The 12 Realms Story (All Characters Slots Taken)

[Nepycros]

Chapter 38

Memento of the Fallen

  Was I the only normal person here? We have two people with split personalities, and one other with a pet bird on his shoulder that apparently has lost all his memories. If I didn’t find someone else who was normal, I was going to lose it. Nonetheless, if it weren’t for these lunatics, I’d be in some cell, smoldering and crispy. I decided I’d hang with them, mostly because I wasn’t interested in going back any of the ways I came. The Life Village, then that village of insane freaks bent on taking away my powers, then that crazy axe-wielder who was fighting Zblader. Well, at least meeting this ‘Lucien’ wasn’t a total waste… I was going to hold off on heading to my rendezvous until I got answers.

  About two hours after the Flayne incident, things were beginning to calm down. Fortunately, those madmen at the village hadn’t taken my traveling sack, which was filled with the powers of Void. It was capable of carrying several hundred times its size in camping material, and weighed almost nothing. Tents, a mealsack, you name it, I had it..
 
  The fire had died and left behind small flickers of light, and the darkness was settling in, the trees whispering around us in time with the flow of the wind. The rest had begun to turn in for the night. After an interrogation, I finally understood that Lyra wasn’t really a person at all. If I had to diagnose it, I’d say Zblader was just lonely and decided to make himself a new personality. Same for EmeraldTiger. Of course, he did get zapped pretty hard back in that cell. I suppose he was just so shocked, he tried to avoid it. But why, in the name of all things existing, would BOTH of the ‘Marks’ be female?! I was just getting a little scared hanging around them. Lyra was a Light mark, and EmeraldTiger’s mark was called ‘Laureth’al,’ apparently an Aether mark. I suppose Emerald’s condition wasn’t totally in his mind. He definitely wasn’t supposed to have claws jutting from his knuckles. Of course, it’s an understatement to say that I wasn’t interested in their ‘conditions’. And then there was Flayne. He’s obviously someone who works with death. Either he’s an elemental, or a mortician. Apparently, it doesn’t matter WHAT he is, since he can’t remember anything. The only thing I know about him is that a bird that hangs on his shoulder, Condor, was capable of turning into a poisonous blade. I was going to make sure that fowl had more steak in the future.

  Finally, it seemed everyone was asleep. The only sounds were the occasional intakes of breath, and the chatter of various wildlife parading around just outside my field of vision. I got up, reached for my things, walked a few feet away from the makeshift camp, and went to work. If I didn’t get a weapon of my own soon, I was done for.

  I sat, and began focusing my energy into my left hand, and picked up the crude slab of metal that was once lethal enough to end Zblader’s life with one blow. I channeled all my willpower into the steel, and, indeed, willed it into the shape I desired. This was going to take most of the night. Fortunately, I had gotten more than enough sleep in the past few days, let alone the past few decades which I spent mostly resting back home. I turned my attention back to my work at the last second, realizing I had lost my grip on my energy, and it was getting too powerful. Blast! I thought, The others will notice. Black energy was seeping out around me. I cursed myself for being so unable to focus. I decided that idle thoughts of home would wait until I could actually spare the time for it. I absorbed the dark powers back into my palm, and continued reshaping the axehead, until it had roughly three of the five prongs I had made my goal. The steel was just starting to fade from gray to black when I heard the all-too obnoxious voice of Zblader, whispering, “Just what in heaven are you doing, Nepycros?!” Despite it being a whisper, it was quite obvious that he was just a step away from shouting. I turned away from my project, futilely trying to conceal it from Zblader’s searching eyes.
  “Trying to focus,” I replied. “Now, what happens to bring you here?”
  “I was sleeping here, you idiot,” he snapped. “Lyra noticed something strange going on, so I had to get up to investigate. And here I find you.”
  “And found me you have. I suppose nothing’s worth hiding anymore.” I showed him my work, and his eyes widened, for, despite my changes to it, the design of Lucien’s axe was still very much apparent.

  In the blink of an eye, his sword tip was at my throat. The look in his eyes were as cold as the Void itself, and I actually began to feel nervous. I rose and backed away slowly, my supposedly friendly companion keeping his blade within thrusting reach of my neck. His eyes narrowed, and his voice came out slowly, through gritted teeth. “And WHY do you have this axe?”
  “Well, it’s not like he’ll need it. I was going to turn this barbarian tool into a useful weapon,” I answered sheepishly.
  “How DARE you take this! It should go on Lucien’s grave. Of course, the likes of YOU couldn’t possibly understand. I guess it’s in your nature to not give a damn!”
  “I’m the one who should be respecting Lucien’s grave? Says the very person who put him there!” I retorted. This caused a chain reaction. His eyes widened even wider than it had before, his hand shook, and he dropped his sword, giving me the opportunity to skirt around him and pick up the axe head. I felt empowered, and continued with, “That’s right. You put him there, so I don’t think you have the right to tell me what to do with the very weapon you swung at with murder in your heart!” This made him shake even more. I couldn’t help but smirk at the remorse in his eyes. I was about to continue calling him murderer, when I was cut off. “ENOUGH!” Zblader roared. I was so shocked, I leapt backwards, and it was decidedly the right choice, because the spot where I had been became enveloped in a pure white light, powerful enough to illuminate half of the forest. Being a being of Darkness, it’s an understatement to say that I was totally helpless. I fell backwards, eyes stinging, and by the time I had recovered, it had been almost five minutes.

  I looked up at Zblader, who seemed to have been petrified with rage. He simply stood over me, his sword precariously perched over my heart. He was holding the tip with his thumb and forefinger, ready to drop it and skewer me. This was a madman’s way of killing, and I knew the slightest remark against him would result in one shade’s very untimely end. We stayed in that position for the longest time. Even the noises in the forest seemed more distant than before. It all depended on what was going on in Zblader’s heart, and whatever he was doing while talking to this ‘Lyra’. The pause was getting larger and larger, and as I thought I was about to be spared, he released the sword, and time seemed to slow down for me. Each second became a day, and I knew that Zblader had chosen he’d rather have more blood on his hands than travel with me. I braced myself for the ensuing pain. Three inches, two inches, one… it broke the skin, and traveled into my heart, shredding the tissues like paper. The sound was sickening, like metal scraping against stone where the sword brushed my ribs. The pain was excruciating. I spasmed, knowing the darkness that claims the eyes of all the living would soon cover my own…

  Then everything came back into focus, and there was Zblader, sword in his hilt, looking at me like I was scum of the world. I looked at my chest, expecting to see a gaping and fatal wound, but found no wounds. I was so confused, it took me a moment to realize there was a voice in my head.

  That was a very unpleasant thing to say, boomed into my mind. It was a female ‘voice’. I knew I was insane now. You aren’t insane, Nepycros. Just a fool. I’m Lyra. You hurt his feelings, so I projected an image of your death to you, just so you realize how he feels. I was so shocked, I couldn’t make a reply. I could only stutter incoherently. Know this. He did not kill Lucien. It was me. I possessed him, and took his friend’s life without a second thought. If you are to blame anyone, blame me, but I will not have you torment him for something out of his control. I finally found the will to respond, simply gasping out, “I-I am s-sorry.” Not accepted, but I’m willing to give you another chance. It’s not my concern what you do with Lucien’s axe, but please, don’t do it simply to hurt Zblader. He has enough to worry about. I nodded, and stood slowly, looking Zblader in the eye. I had never been so shocked in my life. All I could say was, “So, it’s not your fault. That’s all right, but I need that axe. If I can’t get a weapon, I can’t possibly hope to survive in this world.” He simply stared back, then, although it wasn’t even what I would consider a movement, his head nodded once, and he turned away, heading back to camp. I stood there, contemplating this new information. Marks weren’t just imaginary friends. They were dangerous. I needed to get back to my rendezvous, no matter my interest in the plight of my companions. I went back to work.

  Morning came so much later than I wanted. Time seemed to continue to stretch on forever. Finally, however, the sun rose, and my weapon had been born from Lucien’s legacy. It was a five-pronged wrist blade, a custom in my village. It attached firmly onto my left wrist, a potential doom to anyone within my reach. Most importantly, it was infused with my powers and my very essence. It could collapse into my very body, absolutely undetectable, but able to be brought into battle on a moment’s notice. I called it Memento, to commemorate Zblader’s fallen comrade. A Memento of the fallen.


