Realms 2: Rebirth of Evil (Official RP)

[GigaRidley]

Siana sighed.
"I guess you're right, but regardless, Richand and I need to go and talk to Oric. Please, tell us what you know on the way, and you can split off before we get to Negliv. We can meet up with you later."
-MEANWHILE-

A bullet whistled through the air, and struck the soldier leading the assault. He fell down with a cry. Fringe stumbled back due to the pistol's recoil, and swore. As she recovered herself, she turned her eyes back to the scene, and (as fast as her relatively inexperienced hands would allow her) prepared to fire again, but...

... the last and the largest of the soldiers had changed his path and ran toward Fringe, bringing his gigantic axe up for a mighty swing. He swung downwards with vigor.
"DIE!"
Night slid into the way and blocked the axe's blade with his staff, parrying it but grazing his left arm in the process. The sleeve of his cloak ripped open to reveal a horrible mark, purple and glowing. The mark depicted a mighty serpent circling down the arm, and lining its' body were hundreds and hundreds of eyes. Night didn't notice that the mark was showing.
"This is your last chance! LEAVE!"
The guard payed no heed to what Night was saying, and instead gazed, horrified, at the mark on his arm.
"What... what are you?!?"
Night realized the mark was visible and quickly covered it over with the remaining part of his sleeve. He looked up with a mixture of sadness and anger on his face.
"I'm... complicated."
Night twirled his staff around and brought it up for a final, punishing blow to the guard's chin, this time with a visible aura of darkness surrounding the blow. The guard collapsed, completely knocked out. Night didn't bother to turn back to Fringe and Grim as he spoke.
"I'm sure you've got some questions about me now... but I'll answer them once we're out of this burning city. Help me move the soldiers that are still alive out of this burning place... I don't want them to die."

 

[BurrHenry]

Fringe gave Night a stare of annoyance, and inaudibly said, "You don't want them to die? Didn't you just kill some of them?" Before moving to help, she fired another bullet into the corpse of the man she had shot down, 'So that there may be one less time I can kill.'

She noticed Night was already lugging limp bodies out of the area, and walked over to a small looking soldier, and began to drag him toward the forest, and mused about how unfortunate it was that there was some sort of strict moral code in place that stated you owe something to someone who saves your life. Even if that someone is incredibly suspicious...On the other hand, saving the living soldiers didn't seem like a villainous act...But that marking...

Wanting someone to share her thoughts with, she looked over to Giles and said, "Hey, Old Man...You think we can trust this guy?"

 

[The Storm]

Caedus did not back down. Though Oric was larger, older, more respected, and much more adept than he, he never backed down from anything, and he was not going to start here. He recoiled a bit from Oric's thundering voice, but did not give ground. When Oric finished talking, Caedus smiled.

"I was hoping you might say something like that."

Caedus pulled a roll of parchement from inside his vest and unrolled it onto the table next to Oric's own map. It was a map of Destry, or, what used to be Destry. The map was dated to have been scribed around 18 years ago. Caedus could tell Oric was slightly confused. Caedus put the two maps next to eachother.

"If you look here," Caedus pointed at Oric's map of the area just attacked, "You can see that the Shadows have their choice of hiding anywhere in the forest or mountain region near, because they have the land to themselves and they know the land."

Caedus paused a moment, then continued.

"And over here," he pointed to the identical spot on his own map, "It shows that there is no city there, and instead shows various outposts along with the only suitable places to make camp."

He stopped talking and looked at Oric. He did not seem to understand what he meant.

"Dont you see? The key to the future is in the past! We can use this old map as a marker! They scribed all locations that would be even remotely suitable to make a camp at for a few people. It even has the underground tunnel network that the Destrians used in the Destrian Conflict against us! We are talking about a large terrorist force! They have to have food and cover in case of attack, so," Caedus drew a circle on Oric's map, the southwest forest region of New Salfir, "This would make the most sense for a base as the vast activity of the underground network here and the forest being a life bringer already would make the most suitable location to hide an army!"

Caedus gave a pause, smiled, and continued.

"Another fine place would be here," he pointed in the southeastern ridge of the Calpinnean Mountain Range, "Plenty of coverage, easily able to hide large numbers, and the Tricemian Boars along with other large animals living there would make perfect hosts for feeding the armies, not to mention the mines that go through Mount Calpine giving way to forging and all other resources the Shadows would need. It is possible they have multiple bases, more factual as a matter of fact, but the Mount Calpine and the Calpinnean Mountain Range would yield them the most spoils if they plan for war!"

Caedus took a step back, smiling a moment, admiring his own genius before Oric spoke.

