Re: Grey.

by Guest on Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:17 am

MrSebi sighed; this sucked, he had only recently joined TR, and a few days later he had found himself frozen in time. He figured that the anima spell that that magician dude had cast had reacted strangely with him, instead of de-freezing directly like everyone else; he had only started to thaw slowly. Granted, by now he was nearly unfrozen and (despite the fact that he was still a little stiff) perfectly fine.
He brought out his pencil and prepared to draw* a portal to the base when he heard a loud noise; looking overhead he saw dozens of large birds flying towards the base. Quickly, he climbed a tree to get a better view; it was amazing, a hundred and ninety-nine Doused Phoenixes and what seemed to be two people and an egg riding on one of them.
He heard a bang and saw a large flash appear far away and what seemed to be a figure falling from it. He began to run towards its location, when he was knocked back by an invisible force field. Recognizing the forest as Klasthe, he realized he could do nothing. He attempted to draw a new portal, however nothing happened. The force field seemed to have temporally jammed his pencil. Sighing, he began to slowly walk towards the base.

-Just my luck……….**

Anderson was walking briskly through the forest while reading his mission brief; the Organization had picked up on a portal to the Null Void being formed near here. Being the closest agent, he was the one dispatched to investigate and (if need be) destroy any Outsiders present. He put away the briefing and picked his book out of the satchel, it was a book from another dimension. Sadly most of the cover was burnt off, however he could tell it was a detective story by some written by some knight
He had read about ten pages when a loud screeching alerted him, looking towards the direction of the noise; he saw a hundreds of giant birds flying towards a direction.

-Heh, that can’t be good***

Anderson pulled out his swords out his sleeves and dashed down the road in the same direction as the birds.

-Hope nobody is hurt!

*literally, Mrsebi has the Pencil of Endless scribbles which can reshape reality; anything he draws in the air becomes real! (He is a DoodleMancer)
** Green Italics are what the character is thinking
*** Anderson has an Irish accent, nuff said

by Weena on Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:20 am

Gazing up at the sky through slitted eyelids, Weena realised that there were two people riding the largest of the Pheonixes, one male and one female. Squinting as hard as he could while his balance returned, he noticed that the male held an egg in his hand, meaning he could only be Hunter. But who his companion was he did not know, that is, until he saw that they were diving. They look like they're diving towards me, his addled brain tried to think, But why would they? It's not like they noticed me. Wait, I forgot, does teleportion create a flash? Honestly, I need to get myself together, my memory is failing like a- His next thoughts were extinguished as a gale force wind suddenly came crashing down on Klasthe, carrying him all the way across a clearing until a tree stopped his flight. Painfully. As the pain dimmed, he looked up to see only the most amazing sight.

Hunter and Juli themselves were riding the most magnificent bird he'd ever seen. It's a Doused Phoenix, he told himself. He'd read about them, but believed that they were merely a myth. Now one was flying above him, with another hundred or so circling above.

"Weena!" Hunter called, his voice somehow magnified above the roaring wind "What are you doing here? No, wait, what happened to to you?"
Using the last drops of his slowly regenerating power, Weena magnidied his voice to an audible tone. "It was... Grey. I only barely survived." He gasped in a breath, seemingly trying to foce it in. "I'm really weak now, my power is completely exhausted. Pretty soon, I fear I may pass out. I need to... get to the TR stronghold, and fast."
"Then perhaps we can take you there," Juli said, he voice soft yet loud, giving one the impression that many a thing has happened to her recently. Both sad and joyful things. Hunter turned to her, and they had a quick conversation inaudible to Weena's ears. They turned back again and Hunter spoke.
"Okay, we'll take you with us, though we need to hurry. I have a feeling that TR is in grave danger, and my Pheonixes are needed. Quickly, hop on Tritocry!"

Using his last vestiges of strength, Weena gathered his power and took an immense leap up on to Tritocry. As soon as he touched down, he collapsed, though Juli only just caught him.

"Gah, I can't... can't do anything but talk," Weena mumbled, his lips numb. "It was Grey... I only... just escaped. He had Charon and Shadow... I think he's planning... something... terrible. I can't do anything... about it any... way because I need... to power-charge soon."
"Power-charge?" Hunter asked, completely ignoring the meaning in what he just said.
"Meditate in the... manaverse. It restores my powers quickly, and I'm able to travel around... and help solve spiritual and... mana errors to the... extent of my... ability. My body will... also... provide a bridge... between here and the... manaverse, so if you want to recharge... as well, or find... something in there... feel free to use me."
"Hm," Juli muttered.
"Huh?" Hunter asked.
"Oh, nothing," she replied. "Oh look, we're here!"

***

After landing on the roof of the stronghold, Weena had been helped to an unnamed empty room where he sat down with his legs crossed. After setting up a basic protective charm over the room, Hunter and Juli had gone to do whatever they were doing, leaving Weena peacefully alone. He took a deep breath and his eyes flashed blue, signalling that his spirit had left his physical body and was wandering the manaverse.*

* Just to let you guys know, the complete and utter ultimate goal of a mana bender is to bring their physical body in to the manaverse. Achieving that, that mana bender will achieve immortality and powers beyond almost anything.

by Guest on Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:07 pm

MrSebi kept trudging through the forest as his mind went back to what had previously happened:

(Flashback)

MrSebi impales an orc as another one jumps towards him, ducking; he draws* a slash and has it cleave the second orc. The area is being torn to shreds as orcs are fighting other TR members; spells are flying in all directions. Swinging his katana; he slashes open another orcs chest, causing the orcs organs to burst out. Suddenly he notices a man in a suit teleport onto the battlefield. Sensing the danger; MrSebi draws a portal and steps through it, then everything goes blank.

