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Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation
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Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:52 pm    Post subject: Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation  

Sorry it took so long to get this up. Enjoy!
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Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation pt 1

You say I am perfect. I do not.
-Fallon

Suddenly, as the light seared through Asalia's eyes, she was elsewhere. She couldn't describe the place other than to say it felt like home, like a perfect haven. She looked around with wide eyes, captivated by everything and anything in her surroundings. An amused chuckle issued from behind her, causing her to turn and gaze upon it's owner.

It was a man, someone who seemed familiar to Asalia though she was certain they'd never met before. He was too powerful for that, his massive golden wings extending around him like a regal cloak. "Hello Lifeheart, welcome to my spirit space."

Asalia gestured around her gently. "This is yours? It's amazing." She looked around again before returning her attention to the gallaeni. His face, it was familiar...she did know him. Suddenly, it came to her and she took a swift step backwards. "You're Faelyon."

A smile split the man's features and he regally inclined his head. "And you are Asalia, daughter of Cathos...but I see you do not know this fact. Did you not find it strange that, while both your parents were human, you were not?"

In truth Asalia had been puzzling over this ever since she'd been revealed as a half-blood. Belart du'Maldon and Calista si'Diaman hadn't the faintest drop of Gallani blood. Folding her arms she regarded the Golden One silently, bothing hoping he would answer and yet strangely unconcerned. He laughed, a light and crisp sound that brought an unasked for smile to her face.

"Cathos was the son of Thur, the first ruler of Althur...ah you've heard of that I see. He was Thur's only child but, rather than accept rulership of his kingdom, he gave it to a human...a half-blood. You see, Cathos had the gift of Sight...a gift he obviously passed to his daughter. He Saw that he would be needed elsewhere. So he gave his blade, Varathax, to the chosen youth and removed himself from the world to wait until his time came."

"Wait...Varathax...the blade Ceddon weilds?" Again Faelyon smiled at her and the puzzle began to come together in Asalia's mind. "I see. The du'Maldon Curses...I maintained them upon Darith and myself through my lifeheart powers...and Fallon being Fallon naturally fit the description. I suppose Ceddon really is my half-brother then...Cathos's eldest?"

Faelyon nodded. "He is indeed...he and his mother are the last living full-bloods." For a moment Faelyon looked sad and Asalia's hand was instantly upon his shoulder, comforting him.

"You can repair the damage when you live again. We shall defeat the Gods...or whatever they are, and restore you to your rightful place. Fallon is..." Suddenly the space around her darkened and Faelyon pulled away, his face growing hard.

"Fallon. It always comes down to him doesn't it." Asalia didn't know what to say, why the sudden change had occured. She simply waited for Faelyon to speak again.

"He comes when he's called and fights for your cause...which is ultimately his cause since you don't call him unless you must. And by that time it's in his best interests to answer...When first you call you think that maybe, just maybe, he'll respect you in ways he never did the others. That he'll follow your commands because they're your commands, not because he's just biding his time until he's accomplished his goal and demands the Price of you."

Silence lay between them as Asalia watched the Golden One pace back and forth. He suddenly stopped and fixed her with an intense, glowing stare, eyes like twin suns. "Fallon came because I had been broken, because I was failing. Now I am whole again, I can resume my duties. But he'll still take it from me, that which gave me my greatest power...and all my joy. He'll still take this."

He stretched out a hand and in it lay a single white feather. Yet it was more than that, it's white made Ceddon look filthy. It was as pure a white as Fallon's feathers were black, almost as if it were made of crystilized light. "It's one of his feathers...Ryzen."

Slowly, timidly, Asalia's had crept forward until it touched the edge of the feather. A sound echoed in her head, a song, a scream, a man talking. "It's trying to tell me something."

Faelyon nodded. "Open your heart Asalia...listen with all that you are for it isn't often that an Entity speaks with a mortal." Asalia nodded, her fingers getting a grip on the feather and lifting it from Faelyon's hand. Drawing it close, she clasped it tightly with both hands and closed her eyes. Almost at once, the words ceased and she was somewhere else...a vision within a vision.

She stood in a garden where flowers swayed and light flowed out of a blue sky despite there being no sun above. It was perfect, as perfect as Fallon in it's own way. Almost as if thinking of the man brought him to being, something made her turn her head. Sitting on a marble bench under a massive tree laden with violet blossoms, was a much younger Fallon. He couldn't have been more than her own age...eighteen at the most. And yet his beauty was already cemented.

Flawless limbs with less muscle than they possessed today, narrower shoulders that still conveyed strength, and that mane of silken black hair...She pulled herself out of it. He was dressed in blue, not black, gently accented with silver. The legacy blade was nowhere present and, as she walked toward him, neither was his crushing aura. He seemed absorbed in his book, a slender green volume held in his long fingers...fingers without the callouses of a warrior.

It came to her suddenly that this Fallon had never fought a battle in his life. Indeed, as Fallon closed the book and stood, he seemed a far more peaceful creature. His violet eyes were untroubled...and unmarked. His pale skin was flawless, no black marks at all. Strangest of all, perhaps, was the hidden smile than danced within them, the emotions that suffused them. Gone was the impassive visage that might have been carved from a glaciers heart. In it's place, the face of a youth mature beyond his years, the face of a scholar possessed of both wit and grace.

