NationStates Jolt Archive

Both of the attackers lunged at Kurt, clearly intending to skewer him.

Kurt used the wall beside him to launch himself over the two remaining attackers. Avoiding their swords, he could only slash at one of them before landing on his feet behind them. That did give him a chane to attack the remaining man.

Kurt used the wall beside him to launch himself over the two remaining attackers. Avoiding their swords, he could only slash at one of them before landing on his feet behind them. That did give him a chane to attack the remaining man.

OOC: Lets hope posting this is 3rd time lucky :evil:

Kurt used the wall beside him to launch himself over the two remaining attackers. Avoiding their swords, he could only slash at one of them before landing on his feet behind them. That did give him a chane to attack the remaining man.

OOC: Lets hope posting this is 3rd time lucky :evil:

OOC: D&D night, logging off soon. Drognan, you out there?

IC: As the second attacker fell, the last attacker tried to turn around and split Kurt down the middle.

Kurt blocked his attack and pushed ther sword away.

The attacker pulled his sword back to prepare for a massive swing, leaving himself wide open.

Kurt took the oppertunity and drove his sword into the mans chest.

As the man fell to the ground, behind Kurt could hear a massive crash, behind him a giant boulder had fallen from the ceiling and was rapidly rolling down the corridor.

"Oh shit," Kurt swore.

He instantly teleported himself behind the boulder, expecting it to be the only one. Unfortunatly he suspected that it would start coming back as well.

IC: Behind Kurt the ceiling begann to collapse, section after section fell to fill the corridor.

OOC: This is known as being between a rock and a hard place.

IC: Behind Kurt the ceiling begann to collapse, section after section fell to fill the corridor.

OOC: This is known as being between a rock and a hard place.

IC: Behind Kurt the ceiling begann to collapse, section after section fell to fill the corridor.

OOC: This is known as being between a rock and a hard place.

"Damn you Arthur," Kurt cursed as he ran to avoid being crushed by the falling ceiling.

As Kurt turned a corner, the wall down at the other end of the hallway launched dozens of arrows.

Kurt used his agilty to its max as he dodged the arrows, before teleporting to safety.

Kurt made it the edge of a large open room in the middle of which sat the key. But as he watched, several dozen small floating machines emerged from a hole in the ceiling and opened fire on Kurt with laser beams.

Acting quickly, Kurt teleported himself to the key and grabbed it.

OOC: Sixth attempt. Drognan, you out there?

IC: The room and machines disappeared and the training room reappeared. "Seven minutes and ten seconds, not bad for a first run."

"Next time I suppose I would have to do it in less time," Kurt remarked.

OOC: I posted and it didn't move to page 1 again

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"You'll get better, though I'd recommend incorperating a pistol into your runs. That teleportation ability of your's is annoying though, I'll have to find some way to counter it."

"But thats what makes me, me," Kurt mumbled. "I know something better then a pistol though."

"Sorry, I should have said, compensate for it. But what could be better than the pistol Gabriel normally used?"

"A zat'ni'katel," Kurt told him. "It shoots a form of energy. One shot stuns, a second kills."

"The stun feature's nice, but how's it do against heavily armored targets and multiple enemies?"

"To stun, it'll seep in through the gaps like they're being electrocuted," the young prince then explained. "It's also much faster at shooting then a pistol."

"Including the fully automatic mode on the pistol, I somehow find that hard to believe."

Kurt just shrugged. He much prefered the zat'ni'katel to a pistol anyday.

"Tell you what Kurt, get me the designs for a zat'ni'katel and I'll see if I can't improve on the concept."

I'll see what I can do but I can't make any promises," Kurt replied with a twitch of the tail.

"Well if you can't get it, I'm sure I can find the information on a computer somewhere. And if it's on a computer, I can get it. Haven't gotten around to cracking into the local military databanks yet, maybe I'm over due to do so.""

Kurt laughed, "My father would just love that Idea," he said.

"Well, I don't always leave big muddy footprints behind, just usually because I enjoy watching the panic that usually insues when the military realises that someone hacked into their system without any real effort."

"I think you'd be the first suspect from now on," Kurt grinned.

Arthur snorted. "I wish them the best of luck in prosecuting. They're going to need it."

"It'll be more on security consulting proberly."

"No need, I already put firewalls up, nothing is getting in to their systems without my approval."

"Ah," Kurt nodded. "So what now anyway?"

"Well, unless you want to continue with some more training, or run the gauntlet, that concludes classes for the day."

"Oh good," Kurt sighed with relief.

"Well tomorrow's your day off, if you can think of anywhere you want to go, let me know, and I'll see to the arrangments."

"Ok," Kurt replied, but as usuall he had no plans.

"Ok," Kurt replied, but as usuall he had no plans.

