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Apr. 21st, 2008 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
korafoxSecond-to-last installment....the end of the world is nigh!
(Major disclaimer...completely fictional, based off a weekly roleplaying game. The first amendment only goes so far nowadays, so I cover my butt in a traditional fashion.)
Oh, and this one is particularly emo...why do my characters keep doing this? :p
Our pilot gave us the night to rest before he’d be ready to leave. I didn’t get much sleep. What I thought was that this could be my last chance to attempt the kings’ third trial without endangering everyone else. Didn’t have much success on that front, did I?
Are these thoughts even mine anymore? I can feel her watching. Can hear her whispering to me, taunting me.
I wasn’t strong enough. Wasn’t worthy of the Kings. Couldn’t control this dark thing inside me, couldn’t overcome that part of me that breaks free whenever my will slips. And now she’s sitting right under the surface...can they tell? Can my friends see the monster in me when they look into my face?
I pushed Seth away. Of course he tried to help, to offer his shoulder. He’s always been the emotional healer of our group, where I can only mend the body. But I didn’t want him--the holy warrior--to see me like this, to see the weakness in me.
Didn’t sleep. Didn’t want to go back to Avalon after my failure, and face the displeasure of the Kings or worse--find her there, roaming the halls of that sanctuary.
We had a long flight before we got to Rome. Things weren’t going so well, between people. Darren almost got Sam to fire a rifle at him inside the cabin, and Dex made an excursion into the spirit realm that nearly killed her. It did kill her. But when I couldn’t revive her, Mori stepped forward and spoke words in a strange and eerie language. Immediately Dex drew breath again, and as soon as she was conscious began to scream at Mori. His father, along with the rest of her spirit guide, had tricked her and manipulated the Book into Mori’s possession. All it cared about was making him read it so that he would be under its control, as well. And the spirits she had been communing with through that bracer had been attacked, and one destroyed by some tentacled horror.
Dex also would not forgive Mori for using that power to bring her back. She said she would take her chances in the maelstrom. I...don’t know if I would say the same for myself, but I do not like Mori’s continued use of the Book’s magic any more than she does.
Sam disappeared on us while we refueled in Iceland. He was almost certainly going in search of the legendary weapon rumored to be there, but we didn’t have time to track him down (or to either drag him back or back him up). Sam was going to be on his own for that one.
Seems that internation relations were rapidly deteriorating. It was probably only a matter of time, and all we can do is keep the demons from destroying the world. If we humans end up blowing ourselves up...well, I suppose we’ll all have an eternity to contemplate the irony.
The tension could certainly be read on the streets of Vatican City. Seth’s vision had shown him a path through St. Peter’s Basilica that would hopefully get him where he needed to go. Mori and Carter would accompany him, and the rest of us would serve as backup. Why did the people who’d been tainted by the Books go into the holy ground?
Well, it didn’t take long for that backup to become necessary. We found them, not even inside the building, engaged in combat with not only the Templar but a handful of other Church warriors. Seth had grown his wings out again, and Sam of all people was there, carrying a bastard sword and looking for all the world like a medieval barbarian.
He’d mortally wounded the Templar, and the others fled as we were running up. Before he died, he gave us a warning, oddly enough. There was something wrong in the Vatican...something was wrong with the Pope.
There was nothing to do but press onward. First, we needed to evade the guards and make our way down into the catacombs, where we could hopefully find the sarcophagus that haunted Seth’s visions. We didn’t make it very far in before the footsteps of guards began to turn our way, but luckily we found an unexpected ally.
I suppose if Dracula is real, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Church is hiding a Van Helsing under the Basilica. Not certain why he decided to aid us--likely it’s got a lot to do with this rumored corruption of church officials. He took us through ancient passages that led through the catacombs. Finally we reached an ancient burial chamber. It housed the long-sought after sarcophagus...and we finally found some answers.
The crystals...the seven dead crystals spoken of in the prophecy...we were all but certain now that these were people whom we had encountered over the past year. At least now we had a chance of recognizing the ones we had yet to find.
Inside the sarcophagus, we found half of a spear blade. Carter took possession of it--perhaps we’d hit upon a two-for-one and found a portion of a legendary weapon. I think it’s somewhat ironic how they revere the weapon that killed their savior. Don’t understand it. You’d think such an instrument would be irredeemably evil.
The guards were still looking for us, but we needed to make one more stop before leaving. I knew Seth wasn’t going to leave without investigating the allegations about the Pope, and I didn’t think it was a bad idea to find out for sure what was going on here. So, we made our way up to his office--the secret passages were probably the only reason we made it there without being discovered.
