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 Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:14 pm
Silva and Quel were dueling it out against the tide, they fared well against the surge of water but, not as good against the ebb. It pulled Quel off his hooves and dragged the both of them back to the shore. Silva clinging for dear life to his neck witnessed the rebirth of over a dozen both zombified and skeletal dragons, an army of what would be known as Anbhas later in time and a small army of both rotting corpses and skeletons, all carried or dragged their original weapons. Though the skeletal dragons could not fly, the zombie ones seemed to be able to and where winging their way inland.
Meanwhile, everything else headed right towards Silva's beach. They could smell the flesh of the living and soon it would not be living for long. Silva saw this and both she and Quel turned towards the creatures. "I raised you and you will obey me!" This was the truth, except Quel had not allowed her the Runesword, so they would never obey her. This was both good and bad, he remembered what Erik had said, about not letting her turn into Agwyn. Seeing as her army wasn't looking like it was going to stop anytime soon she looked back to the distant shore of Grado. "No one else needs to die for my family's sins." She pulled together the Exorism spell and started letting it loose.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:33 pm
The first thing Erik felt when he woke a split second after landing on the sharp rocks was pain. Massive, throbbing, loving pain.
His back and left shoulder took the brunt of the fall; his shoulder blade was broken in two, and several of his ribs were cracked or broken. He was sure there was a couple rocks embedded in his flesh. Warm blood gushed over his face from a large cut on his forehead, and his left arm was bent backwards at the elbow. Other than that, he was rather unharmed. Until the wave crashed into the rocks where he lay and swept him into the cliff face with a small amount of force.
When he finally woke from that, which was about three seconds later, he found that the bloody wounds he had gotten didn't appreciate the salt water in which he floated. Erik slowly staggered to his feet, feeling very woozy (at this point, the only thing keeping him conscious was the pain and Valor's voice in his head) and moved to slide his staff from his back. He was quite puzzled when he saw it float by, broken in two by the impact. More so when the he realized he was bleeding quite heavily from his back.
After a few minutes of standing around aimlessly, he looked up at the cliff, which was about twenty or so fee above him, and chuckled. I'm not climbing that, he thought, I don't have enough chicken feathers. What chicken feathers had to do with climbing a cliff, nobody knows.
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:54 pm
Even Silva knew she was screwed as the army began to overwhelm her magic. She was serious about no one else was dying for her family's sins. She slipped off Quel and yelled at him to flee, when she refused she struck him. This was enough to drive him off, what Silva hoped for good. She advanced on the creatures, the dragons and humans were slow enough she managed to escape quite a few attacks. She was trying to lead them inland, away from the coast. If she could keep them busy a few days, then maybe Erik could escape.
After all he would have been the only one that could have started such a blaze. Silva did not know how injured he was or that he was even in trouble at all. She was assuming that he would have felt the quake and already left the island before the tide got to him. If she had known what his true fate had been, she would have never forgave herself. Instead she fought against her army, trying to keep them away from Grado and everyone else.
Quel was not a stupid Cron, in fact being a telepathic creature made him very aware of Silva and her emotions. He did not know Erik was injured at the moment but, he did know that Erik needed to be found or else his Mistress would likely end up dead. He was well aware Erik was on the island, he knew Erik's magic. So he set out to find the man. This was not terribly hard, after a five minute walk he picked up the scent of Erik's blood and followed it. He found the man staring at the cliff, he also sensed the presence of another. Quel did not understand about Valor, he just realized Valor existed. He trotted, the water up to his chest at one point and stopped a few feet from Erik. He snorted, waiting tensely to see if the man was going to harm him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:05 pm
His chuckling turned into a full on roar of laughter when he took notice of Quel. "So that's it then, eh? You've come to spirit me off? Or have you come to feast on my entrails while Silva is otherwise preoccupied?" Erik turned and hobbled towards the Cron, his back brimming with pain and his left arm dangling uselessly at his side. "Well, here I am. All ready to-" His nose caught the stench of rotting flesh and he suddenly stopped moving. "Mance's army is here."
Erik lurched forward, grabbed onto the Cron's neck, and swung himself up onto the beast's back. It didn't go as smoothly as it sounds; it took him a good three tries before he was able to grab the Cron that wasn't a hallucination, and another four to actually get on its back. "I don't care who you serve, take me to the forsaken army. If I'm going to die, it'll be a blaze of valor."
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:32 pm
Quel actually didn't move for a minute, that was not what his Mistress wanted, his Mistress wanted Erik's safety. She needed Erik though, Quel also knew that. He also knew if any chance of saving Erik's life it would be with Silva. Since the army was with Silva and Erik wanted to go to the army it only made sense. He turned, trying to be a smooth as possible to lessen the pain Erik would endure. He raced inland and past piles of bones that were the victims of Silva's Exorism spell. He wasn't long after that they saw the human army pursuing an exhausted Silva. The dragons and Anbhas were gone, probably already heading towards the mainland.