(End flashback)

MrSebi gets knocked down into the mud as a figure runs at breakneck speed past him. Getting up, he frowns and starts chasing the figure.

-Ok, that’s it, IVE HAD ENOUGH!

*Mrsebi is a doodlemancer, he can draw things to life, and likewise, he has complete control over what the things he draws can do. As a downside however, his pencil sometimes reacts strangely with other spells, thus why he was trapped in the anima spell longer than the others. (PS: A slash in this case is simply a long sharp line)
** He can also change the size of his pencil at will
*** He can also erase things, I don’t think I need to explain things…..

by **Hunter Reckoning** on Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:13 am

After Hunter had taken Weena to a room, and sent Juliana to the roof to feed the birds flowers, Hunter decided to tell Vamp the news. He walked to his room, down the hall from the janitors closet. While Hunter was passing the Janitors closet, he opened the door, and saw a bit of blood was still on the door. The blood instantly went back into Hunter's mouth. When he went to Vamps room, he tried to pull open the door but it was locked. So Hunter walked over to the left a bit so he was facing the wall, and broke through it. When Vamp looked over surprised, he said something Hunter was not expecting. "THE DOOR IS A PUSH DOOR!" Vamp yelled. "Im glad to see you too!" Hunter mocked with a large grin on his face.

by **Juliana** on Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:34 am

Juliana had been perfectly happy to feed the magnificent phoenixes up on the roof. She stood there now, her skin silver-touched by the gentle moonlight, feeling her powers restoring themselves. Though she had been rested enough to wake when Hunter had killed himself, she was still not entirely back to her full potential. It was like discovering her powers had been in the first place, she thought idly; she had been steadily more aware of what was coming back, a sure sign in itself that her legend's instinct was being restored. A flicker of amusement crossed her mind as she recalled, with a Called warrior's perfect accuracy, all the hilarious misadventures that that same instinct had gotten her--and others--into. Being a legend wasn't ALL fun and games, but it was hardly all serious either...

Having finished her task, the girl opened the door leading back down into the fortress. She trotted down the stone staircase and was just a little ways into the hall when she heard the sound of breaking masonry. Hunter, she thought confidently. Only Hunter Reckoning would break down a wall inside the fortress when it was not otherwise in trouble, and she could tell by now that all was peaceful--or at least as peaceful as it ever got with such an eccentric group. At the moment she thought his name, however, she felt an electric jolt pass through her body. Instinct, and strong. She had to find Hunter. Given the fact that he had apparently just broken down a wall, she suspected it wouldn't be hard.

It wasn't; by serendipity the staircase she had come down was only a few turns away from Vamp's room. She arrived in time to see a massive hole in the wall, beyond which Vamp stood, yelling, "Yes, I'm happy to see you're alive, but you broke down my wall!"

Juli ignored the rest of the conversation, occupied with setting up a very subtle spell. It was limited by her own knowledge, but for this purpose it should be perfect. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them her vision was changed. Looking at a person was like looking at a light through a foggy window: Vamp appeared to be outlined in pale, foggy blue-gray, getting paler and foggier the further from his body she looked. Hunter was much more interesting to look at, which told volumes to the observer before she even identified the details in the difference. As she looked closer, she could see that Hunter was surrounded by ghostly, human shapes. Her heart began to beat faster as she focused harder and the details of the figures became more discernible. I know these people... could it be, could it possibly be--?!

Finally, all the ambiguity dropped from just one face, the most telling face of all. Yes! It was a girl's face, one that Juliana knew well, with blue eyes sparkling with laughter and blond hair traced with the slightest hints of brown. It's her.

Juli dropped the spell abruptly, her task done. She noticed that Vamp and Hunter were staring at her--was I really acting that strange? she wondered--and looked quickly into Hunter's face. Yes, now that she knew, she could see the little signs...

"Cousin!" she greeted him, startling him into skittering backwards a few steps.

"'Cousin?'" he repeated, utterly nonplussed. "Did you just call me 'cousin?'"

"Absolutely," the young healer assured her eighteenth cousin one hundred eighty-three times removed. "I just checked, to be sure... Hunter, you're my cousin."

Vamp and Hunter both looked fairly shocked. "How did you--" began Vamp.

"What do you--" Hunter began at the same time. They cut themselves off and glanced in one another's direction. "Never mind," Hunter finished.

Juliana took pity on them; it was fairly clear that they were both about to explode from all the questions she had just raised. "I was starting to wonder, since the things Hunter can do were so similar to the things I can do... I wondered if he was related to me. And there's this spell I know how to do, I can see a person's ancestors if I have an idea of what to look for. So I used it, and what I saw..." She knelt down and began drawing in the layer of masonry dust on the ground. A rough family tree began to emerge. "See, this is the Sundry family. Here's the original Legend generation," she explained, pointing to a row of three symbols. Hunter crouched next to her, looking on through what looked like shock. "Between these three, there were only two children..." She drew a line down from each of the first two symbols, and at the end of each drew another symbol. "Here's Taylor Sundry, son of Emily Sundry and Vance Tanner. I'm descended from him." She pointed to the circle she had placed at the end of the other line. "And here's Katherine Sundry, daughter of Jacob Sundry. As I've just found out, you're descended from her."

Hunter stared at the family tree in front of him. "Wasn't that a very long time ago, though? I mean, I thought for sure the legends were already old long ago... surely there are thousands of people descended from this group now."

Juliana shook her head solemnly. "You were an only child, weren't you?" she suggested.

"Well, yes," Hunter admitted. "How'd you know?"

"Because I've looked..." Juli began to explain. "I've done a thousand things to check. Due to a family tendency to die young and have very small families, there are almost none of us. I can say, fairly safely, that you are the only living descendant of Katherine Sundry. And that means that out of the whole world, there are exactly eight living descendants of those siblings five thousand years ago."

