Hey this is a story I've been working on since... may of 2014. If you have any ideas as to where it should go please "pm" me. If you see any grammatical errors, please tell me. I'll post the prologue first, if I get a good reception I'll post more pieces.
Dictionary: "sulfur": The language of his people. there really is no difference for plural or singular words. "Earden": This is God. "Arri": Angel/angels. "Zhidpa": Sun. "Dayaxa": Moon.
The dictionary will be updated every post with past words and new ones.
Warning: It depicts scenes of violence, and has some language, but nothing that goes beyond d a m n and crap.
PROLOG
[He could hear explosions in the distance and the all too familiar repeated thumping of a jackhammer mounted on a “panzer”, ripping through everything in it’s path. He was a white man with red hair and work clothes, walking through his latest demolition site when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was an odd looking cylindrical object made out of a material that he cannot identify, picking it up he found that it was both sturdy and light. All of a sudden a blue, white then yellow flash come from the object, out of surprise the man dropped it. When it hit the floor an image in full color appeared of a man dressed in a white hood and cloak with silver armor all over his body and limbs though it was beaten and scorched. He also had three swords one on each hip and one on his back. His face was covered with a mask that started just below his ears, went up to his nose and ended at his neck. Over his right eye there was a very deeply defined scar that led all the way up to his head, where there was a black crown covered in jewels of many colors. At first the image was still then it started to move and audio is heard from it, “Hello testing. Is this on? Ah it appears to be on good, very good!” exclaimed the hooded figure in a Hispanic accent, adding “Everything is on? Translation software…good. I don’t want you hear me talking in sulfur or some random language you don’t understand. Video is up and running at 1,600,000 megapixels very good. Well anyways let me introduce myself, I am Jasper Dayaxa Solaris and I am dead.” He said with a joyful yet grim face. “Now I know what you are thinking ‘who is this man? and what does he do?’ well let me tell you that, I am a man who travels through universes and dimensions in said universes serving……” Jasper’s voice started to crackle and his image started to fade when a female’s voice said, “Extensive damage to device detected. Repairs in progress…unable to fully repair translator certain words will not be translated. Restarting program now.” The image was back in full view and the message continued, “I am a man who travels through universes and dimensions in said universes serving Earden, wherever he sends me. Although it has become very apparent that I have reached my limit and it’s time for my story to end.” Jasper said with a low sad voice staring off at the sky. “But this also means that I can now tell it! And you can tell it as well!” He said with an enthusiastic voice. Jasper then had what appeared to be a moment of realization and then said reluctantly, “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It’s just… I've always had a fear of… being forgotten. I don’t mean this in the sense of wishing to be known by everybody, rather as long as someone understands everything I did in the service of Earden and the Arri I would be happy… if I wasn't dead.” With widened eyes, Jasper had a long pause, then continued with a serious face and voice, “Now that I've gotten over the fact that I’m no longer here, please pick up the device to begin viewing my memories but be warned you will feel all the pain I have.” The man considered the warning for a moment, then he saw that the zhidpa was going down and realized that it was time for him to go home. So he took off his boot and used it to scoop up the device and take it home.
Later at his house, after taking a shower and changing into more comfortable clothes, he picked up his boot and dropped the device on his bed. He then proceeded to lie down and place the device in his right hand. “Let me start at the arcana, so prepare yourself,” Said the figure reappearing out of the odd machine, adding, “Do not say I didn't warn you!” In a flash of white light he was transported to a place beyond his world into a place long faded from memory.
He could neither feel nor see anything except for a bright white light that slowly started to darken and change colors until he could see with all clarity… He was in space! He clawed and kicked trying to grab on to something that wasn't there, grabbing his throat trying to hold as much air in his lungs as possible. Inwardly he cursed himself, for touching the device! Still struggling he wondered if anyone would miss him or care that he’s gone. Not knowing he decided to accept his fate so he closed his eyes and died… or did he? He opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't low oxygen; In fact he could breathe perfectly! He started to look around and saw the hooded figure from the device. Jasper was crouched on one knee as if there was ground, looking at a planet when he signaled the man to come towards him. At first he was reluctant, but then decided to trust him, he didn’t know why but knew he could. No sooner he accept this, did his feet touch the ground…or at least what he guessed was the ground. Seeing that it was stable he started walking towards Jasper, when he was right behind him he began to talk. “Would you look at that!” Jasper said with pride in his voice, and then said with a calm voice, “That is my native planet Sulfaria; well sort of anyway the real thing was blown to bits.” Then Jasper scoffed and added with a smile, “What’s really funny is that I never actually saw it with my own eyes or rather had the capacity to register it in my brain. I’ve only ever seen it in holoprojectors and through the eyes of Earden in a… no wait that’s part of the story.” The worker considered the things Jasper had said although he couldn’t see the world yet. When he had a moment of realization, but before he could say anything Jasper cut him off. “I know what you’re going to ask. ‘How is it possible for him to respond to everything around him and me? Did he program every question possible? But then how can he talk as if he was here?’ It’s simple really I or rather what you see right now is a super A.I., that can mimic my voice and personality by accessing my memories. It knows how I would react.” The worker was about to say something, when Sulfaria finally came into view. The planet was the fifth in its solar system out of twelve, it was far larger than his, or so he guessed for it had two dayaxa and he couldn't tell very well because it had a beautiful glow all around it. Inside it had four major land masses with twenty-six minor masses and fifteen islands. As far as he could tell it had four oceans but he wasn't able to see lakes or rivers, at least not from that distance. All of a sudden Jasper said, “Well enough stargazing let’s get on with the story!”And with that they began to rush to towards the planet.
After having traveled for a few seconds, they came to a stop just above the surface of the planet. When the rushing feeling left the worker’s stomach he began to look around and see pure beauty all around him. There were animals he could not even name, plants that moved in and out of their holes, and at one point he could have sworn that he saw a mountain move, but before being able to ask what kind they were, Jasper began to speak, “Don’t even ask what type of animals, plants or really anything I don't even know. Everything that this world was has been lost to time and there lay no trace of it in history, except of course for The Grand Kingdom of Sparks!” Jasper said with far greater pride than before, and again he spoke, “Before you is the kingdom that maintained peace in this world for nine hundred years, what you're looking at isn't the whole kingdom of course just the capital Ember.” It was a sight like none he had never seen. The outside wall was curved in a form completely contrary to all the laws of physics he knew, straight on the bottom but the other half was stretched out horizontally far off the ground without any support. The stone that it was constructed with would bulge then, smooth every five seconds, in addition where the zhidpa hit it was a yellow red color, but where it did not it was a purple black color. The buildings on the inside were strange U, O, hexagon or square shapes; there even was a square that was hollow in the middle. When he finished looking at all the common buildings, he finally got to the castle and it was the strangest of them all, being the shape of a zhidpa but not the kind that children draw with a circle in the middle and triangles on the outside, but a complete sphere with flares coming out of it, black gas spots on the surface and a corona capping it off, it took up half of the entire city. Before the worker could completely take it all in, Jasper began to talk, “Here is where we part ways, you will now be joined to my body and begin where I did. This is the last time you will see my face… well except of course for the times when I looked in the mirror. You will not be alone though, my A.I. will be there to guide you and wake you up when it’s time.” And with that the worker no longer felt his body.
Jasper Dayaxa Solaris
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Jasper Dayaxa Solaris
Last edited by peachmlplover on Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Captain Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
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peachmlplover - Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:42 pm
- Location: On a chair, in my house, next to a computer... WHERE ELSE WOULD I BE?
Re: Jasper Dayaxa Solaris
CHAPTER 1: THE FALLEN STAR
“You are suffering for my mistakes, and paying for my stupidity. Though I gave it to another, you received it. Thought I carried it far away, you bear it. Though I hid it in the deep, it found you. My past has come back to haunt you, and for that I’m dearly sorry.”
― Jelivana Solaris
He was walking through the black and purple halls as he had always done, but now was different. The floor and ceiling were moving more than usual making it hard to walk with his chubby legs, especially considering the fact that he only stood two feet tall, also his long yellow and orange tunic didn’t help anything either. He tripped over himself sending his long red and black wavy hair into his brown tanned face and green eyes, hitting the floor with almost no force but still enough to make him cry for his Mari. Strangely, she did not come no matter how hard he cried, when he finished crying he realized that there was no one was near, not the maids, butlers or guards and all he could hear was loud noises that sounded like the explosive stars his Papri used to light up the sky on special occasions. Curious he got up and looked where he hit himself, seeing there was no cut he remembered his strange ability to make wounds go away. After verifying that he had no other cut, he started to walk towards his papri’s study. When he was halfway there two guards spotted him and started to walk towards him, relieved he started walking in their direction as well. He was about to give a happy squeal, when he noticed that the guards had different armour than the kind he normally saw, their armor was black and gray, but the armor that the guard normally wore was blue with green. Another thing he noticed was that they had eyes as cold as a winter day, even at his young age of two and a half years, he could feel darkness coming from them. Frightened of the men that kept on advancing on him at an alarming rate, he started to run in the opposite direction. When the men started to run after him he panicked and tripped over his tunic, sure that the men were going to get him he let out a screech curled up into a ball and waited for them to apprehend him… but they didn’t. Looking up he saw them both with a hand going straight through their hearts, dripping blood. When the hands retracted from the bodys they hit the floor, in that moment he saw that the defender was his Mari! (Powers at the time included but are not limited to: Enhanced Speed, Combat Perception, Memory Reading while in contact with subject and Clairaudience which is the ability to feel emotions that others have and if they are powerful enough the user can hear the subject’s thoughts.) She looked nothing like her usual self, her dark brown hair was a tangled mess of dirt and mud stains, that made it look white in some spots. Her white face had cuts and blood all over, with green eyes that looked just as cold as the attackers body’s. Her clothes of many colors and silks, just a whole bunch of torn rags with red staining every fiber. After cleaning her hands as much as she could, she got down on her knees and began talking in a sweet smooth voice, “Are you ok my son? Nothing injured?” He waved his head side to side in bliss unawareness that his Mari had just killed the two men at his feet. “That’s good. It looks like I got here just in time.” Joy and weariness in her voice. “Come. We are going to meet with your Papri and Hellu in the playroom.” She said with reassurance in her voice, trying to block all regret of her deed.
