fremmenik Warriors through the Fremmenik lines.

Michael and Elise were stationed on the western side of the battlefield so they could move to fight the enemy navy if needed. Conter and Nimrock would be stationed on the eastern side near Trollweiss. Skyrate, Jason, Timrak, and Gia were near the center of the front line with Momsrascal, about a hundred feet from the archer lines.

"There is a new evil here." Skyrate said, they all remained quiet as they watched the enemy line up about 300 yards away.

"They have close to twenty-thousand by the looks of it." Timrak said as the enemy's lines grew darker and darker, indicating a thicker and thicker army.

"Lawrence has emptied all his garrisons." Skyrate said, "This battle is the turning point."

"A turning point for the better or for worse?" they each thought to themselves.

Skyrate disappeared.

He reappeared near Karmadin and said, "Look to the skies. Have your second volley focus on these new enemies." and then he disappeared again. Karmadin Looked up and saw what looked like larger versions of Vyrewatch flying above the enemy army.

Skyrate reappeared in the Rellekka Longhouse and told the beacon operator to contact the Tower and tell them the enemy had arrived. The Tower would then notify Celestina and Celebram near Wilderhaven and Calytha, who was not yet at Fremmenik.

Skyrate disappeared again.

_____________________________________

Bay off the coast of Wilderhaven
_____________________________________

The Navy was almost in position when the got the message from the Tower to start the siege.

"Good. We just have 10 Man-O-Wars that need to get in position." Celebram said when he got the report from the Communications Lieutenant.

In a few minutes all the ships were in place.

"Give the command when ready, Sir." The Captain of the ship Merianta, which was Celebram's flagship and the one he and Celestina were on, said to Celebram.

"Star the siege."

_____________________________________

Fremmenik Province, Zamorakian Forces
_____________________________________

Lawrence, Darkrascal, Kate, Hunt, Vigorn, and Tizm all teleported to the center of their forces.

"Do you plan to stay in the back or fight in the front?" Vigorn asked as he drew his sword.

"We will fight of course!" Lawrence snapped back. He didn't like the attitude Vigorn had but he had to deal with it else his ally in the North wouldn't supply him with VyreVolves.

"Then let's get going." Vigorn said as he pushed some black Knights away and walked towards the front lines with Tizm following. Lawrence, Darkrascal and Kate followed.

_____________________________________

Fremmenik province
_____________________________________

Lawrence stepped out from behind his front line of Black Knights and yelled out at the Defenders of Rellekka, "Surrender now and we will let most of you live. Resist and you will all die. If you choose the wise choice you will have Chief Brundt walk out towards me, unarmed, carrying your flag mounted upside down on a banner. You have five minutes to make a decision."

Brundt, Mawnis Burowgar, and Koschei the Deathless of the Fremmeniks were on the front lines with Jason, Momsrascal, Gia, and Timrak.

"That's a preposterous thing to ask!" Brundt said in a huff to the heroes near him after Lawrence walked back behind his lines, "That would dishonor our country!"

"That's exactly why he demanded it." Timrak said.

"Well we all know we ain't giving up so easily, not to this lot for sure." Mawnis, king of Neitiznot, said as he drew his sword.

"No, we won't surrender. But a good shot at Lawrence might take him down and dishearten or possibly even scatter his armies." Jason said.

"What are you thinking?" Momsrascal asked.

"If Brundt goes out as if he's surrendering and then has Lawrence come out to meet him Lawrence will be out in the open. We'll have Karmadin fire at him. We'll need Michael to be here to put up a shield right after that though just incase Lawrence's troops fire at Brundt while he's out there alone." Jason explained.

"No worries. I'll cover Brundt's protection." Timrak said with a grin.

They agreed that this would be the best way to start the war as it gives them the initiative, though Brundt didn't like bearing his country's herald upside down. The took a flag-banner and remounted the flag upside down. A soldier was sent to inform Karmadin of the plan.

The five minutes were up and Lawrence walked out again and said, "Your time is up. Have you made the right decision?"

Brundt picked up the banner and walked out to the middle of the field.

