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Vier-Dante-Brandt Captain
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 Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:37 pm
Azrael is forced through the gate of Al Aldora by her lover, Ix, and watches as the gate closes, leaving the fate of her best friend to the Aboleths.
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:07 am
We'll handle pre-gate conversation in gmail, and you can post that to this thread after we've dealt with that.
Regardless, Ix pulls you into the gate despite your attempts to resist. You see the image of Vier facing the 3 Aboleths begin to fade away, replaced by the murky panorama of warping familiar to you. But right as the image of your destination should be coming into perspective, you feel Ix disappear and everything goes dark.
For the first time in a very long while, you feel alone.
You're not sure if it's minutes or hours that pass, but you begin to feel as if you are in a wide open area, despite there not being anything to see. You don't feel vulnerable or open to attack like you usually would in this sort of situation, just small. Not much longer after that, you feel yourself being pulled upwards by some force. You begin to accelerate rapidly, and brace yourself for the impact you sense approaching. At the very moment when you are sure you should collide with some object, you are startled by both nothing happening, and everything happening at once.
You are pulled through a pillar of clouds, and suddenly everything is bright and you're no longer on even ground! The abrupt change in your surroundings causes you to lose your balance, probably not helped by the fact that you find yourself no longer on even ground. As if responding to your own thoughts, your cloak covers your head and arms while you manage to catch yourself from falling onto the ground.
After a few short moments you regain command of your faculties, and you see you have landed on a set of stairs. You see standing in front of you a pair of feet, wearing fine leather boots and metal greaves that shine like silver.
"Excuse me miss, are you all right?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:55 pm
The impact of...I guess you'd have to call it 'arriving' was startling, and I had to struggle to keep my balance. Какого черта had just happened?! Warping had never--
Everything came rushing back.
Vier.
Adriax, no. No, no, no.....
I'd known what I'd gathered to me and sent coursing at that hideous alter at Al Aldora, smashing it to powder and rending asunder the madness written on the walls. Such was the fear of a frightened child, and indeed that had been child's play.
For one that had started with nothing to lose, I'd lost too much, too many. And that thought called power, and lightning, and fire, and the deep and empty cold of blackest space. They answered, kept building up, and it felt fantastic. I wanted it, I wanted to tear apart every last hideous monster that had ever looked sideways at the people I cared about, and I wanted them to suffer, screaming, and die. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could make it happen. It'd be as easy as lying.
Too many.
No more.
...Cold
Somewhere in the back of my mind, something clicked, and the wild fires raging within me went suddenly still.
I straightened, fully cloaked, and looked the guardsman that had asked me a question full in the face. "No."
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:12 pm
As you regain the use of your senses, you can feel an immense magic in this place, far more than any you have ever sensed in Shazukar. In fact, the sensation is almost exactly like when you first came to that world. Your magic within feels dwarfed by the magic without...your own magic must have increased since you arrived there...
The guard in front of you looks like some kind of elf, but much taller than any elf you've ever seen. You hardly come up to his chest, and he's certainly not as frail as most elves you've seen. (come to think of it, he looks tough enough to take on Ix). Said guard is dressed in fine, ornamental armor, but certainly not gaudy or ostentatious, and is armed with a halberd of very fine quality. It looks like he's captain of the guard, or some similar position.
You both are standing on a large stairway, outdoors. The sky is clear blue, with the occasional pale white cloud floating across. You hear birds chirping, and the sounds of a busy town from down the stairs. This entire place has a very peaceful, and calm feel to it. (whether you choose to be peaceful or calm, is another matter).
The guard speaks to you further, and it seems as if he senses the amount of anger and magic building up in you.
"You seem to have arrived in a most unusual and unorthodox manner. If I may ask, who are you, and do you have any business here that we may assist you with?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 10:27 pm
I spoke carefully, my voice cold and measured. I could tell there was some sort of language barrier that was somehow being overcome, and I did not want to be misunderstood, gathering more power all the while.
"I am the far-flung sorceress of chaos, first of Darkstar of Cosmos, more recently of Anernon, capital of Malos of Shazukar. I am she that fought and slew Shardaxis, and many mindflayers, demons and aboleths besides. I am she that marked the arrival of the Elder Miraian in Shazukar. I have traversed realities, and will stand and watch as all of creation burns and time runs out. No space, no time, no one but me. I have walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I have fought wars, allied with gods, saved worlds, and banished the being that splintered reality. I have seen things that you wouldn't believe, and lost things that you will never understand. And I have just lost one too many, and I intend to get him back."
I didn't care who this guy or his compatriots were. I looked him square in the eye, and drew back my hood, my long white hair spilling out behind me, my normally hidden features starkly evident to all observers.
"I am Azrael Ravenwood, and I am going back to Al Aldora. Help me, or get out of my way."
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:14 pm
For a brief moment, you don't feel quite so small, and it seems as if you might be able to fit in this place. Not in a matter of finding a place, but in not being so insignificant.
The guard listens to your words, and you sense that he understands you on a much deeper level that you would normally expect.
Upon removing your hood, time momentarily stands still. The captain, and the few other guards look at you with expressions of awe and wonder.
"You must see The Queen" and with that, the captain takes your hand and runs up the stairway.
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:49 pm
I am who I am, and if it's not by Ix, I don't much care for being dragged around.
"Перемещениe." In a small flash of light, I was suddenly four feet above the guard, free of his grasp. I spoke another word, which seemed to echo somehow, and started to literally fly up the stairs on an arctic gale .
"I'm sure you can move faster than that." I stopped in midair, realizing I'd gotten ahead, and turned back to the guard. "And we'll move faster without you dragging me. Lead, I'll follow."
