Orlan

Ran into some problems on my end, going to be playing with www.themightypen.org for a while. If anyone uses that addy to connect to this board (you shouldn't) they should switch to .net instead. Hopefully a few more days and I'll be ready.

Attention all Pen members, We have purchased new hosting for The Pen, and as such, we will be moving the entire board over to the new host. Now, I hear you say, what does this mean for me. Well....pretty much nothing. I will, however, be shutting down The Pen sometime over the next week or two for two to three days while I move things over and point the world's DNS servers to the right location. Two to three days is about the pit end of it, for most people it'd update fairly fast, though it takes about three days for DNS to get to every nook and cranny. Anyway, this is all dependent upon HostRocket allowing me to authorize a repointing and nameserver setup and etc, etc, etc. If they don't we'll be waiting until Gwaihir returns. Either way The Pen is all in good hands. This is more of a notice now, when I figure out when and where I'll let everyone know. Orlan (Curse you mysql that doesn't automatically default to -p)

Woohoo! Feedback! Thanks again for readin Wyvie, I appreciate it and all the comments. Just a few things I'll say back that will help explain some things: Misheal - I tend to make up my mind for main characters before I start and then make up characters as I go along, she's one I made up and (like Severath, the Royal Guard captain back in Final Death) I often make them at an odd time otr too late to personalize them in a real an clear way, but that's what re-writes are for! (and helpful feedback like yours) Battles - Yup, and that's been something I've been working on. IT's alot better then it was The problem is that when I write a battle I tend to get into the battle and get excited about it, thus I tend to write faster so that I can get all the ideas out in my head for it. Pacing myself is something I need to learn more of Still, I keep that in mind for re-writes Most of the other stuff was right on and part of a growing list of things I need to refine But all feedback is helpful.. Anyway, thanks again for reading and such, it's always good to be able to talk over ones writings.

And it;s done now Happy reading anyone

Kisean lay in the grass staring up at the few clouds that now littered the sky. The sun was beginning its path down beyond the horizon, coloring the sky a pretty red and violet color. Kisean lay between his halberd and Ciran, who was sitting up and watching people go by. Kisean was still tired. Mellara, the Royal Sorceress, had fixed a great deal of his wounds but he was still mentally exhausted from the day’s activities. “Here comes Vas,” Ciran said. Kisean tilted his head up a little bit, enough to get a glimpse of Vasia walking up the hill. Next to her was Gluake, or at least Gluake’s projection of himself, walking along with her. They were talking quietly until they reached where Ciran and Kisean were. “So how’d it all clean up?” Kisean asked the two newcomers. Vasia looked down on him. “Pretty good,” Vasia said. “By the time Gluake’s spell wore off we got to most of the people we needed to. When the Royal Guard showed up we pretty much didn’t need to do any thing else. They took care of the fighting outside of the city in a snap.” “Yeah, they showed up in the nick of time, that’s for sure,” Kisean said. After Mellara had destroyed the demon, the Royal Guard seemed to appear from nowhere, moving through the soldiers. They disarmed them or knocked them out; anything that would stop the fighting. They also ran into Misheal and Avoil on the way and brought them back. Avoil immediately apologized to Phaen, as Phaen immediately apologized to Avoil. It became a little ridiculous when they kept apologizing to each other over and over again. Fortunately Mellara stopped that after too long and then Avoil and Phaen went about trying to mend the damage that the siege had caused. The Royal Guard lingered around, helping where they could. They were mainly acting as a peacekeeping force more then anything else. “Hey, they saved you and Coania, I’d figure you’d be happy to see them,” Vasia said. Kisean laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy they showed up,” Kisean said. “Had they not I’d probably be dead.” “Dead?” Vasia asked, sounding shocked. Apparently she had only heard half the story. Kisean waved his hand non-chalantly. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not dead now,” he said with a grin. Vasia was obviously less then thrilled with that statement. “And apparently you aren’t the only one,” Donaxon said. Kisean tilted his head back and saw Donaxon walking towards the group. Perched on his shoulder sat Coania, looking as good as new. Kisean’s heart jumped. The last time he had seen her she had been unconscious her eye looked terrible. Mellara spent a while with her after she got Kisean back to his feet. Kisean jumped to his feet, grabbing his halberd in the process. “And here I thought you’d at least come out of the deal with a limp or something,” Kisean said to Donaxon. The monk laughed and helped Coania down. “Injured? Me?” Donaxon asked. “I’d never live it down with the other Jidan.” Kisean grinned and then looked at Coania. Her eyes looked as if there were almost back to normal, aside from some scarring around the left. She was, surprisingly enough, not wearing her glasses. “Feeling better?” Kisean asked her. She smiled slightly and nodded. “No glasses anymore?” “No,” she said softly. “Lady Mellara was able to fix me up so that my vision became repaired. Or at least, slightly repaired.” “Wonderful for you,” Kisean said. “And a worthy gift for you as well,” Gluake spoke up. “I watched what happened and was nothing but impressed. It’s been a long time since I’ve see anyone stand up to a demon with as much force as you showed. I am just sorry I had no magic to spare to aid you.” Coania instantly went bright red and looked down at the ground. “Thank you,” she mumbled quietly. Ciran gave a chuckle until Vasia swatted him on the head. “You’re welcome,” Gluake replied. “You on the other hand,” Gluake began, turning his gaze to Donaxon, “Are frighteningly powerful. My respect for the Uri-Van has gone up an immense amount in witnessing your skills.” Donaxon bowed. “I thank you for your praise,” Donaxon said. “And I’ll be sure to relay it to the old men. They’re always suckers for an ego boost.” Donaxon grinned. “That’s all good,” Ciran said. “Now why were we called up here, anyone know?” “That’d be by my request,” came a voice. The group turned to see Mellara and Ludia walking slowly up the hill. Behind the Royal Sorceress was Rilav, the sorcerer that Kisean had met earlier. The three of them got to the top of the hill and Mellara glanced around at everyone. “And?” Ciran asked, waiting. “Patience, first,” she chided Ciran. Mellara turned first to Gluake and spread out her arms, taking the old sorcerer in a big hug that was equally returned. “Ahh, my little Mel comes back to visit,” Gluake said with a smile. “So few and far in-between your visits have