 

[Shadow*91]

"Alright." Seth held up his hand and it glowed for a moment. His gloves flew back to him an he quickly grabbed them and put them back on. "What I know it the Shadows have at least three seperate bases, one is in the forest of new Salfir. I don't know the other two but I am searching. And the most useful information I have found is in regards to thier leadership. The Shadows are led by some powerful Destrian that wants revenge on the rest of the countries. He leads and from what I've been able to gather there are at least four commanders in this little army. One has a somewhat feral appearance, one carries a gun and sword, another carries a blood red blade and a blue pendant around his neck. All of them seem to report to the final. He wears blue with two swords accross is back in the shape of an X. I haven't discovered any names but the first three report to him so I believe he ranks higher. If we can capture him, perhaps he can lead us to thier leader. The fastest way to kill a serphant is to cut off its head. Find the commander in blue, then the leader." Seth turned to leave before turning back. "Oh, I almost forgot. There is one more thing. The Shadows, there targets may not make sense at first but each one is a part of something. Trace the line accross a map and it reaches from southern Salfir and snakes its way accross. If they follow this pattern then I can take a guess at thier next target, as it's the only one close enough to make the line. I believe they are headed to the capital of new Salfir, Peace City. Though you'll likely know it better by it's old name." Seth looked very grave and turned back towards the door. "You'll know it... as Valentine City, formerly Destry's capital."

 

[ShadwDemon]

Siana sighed.
"I guess you're right, but regardless, Richand and I need to go and talk to Oric. Please, tell us what you know on the way, and you can split off before we get to Negliv. We can meet up with you later."
-MEANWHILE-

A bullet whistled through the air, and struck the soldier leading the assault. He fell down with a cry. Fringe stumbled back due to the pistol's recoil, and swore. As she recovered herself, she turned her eyes back to the scene, and (as fast as her relatively inexperienced hands would allow her) prepared to fire again, but...

... the last and the largest of the soldiers had changed his path and ran toward Fringe, bringing his gigantic axe up for a mighty swing. He swung downwards with vigor.
"DIE!"
Night slid into the way and blocked the axe's blade with his staff, parrying it but grazing his left arm in the process. The sleeve of his cloak ripped open to reveal a horrible mark, purple and glowing. The mark depicted a mighty serpent circling down the arm, and lining its' body were hundreds and hundreds of eyes. Night didn't notice that the mark was showing.
"This is your last chance! LEAVE!"
The guard payed no heed to what Night was saying, and instead gazed, horrified, at the mark on his arm.
"What... what are you?!?"
Night realized the mark was visible and quickly covered it over with the remaining part of his sleeve. He looked up with a mixture of sadness and anger on his face.
"I'm... complicated."
Night twirled his staff around and brought it up for a final, punishing blow to the guard's chin, this time with a visible aura of darkness surrounding the blow. The guard collapsed, completely knocked out. Night didn't bother to turn back to Fringe and Grim as he spoke.
"I'm sure you've got some questions about me now... but I'll answer them once we're out of this burning city. Help me move the soldiers that are still alive out of this burning place... I don't want them to die."

Fringe gave Night a stare of annoyance, and inaudibly said, "You don't want them to die? Didn't you just kill some of them?" Before moving to help, she fired another bullet into the corpse of the man she had shot down, 'So that there may be one less time I can kill.'

She noticed Night was already lugging limp bodies out of the area, and walked over to a small looking soldier, and began to drag him toward the forest, and mused about how unfortunate it was that there was some sort of strict moral code in place that stated you owe something to someone who saves your life. Even if that someone is incredibly suspicious...On the other hand, saving the living soldiers didn't seem like a villainous act...But that marking...

Wanting someone to share her thoughts with, she looked over to Giles and said, "Hey, Old Man...You think we can trust this guy?"

Yamata began to follow the group silently, making sure not to alert them.

-MEANWHILE-

Vent led the soldiers following him through a not often used path through the southern forest of the new Salfir. Once he came to a clearing he stopped, as did the men behind him. He knelt down, placing his hand on a rather large stone in front of him. He felt around for a moment before finding what he was searching for, a small indent in the rock. He unsheathed his sword and stabbed it into the indent and the ground shook. Suddenly the clearing opened revealing a torch lit path underground. Vent sheathed his blade and walked in. The soldiers followed and split off the seperate chambers for them. Vent himself went to his chamber. Outside its door was two guards. "Tell the other generals that I must speak with them." The guards nodded and headed off to find them. He entered his chambers and looked around. The room was carved out of stone and lit by a couple torches on the walls. There was a bed and a table with a map of Renit. Vent walked forward and place his katanas on the bed. He reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a small purple gem. Within the gem seemed to be a swirling vortex of smoke. The gem seemed to have a lifeforce of its own. Finally, Vent spoke. "The city has fallen great one. Your plan is one step closer to completion."

Nero walked around the base and two solders came up to him. 'General Yamato, General Nogeth requests you to go to his chamber for a meeting.' Nero nodded at the solders. "Understood. You may go." The guards nodded their heads. 'Yes sir.' They continued on their rounds. Nero walked to Nogeth's chamber and knocked on the door...

