NationStates Jolt Archive

It was the pain that first brought Elara back to the world of the conscious. Although she wished to return to the blank nothingness, several factors prevented such. The throbbing of her head seemed most prominent, yet movement and the force of a shoulder digging into her abdomen was also high on the list. Even with her eyes open, the young elven girl could barely see a thing. She was in a place of true darkness where no light could penetrate.

It was a strain to remember but finally images began to leak back into her head. She had been on the edge of her homeland, near the human border sitting by a river. She always enjoyed the river and all the life around and used to sit there for hours, feeling the energy and life of her world. Being of elven descent she tended to appreciate such things much more than humans and was content to remain there for long periods.

Just like any other day, Elara had been sitting by the river when a man totally clad in black materials appeared upon the other side of the river. Elara had watched him with slight caution but her friendly nature could not be denied and so she had waved to him. The man had watched her for several moments before making a single leap over the river to land before her. Elara had been surprised initially; human usually couldn't jump such a distance. She was about to ask the man what race he was yet his fist met her temple before she could do so, plunging her into darkness.

The man carrying her noticed Elara was awake and gave her an extra hard jab with his shoulder, indicating she better not cause any trouble or she would regret it. Still she could make nothing out but the vague shape of the many carrying her and the movement of others nearby. They all seemed to have perfect vision in this dark place, but even Elara's elven eyes could not make out distinct shapes or any details whatsoever.

After several more minutes of silent travel, Elara couldn't stand it anymore and attempted to speak. To her dismay she discovered that this was not possible. She couldn't find anything physically wrong with her throat yet no sound emerged, no matter how hard she tried. And so she fell into resignation once again, merely waiting to see what fate would bring her.

Finally she began to make out a clearing ahead. It wasn't exactly light, just less dark to the point where she could actually see things now. The clearing was encircled by several black clad men, all wearing identical masks that completely covered the face, save for unnerving blue eyes. Blue like the coldness of ice, Elara couldn't match a gaze with any of those eyes.

At first the things before her were confusing. A young human male of similar age was also being carried into the clearing, yet Elara was only able to gain a quick glance of him before she was place in the centre of the grove and leaned against a thick wooden stake. She could feel the boy being tied to the take behind her, just as she was but it seemed his voice had wandered off to wherever hers was as well.

Several more minutes passed until three more black clad men entered the grove, one bearing a large looking egg within his grasp whilst the other two carried an unconscious form between their shoulders. As they moved closer, Elara determined it to be a dwarf. With three of the four races now present, she could only assume that a baby dragon sat within that egg.

Whilst Elara had no idea what was going on, she couldn't help but feel it was sinister. The forest she was in seemed very unnatural. All the trees were dead, yet not, there seemed to be no animals and not a single ray of sunlight ever penetrated the canopy. It took a moment for her to realise... she was in the Dark Wood, deep within human territory. The fact that she was within human borders wasn't so concerning as the fact she was in perhaps the darkest and most feared place in all of Khadrim. The dark wood had been declared unsafe for anyone to enter and was the least desirable location for anyone to end up. Elara began to panic.

Her breathing began to quicken pace as the men around her began a chant in some unknown language. The hum of such words made the hair upon the elven girl's neck stand on end. A particularly large black clad man stepped forward bearing a recently polished curved blade and grabbed the dwarf by the hair. Before Elara realised what was about to happen, the blade sliced through the dwarf's neck, severing his head completely. Elara couldn't scream or even look away as a meaty fist was plunged up into the skull of the dwarf and a large brain promptly removed. Elara could smell the blood; the stench of death stinging her nostrils as the brain was placed to her right, upon the stone altar at the base of the stake. She hadn't noticed the stone before but now that it was covered in brain juices and blood, it would never leave her mind.

The massive man seemed to show no emotion as he walked passed Elara and picked up the dragon egg that had been sitting upon the altar on her left. A quick whack with the butt of his weapon cracked open the egg and allowed the sinister looking man to bury his fingers into the shell before removing a screeching baby dragon. Elara could tell it was scared, even without the screeches of horror. The dragon was much bigger than Elara would have imagined and within time it became evident this was a golden dragon, the most powerful of them all. Without a moment's hesitation, a smaller dagger was retrieved and used to open up the soft underbelly of the dragon. The screeches grew in pitch yet that did not stop him as two fingers dived into the beast's body and yanked out the tiny heart. Immediately the dragon fell silent and the heart was placed upon the altar, where the egg had been.

With two out of the four tasks complete, the blade wielding man moved around to stand before a quivering human boy. Whilst Elara couldn't see what was going on, the sounds of steel meeting flesh were prominent within her hearing as the young boy struggle against his bindings, attempting to escape the pain being inflicted upon him. Eventually he fell limp, either from too much pain or lack of life, Elara couldn't determine. Eventually he circled around to face her, a new dagger within his hand. Icy blue eyes gazed upon Elara, causing her to look down in fear.

"Your soul will serve a greater purpose girl..."

The voice was almost an inhuman hiss, stinging her ears as the blood stung her nostrils. A sense of impending death surrounded Elara, engulfing her completely. Then the pain begun. She closed her eyes as the blade slice her flesh, creating cleanly cut sigils of death and chaos before really digging into her, causing innards and blood to gush out of her abdomen. Before Elara passed out, a wrenching pain overwhelmed her, as if something was tearing away her very being. Finally it became too intense and as the tearing feeling peaked, Elara plunged into a darkness from which she would never return.

With the final phase of their intended ritual complete, the black clad men fell silent and waited. A soft crimson hue surrounded the altar, indicating their spells had worked. A single beam arced through the forest canopy and into the night sky where it disappeared, into another world. Silence and darkness reigned for almost thirty minutes before the last sign came to be. The beam returned from the sky and into the grove, causing a wave of energy to flow around the grove. Silence once again before the wave of power expanded rapidly, passing through the boundaries of the forest to encompass the entire nation.

A deep rumble followed shortly afterwards, shaking the very land itself. All the men within the forest grinned; their god was back. Xerxes, God of Chaos was finally loose in Khadrim.
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Although many in Khadrim viewed the dragonic deserts as a place of hostility and death, Ryath had a different perspective on things. The land used to be filled with valleys, grassy plains, forests and all the other usual life that could be found scattered around the nation. Of course, that was almost a thousand years ago.

Back then, Khadrim could not call itself a whole nation, as its peoples were not united, even the respective races weren't united within themselves. Besides the common conflicts with the humans and dwarves, dragons had been at war with eachother. There wasn't any clear leadership amongst the ancient creatures and so an epic battle for power had ensued. Some of the lower breeds of dragon attempted to rise up and destroy the higher breeds, such as the golden dragons and take their place as most powerful dragonic species. This had led to a war of untold ferocity. Dragonic flames swept the land, burning all life into ashes as the titan like creatures clashed in their thirst for authority and power.

Eventually the golden dragons had won, yet the cost was great. The lush lands that dragons called home had been burned into a desert, stripped of all life and left simply bear. Some had hoped it would regrow; yet the dragon fires were too much for nature to overcome, and so their land remained desert. There were some outcrops that had survived the war, at the base of the mountain dwellings yet they were but small memories of what once was.

Ryath sat upon the cool sands of the desert, her giant golden form gleaming in the moonlight. The heat didn't bother her as she stretched her massive legs, enjoying the open space big enough to allow her dragonic form. The desert seemed to depress others, yet Ryath looked at it as potential. She figured that one day; this land would be green again. She didn't know what gave her such notions, but Ryath had always been an optimist.

As she arced her head upwards, Ryath's keen eyes picked up a stream of crimson light far in the distance, shooting up into the night sky. She thought nothing of it as it was most likely to be human sorcery. It wasn't until she noticed the crimson beam return, this time flowing from the sky into the earth. Shortly afterwards a giant wave of light could be seen rocketing toward her from the human lands. The ground shook as Ryath leaped to her feet. The golden dragon continued to watch as the light raced forth and passed right through her. There was no physical effect, but she couldn't help feel a sense of incoming dread.

Several minutes passed and the feeling faded, yet Ryath was still quite suspicious. Soon enough, the ground rumbled with the force of thousands of dragons, shaking every inch of the land about her. The quake passed quickly, but Ryath, leader of the dragons and member of the High Council was left feeling worried and confused.

Something had started and she couldn't shake the feeling of dread once again.
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Thor sighed as he stood within the city square of Knossoss, the human capitol of Khadrim. The midsummer festivals had been going on for four days now and so far there hadn't been a problem. Not a single drunken brawl, no significant thefts, everyone was in good spirits and simply enjoyed the holiday. Of course that was too good to last and as the human mage predicted, people could never have enjoyment without strife.