Karmadin gave the command for his archers to ready. Lawrence and his forces couldn't see this however because the view of the archers was blocked by the Knights and Warriors.

When Brundt reached the center of the battlefield he called out, "I'm unarmed, come out to me."

Lawrence walked out with Darkrascal next to him.

Karmadin aimed three arrows at Lawrence's forehead. Jason stood hidden behind Timrak and aimed at Darkrascal's heart.

When Lawrence reached Brundt he took the banner from him and broke it and said, "And such I have broken the Fremmenik empire!"

At that moment three arrows whizzed over Brundt's head straight at Lawrence's forehead. If it weren't for his unholy reflexes he would've been dead, for he drew one of his katannas with almost lightning speed and blocked the arrow going for the center of his forehead. He wasn't able to block the other two though, which narrowly scraped the left and right side of his head, causing it to bleed but doing no significant damage. A moment later an arrow came straight towards Darkrascal but was deflected off her sword as she drew it when she saw Lawrence draw his. Darkrascal dodged to the right as the unexpected arrow startled her.

"Drats!" Karmadin said when he saw his arrows miss, "I was sure his head was big enough to catch them both."

Immediately after seeing Lawrence quickly draw his sword and Darkrascal fall to the right, Kate cast a fire wave at Brundt. Timrak appeared in front of Brundt and deflected the fire wave back toward the Zamorakian forces.

"Fire one!" Karmadin said and the first row of 500 archers fired and then ducked and reloaded, waiting their next turn.

"Fire two!" The second row fired.

"Fire three!" The third row fired.

"Fire four!" The fourth row fired.

"Fire five!" The fifth row fired.

And then he started over. Every time he gave the fire command he also fired an arrow.

"Charge!" Jason shouted as He, Mawnis, Momsrascal, Gia, Koschei, and the rest of the heroes and army ran toward the now charging Zamorakian forces.

_____________________________
Heroes' troops: 2,500 Elduvian Archers, 2,500 Elduvian Knights, 50 Star Knights, 11 Heroes(2 being NPCs), 75 Honor Guards, and 3,000 Fremmenik Warriors. Total: 8,136
Zamorakian Forces: ~20,000 assorted Demons and Black Knights, 500 VyreVolves, and 6 Leaders. Total: 20,506

---------
'Tizm' is the 'Creature' that attacked Tenshi and Lawrence in Lumbridge.

Quote:

Its legs were encased in steel up to its waist. Its right arm had greenish metal plates covering it, though something which looked like skin was still visible. Its left arm was completely bare, and looked like the left arm of a Barbarian Champion. A crystal chestplate covered its chest and wrapped around to cover its back. A dark red hood covered a black void where its face would be. Two red lights peered from the darkness.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** March 18th, 2010, 11:28 am

______________________________________________________________

THE PREVIOUS NIGHT
______________________________________________________________

It took every amount of willpower he could summon not to shred Lawrence into sewing material from behind as he walked away. Slowly and tensely, he flipped his blade around and stuck it back into his robe, concealing it completely from view. He was done here.

He then whipped around and faced the troops.

"You are very unlucky soldiers." he hissed, pointing at the line. They relaxed and broke formation as Hunt stormed out, obviously disappointed.

He mumbled to himself as he tread down the ranks in a forceful walk. Any attention given to him was rewarded with a bloodthirsty reaction with enough lust to bring the individual shivering to his knees. An unnerving, cold aura followed the dark warrior, and it was only a matter of time before he was avoided completely no matter where he went.

He left the barracks and walked down the barren, ashen field. Burnt skeletons and splintered arrows covered the ground around him, signifying the last sorry remains of the war that once took place there. It would've been fun to fight in this battle, he thought to himself. I can almost taste the bloodshed in the atmosphere. Such a lovely and putrid air. The restless souls of the soldiers who died for their beliefs will haunt the landscape and turn it into a depressing, dangerous landscape that only the vermin of the soil will be able to survive in.

Alas, here I stand, unsuccessful in converting Lord Zamorak's forces into an army he could be proud of.