His long wings were still ebon, but not abyssal, and the feathers held a softer, rounder edge. As he trod along the path he set the book on empty air and Asalia watched it begin to move, as if returning itself from wherever Fallon had taken it. She watched as he walked, the inherant grace and majesty unmarred by the iorn purpose and deadly stealth he possessed now. What had changed him? What had scoured the scholar and birthed the warrior?

As the sky darkened above her, Asalia got the feeling she was soon to find out. The wind whirled, ripping flowers from their beds and bending trees low, lightning forking the sky overhead. Fallon looked skyward, his hair whirling and twisting like silken snakes roused to combat. His eyes narrowed and an expression she knew too well consumed his face, obviously even as a scholar Fallon had been no pushover.

His face turned toward the bend of the path before them and his stance changed to one more suited for quick movement. Maybe she'd been wrong, maybe he'd fought before this after all. Maybe he simply hadn't been fighting as long...or as hard...No. That itself wasn't the answer, there was more to the tale she thought as Fallon's violet aura sprang up around him. Yet there was none of the weight to it, it was purely defensive.

Before her eyes, another came round the bend, as perfect as Fallon in his own way...yet very different. His long silver hair was pulled back with a golden clasp, his white wings mantled in fury. Similiar in body structure to the young Fallon, his limbs lacked some of the length, his stride much of the grace. He was younger as well, Asalia suddenly realized, his green clothing dancing on the winds of his own fury.

"Fallon! What have you done?"

"Elaborate Ryzen. I've done much but nothing that should anger you so."

The younger one, Ryzen, came to a halt only feet from Fallon. At this distance, comparison was easy and the differences between the two magnified. He wasn't as flawless as first glance would have you think, his eyes a little too small, his mouth a little too generous, his wings a little ill-preportioned. He might be the second most handsom man Asalia had ever seen...but he was still second and far from Fallon's flawless.

He stabbed a finger at Fallon, tears working their way into his eyes. "They're gone! The lights of a thousands of millions of souls winked out in an instant! Only you could do that! No celestial spirit, no devine device! Only you Firstborn!"

Fallon shook his head. "While that is certainly within my power it's not out of yours, nor is it beyond even Evan's capabilities. I am not the only Entity...merely the eldest as you pointed out."

Fallon had to side step as Ryzen charged him, a blade of light appearing where none had been before. Fallon's eyes narrowed further and a cold expression Asalia knew better than any other turned his face into a stiff mask. "You'd dare strike a blow...Ryzen you know better than that."

Ryzen stood, disheveled by his charge, blade held inexpertly with it's tip in the dirt behind him. He was off balance and exposed yet Fallon made no move...maybe Asalia had been right the first time afterall. She wanted to comfort Ryzen, with the tears running down his face with it's cheeks made rosey by rage.

"It had to have been you Fallon. Evan isn't as precise as this. He would have destroyed all the life and all the worlds, not just some of the life on some worlds, and all of other worlds!"

"You don't give him enough credit Ryzen. He's as cunning as you or I in his own way."

"In his own way...pah! You know that's a lie to cover yourself Fallon! Evan was made hideous and clumsey, to balance you out! Remember what Father said..." The dirt of the path before Ryzen's feet was rent open with Fallon even batting an eye.

"You may call him Father for he treats you like a son. I may call him Master for he treats me like a slave. My apperance is perfect, that was his intent. But he realized that perfection is it's own flaw and so he created Evan, as ugly as possible. And he realized that such hideousness was not the way either...so he created you. Evan was as much an experiment as I, his clumsiness is his own. What we are on the inside we have made ourselves."

"So YOU made yourself into the cold, calculating bastard that you are? Was it all just a mental exercise then? To kill all those in my care! To see what happened?"

"For the last time Ryzen...I didn't kill anyone! I don't use my powers to interfer with the mortals, devines, and celestials! I don't dabble in the worlds, mix the elements, or play with the powers that be! I remain here, where I was asked to remain, waiting duitfully for any requests my 'Master' might have! I fetch and I carry, I learn and I study! What I have shaped has never left these walls, as I have never left these walls! You do not see, Ryzen, how limited I am. You see only my power and what I might do."

Ryzen straightened his spine and brought the sword to bear in a fencer's stance. The tears were still running down his face. "There are no words for you. You accuse Father of treating you like a slave when it is you who are guilty of wrong-doing. You accuse him of using you when it is you who hover at his side, watching all he does so that you might do it yourself! You flaunt your powers every day, in everything you do, and say you are limited! No Fallon...you are infinite and vast...and you would trick me into believing you are not."

"Ryzen...I cannot leave these walls. It is forbidden for me to do so. The Master, Father if you must, will not allow me beyond these walls with my power. It is for the sake of the Balance. Were I to step outside, everything might end because of the sudden influx of power I bring..."

Suddenly Ryzen held up a hand and smiled. "It matters not. You have accomplished what you set out to do. The Balance must be put right and there is only one way to do that now. Are you happy Fallon? The worlds will be without their Guardian."