Oh, there was something rotten here, all right. He didn’t hesitate to reveal everything to us. Guess he figured no one would believe us that he bore a demon’s-mark on his neck--or he thought we wouldn’t be escaping the Basilica alive. Well, we may or may not have been able to rid the Church of such an evil, but if we survived Armageddon, I’m sure Seth would be back to take care of the thrall.
As we ran out into the courtyard, archers opened fire on us. There was no use trying to evade them any longer; we grabbed a taxi and commandeered it to make a dash for the airfield. They followed us in those white vans we’ve come to love so much--and now that we had left the ancient architecture behind, they weren’t holding back when it came to using explosives. One of the vans blew itself off the road, along with our rear window. Finally, just as both our tires finally went out, Sam shot the windshield off the remaining van and pitched a grenade in. Almost all of us jumped clear of the taxi as the van exploded, catching our vehicle in the blast and sending both to a careening half of burning wreckage.
Mori had been driving, and he hadn’t managed to bail out. Darren pulled his body from the mangled remains of the taxi, and I desperately tried to bring life back to it. Maybe working with Doc had rubbed off--I didn’t think I could do it, but suddenly he moved and began to breathe again.
Pursuit may have been taken care of momentarily, but we still needed to get out of Rome as quickly as we could. Carter was feeling a pulling from the spear head, and Seth had seen a building in Germany in his vision, so we decided to make Berlin our next stop.
Hadn’t slept since I took the third trial. And I spent the entire flight sewing Mori and Seth back together. So when we landed, I reluctantly decided that I would have to sleep despite what I might find in Avalon. I took the precaution of sleeping out on the tarmac. Didn’t want to accidentally blow up our only secure means of transportation.
Turned out that I didn’t have to worry about that, yet. Just as I was slipping into sleep, an explosion of all things rocked the plane parked nearby. I was on my feet, gun in hand, within a moment, and looked for the source of the attack.
Darren. Darren was sitting across the field, OICW in hand. He had fired a grenade and hit the plane, after all we had just gone through, after all the pains we try to take to stay under the radar, and he had just thrown all that caution out the window.
I saw red...and black. I was aware suddenly that I was standing over him, aiming at his head. Fire had sprung up around him--dark fire.
No--it had not sprung up. That is hiding. I had brought it forth, wanted to see him burn. For all the pain he’d caused us, for this last straw he had broken.
There was a snapping of the rage inside me, and a blast of calmness came rushing in. I reeled, clutching at my head, as the others ran up to us. Sam took my place standing over Darren, and pressed his sword to his throat.
I didn’t really care what happened, after that, after Carter had dragged me from the brink of murder with his ability. I needed to get away from them all, needed to choke down the voice that, even now, insisted that Darren should be dying a most painful death by fire.
Seth tried to follow. Stubborn. But he wouldn’t understand, and even if he did, he couldn’t help. I’m the only one who can keep her locked away where she belongs, and no amount of therapy sessions with the kid is going to make that any easier.
Besides, I still hadn’t slept, and I don’t want to end up hurting Seth. Yet. Who knows whether I’ll start wishing for that, too?
Awhile later Sam came over to where I had been sitting. He offered me that strange gun, thought it might give me a break for awhile from whatever was going on with my power. Sweet, I suppose. But I can’t take the risk of her coming forward in the process, or what she’d do when she came back. Anyway, I think the one thing I’ll never bend in my resolve on is my determination to never let Sam have access to potentiallyl that much power.
But we had a new problem...we were in an increasing amount of danger, and it was likely that the OICW incident had in some way called down our enemies upon our heads. So half of us got a taxi into Berlin, while the others would follow as quickly as possible on foot. I was barely able to move, by this point, so I went with the first group.
My anger is manifesting more readily than it has since I was very little. Nearly set the cab’s interior on fire with a few stray sparks. But we found an inn once we got to the city, and I immediately crashed on one of the beds.
Not my night. Not my night. This time when I was awoken by the boom of an explosion, it was due to actual enemies--through the smoke, I saw the silhouette of an armored soldier in the room. Grabbing Excalibur, I dealt him a blow that laid him wide open, but the wound immediately knit closed and his armor knit together over it.
I was taking fire--so I threw all my will to keeping control, and tried to incinerate him. He was somehow resistant to it, but at least I managed to keep her from breaking loose.
We were losing. I didn’t see where Mori and Darren were, but Seth was in the same boat as I was.
Another round slammed into me, and with the pain, I felt myself pushed to the back of my mind as another took control.