After Kurt left:

"Don't you think you're pushing him a little hard Arthur? I mean you can't expect him to be able to keep up with me, at least not for a little longer."
"Better to push him hard now than have him fail later because I didn't push him hard enough."
Gabriel sighed. "Yeah, I guess so, but you don't want to discourage him."

Kurt was knackered, he decided to get some well deserved rest and went to watch TV. However it wasn't long before he fell asleep.

Somewhere nearby that night, a man raised his gun against an innocent, but before the trigger could be pulled, he felt an icy grip on his shoulder, and then he didn't feel anything ever again.

Kurt looked up at the ceiling, he could tell that he had fallen asleep in front of the telly again. He looked across the darkened room, it had turned itself off automatically, it was the same for the lights. He yawned and stretched.

"How long did I sleep here," he wondered to himself.

Somewhere, the fabric of space and time begin to stretch, and ever so slowly it begins to tear.

Kurts stomach rumbled and he teleported himself to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, he found a bottle of milk and began drinking.

Gradually the rip began to grow larger and faster, expanding at an exponetial rate.

Kurt shivered, something felt wrong.

"Arthur?" he called out.

"Hold on Kurt. We've got a crisis forming, almost, got it! Shit!" Throughout Gabriel's old place alarms and flashing lights went off.
"Dimesional incursion! And it's big!"

"Dimensional incursion?" Kurt asked.

"Something's coming through from another dimension. And something this big has to have a lot of power."

"Something's coming through from another dimension. And something this big has to have a lot of power."

"Oh...shit," Kurt remarked, his tail began to flick around nervously.

"Gear up Kurt, and welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

"Ok," Kurt said, gritting his teeth. He was about to find out what he had signed up for.

"Hold on, here we go."

When they reappeared it was on an empty barren plain, in front of them was a massive multicolored, constantly rippiling sheet of what could only be described as controled chaos that stretched for miles in either direction. In front of it stood a pair of figures, btoh dressed in black armor.
"You!" Arthur shouted as he materialized beside Kurt. "I thought we'd eliminated the last of your kind once and for all."

The face of one of the figures looked up, and was a face of a younger Gabriel, but twisted and deformed as if from some inner corruption. An evil grin crossed his face. "You would be Arthur then, and I'm afraid you missed one of us. I really should thank your master though for eliminating the rest of my competition. I've come to finish your master off so that I may finally take my rightful place as ruler of the infinate dimensions."

"I am no one's servant, and even you could not hope to defeat Gabriel. He's too powerful for you." Arthur said running a bluff.

The man laughed, and it was not a pleasent thing to hear. "Once maybe, but I saw to it he would face many opponents that would wear him down before I arrived. I thought that mad emperor in particular would give him a good fight."
He gestured to the figure next to him. "Mordred, deal with this annoyence, perhaps his destruction will pull our opponent out."

Both Arthur and the figure called Mordred rush at each other, death in their eyes. Violently they clashed, swords ringing time and again. But in reality viruses and destructive programs flashed back and forth between the two as both computers warred for control.

Kurt wasn't sure what was going on, he did however wonder if these might be the same people responsible for the death of Gabriels world.

The man's eyes turned towards Kurt as the two computers clashed, unnoticing of anything else. They locked on Kurt' like a pair of laser beams. "You have a trace of the power, that cannot be allowed. With a blinding fast motion the man was upon Kurt, a great black, saw toothed sword in his hands. As he was about to bring it down and split Kurt in two he was suddenly slammed backward by an unseen force.
Gabriel's spectre appeared in front of Kurt. "You shall not harm this child or his world so long as I can prevent it."
A smirk crossed the man's face. "Well I'll be, you're already dead. That's a shame, I'd hoped to have that pleasure for myself."
"Even if you beat me, there are those on this world strong enough to defeat you, you could never take this world."
"Not alone maybe, but then I didn't come alone."
And as he spoke the sheet of chaos wavered, and rank upon rank of heavily armed men appeared out of it, accompanied by armored vehicles and aircraft. "Nothing will stand in my way."

Kurt knew that was bad, right now he wished that he did have a zat'ni'katel with him. However looking at the new arrivals he doubted that it would be of any help.

The man's grin spread across his entire face. "Once you're gone, ntohing will oppose me. I took care to see that no trace of the power could ever rise against me again. It wasn't easy tracking down all your descendents acriss the myrid dimensions, but I managed. Once again you are the last of your kind."

Gabriel's expression didn't change in the slightest, but the air suddenyl shapred with an almost audible snap and everything became clear to the eye. Off in the idstance the sound of bagpipes could suddenly be heard approaching, and as their sound grew closer the rat-tat-tat of drums could be heard, and at last came the sound of multitudes of feet matching in perfect step.

The man snorted. "Do you think that such a pitiful attempt at mere sound effects will stop me?"