Hunter blinked owlishly, clearly having trouble making sense of all this. "I don't believe it..." he whispered hollowly.

"But you do," corrected Juli. "I can tell. You know perfectly well that I'm telling the truth; you just can't take it." She turned to leave, then stopped and looked at Vamp. "You, on the other hand... am I correct in saying that you consider this all to be a cruel trick I'm playing on an unfortunate and gullible little boy?"

Too taken aback to answer, Vamparagon merely nodded.

Juli laughed. "He's neither so gullible nor so little as you believe," she informed the clan leader rather flippantly, so that it could almost be taken for a joke. With that, she did turn, and marched down the hall towards her own room, where Risa was waiting for her.

When Juli entered the room, Risa looked up from where she had been sitting on Juli's bed, staring contemplatively down at her own body. "You think I'm ready?" the younger girl asked by way of greeting.

"Absolutely," Juli replied, striding over to the bed; Risa stood and walked over closer to the corpse on her own bed. Now they had almost changed places, Juli sitting on her own bed, Risa standing over hers. "You were ready a while ago; there was just no opportunity for you to try."

Risa's eyes lit up at the compliment, and she bent over her dead body with new confidence. Juli would be watching to ensure that nothing went too badly wrong, but neither of them expected that Risa would need the help.

The ex-assassin's spirit called a small orb of blue-gold light to her fingertips, and set to work.

by **Ryzaa** on Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:14 pm

(After the Battle of The Were-Worms)

Everyone watched tentatively as the physical form of Cial hunched over the unconscious body that was Ryzaa.
Nothing happened.
Ryzaa's Doomfire had burnt out.
Utterly and completely.
Ryzaa's usually deathly pale complexion had gone, leaving him fair.
His hair that had been vivid purple was now brunet.
His eyes had cleared from they're normally midnight blue to a more natural tone; not that the gathered crowd could tell, as he was unconscious.(*)
Silence.
"Get him to his room." Vamp ordered to the TR Members closest to him.
They quickly obliged and the ensemble slowly dispersed from the hall.

*Reference
*Reference #2 (from Charon)

~

(Events taking place here are in the hour before Hunter, Juli and Weena return. Ryzaa had been unconscious for about 3 days, with Risa dying the day of the Battle of The Worms, Hunter killing himself the following morning. The flight of Yolky taking all day, and all of the following day to get back with the other 118 Yolky's.)

Ryzaa awoke to once again find himself lying in his bed.
He got himself into a sitting position. He felt refreshed, like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders; yet somewhat weak.
He looked to the corner, the purple blue and the black shape were nowhere to be seen. He surveyed his surroundings as his vision cleared.
His jacket on the hook on the back of the door once again, his boots beside the bed, his belts on the rack by his desk. His duel flintlocks discarded on the desk yes again.
His eyes came to the window. The sight dazzled his eyes. What a beautiful sunset* over the mountains... he thought to himself; this was one of the reasons he had chosen a room in this wing of the Stronghold.
How long had he been out of it this time, he wondered.
He got up, collecting his belongings as he went.
He passed his weapons rack and paused.
Selecting his StarSword from the rack, he swung it a couple of times, feeling the perfect weight and balance in his grip, good old reliable StarSword, he thought.
He continued to the door, pulled on his jacket, opened to door and heard a muffled growl from under his bed. This shocked him momentarily, but he soon realized, he knew that sound.
A black head emerged from under the bed. It's scales** dazzling to look upon in the light of the sunset.
"What were you doing down there?" he asked in a crooning call.
Cecilia gave a happy grunt in greeting and trotted over to stand by his foot.
He bent and scooped her up in his arms, and left the room.

He decided he'd make his back back to the last place he remembered; the main hall.
He strode down the corridor, passing room after room, some abuzz with conversation, others not.
He made his way to the stairs. Beholding the empty hall before him.
"Where is everyone?" He asked no one in particular. Cecilia gave a grunt in answer.
The Stronghold doors were wide. "Maybe they're out there?" "Grunt" "Okay, lets go look."
He glided across the hall and out the massive door.
A crowd had gathered, staring towards the sky.
Fredrick was among them, he sidled over to him, placing Cecilia on the ground before his boots.
Fredrick grunted a greeting, but didn't shift his gaze, neither did anyone else.
Ryzaa now looked up and beheld a sight as never before.
Birds. Massive birds.
Eagles? he thought, but thought against it, they were too large to be eagles.
The bird at the head larger still; Golden, with massive ram hoods protruding from his skull.
Ryzaa thought that he could make out shapes of bodies mounted on the massive golden bird.
They were too far off yet for him to be sure, but they were coming in fast.

The birds were now close enough for Ryzaa to make out details, and numbers.
The first Rider upon the Golden bird was hooded, clad in green and holding an egg with legs. Hunter. Behind him sat a tall, brunette healer. Juli. And behind her, clad in white suit, with a hooded cloak and a massive broadsword sheathed on his back sat an exhausted looking Weena.

The birds were now overhead, they landed on the roof.
The gathered crowd outside the started to head that way.
Ryzaa followed at a distance, his zards close behind him, taking in the spectacle that he had just witnessed.
He made his way across the hall, up the stairs, through corridors, around to the second flight of stairs, up and around more corridors to the third flight*** that led up onto the roof.
He started up the flight, but stopped, as two members took a very exhausted-looking Weena down the flight and away to him room.
He was shortly followed by Hunter, who turned down the left-hand side of the corridor and disappeared.
Ryzaa waited a moment to see if he would be in anyone else's way as he ascended the staircase. When he decided he would not be, he went up.
Birds everywhere, members everywhere, Flaw was over to the side.
Ryzaa made his way there.
"Flawsie!" "Ryz?" "Yeah?" "You feeling okay?" Flaw seems concerned.
"Yeah why?" Ryzaa was puzzled.
"Maybe you should take a look in a mirror..." Flaw said.
"Later, what are these birds? Where's Pae? What's happening?"
"They're called 'Doused Phoenixes', that's all I know. Pae is asleep. We're standing here, that's what's happening."
"...Whatever, I'll go talk to Vam- wait what? Cacti can sleep?"
"Why not?" Flaw pouted.