Being the capitol of the human province, Knossoss was home to many arcane institutions and unfortunately one cannot control the temperament of particular magi students when they induce too much ale. A group of them was particularly dangerous and since numbers were so high in the academy this year, Thor decided it would be best if he were to be present for the festival in case any of the young ones needed a little behavioral realignment.

Screams and roars of drunken panic filled the air as slight flashes of magical discharge illuminated the night. Despite the heavy influence of magic in their society, people seemed to fear it, some even if they wielded it. With everyone being considerably drunk, it just compounded the problem.

Gripping his stave, Thor plunged into the masses of worried people and began navigating his way towards the source of trouble. No one seemed to notice as Thor weaved by them in his dark blue robes, covering his entire body. The only things ever visible were his eyes, only when they gleamed with power. At this moment his eyes shone a bright blue as he called upon his talent, preparing himself for whatever lay ahead.

Finally the people cleared and Thor found himself gazing upon four young men, all wearing the robes of magi students standing over five large men, blacksmiths by the look of them. The students were rather lean looking, all holding charges of raw power within their hands and using them to force the blacksmiths onto their knees. Thor hated these kinds of people. The mages that thought they were above the common man, untouchable by steel because they wielded magic.

Stepping out of the shadows, Thor gave the closest mage a light kick in the backside.

"Boys, it's about time you went back to the academy."

All four turned around, irritated scowls plastered across their faces. The tallest mage stepped forward, assuming group leader position as he gazed upon Thor's glowing eyes.

"And what are you going to do old man? Look at us until we get tired?"

Snickers emerged from the others as Thor remained silent for a moment. An instant later his stave shot forward and slammed into the face of the young mage, knocking him unconscious instantly. The others gathered their own power and launched small balls of it towards the robed mage. Thor couldn't help but grin as the balls approached him. These boys had no idea what they were dealing with. Holding up his left hand, Thor watched as the three spheres stopped and disappeared into nothingness.

Before the stunned boys could react, Thor unleashed a single wave of force strong enough to knock all three off their feet and into various hard surfaces, forcing them to join their companion in the depths of unconsciousness.

Before he could address the distressed blacksmiths on the ground, Thor spun around as he felt the rushing force of something dark approaching. A massive wave of crimson light passed through all matter in its path at tremendous speeds, not slowing at all as it continued and passed through the mage. A sense of dread overwhelmed him for several moments before it faded. He only had a few moments to ponder such before the very earth below him began to rumble. Fortunately, that too passed.

Completely lost as to what caused such an incident, Thor disappeared in a brief blue flash. Something was wrong and he had a bad feeling about where it had come from.
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Even after centuries of inhabiting the land under and around the twin peaks of Dargoth, the dwarves still had many tunnels to dig, more precious resources to find and an untold amount of new technologies to develop. Unfortunately they were at the stage when tunnel digging was at its most dangerous stage. With so many already existing, they could never be entirely sure just how stable the rock above them was.

Bifrost stood silently as he watched the latest dwarven contraption tear its way through rock as if it were water. There was no doubt they had progressed to a stage where it was becoming more than difficult to build better mining machines, yet there were always other areas to worry about. Getting through the rock wasn't a problem anymore, it was detecting the stability of the tunnels. Extreme difficulties had been encountered when it came to telling how much support the tunnel had underneath and even more importantly, how strong was the roof of the tunnel.

Drawing his worn battle-axe, the dwarven leader stroked his beard as he walked through the newly formed tunnel, dragging his blade along the roof. Most dwarves would figure he wasn't doing anything, yet Bifrost happened to be one of the few dwarves blessed with a strong natural talent for magic. He could sense the very formation of the rock, feel the weak spots and the potential danger areas. All seemed to be going well so far until he came towards the end of the tunnel.

Something seemed wrong, yet it wasn't with the tunnel structure. The land itself could feel it, something wasn't right. Dropping his axe back into a side sheath, Bifrost spun around and began running as fast as his stout legs could carry him.

"Get out of here... now!"

Without hesitation the other dwarves began a rapid spring through the network of tunnels, weaving their way upwards for several minutes until they finally arrived at one of the many surface entrances. Most entrances were hidden by magical illusions that presented no problem to the native dwarves and so they burst straight through the gaps in the mountain and continued to run for several more meters.

As Bifrost emerged from the mountain, his attention was drawn immediately to his right as a red blur of light passed right through him and continued onwards, not slowing at all for flesh or rock. The dwarves stood around in an uneasy manner, not sure of what had just occurred. Several minutes of waiting produced nothing of importance and so the dwarves began their way back towards the tunnels.

"Wait..."

The other dwarves stopped, expecting Bifrost to give them further reason as to why they should remain outside. With none about to come, they continued their path towards the tunnel entrance. Before any of them made it, the ground lurched beneath them and broke into a terrifying rumble. Rocks fell from the mountains, as it seemed the very ground beneath them would crumble. Thankfully it passed quickly, yet all those around were now too wary to return to the tunnels.

Bifrost merely sat down, attempted to make sense of what just happened. It wasn't... right.
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Izual stood silently upon the edge of a forest grove, watching the younger elves before him. All four were bound across the arms, legs and eyes. Their ears had been spelled into a world of silence. They couldn't see nor hear his approach in the slightest, making it rather easy for the elven leader. Step after step he drew closer, gripping a gleaming blade in one hand as he prepared to make the winning move.

The elf had hoped things would be harder than this, but he wasn't going to allow his disappointment to prevent him from finishing his task. A few more steps and it would all be over, he would win and they would all lose to his skill. With the blade poised to strike, Izual took the final step necessary and almost fell flat on his face. Glancing downwards, he noticed two very thick tree roots wrapped around his feet, preventing him from taking another step anywhere.

At that point the blindfolded elf spun around and spoke, not bothering to remove his blindfold.

"I believe you have been caught master Izual."

The master elf looked upon his student seriously for a moment before breaking into a grin.

"You may all remove your blindfolds now."

Happy to be able to hear and see once again, the elves quickly began dealing with the rest of their bindings however they saw fit in order to convene around their master.

"So tell me Talron, how did you figure I was behind you?"

The younger elf looked at his master with an expression of achievement and pride.

"I finally did it master. I opened by connection to the earth, it told me you were there. I could sense your every step and I asked the forest to help me."

The elf continued to grin as he indicated the roots wrapped around Izual's feet.

"Very good. You've passed your final test Talron. I'll be sure to inform the elven council once we return."

As Izual made a request with the earth to release him, he felt something strange resonating through the land. It wasn't natural and it seemed to be effecting the entire nation. Spinning around, the elf was able to capture a glimpse of crimson light before it continued to rush forward, passing through him and all the other elves. Being specially attuned to the land, all the elves could feel the dread of whatever had just past.

The feeling of sadness was only just fading when a horrendous rumble of the earth caught everyone's attention. All those present could feel the anguish of the earth, feel the pain it was going through caused by some unknown force. Something unnatural to this world. Shaken to the very core, Talron was the first to speak.

"Master, what was that?"

Izual looked back to his elven students.

"I don't know..."

Whatever had done such was of a dark nature, that much was for sure. Besides that, Izual, leader of the elven people was completely baffled.

Khet had been taking a break from his wanderings in a tavern when the quake hit. He remained as he was but he'd spilled his drink as had many of the patrons. They, realizing the quake had passed ordered more rounds and re-commenced with thier drinking, thought he had an odd feeling from the quake and decided to see whether he could find a library that might explain it. He exited the tavern and noted a couple of young mages unconsious and began searching for the magick collage.

Thor paced the giant library archive hall of the mage's palace over and over as he pondered the issue at hand. He was pretty sure the quake was not something natural due to the completely unnerving feeling he'd recieved once the crimson light had passed through him. Such things usually signalled the beginning of something undesirable.

The library hall was absolutely massive with book shelves towering towards the roof and stretching forever onwards. Whilst highly organised, the sheer volume of knowledge made it increasingly difficult to find anything of specific importance. After pacing for several more minutes, Thor found himself a lead and immediately retrieved a book about the energy lanes of the earth. A few minutes of glancing through the book brought nothing.

Frustrated at his lack of knowledge, Thor threw down the book and began pacing once again.

Khet arrived at the library and found a man pacing back and forth. He went up to the man and asked "Could you direct me to the sections dealing with lay-lines, earth magick, and earthquakes." He left his hood up, partially to avoid spooking the general populace and partially because it helped keep out some of the excess light and sound.