She was strong, and I was weakened by exhaustion and pain...but she still wanted the control more than I did. The flames turned dark, and I felt the same rage and hatred that fueled her. She...I...didn’t care that my friends were still in the vicinity. Her feelings carried me away as the rooms burned, as the floor incinerated from beneath the enemy.
I pushed back, then. Maybe she’d had enough destruction for the time being. But...I don’t think she’s ever going to tire of it.
Seth and Darren had been caught in the blast that had taken out the floorboards. I grabbed my medical bag and jumped down into the hole after them. The soldiers were nowhere to be seen, and I pulled the two of them back from the deaths I had almost inflicted on them before collapsing onto a pile of rubble.
I don’t think they saw what I did. Must have been out before I started burning down the place.
It was all too much...could hardly move from the injuries and exhaustion, and it was becoming painfully clear that I was now as dangerous to the others as the things hunting us. But Mori was passed out upstairs, and we had to get out of here before the authorities showed up...so I found the last of my strength and helped to evacuate the building. Had to disguise Mori--he had used the power of the Book again, and his visage had become somewhat...unhuman.
We drove...the others had gone to the Treasury ahead of us instead of meeting us. They had been attacked just as we were, but managed to get the second half of the Lance’s blade. They had also been injured. I wanted to heal them. But in this, too, I lacked the strength.
I passed out over the very first one. Didn’t wake until later the next day...and I woke from dreams. If I’m having them again, that’s just another way I’m putting those around me in danger.
We were going overland to Paris. Our plane had to move to France, anyway, and our next destination was the Louvre.
It was eerily deserted. But Markwell knew we were coming. He had a Book, after all.
Latvis met us on our way in to see him. Just as pompous as ever. But we took him down in short order--have to admit that it felt good to wipe the floor with his smarmy face.
We descended into the basement of the museum, and found Markwell waiting for us. He was confident...seems the Book had told him he was going to beat us.
We proved him wrong--guess you can change the future, after all. Didn’t mean that Markwell didn’t give us a good fight, though. He turned into some sort of tentacled monster best left undescribed, and managed to almost kill Sam. As it is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to patch him up in time for Armageddon.
Half the party is compromised by these Books. Already had to tranq Carter to keep him from running off with the one we took from Markwell. But all in all, something’s finally gone right for us. Found a Book, found Pandora’s box, and Carter completed his Lance. Now we just had to stop the end of the world.
Next time: The final countdown! Showdown at the seventh seal!
(Major disclaimer...completely fictional, based off a weekly roleplaying game. The first amendment only goes so far nowadays, so I cover my butt in a traditional fashion.)
Oh, and this one is particularly emo...why do my characters keep doing this? :p
Our pilot gave us the night to rest before he’d be ready to leave. I didn’t get much sleep. What I thought was that this could be my last chance to attempt the kings’ third trial without endangering everyone else. Didn’t have much success on that front, did I?
Are these thoughts even mine anymore? I can feel her watching. Can hear her whispering to me, taunting me.
I wasn’t strong enough. Wasn’t worthy of the Kings. Couldn’t control this dark thing inside me, couldn’t overcome that part of me that breaks free whenever my will slips. And now she’s sitting right under the surface...can they tell? Can my friends see the monster in me when they look into my face?
I pushed Seth away. Of course he tried to help, to offer his shoulder. He’s always been the emotional healer of our group, where I can only mend the body. But I didn’t want him--the holy warrior--to see me like this, to see the weakness in me.
Didn’t sleep. Didn’t want to go back to Avalon after my failure, and face the displeasure of the Kings or worse--find her there, roaming the halls of that sanctuary.
We had a long flight before we got to Rome. Things weren’t going so well, between people. Darren almost got Sam to fire a rifle at him inside the cabin, and Dex made an excursion into the spirit realm that nearly killed her. It did kill her. But when I couldn’t revive her, Mori stepped forward and spoke words in a strange and eerie language. Immediately Dex drew breath again, and as soon as she was conscious began to scream at Mori. His father, along with the rest of her spirit guide, had tricked her and manipulated the Book into Mori’s possession. All it cared about was making him read it so that he would be under its control, as well. And the spirits she had been communing with through that bracer had been attacked, and one destroyed by some tentacled horror.
Dex also would not forgive Mori for using that power to bring her back. She said she would take her chances in the maelstrom. I...don’t know if I would say the same for myself, but I do not like Mori’s continued use of the Book’s magic any more than she does.
Sam disappeared on us while we refueled in Iceland. He was almost certainly going in search of the legendary weapon rumored to be there, but we didn’t have time to track him down (or to either drag him back or back him up). Sam was going to be on his own for that one.