Juli had been walking around tending to the Phoenixes when Ry had arrived on the roof.
She had now gone.
Ryzaa left Flaw and headed towards Vamp's room, noticing a gaping hole in
in the side of the wall, Vamp sitting on his bed, Hunter standing just inside the hole,
Juli standing just outside, bending over something Ryzaa could not make out.
Then Juli turned and walked past him. Not even looking at him, as if intent on what she was doing and where she was going.
Ryzaa moved over to the hole and peered in.
Vamp and Hunter looked confused. Then shook it off and greeted him.
"Ry! How are you feeling?" Vamp asked. "Hey Ry" said Hunter.
"Hey.. why is everyone asking that?" said Ry to Vamp.
"Look in the mirror," was Vamp's reply.
Ryzaa emerged into Vamps room through the hole in the wall.
Vamp muttered something about a 'push door' as he did so.
He moved over to Vamp's mirror.
"Oh..." he said at length, taking in the now brunet hair, fair complexion and bright blue eyes. "The doomfire burnt out.."
"We gathered as much, but is this permanent?" Vamp inquired.
"Yes Vamp, I told you the story when I came here.
"The curse has been lifted. If I want it back I have to go back."
Ryzaa now wore a dazed expression as one who was now in a dream.
But he soon snapped out of it.
"Hunter." he said. "What exactly are those birds?"
"They're Doused Phoenixes" he replied "they bring word of war, and are here to help."
"Vamp. I need to go. If war is coming I need to go see some friends."
"The zards? This should be good. Tell Vince I said hai."
"Will do, later Hunter."
With that he turned and left.

He met Flawsie again in the hall.
"Flaw?" "Ohai."
"What are you doing?" Ry asked.
"I'm going with you, to the forest at least. And so is Pae." said Flaw
"Alright then."
And so Ryzaa, Fredrick, Cecilia, Flaw and Pae went to the forest.

"So, besides the zards, why are we going to the forest?" asked Flawsie.
"Well..."

...Twelve years less two weeks from the day****...
Rayne was an adventurous child, born to Raymond and Serenity Durac.
He was also a very mischievous child, always ending up in some form of trouble.
By the age of four years, he had explored all of Greenguard.
By the age of six years, he had moved on to Arcangrove.
His parents had never let him near the border of Darkovia.

One cold winter morning he found himself exploring, deeper than he had ever gone into Arcangrove... and found himself in a dark wood, populated with trees shaped vaguely like humans.
A dark, glimmering frost covered every surface of the forest.
As he journeyed through the multitude of trees, he noticed numerous forms of disturbing wildlife.
As he trekked through this alien land, he began to notice deep purple stones that occasionally hung from the branches of the trees.
Eventually he stumbled upon an old dilapidated shack.
Ever the curious child, Rayne pushed open the heavy ashwood door and sauntered into the dark and forboding hut.

On entering he noticed many strange objects about him.
Most in the same dull purple as the stones he had seen in the forest.
A thick choking mist rolled in through the still-open door, swirling around him.
Rayne swiveled around to see a large cloaked figure emerging in the doorway.
A thick raspy voice filled the air.
"Greetings, young one. What brings you thither to my humble abode?"
Rayne turned and bolted away from the strange apparition, only to find it had appeared directly in front of him.
"Worry not, young one. You will now harvest the essence of doom***** for me, then you may leave and I will give you a great gift."
All Rayne could manage was a nod in terror.
"You will collect for me five of the essence of doom" the Mysterious Stranger continued.
"W-what is the essence of doom?" Rayne stammered.
"The essence comes in many forms. You see it in the purple stones that grow in my forest."
The mist swirled around Rayne once more, then darkness and he found himself standing outside of the hut.
"Well, better get those stones for the scary man" he said aloud.
Rayne set to work collecting the doom essence from the forest floor.
The essences were slimy to touch and he had a hard time picking them up.
When he had collected all five that were needed, he returned to the Mysterious Stranger's hut.

"Thank you, young one. That is all I needed, you may go now, but first, your gift!"
Black fire erupted from hands that now appeared from under the cloak.
The fire spread over to Rayne's body, engulfing him also.
"W-what is this?!" he screamed.
"Good, good. Feel the doom flow through you!"
Rayne's features began to change, his skin became deathly pale, his hair a vivid purple, the purple of the doom essence, his eyes fogged over and went a midnight blue, and he was burning. Burning with Doomfire.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAhahahaha." was the last Rayne ever heard of the Mysterious Stranger. His world had gone dark.

Rayne woke up. He was in Greenguard Forest once again, his home was a mile eastward, he knew. He got up slowly, and headed home. He was still burning.
He walked through the village, arriving at his house.
He rapped on the door and waited tentatively.
His father opened the door to enter him, but stopped.
The man stared down at his son, an appalled look on his face.
"What happened?" Raymond asked his deformed son.
"I was in Arcangrove, father," Rayne replied
"You went farther than usual, didn't you?" Raymond inquired.
"Yes father," said Rayne, downcast.
"Get out of my sight." Raymond closed the door.
It was opened again shortly after, by Serenity, his mother.
"Demon child, leave us, and never come back!" she too closed the door.
Rayne began to cry, and then he ran, to the northwest farther than he had ever gone before.
To the Darkovian border, through the gate and into the lands his parents had forbid him.
"Rayne Durac is no more. I will be Ryzaa now."