Making their way through the maze few knew about that led to the safe house or “playroom”, they ran into more of the dark and imposing intruders. Upon noticing the Queen and child they let out a horrendous roar that was completely inhuman and charged at them, one turning his hands on fire the other emitting electricity from his. Reacting with blazing speed the Queen tossed her child out of the way adopting a fighting stance; with both hands in front of her, she jumped in between both men and got behind them. Caught off guard by her move they stopped to turn around and started to launch fire and electric bolts from their hands, hitting her in the arm and thigh burning off pieces of cloth and skin, but it was too late she had already positioned herself to give the killing blow and in an instant her hands went through their throats. With blank expressions their bodies fell to the floor, in that instant the Queen’s heart broke because of the act she committed, still trying to block her emotions she began telling herself “It… it was to protect your child. Ye... yeah that’s what it was… don’t feel remorse for those fallen men, if you do... all of your pain will seep into Jasper.” Grabbing her son by the hand she pressed on, repeating the same lines in her head. Thirty minutes later after making sure they were not followed and stopping to pick up the young prince when he fell… this happened often, they got to the “playroom”. On the outside were the largest doors in the whole castle, extending twenty feet high fifteen wide and six inches thick, in front of said doors were two guards in battle ready positions, but as soon as they saw that it was the Queen they saluted and opened the passage. Inside there was the greatest collection of toys anywhere, along with the most ferocious domestic animals on the planet trained to kill anything that posed a threat to the royal family. Also in the room were three people, two of them were Jasper’s Hellu. One of them was a white tanned girl, with fire red hair in a short yellow dress; she was clearly taller and older than Jasper, her name was Bloom Solaris having fifteen years of age and blue eyes, with a maturity far beyond her years. (Her powers were: Fire Creation and Manipulation, Illusive Appearance, Memory reading and Clairaudience.) The other was a dark brown boy, with short black hair, in a blue tight to the body combat training suit, he was even older than Bloom his name Yagosh Solaris having the age of seventeen, his yellow eyes burned with anger and concern. (Powers: Shadow Mimicry and Absorption, Slight Healing factor, Memory Reading and Clairaudience.) “Queen Jelivana, Prince Jasper! You made it, oh thank Earden.” Said the third man. He was a bulky man with a deep voice, clothed in full armor that covered all of his features except for his black eyes. He was not superhuman, but what he lacked in powers he made up for in strength and combat skills. “Master General?! What are you doing here?! Where is my husband?! And where is Marcus?!” Jelivana asked, with great concern. The Master General’s eyes widened as he looked at the floor and said with great regret, “Master Marcus has fallen at the hands of the accursed demons. He was leading the elite guard into battle, and the King stayed to fight against the leader of the dam ned sending me, Berruck and Craden to protect you.” With those words Jelivana, Bloom and Yagosh’s spirits were shattered. Not knowing what “fallen” meant, Jasper thought that his hellu had merely tripped and wondered why they did not simply pick him up. “Were you there when it happened?” Asked Jelivana, holding back tears. “No.” The general said grimly, adding, “Although Craden was, but I advise for you not to search his memory with yo-” He was saying, when he got cut off by the Queen. “What you think is not relevant right now General and I advise that you remember your place!” She said with a rebuking tone. With that he reluctantly called the guard in. “Where were you in the battle?” Asked the Queen. He was a dark, tall, yet skinny man, in light armor that only covered his limbs and head, carrying a quad sword on his hip, with a patch that had the royal zhidpa on it indicating that he was part of the elite palace guard and had powers. Whipping off a crisp salute he responded with a light voice, “I was in the middle of the battle… It was my duty was to protect Prince Marcus… one which I failed.” Drawing close to him the Queen placed her hand on his chest, letting go of Jasper out of fear that he might see what she was about to. Jasper also had a fear, but it was of being separated from his Mari especially after what had happened recently, when Jelivana let go of him and touched the guard, he jumped on to her leg. Seeing Jasper jump on Jelivana, his Hellu reacted knowing what their Mari was about to see. Bloom and Yagosh rushed towards Jasper, grabbing him just as Jelivana activated her memory reading power. All three of them having touched their Mari, unknowingly activated an ability they had not full dominated. Throwing off Jelivana’s concentration and entered into the guard’s memories, feeling and seeing all that he had.
At first black was the only thing seen and nothing could be heard, then abruptly a voice shouted “Wake up ladies it’s go time!” Craden opened his eyes and thought “It’s too early for training, what’s going on?” He was on the top of a bunk bed in the castle’s barracks with half of the elite guard second class. Taking off his blanket and jumping on to the floor he noticed that it was the Prince that had woken them up, he was tall, light skinned with blue eyes and had armor covering his chest and limbs in addition was in the royal white combat hood and cloak, (Powers: Super Speed, Enhanced Analysis, Invisibility against weak minds and Intangibility on non living matter.) “Marcus what’s going on, and why are you in uniform?” He asked with annoyance in his voice. Marcus stared at Craden in disbelieve and said with insult in his voice “You really didn’t hear all of the explosions outside sleeping beauty? I wish I could sleep like that but guess what, I can’t because if I did who would wake you up to defend the kingdom.” adding in a serious tone “To respond to your original question, we are being attacked by followers of the fallen one. The thing is we aren’t the only ones, the Cabbach, Serrifen, Podestnin and Quients are under siege as well.” While fumbling over his armor trying to focus his mind, readying to teleport on the battlefield, he asked “Where did they get enough men for that? Weren’t all the dark followers destroyed one thousand years ago in the battle for Sulfaria?” “That isn’t important right now; the only thing that matters is that we have enough men fighting.” Marcus said with determination. Seeing that his team was equipped, Marcus pointed and yelled at a man in the back of the room “Gardel I want you on the wall linking the unit and keeping us updated!” Looking over his men one last time Marcus said “This is what you’ve been trained for, this is the time and this is the place! I want you to know that whatever you fight for Land, family or friends. If you fail, if you foul up, if you die! These monsters will destroy everything! So, see you all at dinner, and may Earden be with you. For Sparks!” His men responded in kind “For Sparks!” As they charged out of the barracks. Outside in the courtyard was complete mayhem and destruction. The once beautiful city with its markets, theaters, playgrounds and people, was now filled with debris and bodies. Craden could hear a Mari screaming for her child, soldier cry out in pain and mortars hitting their targets. Once they got to the castle gate, Craden was amazed at how bad the conditions were half or more of the long-range defenders were wounded or dead, archers and supers alike. Even the mighty mortar team “quake” comprised solely of “weather wizards” as they were called, was being pummeled by the enemies long range supers. Not being able to open the gate out of fear that a lucky shot would go through the opening and cause even more damage, Marcus yelled, “Climb over the wall it’s the only way!” One of the men in the group yelled in return, “Are you crazy?! We’ll be blown to bits!” Marcus screamed back, “It’s the only way! We can’t risk more damage to the castle or civilian buildings, not everyone has been evacuated!” No less than a second later did Marcus finish his sentence, did he start up the stairs of the wall. “Wait for me!” Yelled Craden, “I’m your escort remember!” Running up the stairs, followed by the rest of the troop. At the top of the wall Craden could see the entire battlefield from there he noticed that although they were losing in the long range battle, those engaged in close combat had the upper hand. “Get ready to jump!” Marcus said loudly and began counting down with his fingers. Preparing himself for battle Craden did one last weapons check, making sure that he had his two quad swords (a hilt with four blades on it in the form of a hollow square and only has corners), two short swords and one long sword. Marcus had reached 3 by the time Craden finished 2, 1.