No matter. If they're ever to acknowledge a more superior human, they have to witness his ability head-on. I will join the battle. Perhaps win it for them.

And, hopefully, find what I'm looking for in the process.

_________________________________________________________

To receive Zamorak's blessing to the fight, the Zamorakian monks and heroes all met within a converted chapel to express their prayers and ask for strength. They were up against Saradomin's most elite warriors, after all.

The chapel itself, once bearing Saradomin's star, had its windows shattered and its tappestries torn down. A group of craftsmen had hurriedly chiseled at a large chunk of rock until the familiar, if not improvised representation of Zamorak in stone and placed it behind the altar, overlooking the sermon as it took place.

The priest who led the service was just as devoted as the rest. Black hair, burnt red full-body robes, bony, and skeletal hands and limbs gave him a somewhat stereotypical appearance compared to the rest. His life was all about fulfilling the wishes of Zamorak, studying his many creeds, and expressing his views on the subject in attempt to win over those whom he would call "smart".

Two hours of listening to what some would call "droning" finally gave way to a potential dismissal and a great war-cry from the soldiers. A random shout regarding "The fremennik will be no more!" brought up an even louder cheer, and another one mentioning "Zamorak will control the world!" brought the loudest one yet.

Everybody was ready. The soldiers and heroes were just about to leave and begin the grand march to battle when the masked warrior, silent and in his own world during the service, stood up and tapped his toe on the ground several times for attention.

"If I may," Hunt requested, "I too would like to say something to our Lord."

Nobody groaned. They were curious as to what he was going to say.

"You may." replied the priest, "Go ahead."

"Thank you." he replied, and stepped towards the podium. Seats were regained and taken once more. Hunt made the gesture that it wouldn't take long at all, and approached the altar directly down the middle of the row.

But he didn't stoop down on his knees and bring his hands together. Rather, he stood tall and fast against the statue as though he wanted to claw at it.

The priest corrected him, "Please bow in respect-"

"I'll do what I want." Hunt replied calmly, taking no heed to his advice nor attention to the man.

He tried again, "Please remove your mask then, at least."

Hunt stood there, perfectly still, for a moment. A cold mist seemed to fade in on the floor.

"I am my mask." he said, staring at the statue's plinth.

Darkrascal had suddenly perked up. Did she, even for the slightest moment, just hear a tinge of regret in Hunt's voice? ... no, impossible. What would HE have to regret?

The monk backed down. Hunt pounded his fists together and began to speak.

"Lord Zamorak, you had better be listening to me, because this is the one and only time I'm going to say this." he softly said, but as he spoke, his voice gathered strength at a rapid rate.

"If you have ever had any remorse for those who follow Saradomin, … any time in your life, … then you WILL want to stop me." he threatened, "For once I step into the battlefield, you will have won, but what happens after that is up to me and me alone."

He pumped his arms and stamped the ground, and the walls shook.

"You had better be watching me, and the bloodshed that will follow." he was beginning to shout, "I will not show you mere pain. I will not make my enemies merely cringe with fear. YOU will be the one who fears me. I will show you suffering that only your nightmares can produce!"

A dark air filled the room, and everybody grew cold. The loud deep voice of Hunt was echoing off the walls and didn't seem to want to dissipate. He was pacing around the altar and almost in a full-blown shout.

"I will corrode your view on the subtleties of life, and with naught but my actions, make you seizure with discomfort. Mere words cannot describe the torment your enemies will suffer once they see the shine of my blade, and the flash of my mask."

A flash of light and the boom of thunder outside complimented the loud preaching. Hunt had pounded the altar with his fist, and all the candles blew themselves out.

"Even the dead will cringe at my stare. Even the soulless will flee in terror from my rage! Even Saradomin himself will melt into a puddle of wallowing misery! Wisdom will be nothing but an inconvenience, and all they have ever learned and remember shall be replaced with the loud screech of defeat! Hope will become nothing but a fairy tale in their eyes as their very consciences will betray them their lives for mercy!"