  The others woke quickly, and the first thing that notified me of this was a sharp pain in my side. I turned to see Condor, looking at me expectantly. I sighed, and walked back to camp, to give the blasted bird its steak. This trip might cost me my sanity, I reflected darkly. At least I’ll have a decent story to tell…

  EmeraldTiger soon woke and crossed over to where I was digging through our mealsack for steak. The first thing out of his mouth was, “I see you got a new weapon. How’d you get it?” I stood up sharply, and turned to face him. His face was void of any signs that he knew of the events of last night, but I decided to probe further.
  “How do you know about my weapon?” I inquired.
  “I’ll answer your question when you answer mine.”
  I sighed. No point hiding it. “I took Lucien’s axe,” I said mechanically. Emerald took a step back in shock, but I decided I had to continue. “I transformed it into my new weapon. In most of the other realms, this ability is called ‘tainting’. Surely you’ve heard of it?” He nodded slowly. “Well, I tainted Lucien’s axe into Memento. End of story. Now, answer my question,” I demanded.

  He got back his self-control and replied, “I can see it plain as day. Laureth’al gave me these weird claws and the ability to see things for what they are.” This time, I took a step back. Visions of death, claws made of energy, and the ability to see through my own skin? Apparently, telepathy was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to these strange beings.

  I nodded to Flayne as he got up. To my surprise, Condor was back on his shoulder, as though he had never left. I sifted through the mealsack again, and this time, got the raw steak I knew Condor would steal from my grasp in the blink of an eye. He wasn’t a bird to disappoint, and before I knew it, half the steak was already in Condor’s mouth, the gluttonous fowl already seated on Flayne’s shoulder again.

  “So, what happens when Zblader finds out?” EmeraldTiger asked me. I simply looked the other way and replied, “He knows.” Emerald raised his eyebrows, but said nothing else. He simply went to pack up his things and put them in the Void pack.

  Shortly after, Zblader approached us. He looked terrible. I couldn’t blame him, after all, since I was probably behind his problem. He glared at me for a moment, then, as I walked away, he started looking through the mealsack for his breakfast, moving rigidly, as though he wanted nothing more than to scare the living daylights out of the food itself. I decided that things would best be left alone until later, so I went back to my tent, and got back some of the sleep I had forsaken overnight. This was going to be a long trip.

[Flayne]

Chapter 39

Future Sight

Time, an essence that I believe allowed everything to exist.
Like a chrysalis, preventing anything from happening on the inside of its closed shell. Not giving any knowledge on whats on the outside. Finally, due in Time, It's hard closed shell is opened, and the contents fly away.
I see the butterfly, born to start its short life.
As I watched the butterfly's future from half way around this planet, I simultaneously watched the land from the fortress window. I see the sky, a massive hue of different colours, ever-changing their brilliant saturation.
I look down to see the golden walls and paths of my fortress. Lined with time elementals and Chronai* Soldiers, patrolling their designated areas. I turn around and go to the end of my room.
I uncover my Fate egg from its sheet.
I looked at it's brilliant unnatural shine. Such things were rare in deed.
It was said that out from a Fate egg, the very last thing you could expect coming out from it, is the very same thing that arises from it. An entertaining riddle, perhaps direct, perhaps indirect. I never knew if it was true or not.
But Fate eggs could never be tampered with, not even with time magic, it was actually immune to magical effects. so far, this one is the only one we've ever had. But the interesting thing about a Fate egg, was that its future or past can never be seen, no matter the greatness of the ability to see such things, it was impossible.
A Fate egg, was the only thing that exceeded my power of future sight.
But in an instant, that changed forever...
Suddenly, as my vision was focused on another *Time frame, I saw something further in the future.
The skies were dark and lacking their colours, and there was blood spilt on the earth.
I saw several people, all together, demonstrating some kind of power that disinguished themselves from anything i've seen in my long years.
I saw each of their faces, struck with different emotions.
I sought to look further, but something strange and surprising happened.
All I saw were dark clouds or fog, I saw nothing else. Then I realized...
I was being blocked...
I couldn't see anything else beyond that point.
I thought "Impossible! This has never happened before! How am I being blocked?"
I concentrated harder, an image was appearing through the clouds, I could bearly see...A woman.
Then the fog blocked my vision again.
I knew from that, someone was blocking me from across this planet.
As ridiculous as it sounded, I couldn't deny it.
For the first time in a millenia; someone had the power to block my vision, no matter which ethereal time frame I was looking through, it could block the things it didn´t want me to see. It was absurd.
The only kind of person that can do such things is another Time elemental. But a Traitor? From across the planet?
Exceeding my Time powers?
I highly doubted it, but I considered it aswell.
In the past, such things happening to a presciendent ancient, meant that bad things were to come.
I realized what happened in that moment, was to be given immediate attention.
I walked to the outside of my room, and ordered to one of the guards:

"Call the Elders and Captains and tell them to meet me in the Council Chamber"

The guard bowed "Yes my lord"

He took out a small speaker device, which had the the same frequency of that of a blow horn.
He walked to a room adjacent to mine, went to the balcony and announced:

"Attention all Elders and Captains, Lord Izan'os has requested your presence, report immediately to the Council Chamber"

After that, I began walking downstairs.
I rushed to the Council Chamber located in the lower center of the Time fortress.
I knew a secret passage towards there, which was imbued with Time magic, so that no one else but me and the Elders could see it using our time magic and abilities.
Within two minutes, I was there and given immediate passage to the room by the Time barrier.
There was a large golden table with our symbol in the center of it, at the end of the table was the highest seat, a throne, where I sat down. I waited for the Elders and Captains to appear. Within a minute they had all taken their respectful seats.
All eyes were on me, but for some reason, I wouldn´t commence speaking. I knew I had either forgotten something or had a previous thought. 
I thought for almost a minute, until I could suddenly hear a sound. It was a familiar sound.
Then I realized it was the sound of phasing. Someone was phasing here into the Council Chamber, and there was only one person who knew his way here.
Suddenly, I saw a flash of light, and a group of Elementals from the Aether realm whom I presumed were Elder elementals, had materialized out of nothing, all in a group. With the leader of Aether infront, Saphzar'al.
The Time Elder's and Captains looked alarmed and surprised.

"Greetings Saphzar'al, what brings you here in the Council Chamber?"

"Don´t tell me you've forgotten already Izan'os?
Only Three hundred years ago, you foresaw yourself holding a Council meeting here, and that I was to come.
Remember?"
Asked a surprised Saphzar'al.

I stopped to think, and then it hit me.
"Ah, yes, that makes sense, I had foresaw myself arranging this Council, apologies for my poor memory, please, make yourselves comfortable"

I laughed at my poor memory
Saphzar'al laughed and shook his head.
He and his group all sat down in the other seats that were adjacent to the chamber walls and next the table.

"Thank you for coming Saphzar'al and company"
he nodded.

"As you all know, I have called you due to a matter of great importance.
Recently, I looked to the nearby future, where I witness some strange events occuring.
I sought to look deeper into that future, but apparently...I was blocked from seeing it"

Gasps filled the room at what was said, even the Aether party looked shocked.
They all knew that my power to look through time, was indeed the greatest in all the Realm of Time, such implications were of course a great surprise to them.
A Time elder, rose from his seat and asked

"My lord, Are you sure it wasn't blocked, but perhaps just simply dark? I say so due to the Eclipse that took place 600 hundred years ago, which simply made everything pitch black, therefore causing difficulty to actually see in that plane of time in the future of that event"

Another elder shot straight up from his chair and pointed at the first elder.

"How dare you insult our leader!? His great and awesome power enables him to see the future even through the pitch darkness, as he has proven so in that exact event! Surely it must be something else!"

"Please! restrain yourselves, let me clarify this properly, please sit"

The two elders bowed and apologized for their interruptions, then sat down again.

"Now, I say I was blocked becaused I tried to focus harder on that particular vision.
Through the cloud, I could barely see what appeared to be a woman, then it blocked me indefinetly."

Everyone in the room was silent in wonder.

"But what brought my attention more so, was prior to the blocking.
I saw several individuals, all together in a single group. In the vision, they demonstrated some kind of power.
But this was a kind of power I have never seen in my very long years. I have taken all their faces into memory.
If you all focus your attention to the glass sphere at the back of the room, I shall project a repetetion of that part of the vision into it"

I waited until all eyes were on the glass sphere. The glass sphere was a device created by myself 200 years ago.
It would allow Time elementals to repeat their visions into it, making it easier to explain their visions, plans and such.
I concentrated, and repeated that part of the vision in the sphere. Making sure they all saw their faces.

"Does everyone have each individual's face in memory now?"

Everyone in the room confirmed.