A puzzled look, perhaps the only one he ever wore, came over Fallon's features. A look of horror swiftly replaced it as Ryzen's blade of light vanished as did the storm and Ryzen's aura. Glowing cracks appeared all over Ryzen's body and his face twisted into a rictus of pain. "Ryzen no!"

But it was too late. There was a flash of light and when Asalia could see again all that was left was a single feather, much like the one Faelyon had given her, laying at Fallon's feet.

Suddenly she was back with Faelyon as he pried the feather from her hands. She looked up at him, trembling. "There's more, I know it. The vision wasn't over!"

"It was over enough Lifeheart. You saw what was needed, you saw the damnation of the Guardian. He was the one who watched over us, kept us safe and kept the spirits uncorrupt. Without him, we Golden One's come under attack from the very spirits that should be aiding us. Here the celestial spirits killed the devine, it's much the same everywhere else. The celestial are those most readily corrupted by Fallon's magic, the devine imbued with remnants of Ryzen's power."

"Why you though? Why are they after the Golden Ones?"

"Because we are the anchors of the worlds...without us the Path would vanish and the worlds would cease to be." He made a swift gesture and Asalia felt the vision end.

She knew she was bent over Stormwing's back, yet she could not see. She tried opening her eyes, felt her eyelids blinking, yet nothing but total darkness greeted her. Her gut cramped as she realized what had happened. "My sight...it's gone..."
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Well, that takes Asalia's effectiveness down a notch. Stay tuned.
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Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:54 pm    Post subject:  

Right, part two...
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Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation pt 2

Fallon came to a halt infront of the Gods the edges of his long coat swirling around his ankels. He looked at each of them in turn, watching as their forms shifted from beastial ones, to human ones, then back to their usual ones. "Your shapshifting fails to impress me."

Vathos's features deepened into a scowl, his skin flinching as Fallon's aura hit it. "Leave now Fallon, you've meddled enough. Let us finish what we started so long ago."

Fallon's hair swirled a bit in the wind of their combined powers. Despite the concentrated efforts on the part of all nine divines, they could not overwhelm the violet aura that whirled off of him. It gained him breathing room in what would have been an otherwise cramped conflict. His eyes touched each of them in turn, drawing mixed responses of revulsion, fear...and lust.

Slowly his wings rose behind him, mantling like an enraged eagle, while the tips of his fingers became alabaster talons. They elongated until they were hideous, yet beautiful and their own baneful way, fitting somehow with the rest of him. Perfectly deadly. The gods took a collective step back, each making whatever gesture was needed to bring forth their weapons. "That, Vathos, is exactly what I am doing."

From his position at the back of the group, Vathos made a motion to the others. "Kill him." He demanded in a hard, flat voice. They started forward, weapons to the fore, magics blazing and aura's flaired and filled with malice. Fallon stood still, hands at his sides, as if he was accepting the inevitable.

Then, as the first gods reached him, he simply wasn't there. It wasn't until the Gods, the evil satyre and the centaur, went to turn around that they realized they'd been cut into small pieces. Slowly they crumbled, the light going out of their eyes, their aura's snuffed like candles. "One...two..." Fallon's voice intoned from where he stood, slightly off to the side.

His sword was now in his hands, held by normal fingers. Two of the glowing runes on the blade slowly filled with the blood running off his hands...and faded. The Gods looked at each other, unable to back down now that they'd stepped up, now realizing just what they'd been warned. Fallon was not a spirit...was not a divine...was not a diety...was not an immortal...was not a mortal. Fallon was an Entity, a creature far beyond their comprehension...and their power.

The fairy and the ram-horned man pressed their attack both far and near. And just as quicky the ram-horned man found a gaping hole in his chest, the crushed body of the fairy forced inside by the force of the blow. He crumpled, their auras fading with their life while their blood ran from the hilt of Fallon's blade and snuffed two more runes. "Three...four..."

"This cannot be!" Vathos's voice was high and shrill as Fallon's form burred again and blood fountained from the throats of the mermaid, the fox-woman, and the black shape. Yet it all seemed to be drawn straight to Fallon's blade, Fallon himself remaining impeccible. "Five...six...seven..." Three more runes went dark.

But Fallon was breathing hard now, his exhaustion tinging his aura a whispy grey at the edges. Slowly, the woman with red skin, walked toward him. Pure seduction wafted off of her like a heady vintage and the smile that curved her lips was pure treachery. She wore little, relying on her tattered wings and thick hair to cover herself as she bowed low before him.

"Fallon...I always thought killing you was a wasteful mistake."

"Prima..." His words were cut off as she dropped to her knees before him, tail rubbing his legs suggestively, arms sliding through the split in his coat so that her talons might search for his waistband. She looked up at him, eyes liquid seduction.

"I could serve you well..."

Slowly the hand with the blade lowerec and his free hand came up to cup her chin. "This was a move most unwise Prima. There are those that cannot be seduced." Suddenly the body of the goddess twitched, a pair of ivory points emerging from the back of her head. Her aura vanished and slowly, Fallon stepped back from her. With a wet, sucking sound his talons came free from where they had entered her skull through the soft tissue where her jaw met her throat, pulling clear of her scalp and brain.