Everybody was being blown back by the loud impounding. This wasn't a mere human speaking anymore. This was Zamorak's prodigy.

"The very soil under my boots will bleed as Guthix himself will lay paralyzed in horror! He will sleep for all eternity just to get his mind away from what will have happened here tonight!"

He thrust his arms up, as though hoping the statue would engulf him in flames.

"Watch me, Zamorak. You will want to send your toughest agents to take me down just to give your enemies a fighting chance. In fact, you will come down yourself, in your great and almighty power, and attempt to stop the wrath I invoke in your name by your own hand!"

He suddenly jumped up onto the statue, gripped it by the neck, and loudly hissed his next lines into its ear.

"And if you will, I'll even make it a fair fight. I will bound my hands and feet together and fight you with a mere feather between my teeth. Good luck with that!"

His voice volume intensified, and the statue itself vibrated so much that it looked like it would break at any moment.

"I will make you revise your standards! I will make you reconsider your definition of agony! Once I'm through with a mere demonstration, you'll have wished you alone went up against an entire army of Zaroses than endure my fury! I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE WAR, AND ALL THAT YOU THOUGHT IT COULD NEVER BE!!!"

He jumped down, and faced the stunned crowd. The great red light of victory seemed to shine behind him, and he thrust both arms up in recruitment.

"WHO'S WITH ME?"

The battle-cry that followed from the surrounding solders and even the monks was the most intense Lawrence had ever heard in his life.

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

NOW, AT RELLEKKA
_________________________________________________________

The clash of swords and shields blew away any second thoughts or feelings anyone had. The battle had begun, and there was no longer any turning back. They were all officially dead now, and only the victors will have the opportunity to realize that they are all still alive. This is what set the barbarians from the rest, was that they were not afraid to accept this. Either way, after it was all over, they would feast either in the Longhall of the Sky or the one in the town they were defending.

And either way, there was going to be boar meat, and lots of it.

As Gia watched the second charging line come at them, a gold-faced warrior almost seemed to rise in slow motion from behind the front line; legs pumped downwards in a jump, right arm inside its cloak. He was soaring offset the charge and was aiming to drill away at the sides of the forces which was no doubt weaker than the others.

Gia had already taken down 4 enemies, and used his sword to bar against three others in an attempt to force them away into their own comrades and disorienting the line. He was successful, naturally.

"Is that a mercenary elite?" Momsrascal commented, looking towards where the strange warrior landed, "They're really desperate to win this one, aren't they?"

Gia didn't respond. He was transfixed on the spinning motions as the warrior whipped out its weapon and dove into the fray.

*BIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Such a loud sound! Gia flinched, but endured it with ease. Thankfully, it was being diverted in a direction away from him. Gia intercepted a demon's shield with a tri-claw, yanked himself upwards, and flipped himself onto the demon's back to which he drove his sword into its spine.

It was then he got a clear glimpse of the unique weapon itself. Multiple, hook-shaped blades almost randomly woven around each other creating a series of sharp, internally-driven edges. That thing was meant to shred things, not impale.

"What is it, Gia?" she asked. She had noticed that the White Dragon, after landing, had accidentally lowered his weapon slightly, and was only barely able to recover long enough to block an enemy 2-handed sword. Momsrascal leapt to his side and finished off the disarmed soldier with a thrust attack.

"Hey!" she said, gesturing her desire to slap him, "Don't get distracted. That mask is probably just gilded. Won't be worth that much if you get it."

"It's not that!" Gia shouted.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the masked man spin his noisy weapon around to keep his opponents at a distance. One bravado Fremennik suddenly bellowed a war-cry and charged him with his axe. Rather than intercepting it with its weapon, the elite pulled its weapon back and thrust its palm forward at the warrior. A blast of distorted air enveloped the Fremennik's head for a split second, and then suddenly, it pulsed and vanished into nothingness. The now headless corpse immediately grew limp and lifelessly dropped dead in front of him, and a spurt of blood from the neck-stump prompted him to go airborne again at the terrified troops.

Such a horrid sight stunned Gia momentarily, but he recovered in time to thrust his own claw into a black knight's full-faced helmet and yank it downwards.