Thor stopped pacing as a cloaked man entered the library and began asking questions most certainly related to the recent event. Thor looked at him for a moment from behind his hood, attempting to judge why this man would be so interested in the quake.

"I assume you're here regarding the recent quake?"

"Yes I am." Khet replied, "And from your comments you are as well correct?"

Thor nodded as he indicated the pile of books upon the marble floor. Despite his vast knowledge and the books he had searched through, he was unable to find anything natural that would explain the recent quake. The next step would be to speak with the other council members.

"Yes. Earth magic is just here, as is earthquakes. I'm doubting you will find anything though, there doesn't seem to be any natural cause for this quake."

Stepping forward, Thor extended a hand from his blue robes and placed it before Khet.

"I'm Thor and this is my province of Khadrim. If you know anything of use, I'd be very interested to hear."

"The only thing overly odd, was the fact that this one came with an aura of malevolence overriding the normal aura of fear." Khet replied

A shudder ran through the earth. It woke Zazriel who had been sleeping by a small stream. This had been one of her favorite places for over one hundred years. It was located far away from any humman, elf, or dwarf settlement, and she had never seen a dragon near here. It was almost as though it was a different world; nothing but her and small woodland creatures.

Over time, she had developed a sort of bond with these creatures. She had lived here for at least twenty generations of these small, fox-like beings. She had apparantly become a permanent figure in these creatures' lives. Sometimes, it felt as though she could even communicate with them. She wasnt sure why she had this feeling, but it seemed like she had a mental connection. Perhaps these little mammals were not the un-intelligent beasts they were considered to be by most things that could walk and talk. Sadly, she had never learned their name.

As for the moment however, her eyes snapped open as the tremor coursed through her body, bringing her out of sleep instantly. She heard several small cries as the fox-like creatures, her friends it seemed at times, scampered away, trying to find safety from this quake, but finding none, they simply curled into balls and waited for it to pass.

Fortunatly, it did after not very long. But even though the apparant danger had passed, Zazriel still felt strange. On her left arm, she bore a pattern of blue markings, placed there by god when she had been created 387 years ago. Whenever she had felt considerably threatened, even subconciously, it had burned a bright blue. This had saved her from disaster several times in her life so far. She also wore a golden arm band that, while appearing simply as a gold ornament, was a powerful magickal object.

This had band had not been given to her. She had in fact, found it, traveling through the Dark Wood. She had actually stepped into a hole, and fallen on her face as she had been concentrating on things besides her path. She had pushed herself off the ground, and the ground beneath her left hand had given way. Her arm plunged into the dirt, and when she had yanked it free, the band had simply been on her arm. She had never tried to remove it as it seemed to help her sense things around her. A thief, not knowing what she was, had swung at her from behind, and she had simply ducked. She hadnt even ment to duck, it just happened. This band was quite precious to her.

But at this moment in time, something was very wrong. She believed that she should, without a doubt, go to a library of arcane knowledge and attempt to uncover what this strange occurence was.

Thor nodded at the stranger's comment regarding the ill feeling that had accompanied the quake. It wasn't right at all and he could think of no suitable explanation.

"There are no fault lines running through this nation, no volcanoes and no historically unstable regions of land. Quakes are extremely rare in Khadrim and even when they do occur, they do not originate within our borders. This one did, not far south from here. If you'll excuse me, I need to look into this matter a little further."

Thor walked away a reasonable distance as a familiar voice emerged within his head.

"I trust you noticed the little disturbance Thor?"

"Of course Ryath. What do you know?"

"It came from your province, the Dark Wood to be precise. I don't like the look of things though. Before the quake, some sort of beacon shot forth from the woods and was returned shortly afterwards. Then there was the quake. Where are you now?"

"Magi archives in my capitol.

"Alright. Stay there and I'll see you soon."
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Now certain that something was wrong, Ryath stood at fall height as she stretched massive wings and launched herself into the night sky. The night was clear and so navigating would be made that much easier.

Several powerful flaps launched Ryath high into the sky at tremendous speeds. It wouldn't take one such as her to reach Thor very long.
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All of a sudden the forest seemed even darker than before, the black clad men surrounding the grove now unable to see a single thing. Darkness engulfed everything, blocking out all senses and seeping into the minds of those surrounding the grove.

Everyone joined in a simultaenous scream of horros as Xerxes entered their minds. Of course it could be heard by none but all assumed that their God was in contact with everyone. Pain wracked their bodies and minds at the mere presence of their lord, yet they had been training for this day for decades, some even centuries. After several moments were allowed for adjustment, the bone chilling voice of Xerxes resounded within their heads.

"Finally. I am now firmly lodged within this world. As my loyal minions, you shall be rewarded greatly. But first, we are to destroy this nation. For too long I have been sealed within the void thanks to those four council members. They shall suffer. Now go forth and do my bidding. I shall remain here."

All the men fell to their knees and sighed with relief as the presence of their lord left their minds. As of yet he had no physical form and so he could only communicate mentally. Unfortunately for them, the whole ordeal was very taxing upon the mind and body.

Not wanting to anger their lord by delaying, all the men jumped to their feet and disappeared into the Dark Wood. They had work to do.

Zazriel reached down to the now still earth and picked up her cloak. She wore this to protect her identity. As she was an angel, people would recognize what she was instantly. This sometimes ended up in the being desperatly trying to just touch her and be healed, but sometimes people became afraid and would even go as far as to attack her.

For now, she she spread her wings and flew towards the human capital of Knossoss. There she hoped to search the huge library for some information on this recent occurance.

When she arrived, she landed a ways outside the city to have time to put on her black cloak. She then proceded into capital. She found the library soon enough and entered.

She saw a librarian nearby and hurried over.

"Excuse me sir, could you direct me to the earth magick section?" she asked, hopeing this was not someone new to the job.

The librarian glanced up at her and merly pointed to a section saying "I'm getting tired of walking there. You can see where I am pointing, yes?"

This brought another fact to her mind immediatly. She is tired of that journey....apparantly other persons have the same idea as I. "Thank you," she replied, "I am sure I can find my way there." And she hurried over.

She noticed a being dressed all in blue robes standing in the section, as well as another cloaked figure. She lowered her hood and walked up to the one in blue.

"It seems as though we have similar interests. I assume you are here because of the recent disturbence in the earth?" she said, while trying to see into its hood. All she could pick out were two blue eyes. Obviously, this was a mage of sorts. Hopefully, it had knowledge of her current puzzlement.

Khet recoiled from the new arrivel. He could feel an aura off her that reminded him too much of a 'angelic' bully that had tormented him in his youth. The bully, because of his angelic blood, had been viewed as could do no wrong, while he, because of the demonic blood of his father, was always to blame.

If he was right and this was an angel, or at least an angelic being, he 'knew' without a doubt that she would be likely to attack and attempt to kill him. If he tried to defend himself he'd have to fight his wayout of the town.

He decided he would avoid letting her see him to confirm any suspicions she might have about him.

The scaled hand shook Lumina's shoulder, causing her to awaken quickly with a slight hiss. She relaxed as she saw who it was.

"What is it?" she asked as she saw the strange look on Tokram's face. She rose to her feet from the cold stone floor of the cave. He walked to the entrance and stared out to the Tarlachian plains. Far in the distance, small human villages could be seen, with their lights glowing in the night.

She walked to his side and wrapped her silvery arm around his torso underneath his draconian wings. "Well?"

"Something has occurred. Something malvolent. Something back in Khadrim."

"Khadrim? That place you saved me from?" she asked with a surprised tone.

"Yes. I fear the one we strived to destroy, the one we repressed for many years right before we saved you, has come at last to the world. I saw it in a dream."

He turned to Lumina and knelt to scoop some of the earth into his hand. He balled it together into a crude sphere. In a moment, she watched as the sphere became suddenly heated before it burst into flames.

"The world shall burn for eons if this evil is left to fester in the darkness of Khadrim."

She touched his arm gently, watching as the flames were extinguished. "Let's go then. We must tell Ryath and Thor."

"I'm sure they already know."

Thor gazed upon the latest occupant of the library as she departed the librarian's desk and approached him. It seemed the quake had sparked the attention of many foreigners attuned to the workings of the world. There was something about this stranger that seemed odd to Thor, she was obviously hiding something. Yet who was he to pry, he hid himself from the public eye as well.

"Indeed. So far I know that it is not natural and that it originated within a forest south of here. I very much doubt there is anything to discover within old books and so I'm waiting on a colleage of mine that witnessed the event better than I."

Again Thor couldn't shake the feeling there was much more to this woman. It was fairly rare to meet such people in Khadrim and he was slightly puzzled by it.

"Would you happen to know anything of any use?"