In sync they all jumped over the wall and just like the soldier had predicted four of the men were blown apart, two died and the other two were groaning on the floor. “No time to tend to their wounds keep going!” Marcus shouted, running towards the fray. Just as Marcus had commanded they kept the charge, leaving their comrades behind. All Craden saw around him was death, livestock, house pets, farmers and soldiers scattered on the ground. Trying to keep the horror out of his mind he didn’t realize they had reached the front lines and would have died had Marcus not intervened. “Craden!” Marcus yelled, pushing Craden to the right intercepting a sword coming down on him with his own, then with lightning speed drew a second blade with his left hand slicing the enemy in half. “Didn’t I wake you up? Snap out of it!” Exclaimed Marcus, “I need you by my side.” Nodding, Craden drew the long sword with both hands while drawing his other swords mentally, spotted the closest normal enemy and teleported in front of him and tried to gut him, when he ran into a stone wall. Looking up he saw that a super was in front of him, an ugly looking man completely grey, almost naked and at least ten feet tall with a deformed face. “Oh crap! How did this happen?!” Craden thought to himself, porting ten feet to the right just as the giant brought his hands down trying to crush him. Searching frantically the bestial man roared when he spotted Craden and charged at him. Craden didn’t have enough time to evade taking the blow straight into his abdomen before porting again, more instinct than plan. He doubled over from the pain, unable to breathe or see where he was, only hearing large footsteps drawing closer every second. Preparing to be hit again… then feeling a huge thump, “Did I die? Is it that fast? But I’m still hurting, that can’t be right… can it?” Craden thought to himself. Mustering all of his strength Craden opened his eyes, to see Marcus running circles around the brute, slashing at it with his swords in seemingly random places while the man tried to squash him to no avail. “Thanks Marcus, I owe you thirty-eight.” Craden said mentally. “You pikné! You already forget that I learned how to pass my Enhanced Analysis, if you had turned it on you would have seen that he has illusion powers. By the way you owe me forty-two.” Marcus responded still slashing at the brute. When finally after hitting enough points, the man’s armor broke allowing Marcus to deliver the final blow to the heart. “I didn’t forget that I can use it…. but I did forget how to use it” Craden said in a shameful voice. With a huff Marcus reminded his comrade, “Tap your middle fingers, then your wrist and finally interlace all of your fingers and thrust forward.” Without a word Craden did exactly as instructed and in an instant time seemed to slow down, numbers started to appear all over his vision, movements became nothing more than a mathematical equation, which if read correctly gave it’s user the ability to predict exactly where and when a strike would land. “Thank Earden that I took that extra class with Marcus on how to read Advanced mathematics in seconds,” Craden said to himself. After a close analysis Craden got to work, first slashing the two men that were charging at him, second he teleported to help a soldier by splitting the assailant in half. “Thank you” Said the man saluting, Craden saluted and continued his course.
Sweat trickled down his brow and blood out of a gash in his cheek, placed there by a lucky shot from a bowman, who now had a blade straight through his heart. Craden had to admit it had been quite a chore he had to mow down five “tank class” soldiers before even getting close. “Although... it was worth it” He told himself panting. Fatigue and pain slowly crept in to every fiber of his body, Craden had been fighting for over six hours straight and decided that it was time for another to take his place in the battle, sheathing his swords he teleported back to the keep. Upon reaching the castle his muscles sent a shock wave of pain throughout his body making him double over, “GAH!” Craden screamed rubbing his legs. Once the pain receded he began to look around the courtyard and it was mess to be sure but a lot of the damage had been repaired, “For having been under siege an entire week it doesn’t look that bad,” Craden thought and then said, “Well time to report to the general.” moving his sore legs towards the command tower.
Outside of the building he went through inspection from Elite Guards level one (only protecting the king they sported light armor, rapiers, mouth coverings and hood with cloaks), “So the king is here… fascinating” said Marcus with intrigue in his voice walking through the door. Inside Craden admired the skeleton of the structure it was one of the best built in all of the kingdom and that was the first time he had ever been in it. Having fifteen meters of the purest stone in the entire kingdom it was a fortress. “Halt!” commanded a level 1 guard stretching his sword in front of Craden, “State your name, rank and business.” Craden turned towards the man, and said giving a crisp salute, “Third lieutenant Craden attached to the second division of the royal guard under his highness Prince Marcus Solaris. My business being a report for the King and his General’s ears only.” No sooner had Craden finished answering did he feel a chill down his spine, “I know this feeling.” Craden thought, “It’s what happens when a ‘soul-searcher’ looks you over, specifically an inexperienced one. Marcus’s hellu perhaps?” A quick glance to his right confirmed his suspicions; she was clothed in a fully white long dress with her hair in a pigtail but even then it went farther than her shoulders. “She's as beautiful as ever. She’ll be courting age in five months, I wonder… if I were to propose would she accept?” Craden thought to himself with a little too much emotion he realized when Bloom blushed and smiled. “Ok you’re clear.” Said the guard moving to Craden’s right allowing him to enter the safe room.
Inside was an old room with tapestries hanging from the walls depicting all of Spark’s history from the Dark Age, to the War of the Zhidpa, to the Peace Years. In the middle of the room was a long rectangle table with twenty chairs made of the finest lumber, three of which were filled by the King (Dressed in a long white robe with a red and purple cape draped from his shoulders)(Powers: Energy concentration, Mental Suggesting and Matter Morphing when in direct contact), Queen (Her dark brown hair was in a fancy braid held be golden pins interwoven, with a dress of many colors), Master General (In his armor… it seemed like he never took it off) and Jasper who was in his Mari’s arms. “Ah, Craden come in and have a seat.” Said the King in a rigid voice, stretching out his arm indicating a chair adding, “How goes the war? I mean it can’t be too intense if you have the time to think about courting my daughter now can it? But just to be fair, I’ll tell you now that to win my daughter’s heart the best thing you can do is not get her any gifts, she hates it when boys do that.” Craden blushed, took a seat, cleared his throat and began to talk, “Well as I’m sure you know, one week ago we were attacked without warning by at that time an unknown force that had massive numbers of dark followers. In the arcana of the battle we took major casualties because we were unprepared, but once our forces were on their feet we were able to beat them back. On the third day our spies found out the identity of their leader, he’s a man who goes by the name of ‘Kyroban the Savior’ apparently he wants to ‘save every living thing from life’. Furthermore, after watching him perform a dark ritual, our men stated that he gave thanks ‘to the fallen one for seeing through the lies of the creator’ and for showing him that ‘life is the true apaadi, one from which he shall liberate all living things’. On the fifth day the south lines folded after an all out attack by enemy long range soldiers but was regained after we shifted the quake team into position.” Craden paused to catch his breath then continued, “Unfortunately our last reports about the other kingdoms are these, the Cabbach have fallen and the Podestnin are about to, but we have yet to hear back from the Serrifen and Quients. That’s everything at this time your Highness.” The King had pondered everything that Craden told him and asked one last question, “Knowing everything you just told me… do you think that we have a chance in winning this war?” Craden considered and finally answered, “No your Highness… I do not believe we have a chance.” The Kings face grew grim but not surprised, “Yes we have come to that very same conclusion… so it’s with a heavy heart that I give the order to begin operation Door to the Heavens.” He said with a low voice then continued, “Send this message to all the corners of the globe via the machines of the Queen.” Out of the wall a strange piece slipped out with flashing round… things five of which the King pushed and began to speak at, “Now is the time to activate the transports created by Queen Jelivana they will take us to a new world far from all of this where we can begin a new, remember to input the codes just as you were instructed so that we may all meet again, and may Earden be with you.” After the King finished saying this he turned to Craden and said “Go and spread the word to our troops and civilians that unless a miracle happens we have three days to get everyone out, so they should rush to the nearest safe house possible and leave their possessions. As reassurance tell them that the royal family will be the last to leave, to show we still have faith that the tide can change at any time.” Craden saluted and rushed to leave the building, passing by Bloom barely hearing her say “Please don’t die.”