"Good, In the past, around a millenia and a half ago, such an event occured to an ancient like myself. It was said that the only thing that meant was bad events in the near or far future. So, due to that, I was planning to take immediate action, however I would like to discuss this: What kind of actions should be taken?"

A Time captain stood up from his seat.

"My lord, for the first part of the action, I suggest finding and capturing each of these individuals.
Then we can interrogate them, to see what information we can gather"
He bowed and sat down.

Then Saphzar'al stood up.

"Izan'os, I believe we can help with such a mission, since we have the ability to shift in and out of dimensional planes and space. We can transport soldiers to seperate locations instantaneously. However, there is a possibility that at least some of these individuals may be located somewhere in the other Realms.
If that is the case, we cannot simply intrude in those Realms, it would be wrong and of course risky.
I suggest asking them to co-operate with our search on their own, rather than just ask them to search in their land, since I doubt they would allow us to do such things anyway"

He finished and sat down again.

"Thank you for your support Saphzar'al and excellent analysis on the situation, also I thank Captain Reen'os for his planning.
Does anyone have anything else to say before going further?"

No one said anything.

"Good, then I suggest we make preparations for the action immediately. Captain Reen'os is to prepare and lead the Chronai and elemental formations. He is to elect five other captains to support him with their assigned troops, in the search and capture mission. The rest of the Captains will remain here in the fortress with their assigned troops. Elders, you are to begin tracking these individuals through the time frame, retrace anything of the individuals your visions can see.
Saphzar'al, we will need you as soon as our troops are mobilized, will you be ready?"

"Of course, will be it necessary to add some of my soldiers aswell?"
asked Saphzar'al

"Yes, thank you Saphzar'al for your support in this, I appreciate it greatly, old friend"
Saphzar'al smiled
"Very well Izan'os, contact me as soon as your soldiers are ready"

I smiled back "I will.
Council Dismissed!"

Every one rose from their seat and went about with their assignments.
The Aether group phased out of the room.
And I began walking back to my room, I had alot of planning to do.
I just hope these individuals aren´t hostile, for their own sake.

to be continued...

 

*Chronai: Standard Soldiers of Time Realm, they have limited abilities using time magic.
spacing looks alot better on my computer. I have decided to add the 'Os consistent naming to Time realm. (let me know what you guys think on that).

*Time frame: a term used and mostly understood in the Time realm, which reffers to the path or literal time frame of where a time elemental travels and sees through the past or the future.
usually time frames would be more specific for example:
a time elemental sifts through the time frame of the year 1340 bc.
or when a time elemental sifts through the time frame of an event, eg:  "the Eclipse that occured 600 hundred years ago"
however if a group of time elementals are discussing a time frame, they just simply call it the "time frame" instead of constantly reffering it to its date and time, as is the case in this filler where they are all talking about a certain time frame (Izan'os blockage). when a time elemental of the group wants to reffer to a different time frame, thats when they specify the date and time or the event name, and then when someone wants to reffer to the same time plane, they just simply call it the "time frame" because the discussion is now based on that particular time frame. The time elementals are mostly organized in this fashion, they are very understanding and aware of which time frame is being reffered to in a conversation between a group of time elementals, the only other group that copes well in such discussions are the Aether elementals, since they are the allies of the Time realm and work efficiently with them.

Note/idea: A similar system could be adopted with the Aether realm using coordenates or such since they can easily phase to designated areas, with the time elementals having an understanding in such a system aswell.

[918273645]

Chapter 40

Surprises

I wake. Still half asleep, I hear the scream of a Graboid. That's funny. I thought Graboids stayed underground. It flies to the sky and I look up. There is a gaping hole in the dawn sky. Look what you've done. You are coming along quite nicely. Claire must have done this! I see the very trees of the forest uproot."Claire, what the hell have you done?" I scream aloud. Nothing. That was you. I start to panic. "How do I close the Black Hole?" You will it to. I think to myself 5 words in repeat: Shut down the black hole; Shut down the black hole. The black hole gets smaller and smaller until disappears completely. "How did I do that? My boy, did you think you were just a hired hand in the Gravity Kingdom? "Yes. What else am I supposed to be?" Claire sighs. What being could just close a fifth dimensional gateway? It dawns on me. Correct. You are a Gravity Elemental. That is why the Otyugh was attracted to you like a pair of magnets. That is why we were not affected by the intense gravity that the black hole radiated. "What else can I do?" I ask. Compact atoms until something is microscopic, attract your element's creatures, levitate, teleport through space and between dimensions. The Normal stuff.

Edit the rest in later

[ZephyrPhantom]

Side Story 3

Dreams

Zblader and Lyra
Time - Shortly after Zblader and Nepycros had the argument involving Lucien's Axe.

It was white and black, almost like a gameboard I used to see often.  I ran along the patterns, fleeing from the shape figures that hid from the white and twisted through the black. Soon, it was all white. I knew there was nowhere to run, and I was going to lose this fight.

But I also knew it was a nightmare, so I had no choice.

I drew my sword and slashed at the thinnest of the shades, who simply stepped aside and let the sole female dash at me and strike me down. As she held me down the thinnest one began to grow multiple tentacle - like appendages which shot towards me. I could only push the female off and roll away.

As I  breathed heavily on the ground, I heard footsteps. A figure stood at what seemed to be the edge of the field. She was not part of this dream.

"What are you doing here?" I shot towards Lyra.

Well, I noticed you were having a nightmare, so I decided to help you out a bit. You'll be sore regardless of how bad your dream is in the morning.

"And why are you doing this?"

Oh come on Blade, you've just seen one of best friends killed, had to endure a mental assault, and traveled into someone's mind and fought your first mental battle. I should at least help you out of a bad dream.

"And how?" I noticed one of the shades sneaking behind Lyra, his head twisted into a giant pair of jaws about to devour her. "Watch out!"


Don't worry.   White wings shot out from her back, clearing the landscape of all details and eradicating what had previously been 5 nightmares chasing in a futile fight. When the light cleared, I found myself in a lake surrounded by a forest. It seemed near silent, and I thought I was alone save for the silent chirps of the birds and the lights of the fireflies.

I looked up and saw a bright full moon reflected against the lake. I thought I was alone - until I noticed the figure standing on the other side of the lake.  She seemed to holding something - as I walked closer, I saw it was an instrument. It wasn't like anything I had seen before - she held the larger round end of her instrument with her chin and her shoulder and had the pointed end placed in her left. In her right hand she held a strange long rod, which had two protrusions extending from either end. There were many fine lines of spider silk stretched across the two protrusions, making it almost seem like there was one long solid thread over the two bumps, almost resembling a bow. As she drew this "bow" over the strings of the violin, a series of notes came out. She stumbled for a second, but then began a lovely melody, a song that came out in a series of sad tones. I found myself reflecting to the good times I had back when the Fluxi village was still standing... only to snap back and realize her melody had finished.

"That was beautiful."  I said.  "Were you a musician or something?"

Not really. I guess it was more of an "on the side" thing in my life. A hobby, as you would call it.

"Interesting."

You do realize that you'll still be sore in the morning right?

"Yeah, but at least, you've helped me." She simply smiled in response and we spent the rest of the dream listening to the wind blow through the trees.

Lyra was right - my right arm and leg almost felt like that they'd been hit by a Graviton Titan.  I tried to ignore everyone else and trudged over to my sack, only to find a note on top of my provisions.

Get more sleep next time.

"I would if you didn't disturb me so much." I grumbled inward at the writer. "And don't copy my sister."

She simply snickered. How did she do that anyway?!

[Flayne]

Chapter 41

Impact

I was getting even closer to the planet, I didn't know if I would survive the fall or not.
But I knew that there was nothing to do but wait, as the fingers of the wind rummaged through my body.
I had to admit though, the planet was quite beautiful from this view. I never thought I'd ever see such a thing in my life, I even saw these huge rocks floating past me and into the unknown abyss of space.

After a few minutes, I was within ten thousand meters to the ground.
The wind was frantically ripping through my garments, I could feel its cold yet hot touch on my face.
I was falling fast, I could barely open my eyes due to the wind force.
I opened them slightly and saw that I was barely a hundred feet away from the ground.
I tightly closed my eyes, waiting for the impact.

I blacked out.

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the sky, from whence I came.
It had a brilliant aurora of colors, changing its hues repetetively.
I looked a bit lower and saw a large wall of rock and dust.

I sat up, feeling my entire body cracking, my clothes were a litte ripped and dirty.
Then I turned my attention to my surroundings, It seemed I was in some kind of
gap or hole in the earth. Then I realized, I was sitting in a crater more than perhaps a kilometer wide.
I couldn't believe I had made a crater that wide and survived!
I got up, shocked at what I saw.