been.” “I know,” Mellara said. “And I’m sorry. Things kept coming up, as did my research.” “Anything interesting?” Gluake asked as they broke the hug. Mellara gave a small laugh. “Very interesting, but I’ll talk to you about it later.” Mellara gave the old man a kiss on the cheek and then turned to Kisean. “First things first. The captain of the Royal Guard, Severath, saw you in action, and gladly extends an offer to join the Royal Guard and protect Her Majesty, Queen Dayane.” Ciran gave a low whistle. Kisean was taken a little off guard by this. The Royal Guard were now the most elite of all soldiers in the kingdom. Since Queen Dayane became crowned they had promoted the best to guard her. Through it was intense work, it was also worth the pay. Kisean stared for a moment. “Well…” Kisean started. He looked from Ciran to Vasia. Both had unreadable expressions, which Kisean found interesting. He could usually read his friends fairly well. “I think I’ll have to decline. I’ve lived here my whole life and I think I like the idea of protecting Agregra for the rest of it. I thank you for the offer though.” Mellara smiled at Kisean. “Severath will be inconsolable, but I’ll make him get over it. I respect anyone who wants to protect their home.” Mellara turned and looked down at Coania, her smile washed off of her face. “You, on the other hand, don’t get a choice. You’ll be accompanying Rilav and me back to Anlise when we leave. When there, you will be placed as an apprentice under Rilav and after a few years you will be entered into service as a palace sorceress.” “What?” Coania asked. She seemed a lot confused. “But what about Ludia?” “You think I can’t handle the lack of one mage?” Ludia asked. “You should be worried more about yourself. The palace mages have to be the best at what they do and have confidence in themselves.” “But my family…” Coania began. “Will be taken care of,” Ludia finished. “Lady Mellara sent someone out just moments ago to go get them moved into Anlise.” “Where will they stay?” “I have a place I don’t use anymore,” Mellara said, a smile now back on her face. “Well, the upstairs anyway.” Coania began tearing up, and an instant later she flung herself into Ludia, careful of the armor, and was bawling a moment later. Ludia had a huge smile across her face and was almost beaming in pride. “Maybe Ludia needs a handkerchief?” Ciran whispered to Kisean. Kisean gave a little chuckle. Mellara turn now to Donaxon. “You, I can only assume, are Jidan Donaxon?” she asked him. Donaxon nodded to the sorceress. “Just Don is okay,” Donaxon replied. Mellara smiled at him. “You have my gratitude. Your student apparently ran full speed to get to us but then was delayed by advisors shifting times on her. She gave us quite a fright when she appeared in the baths the other day demanding to see Queen Dayane.” “They must have sent one of the younger students,” Donaxon said with a laugh. “Those of us who get up there in age tend to move slower then that.” “Regardless, I’m happy we were able to get where when we did. Any later and there might have been some trouble.” “That’s true,” Donaxon said with a nod. “But everything’s resolved. Plus, since the Royal Guard are around, I can slip out without worrying about anything.” Donaxon glanced at Kisean and Ciran. “Or anyone.” “Watch yourself, big man,” Kisean tossed back at him. The monk gave Kisean a wink. “I always do.” Donaxon turned and gave Mellara a bow. “It’s not every day I get to meet a Royal Sorceress. I hope I get another chance to have a better conversation with you. You have some Uri-Van at the palace that I always meant to get an update one.” Donaxon held out his hand for the sorceress. “I look forward to that, Don,” Mellara said. Donaxon became serious all of a sudden. “What was that?” he asked her. Mellara looked confused. “I said I’d look forward to that, Don,” Mellara repeated. The big monk moved faster then Kisean could register and a moment later he had Mellara in a big bear hug a few feet off the ground. The monk then gave her a huge kiss on her cheek. Mellara let out a wonderful sounding laugh. “What was that for?” “Since I got here I have been asking everyone to call me Don and not a single one of them has. Is it too much to ask to not be hunted by my titles?” This time, everyone laughed. The End.

* * * Coania closed her eyes every once and a while so she could keep her bearings. Kisean moved so fluidly and so instantaneously that if she kept her eyes open she found herself unable to focus in on one direction long enough. While she was not too keen on the constant running and shifting, she was very happy that Kisean kept himself outside of the demon’s range. Grothean trailed the two for a few minutes now as Kisean ran a circle around the city. No matter how hard the demon tried he could not seem to close the gap between the two. However, this was not to last. Kisean, though infused with magic both from his bracers and what little magic Coania had left, was slowing down. Some of the stops and sudden turns he was making in order to avoid smashing into other soldiers were beginning to take longer and slowly, Grothean began to close the gap. Every once and a while the demon would launch a fireball at the two, hoping to catch them off guard. Kisean barely proved quicker every time though. “You see anything yet, Coania?” Kisean shouted as they ran. Coania was supposed to be listening for a signal when Donaxon was done with Zrethet, but so far there was nothing. Coania was beginning to get concerned about that. She worried more about Ludia then Donaxon. She somehow felt that Captain Donaxon was safe on his own. “Nothing!” Coania shouted back. Kisean cursed quietly as he sprung into a leap, avoiding another fireball from Grothean. He hit the ground at full speed again, able to further the distance between them and the demon by using the blast of the fireball for an extra push. Coania glanced back at the demon and became horrified. Grothean used all four limbs to move swiftly through the wading soldiers but he gave them no heed. At least no heed more then crushing them as he barreled over them. Coania turned back in time to see an enormous claw come crashing down on a poor solider who tried desperately to get out of the way. Kisean jolted suddenly, snapping Coania’s attention back again to what lie before them. A massive wall of flame shot up from nowhere and Kisean had to stop suddenly to avoid plunging through it and burning himself to a crisp. He changed direction quickly, running along the side of the wall. The wall continuously erupted from the ground, spouting fire as Kisean ran along side of it. Coania had to think fast as she fought to keep concentration long enough to cast a spell. Suddenly the two of them were pushed by a gust of wind, boosting them just ahead of the erupting wall of flame. Kisean took his cue instantly and ran around the wall. Coania could feel the heat of the wall as it nearly hit them. She glanced back and watched Grothean smash through the wall without a concern. Things were not looking well for them right now. The ground before the demon gave an unexpected heave and then