Ryzaa spent three years in Darkovia his learnt to control his curse.
The Doomfire was a great power, as the Mysterious Stranger had said.
It made him run faster, it made him jump higher, it made him stronger.
He learnt how to call on it and decease it at will, but burning, he was always burning.

At the age of nine years he left Darkovia, and traveled, the next seven years were when he met the zards, befriended and taught Felicity to speak Lorian, when she had sent her son (Fredrick) to adventure with him, when he had taught himself to weild a weapon and when he found his StarSword, when he met Flaw, Charon, Shadow, Juli, Winnie, many, many others and eventually Vamp.

The next two years he was a member in TR, and slowly rose to power over the other members. He learnt great leadership in this time.

...Present time, edge of Greenguard Forest...
"I haven't been that far into the forest in twelve years, Flaw." Ry said at length.
"I don't want to go back.. but twelve years of having the Doomfire burn within you does something to you. The curse has been lifted.."
"Well I guess I'll leave you too it," said Flaw.
"Goodbye Flawsie."

*Good time of day for a few Doused Phoenixes to fly over, don't you think? Especially that Golden one.
**Note: Zards are reptiles.
***The Stronghold as I picture it, is a massive building, but only three story.
****/backstory
*****The humanoid trees that Rayne saw as he explored the forest of doom are actually the spirits of the damned, rematerialized on earth to repent eternally. The cruelest of these spirits will occassionnally grow doom essence upon their branches

Thanks for helping me with the backstory, Charon
You're welcome. :3

by **Hunter Reckoning** on Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:32 am

Juli was walking up the stairs to check on Hunter who had talked to Vamp about the war. Hunter decided to see what else the Eagles wanted to tell him. When she got there she saw Hunter Leaning down near Tritocry, mumbling.

Hunter was talking to Tritocry.
We will lose the war, unless Ryzaa gets his doomfire back.
"I know that Tritocry, but you know something else dont you...."
*Sigh* Yes I do, we will need to call upon the Lesser beings for help....
"Shall I call them now?"
Yes
Hunter got up, and broke off one of Tritocry's horns with his eggbeater. The horn almost instantly grew back. Hunter walked to the edge of the castle roof, and then cracked an egg into the horn. Hunter then blew into the horn. Instead of the egg splashing out, a large golden soundwave came out, and washed over the forest, then the mountains far beyond. Hunter Was standing there, waiting, when a large silver sound wave came back, with a high pitched, ear breaking screech. And soon, what was left of the sun, was blocked out, by moving shapes. The members that were still in the main hall, walked back outside, and every eagle looked towards the horizon....at birds....millions of them.

by **Charon** on Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:11 pm

Actually, new rule. No reserving UNLESS you are currently writing it and will be finished within an hour or two. Otherwise it just slows down the pace. Others want to post, too!

CtS~

D:

by Weena on Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:32 pm

Wandering the Manaverse is an interesting thing. Feeling the soothing electricity of each mana particle passing through you, and the raw power in the air around you. Not to mention you get around by flying, which people hardly get to do in the universe. This was an exhilarating experience Weena had spent years getting used to, and now in his time of most desperate need, it was his Arctic flame. Figuratively speaking, of course. While his physical body regained its strength, he also had time to look around the Universe to see what's going on. Feeling a mass of powerful life forces around his physical body, he automatically assumed them to be Hunter's Doused Phoenix army. He sensed most of the TR members massed in the stronghold, having their own little adventures, and a few ducks in the moat.

He was just about to begin meditating when a sharp pain hit his chest in the physical world, immediately snapping his spirit back to his body. Opening his eyes, he saw a blade plunged in his chest, with Grey looming over his collapsed body. Blood poured out of his chest, and his world began to spin.

"You were always only a nuisance," Grey laughed, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

His breath leaving him, unable to alert anyone, Weena died.

by Kaotic on Sat Jan 30, 2010 3:34 pm

Green = EoM
Italic = Thinking

//: Memory/Flashback, Kaotic’s home forest, 10 years ago (Kaotic's age: 11)

All was happy in the little forestvillage, called Savangrer.
Kaotic counted out loud to thirty. “..28, 29, 30! Ready or not, here I come!” Kaotic ran off in search of his friends.

~^_^^~

Kaotic had searched everywhere and had found two of his three friends. There was beautiful sunset, with a lovely tangerine orange rolling over and seeming to merge with the clouds, giving a orange cloud effect.
Okay, he can only be hiding near the Wildtrees, near the border of Savangrer.
Kaotic made his way off to the Wildtrees*.

~^_^^~

Kaotic had reached the Wildtrees, he could tell because the trees bent in a weird way, as if they had been twisted with ease by a powerful being; the branches were mangled, yet still grew outwards, and the bark was a bluey brown, and on these trees the leaves do not grow on the trees, yet grow around them and float were normal leaves would grow.
The leaves were a magnificent emerald green, slightly transparent, and bounced the light off in different directions so they gave off a nice shine.
Kaotic was silently crawling through the eerily quite forest, the sunlight was fading away, and getting duller every moment.
I should make my way home soon, he must’ve already left.
Kaotic made his way around 3 of those weird trees, when he saw a trail of footsteps on the ground, just out of nowhere, and the footsteps had seemed to make the soil turn greyish.
Kaotic bent down and touched the soil, much to his surprise, it felt like smooth stone, but didn’t have the same granite feel to it.
Kaotic kept on venturing through the Wildtrees, assuring himself to keep away from the grey footsteps, but couldn’t stop following these obscure grey tracks.
As he ventured a little further, the trees started to become even grey on their usual bluey-brown bark, and even some of the beautiful emerald green leaves were losing their colour, looking like the colour had seeped out from within them.
Kaotic was having second thoughts on about following this track, seeming everything was almost grey, when he saw something that made his jaw drop, and a tear instantly come to his eye. It was his friend Ascray, the last friend he had not found.
Ascray had been hanged, the blood was slowly creeping down his nose, and proceeding out the left side of his mouth. Ascray’s eyes were rolled into the back of his head, and weren’t the usual white, but a light grey, mostly like the rest of his body: not the dark-tanned Ascray Kao knew, but a grey stony colour.
Kao raced up to Ascray, knowing it was too late already, but it comforted him to talk to him. “ASCRAY!” Kao yelled, weeping. “Ascray, please, what did you do to deserve this?”
Kao was suddenly lost for words as he laid his head on the limp body of his friend and began to cry uncontrollably.