Two days passed and all Craden had seen was the open road but now he was finally looking upon Ember once more. He had to focus all of his power into a single teleport one hundred miles away from the fighting to get out and in “If I never have to do that again it will be too soon.” He thought to himself “Although it’s somewhat worth it just tell Marcus that I can do something he can’t.” That’s when it hit him “I have tell go for him and the rest of the troops that everyone who could be saved was and to pull out now so they can start blowing up the fields.” Craden stretched his legs and ran towards the wall, where every single long range soldier was positioned to help cover the front line troops. Once over the wall Craden took a look around activating Marcus’s power now that he was in range and it was looking grim all the numbers were adding up to the fall of sparks! Curiously every number that supported this was coming from one direction, specifically a man dressed in a black hood and cloak with a drawn long sword covered in blood and no armor. Not knowing if Marcus had seen the dark figure, if he was too busy fighting others to take him on or if he was acting like he hadn’t seen him so as to formulate a plan of attack, Craden charged at the dark man in an attempt to turn the tides in their favor Thinking “This could be the miracle we need!” Craden shouted the loudest battle cry he could muster Craden taking out his swords as he approached his target. Once in range Craden launched two of his swords at the man’s face and stomach, then he teleported in back of the man trying to catch him off guard and was rewarded with a punch to the face that burned like acid. After tumbling over rock and stone for what seemed like an eternity Craden opened his eyes to see only red for several seconds, when his pupils focused he saw the dark man slowly walking towards him. “You truly thought that would work on me? Did you not think that other with same power hadn’t attacked me?” He asked with a deep voice that echoed in Craden’s ears, that’s when Craden realized that this man was no ordinary man he was the leader of the dark followers, the same man who discovered the spies they had sent and executed them all at the same time. In a futile attempt to stand and lift a sword pain began to shoot through his body, it was then that he realized that his left leg was dislocated and his arm was broken. He tried to teleport but it was too much of a strain and the dark figure was drawing closer there being nothing Craden could do. “Come on, Teleport!” he yelled at himself as his enemy brought down his sword to deliver the final blow, suddenly “whoosh” Craden was moving faster than he ever had “How is this possible?” He asked himself but getting a response from another, it was Marcus carrying him. “What were you thinking?! Didn’t it dawn on you that I had already seen him and was devising a plan of attack?” Asked Marcus coming to an abrupt stop dropping Craden on the ground. After grunting from the pain of hitting the floor Craden relocated his leg with a snap! “So what now, do you have a plan to stop him?” Asked Craden with pain in his voice rapping two scabbards around his arm. “Yes I do you’re going to tell my Papri who the dark man is while I distract him. He’s advancing too fast through our ranks and if I don’t slow him down the people won’t have time to get out.” Marcus said with tears in his eyes already knowing what will happen. “Are you crazy? You can’t take him on your own!” Is what Craden would have said, had Marcus not thrust two fingers into Craden’s abdomen activating his teleportation, it was something Marcus had learned when they were young and playing capture the flag.
Craden emerged from the eternity only a few milliseconds later at the Kings feet (Who was dressed in the full ceremonial attire consisting of the white hood which he kept down, cloak, quad sword and his black crown) “Craden were you not supposed to be warning everyone of the evacuation?! Then were you not to escort my son back to the palace?!” The King enquired with a harsh tone. “Your Highness you must hurry for your son is about to fight the leader of the fallen!” Craden answered in a desperate voice. “What?! Where?!” The King asked with great haste. “I will take you.” Craden said with equal hurry grabbing the King focusing on Marcus and teleporting with all of his might. They appeared one click away from Marcus, who was being beaten down by vicious after vicious blow. “NO!” Yelled the King, shooting an arrow of energy from his hand at Kyroban who simply bent his body to dodge the projectile. The King kept on charging but Kyroban stood still with his blade at Marcus’s throat. “How nice of you to join us at such a good time. Now you can witness your son’s liberation!” Kyroban said with a smile on his face thrusting his sword through Marcus not even allowing him last words.
Jelivana gasped and pulled back from Craden with tears running down her face feeling something tugging on her leg. Looking down she saw that all three of her children were holding her with grimness written upon their faces, even little Jasper whose mind matured far faster than Jelivana wished. “I’m sorry for pulling out so suddenly but I couldn’t continue to watch a second more.” Jelivana said wiping the tears from her eyes then asked “What happened next?” Craden took a couple seconds to collect his thoughts then responded “The king sent me back here to protect you and your children until he gets back.” after shaking his head and focusing his eyes Craden asked “My Queen if I may ask, why did you need me to tell you that Marcus had died? I mean don’t you feel others emotions, Couldn’t you have felt when he died?” Jelivana didn’t answer at first due to the fact that she was checking how her children were doing mentally “Under normal circumstances yes, but when a war is going on there are thousands of emotions hate, fear, sadness, determination, comradery and overload which happens when you die. That is what I’ve felt throughout this entire war… correction my entire life and that is the reason I didn’t know, because to me he was just one more rain drop in a hurricane emotions.” Craden measured his every word when he asked this question and decided that being blunt was the best course “My Queen if I may ask how many times have you gone cold?” Jelivana raised an eyebrow and asked “What do you mean by cold?” Craden answered after a little consideration, “You know… when you stop feeling other emotions because they overwhelm you, it’s something a lot of soul searchers do frequently.” Jelivana spared no time in responding to what she considered an honest question, “Ah so that’s what you mean, and to answer your original question… none. Don’t get me wrong I have wanted to more times than I can count, with all the wars I’ve been through it hasn’t been easy to stay sane much less sensitive, but let me tell you that all those years of pain have been worth every second of joy I’ve come to know.” Craden at first was satisfied with the response until he started to sort through it and noticed something odd, “What did you mean by ‘wars’? Apart from this one we haven’t had a war in more than nine hundred years.” Craden inquired. Taken aback by the question Jelivana began to think of a response for her tongue slip… but an explosion cut off all train of thought and sent everyone in the room to the floor. “Yagosh take your Hellu into the next room; put them in their pods and go! Craden, Master General you’re with me!” Jelivana shouted heading towards the exit until a loud scream was heard. “That was the guard we left outside!” The Master General exclaimed. BANG! Shards of wood went flying everywhere as the charred body of the guard that was outside crashed into the room. In seconds all of the animals rushed out into the hallway ready to kill, only to be completely obliterated by a second explosion. “This world is weak! Its people are weak! Even the animals are weak! And yet you still don’t see the mercy I’m doing in liberating them from their weakness, do you Jelivana?! Or has two-hundred universal years of abstaining from killing made you soft?” Asked Kyroban, stepping over the broken doors with sword drawn, blood dripping from his chest, arms and legs. “What is he talking about your Highness? How does he know you?” Asked Craden baffled. “Right now isn’t the best time Craden! We have to focus on how to beat him; do you still have Marcus’s Enhanced Analysis?” Jelivana asked, with great haste. “It won’t do you any more good than it did your son. So why even waste the effort and energy when you are going to need it to survive?” Kyroban stated, rushing the Queen, but he was stopped by the Master General who drew his blade with highly trained precision severing his leg in half, then piercing his heart. “And so ends Kyroban the dam ned!” The Master General exclaimed, with great joy. But Jelivana knew better and shouted, “Get out of there now! He’s not dead!” But it was too late, a sword was already driven through his heart. “You didn’t even tell them my powers Jelivana?” Asked Kyroban, with an insulted voice adding with a smile while lifting himself from the floor, “Well I guess that means you never told them we were married either… no? Not that it matters where we’re going, I mean with all of the horrors we committed in the name of Earden, there is only one place we can expect to end up. The thing is we’re not going there alone, your children will be there with us along with everyone you’ve ever loved!” The instant Kyroban stopped talking, he unleashed a barrage of green and red flashes of light that exploded upon impact. Ready for the attack Jelivana moved with grace and skill not letting a single ray graze her, but Craden didn’t have enough time to react and was pelted by energy bolts leaving much of his body burnt. Kyroban ceased fire and said, “Just as swift as I remember you Jelivana, I do believe that was one of the reasons I fell in love with you.” Jelivana ripped a piece of her dress and used it to tie her hair, took an aggressive stance and answered back, “Really? I couldn’t tell that you loved anything about me when we were married, I thought the fallen ones were your only passion.” Kyroban countered, “You know you’re right they are my only passion… no… they are the reason I live!” Then he added, “And they’re the reason you’ll die!” He launched another flurry of lights towards the door leading to the room where the pods were. Jelivana started to run and intercept some of the blasts, deflect some and receive some straight to the body burning her dress and limbs. Explosions began to ring in Jelivana’s ears and white covered her eyes as she screamed, “NO!” Her efforts had been futile and the room had torched. Kyroban laughed victoriously and said, “So ends the Zhidpa family line!” But Kyroban’s laughter was drowned out by a voice like darkness in flesh form, “We’re not dead yet you pikné!” Jelivana removed her hands from her eyes and looked up to see that all of the burn marks… were moving! Stepping out of the shadows enveloping around him was Yagosh, with no compassion left in his eyes. Yagosh raised his hand and shadows covered Craden turned him to nothing then rebuilt him inside of a pod. “That gets him out of the way.” Yagosh said looking at the empty space where Craden’s pod used to be, then he moved his gaze towards his Mari and said, “Bloom was able to leave but Jasper’s pod is damaged and I can’t repair it, so I will hold keep him at bay until you’re done fixing it.” Kyroban’s expression at first was one of surprise then one of insult; breaking into a greater laughter than before, he asked, “Do you really think that you can prevail where your Papri, Hellu and Mari failed?” Taking two paces forward, Yagosh responded “Yes! In fact, I know I can beat you.” Kyroban was about to make a remark when he noticed that there was no black anywhere; no charred marks not even his own shadow. “What power is this is?” Kyroban asked with fear in his voice. Yagosh smiled and responded, “That of a man who has replaced his heart with void.” Getting back into a relaxed position Kyroban chuckled and said, “You think you’ve gone cold? Well let’s put that to the test.” Yagosh lifted his hands and said, “Yes you will be testing me since you don’t know the extent of my powers. I on the other hand know how fast your healing factor cycles thanks to the Master General.”