He let her blood drip from their tips onto the blade before the talons shrank back into his fingertips again. Behind him the sounds of battle raged, minions unleashed by their masters before the dying had started. Still, it was with hard eyes he faced Vathos, holding a nearly pitch black blade before him. "Eight..."

Vathos stumbled backwards, the sword in his hand wavering slightly. "You are despicable! You are vile and twisted! You should have been destroyed in the moments after your creation! Why were you allowed to exist? What could have possessed the All-Maker to let you continue to be!"

Fallon stopped. He would have been greatful for the rest if gratitude could have found some way to pierce him, some way to exist within his hollow self. Instead he merely took it as it came, leaning heavily upon his slender blade, a blade which did not bend or bow or sink into the ground. His hair stirred limply now, his wings twitching with fatiuge. Yet his eyes were as alert and powerful as every, the empty vaults in which something with no name stirred.

"I am alive because the Balance demands it. One was sacrificed, one was slain, one was left to pick up the pieces. Without me, all would fail. The gears that turn the worlds would come to a screeching halt shortly before they fell into oblvion, dragging all Creation with them. Do you really think the All-Maker wishes to see everything destroyed? All that he has made, all his creations have made, all that has been made in his name?"

For a moment Divinity and Entity faced each other in solomn silence, the sounds of the battle behind them growing fainter. Vathos shook his head, voice grim. "Your puppets are winning...it seems Faelyon will return after all."

Fallon didn't take his eyes off the High God. "They couldn't have lost had they tried. They could have stood still and you would still have failed. This world, this Realm, needs Faelyon...whether you will it or not. Had you stayed true to your nature, Vathos, you would have been a part of this. You would have stood at his right hand, elevated to divine spirit because of his generosity...not because you stole his power and fed off of the spheres."

"What do you know! You were born with more power than you'll ever use!"

"And that is my damnation. That is my burden to bear, my greatest wound. It is the source of all my evil...and the source of all my good. What I do, I do in the name of no other save myself. This too, is the price of the Balance. I must repair the ill that was done, cut free the flesh that has putrified in favor of the scars that will replace it. I cannot repair what has been destroyed, reforge that which has shattered, rebuild that which has been sundered...but I can close the wounds and cause the scars."

"Then this is out of my hands. Whether I charge or not, you'll cut me down." Fallon nodded at the truth of Vathos's words and the High God closed his eyes as if in preparation. When they opened again, Fallon's own were only an eyelash away. A the full length of Fallon's blade protruded from the back of the High God, the guards of the hilt flat against Vathos's stomach.

"Goodbye Vathos." With a fluid gesture Fallon stepped back and withdrew his blade in one liquid motion. Blood limmed a streaming arc as Vathos fell to his knees, his aura vanishing. Slowly the last rune on the blade faded from existance and Fallon brought it to his forehead, eyes momentarily closing. "Nine." The word was barely more than the movement of his lips, little enough breath to make a sound behind them.

The Legacy Blade sang brilliantly, a song of vengance sated and paradise lost. Of friends turned foe and all that is good becoming an evil that must be slain. It's song was a dirge, a funeral aria, a song of infinte sorrow. Slowly Fallon lowered it, using it's black surface to glance behind him at the final moments of the battle that had raged so fiercely between Faelyon's defenders and the minions of the corrupt Gods. "They have done well...yet all is not over."

Fallon turned again to Vathos's corpse, watching as the corpses of the other Gods became so much sparkling dust, drawing toward it. Moments later, a new aura kindled to life and eyes that had, until moments ago belonged to Vathos, snapped open. The body rose, free of wounds, and the aura grew in power until it's brilliance was nearly that of Fallon's own. A smile curved the lips of a new face, a face Vathos had never had in life. But this was not Vathos.

This was someone far older, far more powerful. This was someone with a bone to pick and an axe to grind. His limbs were twisted, gnarled and misshapen, possessed of a horrific splendour. It's back was straight, too straight, only emphasising the ravaged limbs. The ribcage stood out, the belly pulled back toward the spine. The features were, individually handsom, but together grotesque somehow. As if those eyes, those lips, that nose, and those ears should never have go together on one person with that bonestructure. The hair was an tangled mop of ebon-gray, yet the man himself wasn't old. He was as ageless as Fallon, his skin stretched so tight to his bones it might as well have not been there.

A perminant grin, caused by the skin tight against his skull, widened slightly as he popped his joints...like a man just rising from slumber. "Fallon...we meet again." He shuddered breifly as his wings, the same dirty grey as his hair, forced their way out of his back. His wings were beautiful, long and lusterous, the feathers savagely shaped...yet soft and fading. His eyes, a dreamy blue, bored into Fallon's own as if to rip some vital information away.

Fallon looked back at him, unperturbed, slowly straightening himself. He willed away his exhaustion, drawing from reserves of strength housed in the blade, ignoring the sensations that came with them. He didn't miss the flick of the creature's eyes as they momentairly left his own and glanced at the blade. Some things never changed.

"Hello Evan."
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The plot thickens....fear not, I'll portray some of that big battle in the next post.
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Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:47 pm    Post subject:  

Oh I'm rolling. Here's the third...
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Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation pt 3

"Here they come!" Layla didn't need Darith's shout to tell her that the hordes of the Gods had arrived. They came, misshapen and wonderous, small and great, hideous and beautiful...all with the light of slaughter in their eyes. Layla found her hand already releasing an arrow she'd knocked without concious thought. Another quickly following, then another...