Seems that internation relations were rapidly deteriorating. It was probably only a matter of time, and all we can do is keep the demons from destroying the world. If we humans end up blowing ourselves up...well, I suppose we’ll all have an eternity to contemplate the irony.
The tension could certainly be read on the streets of Vatican City. Seth’s vision had shown him a path through St. Peter’s Basilica that would hopefully get him where he needed to go. Mori and Carter would accompany him, and the rest of us would serve as backup. Why did the people who’d been tainted by the Books go into the holy ground?
Well, it didn’t take long for that backup to become necessary. We found them, not even inside the building, engaged in combat with not only the Templar but a handful of other Church warriors. Seth had grown his wings out again, and Sam of all people was there, carrying a bastard sword and looking for all the world like a medieval barbarian.
He’d mortally wounded the Templar, and the others fled as we were running up. Before he died, he gave us a warning, oddly enough. There was something wrong in the Vatican...something was wrong with the Pope.
There was nothing to do but press onward. First, we needed to evade the guards and make our way down into the catacombs, where we could hopefully find the sarcophagus that haunted Seth’s visions. We didn’t make it very far in before the footsteps of guards began to turn our way, but luckily we found an unexpected ally.
I suppose if Dracula is real, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Church is hiding a Van Helsing under the Basilica. Not certain why he decided to aid us--likely it’s got a lot to do with this rumored corruption of church officials. He took us through ancient passages that led through the catacombs. Finally we reached an ancient burial chamber. It housed the long-sought after sarcophagus...and we finally found some answers.
The crystals...the seven dead crystals spoken of in the prophecy...we were all but certain now that these were people whom we had encountered over the past year. At least now we had a chance of recognizing the ones we had yet to find.
Inside the sarcophagus, we found half of a spear blade. Carter took possession of it--perhaps we’d hit upon a two-for-one and found a portion of a legendary weapon. I think it’s somewhat ironic how they revere the weapon that killed their savior. Don’t understand it. You’d think such an instrument would be irredeemably evil.
The guards were still looking for us, but we needed to make one more stop before leaving. I knew Seth wasn’t going to leave without investigating the allegations about the Pope, and I didn’t think it was a bad idea to find out for sure what was going on here. So, we made our way up to his office--the secret passages were probably the only reason we made it there without being discovered.
Oh, there was something rotten here, all right. He didn’t hesitate to reveal everything to us. Guess he figured no one would believe us that he bore a demon’s-mark on his neck--or he thought we wouldn’t be escaping the Basilica alive. Well, we may or may not have been able to rid the Church of such an evil, but if we survived Armageddon, I’m sure Seth would be back to take care of the thrall.
As we ran out into the courtyard, archers opened fire on us. There was no use trying to evade them any longer; we grabbed a taxi and commandeered it to make a dash for the airfield. They followed us in those white vans we’ve come to love so much--and now that we had left the ancient architecture behind, they weren’t holding back when it came to using explosives. One of the vans blew itself off the road, along with our rear window. Finally, just as both our tires finally went out, Sam shot the windshield off the remaining van and pitched a grenade in. Almost all of us jumped clear of the taxi as the van exploded, catching our vehicle in the blast and sending both to a careening half of burning wreckage.
Mori had been driving, and he hadn’t managed to bail out. Darren pulled his body from the mangled remains of the taxi, and I desperately tried to bring life back to it. Maybe working with Doc had rubbed off--I didn’t think I could do it, but suddenly he moved and began to breathe again.
Pursuit may have been taken care of momentarily, but we still needed to get out of Rome as quickly as we could. Carter was feeling a pulling from the spear head, and Seth had seen a building in Germany in his vision, so we decided to make Berlin our next stop.
Hadn’t slept since I took the third trial. And I spent the entire flight sewing Mori and Seth back together. So when we landed, I reluctantly decided that I would have to sleep despite what I might find in Avalon. I took the precaution of sleeping out on the tarmac. Didn’t want to accidentally blow up our only secure means of transportation.
Turned out that I didn’t have to worry about that, yet. Just as I was slipping into sleep, an explosion of all things rocked the plane parked nearby. I was on my feet, gun in hand, within a moment, and looked for the source of the attack.
Darren. Darren was sitting across the field, OICW in hand. He had fired a grenade and hit the plane, after all we had just gone through, after all the pains we try to take to stay under the radar, and he had just thrown all that caution out the window.
I saw red...and black. I was aware suddenly that I was standing over him, aiming at his head. Fire had sprung up around him--dark fire.
No--it had not sprung up. That is hiding. I had brought it forth, wanted to see him burn. For all the pain he’d caused us, for this last straw he had broken.