This is no commonplace man thought Zazriel. She felt some sort of aura coming off him; power, strength, wisdom. Sadly, he did not know of the cause of this recent occurance. But this colleage of his...perhaps they might have some knowledge.

"Sadly, I do not have any information to offer you on this matter. I came, hopeing to find some. Would this colleage of yours have more?"

She certainly hoped so. Any information would be better than their utter lack of.

"What concerns me most at the moment however, is not finding out how this was caused. It is that it was not natural. I know no being besides my own god who could cause something on this level." And it was true. She had never met someone, or something, that could cause an entire region to suffer a sudden, un-explained quake besides the god she knew and worshiped.

Ryath enjoyed soaring through the night skys of Khadrim, allowing the windo to pass over her aerodynamic form as she glided through the air currents. Unfortunately she had to cut it short as she judged Knossoss was almost below her now. Making a swift descent, the lights of the human capital met her eyes, taking her breath away. Whilst Ryath had no particular liking for humans and their ignorant and violent ways, she could certainly appreciate some of the more beautiful things they had created.

Moving into a steep dive, Ryath closed her large dragonic eyes as the wind blasted against them. She knew her landing spot well enough to make the touchdown without having to see it and so within a few more short seconds she pulled upwards just in time to plant her massive feet upon the ground. The immediate thud following startled many within the area yet there seemed to be no massive panic. Most people were already in their homes after the quake and were too concerned to venture outwards.

Ryath didn't bother to see if anyone had witnessed her landing, it was of little concern. A dull glow surrounded the massive dragon as she took too steps. After her first step the glow intensified to the point of blindingly bright until she made her seconds step, this time a slender human female leg making contact with the paved ground. Now comfortably in her human form, Ryath took a moment to toss her long length of black hair behind her shoulders before stepping into the Magi archives.
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Thor nodded slowly at the question. He was confident she at least knew more than him and realised Ryath had lived much longer and was a wise woman.

"I'm hoping so. She tends to know such things and if not I'm sure we can determine some of the issues."

At that point a dark haired tanned woman wearing light robes that seemed to flow over her slend figure walked into the main chamber. Her apperance to many human men was amusing. She tended to stun them to the point of losing their mobility. They couldn't believe a human woman of such beauty existed and in truth, one didn't. Ryath was not human.

Noticing his fellow council member enter the library, Thor beckoned her over with a sweept of his hand.

"This is my colleague Ryath. I'm sorry but I don't believe I asked your name?"

Ryath waited politely as introductions were made. Her eyes gazed over the cloaked woman carefully. Instantly she could tell there was something more to her, something greater. Of course it was rude to pry and so she merely gave the woman a pleasant smile. Ryath also noted another man within the chamber standing close to the earth magic books.

The new arrival in the library, this mans colleage, was a women. A women, that most human males would consider to posses angelic beauty. A human of this quality in appearance, was, unheard of. Zazriel doubted she actually was a human, but, as she did not reveal facts about herself, she was not going to pry into others.

"My name is Zazriel. It is a pleasure to meet you. Your colleage here has informed me that you might have some knowledge of the recent occurance?"

She was suprised she let herself give her true name. If these people had any knowledge of angelic titles, they would discover what she was. But she felt as though she could trust them. She was not sure why, but they both radiated out a feeling of kindness, and while it seemed a little shielded from this new woman, it was still there. She hoped she was not wrong about them.

Khet decided to risk having to deal with this Zazriel. He was right, she was an angel. "Greetings being of the upper-plane Zazriel. My name is Khet." As he said this he removed his hood and smiled, revealing a few of the traits that marked him of having demonic lineage. His eyes with thier cat's eyed pupils, the long canines, the pointedness of the rest of his teeth and his purple hair. Khet hoped the species undefined Ryath, the upper-planer Zazriel and the mage Thor wouldn't try and attack him.

Zazriel felt a moments shock at the sight of this demon's face, but she pushed it aside. This man was on her side; he too was searching for the cause of this quake, and she did not want to cause hostilities between beings of the same goal.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Khet. I assume you are here for the same reason as I?"

OC: sry for the short post, im in a bit of a rush

Ryath was more surprised than Thor as Khet revealed his true appearance, the face of a demon. None of them moved into agressive stances as they knew very well that there were more to demons than merely the stereotypical minions of Satan. Thor merely gave the demon a nod whilst Ryath smiled warmly, she had always liked demons for some odd reason.

Khet's words finally filled the blanks in Thor's mind. Zazriel was no ordinary name but that of an angelic. He'd never met an angelic before and had barely read anything of them either. No gods were worshipped in Khadrim and so such forces were very absent from the nation's history. Ryath spoke up to finish all introductions.

"I am Ryath and this is Thor. We're both part of the leading body of Khadrim. As for the quake that we've all noticed. So far I know that it's not natural, there was some sort of beacon involved and it originated from the Dark Wood, not too far south of here. I've yet to speak with the other members of our council, but I am sure they noticed it as well and we can meet up with them later on."

As the dragon in human guise spoke, Thor's thoughts entered her mind.

"Do you think we can trust them?"

"Time will tell, but strangers can be valuable allies sometimes. As we've seen in the past."

"Agreed. Then we shall venture to the Dark Wood."

"Aye, seems the best place to start. I'll inform Bifrost and Izual."

This time Thor spoke as Ryath mentally occupied herself with communicating over such great distances.

"Well I doubt there is anything to be found here. We're going to make the trek towards the forest. It's only a few hours by horse so we'll do that. You two are welcome to join us of course."

Whilst Ryath appeared to be paying attention to the conversation, her thoughts were elsewhere, literally.

"Izual, Bifrost?"

"Yes?" (Izual)

"Aye?" (Bifrost)

"Thor and I are heading towards the Dark Wood since that's where the quake originated from. I suggest you two ride the lane currents and meet us on the northern boundary of the forest."

"Of course Ryath. This earthquake is most disturbing."

"Agreed. I'll be there."

"Good."

With everything settled, Ryath broke back into normality and picked up her place within the conversation once again.

"We're ready to leave now."

Khet bowed his head to Zazriel, "If you are here about the quake, then yes I am." As the mage and the still species undefined spoke, he was pleased that they weren't at least openly hostile like many people he'd met. Also since they appeared to be the leaders, if he'd had to fight them he'd have probably been on the run till he got well away from here. "Alright, I will come, thought could you answer me one question before we go, Ryath what species are you?"

Ryath gave a brief smile to Khet as he posed his question. Most people would be in too much awe to ask such a thing, yet Khet wasn't most people.

"I'm a dragon native to these lands. Golden dragon to be specific, that's why I can take this human form. Otherwise I tend to have trouble getting through doors."

The scaled and winged figure stood on the edge of the mountain, looking down into the valley below. Not too far from his perch, the Dark Woods lay to the south.

"Hello Khadrim." he said softly, keeping his eyes on the woods. Something was abnormal in those woods, and more so than he had seen them the last time he had been around.

The sound of clattering rocks nearby alerted him to Lumina's return from her quick hunt for food. She carried in her hands two rabbits, both with their necks broken. Handing one to Tokram, she took the other and snapped its neck, ripping into the raw flesh with her pointed teeth.

He too did the same with his rabbit. He took a seat upon the rocky overhang he now stood upon and turned his head slightly to see Lumina take a seat next to him and lean slightly against him. Her tail swept around and wrapped itself around Tokram's waist lovingly.

"Now what?"

"We wait."

"Ah, that explains it. Would either of you have any objection if we left by the east gate, I need to pick Nara up." Khet asked

Meanwhile Nara had caught a rabbit nearly three times her size and began eating.

ooc: Nara is a demon kitten
http://www.lakeffect.net/coberman/images/Kittens2.jpg
This kitten, but with red eyes and a tail three times longer than it is in the pic.

So, these two obviously were of some importance in this area. Hopefully they knew this area well enough to find the source of this beam Thor refered to.

"The east gate sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Although I may meet you there by a different route. This cloak is forcing my wings into an uncomfortable position so I may fly there to stretch them. Does that bother anyone?" She hoped not. This cloak was weighted so that her wings would be forced against her back so that a person walking by would not notice the strangly shaped bulge in her back.

The three riders tightened their hold on the reins as the ground began to shake. They were riding through the nation of Khadrim, their neighbours, on semi official business. They were to meet a caravan to Falamari traders who needed to pass through the Palanit Comlar, a rather treacherous path that few knew the route through without the use of magic, and the two members of the Order of the Holy Guardian had been sent to perform this task.