Yagosh not wasting a second covered the entire room with shadow and submerged into it. Unable to feel Yagosh, Kyroban realized that he was completely untraceable in the shadows. Seconds later a black fist came out of the shadows on the west wall striking Kyroban in the face. Lashing out Kyroban shot at the wall only for his blast to be absorbed. A second wave of shadows appeared from the floor grabbing Kyroban’s arms and legs, dragged him to the ground, slammed him against the wall and impaled him in the abdomen. Yagosh laughed then talked, while materializing himself in front of Kyroban, “Feel the shadow pulse through you, consume everything within you and leave nothing but void.” Kyroban coughed up blood, smiled and said “Void is all there ever was, is and will be. It’s funny you fight me, and yet you’re just like me.” Glaring at his opponent, Yagosh lifted his hand sending a spear of shadow into Kyroban’s throat, saying, “You kill my Papri, Hellu and Mentor, and you still have the stupidity to insult the man who has your life in his hands?!” Unfazed, Kyroban continued to smile maniacally in Yagosh’s face, infuriating him. But just as Yagosh was about to try to kill Kyroban out of anger, his Mari spoke to him, “Yagosh your Hellu’s pod is fixed, come we must leave now.” Yagosh turned his head and responded, “Not until I’ve killed him!” Jelivana shook her head, yelling back, “There’s no time for that! He can’t be killed that easily, you have him subdued for now but he can divert all his energy into healing! You could be here for days before he lost a finger for good!” Yagosh swiped his hand in the air and countered, “If I don’t kill him here he’ll follow us, and kill everyone who’s left!” Jelivana stared at Yagosh and said, “No he won’t! The Arri Darius, Meny and Erix are on their way to destroy this planet, him and all of his followers with it.” Yagosh didn’t understand and asked, “How do you know they’re coming?” Hearing this Kyroban began to laughed, then said “You didn’t even tell your children? (cough cough) I guess that means your husband went to his grave not knowing either. Well (cough) am I right?” Ignoring Kyroban, Jelivana answered Yagosh “I called them here, that’s how I know. I can’t explain everything right now, but I promise that I will as soon as we’re off this planet.” Yagosh pondered what Jelivana said for a few seconds, turned and closed his hand, snapping Kyroban’s neck and then said, “I know it won’t kill him, but it made me feel a lot better.” Jelivana’s eyes watered as she thought, “What have I done? My child no longer wants justice, but revenge. Everything I am, and everything I didn’t want him to be… is everything he’s become.” Jelivana wiped her tears from her face and began to say, “Come let’s go, while he’s uncon…” But was cut off, when an explosion blew away the west wall, sending rocks flying everywhere. A large ten foot man with armored skin, entered through the hole. Jelivana got in front of Yagosh, lifted her hands and yelled, “Send your Hellu and get out of here!” A wave of shadow covered Jelivana and placed her over Jasper’s pod, all the while blasting the new enemy. “I’m sorry Mari, our pods were destroyed when the brute came in, and I’m not gonna let you die.” Yagosh said, materializing next to Jelivana, adding, “But I’m not gonna lie, this is going to hurt.” Yagosh took Jelivana’s hand, passed shadow over it and thrust it into Jasper’s pod. “What are you doing?” Asked Jelivana, looking at the hole her hand made, adding “If there’s any rupture in the device while it’s traveling it could incinerate the person inside!” Yagosh gathered all his strength, engulfed Jelivana in shadow and said, “That’s why we’re going with him.” Yagosh reached out and activated the transport.
The Worker’s ears were filled with static, then he heard a woman’s voice the same from earlier. “Abnormality detected in subject’s memory. Searching… search complete. It appears that events in subject’s life have led to memory corrosion and elimination. Conclusion, user must go through subject’s life so as to recover missing information. In other words you learn about certain events in the same order that he did. End transmission”
“You are suffering for my mistakes, and paying for my stupidity. Though I gave it to another, you received it. Thought I carried it far away, you bear it. Though I hid it in the deep, it found you. My past has come back to haunt you, and for that I’m dearly sorry.”
― Jelivana Solaris
He was walking through the black and purple halls as he had always done, but now was different. The floor and ceiling were moving more than usual making it hard to walk with his chubby legs, especially considering the fact that he only stood two feet tall, also his long yellow and orange tunic didn’t help anything either. He tripped over himself sending his long red and black wavy hair into his brown tanned face and green eyes, hitting the floor with almost no force but still enough to make him cry for his Mari. Strangely, she did not come no matter how hard he cried, when he finished crying he realized that there was no one was near, not the maids, butlers or guards and all he could hear was loud noises that sounded like the explosive stars his Papri used to light up the sky on special occasions. Curious he got up and looked where he hit himself, seeing there was no cut he remembered his strange ability to make wounds go away. After verifying that he had no other cut, he started to walk towards his papri’s study. When he was halfway there two guards spotted him and started to walk towards him, relieved he started walking in their direction as well. He was about to give a happy squeal, when he noticed that the guards had different armour than the kind he normally saw, their armor was black and gray, but the armor that the guard normally wore was blue with green. Another thing he noticed was that they had eyes as cold as a winter day, even at his young age of two and a half years, he could feel darkness coming from them. Frightened of the men that kept on advancing on him at an alarming rate, he started to run in the opposite direction. When the men started to run after him he panicked and tripped over his tunic, sure that the men were going to get him he let out a screech curled up into a ball and waited for them to apprehend him… but they didn’t. Looking up he saw them both with a hand going straight through their hearts, dripping blood. When the hands retracted from the bodys they hit the floor, in that moment he saw that the defender was his Mari! (Powers at the time included but are not limited to: Enhanced Speed, Combat Perception, Memory Reading while in contact with subject and Clairaudience which is the ability to feel emotions that others have and if they are powerful enough the user can hear the subject’s thoughts.) She looked nothing like her usual self, her dark brown hair was a tangled mess of dirt and mud stains, that made it look white in some spots. Her white face had cuts and blood all over, with green eyes that looked just as cold as the attackers body’s. Her clothes of many colors and silks, just a whole bunch of torn rags with red staining every fiber. After cleaning her hands as much as she could, she got down on her knees and began talking in a sweet smooth voice, “Are you ok my son? Nothing injured?” He waved his head side to side in bliss unawareness that his Mari had just killed the two men at his feet. “That’s good. It looks like I got here just in time.” Joy and weariness in her voice. “Come. We are going to meet with your Papri and Hellu in the playroom.” She said with reassurance in her voice, trying to block all regret of her deed.
Making their way through the maze few knew about that led to the safe house or “playroom”, they ran into more of the dark and imposing intruders. Upon noticing the Queen and child they let out a horrendous roar that was completely inhuman and charged at them, one turning his hands on fire the other emitting electricity from his. Reacting with blazing speed the Queen tossed her child out of the way adopting a fighting stance; with both hands in front of her, she jumped in between both men and got behind them. Caught off guard by her move they stopped to turn around and started to launch fire and electric bolts from their hands, hitting her in the arm and thigh burning off pieces of cloth and skin, but it was too late she had already positioned herself to give the killing blow and in an instant her hands went through their throats. With blank expressions their bodies fell to the floor, in that instant the Queen’s heart broke because of the act she committed, still trying to block her emotions she began telling herself “It… it was to protect your child. Ye... yeah that’s what it was… don’t feel remorse for those fallen men, if you do... all of your pain will seep into Jasper.” Grabbing her son by the hand she pressed on, repeating the same lines in her head. Thirty minutes later after making sure they were not followed and stopping to pick up the young prince when he fell… this happened often, they got to the “playroom”. On the outside were the largest doors in the whole castle, extending twenty feet high fifteen wide and six inches thick, in front of said doors were two guards in battle ready positions, but as soon as they saw that it was the Queen they saluted and opened the passage. Inside there was the greatest collection of toys anywhere, along with the most ferocious domestic animals on the planet trained to kill anything that posed a threat to the royal family. Also in the room were three people, two of them were Jasper’s Hellu. One of them was a white tanned girl, with fire red hair in a short yellow dress; she was clearly taller and older than Jasper, her name was Bloom Solaris having fifteen years of age and blue eyes, with a maturity far beyond her years. (Her powers were: Fire Creation and Manipulation, Illusive Appearance, Memory reading and Clairaudience.) The other was a dark brown boy, with short black hair, in a blue tight to the body combat training suit, he was even older than Bloom his name Yagosh Solaris having the age of seventeen, his yellow eyes burned with anger and concern. (Powers: Shadow Mimicry and Absorption, Slight Healing factor, Memory Reading and Clairaudience.) “Queen Jelivana, Prince Jasper! You made it, oh thank Earden.” Said the third man. He was a bulky man with a deep voice, clothed in full armor that covered all of his features except for his black eyes. He was not superhuman, but what he lacked in powers he made up for in strength and combat skills. “Master General?! What are you doing here?! Where is my husband?! And where is Marcus?!” Jelivana asked, with great concern. The Master General’s eyes widened as he looked at the floor and said with great regret, “Master Marcus has fallen at the hands of the accursed demons. He was leading the elite guard into battle, and the King stayed to fight against the leader of the dam ned sending me, Berruck and Craden to protect you.” With those words Jelivana, Bloom and Yagosh’s spirits were shattered. Not knowing what “fallen” meant, Jasper thought that his hellu had merely tripped and wondered why they did not simply pick him up. “Were you there when it happened?” Asked Jelivana, holding back tears. “No.” The general said grimly, adding, “Although Craden was, but I advise for you not to search his memory with yo-” He was saying, when he got cut off by the Queen. “What you think is not relevant right now General and I advise that you remember your place!” She said with a rebuking tone. With that he reluctantly called the guard in. “Where were you in the battle?” Asked the Queen. He was a dark, tall, yet skinny man, in light armor that only covered his limbs and head, carrying a quad sword on his hip, with a patch that had the royal zhidpa on it indicating that he was part of the elite palace guard and had powers. Whipping off a crisp salute he responded with a light voice, “I was in the middle of the battle… It was my duty was to protect Prince Marcus… one which I failed.” Drawing close to him the Queen placed her hand on his chest, letting go of Jasper out of fear that he might see what she was about to. Jasper also had a fear, but it was of being separated from his Mari especially after what had happened recently, when Jelivana let go of him and touched the guard, he jumped on to her leg. Seeing Jasper jump on Jelivana, his Hellu reacted knowing what their Mari was about to see. Bloom and Yagosh rushed towards Jasper, grabbing him just as Jelivana activated her memory reading power. All three of them having touched their Mari, unknowingly activated an ability they had not full dominated. Throwing off Jelivana’s concentration and entered into the guard’s memories, feeling and seeing all that he had.