erupted in a blast of blue energy. The demon hit the explosion and stumbled, tripping up and rolling a short distance. Coania turned to the side and saw a small circle of mages. She recognized most of them as mages from Ludia’s archaeon, but the mage in the center shocked her. Jiklan stood, his hands aglow in blue flame, facing the demon. Coania never expected this. Grothean shook its head and turned on the mages. The demon howled once and then leveled one of its claws at Kisean and Coania. Once again a wall of flame sprouted up before them a little ways away. “I’m going through it this time, hold on!” Kisean shouted. He raised his halberd before him and began spinning it rapidly in one hand. He was going to try and smash through the wall this time. Coania would have helped him had her mind on him, but she watched in horror as Grothean changed targets and began running at the mages. Coania watched Jiklan shout out orders. The mages around him spread out their arms and suddenly they were surrounded in an azure glow. The demon was bearing down on them rapidly. Coania had a terrifying thought as she looked hard at the mage’s shield. There were a few flaws in the shield and the demon would be able to cut through that like butter. Coania was moving before she even thought about it. She was not going to let any more people die because of her, especially those who, moments ago, were trying to protect her. Coania had a few more spells in reserve and she called upon them now. As Kisean slammed hard into the wall of fire she let go of him, calling the winds around her. The spell almost instantaneously moved her, sending her flying straight at the group of mages. She was able to get there right as Grothean raised a claw to strike. She then dove deep within herself and pulled out all the magic she could muster and formed it into a shield. She then slammed that shield with all her strength into Grothean. * * * Kisean noticed it too late. After he burst through the wall of flame and made it a good hundred feet he realized that he was suddenly lighter. He glanced behind himself and saw neither Coania, nor Grothean. His eyes went wide with horror as all he saw was a wall of flame. Kisean took off like a bolt, heading to the end of the wall of flame. Thankfully this wall had stopped growing in length, but something deep within Kisean told him this was going to be his only good news. The seconds ticked by slower then Kisean had ever known time to move as he rounded the edge of the wall. He saw sparks of gold flying everyway. At the center of the torrent of magic was Coania, standing firm against Grothean. The demon’s claws were both above the little girl. All of its strength was trying to force them down and get them past the golden barrier that separated the demon and mage. Coania shuddered and then fell to one knee. Grothean’s claws dropped a few feet closer to her. Kisean would never be able to make the distance in time, and even if he did, to fight fully he would have to have both his hands free. He stopped a moment, hoping the answer would come to him. Unfortunately, Coania dropped to her both knees, her hands shaking violently in the air as Grothean’s claws came closer and closer to her. Kisean swore, very loudly, and dropped the Chalice of Souls to the ground. Kisean slammed his bracers together so hard that they dug into his skin, drawing blood. The blood, rather then dripping down his skin, coated the outside of the bracers and they became an impossibly red color. Kisean spread his feet apart and got himself into a strong stance. He took hold of his halberd in both hands, the staff and blade now glowing in an unholy light, and with a roar he launched it at the demon. The halberd spun through the air, end over end, its aim true. Kisean’s heart fell as he watched Grothean lash out to catch the halberd with one of its claws. The halberd flashed as Grothean caught it in one of its claws, and suddenly the demon’s arm exploded. The demon howled in pain and grabbed at the stump of arm that was now spewing dark green blood everywhere. Kisean watched as Coania shook her head in a daze. The demon was no longer pressing against the young girl’s magic shield. Kisean fell to a knee, exhausted. He fought to stay upright and make sure Coania could get away. Coania was able to get to her feet but then swayed slightly. She turned from the demon and started limping away, moving slowly at first. Kisean watched as Grothean let loose another howl, raising its claw over Coania again. “COANIA!” Kisean shouted at the top of his lungs. The young mage spun around and raised her hands. Grothean’s claw once again struck Coania’s magic shield. * * * Coania cursed herself for not being able to utilize Kisean’s help like the other mages did. She was too woozy to get far enough away, and now she was once again stuck under the massive weight of the demon’s claw. Coania grit her teeth and held her shield high, desperately trying to keep it in tact. “I will have my revenge on you all!” Grothean howled. He was frothing at the mouth and Coania was sure he was mad, if ever a demon could be considered so. Unfortunately, whatever insanity drove the demon now also gave it immense strength. Coania could not see her spell lasting for very long. “You will die!” “I will NOT!” Coania found herself saying. She did not know where she got the strength to be able to speak right now, but she felt compelled to defy the demon. “You cannot escape me!” Grothean screamed, a maniacal laughter now emanating from behind its wild eyes. “I will have your soul!” “Never!” Coania yelled once again. The demon pressed hard and Coania’s shield buckled. She was barely able to keep it from collapsing as the giant claw dropped a few feet closer to her face. The winds around the two began to pick up in speed, and the demon let loose a growl as it forced its head closer to the girl. The mighty maw opened and Grothean let loose a blood-curdling howl. Coania’s glasses cracked and then shattered, sending glass into her left eye. Coania screamed in pain, dropping one of her hands instinctively to cover the wound. The pain was unbearable and she suddenly felt the shield drop again. Through a mixture of blood and tears Coania was able to see the demon’s claw now only a foot from her face. The shield was quickly cracking, and Coania was losing all her strength. She became cold and clammy, and the hand that still held the shield fast began shaking uncontrollably. “You are mine!” Grothean howled and slammed into the shield with its entire body. Coania felt the shield buckle and then shatter. Grothean’s claw came racing down and it was all she could do to knock herself back a few feet with the last bit of magic she had. She barely avoided the claw but the impact on the ground sent her rolling. She stopped rolling and found herself looking skyward, straight at a giant claw. She then only saw black. * * * Kisean howled in fury as Coania’s shield broke. Kisean could not move his legs, and had barely enough strength to stay conscious. He watched in horror as Coania’s body flew and rolled a few feet. The demon was right there on top of her as she