They found their marks in eyes and throats, blossoming like some deadly flower taking root deep in her foes' flesh. Bellows of pain and screams of death were all cut short as she murmered what spells she knew over each shaft, making them more accurate, more deadly, or even making one arrow many. She didn't need to take careful aim, her foes packed so tighly that each arrow had to hit something. Yet it was a testament to her skill that each arrow killed or maimed, each wound fatal or devistating.

Still she couldn't hold them all off, she knew that. She'd run out of arrows sooner or later and then would be reduced to using her bow as a bat. She picked off two more, laughing as the oncoming ranks stumbled over their dead, trampling a few more in their haste. Then the first wave was upon them, Myala thrusing with horn, slashing with ragged talons, and biting with fangs poisioned by her being a long time dead. "Today is a glorious day mistress!"

"It is indeed Myala! Today we shall make them remember us!" Her arrows fired at point blank range or into those who dared the air, Layla somehow kept her seat as her kession shade whirled in a deadly dance no warhorse could match...though Stormwing and Neverstar were trying. Layla glanced around to see how the others faired.

To her left Ceddon was cutting large swaths from his foes. He and Callix...no Carrius for this was the kession's war-form, were a well oiled clockwork. The kession would stab low and Ceddon would bring the blade in a savage sweep just above his head. He was using the massive blade one-handed, dire magics would flash from the other.

Body parts flew as an azur fireball roared through the oncoming ranks of assorted creatures. The stench of boiled blood filled the air and ozone quickly topped it as blue lightnings seared down from the empty sky. Each warrior touched by a single tounge of those forked blue bolts exploaded, his various parts hampering his allies, sometimes even killing them as a splintered bone punctured this or that vital organ.

Ceddon was laughing, a mad light in his eyes, the dark tinge in his power growing stronger with each kill he made. Layal tore her eyes off of him as some strange creature that was both spider, and snake, with the talons of a falcon, ripped into him before he blasted it away. Instead she turned to where Darith, their undead captain, was clearing his front.

His Winddaggers whirled and danced, painting patterns in the sky with blood of many hues...a grisly tapestry. His foes would bat at the blades only to find them skillfully dance away so that their strikes landed upon their own allies. The wires and the curved blades themselves cut through foe after foe as Darith charged forward again and again, heedless of injury since his already dead flesh felt nothing.

Neverstar screamed as he raged, striking with hoof and tooth, taking out the pain of his death upon those still cursed with life. His tail, now nothing more than so many bones, spiked a goblinoid through the eyesocket, ripping the globular organ free as the steed whipped it back to plunge into the chest of another. His shrill battlecry rang over the field of battle again, his bones painted with the mutli-hued blood of his foes.

Lastly Layla whirled to shoot down a foe...and came face to face with Asalia. The girls eyes were white, as if they'd rolled up into her head, save that even the veins were bleached. It was obvious the girl could not see...yet her staff was a blurr of motion. A taurian attacker broke through Darith's line and Stormwing whirled to face it, lose flesh flapping.

Flinging out a hand, Layla watched Asalia's staff glow green, and suddenly small shoots began to grow from the taurian's nostrils...and ears...and the corners of his eyes. He dropped his pike to claw at his face, too little too late. His head burst open as a thornbush emerged, spiked tendrils crawling free of his flesh. With a single gesture Asalia sent it to aid Darith, infecting anything it touched to induce the spawning of more of its kind.

Another wave pressed Layla and she fired an arrow right into the sheild sized eye of a massive elephantine beast. It gave a horse scream before collapsing, Myala dancing back to avoid being crushed. Another of the beasts was right on the heels of it's dead comrade and Layla reached for an arrow horrified when her fingertips met only empty air. She was forced to fall back to where Asalia had just turned another attacker inside out.

Layla watched queasily as the creature's heart attempted to beat despite it's suddenly inverted ribcage before expiring. "I'm out of arrows." She shouted to the blind maid. Asalia's head whipped around, sightless eyes fixing Layla even as her hand gestured toward a slim, naga soldier and set him ablaze.

"No you're not...you can't run out. Trust me." With a shrug of her shoulders Layla reached back again, to find her quiver full. With a grim smile and a nod in the Lifeheart's direction she fired...just in time to slay the second of the massive beasts. Rapid fire arrows and some quick work on Myala's part had them back to their side of the triangle, their front battered back to a safe range.

Layla turned her attention overhead, sending arrows like inverted black lightning, to strike at the troops that had gathered overhead. Myala danced in and out of combat, over the corpses of countless foes, to avoid the fresh bodies that dropped from the skies.

Suddenly there was a massive wolf-like man beside her, his greataxe raised high. Almost as instantly half his face was blown away by a ball of blue energy. His other eye showed nothing but shock as he crumpled to his knees, the wound too cauterized to bleed. Layla looked over her shoulder and nodded thanks to Ceddon who only winked before spitting three small trolls on Varathax.