Silva's sprint had led her to a cliff side, she was willing to bet there were caves in some part of the mountain side. Except with her terrible luck she had hit a sheer face and found herself with no way out. Even if she tried it, she knew the inexhaustible dead would have her sooner then she could escape. "At least Erik is safe from you all and the end of this bloodline means the end of those he can harm!" She pulled together her magic and kept fighting, backing up until the ranks closed and she was against the rock.
Quel didn't know what Erik had in mind, what ever it was he hoped it was something really, really good. Erik had the Cron's speed in his favour at least until they hit the sea, where it was likely the undead would grab them and drown them or Erik's wounds would kill him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:47 pm
As soon as the Cron started running, Erik summoned his fire. "I sure hope you're fireproof," he muttered under his breath as he burst into flames. Theoretically, he could control what burned, but that was just theory. He didn't know for sure.
Anyway, as soon as he spotted Silva , Erik let loose with a savage barrage of fireballs. These weren't your usual run of the mill fireballs. No, these were super fireballs that exploded on impact.
The fireballs rained down upon the undead army, exploding violently and with extreme neutrality, decimating both zombified soldier and landscape. Erik was careful, however, to aim the fireballs so that they didn't harm Silva.
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:15 pm
After being pelted with bone and dirt a few times Silva backed hard against the cliff face, trying her best to stay out of his way and kill whatever he missed. The undead didn't have a change against Erik's fire, not these ones at least. The Cron meanwhile stood perfectly still, seemingly not bothered by the rain of fire that was occurring. He only snorted a little when Silva got pelted by debris. Eventually there was nothing left except charred landscape, cremated bones and a few small fires.
The decimation around her was nothing compared to the magnitude of Erik's injuries. She couldn't even believe he was riding Quel to being with, never mind showing up to save her hide once again. She wondered what had happened to him, though she felt deep down his wounds were probably her fault. Since nothing looked like it was about to move anytime soon, she hurried over and began to dig around in the bag that was on Quel's neck.
"I know I shouldn't have snapped at you. You were only trying to protect me from myself, I just didn't see that at the time. Quel isn't out to get us, he's out to help us. Mother saved the Crons that Grandmother imprisoned as her servants. So one of them will always serve the Terenas family, expect I wasn't there so he had to swim here and find us. He knew we had Kahil so he didn't feel he was needed. When Kahil got hurt, he decided to show himself." She was starting to panic, surely the staffs had been repacked in the new bag? She kept digging frantically and coming up empty.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 2:10 pm
Erik mumbled something incoherently, before sliding off of the Cron and landing on his dislocated left arm, dislocating it even more. Let's just say he could now scratch that place on his back that he couldn't reach. He was still conscious, just barely, and he did feel all the pain throb through his body, but he couldn't do much about it. It had taken everything he had to stay on the Cron and launch his flaming assault after he fell off the cliffs, and now the only thing he could do was emit a strange gurgle every now and then and hope that she understood him.
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:33 pm
The only way you can help Erik is if you stop panicking like you are. You did pack them, they are in your cloak, you for some odd reason thought they might get scratched. You probably should never pack things drunk.Quel had taken a liking to Erik, likely because of his rescue of Silva. So he was attempting to help Erik as much as he could, though there wasn't a whole lot he could do. "Thank you!" She wondered why had not felt how solid the cloak had been from the start. Chalk that one up to panic.
"Quel I really need your help for this." The Cron understood what Silva meant and laid down beside Erik. Quel was not very warm but, he was solid and that was what Silva needed. She undid her cloak and pulled out the mend staff, trying to think of what to do to for him. Silva was absolutely terrified that she was going to lose Erik. He was in so much pain and gave everything he had to save her even after their fight. "Don't leave me Erik. Please." There was so much fear in her, she trembled as she healed the cut on his forehead.
You have to pull yourself together Mistress. You'll cause him more harm when you set his bones then good if you do not."I know Quel I'm trying too!" Silva countered, feeling sick just trying to heal his cracked ribs, the broken ones she would deal with after the gash in his back. Erik had been right about the rocks, there were a few jammed in there. "He's lost so much blood Quel..." She kept thinking of their fight, how their last time together had ended. Silva worked at the rocks, she couldn't heal him until they were out. Her hands were becoming soaked in his blood, making the rocks slippery.
She began to curse the rocks out, she didn't know if it really helped or just made her feel better. Either way, something changed about Silva. neither Silva or Erik had noticed Quel dropped his form and was possessing Silva, which was why she changed. Quel was using his magic to block Silva's emotions from getting the best of her. He knew if Silva didn't see Erik as Erik, then Erik would have a chance of survival. Her skills were there but she just couldn't use them effectively. Now she could and Quel almost pitied the human for the pain he suffered.