There was a snapping of the rage inside me, and a blast of calmness came rushing in. I reeled, clutching at my head, as the others ran up to us. Sam took my place standing over Darren, and pressed his sword to his throat.
I didn’t really care what happened, after that, after Carter had dragged me from the brink of murder with his ability. I needed to get away from them all, needed to choke down the voice that, even now, insisted that Darren should be dying a most painful death by fire.
Seth tried to follow. Stubborn. But he wouldn’t understand, and even if he did, he couldn’t help. I’m the only one who can keep her locked away where she belongs, and no amount of therapy sessions with the kid is going to make that any easier.
Besides, I still hadn’t slept, and I don’t want to end up hurting Seth. Yet. Who knows whether I’ll start wishing for that, too?
Awhile later Sam came over to where I had been sitting. He offered me that strange gun, thought it might give me a break for awhile from whatever was going on with my power. Sweet, I suppose. But I can’t take the risk of her coming forward in the process, or what she’d do when she came back. Anyway, I think the one thing I’ll never bend in my resolve on is my determination to never let Sam have access to potentiallyl that much power.
But we had a new problem...we were in an increasing amount of danger, and it was likely that the OICW incident had in some way called down our enemies upon our heads. So half of us got a taxi into Berlin, while the others would follow as quickly as possible on foot. I was barely able to move, by this point, so I went with the first group.
My anger is manifesting more readily than it has since I was very little. Nearly set the cab’s interior on fire with a few stray sparks. But we found an inn once we got to the city, and I immediately crashed on one of the beds.
Not my night. Not my night. This time when I was awoken by the boom of an explosion, it was due to actual enemies--through the smoke, I saw the silhouette of an armored soldier in the room. Grabbing Excalibur, I dealt him a blow that laid him wide open, but the wound immediately knit closed and his armor knit together over it.
I was taking fire--so I threw all my will to keeping control, and tried to incinerate him. He was somehow resistant to it, but at least I managed to keep her from breaking loose.
We were losing. I didn’t see where Mori and Darren were, but Seth was in the same boat as I was.
Another round slammed into me, and with the pain, I felt myself pushed to the back of my mind as another took control.
She was strong, and I was weakened by exhaustion and pain...but she still wanted the control more than I did. The flames turned dark, and I felt the same rage and hatred that fueled her. She...I...didn’t care that my friends were still in the vicinity. Her feelings carried me away as the rooms burned, as the floor incinerated from beneath the enemy.
I pushed back, then. Maybe she’d had enough destruction for the time being. But...I don’t think she’s ever going to tire of it.
Seth and Darren had been caught in the blast that had taken out the floorboards. I grabbed my medical bag and jumped down into the hole after them. The soldiers were nowhere to be seen, and I pulled the two of them back from the deaths I had almost inflicted on them before collapsing onto a pile of rubble.
I don’t think they saw what I did. Must have been out before I started burning down the place.
It was all too much...could hardly move from the injuries and exhaustion, and it was becoming painfully clear that I was now as dangerous to the others as the things hunting us. But Mori was passed out upstairs, and we had to get out of here before the authorities showed up...so I found the last of my strength and helped to evacuate the building. Had to disguise Mori--he had used the power of the Book again, and his visage had become somewhat...unhuman.
We drove...the others had gone to the Treasury ahead of us instead of meeting us. They had been attacked just as we were, but managed to get the second half of the Lance’s blade. They had also been injured. I wanted to heal them. But in this, too, I lacked the strength.
I passed out over the very first one. Didn’t wake until later the next day...and I woke from dreams. If I’m having them again, that’s just another way I’m putting those around me in danger.
We were going overland to Paris. Our plane had to move to France, anyway, and our next destination was the Louvre.
It was eerily deserted. But Markwell knew we were coming. He had a Book, after all.
Latvis met us on our way in to see him. Just as pompous as ever. But we took him down in short order--have to admit that it felt good to wipe the floor with his smarmy face.
We descended into the basement of the museum, and found Markwell waiting for us. He was confident...seems the Book had told him he was going to beat us.
We proved him wrong--guess you can change the future, after all. Didn’t mean that Markwell didn’t give us a good fight, though. He turned into some sort of tentacled monster best left undescribed, and managed to almost kill Sam. As it is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to patch him up in time for Armageddon.
Half the party is compromised by these Books. Already had to tranq Carter to keep him from running off with the one we took from Markwell. But all in all, something’s finally gone right for us. Found a Book, found Pandora’s box, and Carter completed his Lance. Now we just had to stop the end of the world.
Next time: The final countdown! Showdown at the seventh seal!