The blade was glowing brilliantly, searing they eyes of it's foes, chopping off the limbs they raised to ward away it's light. Ceddon's wings were missing a feather here and there and streaked with blood...some of it even his own. His armor was rent in a dozen places and there were gashes on Carrius's sides. Still the pair fought on, their weapons both natural and not striking sparks from the armor and weapons of their foes.

A blade zoomed over her head, guts suddenly dropping onto her from above as Darith gutted a griffon that would have snapped her neck. She returned the favor by putting one through the eye of a sphinx that had snuck up on Neverstar's flank and another through the throat of a jaguar man.

An explosion from behind her sent her pitching forward in the saddle as Myala's hindquarters rose. Twisting she saw Asalia twirling her staff to hold back the explosion a cadre of fairy mages had unleashed. With a slight forward tilt, Asalia thrust it back at them, blowing a large hole in the lines of attackers where Darith and Ceddon's sides met. Both men nodded to her, each caught up in his own struggle to notice her condition.

Layla whispered a quick spell over her arrow and shot it upward. When it landed, the ground around it shattered and dropped foes to the ground where their fellows trampled them. Suddenly, Darith was there, her knee and his touching as he sliced into a troop of charging centaurs. "This is making the courtyard in the castle look like a quite summer day!"

Having no idea what he was talking about, Layla continued despite the sweat blurring her vision and burning her eyes. Her arms were screaming in pain, the callouses on her fingers ripped and bleeding, her breath coming in troubled gasps. Then, as suddenly as it had began, it was over.

The screams of the dying filled the air, the stench of the dead was thick and pungent. They stood in gore that reached their waist, a valley having been created where none was before. The ground had literally been blown away by destructive magics, the blood now collected in this low point. All around them was the smell of burnt flesh, flesh seared by lightning, piss and dung from warriors who's bowels had let go in those final moments. And, of course, the smell of fear and one's own sweat.

Callix was back and would have been holding his head low if he could have breathed through the thick mire of gore that was up to his bridel. Ceddon was torn up, in need of some serious healing, and had come close to losing his left eye. He now looked like a good candidate for that damned vision the bridge had shown her. She turned as a skeletal hand tapped her elbow, smiling into Darith's empty eyesockets.

"The vision is only as true as you make it Layla. You fear that you are fleeing Ceddon but look...you bear the marks of ill use, there's great fear in your eyes. All the human weakness has been scoured from Ceddon and he bears great wounds. Callix has been through a great battle and is worn, perhaps one will never see Carrius again.."

"How do you know Darith?" He clacked his teeth as if to emphasis his skeletal grin.

"I am one with the Bridge, I know what it has shown you. And I'm telling you you need not fear." She reached out, impulsively, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Slowly he slipped from her grasp and rode out infront of them.

"Today we have won a great victory...but it has come at a far higher price than we thought. All of us bear scars, and some of us were dead before this battle started. But remember, we have done what no others could...we have saved this world."

It was the kind of speech that would have evoked the roar of an army. Instead it brought bowed heads from those with little energy left to do anything else. They sat there with the blood of their foes on their hands and slowly their mounts started forward, the Orb they'd spent so much to protect following slowly after them.

Reaching the top of the valley, the orb stopped again, rising higher into the air and spinning even faster, growing even brighter. Myala nudged Layla. "Time to go mistress. I've got to be off." Layla was too tired for tears but, as she dismounted, she clutched the mare's neck one last time.

"Goodbye Myala...we'll meet again." Slowly Layla helped Asalia dismount, watched the two equines return to Darith's side. Then, as swiftly as he'd come, the mist boilied up around them and when it cleared...they were gone.

Asaila sniffed. "It's for the best...now quickly...Fallon is in danger."

Layla looked sharply at the girl. What danger could Fallon be in? Yet turning to glance at that far away figure she saw there was indeed another with him...and got a cold chill. Grabbing Darith's hand, he had dismounted and was leading Callix, the gore-soaked band started toward the black winged man...and his chilling guest.
------------------------------

I'd have gone into more detail with the battle but I was trying to simulate the confusion and chaos you might find in real combat where the enemy is faceless and in great numbers.
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Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:32 am    Post subject:  

And last but not least...some of you may recognize this...it's part of a sneak peek I sent long ago. Enjoy!
----------------------------

Chapter 16: Legacy of Damnation pt 4

Ceddon couldn't believe it...they'd won. He held Layla's hand even tighter, not wanting to lose her lest he realize it was all a dream. He looked at her, trying to will a smile onto his face, failing to manage more than a stiff grin. She smiled back at him, forcing healing magics into him. It was a strange feeling, one's flesh knitting so quickly. Crawling and reshaping itself in ways unbelievable.

He'd wanted to speak with Darith again, but Darith was gone, taking the oppertunity for conversation with him. Ceddon shook his head ruefully...just because he had a life didn't mean everything was going to work out for him now. There were bound to be disappointments...like having his brother die before they could become close.

They came to a halt some distance from Fallon and the...other. They were close enough to see features clearly, to hear words even if they were whispered. But Ceddon knew they were not close enough to be drawn into combat unless one or the other of those two beings wanted it. Layla slowly moved infront of him and he wrapped his arms around her, Asalia collapsing next to his leg, resting her head against it. She looked up at him with her white eyes...wait! When had that happened.