As Silva's mind was being partially controlled by Quel, things started happening much quicker; she got the rocks out, got the wounds closed, got his ribs back in place and healed. Then she sat him up against Quel's side, put his shoulder back together and probably with a lot of pain on Erik's part, reset his arm and healed it up. The whole process taking only a few minutes with Quel's control and Silva's knowledge and magic. This left the Cron tired and drained so he let her go and rested his head in the grass.
Silva shook her head, the last thing she remembered was Erik being wounded and dying and now he was all healed. This confused her but, she decided not to think about it. Instead she focused on Erik, covering him with her cloak. He needed rest, she knew it wasn't likely he was going to get it. She wondered what Valor was going to do, if he was going to do anything. Silva decided to make some tea, so she spent some time gathering wood and using her white fire to light it. There was a reason she used glass for water at times. Soon she had the bottle sitting in the fire and boiling. Her own fire did not harm her, so it didn't matter when she reached in and pulled it out adding the leaves and letting it rest.
She knew this whole mess was her fault; Erik's injuries, the army of undead, the slaughter that was going to unfold. Grado and Renais were weakened from the war, they were also full of dead. The Anbhas were going to raise those dead and set them upon the living. Every time a living fell, they would become one for the undead army. With Grado fallen, Renais would be swift after. With two countries of dead at the disposal of the Anbhas, graveyards in the other countries and so many living to slay, it was a lost battle. "So in the end, I was the one that murdered a nation..."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:00 pm
"If you're the one who murdered the nation, did you set that fire?" Erik croaked, giving her a weak smile. "Valor's overly excited about something, and he won't tell me what. Whenever I ask, he just tells me that his plan was successful and you and I aren't angry at each other anymore." His whole body felt exhausted, and, since he lost consciousness as soon as Silva started healing him, he didn't know about the Cron's possession. Valor did, but he felt it wise to not tell him at this time.
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:37 pm
"The one that set a quarter of the place on fire... No I cannot admit to that. Everything else... Is my fault though." She looked to him, glad to see he was still alive. "Well if the plan involved you riding Quel, charring all the undead, while might I add almost mortally wounded and then saving the damsel in distress, then it worked." She nodded, checking the tea before noticing the water ripple. "I think we are in trouble now."
Silva scrambled to her feet, looking around as Quel lifted his head up from the grass. "What is it Quel, its something big I can tell." Dragon. Don't use magic. "Right... Erik, what ever you do make sure Valor doesn't try anything stupid, dragons hate magic." Quel snorted, he wanted to be out of here, Crons and dragons did not get along. He did not, for the sake of the humans, use magic to disguise himself. It would only make the dragon more likely to roast them all. Silva's bottle was jumping up and down now, the ground trembling a little as the dragon appeared.
It was silver, about ten feet tall at the shoulder with golden eyes. It growled at the humans, revealing its long sharp fangs and few bones of something poking out. Everyone in this group reeked of magical taint. It snarled and threw back its head, ready to kill the intruders. "Wait!" Silva yelled at the dragon. "Please let me explain!" Surprisingly the dragon's jaws snapped shut as it lowered its head and sniffed Silva, who never wanted to be that near a dragon again, it's breath stank of death. Silva had no clue what to tell it. If anything could have surprised anyone it might have been Erik, Silva had not spoken a word of English; it was all Draconian.
"We sort of ended up here trying to stop the darkness that was going to harm our land. I admit I set it free on the continent and yes it was my fault the land burned. I am sorry about that, it had to be done to stop the undead." Silva didn't even know what the dragon wanted to hear. "So you Humans comes to our lands after we were driven from the mainland, then raise our dead to use against your own land?" The dragon's magic translated its speech for Erik, though there was clearly so much hate in its words that it was very obvious. "Then you bring the beast that helped her enslave our Prince? You have the nerve to even speak our language Necromancer? I smell the darkness in your veins Human, you cannot lie. You came for the sword in the runestone, you will bring about the end of time!"
It threw back its head and laughed. "I will let you live this time Human, because the faster your army slaughters the human race, the faster we will return to our rightful place on this continent. Once we rule this land again and return it to its rightful state, then our Prince will return to us. We have sensed him, he lives in you. The Humans wanted an Alliance with us, then when our King and Queen trusted you, they were slaughtered. We do not forgot and we do not forgive. Go, Humans, and end your pitiful race." It turned away, lumbering back into the distance and eventually disappearing out of sight.
"That is why Mance wanted us to come here, I understand now. He wanted me to set the undead army free so it would slaughter the humans. The dragons will have an easy time killing off the undead because they are controlled by Mance. With the humans and undead out of the way, the dragons will own this continent again. Mance must be the prince of the Dragonkin, I know that wasn't a pure blood dragon. So, he wins. Unless..." She looked back into the distance, knowing it could be their only hope in stopping this madness.