rolled to a stop. Kisean had only one option left, and the cost would be his life. Kisean spoke an incantation quickly, breaking the seals on his bracers, letting loose all the magic that was stored within. His body became flooded with magical energies and he glowed in an aura of the most powerful red. Kisean extended his arms before him, putting Grothean between his bracers in his field of vision. With a roar he spread his arms wide and slammed them violently together, ready to sacrifice his very life to obliterate the demon. “Now, now, no need for that,” came a soft voice. Kisean’s body stopped moving, his bracers a few inches away. He watched in horror as Grothean’s claw slammed down hard upon Coania. He tried hard to yell, but his voice would pay him no heed. Coania was dead. “Rilav is better then that,” the voice said again. Kisean felt a hand on his shoulder suddenly draining all the magic from him. Kisean’s bracers hit with a spark, but nothing more. Kisean turned to see a beautiful woman standing next to him. She had on a dress of the deepest violet and a black cloak wrapped around her. She had thick hair that dropped all the way to her feet, bound by a golden circlet just off the ground. She held a glowing staff in her hands. “What are you-” Kisean started to shout. She pointed a hand back at the demon. “I said Rilav was better then that,” she said. Kisean turned back and saw a young man standing over Coania. His staff was glowing a bight red and was shielding himself and Coania from the demon. “I am sorry it took so long to come here but bureaucracy is a harsher mistress then I could ever hope to be.” “Who are you?” Kisean asked. His question was ignored as the woman focused her eyes on Coania. “Rilav, bring her here, I’ll take care of the demon,” she said. The man who stood over Coania bent down and picked her up, disappearing in a flash of light. Kisean was suddenly aware of Coania being laid down next to him. Her body was battered and bloodied but she was at least breathing. The man who was standing over her a moment ago stepped in front of Kisean and Coania and put the end of his staff into the ground. Kisean watched as the woman began to walk at the demon. Grothean turned to look at where his prey had gone and matched eyes with the woman who was now purposefully striding at the demon. The demon’s eyes widened in horror as the woman raised her staff over her head. White light gathered into the woman’s staff and the demon turned to run. In a flash the light erupted from her staff and soared high into the air before slamming hard into the demon, obliterating it and everything within a thirty-foot range. Kisean could not help but stare. “Who is she?” Kisean asked. “She is Lady Mellara,” the man called Rilav said. “The Royal Sorceress.” Kisean stared for a moment. Coania was safe. The demon was gone. Kisean took a deep breath and then passed out. * * *

For anyone reading The Siege, if you notice a part where I give gender to Zrethet or Grothean (call them he instead of it), lemme know. I wanna get rid of that, I think I got them all but sometimes I miss a few. Oh hey, it's almost done

Donaxon started moving quickly through the soldiers who were around him. A few were still fighting but most had been scared by the demons and were trying desperately to flee. This posed a problem for Donaxon who wanted to avoid large groups enough so that the demon would not be able to attack anyone other then Donaxon. Fortunately, for Donaxon, the demon had a one-track mind. It wanted the Chalice of Souls. Yet the one Donaxon had was a fake, and the demon was heading for a trap. Donaxon glanced back every once and a while to get a glimpse of the demon and make sure the pursuit was still on. Of course Zrethet's howls of fury were indication enough. The demon paid no attention to anything that got in its way, and that caused some unfortunate men and horses to become crushed by the demon’s massive girth of the. Zrethet's tentacles flared around, lashing out as far as possible to try and grab hold of Donaxon. The monk proved much quicker then the demon's appendages, as he was able to dodge each and every strike. Donaxon wound his way around the city of Agregra; his destination was the small grouping of trees a little ways off from the walls. The soldiers he had to run through began to slowly diminish in numbers. There was not as much fighting going on around there and most of that fighting stopped when Donaxon ran by being chased by a giant demon. In no time Donaxon burst through the edge of the trees and straight into the forest. The beginning of the forest was dense with trees. They were large, old, trees, with deep roots. Donaxon moved in-between the trees swiftly, making his way through a lightly marked path. Zrethet, only a little ways behind the Uri-Van master, slammed hard into the trees, its body suddenly becoming engulfed in flames. The demon burned its way through the trees, as if it was wading through a river. All around Donaxon the trees began to fall as the demon tore through the forest. Donaxon wanted to make enough distance between him and the demon so that the trap that was lying in wait would have enough time to be properly sprung. Donaxon gathered his chi all around his body and formed it into a point a few feet before him. The monk crouched low and then leapt with all his strength. Some of the chi around him shot out from his feet and propelled him with amazing speed right at a tree. The point of chi Donaxon had formed before him pierced the tree and then spun, boring a hole through the trunk. With Donaxon's speed and strength he was launched a good distance and through a far bit of trees before he once again touched ground. Luckily for Donaxon, he was a few steps from the clearing he was aiming for. The monk sped across the clearing to the other edge of the trees and stopped, spinning quickly. He could feel Ludia's presence several feet behind him, and slowly he could pick out the other paladins that were hidden in the forest around him. A moment later the demon came crashing into the clearing, the fire that had engulfed its body suddenly vanished. Zrethet slowly took a few steps into the center of the clearing. “Do you mean to stand between me and my prize, mortal?” Zrethet growled. Donaxon held the chalice up in the air before the demon. “You mean this thing?” Donaxon asked, giving the chalice a little shake. Zrethet's eyes went wide for a moment and then narrowed shrewdly. Both its tentacles stretched out to try and make a grab for it but Donaxon was too far away. “Return it to me and I will make your death quick and painless, mortal,” Zrethet said. Donaxon laughed. “If you were looking for your little toy then you followed the wrong person,” Donaxon said. He clenched his hand around the fake chalice, crushing it as it exploded into a shower of magical sparks. Zrethet howled loudly, slamming its tentacles into the ground like a child having a tantrum. “You should be more wary of your movements, Zrethet,” Donaxon said. “If I don’t have the real chalice, then this is obviously a trap, is it not?” Suddenly a bell rang twice, and in answer to