The wind was a lot more calm for a change, a lot different when your not falling.
Suddenly a low squaking sound reached my ears. I turned my gaze to its source.
Right where I was previously lying down, I saw a bird, wings spread on the ground.
I walked towards it and looked down. The poor thing was flattened into the ground, it just lay there motionless, only making soft sounds. I was amazed that it still survived from me falling on it.

"Why was this sacrifice worth my mistake?"

Guiltily, I picked the bird up in my arms gently, and looked at its eyes.
The bird was surprisingly big and heavy, its body was nearly over a meter long.
Suddenly, the bird made a loud squaking sound and wriggled in my arms.
It was so quick that It surprised me and I dropped the bird on the ground again.
It landed on its feet and spread its wings, shaking and cleaning the dirt off them.

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing, the bird was entirely alive, as though no harm had ever befallen it!
Then again, I was already amazed at how I survived my fall, suddenly it seemed from that moment, anything in life was possible.

After the bird finished tending to itself, it looked at me with angry eyes.

"Oh-oh"

It began to make a growling-squaking sound, I braced myself in case It decided to attack.
The bird spread its wings fully, their size was formidable.
Suddenly it flew right at me, and I jumped out of the way. Then I suddenly felt a searing pain on my side. I looked and noticed that my shirt was ripped and blood dropped from a scratch and stained it.

"What!?"

I was bewildered at it's speed! I frantically looked to see where it was, I couldn't see it.
All I heard were the sounds of the wind, blowing over the crater.
Suddenly I turned to see its beak just a moment away from my eye.
I thought, at least it wasn't sacrifice. I was afraid of the incoming pain that I would feel in my eye. I knew I couldn't do anything.

"STOP CONDOR!!!"
Shouted someone.

I opened my eyes to suddenly see the bird gone.
I looked around and saw nothing, until I drew my gaze right behind me and saw a figure standing at the
edge of the crater, with the bird on its shoulder.
The figure stood there, observing me.
Suddenly three more figures emerged from the edge, one with an enormous sword, and one who looked like he was born in a forest to begin with, standing next to the first figure.
I didn't know what to expect after all that happened.

"What's your name!?"
Asked the swordsman.

I didn't know whether to reply truthfully or not, but since I was already in such a mess
I thought it didn't really matter.

"My name is Jorporel!"
I replied loudly to the swordsman.

A few moments passed as the figures murmured to each other.

"Jorporel, come to us, I'll lend you a hand"

I didn't know whether to trust them, but I had already told them my true name.
I climbed towards them, the crater was alot steeper than I had thought.
As I reached them, I could see them more clearly.
I came to a point where a hand was offered to me, I grabbed it and the person pulled me up.
It was the swordsman.

"You ok?" he asked, checking my side wound.

"Yeah, im fine, just a scratch, thanks for helping me up"

"No problem, I'm Zblader, this is Emeraldtiger and he's Flayne"
he pointed to them.

"Hi Jorporel pleased to meet you"
said Flayne.
He was very strange in appearance, I couldn't see his eyes at all.
There was an unnatural shadow that covered them including his long black hair.
The other one was some kind of green furred, man-tiger beast.

"And this is Nepycros"

I looked at where Zblader was pointing, I was shocked to see a Demon!
He stood there just looking at me.
I immediately stood my ground and looked at him. I knew this energy, it was the energy of Darkness. I wasn't sure whether to attack him or not. I didn't have any weapons to defend myself or attack, but then again, I survived a fall from heaven.
I decided that this was the will of Light, to vanquish the Dark.

I Launched myself at him with everything I had, Nepycros didn't seemed surprised, as though he knew I would have attacked him. I guess he already saw it in my eyes.

He dodged my punch, but then I whirled my leg around and hit him in his chest.
It didn't do much though and instead he grabbed my leg, swung me around and let go.

I flew in the air for a few seconds, instinctively I landed back on my legs

"How did I do that?"

"HEY! what are you doing?"
Yelled Zblader

The three of them ran and stopped next to Nepycros.

"I'll explain, I think I know whats going on"
said Nepycros

Everyone watched him.

"If what I'm thinking is correct, Jorporel has fallen from the 'heavens', since judging from his energy, he's a Light elemental. The massive crater formed here, was obviously made from his fall, the question is, from where or how did he fall or even survive?"

"But it doesn't explain why he attacked you, Jorporel, why?"
asked Zblader

"He's a Darkness elemental, I don't even know why he's in your group, he shouldn't be trusted! Believe me, at some point he'll stab you in the back, just like the rest of them!"

"Jorporel, thats not good enough a reason, Nepycros has been with us for a while now,
he hasn't shown any trickery since then, I trust him and so do the others, If your going to accompany us, you might aswell get used to him, otherwise we can't trust you"
said Zblader

I didn't know what to say, but I still didn't trust him. But I knew if I was going to survive on this planet, being in a group would have to be the better than being alone. So I surrendered.

"Fine, I'm sorry, but I'll still be watching you!"

"Whatever"
Snorted Nepycros

"Good, now thats settled and introductions are made, I think we should be heading off, it's getting late"
said Zblader
The others agreed.
And so began my journey on this land, with a group of strangers and a bird which still looked at me with angry eyes. From that I guessed Nepycros wasn't the only thing I had to look out for.



To be continued...

[jippy99]

Im here, nobody has told me when I was writing.  I will gladly take back my character now that Im in the mix.  It was getting boring for me when it all had nothing to do with me before, now its interesting.

[Flayne]

Chapter 42
Warzone

I could hear the sounds of destruction all around me, It seemed to me that the Aether Realm had become involved  in this. I knew going past their territory would have some effect.  Their patrol units didn't just suddenly pop out of nowhere for nothing.
It seemed that the object we were looking for wasn't in the village.

I  was utterly confused, I didn't think that wiping out the village would  seriously be that much in vain. From that moment on, we had Aether on  our backs.I didn't think the general would be pleased, however it was  his stupid mistake to send our formation past Aether territory. So I  imagined he'd be mad at himself. But know knowing him I knew he'd tell  me off for not being sneaky enough.

I was walked back to my tent, which was meant to be dispatched, a soldier came running to me.

"Sir! a group of immortals were spotted in the south area of the fluxi village area!"

"And!?"
I was getting impatient

"They may spot our resting site, which concerns me Sir!"

All I did was give a loud long sigh at the pathetic postion I was in.
I knew I had to report every part of this to the general, which was the least of my worries.
right now I had to lead my battalion back to the Armagio squad; which was about fifteen kilometres away.

I didn't think we'd go unseen by the Aether dispatch. I knew I had to move quickly.

"Attention Squad!!!"

All the guards and soldiers focused their attention on me.

"Were  leaving our position!!! We are to head to the Armagio squad! It's going  to be a dangerous trip, so be alarmed, a new enemy has risen to  threaten us!
We  must proceed with caution. So, we'll take the Saphire chargers along  another route, where we will find the Armagio dispatch squad waiting for  us there.
So PACK UP!!!"

"SIR YES SIR!!!"
yelled the disciplined soldiers of my battalion.


packing took only ten minutes, the saphire charger transport units were ready.
As  I walked toward the charger, a sudden blast of electric energy hit the  ground right next to me.I looked at its source and saw an immortal. It  stood there with its arm out, I could see It was about to shoot another  ray.
But its pathetic excuse of speed wasn't good enough.
I lifted my arm and shot a gravity wave at it from the palm of my hand.
The gravity wave engulfed it, giving me total control of gravity in that area.
I smashed the immortal into the ground, and pushed it under the earth, crushing it.
They called themselves immortals, but they were only a mere bunch of weaklings.
I had to hurry, they had already found us.

"Time to move, NOW!!!"

I jumped into the saphire charger and it zoomed off.

"Sir are you alright!?"
asked a worried soldier

"Of course! you doubt my abilities?"

"no sir, just checking SIR!"

I  looked back at our previous position, it seemed to look the same,  except for that massive rock uprising where the immortal lay crushed.
The chargers drove for about twenty minutes across the hard terrain.
We started to enter a bushy, swampy area.
I watched as the willows flew past, it seemed really silent, as though it lacked any animal life whatsoever.
We drove across the bumpy forest ground for a few minutes.
Then we reached a swamp, I ordered the chargers to stop, it was too risky to continue without knowing the depth of the water.

"You, grab a stick or something and do a depth test of the water"

The soldier I pointed to immediately jumped off the vehicle and picked up a long stick nearby.

He walked to the edge of the water and poked the water with the stick.
I saw how the stick was almost completely submerged into the water.