As the ground finished trembling, the man jumped down from his horse. He crouched and placed his hand on the ground, feeling for the earth’s message. He looked up at his companions, a look of disbelief on his face. “This was no earthquake.” He stood up and patted his mount, his eyes looking around the area. “Whatever it was, it’s not good.”

Calione Laryck nodded her head, her own gaze moving around, seeking for a clue. “We need to find out what it is,” as she spoke she looked at their other companion. “You will need to continue to the caravan, halt it until we can get there.” She watched as the man nodded and kicked his horse into a gallop and disappeared along their original path. “We, on the other hand, need to head for Knossnoss and see if they can enlighten us to its cause.”

Climbing back into the saddle, Petren Galiss turned his horse, facing it towards the path towards the capital. “Let’s go!” He kicked his horse, and sent it into a gallop, the rhythmic beating of the hooves behind him indicating that Calione was following behind.

* * * * *

Fortunately the party had not been too far from their new destination, and it was just over an hour later that the two rode into the capital city. They looked around them, wondering where they would be best heading for, hoping for some sign as to where they would be able to gain the information they required. Dismounting from their horses, Calione and Petren walked slowly down the street.

“What should we do now?” Petren looked at his companion, a frown etching over his features.

“We will be led to where we need to be.”

Letting out a sigh, Petren followed behind, not quite as trusting in the ways, as Calione was.

Ryath and Thor both nodded to Khet's request.

"That's no problem at all. It's better that we leave by the east gate anyway and merely follow the grassy plains down to the forest instead of attempting to make it through some of the rougher land directly south of the city."

As the group began to exit the library, Zazriel made a request of her own. Again the pair nodded their acceptance and watched as the angelic being took to the sky. With everything in order, the grounded trio began navigating through the well lit and cobbled streets of Knossoss. Normally things would be much more active and full of life yet the quake and quickly broken up the midsummer festival and so the streets were near deserted.

Thor seemed to remain silent as they walked down the quiet streets, heading towards the east gate. Yet Ryath was not about to accept silence upon their entire journey.

"So Khet. What kind of demon are you?"

Several minutes later and the group had almost reached the east gate. As they rounded a corner they found themselves gazing upon two human figures. They were the only people to be seen on the streets so far and had slightly surprised Thor.

"I'm a half-demon rather than a full demon. As to the demonic blood that would be my fathers and he was a dog demon." Khet replied "The city seems deserted." He remarked as he pulled up his hood seeing the two people.

As they wandered deeper into the city, it was plainly obvious to both to them that there was no one about. The streets were devoid of all life, and the pair assumed without speaking or conferring that everyone must have gone for shelter at the earthquake. Walking along, their horses walking slightly behind them they continued their search through the ghost town.

Petren was just about to suggest that they give up and return to their previous mission, when up ahead he saw a group of people – though he would have used the term loosely – and they appeared to be heading in the direction that the two Falmari had come from.

“Good day.” He called, as he watched them wearily. People that did not follow the norm worried him, and these people did not look like a group of market goers. “We are travelling through Khadrim, or were until the shaking ground brought us to Knossoss.” He let his gaze fall on each of them. “Can you tell us what has happened?”

Calione shook her head, and sighed, before speaking. “We are Knights of the Holy Order of the Guardian, from Mar-nu-Falmar. We are here to offer our help in any way that we can.” She stepped forward, closing the distance between her and the new arrivals. “If you can tell us who we should see, we will be on our way.”

Ryath nodded as Khet explained his heritage. She'd never encountered a dog demon before and knew little of them, yet Khet seemed to be a reasonable enough kind of being. The streets were indeed deserted as the half-demon commented, obviously due to the recent quake.

"Indeed. I'm sure the quake spooked most people. The humans tend to have a great fear of such things magic and otherwise unknown, it is strange."

Thor didn't seem to be bothered by such talk as he knew very well that it was true. As they rounded the corner and spotted two figures down the street, Thor's blue eyes glued to their location. They didn't seem hostile yet appearances were almost always decieving.

Ryath also eyed the strangers carefully. Whilst she was more friendly than Thor, the fact that people were wandering around these deserted streets was slightly surprising. Thankfukky the strangers soon identified themselves, causing a warm smile to spread across Ryath's face. Mar-nu-Falmar was Khadrim's closest neighbor and an old time ally. The fact that these people were from the holy order of their ally was a relief. With most of her suspiscion cast away, Ryath began speaking herself.

"Tis good to see friends wandering the lands after such a sombre event. You need not look any further. I am Ryath of the High Council, the man in blue here is my colleague Thor and this man here is Khet. We're actually on our way not to the source of the quake as it is unfortunately not natural and we fear there may be darker forces at play. You are welcome to join us if you wish, the source is only a few hours ride south of here."

Thor didn't say anything but merely nodded in greeting. He was never much of the diplomat compared to others such as Ryath and Izual and so he left such work to them.

Petren frowned. Whenever something untoward happened, he could not understand why it always had to be dark forces. Could not for once the gods of light be doing something that startled people and then turned out to be nothing other hand a new mountain popping out of the land, to produce another spring to supply water to those below? Unfortunately, this was never the case, and with a sinking heart, he stood beside his horse, looking at the people before him as his companion addressed them.

Calione walked up to her group, having passed the rein of her horse to Petren. “We would be honoured to do all that we can to aid our neighbours and friends.” She looked at Ryath and bowed her head. “We are at your service. I am Calione Laryck, and my companion is Petren Galiss.” She indicated the young man beside the horses, as he gave them a bow of his head. “Where you lead, we will follow.”

Ryath smiled as Calione made her offer of assistance. There was always strength in numbers, especially with such a diverse range of people and Ryath feared they just may need that strength.

"That is good to hear Calione. We are about to mount up and head south right now. Our destination is only a few hours ride at a reasonable pace so hopefully we can settle this problem quickly."

Thor nodded as he disappeared down a side alley. Obviously they needed horses for their travel and within the space of a few minutes he returned with three saddled mounts. Obviously he'd employed the use of his natural talent as it was impossible to physically saddle up said horses in such a short time.

"These creatures are of good breed and shall serve us well. I believe we are ready to depart."

Ryath nodded as she gracefully mounted herself.

"Indeed. Shall we go then?"

The question was posed to everyone else as she realised Thor was ready and anxious to get moving.

OOC: Sorry for the delay.... has been busy times.

Flying over the empty streets, Zazriel took her time reaching her destination. Flying was a wonderful feeling to her. Wearing her cloak never was very comfortable and these few moments were very relieving. Finally, she decided that heading to the rest of the group would be a good thing, and moments later, she was there.

There were two newcomers that had increased their ranks again, and she landed beside them without bothering to replace her cloak.

"Greetings beings. I see you have joined our traveling group. My name is Zazriel," she said, bowing her head.

She hoped that these two would not be frightened of her. The rest of these people obviously hadnt been; hopefully there would not be an exception.

OC: same here, ive been quite busy the past few days

"Hi again Zazriel. How was your flight? Oh and these two are Calione Laryck and Petren Galiss." Khet said, "If you don't mind Thor, I'll go on foot, I can keep pace with a horse without a problem, and horses tend not to like me."

Thor nodded at Khet's request, not particularly bothered by it at all. Everyone had their own prefered methods of travel and it had taken the mage some time to get used to horses himself.

"Alright. Let's go then."

Ryath nodded in agreement as she greeted Zazriel once again.

"Now that we're all here, let us begin. We head east for about half an hour, then turn south and take a fairly direct path straight to the Dark Woods. Just so you all know, it isn't called dark for no reason. That forest is full of unnatural creatures and is a graveyard for many powerful necromancers we have had to dispose of in the past. Don't go rushing into things."

"Indeed."

With that said, the two council members saddled up and waited for the others to get ready.

Khet flexed his neck as well as doing a few stretches, "I'm ready, any demons in the forest?" Khet asked

Petren eyed Zazriel suspiciously, but said nothing. He had seen some strange things in his time, and a woman, who was possibly an angel did not really register on his ‘things to be feared’ gauge. If she had been a demon with flames and glowing red eyes, he might have batted an eyelid but as she was not, he stood beside his horse looking her over.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Zazriel.” Petren bowed his head slightly in greeting, and gave her a smile, before he climbed into his saddle as the others were doing, making sure he was comfortably seated for the journey ahead. He had no idea how long their path would me. “I have never met one of your kind before.”

Beside him, Calione let out a faint groan and made a pleasant exchange of greeting to Zazriel as she took mounted her horse. Satisfied that Petren would not say something that would cause offence, though deep down she had her reservations. She kicked on her horse until she was level with Ryath. “You mean to take us through the Dark Woods?” She frowned slightly, wondering what they had let themselves in for.