"OK, that was scary ..." she exclaimed, "I see why you fear him."

"No. It's that weapon ..." Gia said, watching the strangely shaped Hingaerd cleave an opponent's armor plating into mere shrapnel. A two-handed sword was held up to block the second strike, but that was caught in the staff, flung into a Zamorakian soldier (betrayal?), and was now no longer able to prevent the elite from continuing its spin and slicing its owner into ribbons of flesh. As it spun, a loud screeching was heard and he would've sworn that the blades were covering themselves in wavy air distortions.

"It's some kind of hinged staff, by the looks of things." she said, shrugging, "Interesting design."

"It's not just that." Gia said, grunting as he drove his own sword across a demon's chest and cleaved the beast in half. He then turned and stared Momsrascal in the eyes.

"... it's made out of rithlyte."

momsrascal93 · **Posted:** March 19th, 2010, 3:50 am

Tenshi was looking up and the blackened ceiling of his cell. Suddenly he sprang up upon hearing the door to the dungeon open and he moved to the bars. It was Marie again and he looked at her quizzically as she walked to his cell. She was carrying a full suit of black knight's armor and a cloak.

"How's your arm?" She asked.

"It's healed up now. Why?" Tenshi asked. Marie quickly unlocked the cell door and carefully handed him the armor.

"Use this to disguise yourself and you'll be able to leave. Hurry before someone comes." She whispered. Tenshi had many questions wanted to ask, but she was already gone. He quickly and quietly put the full suit of armor on and wrapped the cloak around him before grabbing his weapons, and stashing them under his cloak out of view. He then freely started to walk away from the cell.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** March 22nd, 2010, 4:23 pm

Tenshi walked past the guards towards the front gate. "There are alot less knights in here than before." He thought to himself. He started to open the gate to the courtyard when a voice from the gatehouse room barked at him, "What a'r you doing, soldier?"

"Going to my post, Sir." Tenshi replied, trying to sound like a gruff Black knight.

"A'r you the one who's s'posed to come on and take Grinton's watch fer a bit?"

"Yes, Sir." Though Tenshi had no idea who Grinton was or where his post was.

"Git a mov-un then."

"Yes, Sir!" Tenshi replied and quickly opened the door to the courtyard, walked out, and then shut it behind him.

He made his way to the gate and waited until the patrol around the castle changed. When it did he joined the new patrol going out. As he made his way to the South-western corner he shouted to the other black knights on the patrol who were a few yards away, "I saw something over here. I'ma gunna check it out." The knights motioned for him to investigate it and then continued on their patrol.

He walked South-west of the castle and went down a hill and was out of the sight of the Fortress. He made his way to the Mind Ruins and removed the black armor their but kept the cloak. Thankfully Lawrence hadn't removed his scabbards so he now sheathed his weapons and put his scabbards on (he had been carrying them under the cloak). He begun to make his way to Lumbridge through the desolate Falador, Port Sarim, and Draynor.

___________________________________

Siege of WilderHaven
___________________________________

"Direct hit, Sir!" One of the bombardiers told Celebram as part of Ardougne castle fell to the ground.

By now the Navy could see soldiers from WilderHaven piling onto the walls firing crossbows, bows, and spells. None of which were reaching the ships.

Part of one of the coastal walls exploded as a mortar shell hit it. A gaping hole now lay in it. Some demons could be seen inside it picking up pieces of the wall and other collapsing buildings and then throwing them towards the ships. The debris didn't get very far from the shore before falling to the water and sinking.

"Have some frigates pull along the southern shore and deploy troops behind them. If the troops in WilderHaven come out have the frigates fire before they reach our troops." Celebram told the Captain.

"Have the Iscilla come near, I want to go over to it and move northward to the Legend's Guild and see how they've faired. We'll also stop any reinforcing army Lawrence sends from the North." Celestina told the Lieutenant.