But even as the man spoke, the sun was suddenly eclipsed by the moon, but instead of darkness covering the land as it moved in front of the sun, the air turned blood red. And as it moved across the fields, it revealed row upon row of warriors as far as the eye could see. From a dozen or more races, with weapons ranging from spears and swords to rilfes and tanks they stood, unmoving. Over head, banners of kingdoms and families long dead flapped in a hot biting wind that had sprung up. One of the warriors, in a more elaborate armor than the rest stepped forward and kneeled before Gabriel.
"My Lord, you have at long last called for us, and we have answered across time and dimension." The figure turned to the dark man. "We are the last of the old guard, our time may be past, but we can still perform a service to those who would follow in our footsteps. Your men fight for money and power, but the lust for such things will never overcome honor, loyalty and true inner nobility."

Now the odds were more even, Kurt was amazed at the masses of people that had joined them, his jaw had quite literally dropped at the sight. He wasn't sure what to think, or even say for that matter.

"So you have an army of your own. Do not think that such pitiful ghosts will stop me, my men's wepons shall reap a toll of the dead today."

As if on an unheard word both armies advanced on each other. Bullets tore into the ranks of the ghostly army, doing little harm initially, but as more and more of their etheral forms were ripped away by the bullets some began to dissipate. Overhead, transparent prop planes from bygone eras dueled with jets, tanks blasted fire and flame at each other. And when the two armies met, the fight began in earnst. The dark figure had disappeared behind the swirling mass of his army, and Gabriel drove through it's massed ranks, leaving a trail of death in his wake wherever his touch landed.

Kurt didn't know what to do, he wasn't ready for this. He doubted he could ever have been ready for this.

Arthur finally reappeared next to Kurt. "Damned punk, didn't stand a chance. You all right?" He said as he watched the on going battle with hard eyes.

"I'm Ok I guess," Kurt replied.

"I'm sorry you had to see this, it would have been better had that man died like we thought he had."

Kurt slowly nodded.

Kurt slowly nodded.

Dead and living fought on the battlefield. Ghosts dissipated under blade and bullet while one after another the living fell to blades of ice cold. Gabriel had finally managed to fight his way to the dark figure. The spectre's color had changed to a blazing red. The figure lashed out with it's sword, impaling the spectre. But despite flickering violently, the spectre pulled itself up the blade and rammed a hand through the figure's chest. Both arced their backs as expressions of pain ran across their faces.

Kurt wasn't liking this, he didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a huge battle. He wished he was at home, wrapped up warm in bed.

"Hold up Kurt, you're doing fine. Be grateful you won't have to face him, or the others like him, for thay are what Gabriel would have become had he not chosen to be a protector."

Kurt nodded, it wasn't very reassuring for him though.

The battle had nearly finished, only the sounds of screams for mercy could be heard from the invading army. Mercy they did not recieve from hard eyed ghosts of battles past.
In the center of the battlefield, Gabriel and the dark figure battled it out, the figure slashing at Gabriel, leaving swirling gaps in the spectre's shape while Gabriel grimly held on, energy flashing between the two.

Kurt watched the battle, he still longed to be at the safety of his home.

"Many old debts are being paid today. And the biggest one was only just revealed. I simply can not comprehend the type of person who would travel through the dimensions to wipe out the descendents of a possible opponent, merely on the chance they might prove a threat at some point."

"Some people are like that," Kurt remarked. "Just have to find them before they do any damage."

"And there you hit upon the crux of the matter Kurt. For we thought we had dealt with all of his sort. But this one somehow managed to elude us."

"I suppose there will always be one."

Arthur shook his head and a hard look came over his face. "Not anymore there won't be."

"I hope not."

"One may have escaped our search, but no more than one could have."

"I trust you on that," Kurt told him.

OOC: Damn this server to the ninth level of hell.

IC: "If I'm wrong, it's doubtful either of us will be given time to realise it."

"Ok," Kurt said, realising that wasn't a good sign.

"Hopefully after this things will quiet down enough for you to reach at least part of your potential. Then you'll be able to handle situations like this yourself."

"Right," Kurt nodded.

"That fight can't go on much longer, both sides are about ready to drop."

Kurt watched the battle, it looked like Arthur was right.

The dark figure had dropped his sword and vainly tried to greb the spectre's arms and remove them, but only succeded in flailing around. His already sunken and distorted face, collapsed and distorted even further, spasemed once, and then went limp. The body fell to the ground like a useless sack of meat.

Kurt shivered, it wasn't a nice sight.

Only seconds later Gabriel's spectre collapsed to the ground.

Kurts eyes widened, Gabriel collapsing wasn't a good sign. He looked to see where the rest of the battle was.

With Gabriel's collapse the eclipse faded, and as the moon moved out of the sun, the blood red light that had filled the air disappeared, and with it so also disappeared the ghosts of the warriors, and all was still and silent on the field of battle.