Once everyone was saddled up the party began their journey east, quickly navigating through the deserted city streets and passing under a large defensive gate.

Ryath gazed over at Calione as she posed a question, obviously a little concerned about the Dark Woods.

"We shall investigate down there, it would be unwise to simply enter the forest. There are many forces in there unknown to us, the forest is kind of like a reserve within the nation where particularly dangerous creatures and the sort are contained."

Thor had remained silent the entire time the group had been travelling, not caring to socialise with the foreigners. Yet as the mage rode by Khet, he remembered a question the demon had posed.

"There may be demons within the forest, yet none naturally reside within Khadrim. There are forces within there that could summon your kind."

Without any fuss the party cleared Knossoss with ease before turning south and continuing upon their journey. Before long they would reach the outer boundaries of the Dark Wood.

Calione nodded, having heard of similar places in her own nation. She frowned, wondering why events always led them into deeper danger before a solution could be found. Patting the neck of her horse, she turned and looked at Ryath. “So you believe that whatever caused this quake is hidden in the Dark Wood?” Her head turned so that she once more looked at the path ahead. “I pray that we are looked over upon this mission. I know that I will be praying to all the gods that are listening for help.”


[ooc: sorry for the short post]

OOC: sry i havnt been posting, been busy

IC:

"The dark wood, while dangerous, is commonly seen above what it really is. If one knows how to navigate it, then you are in no danger. I myself used to travel through her quite often."

Some of her memories from the dark wood were not pleasent, but most times she had traveled through here, she had not faced any real threats. She was unsure of her companions strength in combat however. Perhaps they were not up to the challenge of such a place. This man, Thor, he seemed more than capable as did the dragon Ryath. Khet however...

She had never believed that demons had true strength, that they simply relied upon the fact that they had a menacing facade. She had killed many a demon in her life, none of which had required any true test of her abilities. Hopefully, this being was of a different quality than the others.

The two new additions to the group, Petren and Calione, while human, seemed to be sure of themselves; a trait that often insured sucess.

Hopefully, this journey would be a safe one. Only once had she been forced into combat in the dark wood, and it was a memory she would like to forget.

Khet nodded, as he learnt of the lack of demons. "I'm pretty sure they couldn't summon my type of demons, more likely hell demons."

As he kept pace with the horses, Nara snuck up and pounced on his head, "Hello there Nara, how've you been." She responded with a purr. "That's good. These are Petren, Calione, Thor, Ryath, and Zazriel." She purred as he introduce the others.

Ryath nodded at Calione's question.

"Indeed. One of our other colleagues confirmed such and he will be meeting with us once we arrive at the forest boundaries. What's disturbing is that this quake spread over the entire nation, whatever created it was strong enough to pass through the general wards we had erected."

Both Thor and Ryath were both slightly startled to hear their companion moved through the forest frequently. Whilst what she spoke was quite true, the council had been of the opinion that building up a legend of danger and death was in the best interests of public safety. At this point Thor spoke up.

"Whilst you may have never come across any real problems in there and many they do enter won't, make no mistake, they are there. We have gone to painstaking efforts to seal them away, the forest only acts as a secondary barrier. Now that something has got out or whatever, we are most troubled."

Ryath smiled and watched the small creature show affection for Khet.

"Where abouts did you encounter Nara?"

As the group spoke they passed high mountains, their shapes looming in the night sky. *OOC: Hint for Tarlachia*

"She's a native of my homelands." He said as Nara leapt to Ryath's shoulder, and licked her cheek. Nara's tounge was even rougher than a normal cat's, but also oddly comforting. She then leapt back to Khet's shoulder and wrapped her long tail around his neck and settled down.

"Wake up." came the soft voice of Lumina, her syllables coarse in the draconic tongue. She was at the entrance, leaning her back against the wall and watching the world outside. A few minutes ago, a group of figures had passed into view, heading for the Dark Forest. She watched them for another moment, then turned her eerie eyes to rest upon the sleeping figure near her.

Within a moment, Tokram began to stir awake, his eyes opening and adjusting to the dim moonlight. "Have they come?" he asked her. She nodded in reply and lifted a scaled finger downward.

"They are down there."

Tokram stood and followed her gesture, studying the figures carefully. At last, he smiled a menacing row of fangs as he recognized two of the party members."It is time."

He spread his wings and nodded to Lumina. She took her cue and focused her gaze on the moon, ever so high in the deep space of the skies. Concentrating, the moon seemed to shake ever so slightly and appear larger by a small fraction. Satisfied, Lumina approached Tokarm and took a firm grip around his torso.

At first, there was nothing happening, and then there was a wind, a side effect of the tides shifting elsewhere in the world, and the weather shifting in respose. This caused a wind to spawn and blow into Khadrim, sweeping past the mountainside in which the two draconians had waited. Within moments after that, they were gone from the mountainside, and swept on the air currents like silent wraiths. The wind was strong, and sweeping into the lower plains of the land, as well as toward the Dark Forest.

Landing softly, the two draconians approached the traveling party and spoke.

"Many things stir when the shaddows shift and take new positions. I see that you have noticed this as well, Ryath." Tokram addressed in the common draconic tongue. He gave a respectful nod to Thor in greeting.

Calione nodded at Ryath. “It would be so nice to be able to walk through a wood that only had deer and rabbits residing.” She grinned as she thought of the many woods and forests that seemed to be sprinkled around that were nothing but haunts for everything that was foul on the earth. “I pray to Kementari that our journey through this one is free from all danger.” She slowed her horse, and began to fall through the line until she was once more riding beside Petren.

The young man looked at her. “I fear the journey does not bode well by your face.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Whatever is thrown at us, we will be given the strength and resources to achieve and conquer.”

Calione turned and looked at her companion, her brow furrowed in puzzlement. “You don’t believe that teaching.”

“No, but you do.” Petren grinned.

Shaking her head, but smiling, Calione turned back to the path ahead and watched as a couple of dragons descended towards the party, and spoke to Ryath.

Ryath and Thor both halted on the spot as two figures approached from the darkness. They were still too far away to recognise any familiarities and so the pair were ready to unleash their own forms of arcane defence if they faced hostiles.

Fortunately the pair were rather surprised when an oddly familiar voice rode across the wind. It was a voice not quite human, more rough and quite accented in the common tongue.

In order to confirm his suspicions, Thor allowed the end of his stave to flare into life, a blue light illuminating the entire party. The light quickly revealed the presence of Tokram and Lumina, the dragonic pair they had encountered almost fifty years ago.

Ryath couldn't help but smile as she gracefully slid off her mount and grasped Tokram's hand, then Lumina's.

"It has been some time my cousins, tis good to see you within Khadrim once again."

With pleasantries out of the way, Ryath's tone became more sombre.

"I assume you're here for the same reasons as us then?"

The Dark Woods was only a fifteen minute ride away from their current location. Upon arriving they could meet up with Izual and Bifrost, then they could get to the bottom of what troubled the land.

Khet regarded the two new strangers with caution. When Thor and Ryath approached and were jovial with the strangers a bit of his caution eased out, though Nara retained her suspicions and continued to slightly hiss at them, with her heckles raised.

Khet approached, "Would you mind introducing me to your companions?" He asked, while Nara had loosened her tail and had her claws partially extended.

Tokram (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UAAAALYZujLMPKzUk04BlTAOfTkK4o7GbeOGVsc8LsOvqhAfmeaf50OEMU!qyS3s62RVLoulzb2!1otbItf63xHiFYZVpbmQFDQ 0MdsZ9dIuU1rcO0v9PXSCWhcAcFoX/Dragonkin.bmp) nodded slowly as he closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Yes...something is amiss." he replied.

He opened his eyes to focus them upon Khet and addressed him in the common tongue, "Fair winds to you stranger, for you travel with good company. I am Tokram."

Lumina (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UwCRArMa8IbMPKzUk04Bldjael*hNF7t2y5igQwdio4KcW6vBkMZwpuWy5B6vzBwPFQWeJkfwGsHp73P6pwXTMGxRVnuMezgFZv rFME*Bzlk4p*0TzsKHNTLS23sdRmV/Dragonpearl2.bmp) in the meantime was busy studying the feline on Khet's shoulder and bared her own fangs slightly as the feline hissed. She heard Tokram switch to the common tongue, and it was then she broke the silent challenge with the feline and spoke in turn. "My name is Lumina." She returned her cool gaze to the feline, a slight smile upon her face.

Tokram turned to face the dark woods and looked deeply into them. Although they were still some distance from the woods, his draconian eyesight benefitted him well. He spoke after several moments of doing this. "I have not seen the other council members pass by from our perch high up in the the mountains. Are they to travel here through the lanes?"