The soldier came back to me.

"Sir, the water seems to be too deep, approximately 3 to 6 meters deep, maybe more"

We couldn't go through, we had certainly picked the wrong route.

"Alright, we'll take the chargers along the swamp, see if we can find a shallow area to drive through"

The soldier hopped back in and the chargers continued their path along the swamp.
We drove for what seemed like half an hour, until we reached a shallow river bank.

The pilots thought it was good enough, so they countinued driving onto the shallow bank.
But  before they went in I felt the moment was too strange. I quickly looked  around, and just managed to see a flaw in a bush, it looked as though  something recently brushed through it, leaves on the ground confirmed my  suspicion.
My adrenaline rose as I saw we were heading into a trap.
We almost made it to the other side of the bank.

"WAIT!!!" I shouted, but it was too late.

Suddenly  a massive Ball Lightning hit the side of the second Charger next to us.  The impact caused the charger to flip upside down. We were being  attacked.

"AMBUSH!!!"
yelled one of the soldiers as a rain of lighting energy fell across the bank, exploding on impact.
I  jumped out of the vehicle along with other soldiers, I saw immortals  shooting lightning energy, but these were Elites, and there were fifty  of them, perhaps more.
However,  the Ball Lightning that was shot at the second charger couldn't have  been one of the immortals, not even Elites could generate such power on  their own.
As  I pondered this, me and my troops were launching gravity waves at the  immortals, but I noticed that the gravity waves disappeared despite  their transparent hue.

"Stop firing! They have a dimensional shield! Get the charger ready, we'll break through!"

"But Sir, its very risky, we don't even know the force of the shield, we could be impaling ourselves into an unbreakable wall!"
argued one of the Soldiers

"Don't argue! I have experience with such shields, DO IT NOW!!!"

The soldier complained no more and went to get the charger ready,
meanwhile I was helping the squadron fend off energy blasts.
Then  something changed in the atmosphere of battle, I didn't know what but I  sensed there was something wrong, I kept thinking about that Ball  Lightning.
Suddenly  the atmosphere changed on the battlefield. The winds were stronger and  the current of the river was unnatural. I had a bad feeling about this.

"SIR!! charger is ready!"

 As I retreated from my position and ran to the charger, I could hear the sound of phasing.
 But this one was louder than the sound an Immortal produced.
 I was within ten meters of the charger, when suddenly a massive object landed right in front of me with a deafening boom.
 
I was so shocked to see...that I was looking at the face of a Phase dragon.
It  was massive, about fifteen to twenty meters tall. it swung its neck and  produced a deafening roar at critical decibles, and it was looking  right at me.
I didn't think I'd survive against it.

"START THE CHARGER AND JUST GO!!!"

"But sir! what about you!?"
yelled  Kalzen, a Graviton Firemaster, he was a very reliable soldier, always  alert and displaying bravery, I had told him to take command if  something were to happen to me.

"NEVERMIND ME JUST GO!!! THAT 'S AN ORDER!!!"
I yelled back.
I saw his worried look, but I was glad he obeyed and heard him give the order to run the charger.

I saw the charger ram through the Dimensional shield, and was glad to see it broke.
The charger ran through the immortals and took off into the distance.
I was left alone, with the Elites and the Phase dragon.
I knew at that moment I wouldn't survive, but at least I would damage the Aether army power if I killed this beast.

The  Phase dragon tried to grab me in its claws but I dodged it and threw a  gravity wave at its head. All this happened as the Elites were firing  lightning waves at me.
I was surprised when it dodged the wave and slammed me with the back of its left palm.
I was sent flying ten meters in the air and hit a tree.I almost lost consciousness. But I had an idea and stood up.
I ran towards the beast and it tried another hit,but it missed.
I jumped on its arm and launched a powerful gravity wave at it's face.
It  hit, and the dragon nearly lost its balance, I jumped off its arm and  begun processing one of the most difficult techniques to master. Gravity  force, basically I create a different type og gravity wave, which  attracts electromagnetic energy to any area it engulfs. But such a spell  required a lot of energy,especially if was dodging lightning waves and  giant claws at the same time.
I  got hit by a lightning wave on the shoulder. It hurt alot, but I still  focused on the task at hand. After getting hit by a few more lightning  waves, I had succesfully created the gravity force wave, it was floating  on the palm of my hand in the form of a small translucent ball.

I ran towards the dragon, dodged its claw and shot the wave at its face just as it sliced my side with its other claw.
It hit, and I saw that the Lightning waves were not being directed at me, but at the dragons head.

The immortals were still shooting but were confused, they stopped firing but it was too late.

The  dragon had already suffered too much electromagnetic pulses to its  brain, and it began waving its head and generated horrible screeching  sounds at incredible decibles.
I smiled as I as I covered my bloody wound and watched the fruits of my plan.

I  saw massive glowing cracks forming all over its body, then suddenly a  flash of brilliant lights were emenating from its body, then it  exploded.

Everything became white and silent.
Then I blacked out.

When I woke up, my vision was blurry, but it began to focus and I looked around.

I saw I was in a Graviton nursery, lying down on a bed. I was very confused, then I saw Kalzen sitting in front of my bed.

"whaa?"
I tried to get up but a pain on my side and back prevented me from doing so.
Kalzen jumped forward and lowered me back on the bed.
 
"Sir,  please don't make any rough movements, your critically injured.  Technically you shouldn't even be alive with such injuries"

"Kalzen, report"
He waited for a brief moment and begun speaking.

"Sir, we were driving across the terrain, until we saw a colossal explosion
on our tail. We were concerned so I ordered the charger to return.
When we got to the site, we found a huge crater, the carcass of a Phase dragon and many dead Immortals, and soldiers.
We searched the area and then found you almost a fifty meters away from the site.
We  thought you were dead until you suddenly started breathing again. We  brought you back here and...The general came to me demanding for an  explanation, I explained all I could but he was convinced that he had to  hear your side of the..."

Suddenly the door opened and came in the General.
"Captain Arc'ton, you have a lot of explaining to do"
said the general as he walked to the front of my bed.

"Yes  sir, I have concluded that the Aether nation has declared war on us  sir, we were attacked not 5 kilometres away from our position, on the  way to the Armagio squad.
We  were ambushed, and the Aether antion sent Elite immortals to attack us,  then on the conclusion of the battle they sent a Phase dragon, I  ordered the men to leave me since the beast had its attention on me. I  fought the beast and the Immortals, I launcheda gravity force wave at  the beast and the Immortals electric energy was directed to its head,  causing electromagnetic impulses to its brain, causing it to explode and  die.
The explosion was so great that I must have been overwhelmed and lost conciousness from there, then I woke up here sir."

The general thought for a brief moment.

"Captain,  I have never heard of anyone destroying a Phase dragon on their own  ever since I had done so 200 years ago in another battle against Aether.
You have demonstrated great courage and power on your part.
Therefore  in the next ceremony, I shall bestow you with the Graviton medallion of  Bravery and Power. Your feat has damaged the Aether military power as  they only have thirteen phase dragons if our spy was correct. Such an  action will always be remembered and etched into the history of  Graviton, though it is strange that the Aether realm would send a Phase  dragon to deal with the small squadron you had with you."

"Indeed sir, and Thank you Sir"
I  was very proud, I never thought the general would react this way, or  even know that the general himself achieved the same feat.

"Now  for more important matters, we have to change our current state to war,  I'm tired of the same thing occuring with Aether, It's time we  destroyed them, no more peace treaties, so I'll have you stay here and  recover, as soon as you do so fully, you are to report to your usual  duty, which will be in the war against the Aether realm, for now, i'll  have Kalzen take your place until you recover"

"Yes Sir, Absolutely Sir!"
me and Kalzen saluted the general (I used my good arm).

I  had indeed survived what seemed to be an imposible feat, but I knew  this matter with Aether was far from over, and I knew there was  something wrong with everything up to this point. I didn't understand  why would Aether send and waste such a resource of war.
All would be revealed due time.


To be continued...