At first black was the only thing seen and nothing could be heard, then abruptly a voice shouted “Wake up ladies it’s go time!” Craden opened his eyes and thought “It’s too early for training, what’s going on?” He was on the top of a bunk bed in the castle’s barracks with half of the elite guard second class. Taking off his blanket and jumping on to the floor he noticed that it was the Prince that had woken them up, he was tall, light skinned with blue eyes and had armor covering his chest and limbs in addition was in the royal white combat hood and cloak, (Powers: Super Speed, Enhanced Analysis, Invisibility against weak minds and Intangibility on non living matter.) “Marcus what’s going on, and why are you in uniform?” He asked with annoyance in his voice. Marcus stared at Craden in disbelieve and said with insult in his voice “You really didn’t hear all of the explosions outside sleeping beauty? I wish I could sleep like that but guess what, I can’t because if I did who would wake you up to defend the kingdom.” adding in a serious tone “To respond to your original question, we are being attacked by followers of the fallen one. The thing is we aren’t the only ones, the Cabbach, Serrifen, Podestnin and Quients are under siege as well.” While fumbling over his armor trying to focus his mind, readying to teleport on the battlefield, he asked “Where did they get enough men for that? Weren’t all the dark followers destroyed one thousand years ago in the battle for Sulfaria?” “That isn’t important right now; the only thing that matters is that we have enough men fighting.” Marcus said with determination. Seeing that his team was equipped, Marcus pointed and yelled at a man in the back of the room “Gardel I want you on the wall linking the unit and keeping us updated!” Looking over his men one last time Marcus said “This is what you’ve been trained for, this is the time and this is the place! I want you to know that whatever you fight for Land, family or friends. If you fail, if you foul up, if you die! These monsters will destroy everything! So, see you all at dinner, and may Earden be with you. For Sparks!” His men responded in kind “For Sparks!” As they charged out of the barracks. Outside in the courtyard was complete mayhem and destruction. The once beautiful city with its markets, theaters, playgrounds and people, was now filled with debris and bodies. Craden could hear a Mari screaming for her child, soldier cry out in pain and mortars hitting their targets. Once they got to the castle gate, Craden was amazed at how bad the conditions were half or more of the long-range defenders were wounded or dead, archers and supers alike. Even the mighty mortar team “quake” comprised solely of “weather wizards” as they were called, was being pummeled by the enemies long range supers. Not being able to open the gate out of fear that a lucky shot would go through the opening and cause even more damage, Marcus yelled, “Climb over the wall it’s the only way!” One of the men in the group yelled in return, “Are you crazy?! We’ll be blown to bits!” Marcus screamed back, “It’s the only way! We can’t risk more damage to the castle or civilian buildings, not everyone has been evacuated!” No less than a second later did Marcus finish his sentence, did he start up the stairs of the wall. “Wait for me!” Yelled Craden, “I’m your escort remember!” Running up the stairs, followed by the rest of the troop. At the top of the wall Craden could see the entire battlefield from there he noticed that although they were losing in the long range battle, those engaged in close combat had the upper hand. “Get ready to jump!” Marcus said loudly and began counting down with his fingers. Preparing himself for battle Craden did one last weapons check, making sure that he had his two quad swords (a hilt with four blades on it in the form of a hollow square and only has corners), two short swords and one long sword. Marcus had reached 3 by the time Craden finished 2, 1.
In sync they all jumped over the wall and just like the soldier had predicted four of the men were blown apart, two died and the other two were groaning on the floor. “No time to tend to their wounds keep going!” Marcus shouted, running towards the fray. Just as Marcus had commanded they kept the charge, leaving their comrades behind. All Craden saw around him was death, livestock, house pets, farmers and soldiers scattered on the ground. Trying to keep the horror out of his mind he didn’t realize they had reached the front lines and would have died had Marcus not intervened. “Craden!” Marcus yelled, pushing Craden to the right intercepting a sword coming down on him with his own, then with lightning speed drew a second blade with his left hand slicing the enemy in half. “Didn’t I wake you up? Snap out of it!” Exclaimed Marcus, “I need you by my side.” Nodding, Craden drew the long sword with both hands while drawing his other swords mentally, spotted the closest normal enemy and teleported in front of him and tried to gut him, when he ran into a stone wall. Looking up he saw that a super was in front of him, an ugly looking man completely grey, almost naked and at least ten feet tall with a deformed face. “Oh crap! How did this happen?!” Craden thought to himself, porting ten feet to the right just as the giant brought his hands down trying to crush him. Searching frantically the bestial man roared when he spotted Craden and charged at him. Craden didn’t have enough time to evade taking the blow straight into his abdomen before porting again, more instinct than plan. He doubled over from the pain, unable to breathe or see where he was, only hearing large footsteps drawing closer every second. Preparing to be hit again… then feeling a huge thump, “Did I die? Is it that fast? But I’m still hurting, that can’t be right… can it?” Craden thought to himself. Mustering all of his strength Craden opened his eyes, to see Marcus running circles around the brute, slashing at it with his swords in seemingly random places while the man tried to squash him to no avail. “Thanks Marcus, I owe you thirty-eight.” Craden said mentally. “You pikné! You already forget that I learned how to pass my Enhanced Analysis, if you had turned it on you would have seen that he has illusion powers. By the way you owe me forty-two.” Marcus responded still slashing at the brute. When finally after hitting enough points, the man’s armor broke allowing Marcus to deliver the final blow to the heart. “I didn’t forget that I can use it…. but I did forget how to use it” Craden said in a shameful voice. With a huff Marcus reminded his comrade, “Tap your middle fingers, then your wrist and finally interlace all of your fingers and thrust forward.” Without a word Craden did exactly as instructed and in an instant time seemed to slow down, numbers started to appear all over his vision, movements became nothing more than a mathematical equation, which if read correctly gave it’s user the ability to predict exactly where and when a strike would land. “Thank Earden that I took that extra class with Marcus on how to read Advanced mathematics in seconds,” Craden said to himself. After a close analysis Craden got to work, first slashing the two men that were charging at him, second he teleported to help a soldier by splitting the assailant in half. “Thank you” Said the man saluting, Craden saluted and continued his course.
Sweat trickled down his brow and blood out of a gash in his cheek, placed there by a lucky shot from a bowman, who now had a blade straight through his heart. Craden had to admit it had been quite a chore he had to mow down five “tank class” soldiers before even getting close. “Although... it was worth it” He told himself panting. Fatigue and pain slowly crept in to every fiber of his body, Craden had been fighting for over six hours straight and decided that it was time for another to take his place in the battle, sheathing his swords he teleported back to the keep. Upon reaching the castle his muscles sent a shock wave of pain throughout his body making him double over, “GAH!” Craden screamed rubbing his legs. Once the pain receded he began to look around the courtyard and it was mess to be sure but a lot of the damage had been repaired, “For having been under siege an entire week it doesn’t look that bad,” Craden thought and then said, “Well time to report to the general.” moving his sore legs towards the command tower.
Outside of the building he went through inspection from Elite Guards level one (only protecting the king they sported light armor, rapiers, mouth coverings and hood with cloaks), “So the king is here… fascinating” said Marcus with intrigue in his voice walking through the door. Inside Craden admired the skeleton of the structure it was one of the best built in all of the kingdom and that was the first time he had ever been in it. Having fifteen meters of the purest stone in the entire kingdom it was a fortress. “Halt!” commanded a level 1 guard stretching his sword in front of Craden, “State your name, rank and business.” Craden turned towards the man, and said giving a crisp salute, “Third lieutenant Craden attached to the second division of the royal guard under his highness Prince Marcus Solaris. My business being a report for the King and his General’s ears only.” No sooner had Craden finished answering did he feel a chill down his spine, “I know this feeling.” Craden thought, “It’s what happens when a ‘soul-searcher’ looks you over, specifically an inexperienced one. Marcus’s hellu perhaps?” A quick glance to his right confirmed his suspicions; she was clothed in a fully white long dress with her hair in a pigtail but even then it went farther than her shoulders. “She's as beautiful as ever. She’ll be courting age in five months, I wonder… if I were to propose would she accept?” Craden thought to himself with a little too much emotion he realized when Bloom blushed and smiled. “Ok you’re clear.” Said the guard moving to Craden’s right allowing him to enter the safe room.