Zazriel, upon seeing two random draconians fly out of the sky, quickly pulled her cloak. After Thor and Ryath greeted them however, she felt a little less cautious and pulled down the hood. She did not approach them however, deciding to stay at the back of the group. She had met enough new beings for one day.

Other creatures never really were to her liking. She was very suprised that her body had accepted her new companions so readily. She hadnt even ment to. Perhaps she was ment to be with them. She would have to ask her god about this when they stopped.

Nara calmed slightly.
"Now Nara, behave." What followed was a rapid was a rapid conversation in feline, common, and a couple less readily identifiable languages.
It ended with Nara getting a tap on the nose and replying with a bite that, if Khet had been human, would have taken the finger off at the knuckle, but only caused a minor cut.
Nara's posture had relaxed back to the pre-meeting state though.

Turning back to everyone, Ryath waved her hands towards Tokram and Lumina.

"Everyone, this is Tokram and Lumina. They are old friends and can be trusted."

Immediately Ryath went around the group, introducing everyone.

"This is Khet and his pet Nara, over there is Calione and Petren, they are guests from Mar-nu-Falmar and over here is Zazriel. As you can see we're all heading towards the forest."

Whilst Ryath seemed to be overjoyed by encountering more friends to join their little group, Thor was much more sombre about the fact that Tokram had even noticed such from Tarlachia.

"Aye, the others are coming via the lanes. We are about to meet up with them before figuring out what is going on. Care to join us?"

The night was oddly silent for the free lands of Khadrim. Despite being so close to the Dark Wood, one would still expect to hears the sounds of nature as all the nocturnal creatures went about their business. Yet, silence. Something was not right.

"We would not be here if that were not the reason, Ryath." Tokram stated, as he gave a greeting nod to each of them they had been introduced to. He looked to the woods as Ryath did, also noting that it was too quiet, too...dangerous.

Lumina looked to the moon, losing herself in her thoughts as she thought back to her race having emmigrated from the largest moon of Jupiter to Earth. How few had survived the moon's destruction by an unseen force, how few even survived the long trip across millions of miles through space to reach this new world of hope, of freedom, of peace.

And yet, it seemed an old enemy had decided to come back to threaten that very hope yet again.

She gave a snarl, revealing sharp rows of teeth, as she brought to memory the ones whom had captured her, tortured her, and had planned to sacrifice her to bring that twisted diety of their world. Tokram's steady hand on her shoulder pulled her back to the present and she looked to him. He understood as she whispered in their native tongue, "Kchartet."

Kchartet, the name they had given the diety, a name of despise and dishonor.

With all introductions done and ideas clarrified, the group continued upon the journey towards the forest. As the party drew closer it became convincingly more obvious something was wrong. Dead silence had fallen upon the world around them, not a single noise save for those made by themselves and the horses.

Even the forest itself used to be full of sounds from creatures that go bump in the night, yet now there was nothing. Complete and utter stillness, as if everything had died. Such a noticable difference had put everyone on edge, wary of the slightest shadow or movement.

Finally Thor spoke, breaking the unnerving silence.

"We wait here, until the others arrived."

The party was now at the edge of the Dark Woods and directly before them was a circle of seemingly randomly placed rocks. Only those familiar with the magiks of Khadrim would understand the signifiance of the circle.
____________

Izual stood within one of the many small groves littered around the forest of his home. The ignorance would see this as just another grove, yet Izual realised the full significance of the grove, he'd aided in its creation afterall.

Standing in the centre of the grove, Izual could feel the energies around him. The life of the trees, the grass, the insects around him, it was all connected. Of course the life force of the very nation itself, flowing directly beneath him was what the elf was interested in.

Upon invoking the correct elven runes, Izual closed his eyes as the guard runes enscribed within the trees around him flared into life, raising a shield around the grove as a hole was opened above the lane flow of Khadrim.

And with a blinding flash of energy, Izual had disappeared. The elf was now pure energy, flowing through the lanes of life force beneath the earth.
______________

Deep under the earth, within the Dwarven capitol of Khadrim, Bifrost stood before a circle of massive crystals protruding from the earth. Whilst normally any substance like these crystals would be mined and put to good use, these were special. They represented the boundary of a lane circle, a gap in the barrier where one could enter the flow of the energy lanes beneath Khadrim.

Bifrost was never one for advanced magiks and whilst this task was easily within his ability, he'd never been able to enjoy the experience. There was just something about being transformed into energy and whirled around the nation that unnerved him. Unfortunately such was necessary.

Stepping inside the crystal circle, Bifrost muttered the correct incantations, raising the guard runes to prevent anything from interfering in the process. Within seconds the gap opened up and Bifrost was gone, now formless energy within the flow of Khadrim.
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After about five minutes of waiting, the random circle of rocks began to glow with specific runes that were normally invisible to the eye. Thor and Ryath directed that everyone should stand back as the runes took on intensity.

Eventually they reached a point where it was too bright to gaze upon and everyone had to look away. With a final flash of power, the runes subsided and disappeared once again, leaving the tall, lean figure of an elf standing beside the short and stocky image of a dwarf.

OOC: I just wanted to tell you guys that this is "khiraebanaa." That acct got deleted because I lost my temper. I'm still going to do this RP if thats cool with you guys.

OOC: It's fine.

Tokram turned his head slightly, as did Lumina as soon as some of the stones began to glow. He remembered those lanes to be rather blinding to those outside the traveling, and could cause vision problems if only for a bit of time. As soon as the lighting around them returned to the norm of the surrounding landscape, Tokram greeted the two.

"Greetings friends. It is good to see you again!"

Lumina gave them a respectful nod of her head as well.

Izual stood tall, draped in a dark green robe with the hood back, revealing his delicate face framed by long black hair. Standing beside him was the deep contrast of Bifrost. The dwarf was short, possessed a scruffy looking beard and appeared anything but serene.

Upon hearing Tokram's greeting, Izual smiled and stepped out of the circle, closely followed by Bifrost.

"Greetings to you too old friend. It has been some time."

At that point the ground shook once again and several brief flashes could be seen from the forest boundaries. Something was going on in there and it gave off a very ominous sense.

Izual merely gazed upon the forest, his right hand gripping the hilt of an elven blade.

"I don't like the idea of this. I have a feeling we're dealing with something we haven't seen since you were last here Tokram."

Ryath's face seemed to sadden at the mention of such. She had suspected such as well, yet she didn't want to admit it to herself.

"Come, let us investigate..."

Ryath and Thor demounted and began the rest of the journey by foot. They didn't wish to risk their mounts being spooked and causing more trouble than they were worth.

As they walked with the others, Khet's and Nara's ears twitched picking up sounds from all directions, as well as thier nostrils and pupils fully enlarging to take in more information.

"Would you mind telling us what happened last time?" Khet asked as he heard the others talking about the evil.

Upon seeing flashes of light emitting from the forest ahead, Zazriel dropped her right hand down to her sword, ready to bring it from its scabard at a moments notice. She listened intently to Thor and Ryath after Khet posed his question concerning to previously encountered evil.

With everyone now slightly on edge about the forest and just what they may be facing, Ryath thought it fair that she explain it to those that weren't in Khadrim fifty years ago. Sighing to herself, Ryath took up a position in the middle of the group so her voice could reach everyone easily.

"It's a bit of a story so I'll just simplify it down to the fundamental points. Fifty years ago we had some trouble with a human cult in Khadrim. This cult worshipped a god that had been banished from this world thousands of years ago, before this land or many others even existed. Anyway, the numbers of this cult became more prominent and it came to our attention they were up to no good."

Ryath and the others watched keenly as another brief flash emitted from the forest.

"We did a little investigating and soon discovered the cult were gathering specific items for a summoning ritual. We followed members of the cult through a portal, into a world very close to this one as far as the planes of existence go. Essentially the closer too worlds are in existence planes, the easier it is to pass between them. We managed to prevent the cult from performing the ritual, yet we did have to battle a slight physical manifestation of this god."

More flashes, this time stronger in intensity.

"We defeated the creature and returned here. Ever since the cult has been quiet, most likely biding their time. What we fear is that they have managed to gather the necessary things to perform this ritual and that they have done so. If they have, it's very possible that this dark god is now in Khadrim."

Silence reigned as everyone was silent.

"Well, that's the story."

Tokram nodded as Ryath finished telling the story to the others. Lumina remained silent as dark and painful memories emerged from behind the safety of hidden doors in her mind. She looked to Tokram, feeling an appreciation for his help in saving her life fifty years ago.