that the entire forest became alive with the sound of bells ringing. * * * Ludia’s paladins did just as they were told. When they heard the signal they were to respond in kind, and then trap the demon. From every paladin that was hidden in the forest, a chain made up of large glowing links came flying at the demon. These chains moved swiftly and wrapped themselves around the demon as tightly as possible. Zrethet tried desperately to swat the chains away and succeeded a little but in the end there were too many chains to be able to resist them all. In a few moments the demon was nearly covered in chains. Ludia summoned her power and sent her own chain out, wrapping it around the demon’s neck and pulling the other end hard, toppling the demon over. Donaxon leapt back a few feet so the demon’s muzzle was within a few strides. The demon began writhing every which way in order to try and free itself from the holy chains. Ludia’s paladins slowly began filtering out of the forest moving hand over hand across their chains. Strain was apparent across all their faces as they fought desperately to hold down the fighting demon. “Hold him there for me,” Donaxon said. Without waiting for a reply the monk bowed his head and pressed his hands together in front of him. He then stopped moving. Zrethet looked at Donaxon and then snapped its maw in a desperate attempt to get at the monk. Ludia held fast on her end of the chain and kept the demon from Donaxon. “Hold firm!” R’Tearin shouted. He was at the other side of the demon, pulling hard on his chain that was taut around the demon’s body and tentacles. He was sweating and growling as the demon struggled, but he did not give any ground. The demon let loose a roar and then focused his gaze upon Ludia. The demon’s eyes glowed red for a moment and suddenly the world became silent as a wave of energy washed over Ludia. Ludia felt a horrid perversion of her mind, as if her head was just opened up for all to see. Voices came back a moment later. They were shouts, aimed at Ludia, demanding to know if she was okay. Ludia wavered a moment, almost losing her grip, but then was able to drop to a knee and stabilize herself. The demon laughed. “A pawn of a goddess is all you can ever hope to be,” Zrethet said to Ludia. “And even then your goddess was smart enough to regulate your power. She knows when you don’t deserve that power.” The demon had obviously been into Ludia’s mind, and saw what happened when she tried to use her power on Donaxon, and also knew that she had not been in contact with Faowind as much as she had been. The demon was simply using this to try and make her doubt herself, said a tiny voice inside her. Unfortunately, that voice was drowned out by taunts of the demon. “Silence!” Ludia growled through her gritted teeth. The demon simply laughed and continued it’s struggling. “I only speak the truth and you know it, Pawn,” Zrethet said. Once again his horrid laughter filled Ludia’s mind, drowning out the voice that told her to resist. “You failed to evoke your goddess’s power, and now you realize that maybe you shouldn’t even be a voice for your goddess. Maybe, you goddess chose poorly. No,” the demon said after a moment. “No maybe about it, your goddess did choose poorly. You are not suitable for her voice…. for her power.” Ludia barely became aware of Donaxon who had yet to move. The only perceivable change was that his hands began to glow in a white light. The light began to get brighter and brighter. Ludia knew she only had to hold the demon down a little longer but she found herself slowly losing her strength. She thought for a moment to call out to Faowind. “Yes,” the demon hissed. “Call out to your goddess, feel yourself receive the power from her. But,” the demon paused, “What if she denies you again? What if she deems your poor, faithless soul unworthy of her power?” “Shut UP!” Ludia shouted. She was near tears and could no longer even hear the tiny voice that urged her to resist. All she could hear was the demon’s taunting. She knew it was just trying to get her to falter, but she could not help but think some of what it said was true. The self-doubt that was deep within her slowly started floating to the top, and then, she slipped. The chain slid a few feet in her hands before she was able to grasp it again. The demon struggled hard and was able to move a chain enough to send one of Ludia’s paladins flying. The paladin smashed into another, which freed up two chains. The demon howled and roared, finding a way to free one of its tentacles and, with one swoop, took out another seven paladins. Ludia let out a shout but suddenly the chain in her hands jerked violently as Zrethet moved its massive head. “And you even fail in this!” the demon howled. Its teeth were now covered in saliva and froth was coming out of its mouth. Its eyes glowed in a horrid red as they gazed directly down onto Ludia, piercing deep into her very soul. “You! The voice of your goddess, a warrior of holy ordinance. You cannot even protect yourself or others against a demon! You are pitiful! A disgrace!” “No,” Ludia said to herself, tears streaming down her face. She could feel the chain become hot in her hand suddenly. “Even now your goddess is disappointed in you,” Zrethet yelled. “She now calls back the power she gave unto you.” “No!” Ludia shouted. Despite her vehemence she could feel the chain losing its power, and becoming increasingly hot. She fought with all the power she could, desperately trying to hold on. She could feel her gauntlets begin to melt; the pain on her hands became almost unbearable. “And all you can do is kneel there and try to hold on to the wilting stems of the power that you once knew,” the demon taunted. “NO!” Ludia yelled. The heat against her hands suddenly became too much and Ludia lost her grip. The chain slipped through her hands, tearing skin and metal alike. Ludia screamed in pain as the demon raised its head up and look down at Ludia. Zrethet raised its tentacle up high into the air, the ends of chains hung lifelessly from it. “And now you are completely a failure,” Zrethet said, bringing its tentacle down hard on Ludia. The paladin could do nothing in response. She could feel no power in her body anymore, be it from Faowind or herself. She was completely alone. She had failed in her mission both as a person and as a paladin. She could do nothing. Nothing, except ask for forgiveness. “I have failed, Great Mother,” Ludia whispered. She raised her tear stricken face towards her incoming doom. She could feel the rush of wind as the massive tentacle came down upon her. But it all suddenly stopped. Ludia could feel nothing, could hear nothing, and even with her eyes open, could see nothing. She wondered if this was death. “No my child,” came a soft voice. “You have not failed me. You could never fail me.” Suddenly everything came back to Ludia. She could see the demon’s tentacle only a few feet from her face. It looked as if it was struggling desperately to try and move those last few feet. Ludia saw that the chains that were around the tentacle were now glowing brightly. Ludia looked to her side