[EmeraldTiger]

Chapter 43
Finding Home

EmeraldTiger

After a night that none of us will soon forget, dawn enters the sky. Camp was finally put away into Nepycros' pack (amazing how such craftsmanship defies nature's own providence), and we were setting out to head towards the Life Village, at my own request. I desperately wanted to get back to my brothers. We headed south, since it was nearly impossible to navigate the inner forest without a map, planning to follow the tree line back to the village.
All of a sudden, a massive roar filled the air. The ground shook, the leaves on the trees blew out, following a massive gust, and the very earths seemed to tremble in rage.  Nepycros and I looked up and saw Condor fly into the surrounding foliage. Flayne ran after Condor, in the direction of the noise. Blader swore and gave chase. Flayne was already disappearing into the forest, but Blader seemed to run with an unearthly speed for a split second - and then they were both gone, swallowed up by the mass of bright colors. Nepycros and I exchanged a look, and bolted after them.
It wasn't long before we admitted we were lost. Blader and Flayne were running in some direction we couldn't manage to follow. I cursed myself for not tracking their footprints, when I heard Laureth'al speak in my mind. Head more to your right. Lyra's telling me where they are. I coaxed Nepycros to fall in line behind me, so he wouldn't get lost, and we headed out, placing all of our trust in Laureth'al. We were breaking out of the treeline, and dawn's rays were piercing the canopy of trees.

When Nepycros and I caught sight, we saw Blader and Flayne appearing to be yelling something into a kilometer-wide crater that was suddenly in the middle of the field.

What the hell? I can't seem to be able to talk to Lyra. Looks like she's accidentaly ignoring me. Whatever's in that giant hole must be pretty interesting.

Nepycros turned to me and asked, "Now what are we supposed to do? We lost almost 20 minutes running through that blasted forest! It's bad enough..." Laureth'al intruded, canceling my hearing to tell me: Let me try something for a second. I was tempted to deny her, but I couldn't help but admit that our options were limited. If Flayne and Blader were attacked, there was no way we could help them. "All right, do whatever you can," I mentally replied. My body stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed. I could instantly tell I was no longer in control. My gaze focused down toward Blader. He stiffened much the same way I had moments before, and then his left arm raised and unsheathed his sword. He angled it without even glancing down to see what he was doing. I began focusing intently on the sword, how it was reflecting the light in a way that sent a beam straight into my eyes. I felt myself drawing towards it, without even moving at all. At the last possible second, before I knew I would slip away, my left arm shot out and grabbed Nepycros' arm, ignoring both my commands, and Nepycros' startled cry of "What on earth?!", we suddenly rocketed out from our location.


All of a sudden,  I seemed to be in air! My vision cleared for a bit and I  could see for miles our surrounding area. My vision blurred again and I found both me and Nepycros rushing... and falling.

We pushed forward in the direction of the crater, all of our surroundings a blur, and when next I could notice my surroundings clearly, I looked at a most intriguing surrounding: I was looking at the spot where I had been standing only an instant before. The birds that were flying around were moving at such a slow pace, it looked like they were in absolute stasis! I couldn't believe my eyes! Everything had become slower than a crawl. My gaze was refocused, and aligned with the ground, about 3 meters away from wherever I was looking from. It suddenly dawned on me that my gaze matched the very reflection that beamed from Blader's sword! Was I in the sword? Before I could go anywhere with this thought, I was rushing out of the space again, this time towards the place my gaze was held. Everything became a blur, but this time, the energy seemed to have alot more pressure, as if it was harder to move from my perch than before...

When next I could focus again, I was standing. I turned to find Blader staring at me with a shocked look on his face... except he was only 3 meters away from me. Nepycros collapsed next to me, gasping for air. I guess he had a harder time than I did. I gazed past Blader, only just noticing that I had control of my body again. Upon closer examination of the crater, there appeared to be a figure cloaked in white. Condor had just flown away from him, and was alighting itself on Flayne's shoulder. The figure began walking towards us, begging the question of what caused that crater to form. If it was the figure, there was no poossible way he could've survived, let along climb out of it to greet us. I readied myself, for we had no idea what to expect of this strange figure clad in white.r.

Jorporel asked "Where are you all headed?" We all turned to Z. Blader, and I asked, "Do you know how to get where I came from?" Z. Blader answered,
"Sadly, I don't. Do you have any traces of memory or something?"
"I came through The Portal of Life, so it took a while for me to get accustomed to anything. I don't have many memories of my surroundings."
"Hm... anything you do remember?"
"I saw a large jungle city with many life elementals... And I was housed in a small hut at the outter edge. How much of this land do you know?"
"I saw a map, a short while ago, while heading towards the Mahui Village... Alright then. Do you have any idea of what you're doing back at the village?"
"No, I don't have a clue. I was taken before I could recieve any training."
"I think I know where you're talking about." Zblader turned to Jorporel, and said,"To answer your question, Jorporel, we're taking EmeraldTiger back to his village."
Jorporel thought for a moment, and then replied, "I will follow for now, then."

[Bloodshadow]

We changed some of the character names. Jippy is now Jorporel, EmeraldTiger is now Tigereth, 918 is now Nephaedon, and Gl1tch is now Yüruk. These names are actual names now.

Chapter 44

Faded
Zenith

"Yüruk?" I asked, as the skeleton suddenly collapsed to the ground. "Yüruk!"
 
He didn't respond.
 
"Yüruk!"  I said again. A sickened feeling began to twist my guts into a knot.  Did I suck away too much of his energy? A while ago he was still making  his strange jokes, saying that my foot was disappearing...
 
My  eyes suddenly widened in alarm. Instead of mine, Yüruk's feet was  disappearing. Then his legs. And waist. And ribcage. I tried to grab the  skeleton in panic, but in a few seconds all that was left of the  skeleton was a translucent cranium. And then that faded into oblivion  as  well. I knelt there, unmoving, not knowing what to do or even think.  Yüruk, my new friend, just inexplicably vanished...
 
I  felt numb. Losing Selene shredded my heart to pieces, and after losing  Yüruk... I couldn't feel anything anymore. I couldn't feel my legs, or  even my body. A single tear welled forth from my right eye, and I  raised  one torpid hand to wipe it.

I couldn't feel my hand. I couldn't see my hand. It was simply not there.
 
What...?
 
The  entire world started to become blurry, as though a mist had fallen over  it. The sand became smudges of gray, and the indigo sun was now  indistinguishable from the purple sky. I knew I should be surprised and  frightened, but somehow I couldn't feel anything. A lethargy had settled  over my mind, causing all... of my thoughts... to...
 
Fade...
 
Fading...
 
Faded...
 
...
 
Get a hold of yourself, you weakling!
 
Hm...? Was that... my own voice... talking to me?
 
Suddenly,  a figure snapped into sharp focus in front of me. He was clothed in a  long black robe, similar to my own white garbs. A dark aura surrounded   him, and a pair of large leathery black wings spanned behind his back.  His face was identical to mine, save for several significant details.  His hair was pitch black instead of silvery white; his skin was several  shades darker than mine; his eyes were blood red instead of sky blue,  and they glared at me with scorn.
 
Nadir.
 
We  have been ambushed. Our assailant used an ability which I have never seen before, yet it feels familiar. I have succeeded in alleviating its effects, as evident by the fact that you are able to think at the moment.
 
What? Does this mean that someone directly attacked our mind? Is that even possible?
 
Apparently yes. See for yourself.
 
Nadir  waved his hand, and suddenly I could see a purple mist that filled the  space around me. Streams of dark energy was emanating from Nadir's body,  siphoning away the bits of vapor that managed to get close. The fog  seemed to be coming from a single source, somewhere far away to my  right.

Look closely. That is our assailant. Follow me.

Before  I could say anything, Nadir morphed into a stream of black energy,  dragging me along with him. I was vaguely aware that we seemed to have  left our body behind. How in the name of Heaven is Nadir doing this?!

An  instant later, we reached the source of the purple mist. As expected,  it was a Death Elemental, clad in purple robes and wearing a mask in the  shape of a skull. "What?!" The Death Elemental gasped. "How are you  able to--" But before he could finish, the stream of black energy that  was Nadir plunged into him, once again dragging me along.

I gasped as we made direct contact with the Death Elemental's mind. I didn't even think that such a thing was possible, but I suppose there  were many secrets to the world not yet discovered. I did not know what to expect when entering someone's mind, so I did not know what I was supposed to feel when I saw... nothing. The Death Elemental's mind was  an absolute void, empty of any discernible features whatsoever. The  Death Elemental himself stood in the center of the void, presumably  representing his own conscious thoughts.

The  shock on the Death Elemental's face was palpable. "How did you..." Then  he saw Nadir floating beside me; a wave of understanding flooded over  his face. "Ah, yes. Of course. Bearing a Mark opens your mind."

"I know not how you were able to affect our minds directly, vermin, but that is inconsequential."  Nadir's red eyes glared at the Death Elemental with the utmost disdain  as he drew his sword, a pitch-black replica of my Morning Glory. "Die." With a flash of black energy he was gone, instantaneously appearing in front of the Death Elemental and bringing down his black sword in a vicious slash. The strike was brutal and absolutely merciless, meant to slice his opponent in two with a very painful diagonal cut. I shivered. Nadir was supposed to be a reflection of myself, but have I ever been so cruel and ruthless?