 

[Shadow*91]

"Enter." Vent looked up to see Yamato enter. "Good, now we just need to wait for Vibro and Venator. We need to discuss our final target before we start our war." Vent looked back down at the map, content with waiting in silence.

 

[ShadwDemon]

"Yes sir." He looked at Nogeth then at the map. "I had Yamata Takizaki search for any survivers on the field, but he hasn't be back with any information. Do you want me to go out and find him?"

 

[Shadow*91]

"No. I need to speak to all three of you about the great one's plan for our final target. Yamata will be fine and if not then we know he was foolish enough to fight someone he couldn't. Just wsit patiently for the other two and if you cannot do that then go and bring them here. I need to speak with all of you."

 

[ShadwDemon]

He let out a sigh and answered, "I'll stay here and wait. Yamata wouldn't pick a fight he knew he couldn't win." He placed his hands on the table and let out smile. "I trained him too well."

 

[GigaRidley]

"I'm not sure...", replied Giles. "Why are you so reluctant to kill them", he asked Night. "Not only have they tried to kill us, but they are evil. I refuse to waste any time helping you carry the bodies"

"Evil... is a very strong word. No human being is pure evil-- we all have a little good in us. Pure evil... that's demonic. No person can have a heart full of darkness."

"At least, I hope not," Night thought to himself.
"I only take lives when it's absolutely necessary. These men may have tried to kill us, but I'm not going to leave them to die."
Night wasn't sure what to think of the old man. On one hand, they were certainly on the same side, but on the other, he seemed to have no problem with taking lives. That wasn't the main problem, but he also seemed annoyed with the fact that Night wanted to save them.
-MEANWHILE-

"Alright." Seth held up his hand and it glowed for a moment. His gloves flew back to him an he quickly grabbed them and put them back on. "What I know it the Shadows have at least three seperate bases, one is in the forest of new Salfir. I don't know the other two but I am searching. And the most useful information I have found is in regards to thier leadership. The Shadows are led by some powerful Destrian that wants revenge on the rest of the countries. He leads and from what I've been able to gather there are at least four commanders in this little army. One has a somewhat feral appearance, one carries a gun and sword, another carries a blood red blade and a blue pendant around his neck. All of them seem to report to the final. He wears blue with two swords accross is back in the shape of an X. I haven't discovered any names but the first three report to him so I believe he ranks higher. If we can capture him, perhaps he can lead us to thier leader. The fastest way to kill a serphant is to cut off its head. Find the commander in blue, then the leader." Seth turned to leave before turning back. "Oh, I almost forgot. There is one more thing. The Shadows, there targets may not make sense at first but each one is a part of something. Trace the line accross a map and it reaches from southern Salfir and snakes its way accross. If they follow this pattern then I can take a guess at thier next target, as it's the only one close enough to make the line. I believe they are headed to the capital of new Salfir, Peace City. Though you'll likely know it better by it's old name." Seth looked very grave and turned back towards the door. "You'll know it... as Valentine City, formerly Destry's capital."

Siana took a step back, shocked.
"So then they're trying to reclaim Destry's old capital? Are they going to try to restart Destry?"
Richand nodded, his face serious.
"It certainly seems that way... We'd better get going. If we hurry, we can be at Negliv within the hour. I just need to get something."

Richand hurried back upstairs and entered his training room, the largest room in their house. Dummies lined the wall, bruised and battered from years and years of practice. At the end of the room, hung from the wall, was Richand's sword, Stargleam, and it's sheath. He took the sword from the wall and unsheathed it, the sword humming very softly. It had a slight glow to it, only visible if you focused on it carefully. Richand felt its' comfortable and familiar grip in his hand, clenching it tightly.
"Let's go."

 

[Shadow*91]

"I will head south and try to locate one of thier hidden bases. If they move to the capital before that then I shall try to stop them. When you've done everything you must then meet me at the capital. And good luck to you both." Seth turned and headed out to his horse which he left right outside the mansion. Seth mounted and took off at a fast pace.

 

[GigaRidley]

"We'd better get going too, Sia."
Richand and Siana left out the backdoor and entered the stables, quickly emerging with two sleek, strong-looking horses. Hopping on, they set off at a speedy pace, keeping next to each other as they sped along.
"Richand... if what Seth says is true, things are more dangerous than we thought... I'm worried about Caedus."
"I know, Sia, so am I... but we'll see him soon enough. I'm sure that whatever Oric is planning, Caedus will have a say in it. And, don't worry," Richand added, seeing the downcast look on Siana's face, "He's the strongest boy I know."
"I know..."
In truth, Richand was just as worried as Siana. Although he knew Caedus was extremely capable, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad could happen to him.