"I don't know what to do anymore Erik." She walked over and sat beside him, it had all gotten so out of hand. "Running, it sounds like such a great idea. Let somebody else save the world for once!" She was angry now, not at anyone, just everything. "You almost died, I was so scared I was going to lose you. Haven't we done enough? Is this what Silvia meant by the curse of the Terenas family, that we are doomed to always save the world because of Agwyn's attempt to destroy it? Is this our legacy, in order to save the world we must almost end it? So everything can always be traced back to us." She looked over to Erik, "it's always you getting hurt, even the people we care about must suffer our sins."
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:20 pm
Erik slowly stood, a bit wary of his balance. "All I know is that I'm very happy with my choice of spirits. Hearing what that Dragon just said would've spurred Justice to force me to join them, what with all the betrayal it spoke of," said, stretching. Stretching that quickly after standing up is ill advised, as the chances are good that the stretcher will feel light headed and fall. Luckily, Erik only felt light headed. Once the feeling went away, he turned back to Silva. "I'm curious about this Runesword it mentioned. Have any idea what it meant by that?"
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:00 pm
"It is a dark object, forged by Medivah for his love Agwyn by order of Morva, her father. Then when tested by Medivah, Mance's spirit took over Morva but, kept the human form. Agwyn then took the Runesword, it turned on its Mistress and she killed Medivah. With it in hand and her will broken by the murder of Medivah, Agwyn's legend was born. You know of her slaughter, how her daughter forged the only blade that could oppose it. Then they fought and it ended with both of them killed. However." Quel stopped and looked off into the distance.
"It should not be here, it should be back on Silva's homeland. The pair should never be separated, ever. One without the other is dangerous. It calls to Silva, for its Mistress is Silva. It knows her desires, her wishes. It will give her want she wants, the ultimate way to keep Erik safe; death. It will use her to murder you, then she will be exactly like Agwyn. I would not go near it Prince Erik. It knows what you are, it wants you dead and it will make sure it happens. Only Silva may wield it because of her blood and she would be wise to not."
"Mance after all, does still possess her. If you had not touched the Runestone, none of this mess would have even happened. The darkness within you is too great, even I can sense it. If you take it, you might as well hand yourself over to Mance. It is why he wanted you to find it, to free them, to finish the work Agwyn started." Quel looked over to Erik. "Guess who murdered those dragons? Agwyn's father Morva." Quel then went silent, leaving the decision to the humans.
"I think Quel might be right, I am not safe around that sword." She looked away from Erik. "Quel is correct, I saw myself turning this army on the world. I saw you trying to stop me, I killed you. I freed the dragons and led them to our nation, I watched the slaughter, I enjoyed it. Mance praised me and then when this wasteland was created we moved out for other nations and the world ran red. Nothing would ever hurt you because nothing was left. Then, the earthquake and the undead rose..." She got up and looked to Quel. "Where is the other sword?" "I assume the Spire. Back in your homeland." Silva knew it was too far away likely. "I have an idea if Erik trusts me." Silva looked to him, everything rested on him now.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:23 pm
Erik sighed, "when haven't I trusted you?" He asked, his hands on his hips. "Tell me your plan, and I'll help you anyway I can. Oh, and the whole Quel talking thing? It scares the hell out of me, to be honest. I'm not used to this whole 'magic talking horse' thing."
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Shale Darksnow Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:45 pm
"Cron, not horse. Just because I can look like such a common animal does not mean I am. I don't really care what he thinks but, can we find some food soon?"Silva had only been half listening only got the last sentience. "Do not be rude with Erik, don't forget he saved my life." Quel snorted but did not continue the conversation as Silva seemed deep in thought and then started digging about for the other staff.
"Here it is." She pulled out the warp staff and looked to Erik. "Those dragons will make landfall in probably an hour. I highly doubt Grado has enough mages left to stop them. Meanwhile, those other riders, I think they have dark magic, enough to raise armies of dead against you. Grado just went through a war, you have full graveyards just waiting to be summoned. Your homeland will need you and Valor in order to have a hope of holding out." She didn't like the thought of separating with Erik and just sending him off a war zone; it was a necessary evil.
"Quel and I will find the sister blade to the Runesword and then return to Magvel. The other countries must be warned of the coming danger, I don't expect them to help since Grado's previous actions were in war. Hopefully if they are warned then less people will die and be fodder for the enemy." It did seem like a good plan, though she was hesitant about Erik. It was against her nature to just send him off into danger like that. "A solid plan, if the 'magic talking horse' gets a say in it." Quel understood why the human was leery of him, almost everyone was.
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