But just as the ebony blade was about to bit into the Death Elemental's neck, the Death Elemental faded into nothingness. Nadir spun around sharply, his red eyes searching the void around us, but our opponent was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, we heard a hollow, bone-chilling laugh. It had no source, and it echoed eerily despite having nothing to echo against. "You think you can defeat me in my own mind? You may be a Markbearer, but I have practiced the mental arts for years! Now leave my consciousness at once, or be consumed by your own worst fears!"

Just as the Death Elemental uttered his last word, a multitude of cold spectral purple flames burst into existence around us. They grew and mutated, transforming into grotesque, vengeful wraiths, a cacophony of anguished screams escaping from their jaws. The wraiths swarmed at us, intent on tearing us to bits and feasting on our souls.

"Nadir, we have to go!" I grabbed my dark doppelganger, and without even realizing what I was doing I turned my mental self into a stream of white energy. I darted out of the Death Elemental's consciousness, dragging Nadir with me, an instant before the first wraith sank its ghostly talons into my skin.

Within moments we returned to our body. I was immensely relieved to see that Yüruk was perfectly tangible, but unconscious still. You pathetic weakling! We could have annihilated them! But I ignored Nadir's spiteful voice and bent down to try to wake Yüruk.

Suddenly, one of Yüruk's skeletal arms shot up, and wrapped its bony fingers tightly around my throat. I choked in surprise, and barely stopped myself from crushing the skeleton's hand into bone splinters. "Wh--What?" I tried to say, while gasping for air.

"Die..." Yüruk whispered in a hollow, chilling voice. It was identical to the Death Elemental's voice I heard earlier. Two orbs of purple spectral flames glowed sinisterly in Yüruk's empty eye sockets.

I understood what was happening. The Death Elemental launched a mental attack on us. Unlike me, Yüruk had no one to protect his mind from assault, so the Death Elemental must have taken control of the skeleton's body. As the world started to fade again due to the lack of air, I began to panic. What can I do? I can't hurt my friend!

Again, without truly realizing what I was doing, I tried to push a portion of my consciousness into Yüruk, with only a single thought: purge the foreign presence from his mind. I felt something jump from me to the skeleton, and then there was a flash of white. Yüruk abruptly let go of my throat as he went limp, the baleful purple flames in his eye sockets extinguished.

"Yüruk!" He didn't respond. What should I do... If I try to heal him, I might hurt him instead since my Light is harmful to creatures of Darkness and Death...

Hmph. The skeleton used to be an elf in his lifetime, a Life Elemental. If the pathetic thing still has a shred of his former essence within him, he would not be hurt by your Light. But I simply do not understand why you still want to keep this useless piece of dead weight with you.

Nadir had a good point. I didn't know whether Yüruk still had any Life energies inside him, but it was a risk I had to take. I concentrated, and gathered energy into my hands; my palms began to glow a soft sheen of white. I put my hands on Yüruk's rib cage, and gradually, gently, I began to push my benevolent healing energies into the skeleton's body. After a few seconds Yüruk twitched. I almost jerked myself away, thinking that I had damaged him, but the skeleton slowly sat up. Despite having no flexible facial features, Yüruk still gave me the impression that he was having a migraine.

"Ugh... What happened...?" Yüruk said groggily.

"We were attacked," I said in a grim voice. I looked toward my right, where I could vaguely sense the presence of a Death Elemental far away. "You stay here," I looked at the skeleton in his eye sockets. "This opponent is much more dangerous than the bone wraiths we fought earlier. I'm not sure I'll be able to protect you, so it's best if you stay and I go take care of him." And if I do that, I wouldn't accidentally hurt Yüruk again if I must utilize my Darkness powers.

"All right..." Yüruk sounded a bit frightened. "Be careful."

"I will."

I spread my wings to their full length, and took off to the air. I darted through the purple sky like a comet, using Light energy to propel myself. In less than a minute the Death Elemental came into my view, surrounded by a horde of bone horrors like the ones I fought before. Great.

I hovered in the air where the Death Elemental and his minions couldn't reach me. "Who are you, and why have you attacked me and my friend?" I put a little bit of power in my voice, making it more resonant and intimidating.

"I am Deimex, the Sower of Fear," the Death Elemental replied in his hollow, bone-chilling voice. "I am here to capture you, Fallen One. My motives are not of your concern. I would advise you to cease your struggles. If you do not, nothing but fear awaits you."

"Hm, tempting offer," I said sarcastically. "Especially tempting when you don't tell me why I am wanted. How about you leave me alone and let me think for a while, and I can tell you when we next meet?"

"Quite clever, aren't you?" The Death Elemental named Deimex let out a mirthless laugh. "What a pity. I was hoping to avoid combat if necessary. Ah well, I still have my orders." He made a gesture at his skeletal minions. "Apprehend him."

About a dozen bone horrors leapt into the air to pounce at me. My sword Morning Glory burst into brilliant white light, and I slashed horizontally, unleashing a crescent-shaped wave of white energy. The light wave cut into the skeletal creatures, causing them to emit horrible ear-piercing screeches before turning into dust. I flew higher, and the bone monstrosities could no longer reach me. "I don't mean to gloat, but it would be rather difficult to apprehend me now, would it not?"

"Light Elementals, always so pompous and conceited," Deimex spat. "Do not think you have won by merely taking to the skies." He snapped his fingers, and all of his skeletal minions fell apart. I wondered what he was up to, but then I saw spheres of purple spectral flames rising from the bone remains. Just like what I'd seen in Deimex's mind, the balls of purple fire morphed into malicious wraiths. They bared their fangs, extended their talons, and flew toward me.

Curses. There were too many of them. I unleashed my Holy Nova attack again, sending a powerful burst of Light elemental energy in all directions. Without bone shells to protect them, the wraiths were even more vulnerable to my Light. But they just kept coming. I looked at Deimex, and saw that the Death Elemental was releasing these vengeful ghosts from his very body. A sickly purple aura surrounded him, composed of hundreds of anguished faces, their mouths twisted in soundless screams. The aura was gurgling and pulsating; every second a dozen of so faces detached themselves from the spectral mass, quickly mutating into wraiths.

I felt bile rising up to my mouth. "You devoured these souls and turned them into your minions," I said in disgust.

"I am a Death Warden. It is my duty to clean up decayed souls, so I did," Deimex said with a crooked smile. "Now, if I kill you, I can simply devour your soul and present it to the Evanescent."

"The Evanescent? Who is that?" I asked as I blasted two more wraiths into ectoplasm.

"No one of your concern," Deimex replied as he spawned more wraiths. "Now, cease your futile resistance if you do not wish to be consumed."

"Again, the offer is very tempting when you don't tell me anything. I'll think about it while I perform Judgment on you." Well, technically I'm not authorized to use Judgment anymore, since only a selected group of Archangels are permitted to utilize such a powerful spell. But I am an exile now, a Fallen, so I am no longer bound by Heaven's rules. "On second thought, Judgment requires mental concentration, so I suppose I will not think about it after all."

The white aura around me flared, solidified, and hardened into a translucent shield barrier. Wraiths slammed against it, and screamed as the light burned their deathly essences. But the shield could not hold against the swarms of wraiths for long, so I must be quick with my thaumaturgic workings. I sheathed my sword and began to gather a sphere of energy between my hands. As more power was put into the sphere, it grew and changed shape; in a few seconds it became a large broadsword composed of solid white light. Why a sword? Because this spell always takes the form of its user's weapon of choice. With an effort of will I pumped even more energy into the attack, causing the sword to grow to the size of an adult Elemental. "Prepare to face Judgment," I said, my voice powerful and resonant. It had been a while since I last used this spell, but it still made me nostalgic. For a brief moment my mind flashed back to the time when I was still an Archangel, but an instant later I returned to reality and launched the spell at my opponent.

In the few seconds when I gathered energy, Deimex seemed to have built up thick layers of defensive walls using the bones on the ground. The wall was reinforced by Death elemental energy, provided by Deimex's wraiths as they were used as fuel in his defensive spell. "You shall not best me, Markbearer!" He hissed. The sword struck, slamming into the walls of bone like a shining meteor. Bones shattered, wraiths screamed, and the flash of incandescent light blinded even me for a second.