This Queen of his apparently could give me information. As much as the power that I was continuing to draw screamed under that still sheet of ice that had formed in my mind to be used, to take action and get back to Vier, the people here had offered me no threat, no obstacle. For what little time there was, I would be patient, glad that whatever I was, they understood I wasn't in the mood to stand around and chat.
перемещение = movement, displacement, transfer, motion, relocation, shift, "per-Emy-shen-ye"
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:44 pm
DM's note: No, you are not faster than the guard.
DM's other note: Some of these things are going to be short on description. This is because when Azrael goes back to Shazukar, she will be physically incapable of recalling or describing those details.
The guard runs at a breakneck speed up the stairs, towards a towering and majestic palace. You trail along, barely managing to keep up despite flying at a ludicrous speed yourself. You fly up to the open palace gates, and enter an opulent hall, lined with royal guards and brilliant tapestries. The guards seem puzzled to see their captain sprinting through the palace, but upon seeing you flying close behind begin to quickly talk among each other. As you come close to the end of the hall, the captain yells for the attending guards to open the door. Confused, but not about to question the orders of a superior, The guards pull open the heavy oaken doors.
Normally, this chamber would be a place of solemn waiting, where subjects and dignitaries wait for an audience with royalty. But today, the captain of the guard has caused a ruckus that Adriax would be proud of. The captain is in a heated argument with the two heavily plated guards at the doors leading to the royal court.
Amazed as Azrael may be, the captain is having an impassioned argument with the two other guards, with more furor than even she could have. Though you cannot understand what it is that the captain is saying (as much as you wish you could), the attention of all the occupants are on him. Before you are able to join in on the argument, (or before any of the occupants notice your presence) the captain shoves the two guards away and opens the doors.
Interrupting whatever business was being conducted, the captain runs towards the throne, upon which sit Queen Miraia and King Miras.
"I present The Violet Legion, Azrael of the Dark Star!"
The entire court goes dead quiet, and the captain steps aside for you to come forward.
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:03 pm
I flew into the throne room, and right on cue landed, dead center. I knew where I was--or at least had a pretty good idea. That they knew me here, I suppose, shouldn't have been quite that surprising.
And godlings or not, I don't care. I bow my head to no one. I stood, tall, proud, feeling the sun of this alien place pouring in through the windows on my face, and waited to be acknowledged by the Queen.
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:45 pm
A heavy quiet falls on the court. The only sound you hear is that of your own breathing, and you'd swear that everyone else is holding their breath.
After what seems like an eternity, Queen Miraia gracefully stands up from her throne. For a short second, she looks both at you and through you, as if trying to determine if you are in fact there and not something of the imagination. She then practically leaps off the dais and sprints halfway across the open court to where you stand, hugs you closely, and begins to cry quietly.
"...I didn't know if we'd ever see you* again..."
*DM note: plural you, not singular.
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 3:03 pm
I blinked in shock, my mind flooding with information. The Queen, the progenitor of the High Miraians, who'd witnessed The Shattering of the Worlds and the war between the Gods and Daemons, older and more powerful than reckoning and more glorious to behold than the stars, was hugging me, one of The Banished--was happy to see me, or at least one of my kind.
My anger swirled with shock, surprise, and humility as the meaning of where I was hit me. I was standing in the Castle of the Sun, in Zelanzia, and the Banishment of the inhabitants of Dark Star and the Dark Miraians was near an end.
Tentatively, feeling suddenly very small again, I hugged the goddess-in-training back, and managed to gruffly respond, "Well, it seems I've marked yet another event."
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 3:14 pm
You hear a deep chuckle coming from the Queen, as King Miras walks up to where you and Queen Miraia stand. King Miras looks like a towering, solid man who looks like everything a king should. (In some ways, he reminds you just a bit of Ix). He gives you and Queen Miraia a big bear of a hug and then gives the two of you a bit of space.
(Queen Miraia) "...did anyone else come with you?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 3:28 pm
I opened my mouth to respond, and fear suddenly slammed into the emotional whirlwind in my mind. I'd been able to shove it aside while concentrating on getting back to Vier, but the starkly empty space in my mind that I'd grown accustomed to Ix filling since the mark and it's spell had been formed at the floating castle, the sheer silence of it, was suddenly all I could think of.
"I....Ix...." I breathed, fear starting to make its way to panic. I looked up at the Queen, eyes wide. "We were going through a warp gate, trying to escape Al Aldora back on Shazukar. We had to leave Vier behind, and...we got separated in the tunnel. I don't know how it happened."
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:27 pm
The Queen seems to at least partially understand what has happened, though she seems sad that no one has come with you. For a few moments she and King Miras talk between each other, then Queen Miraia speaks to you again.
"Who is this Ix? Is he a companion of yours?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:30 pm
"He's my...." I shook my head, floundering for words. We'd finally gotten through our own and each other's heads that we were a little more okay with being stuck together for the rest of our lives during the final legs of the Shardaxis conflict, but somehow...the mark had just made it unnecessary for us to ever put words to it. We just knew. We'd been through so much, put each other through so much--victories, nightmares, long nights, life-threatening situations, the every-day, countless miles and adventures and dangers and moments and...
I looked back at Miraia, and knew the best way I could say it right now. "We may not have the eons, but he's my Miras." I paused, and decided I also wanted to emphasize something. "And Vier, the one we had to leave behind as we fled Al Aldora, is another companion and my dearest friend." I looked down, my magic and emotions playing havoc in my mind.
Where were they?
Then I remembered something the Queen had asked. "Why are you sad that I came alone?"
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