~^_^^~

It was completely dark now, and he had to pull himself away from Ascray, whose clothes were now completely damp with tears.
Kao had a new hatred in his head, it burnt into his mind.
I will avenge Ascray, and kill mercilessly whoever did this to him.
Kao heard a crack in the trees, he didn’t even check, he just ran after these grey tracks, when he smelt something, something like smoke.
He looked up to see the moon, bright as ever, illuminate huge clouds of smoke.
Now with fear in his heart, and hate in his mind, he ran towards the safer parts of Savanagrer.

~^_^^~

The cloud was well heavy now, coughing as he ran, Kao could feel heat, not good.
He passed some of the last small trees, some of the leaves were burning, and the heat was now immense and the cloud so thick his vision was limited.
He threw away the last tree branches, ready to embrace the two great trees he lived in.. to be greeted with the sight of them already half burnt down, and everything around it burning.
Kao fell to his knees, tears in his eyes once again, but the heat was so strong the tears evaporated. Kaotic didn’t care anymore, he didn’t care if someone came behind him and killed him, in fact he would rather they did... he had just lost everyone and everything in his world... all he could think to do was run, so he ran towards the market road which lead to a great city known as Battleon.
Kao ran and ran, but the smoke was too thick, he was coughing severely now, even though the clouds were clearing as he ran, he felt the heaviness of his eyelids, and the dryness of his throat.
He pushed away some last branches and fell onto the hard gravel road, and let his head stay down, dizzy from the fall, he thought he could make out the outline of a white man with very red hair… holding a fish….
Great, so I get to die going insane…
And Kao let his eyelids fall, and one more cough, then there was black.

//: Klasthe, right before Kao Telejumps

The same hatred that filled his mind years ago, had now re-entered him.
It suddenly hit him, that the grey footsteps, the colour-seeped trees…
It was Grey.. Grey..
Kao thought to himself
I have a fight with grey as the rest of TR does…
As soon as Kao telejumped, he stopped straight away, he had already ran about 800 meters in 1 second.
Kao Pulled the Teletrial from the innermost part of his mind, and opened it up, and jumped right in, expecting to face a cold clammy cave, as he thought of Grey’s hideout, but he was wrong.
Kao fell face first into a soft soil, not a rocky surface.
He lifted his head up, it was just before dark, and he was surrounded by bewildering trees, like they were… bent
Can it be, the Willdtrees?
he stood up, and inspected a tree, it was grey, just like it was on that dreadful night, except it now looked dead, yet alive..
Weird
Those trees, look like the Klasthe forest
That's because it is Klasthe…
As Kao Was inspecting the tree, he heard footsteps treading on the soft soil, he hid behind the current tree and looked to side, just so slightly, and saw something that puzzled him, it was him self, but younger.. infact:
I’ve gone back in time!
Do you want to prevent what happened in the past, so this boy may have a better life?
How do you know..?
I bonded, I have your memories
Kao felt stupid, of course EoM knew, but EoM was right, even if he was fiddling with time, he wanted this boy, to live a better life.
Kao ran at a speed which showed he was use to the forest, he stopped for a second, Ascray was already dead, he could not change that, a tear formed in his eye, as he remember that moment, and passed it on, he must try stop Grey, so he ran again to Savangrer.

~^_^~

He emerged too see the two great trees under the twilight, neither were burn’t yet, so Grey must be doing something.
What would Grey do in a scene like this Kao thought to no-one, but was answered.
Well, he wouldn’t want to make a scene, he would head straight for the easiest way to settle this
Suddenly a horrific thought hit Kao
The Life Root..
The root gave the main supply the great trees needed, this would bring them both down in a matter of seconds, Kao ran at such a speed he was basically flying off the ground.
In a matter of seconds Kao had gotten to the protective barrier of the Life Root, the Elders of Savangrer had set this up to stop anything penetrating the Life Root after finding what purpose it had.
This barrier was like a twig to snap for Grey, Kao could already see a great grey hole in the middle of the barrier, thanks to this unusually bright moon.
He progressed his way towards the hole, and he entered, just to be hit with such a blast of greyness that he went flying about 50 odd meters until he hit a tree, which snapped.
Kao, winded, stood up in pain, and he looked down towards the Life Root… there was fire
I have failed.. to complete anything, than watch my home get destroyed again..
Kao sat back down again, letting his winded body to regain breath.
We best be going, its bad enough to be back in time
Kao went to the innermost corners of his brain in search of the Teletrail, found it, and proceeded to open it up, finding that he couldn’t, began to worry
If I can’t open this, I’ll be stuck in the past, forever
Are there any other Teletrails in this Forest?
Kao thought for a moment
Yes, Grey’s--but that is covered in fire…

* Wildtrees, a forest protected by magical powers, which only accepts Manabenders in, no-one knew this until it was found again and renamed Klasthe.

by Guest on Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:43 pm

MrSebi was breathing heavily; maybe attacking this guy had been a bad idea... Looking around he could see the area where they had fought. The ground was impaled by dozens of cuts, bayonet’s and sketch weapons. Turning back, he could see his opponent; the strange man seemed to be oblivious that he was fighting. That much was obvious, as he had leaned back against a tree and begun to read a book. MrSebi squeezed the hilt of his blade* so hard his hand began to bleed, he was near death and he had to escape. Standing there, he surveyed the strange man; a giant at over two meters in height, wearing a long grey coat and with messy blond hair. The man looked calm; MrSebi could not comprehend why…

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and doubled over. Looking down, he saw that he had been cut deeply near the Cardia*. He felt a coldness washed over him;it was simple, he was going into shock.
Darkness overcame him and as he fell to the ground he saw the man get up and walk towards him.