Inside was an old room with tapestries hanging from the walls depicting all of Spark’s history from the Dark Age, to the War of the Zhidpa, to the Peace Years. In the middle of the room was a long rectangle table with twenty chairs made of the finest lumber, three of which were filled by the King (Dressed in a long white robe with a red and purple cape draped from his shoulders)(Powers: Energy concentration, Mental Suggesting and Matter Morphing when in direct contact), Queen (Her dark brown hair was in a fancy braid held be golden pins interwoven, with a dress of many colors), Master General (In his armor… it seemed like he never took it off) and Jasper who was in his Mari’s arms. “Ah, Craden come in and have a seat.” Said the King in a rigid voice, stretching out his arm indicating a chair adding, “How goes the war? I mean it can’t be too intense if you have the time to think about courting my daughter now can it? But just to be fair, I’ll tell you now that to win my daughter’s heart the best thing you can do is not get her any gifts, she hates it when boys do that.” Craden blushed, took a seat, cleared his throat and began to talk, “Well as I’m sure you know, one week ago we were attacked without warning by at that time an unknown force that had massive numbers of dark followers. In the arcana of the battle we took major casualties because we were unprepared, but once our forces were on their feet we were able to beat them back. On the third day our spies found out the identity of their leader, he’s a man who goes by the name of ‘Kyroban the Savior’ apparently he wants to ‘save every living thing from life’. Furthermore, after watching him perform a dark ritual, our men stated that he gave thanks ‘to the fallen one for seeing through the lies of the creator’ and for showing him that ‘life is the true apaadi, one from which he shall liberate all living things’. On the fifth day the south lines folded after an all out attack by enemy long range soldiers but was regained after we shifted the quake team into position.” Craden paused to catch his breath then continued, “Unfortunately our last reports about the other kingdoms are these, the Cabbach have fallen and the Podestnin are about to, but we have yet to hear back from the Serrifen and Quients. That’s everything at this time your Highness.” The King had pondered everything that Craden told him and asked one last question, “Knowing everything you just told me… do you think that we have a chance in winning this war?” Craden considered and finally answered, “No your Highness… I do not believe we have a chance.” The Kings face grew grim but not surprised, “Yes we have come to that very same conclusion… so it’s with a heavy heart that I give the order to begin operation Door to the Heavens.” He said with a low voice then continued, “Send this message to all the corners of the globe via the machines of the Queen.” Out of the wall a strange piece slipped out with flashing round… things five of which the King pushed and began to speak at, “Now is the time to activate the transports created by Queen Jelivana they will take us to a new world far from all of this where we can begin a new, remember to input the codes just as you were instructed so that we may all meet again, and may Earden be with you.” After the King finished saying this he turned to Craden and said “Go and spread the word to our troops and civilians that unless a miracle happens we have three days to get everyone out, so they should rush to the nearest safe house possible and leave their possessions. As reassurance tell them that the royal family will be the last to leave, to show we still have faith that the tide can change at any time.” Craden saluted and rushed to leave the building, passing by Bloom barely hearing her say “Please don’t die.”
Two days passed and all Craden had seen was the open road but now he was finally looking upon Ember once more. He had to focus all of his power into a single teleport one hundred miles away from the fighting to get out and in “If I never have to do that again it will be too soon.” He thought to himself “Although it’s somewhat worth it just tell Marcus that I can do something he can’t.” That’s when it hit him “I have tell go for him and the rest of the troops that everyone who could be saved was and to pull out now so they can start blowing up the fields.” Craden stretched his legs and ran towards the wall, where every single long range soldier was positioned to help cover the front line troops. Once over the wall Craden took a look around activating Marcus’s power now that he was in range and it was looking grim all the numbers were adding up to the fall of sparks! Curiously every number that supported this was coming from one direction, specifically a man dressed in a black hood and cloak with a drawn long sword covered in blood and no armor. Not knowing if Marcus had seen the dark figure, if he was too busy fighting others to take him on or if he was acting like he hadn’t seen him so as to formulate a plan of attack, Craden charged at the dark man in an attempt to turn the tides in their favor Thinking “This could be the miracle we need!” Craden shouted the loudest battle cry he could muster Craden taking out his swords as he approached his target. Once in range Craden launched two of his swords at the man’s face and stomach, then he teleported in back of the man trying to catch him off guard and was rewarded with a punch to the face that burned like acid. After tumbling over rock and stone for what seemed like an eternity Craden opened his eyes to see only red for several seconds, when his pupils focused he saw the dark man slowly walking towards him. “You truly thought that would work on me? Did you not think that other with same power hadn’t attacked me?” He asked with a deep voice that echoed in Craden’s ears, that’s when Craden realized that this man was no ordinary man he was the leader of the dark followers, the same man who discovered the spies they had sent and executed them all at the same time. In a futile attempt to stand and lift a sword pain began to shoot through his body, it was then that he realized that his left leg was dislocated and his arm was broken. He tried to teleport but it was too much of a strain and the dark figure was drawing closer there being nothing Craden could do. “Come on, Teleport!” he yelled at himself as his enemy brought down his sword to deliver the final blow, suddenly “whoosh” Craden was moving faster than he ever had “How is this possible?” He asked himself but getting a response from another, it was Marcus carrying him. “What were you thinking?! Didn’t it dawn on you that I had already seen him and was devising a plan of attack?” Asked Marcus coming to an abrupt stop dropping Craden on the ground. After grunting from the pain of hitting the floor Craden relocated his leg with a snap! “So what now, do you have a plan to stop him?” Asked Craden with pain in his voice rapping two scabbards around his arm. “Yes I do you’re going to tell my Papri who the dark man is while I distract him. He’s advancing too fast through our ranks and if I don’t slow him down the people won’t have time to get out.” Marcus said with tears in his eyes already knowing what will happen. “Are you crazy? You can’t take him on your own!” Is what Craden would have said, had Marcus not thrust two fingers into Craden’s abdomen activating his teleportation, it was something Marcus had learned when they were young and playing capture the flag.
Craden emerged from the eternity only a few milliseconds later at the Kings feet (Who was dressed in the full ceremonial attire consisting of the white hood which he kept down, cloak, quad sword and his black crown) “Craden were you not supposed to be warning everyone of the evacuation?! Then were you not to escort my son back to the palace?!” The King enquired with a harsh tone. “Your Highness you must hurry for your son is about to fight the leader of the fallen!” Craden answered in a desperate voice. “What?! Where?!” The King asked with great haste. “I will take you.” Craden said with equal hurry grabbing the King focusing on Marcus and teleporting with all of his might. They appeared one click away from Marcus, who was being beaten down by vicious after vicious blow. “NO!” Yelled the King, shooting an arrow of energy from his hand at Kyroban who simply bent his body to dodge the projectile. The King kept on charging but Kyroban stood still with his blade at Marcus’s throat. “How nice of you to join us at such a good time. Now you can witness your son’s liberation!” Kyroban said with a smile on his face thrusting his sword through Marcus not even allowing him last words.