"The end is beginning, I know it Ceddon. The fragment of evil and the Unforgiven face each other and when all the words spoken lay hollow in dead ears, then this world will rise or fall." She turned back to the winged pair. "It all lies on the edge of the Blade."

"You're starting to sound like every cheap Prophet that ever lived Asalia. Plain common if you please."

She snorted. "So much for dramatics. I wish I knew more but Faelyon stopped the vision..."

"Faelyon...when did you see him?" Ceddon heard the incredulous tone in Layla's voice and was inclined to agree. When had the Lifeheart spoken to the Golden One?

"When I looked at the Orb I Saw him, I spoke with him and he showed me what Fallon is after. Ryzen's feather...and Ryzen, or some piece of him, was showing me how all this started. But Faelyon broke the vision off before it was over...he..." She fell silent and raised a hand.

Ceddon turned to look at where Fallon and this other stood, a feeling of impending change coming over him. The abominable one was smiling and then began to speak, it's voice odd and singsong. Not crazy, not old, merely too high and too low at once. "How many times have we met thus Fallon? One hundred...two?"

"You know the count as well as I Evan. You're running out of shards..." The misshapen one, Even, snarled.

"Always were too damn smart for your own good Fallon. Too smart, too pretty, too powerful, too...perfect." Evan grinned. "But it's all just an illusion isn't it? I know what's under that perfect face...I know..."

With a twist of his fingers blood began to well on Fallon's hands and along his blade. It began to drip, then run in ceaseless streams, forming an ever spreading pool at his feet. "The blood of worlds Fallon! Of old men and crippled women. Of innocent children and babes that never drew their first breath! This is your legacy!" Ceddon watched in horror as a lake of blood shimmered at Fallon's feet, at the damned faces that slid under it's surface.

Fallon glanced down, his wingtips casting tiny ripples across the surface as he shifted. "Is this supposed to have some purpose Evan?" His face slowly rose until his violet eyes were boring into those of the blazing entity across from him. "Or is this just another display of empty might?"

Evan's face contorted breifly before another smile took it's place. "Oh no Fallon," he said softly. "These legions of damned souls want their Lord and who am I to deny them..." He paused breifly as the surface of the blood began to churn violently, the faces becoming an endless sea of hands that began to climb their way up Fallon, pulling him down. "For that matter, Fallon, who are you?"

Ceddon turned Layla away as Fallon vanished below the surface. Shivers ran through him. Fallon hadn't so much as twitched a muscle, not even resisted the pull of the hands. Chill laughter rang from where Evan stood. The Entity was enjoying this, his glow crackling like fire, a fire not even the Dark was tempted to crush.

"At last! It's mine!" Evan reached out his hand and the blood began to ripple as something emerged from the depths. Slowly and sleekly Fallon's sword began to rise from the red ichor, not a single drop of blood daring to cling to it. Evan's laugh rang out again, triumphant. "The heart of Fallon is mine!"

Ceddon looked down as Asalia's hold on his leg tightened. "Not yet it's not. Look to the blood, not even the Damned can withstand the might of the Unforgiven." Ceddon's gaze snapped back to the blood and, sure enough, a black stain was spreading where Fallon had been dragged under. It moved swiftly, in a heartbeat the whole lake had blackened.

Evan stopped laughing as, with the sound of ten thousand cheated souls screaming, Fallon broke through the surface. Tendrils of ebony clung to him, more wrapped around him causing a look of annoyance to cross his face as his long fingers wrapped around the blade's hilt. As soon as the blade was in his possession he stopped fighting and began to fall, hitting the surface of the damned lake with a bone shattering thud.

"No!" Evan screamed. "No! I must have it!" He moved swiftly over the lake, his feet hovering inches above the black surface. "Give it to me!" His imperious command and raised hand went unaswered and he screamed in frustration.

At the edge of the lake though, a ripple was seen. That ripple quickly resolved itself as Fallon pulled himself out with a soundless heave. "You really want it so bad Evan? I would have thought you'd had your fill of my blade..."

Ceddon winced as Evan screamed, as Fallon mercilessly advanced with eyes as impassive as a stone carving. Ceddon felt chilled suddenly, as if something was draining out of him. "Look Evan...Faelyon returns. You've failed." Ceddon's head whipped around to focus on the glowing orb and suddenly Asalia was on her feet next to him.

"I haven't failed yet!" Evan turned to move...yet Asalia moved faster. Ceddon felt his mouth drop open wondering how...then suddenly he realized.

"It's her Cause..." Almost as soon as he whispered the words, Asalia began to glow. Her smile was sweet and sad as she reached out to Layla and Ceddon, waving goodbye. Then, with a pulse almost as bright as the one that had brought it into being, the Orb shattered.

Fragments riddled Evan and he recoiled with a scream of pain. The same fragments sliced Asalia to ribbons and she collapsed, her smile half torn from her face. "No!" Layla screamed. She would have run to the corpse had Ceddon's arms not encircled her waist. As much as he wanted to do the same, they were better off staying put. His eyes strayed upwards to where a luminous, golden being hung in the sky.