-Looks like this is the end, MrSebi mused as he blacked out.

Anderson got up and walked towards the young man lying on the ground. The young fool had attacked him on the road and forced him to fight, that was most irritating. Still the boy looked ragged, tired and delirious;-Clearly hallucinating thought Anderson.

Sighing, he pulled the boy over his shoulder and began to walk; there had to be a settlement in the area that should be able to take care of this fool. With any luck, maybe they could tell him why there were two hundred giant birds flying around the area as well.

MrSebi screamed and jerked up, only to be hit by a splitting pain and fall back clutching his stomach. Looking down, he saw that his wound had been bandaged, albeit rather poorly.
‘’Sorry about the poor job I did, I had to rush it so I could get you here in time’’ said a voice.
MrSebi looked to the side and saw the man sitting on a chair; that was also when he realized he was in his room at the base. The man got up, walked up to the bed and looked at MrSebi, ‘’There seems to be a commotion outside, can you walk?’’ he continued. MrSebi nodded and carefully got up, sadly his balance failed him and he fell towards the floor, fortunately the man caught him.
‘’Easy there, we don’t want you to rupture your stomach do we?’’ The man grinned, ‘’by the way, the names Anderson, Father Alexander Anderson*’’

Anderson helped the boy up the stairs and onto the roof. Looking around, he could see that there were already two people there; a man dressed in green with a hood and a female in pink robes.
Staring into the distance, he saw the horizon was slowly becoming obscured by millions of birds.
Anderson frowned; -What in the name of the lord is going on here?

*MrSebi has a sword, I’m still working on its details though, for now imagine he just has a normal katana
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardia
***I’ll let you guys guess what this guy does for a living =P
(PS: MrSebi is in his low 20's, Anderson is in his mid 40's, thought I should clear up the whole age thing!)

by Weena on Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:22 am

Weena's spirit drifted in the Manaverse, unable to control the direction on which he was heading, or events that were happening on Lore. Slain by his own sword, he was doomed to be taken to the final frontier of the manaverse; the place where all dead spirits go, undiscovered by any manabander in existence. And that's where I'm headed, he thought sadly to himself, I'd only just become an almost-fully fledged manabender, only to be swept away, a pawn in the big picture of things, and as Grey said, a nuisance. Perhaps I am a weakling, unable to do anything useful. And away he was swept...

A few hours later, his peaceful drifting to the afterlife/oblivion* was savagely interrupted when he was yanked off course at high speed. A blinding light immediately filled his eyes, and began growing at high speed. Instinct took over, and he covered his eyes...

***

Slowly opening his eyes, Weena quickly recovered his senses, especially sense of touch, or more accurately, sense of pain. Slowly lifting himself off the ground, he realised by numerous hints that he was no longer in the Manaverse (which would take too long explaining all of them). Lifting his aching body off the ground, he realised that his chest wasn't bleeding, however, he could feel a large scar above his heart. Looking at his surroundings he noticed that he was in an old temple, a plant infestation seemingly glued to all the cracks of the ruins. This is a manabender temple, Weena thought to himself. This must've once been a thriving civilisation, completely destroyed. And... and... I'm one of the few descendants. This place must've detected me and... brought me here. I think I'm supposed to do something, but what?

Seemingly in answer to him, a large beam of swirling colours engulfed him, yet not harming him. Weena was lifted in to the air, the colours dancing around him. Then suddenly they disappeared, and he plummeted to the ground. When he stood up again, his eyes seemed to be flaming blue underneath his hood. Brushing the dust off his pants, he knew what he had to do.

"Let's do this," he said, and he suddenly did what hundreds of generations of manabanders had tried to do - brought his physical body into the Manaverse.

***

A few hours later he had travelled all the way back to the TR stronghold through the manaverse. By now it was already midday, and most TR members were on the stronghold roof, though it seemed appropriate to appear in his room.

Gasping in a breath, Weena noticed that his sword was still stuck in the ground at its point, dried blood all over it. Materialising in the Universe, he slowly stepped up to his blade. Feeling as though he was experiencing what was commonly referred to as a "sword-from-the-stone" moment, he grabbed his sword with both hands and pulled. Blue sparks suddenly engulfed his blade, and for a second it felt red-hot. Shielding his eyes from the light, he felt his sword shake violently, making holding on to it a problem. Then suddenly it stopped, and Weena uncovered his eyes, though had to rub them to believe what he saw.

All the blood had disappeared from it and it looked as shiny as ever, though that was the least of the changes. His golden crossguard had transformed into a golden W of the same basic design, and it was at least ten centimetres longer, yet somehow lighter in his hand. Breathing in, he knew what had happen. He'd bonded with his sword. Though he was unable to speak with it--unlike Kao, who was more of a spiritual manabender--there were still benefits to it. His sword would now only work for him, preventing people like Grey using it against him. It's power also magnified while he was using it, though in other people's hands, it would only work normally. Any other benefits were (currently) unknown to him.