Jelivana gasped and pulled back from Craden with tears running down her face feeling something tugging on her leg. Looking down she saw that all three of her children were holding her with grimness written upon their faces, even little Jasper whose mind matured far faster than Jelivana wished. “I’m sorry for pulling out so suddenly but I couldn’t continue to watch a second more.” Jelivana said wiping the tears from her eyes then asked “What happened next?” Craden took a couple seconds to collect his thoughts then responded “The king sent me back here to protect you and your children until he gets back.” after shaking his head and focusing his eyes Craden asked “My Queen if I may ask, why did you need me to tell you that Marcus had died? I mean don’t you feel others emotions, Couldn’t you have felt when he died?” Jelivana didn’t answer at first due to the fact that she was checking how her children were doing mentally “Under normal circumstances yes, but when a war is going on there are thousands of emotions hate, fear, sadness, determination, comradery and overload which happens when you die. That is what I’ve felt throughout this entire war… correction my entire life and that is the reason I didn’t know, because to me he was just one more rain drop in a hurricane emotions.” Craden measured his every word when he asked this question and decided that being blunt was the best course “My Queen if I may ask how many times have you gone cold?” Jelivana raised an eyebrow and asked “What do you mean by cold?” Craden answered after a little consideration, “You know… when you stop feeling other emotions because they overwhelm you, it’s something a lot of soul searchers do frequently.” Jelivana spared no time in responding to what she considered an honest question, “Ah so that’s what you mean, and to answer your original question… none. Don’t get me wrong I have wanted to more times than I can count, with all the wars I’ve been through it hasn’t been easy to stay sane much less sensitive, but let me tell you that all those years of pain have been worth every second of joy I’ve come to know.” Craden at first was satisfied with the response until he started to sort through it and noticed something odd, “What did you mean by ‘wars’? Apart from this one we haven’t had a war in more than nine hundred years.” Craden inquired. Taken aback by the question Jelivana began to think of a response for her tongue slip… but an explosion cut off all train of thought and sent everyone in the room to the floor. “Yagosh take your Hellu into the next room; put them in their pods and go! Craden, Master General you’re with me!” Jelivana shouted heading towards the exit until a loud scream was heard. “That was the guard we left outside!” The Master General exclaimed. BANG! Shards of wood went flying everywhere as the charred body of the guard that was outside crashed into the room. In seconds all of the animals rushed out into the hallway ready to kill, only to be completely obliterated by a second explosion. “This world is weak! Its people are weak! Even the animals are weak! And yet you still don’t see the mercy I’m doing in liberating them from their weakness, do you Jelivana?! Or has two-hundred universal years of abstaining from killing made you soft?” Asked Kyroban, stepping over the broken doors with sword drawn, blood dripping from his chest, arms and legs. “What is he talking about your Highness? How does he know you?” Asked Craden baffled. “Right now isn’t the best time Craden! We have to focus on how to beat him; do you still have Marcus’s Enhanced Analysis?” Jelivana asked, with great haste. “It won’t do you any more good than it did your son. So why even waste the effort and energy when you are going to need it to survive?” Kyroban stated, rushing the Queen, but he was stopped by the Master General who drew his blade with highly trained precision severing his leg in half, then piercing his heart. “And so ends Kyroban the dam ned!” The Master General exclaimed, with great joy. But Jelivana knew better and shouted, “Get out of there now! He’s not dead!” But it was too late, a sword was already driven through his heart. “You didn’t even tell them my powers Jelivana?” Asked Kyroban, with an insulted voice adding with a smile while lifting himself from the floor, “Well I guess that means you never told them we were married either… no? Not that it matters where we’re going, I mean with all of the horrors we committed in the name of Earden, there is only one place we can expect to end up. The thing is we’re not going there alone, your children will be there with us along with everyone you’ve ever loved!” The instant Kyroban stopped talking, he unleashed a barrage of green and red flashes of light that exploded upon impact. Ready for the attack Jelivana moved with grace and skill not letting a single ray graze her, but Craden didn’t have enough time to react and was pelted by energy bolts leaving much of his body burnt. Kyroban ceased fire and said, “Just as swift as I remember you Jelivana, I do believe that was one of the reasons I fell in love with you.” Jelivana ripped a piece of her dress and used it to tie her hair, took an aggressive stance and answered back, “Really? I couldn’t tell that you loved anything about me when we were married, I thought the fallen ones were your only passion.” Kyroban countered, “You know you’re right they are my only passion… no… they are the reason I live!” Then he added, “And they’re the reason you’ll die!” He launched another flurry of lights towards the door leading to the room where the pods were. Jelivana started to run and intercept some of the blasts, deflect some and receive some straight to the body burning her dress and limbs. Explosions began to ring in Jelivana’s ears and white covered her eyes as she screamed, “NO!” Her efforts had been futile and the room had torched. Kyroban laughed victoriously and said, “So ends the Zhidpa family line!” But Kyroban’s laughter was drowned out by a voice like darkness in flesh form, “We’re not dead yet you pikné!” Jelivana removed her hands from her eyes and looked up to see that all of the burn marks… were moving! Stepping out of the shadows enveloping around him was Yagosh, with no compassion left in his eyes. Yagosh raised his hand and shadows covered Craden turned him to nothing then rebuilt him inside of a pod. “That gets him out of the way.” Yagosh said looking at the empty space where Craden’s pod used to be, then he moved his gaze towards his Mari and said, “Bloom was able to leave but Jasper’s pod is damaged and I can’t repair it, so I will hold keep him at bay until you’re done fixing it.” Kyroban’s expression at first was one of surprise then one of insult; breaking into a greater laughter than before, he asked, “Do you really think that you can prevail where your Papri, Hellu and Mari failed?” Taking two paces forward, Yagosh responded “Yes! In fact, I know I can beat you.” Kyroban was about to make a remark when he noticed that there was no black anywhere; no charred marks not even his own shadow. “What power is this is?” Kyroban asked with fear in his voice. Yagosh smiled and responded, “That of a man who has replaced his heart with void.” Getting back into a relaxed position Kyroban chuckled and said, “You think you’ve gone cold? Well let’s put that to the test.” Yagosh lifted his hands and said, “Yes you will be testing me since you don’t know the extent of my powers. I on the other hand know how fast your healing factor cycles thanks to the Master General.”
Yagosh not wasting a second covered the entire room with shadow and submerged into it. Unable to feel Yagosh, Kyroban realized that he was completely untraceable in the shadows. Seconds later a black fist came out of the shadows on the west wall striking Kyroban in the face. Lashing out Kyroban shot at the wall only for his blast to be absorbed. A second wave of shadows appeared from the floor grabbing Kyroban’s arms and legs, dragged him to the ground, slammed him against the wall and impaled him in the abdomen. Yagosh laughed then talked, while materializing himself in front of Kyroban, “Feel the shadow pulse through you, consume everything within you and leave nothing but void.” Kyroban coughed up blood, smiled and said “Void is all there ever was, is and will be. It’s funny you fight me, and yet you’re just like me.” Glaring at his opponent, Yagosh lifted his hand sending a spear of shadow into Kyroban’s throat, saying, “You kill my Papri, Hellu and Mentor, and you still have the stupidity to insult the man who has your life in his hands?!” Unfazed, Kyroban continued to smile maniacally in Yagosh’s face, infuriating him. But just as Yagosh was about to try to kill Kyroban out of anger, his Mari spoke to him, “Yagosh your Hellu’s pod is fixed, come we must leave now.” Yagosh turned his head and responded, “Not until I’ve killed him!” Jelivana shook her head, yelling back, “There’s no time for that! He can’t be killed that easily, you have him subdued for now but he can divert all his energy into healing! You could be here for days before he lost a finger for good!” Yagosh swiped his hand in the air and countered, “If I don’t kill him here he’ll follow us, and kill everyone who’s left!” Jelivana stared at Yagosh and said, “No he won’t! The Arri Darius, Meny and Erix are on their way to destroy this planet, him and all of his followers with it.” Yagosh didn’t understand and asked, “How do you know they’re coming?” Hearing this Kyroban began to laughed, then said “You didn’t even tell your children? (cough cough) I guess that means your husband went to his grave not knowing either. Well (cough) am I right?” Ignoring Kyroban, Jelivana answered Yagosh “I called them here, that’s how I know. I can’t explain everything right now, but I promise that I will as soon as we’re off this planet.” Yagosh pondered what Jelivana said for a few seconds, turned and closed his hand, snapping Kyroban’s neck and then said, “I know it won’t kill him, but it made me feel a lot better.” Jelivana’s eyes watered as she thought, “What have I done? My child no longer wants justice, but revenge. Everything I am, and everything I didn’t want him to be… is everything he’s become.” Jelivana wiped her tears from her face and began to say, “Come let’s go, while he’s uncon…” But was cut off, when an explosion blew away the west wall, sending rocks flying everywhere. A large ten foot man with armored skin, entered through the hole. Jelivana got in front of Yagosh, lifted her hands and yelled, “Send your Hellu and get out of here!” A wave of shadow covered Jelivana and placed her over Jasper’s pod, all the while blasting the new enemy. “I’m sorry Mari, our pods were destroyed when the brute came in, and I’m not gonna let you die.” Yagosh said, materializing next to Jelivana, adding, “But I’m not gonna lie, this is going to hurt.” Yagosh took Jelivana’s hand, passed shadow over it and thrust it into Jasper’s pod. “What are you doing?” Asked Jelivana, looking at the hole her hand made, adding “If there’s any rupture in the device while it’s traveling it could incinerate the person inside!” Yagosh gathered all his strength, engulfed Jelivana in shadow and said, “That’s why we’re going with him.” Yagosh reached out and activated the transport.
The Worker’s ears were filled with static, then he heard a woman’s voice the same from earlier. “Abnormality detected in subject’s memory. Searching… search complete. It appears that events in subject’s life have led to memory corrosion and elimination. Conclusion, user must go through subject’s life so as to recover missing information. In other words you learn about certain events in the same order that he did. End transmission”
Last edited by peachmlplover on Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Captain Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
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peachmlplover - Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:42 pm
- Location: On a chair, in my house, next to a computer... WHERE ELSE WOULD I BE?
Re: Jasper Dayaxa Solaris
Why is your text so large, and why are there no paragraph breaks.
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mechana2015 - Posts: 5025
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:33 am
- Location: Orange County
Re: Jasper Dayaxa Solaris
mechana2015 wrote:Why is your text so large, and why are there no paragraph breaks.
All fixed.
Captain Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: But now the mission is a man.
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peachmlplover - Posts: 12
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