"Faelyon..." It was a single name breathed by Ceddon, causing Layla to glance up and do the same. Yet Ceddon was not over-awed, not after Fallon, not after the battle. He was empty, waiting, a vessal to be filled. A hand descended upon his shoulder and Ceddon found himself looking at the side of Fallon's face.

"It is not over....there is still a foe upon the field, the Golden One is still weak. One more battle is to be fought but time will stand still for a moment. A request must be granted first."

As Ceddon watched with unbelieving eyes, the mists came again. Darith, with Stormwing in tow, trotted out of them. Tenderly he lifted his sister into the saddle of her shredded steed. Mists lept from him to her and slowly, light returned to her eyes. Unlife, like Darith's, gifted unto her. Slowly, an illusion of his former self imposed itself over Darith as he took his sister's hand.

He looked at Ceddon and nodded, the command implicit. Ceddon would assume the du'Maldon throne...he would rule Terrinia. And he would do it well...Asalia blew a kiss over her shoulder, eyes smiling as they hadn't in years. And slowly, the brother and sister rode into oblivion together.

For a moment nothing was said, the Evan cackled. "Well if that wasn't sentimental slop, quite unlike you Fallon."

Ceddon felt Fallon push off from him, pacing forward toward Evan. A whispered commaned filtered back to Ceddon's ear. "Ward the Golden One. He must not interfer."

Slowly, the two Entities faced off against each other. Evan cackled again. "This is a battle started in the past...yet only you and I know what began it all. The Golden One thinks he knows but he knows nothing. He's too afraid to follow the vision to it's conclusion."

"You really want it known Evan...I suppose you would. It is your crowning achivement afterall. Getting yourself killed."

"All part of the plan Fallon. I could never have taken what I needed alive!"

Ceddon was thoroughly confused and wanted answers. Having taken Layla and Callix and worked their way around the Entities to where Faelyon stood, he looked at the Golden One. "What does he mean by that? That you're too afraid to continue the vision? Was it the one Asalia was in the middle of when you stopped her?"

Faelyon sighed. "Yes...but I cannot watch it beyond that point. It is too painful. I don't know the whole truth, only part. But I have seen nothing to convince me the whole truth is any different from the part I know. Would you, in my place, do it differently? Would you watch the vision?"

Ceddon was no Prophet, no Seer, yet...he was curious. Still, did he really have time to see the whole vision and fight the battle that was coming? Did he have time to defend the Golden One and learn the truth?---------------------------------

Well what do you think? Watch the vision, protect Faelyon, or try and do both?
---------------------------

And that's it. All four in one night...wow. Hope you liked.
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The Meaning Of Fear



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 980
Location: In a deep, dark corner of the universe, plotting.

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:41 am    Post subject:  

Finally! I was beginning to think this chapter would never come... :D

Well, I say doing both would benefit them more in the long run, but in the short run, just leaving the vision alone and protecting Faelyon would be more rewarding.
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Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:44 am    Post subject:  

You've got no idea how hard these last few chappies are Meanie. Balancing revelations about Fallon against the overall plot, and trying not to kill off all the supporting cast...just take my word for it...
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dinranwen
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:04 am    Post subject:  

You have done well...dragoness...and I long to know more, yet Curiosity does kill the cat even if Satisfication brings it back.

I have a feeling that knowing the rest of the vision is important, crucial to the plot, and crucial to the tender balance that is held on the blade of knife, yet I hesitate to condone seeing it.

If Fallon is right and the Golden One is weak, then Ceddon's mind, nor his attentiveness, can be sparred here.

Perhaps Layla, the woman who understands more then she should, and sees more than she bretrays, will be willing to see the vision while Ceddon stays behind to guard the Golden One.

The Golden One will need Ceddon's help before the end, I think, but I also think that he will also need Layla's keen sight and clever mind to see what he could not....
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Lilith
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Joined: 10 Feb 2007
Posts: 1597
Location: Happily curled up in a Daemon's lap

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:09 pm    Post subject:  

.... Well done, Rai, well done.

I say that I f5 Dinranwen's suggestion for Layla to see the vision and have Ceddon protect the Golden One. Therefore, Faelyon stays alive (for the time being) and the truth will be revealed.
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Mephistopheles
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Joined: 24 May 2007
Posts: 612
Location: Not where I want to be.

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:36 am    Post subject:  

yeah, i have to agree with everyone else, the visions conclusion is critical to understanding the reason for everything that is happening, but ceddon can't waste his energy on it. layla can, but is she strong enough? Well written chapter rai.
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NeverNeverGirl
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Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 1216
Location: dreaming away of tomorrows to come

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:50 pm    Post subject:  

I agree with everyone else.... if layla is the soul of discretionthat she appears to be then the best thing would be for her to watch the vision and Ceedon to guard the golden one. That way layla can divulge what she thinks they need to know but can tacfully/discreetly leave out anything that is too personal and irrelevant to the battle at hand.
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Kalanna Rai
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Joined: 21 Jan 2006
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Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:09 am    Post subject:  

Anyone see a need for a poll...I don't.
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Mephistopheles
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Joined: 24 May 2007
Posts: 612
Location: Not where I want to be.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:14 am    Post subject:  

yeah, i don't think you need a poll. Just continue onwards!
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