and, surrounded by an aura of light, stood Faowind, in all her glory. She had a beautiful white dress on and her hair cascaded down her shoulders like a golden waterfall. What amazed Ludia the most was that Faowind held onto one end of a chain that was around the demon’s tentacle. Though the end was waving violently right before the goddess’ hand, she did not look as if she was struggling at all. In fact, her hand looked almost as if she was holding onto a sting rather then a chain. Zrethet howled in fury. “Never have you failed me, Ludia,” Faowind said. As the goddess spoke Ludia felt the dark demonic power that was around her suddenly shatter. She felt herself filled with the warm light of the goddess as her wounds began to heal themselves. “And I for see you never failing me in the future. Your faith is strong, both in yourself and in those around you. As long as you have that, you will never fail me.” Zrethet yelled something in a hideous language that sounded more like guttural roars then anything intelligible. Though she could not make out any words, the voice caused her and the other paladins a great deal of pain. “Silence, demon!” Faowind commanded. Her voice drowned out the demon’s in an instant. The demon growled and swerved its massive head around to face down the goddess. “You dare break the covenant, Faowind?” the demon growled. “I see no breaking of the covenant, Zrethet,” Faowind responded back. “I am not using my power against you directly. I was summoned here by my followers and I only infuse their magiks with my own.” “You were summoned to banish me, and that breaks the covenant. You cannot use your powers directly against us.” “As always, you do not listen. I act through my children, not directly,” Faowind said. “Besides, I should be the least of your worries now. He should warrant the bulk of your concern.” Faowind pointed her free hand at Donaxon who still stood motionless, his hands now glowing a pure white. The demon swung its massive head around once more, looking down on Donaxon. The demon lunged its head down in an attempt to grab Donaxon between its sharp teeth. Ludia moved as quickly as possible, leaping forward at her chain that was still wrapped about the demon’s neck. Ludia grabbed hold of the chain and pulled with all her might, holding on desperately. She could feel the demon pulling hard on her, and she felt her feet begin to slip. She let out a yell as the chain slipped a few feet. Then she suddenly felt no resistance in the chain. She had opened her eyes to see Faowind before her, once again only lightly holding on to the chain. The demon’s neck was motionless against the goddess’ hold. Ludia watched as more incarnations of the goddess appeared around the demon. Each one reached out a hand and took hold of a chain that was wrapped around the demon. Suddenly, the demon was unable to even thrash around. Every paladin bowed with respect and let go of the chain as the incarnation of the goddess took hold. Zrethet howled in fury again. “This will not end here!” the demon yelled. “Banishing me will not stop me.” “Banish you?” Faowind asked, sounding a bit confused. “My dear Zrethet, you are not being banished.” Zrethet’s eyes went wide as Donaxon’s glowing hands pulsed a few times. “What?!” the demon demanded. “You are the ones who refused to see the Uri-Van Masters as Matched,” Faowind said. Ludia saw the look of horror in the demon’s face as Donaxon looked up. Donaxon’s eyes suddenly glowed in a blood red color and the light around his hands took the same color. Donaxon’s hands were a flash as he drew blood with his fingernail. An instant later the same red axe that Ludia had seen him draw out earlier was in his hands. Ludia watched the demon try desperately to flail its arms and free itself from the chains but Faowind would not let it move. Donaxon gave the demon a small little smile. “You should know who you’re dealing with before you make threats of death,” Donaxon said. In a flash Donaxon slammed his axe deep into the heart of the demon. Faowind released the chains and they all instantly shattered. As one, all the incarnations of the goddess spread their arms wide and the demon and Donaxon where surrounded by a column of transparent white that stretched to the clouds. A moment later the demon exploded in a blast of black and red fire. Flame struck the sides of the column hard, but the column gave no way. The flame had no way to go but up, and up it went, shooting high into the sky, forming a pillar of black and red fire. Another incarnation of Faowind appeared at Ludia’s side. She raised her hand and waved it slowly from side to side, as if she was washing grime off a window. The fire in the column vanished as she moved her hand. The other incarnations of the goddess suddenly disappeared, as did the protective shield that they had raised. “Well done, Jidan Donaxon,” Faowind said. The monk was the only thing that was in the shield that was now still alive. He stood in a crater of scorched earth, unscathed. Everything that was previously green was now black or brown. There was even a circular hole in the cloud that was directly above the forest. Donaxon glanced up at Faowind and gave the goddess a little nod. “Praise is always welcome, Great Goddess,” Donaxon said. He let go of the blood red axe and it vanished. Then, quite suddenly, Donaxon fell back onto the ground. He let out a great sigh. “That takes a lot out of you.” Faowind turned to Ludia, a smile still across her face. “The demon was clouding your mind, making your fear your greatest fears,” Faowind said. “But know this, my child, I am never disappointed in you. If you live your life to its fullest, right or wrong, good or evil, I will forever be proud of you.” With that, the goddess vanished. Ludia followed Donaxon’s example and fell, exhausted, onto the ground. One demon gone, one more to go. It was going to be a long day. * * *

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* * * Donaxon felt Kisean before he could see him. The wall of the building before them suddenly exploded into a shower of stone and wood. Donaxon and Misheal stopped instantly while the others reined their horses in quickly. As the dust settled Kisean stood before them, his halberd leveled directly at the group. Donaxon could see a slight smile etched across his face. Donaxon, however, was less then smiling. He needed to find a way to get Kisean to notice that Coania was missing. “Didn’t I ask you to bring a gift with you next time that you came to visit?” Kisean asked of Donaxon. Donaxon met eyes with Kisean and gave him a serious look. Kisean paused for a moment as their eyes met and he looked a little confused. That lasted only for a moment as a fireball arced around Donaxon and slammed into Kisean’s side. The home guard was fast enough to block it with his bracer, but Donaxon lost eye contact with him. Kisean glanced around Donaxon with his eyebrows arched. “You know, every time I run into you, there’s a different mage at your back. Do you go through them like water?” Kisean said. He gave Ma’aten an appraising look. “What happened to the little girl? At least she was more appealing