With a new grin on his face, Weena sheathed his blade and ran to the Stronghold roof.

*He actually has no idea what happens to spirits.

by **Juliana** on Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:30 am

"There!"

Risa opened her eyes and breathed for the first time in three days. Juli stood up, smiling, to take her apprentice's now-living hand.

"Congratulations, Risa," Juli told the younger girl. "You just resurrected yourself. That's hardly a small thing in and of itself, and for one of us..." Her eyes unfocused slightly. "You're now as fully immortal as you are ever likely to be." Looking straight at Risa again, she helped her niece to stand.

The two girls opened the door and stepped out into the hall. It was almost deserted, except for one white-clad some way down the hall and coming their way. As he approached, they discerned that it was Weena.

"So you're done recharging?" Juli inquired by way of greeting. Risa's resurrection had taken several hours, due to the confluence of the onetime assassin's meticulous nature and the caution of nervous inexperience. Even knowing as little as she did about mana benders, the young healer thought that such a space of time would be sufficient to restore such a person's faculties to a reasonable level.

Weena looked a bit confused for a moment; then his face cleared and he nodded. "I'm done power-charging. Actually, Grey showed up right as I was starting."

Juli frowned. "You met Grey in the manaverse again?"

"No--Grey came into the Stronghold, to kill me."

Both girls gasped. Even with the pointed de-emphasis their family culture placed on death, the import of this was huge. Grey had entered the Regulars' stronghold? Grey had intended to kill Weena? "So what happened?"

Weena's hand drifted towards his own chest in what looked like an unconscious motion. "He stabbed me with my own sword, pulled me out of the manaverse, and told me I was nothing more than a nuisance." He noticed that his hand was pressed to a point on his chest just above his heart, and quickly folded his fingers behind his back. "Then I died."

Risa stepped forward, literally out of Juli's shadow, for the first time since seeing Weena. He jumped, clearly having missed seeing her before that point. "So how'd you come back?" she asked, emphasizing the "you" just slightly.

Weena related the rest of his strange experience. At the conclusion of it, Risa and Juli were both smiling mysteriously. "So you just became immortal," Juli noted conversationally.

"That's right..."

"Same here!" Risa enthused, much to Weena's shock. "Well, I've been immortal for awhile, but now I can live forever on my own!"

Juli smiled indulgently at her apprentice, reduced by the prospect of growing very, very old to acting very, very young. Well, the girl hadn't really ever gotten a true childhood...

"So where is everyone?" Risa wondered.

"The roof," Weena replied immediately. Noticing that both girls were staring at him, he explained, "I figured out where they were, coming in here."

That thus settled, they all proceeded up to the roof.

by Gurpus on Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:30 pm

For months I have been asleep. A sleep that I never thought I would wake from. Well it isn't really a sleep, I've been frozen in a cave up in the Northlands for about 5 months now. All I can do is dream. Dream a never ending dream.

"They say that there is a man frozen in one of these caves."
"That's just a story."
"No, I swear it's true!"
"Hey wait, what's that in that cave?"
"It must be the frozen man."
"Oh my God! It is!"
"Quick cast a fire ball on the ice so we can free him!"
*sizzle*

I suddenely opened my eyes for the first time in 5 months and saw two men infront of me. I didn't know who they were but something told me I shouldn't trust them. I picked up my blunderbuss and shot both of them. They fell to the ground and made a loud echo throughout the cave. I looted their bodies for anything that I could use. After putting on their warm clothes I rushed outside and yelled out,
"IM BACK WORLD! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!" and with those words I teleported to the town of Battleon.

by Weena on Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:59 pm

Walking slowly and calmly for what seemed to be the first time in his life, Weena followed Juli and Risa up the stairs to the roof, as he never really did know how to get there (not including flying, jumping form tower to tower, teleporting, or castle-climbing). When they got there, most of the TR members seemed to be standing in front of Hunter, who was trying to explain the urgency of the situation, but without much success. Weena decided to stand at the back, however, Juli merely parted the crowd with Risa following eagerly. Hunter and most of the crowd hadn't noticed the new arrivals yet, and Weena realised exactly how disorganised it was (he immediately assumed no Mods nor Vamp were present).

"Guys, listen! Tritocry here and-"
"Why don't you answer our questions first?!"
"Well, I would, if you asked one at a-"
"I thought you killed yourself!"
"Yeah, maybe this is a hoax just like your supposed death."
"No, I'm serious! There's a war coming and-"
"Yeah, and I'm Mary Poppins."

After that, the crowd erupted in to loud jeers and shouts. Weena was about to step in, when he realised Juli basically already had done it.

"QUIET!" Her voice even scared the birds resting on a nearby tower in to fluttering away. Silence fell. "Now if you'd excuse me, Hunter has a few things to say."
"Yeah!" someone in the crowd shouted, "Like why he faked his own death!"
"He didn't," Juli said, walking up next to Hunter, with Risa following soundlessly. "You might recall, I walked into the hall three days ago with his body in my arms and his blood all over my clothes. I assure you, that was no hoax! Hunter DID kill himself, but he did it for a good reason. You see, he's actually hundreds of years old, and been through that experience, ah, 119 times, I think?" She glanced sideways at Hunter, who seemed extremely relieved. "Apparently he needs to sacrifice himself for Yolky to be hatched, revealing a magnificent bird within. They're called Doused Phoenixes, and they bring word of war."
Hunter stepped forward. "Grey's army is mobilising, and we must do all we can to fight back and rescue Charon and Shadow, who our good friend Weena here helped find out for us." Faces turned, and Weena nodded humbly.
Risa took the initiative. "For TR!" she shouted, raising her fist in the air. The crowd bellowed the same.