The light dissipated, revealing Deimex and a small crater. Surprisingly, the Death Elemental was still alive, albeit clutching a gashing wound on his chest. His wraith minions had all but vanished, and he was kneeling on the ground, injured and powerless. I landed in front of him, and looked into his eyes. "Tell me why you have hurt my friend, and then I will decide if I'll let you live."

Deimex laughed. It was bitter and hollow. "Thinking that you have won, Fallen?" He reached into the pocket of his now-tattered robe. "The Faded Ones will come for you..."

My eyes widened as I felt a sudden surge of energy. I leapt backwards, just in time to avoid a powerful electric shock emanating from the Death Elemental's body. The fabric of space tore itself apart, and with a flash of Aether elemental energy Deimex disappeared, teleported to who-knew-where. The last few turquoise sparks faded from existence, leaving me very confused.

I kept thinking about what Deimex revealed on my way back to Yüruk. Who is this "Evanescent"? Who are the "Faded Ones", and what do they want with me? Why did Deimex call me a "Markbearer", whatever that is? My skeleton companion came into view. I beat my wings faster.

Suddenly, Yüruk exploded before my very eyes.

[Bloodshadow]

This chapter was written by Gl1tch. He's not here right now, so I thought I'd just post it.

He is introducing a new character called Evelyn.

Chapter 45

Evelyn

Evelyn smirked.  She liked this one. 

Which was not good for it. 

Fishing  around, she sensed adventures, excitement, and intrigue.  Not something  you normally found in a skeleton, especially not in the land of Death,  where they were so fought over.  Come to think of it, there were a lot  of of people who would pay a lot of money for this one.  But Eve wouldn't just sell this one away.  No.  She liked this one.

That meant she was going to mess with it.

There  was a lot of trapped energy in it's soul.  It wasn't all Death, which  was interesting.  It was Life before, and there was a little bit of  Entropy in there.  A Fallen Elf?  Exciting.  There was a lot of mutation  in there.  It seemed to be holding the Death and Life right next to  each other, which should never, ever, happen.  Ever.

Evelyn liked things that shouldn't happen.  Seemed like just the thing to mess with.

A little bit of Entropy removed there, a little bit of Death there, a little bit of soul reshaping over all... and...

And...

It exploded.

Eve  stood silent, before bursting out loud.  She'd screwed up skeletons  before, but she'd never exploded one before.  This was something entirely new.  She couldn't wait to blow up other skeletons, use them as kamikaze...

"Hello?"

"Sorry Hun, I'm a little bit busy."

"Busy?"

"Yeah.  I just found this cute skeleton. I'm playing around with it a bit."

"I used to be a skeleton."

"Did you now...... wait.  What's your name?"

"Yüruk."

"No... freaking... way."

"What?"

"I think I just blew you up."

"You jerk!"

"No, no!  It's a compliment."

"So I'm dead?"

"Yep!  And now you're my pet.  We're going to be the bestest buddies."

"So... what am I?"

"I... don't know..."

Zenith finally found his voice.  "Yüruk?  NO!"   He drew his sword, pointing it at the female Death Elemental who seemed  to made the skeleton spontaneously burst into shards of bone.

Yüruk was entirely confused.  "Dude, calm down.  I'm right here."

"Where?!"

"Here!"

"You're a WOMAN!?" Zenith said, flabbergasted.  "Wait.  Why is your voice coming from the mouth of a woman?"

"What?!" said Yüruk.

"Why yes I am!  My name is Evelyn, it's nice to meet you."

Zenith blinked once, twice, and frowned.  "...what?"

"You're cute!"

"Oh god," Yüruk sighed.

"I do not accept compliments from one who made my friend explode."  Then he raised his sword again.  "What did you do to Yüruk?  You think your imitation of his voice can fool me?"

"If you were dead it'd be soooo much fun."

Zenith  narrowed his eyes.  "One Death Elemental who wanted to capture me, and  another who wants me dead.  The Realm of Death is a welcoming place  indeed."

"Awwwww.  Hun, that's how we treat people we like."

"Hmm,  pity.  Your Realm may look like something better than a barren desert  if you treated people differently."  Then he propelled himself forward  with his wings, sword pointed directly at Evelyn's heart.  "Don't assume  I like you though."

"Stop!" screamed Yüruk, using Evelyn's mouth.  "Calm down!  I don't know why I am what I am now, but it's not a bad thing.  I think it's going to be okay..."

"Stop imitating his voice!" Zenith snarled.  A massive beam of white energy erupted from the tip of his sword.  The laws of physics broke, right then and there.  With a mighty leap, the beam  stabbed inside Evelyn's chest.  The damage passed, too, into Yüruk,  with whom she was now bonded, through necromancy.  The strange bond of Death caused the damage to be linked.  But as it hit Yüruk, it passed through his body, traveling as pain through the Death marks, until it reached the Entropic border between the Death and Yüruk's former element, Life.   As it passed through the bond, it changed, flipped, and became opposite  to what it was.  The pain turned to pleasure inside the life mark.   And, through the bonds of necromancy, the healing returned to Evelyn.   Despite being pierced, the beam healed her wounds.

"Ow?" Evelyn touched the spot where the light pierced her chest. It didn't even sting. In fact, she felt good, refreshed.

Zenith's  eyes widened.  The attack didn't seem to work on her.  Frowning, he  swung his sword and sent a wave of crescent-shaped white energy at  Evelyn.  Just like before, she seemed to absorb the blast.  She let out a  sigh of bliss, and smirked.  "You do like me, don't you?  If only you were dead."

Zenith's  expression became grim.  This Death witch could somehow absorb his  physical attacks.  There was only one option left to try: attack her  mind directly.  His blue eyes flashed red for a split second.  A stream  of white energy, curiously interlaced with black veins, erupted from  Zenith's head.  It struck Evelyn between her eyebrows, and she let out a  gasp of surprise.  The world faded away as Eve lost consciousness,  pulled into the depths of her own mind.

[918273645]

Chapter 46

Training; Part 1

Try to create a point of gravity above that small rock over there. I try to make the rock lift, but it doesn't seem to want to. Lift, rock! Lift, rock! Lift, rock! God damnit, LIFT YOU STUPID PIECE OF STONE. The rock shoots up into the air, right where I am looking. Good. Your abilities are channeled by emotion. "In that case, how do Darkness and Death elementals control their element? Aren't they are emotionless?" Not emotionless. Misunderstood, maybe, but not emotionless. "Oh." She wills me to bring the rock higher. It shoots up again. Release the pull of gravity on that piece of earth. The rock keeps on moving upward when I follow her order. How does it do that? You have done nothing to stop the momentum. With no friction, the rock will keep moving at the same speed until you restore the pull of gravity or it goes into the gravitational pull of another heavanly body. "Oh." I mentally say for the second time in minutes. Try releasing the pull on yourself. I do. I feel no different. Yes, good. Jump. I do and fly through the air. "I guess now isn't the time to mention that I am scared to death of hights, is it?" No. Now shut up and create a small center of gravity near the ground. I do and rocket toward the earth. Next time, notice the key word is "small".

[Ekki]

Chapter 47

Knowing each other, Part 1

I found myself going out of Covius along with Tremor, or whoever he is. I still wonder why he chose to follow us. We walked for a while, until we got into a forest somewhere outside of Gravity's territory, then I decided to start some chat.

"So, what were you doing in Earth's territory?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, I mean when we first met 'Tremor'. Also, why have you been so kind to me?" We both stayed still.

"The reason why I was in Earth is private, and I helped you because you looked like you needed it, I also know you are an out..."

"Outlaw? How do you know that?"

"Personal reasons" I'm starting to hate it when he says that "Anyway, why were you in Earth's territory?"

I looked to him, nearly mocking, and said "Personal reasons."

He looked at me for a while. I swear I heard him say "that's legit", and I kept myself from smiling.

"Let's just go on. I wonder how are we supposed to find that Aquassain"

Then, suddenly, Marisa stepped into our conversation. "Hi Krathos, hi suspicious person"

We didn't even notice her coming. She could have been stalking us since  we went out of Covius. "Hi, suspicious stalker. Please call him by his name..." Then I realised I didn't know Tremor's real name.

"His real name? You don't even know it, don't you?"

"Well, I also don't know you. I don't know any of you." I looked both of my newly aquired 'friends' for some time.

Why am I doing this? Why am I trusting them so mindlessly? Those questions should wait until later, right now, my priority is knowing who they are...
"But I know how to fix that." I came close to a tree, overheated my left hand, and cut it using my hand as a saw. Then I made smaller pieces of wood, and lighted a fire. It was getting dark and I know this would take a while. "Let's do a round of stories"

"OK, but you start" Said both Marisa and Tremor.