to look at.” Donaxon instantly relaxed and a smile crept across his face. “She’s out with the other mages at the circle,” Donaxon started. Almost as if in response a huge fireball slammed into the magical protection around the city causing everything to shake a little. “Doing that.” “Ah, but of course,” Kisean said. “Well then, shall we start? I’d like to get to the front as quickly as I can so I can stop the rest of the soldiers.” “Absolutely,” Donaxon said, cracking his knuckles. Donaxon was very relieved that Kisean noticed something was wrong, he now left it up to him to take care of Coania. Donaxon sped at Kisean, swinging high, letting Kisean duck under the punch and roll to the side. When Kisean stopped rolling R’Tearin was there with his war hammer raised high into the air. Kisean easily jumped back, avoiding the hammer as it cracked the street where Kisean used to be. Another fireball flew at Kisean but he batted it away with his halberd. Kisean leapt back far enough so that everyone was in his field of vision. “Now now now,” Kisean said. “Five on one is hardly fair, wouldn’t you say?” “I would,” said a voice. Three arrows streaked through the air and slammed into Ma’aten’s magical shield. Each arrow exploded in a shower of purple sparks. Donaxon glanced up and saw Ciran standing atop of one of the buildings; his bow was loaded and aimed right down at the group. “How about we even up those odds?” Vasia said, stepping out from behind Ciran. With a small hop she leapt from the building to the ground and landed next to Kisean. Donaxon noticed Litlo was suddenly standing behind the group. “I’d say that’s much better,” Kisean said, spinning his halberd from one hand, behind his back, and to the other hand. “Now then, shall we?” “Let’s,” Donaxon said, a smile on his face. * * * Ciran’s focus was simple: take care of the fat man on the horse. Ciran heard the exchange with Kisean and Donaxon and knew that Coania was at the magic circle just outside of the city, which meant that the fat man was not apart of the plan, and thus was the most dangerous of them all. Ciran leapt from the building after Vasia. He let loose another arrow at the mage infusing it with magic. The mage blocked it with no effort, but it served to distract him long enough so Ciran could land. “Gluake, some help would be nice,” Ciran whispered. Ciran did have some magic ability, but not enough to take on a full sorcerer in battle. “I’ll do what I can” Gluake responded. “So you know some magic, eh?” the fat mage said. “Though you’re nowhere near my level.” The fat man lashed out with a whip of magic energy. The whip came careening at Ciran and the archer reacted instinctively, summoning up a simple shield around him. Gluake’s magic flowed into the shield and reinforced it a hundredfold. The whip struck the shield but was dispersed short of Ciran. Ciran nocked another arrow and it exploded into flame when he infused magic into it. Gluake added some more and the fire became green. Ciran launched the arrow at the fat man and it struck the other’s shield. Ciran could see that the fat man was becoming quickly frustrated at the lack of penetration that his spells were having on Gluake’s shield. Ciran, on the other hand, was happy with this. As long as the fat man was frustrated enough at the shield he would keep his attacks focused on Ciran and not anyone else. Ciran just hoped that Gluake’s shield would last long enough for the others to play out their charade. * * * Ludia was off her horse in an instant and Vasia was right there, her leg coming down in an overhead strike. Ludia stepped to the side and drew out her bless blade and swung high at Vasia. Vasia ducked in response and drew her blades out from her sides. She blocked a downward strike from Ludia with her daggers crossed over each other and held it there for a moment. “What happened?” Vasia whispered. Ludia brought her blade down hard, breaking Vasia’s stance and causing her to jump back to avoid the blade. Ludia pulled back for a moment and raised her blade, aiming a lunge at Vasia’s side. Vasia pushed the blade away with one of her daggers and spun around the paladin. Ludia stopped herself from moving forward and brought the blade around again at Vasia’s head. Vasia caught the blade again with her daggers and held it there for a moment. “Don’t know, Coania’s at the magic circle,” Ludia whispered through gritted teeth. Vasia shoved the blade away with her daggers and stepped back a pace. Litlo suddenly snaked around her, a flash of cloak in the side of her eye. Ludia raised the blade in a defensive stance and it met Litlo’s short sword in a clash of steel. Vasia watched as the other woman who was with Donaxon and Ludia leapt at Litlo. The assassin was quick enough to raise his arm and block the kick she aimed at his head but Ludia used that opportunity to stab in with her sword. Litlo fell back, tapping the blade to the side and avoiding it by an inch. The other woman landed and crouched down in a flash. Vasia could feel the woman gathering her chi into her feet. Vasia decided this woman was of the Uri-Van when she launched a blindingly fast kick that left a boot print on Litlo’s raised arms. The assassin was forced back a few feet from the kick. Vasia used this moment to sheath her daggers and dash at the Uri-Van woman, giving a quick open hand thrust at the woman’s abdomen. When Vasia was studying at the Uri-Van, Jidan Donaxon would always make his students go through mock battles, or Setzu, to train their bodies to be able to react to what was happening around them. Vasia brought her other palm over her head and down at the other woman. Two strikes were in rapid succession and were the first two moves in one of the first Setzu that Donaxon had taught them. What followed was a punch for punch, kick for kick fight between Vasia and the other woman. Vasia had seen enough of these before to know that it looked more like a dance from the outside then a fight. She also knew what her opponent’s next moves were, as her opponent knew what Vasia’s moves were going to be. Vasia had enough time to glance and see Litlo and Ludia clashing weapons. The assassin was much faster then the paladin, despite his age, but Vasia had explained that al he needed to do was to put up a good enough act to convince anyone watching, and he was doing just that. “Litlo!” Kisean’s voice yelled over battle. Vasia broke from the Setzu by taking two steps back. Litlo broke from his fight with Ludia and snaked away, moving swiftly to Kisean’s side. Vasia was once again faced with two opponents. Ludia lunged low and Vasia moved quick enough to step on the top of the blade and use it as leverage to flip over the paladin. She was glad that this was not a real fight when the other woman’s foot tapped her on the back. The blow was not hard, but it was enough to cause her to stumble and roll. * * * Kisean blocked Donaxon’s first punch with his bracer. The second punch he ducked low under and used his position to force his shoulder up at Donaxon. The monk was fast enough to dash to the side. R’Tearin, the other paladin that Kisean had met before, was there suddenly, his