 

[BurrHenry]

Fringe stared at the two as they spoke, and then gestured to the body she recognized, he was still alive. She then said, "Look, either way...We should probably get out of here. Old Man...If it's any incentive to you, I know this one. There's a chance he could give us some information."
Before waiting for them to respond, she began to walk, continuing to drag a body behind her. Trying to make it look like an easy task...If they weren't wearing this ludicrous armor...
She asked, "So...Are we working together? At least until we get out of here?"

 

[GigaRidley]

Night nodded.
"It seems that way, at least. Listen, Once we get into the woods, we can drop these men off where it's safe, and then I can take you to my cave. There's a little food there, and at least some shelter."

 

[lbu8]

Caedus did not back down. Though Oric was larger, older, more respected, and much more adept than he, he never backed down from anything, and he was not going to start here. He recoiled a bit from Oric's thundering voice, but did not give ground. When Oric finished talking, Caedus smiled.

"I was hoping you might say something like that."

Caedus pulled a roll of parchement from inside his vest and unrolled it onto the table next to Oric's own map. It was a map of Destry, or, what used to be Destry. The map was dated to have been scribed around 18 years ago. Caedus could tell Oric was slightly confused. Caedus put the two maps next to eachother.

"If you look here," Caedus pointed at Oric's map of the area just attacked, "You can see that the Shadows have their choice of hiding anywhere in the forest or mountain region near, because they have the land to themselves and they know the land."

Caedus paused a moment, then continued.

"And over here," he pointed to the identical spot on his own map, "It shows that there is no city there, and instead shows various outposts along with the only suitable places to make camp."

He stopped talking and looked at Oric. He did not seem to understand what he meant.

"Dont you see? The key to the future is in the past! We can use this old map as a marker! They scribed all locations that would be even remotely suitable to make a camp at for a few people. It even has the underground tunnel network that the Destrians used in the Destrian Conflict against us! We are talking about a large terrorist force! They have to have food and cover in case of attack, so," Caedus drew a circle on Oric's map, the southwest forest region of New Salfir, "This would make the most sense for a base as the vast activity of the underground network here and the forest being a life bringer already would make the most suitable location to hide an army!"

Caedus gave a pause, smiled, and continued.

"Another fine place would be here," he pointed in the southeastern ridge of the Calpinnean Mountain Range, "Plenty of coverage, easily able to hide large numbers, and the Tricemian Boars along with other large animals living there would make perfect hosts for feeding the armies, not to mention the mines that go through Mount Calpine giving way to forging and all other resources the Shadows would need. It is possible they have multiple bases, more factual as a matter of fact, but the Mount Calpine and the Calpinnean Mountain Range would yield them the most spoils if they plan for war!"

Caedus took a step back, smiling a moment, admiring his own genius before Oric spoke.

Oric sat down on a four legged stool studing the two maps. He was amazed that Caedus had a map he had never seen before. Oric had spent hours upon hours searching through the archives, reading and researching everything he could on Destry. With this new information they could narrow the camp sites down to a few places.

Oric took his time comparing the two maps, taking note of the elabrate tunnel system under the Forest of Salfir. They had evidence of a network of underground passages streaching from Destry to Salfir during the war, but the enterences all either unknown or caved in.

Next Oric compared the attack sites to the possible base locations. The majority of the attacks came near the forests which supported Caedus' theory, however Oric noticed something else. A thin black line on Caedus' map streached from one of the tunnel enterences out into the middle of Destry. Where the line stopped a large tower was inked into the parchment. Hear was Valentine City, the pride and glory of the Destrians.

However that wasnt what caught Oric's eye, every city or outpost the Shadows had attacked fell right on or somewhere around the black line. He jumped to his feet realizing what was going on and spoke quickly, pushing his words out as quickly as possible. "Valentine City! They are going to try to retake Valentine City. Look here, this line right here." Oric's long digits traced the black line from the forest out into the heart of Destry.

"This line is a tunnel, one that we had no idea existed." Oric grabbed his map, lying it over Caedus'. "Notice how all of the attacks have come within marching distance from this line. They are using it for transportation, that is why they haven't been spotted they move underground, hit their target and then disapper back into the earth. Now they are running out of reachable targets, they've hit them all. Except for one, Peace City. The crown of New Salfir."

Oric rushed over to his desk, grabbing a bag and began stuffing important documents into it. He also packed a few quils and ink, slung the bag over his shoulder and moved quickly towards the door. Opening it forcfully he called out orders to one of the guards on duty, "Ready the Royal Guard! We move out at first light tomorrow."

He turned back to Caedus, holding the door open and spoke, "We have to get an army in place at that city. That city was Valentine's pride and joy, we can't let them occupy it. Send word to the Citadel and get ready. Tomorrow, we march for Drosin, we march for peace."