The Iscilla was the ship the Ice Warriors(Specially trained Elduvian Knights) were on. It was sometimes referred to as Celestina's flagship, though it wasn't actually her's. It was a combination of Elduvian's three most used ships. It had a large hull and was able to hold a large number of troops. It also had a mortar, though unlike the Man-O-Wars which had two large mortars this was only one smaller one. Lastly it was outfitted with many broadside mounted cannons like the Frigates. It also had two forward and rear mounted cannons.

___________________________________

Battle of the Fremmenik
___________________________________

The battle had unfolded rapidly once it started. Timrak gave Brundt his sword which Brundt had Timrak carry before he walked out. Brundt took it and dropped the banner and was soon in a fight with Darkrascal which Timrak fought Lawrence.

It wasn't long before their friends were there to assist them. Momsrascal quickly started fighting Darkrascal and Brundt moved on to fight another opponent. Jason was using the Scaarz-Got Blade as Tizm still had his sword Skrealing. Though he was still not at his normal strength because of the attack in Canifis, he was still able to fight black knights and lesser demons well. Jason and Mawnis tried to stay near each other to avoid being flanked. Koschei took up a stand near Brundt and began felling foes.

Michael remained in human form and fought with earth spells and his battlestaff. Elise stood atop a small stone tower she made and cast fire surges at the incoming enemies.

Karmadin and the archers had stopped firing on the armies when they clashed for fear of hitting their own allies. They didn't rest long though as there were soon enemies in the sky. They looked like Vyrewatch from Meiyerditch except that they were distinctly larger. They also seemed to be hairy, unlike normal Vyrewatch.

Karmadin had the first two lines of archers remain aimed at the battlefield incase the enemy broke through the infantry line. He had the other three lines aim for the new Vyrewatch-Werewolf monsters in the air.

Meanwhile near the center of the battlefield...

Another Fremmenik fell, cleaved in two by the Hingaerd. Hunt swung at another who was running past him but his swing was blocked by seemingly nothing. A moment later a katanna and cloaked man wielding it faded into sight infront of Hunt. They stared at each other for only a second and then Hunt swung the Hingaerd to the right, trying to disarm his opponent. The weapons flew apart but both warriors kept strong hold of them.

Hunt jumped back and swung his Hingaerd into position and began the hideous noise he was becoming famous for.

*BIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

His opponent stood still and remained unwavered by the dreadful screeching the Hingaerd was making. When he saw his opponent was unaffected he stopped abruptly and jumped forward with the Hingaerd in its staff-like position and fell down upon his opponent. Skyrate blocked the attack and partially tossed Hunt behind him by redirecting Hunt's downward force. Skyrate spun around and swung at Hunt who had landed with ease on his feet.

A vicious onslaught of attacks ensued as Hunt began to spin around rapidly attacking Skyrate with both ends of the Hingaerd.

*CHING*

*CHANG*

*CHING!*

Purple sparks flew whenever Skyrate's katannas clashed with Hunt's Hingaerd. When Hunt swung high Skyrate ducked or blocked. When Hunt swung low, Skyrate jumped up to avoid it or blocked. When Hunt swung in the middle it was blocked with one or both katannas. Hunt continued this rigorous assault for a minute, though it seemed like less to the two combatants because he was spinning so rapidly. Every rotation he would swing twice. During the middle of this spin-tactic he swung the Hingaerd into its axe position and swung at Skyrate's chest. Skyrate leaned back, evading the swing, and swung at Hunt's head. Hunt tilted his head backward as the katanna flew a few centimeters above his mask.

Hunt swung downwards and was blocked again, he used this to lever himself upwards and jumped over Skyrate. Hunt swung the Hingaerd into its staff position just in time to block an attack from Skyrate who had spun around. Skyrate swung to the right and was blocked. He swung to the left, and was blocked. He swung at Hunt's head and waist simultaneously, both were blocked. His attacks varied rapidly, switching from top swings, to right-side swings, to bottom swings, to left-side swings, to middle swings.