"Arthur?" Kurt said not knowing what else to do.

Arthur was already moving towards Gabriel. "Come on Kurt, hurry."

Kurt followed Arthur, fearing the worst.

Gabriel was down on one hand, his form was leaking energy from a score of wounds. Every now and then a section of the spectre would buldge outward, as if something inside was trying to escape.
"Too much, too much energy, I can't, can't contain it." The spectre said through gritted teeth.

"What can we do?" Kurt asked.

Arthur shook his head. "I'm not sure, even if he hadn't taken all that damage, I don't think he could contain that much energy in his current form. I can tell you this though, he's holding in check enough energy to seperate the component atoms of everything within a coupple of light years." Arthur cast a glance at the empty husk that had been Gabriel opponent and gave a low whistle. "Gabriel must have drained him completely dry."

Kurt gritted his teeth, this was completely new to him.

"Kurt, energy sink, arrgh. Damn, Kurt, help."
Arthur's eyebrows shot up at that. "I'm an idiot, Kurt, you can help him, you're an energy sink now."

"How, what do I do?" Kurt said, almost panicing.

"Just put your hand on him, the rest will happen by itself."

"Ok," Kurt nodded, not knowing what to expect he placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder.

For a spectre, Gabriel was surprisingly solid. As Kurt's hand touched Gabriel, energy shot up his arm, like an empty vessel being filled, the energy continued to flow, the experience was the hight of euphoriba.

Kurt shuddered, it was hard for him to describe the feeling. It was certainly a new experiance for him.

After a time that seemed an eternity for Kurt, but could have been no more than a few minutes at most, Gabriel spoke. "That's enough Kurt, I'll need the rest for my next task."

Kurt took his hand away, "Whats the next task?" he asked.

OOC: Damn, it didn't take my post.

IC: The spectre stood up, energy still streaming from a myrid collection of wounds. "Sealing the rip. Too much damage has been done for me to completely repair it, the best I can do is try and seal it. But to even achieve a partial seal it will take a source of energy that already has a defined structure."

"And that is?"

"A free floating soul would qualify." Arthur said in a hushed voice.
Gabriel nodded solemnly. "Yes, it would."

Kurt knew what Arthur meant, he didn't like the sound of it.

"You know the attempt, even if successful would almost certainly twist and warp that soul beyond any resemblence to it's origional form." Arthur replied.
"More than likely."

Kurt was liking what they were talking about even less. His tail twitched nervously.

"Is it really necessary?" Arthur asked.
"We both know the answer to that, he never would have come here had it not been for my presence, it's my responsibility."

"Isn't there anything else?" Kurt asked.

The spectre favored Kurt with a warm smile. "I'm afraid not Kurt. All my life I dedicated myself to duty, how can I do an less in death? Besides, I've taken too much damage, his blade could damage even being like myself, and damage to the soul cannot be healed."

Kurt slowly nodded. He knew the soul was fragile and couldn't be repaired if something should damage or corrupt it.

"Goodbye Arthur, Kurt." The spectre said, nodding towards each in turn.
Without looking back the spectre turned towards the dimensional rip.

"Goodbye," Kurt said glumly.

They could see Gabriel put both hands on the surface of the rip. The spectre started pulsing violently, the rip first stopping expanding, then begining to close. As it closed more, Gabriel pulsed ever more rapidly and brightly. Suddenly the rip stopped closing. They could see the spectre set it's shoulders, and Gabriel's voice carried through the air. "Mind, body, soul, in proper harmony the power they contain is enormous, even with the body missing however, there power is still great. I have nothing left to offer but my mind and my soul to repair the damage done here. But by all the gods that ever existed, by all those who are forgotten, by all those who died so that others may have lived, it shall be enough!"
The spectre was outlined in a massive display of crackling energy as it was pulled into the rip, lines of force snapped out to link it to the edges of the rip. Slowly it began to close again, eventually entirely consuming the writhring, diffusing form. With an audible pop it closed completely.

Kurt watched silently, his tail moving from side to side.

Arthur put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "It's done."

Kurt nodded, "What now?" he asked.

"We go on, it's all any of us can ever do."

"Yeah," Kurt sighed.

Leaving, they left behind one who died as he had lived, fighting for others, protecting them with everything he had. And it was here, that the last bloodline of his world was truely and forever lost. But a seed had been planted, and in time it would grow, and mature, and blossom into a new hero, and the cycle would begin anew.

Kurts life had changed forever since that night in The Red Cow tavern. He could never have imagined where meeeting Braun and Kaz would have led him. Now he had a whole different life to look forward to.

Kurts life had changed forever since that night in The Red Cow tavern. He could never have imagined where meeeting Braun and Kaz would have led him. Now he had a whole different life to look forward to.