Had she been sacrificed as the ritual had called for, she would have been the final key to release that dark god into this world, and nothing good would have come of it.

Tokram felt her eyes on him and briefly glanced at her. A silent message passed between their eyes, words unnecessary. Then, he returned his gaze to the path they were taking with care.

"I feel it is necessary to inform you new travelers of the danger of this god. Fifty years ago, he was very strong in his slight physical state, even to the point of external possession of the body. If he is here in full form now, I fear we are going to have a very difficult time to defeat him this time around."

Lumina spoke up quietly then, "And he'll not have forgotten those of us who have fought him before."

"Yes, that is true." Tokram stated slowly, deep in thought.

Khet looked thoughtful before asking, "What are the god's known abilities, powers and weaknesses? Also what are his alledged powers, abilities and weaknesses? How was he banished in the first place, as well as how did you defeat him when you went up against him?"
Nara fixed her gaze on Ryath. Her piercing eyes would make him feel almost as if his soul was being stripped bare to Nara.

OOC: Ryath is a she.

IC: Ryath and the others nodded as Tokram and Lumina made a few points, adding to the sombre mood of the group. No one liked the idea that this god could be free in Khadrim and it reflected upon their faces.

Being the oldest and perhaps wisest of the group, Ryath took it upon herself to answer all questions in regard to this matter, since she possessed the most knowledge about this god. Unfortunately she merely had scraps of passed down knowledge, the actual event happened long before she was ever born.

"Little is known about how he was first banished but it is said it was a combined effort of several other gods, banishing Xerxes from our plain of existence due to what we would call his insanity. It may be quite true that banishing him once again is beyond our ability."

Ryath allowd that to sink in for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"We only faced a minute physical manifestation. That was simply a matter of killing the physical body and his connection with our plane was severed. If his true essence is in this world, then it's likely he won't have a physical form. As far as his powers, again almost nothing is known. We cannot simply go into combat, that would mean death. But he is not everywhere all the time, he does not control everything and he does not possess ultimate power over all. It just happened that it took a number of gods to defeat his true form..."

Silence again.

Ryath was about to open her mouth once again when Izual's arms flexed forward and a spray of sparkling particles rained down before Ryath. For a quick moment the group were perplexed as to the elf's reasoning yet it soon became obvious when a thick crossbow bolt hissed through the air and passed through the particles, turning the entire bolt into ash.

As if appearing through an invisible door, two dozen men attired completely in black came out of nowhere. Many were bearing crossbows, swords and other various weapons, yet others obviously held items of an arcane nature, the dull crimson glow around them making it obvious. Within seconds the group was enclosed within a circle of these masked soldiers.

Immediately Thor spun around, his eyes igniting a deep blue as power surged through his form. Wind seemed to surge through the group as a golden hue surrounded Ryath whilst Izual withdrew his bow and Bifrost his axe. All members of the council were ready for combat. For the first time Bifrost spoke.

"Beware these men, there is much more to them than meets the naked eye. Many are not even human and possess strange powers."

With that the battle began.

Zazriel whipped out her sword (http://gallery.mudpuddle.co.nz/albums/public/Sword.sized.jpg) and charged the nearest black garbed being. She brought her blade down in a diagonal slash that would have disected most of his upper body from his legs, but with remarkable speed, he brought his own up to halt it.

While their two swords were locked, she planted her right foot behind her and shoved her left elbow into his face. She felt something crack and he stumbled back. She pressed her advantage and swung her right foot into his gut, doubling him over; then slammed his face into her left knee. Unfortuantly, during the utter destruction of this man's face, she had forgotten about the other twenty three men around them.

She felt an arrow leave its resting place and hurtle towards her. She let her legs fall out from under her and the arrow wized past her left ear. Leaving her previous opponent, she rolled onto her feet just in time to hear another arrow hit the dirt where she had been only moments before. She paused momentarily, and looked around to see how the others were faring.

Khet had been paying attention to Ryath's explaination when he smelled something odd, at the same time Izual sprinkled the dust around.

He grinned and charged the attackers, claws extending as he went. Seeing an archer attack Zazriel he leapt forward, using the face of one of the men as a springboard he bounded forward, smashing into one of the bowmen.

With a grin that revealed his rather pointed teeth, as he surged forward, even as the archer set an arrow and fired it. Catching the arrow in one hand, he removed the bowman's head with the other, sending the head flying in a spray of blood.

ooc: Sorry for mix up.

"There's more to us than meets the eye as well..." Tokram growled, giving a quick glance to Lumina. Her eyes had become vicious, and her snarl clearly displayed. She had come a long way since those early times.

Several of the black-clad men fired their crossbows to Tokram, yet his scaled skin was strong enough to deflect the shots. He turned to them, an audible growl growing louder in his throat by the minute. Unsheathing his draconic blade that resembled a flame spewing forth from the hilt, he focused on the nearest man and moved with stunning speed to grip the man's throat.

"Sharp objects are dangerous. Allow me to demonstrate." he growled darkly, before plunging the blade upward under the man's ribcage and into his vitals. He yanked toward himself, watching with satisfaction as the body cavity exploded, as if it were a book opening its covers to the contents inside.

Lumina on the other hand had shifted her attention to the skies, as if she were focusing on something. At last, she turned her head downward to lock eyes with the nearest humanoid and leap forward with her claws spread and hungry to tear into his flesh with disregard.

All the while, Lumina and Tokram continued fighting, the draconic duo serving well to protect each other's back, as well as the backs of the others in their party.

The twang of a bowstring being released constantly filled the air as Izual shifted this way and that, unleashing death upon those stupid enough not to be paying attention. Unfortunately many were and they seemed to have employed magiks of their own to counteract that of elven arrows.

The elven warrior watched in disdain as one of his arrows went straight through the black robe of one man and exited the other side as if nothing were there. This was not a good sign. Noting that his bow would not be too useful in some instances, Izual downed two ordinary men before shouldering his projectile weapon and drawing his long thin blade. The weapon gleamed in the moonlight, almost singing as it left its scabbard.

With that Izual entered the dance of death, moving so gracefully and yet so deadly that one would normally take time to admire such, if they weren't about to lose their heads.
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Bifrost had always enjoyed a straight out battle. Forget magic and fancy spells, this was combat at its truest form. The clash of metal upon metal filled his ears, the screams of those with little time to live drove him onward. Bifrost was in his environment.

With agility unexpected from someone as short and stocky as Bifrost, he charged forward and shattered the legs of the nearest enemy, waiting for him to fall before plunging his curved blade into the throat of his foe. A slight gurgle and that was done.

Spinning around, Bifrost went for the samve move on another human yet was sharply surprised when the shock of the impact almost caused the dwarf to drop his weapon. It seemd that whatever lay inside the black robes was not human as it reached down and delivered a thundering punch to Bifrost's face, sending him flat onto his backside.

Bleeding from the nose, Bifrost merely grunted in anger as he leapt into the air, swinging his axe at the creature's head.
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It was the magic users that encountered the least trouble. Whilst it appeared the black clad men/creatures had been imbued with physical resistances of some description, few of them could endure the intensity of focused magical intent.

Thor remained still as he watched the battle unfold, his glowing staff unleashing bolts of lightning at key moments, striking down arrows, bolts and enemies before they could do something he would regret. By now attention had been focused upon him and so the mage retreated from offensive gestures and moved into defense.

Arrow after arrow pounded his arcane shield, yet none could penetrate it. Or so the mage thought. As he focused on another enemy, a bolt passed through his barrier as if nothing were there and glance the edge of his shoulder, causing the mage to lose concentration and drop his shield.

Assured that the wound was only minor, Thor faced his staff upon the crossbow bearer and unleashed a continuous wave of unrestrained energy. The result was devastating. Nothing remained.

With that out of the way, Thor refocused his efforts into avoiding porjectiles, now especially wary.
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Ryath had decided to forgo employing her magical abilities and simply revert back to her natural state, that of an imposing beast. Ryath's dragonic form was massive, bigger than any other creature normally seen upon the land as she stretched her golden wings and stomped upon the ground.

With razor sharp teeth now lining her mouth and a neck long enough to allow her to reach the ground, Ryath leapt forward and landed upon two men whilst sinking her teeth into the torso of another, easily ripping it away from the rest of the body.

Almost all attention was now focused on the massive golden creature before them. Ryath merely waited, ready to take on whatever approached her.

*reluctantly admits to getting a bad feeling about this RP*

*assumes this rp is now dead*

OOC: Go to the OOC thread: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=427854&page=2

well, I hope some more people post. I as well have been extremely busy with the start of school, but I will try to get in some posts.