*CHING*
*CLANG*
*KLING*
*CHANG*
*TING*

Purple sparks flew around in the fray. The onlookers, that is, the soldiers from each side who caught a glimpse of the battle during their own individual fights, could only distinguish what was happening between the two Elite warriors by where the purple sparks were. Sometimes there were lots of sparks at the upper part of the warriors' bodies, sometimes the lower, sometimes all over.

Hunt had never fought anyone as fast as this.
Skyrate hadn't fought someone able to defend like this in Ages.

Just then the fight changed, if only for a moment. Skyrate suddenly ducked down after a high swing and swung his leg around under Hunt. Hunt wasn't used to this tactic, nor was he expecting it, and fell backwards. When he hit the ground Skyrate stepped on his weapon and swung at his arm. Hunt retracted his arm just in time to avoid the swing and rolled backwards and went into a kneeling stance as he quickly analyzed the situation.

Skyrate had one foot on the Hingaerd and was bending his knees slightly. Hunt could read that Skyrate was planning to jump or run towards him at any moment. Their eyes met for a moment as they scanned each other's stance.

The gaze was quickly broken though when Skyrate did a front flip towards Hunt, pushing off with his foot on the Hingaerd, which knocked the Hingaerd away a few inches. Hunt took this opportunity to roll under Skyrate towards his Hingaerd.

*CHING*

Hunt felt something hit his mask as he rolled over, grabbed the Hingaerd, and jump up. Skyrate landed and quickly turned around to see Hunt begin swinging the Hingaerd to make the awful screeching sound.

*BIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Hunt couldn't see it, but there was now a small slice in his gold mask extending from near the right eye-slit to the end of the top right corner. As Hunt had rolled under Skyrate the top right part of his mask above the eye-slit had been hit with the tip of Coreth-Nil, Skyrate's right katanna.

The pause in battle did not last long. Hunt swung the end of the Hingaerd into the ground and jumped, using the weapon to thrust himself upward. Skyrate jumped simultaneously with him and they clashed again in the air. More purple sparks flew as the weapons again met. This time, though it was for a mere second, both warriors swung so rapidly at each other that soldiers below couldn't even see a blur of the weapons.

Skyrate landed, kneeling with his back towards Hunt.
Hunt landed, standing with his back towards Skyrate.

They both turned their heads to look at the other over their shoulders.

Hunt jumped again.
Skyrate jumped again.

They clashed in the air again, sparks flew.

They both landed, though facing each other this time. Hunt jumped again.
Instead of jumping again, Skyrate rolled to the center, directly under Hunt and threw three Tenkys(throwing stars) upwards at his opponent. The first tenkys Hunt deflected into a Fremmenik, the second he didn't deflect but narrowly avoided by moving his head slightly to the left which let it fly centimeters past his head and kill a VyreVolve behind him, the third he deflected randomly and landed in a Black demon.

Skyrate rolled a few more feet and then sheathed Corion-Dialect and drew the Blessing of Armadyl and jumped again.
Hunt landed and spun the Hingaerd around to its axe position and jumped again.

This time when the two clashed Skyrate swung at Hunt with the Blessing of Armadyl while blocking Hunt's attack with Coreth-Nil. Hunt was able to kick the Blessing of Armadyl away from him when it was about to slash across his chest. When his boot touched the Blessing of Armadyl there was a small explosion of light and force which sent both Warriors flying down to the ground.

They both recovered quickly. Skyrate put away the Blessing of Armadyl and drew Corion-Dialect again while Hunt swung his Hingaerd into its staff position and began swinging it to produce its teeth-grinding sound.

*BIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Hunt continued to swing the Hingaerd towards Skyrate for a few moments. He was thinking how to defeat this opponent. Melee combat had not worked, every one of his attacks had been either dodged, blocked, or deflected. There was one thing he had not tried yet that had never failed before...

He stopped swinging abruptly and dug the bottom of the Hingaerd into the ground and thrust his palm towards Skyrate.

*SHHWWOOOSSSHH-POP*

The air directly in between them about five feet off the ground warped and then exploded with a force that knocked the two combatants backwards. Skyrate rolled with the force and jumped up. Hunt recovered and jumped up also.

The two Elite Warriors stared at each other.