war hammer swinging low at Kisean’s legs. Kisean slammed his halberd hard into the street and used it to lift himself up from the ground. The war hammer hit the halberd and bounced off, knocking R’Tearin off balance. Donaxon was suddenly there, his fist slamming into the ground where Kisean’s halberd was. The ground shattered in a circle around the halberd and Kisean lost his own balance, falling awkwardly to the ground. Kisean used his momentum to roll a few steps away and came up from his crouch spinning his halberd over him. Donaxon was there again, as Kisean knew he would be, and he stopped the halberd by catching the staff end of it. Kisean kicked at Donaxon, his foot nicking the edge of the monk’s stomach. R’Tearin was back again; he grabbed the other end of the halberd, avoiding the blade. With his war hammer in his free hand he swung at Kisean’s midsection. Kisean let go of the halberd and jumped back a few paces, keeping the two in his sights. Kisean took a momentary breather and shook out his muscles. R’Tearin spun the halberd in his hand once and then tossed it back at Kisean. Kisean waited in place only long enough to catch the halberd, for Donaxon and R’Tearin were both right behind the weapon. Donaxon reached his arm out to try and catch Kisean in the neck and R’Tearin’s war hammer came in low. Kisean smirked to himself and sprung at the two, and was able to clear R’Tearin’s hammer but also duck under Donaxon’s arm. Kisean was once again on his feet by the time Donaxon was back. The two shared a few blows, none actually doing any damage but looking like they could. Donaxon’s punches actually looked more viscous then anything else, but whenever they hit Kisean they felt padded, like there was no actual strength behind the blows. Kisean appreciated this move on the monk’s end. Dodging a low blow, Kisean spun his halberd around in time to catch R’Tearin’s war hammer with the halberd’s blunt end. Kisean got the blunt end of his halberd under the head of the hammer and pulled hard, sending R’Tearin flying into Donaxon. Kisean stepped back a good distance. That was probably long enough for anyone watching. “Litlo!” he yelled. Kisean was going to have Litlo get Coania for him. Donaxon and R’Tearin stopped moving for a moment to see what was happening. A moment later Litlo was beside Kisean. “Coania’s out at the magic circle, bring her back,” Kisean whispered. Litlo nodded and a moment later his cloak shimmered and he vanished. Kisean stretched his arms up into the air. “How about we wrap this up now eh? I have soldiers I need to stop.” Donaxon smiled back and nodded. “I was thinking the same thing,” Donaxon said. The monk was a blur as he dash at Kisean. Kisean dodged and blocked another blow with his halberd. He spun the halberd down in an arc, aiming down fast and hard. Donaxon stepped to the side and then slammed his fist hard into Kisean’s side. Kisean felt what seemed like a thousand hands suddenly pushing on every part of his body. The sensation, while painless, was a little unnerving. Suddenly he was flying across the street. Kisean managed to spin himself enough so when he slammed into Vasia, who was in his path, she did not take the full brunt of the hit. He wrapped his arms around Vasia tightly and held onto her as they both slammed into the wall of a building. The building quickly collapsed on top of them and Kisean braced himself so that Vasia was well protected under him. “Do you think that we managed to convince the mage with them?” Vasia said after the building finished collapsing and things began to become quiet. Kisean had no problem keeping the pieces of stone from falling but his face was a mask of concentration as he tried to hear if Donaxon and the others had gone. “They’re gone now,” Gluake’s voice said into Kisean’s ear. Kisean grinned to Vasia. “I think we did,” he said. With a grunt Kisean flipped the pieces on his back over and suddenly the sunlight flowed over the two. He reached his hand down to Vasia and helped her up. “Ciran?” Kisean shouted. “I’m here,” Ciran said as he slowly rose out of the ground. Kisean gave him a raised eyebrow. “Gluake dragged me down there in the confusion so they would use the opportunity to continue on.” “Smart move,” Kisean said. He looked down at the rubble at his feet. He could feel his halberd under the stone and he slammed his hand down hard, breaking through the rubble and grasping on to the weapon. He pulled it out with a flourish and spun it a few times to get the dust off of it. “Now then, I think we should get going, don’t you agree?” The other two nodded and in a flash they were off heading to their next positions. * * * Donaxon held out his hand to stop Ma’aten from moving any further into the room. They found the cemetery and the magical door with little problem. Donaxon was not too surprised that Ma’aten was able to break the magical lock on the door. Gluake had obviously been tampering with it earlier to make it easier to deal with. The room that was beyond the door was round, lit by five torches, and had a pedestal in the middle. On top of the pedestal sat the artifact that they had been looking for: the Chalice of Souls. Donaxon could see a demonic glow all over the chalice. “What are you doing?” Ma’aten demanded. Donaxon gave him a look that silenced him instantly. “I am stopping you from going in and getting the chalice,” Donaxon said. “You want it for yourself then?” Ma’aten accused. Donaxon shorted. “What is the use of something that can grant me less power then I currently posses?” Donaxon said, matter-of-factly. He crossed the threshold of the room and took a few steps to the pedestal. When he looked down into the cup he saw nothing, just an empty chalice. Donaxon reached out the touched the edge of the chalice. The moment he did he saw the chalice fill with a gray liquid. Donaxon peered closely at the liquid and could see a face appear in the top of the liquid from time to time. Donaxon quickly realized the full reason it was called the Chalice of Souls. He let go of the chalice and everything vanished from within it. When he touched it again the liquid appeared again. Donaxon could feel the power emanating from the chalice. It was a little bit more then Donaxon was expecting, and he now knew why the two demons were fighting for this thing. Donaxon turned back and found Ludia and Ma’aten staring intently at him. “Let’s get going then before we linger too long,” Donaxon said. Ludia nodded and shoved Ma’aten into walking. The fat mage was in the lead with Ludia and Donaxon right behind him, as they wound their way out of the catacombs. The others in the group were standing guard in the rest of the cemetery. Donaxon suddenly heard a voice. “Captain, hurry up!” R’Tearin yelled from the cemetery. Ludia, spurred on by the voice, took it upon herself to shove at Ma’aten, getting him moving faster. A moment later they were out of the catacombs and staring right at someone who Donaxon knew very well by this point. Litlo held Coania, his arm around her neck and his free hand with a knife to her throat. “I’d return that which you stole if you want her unharmed,” Litlo said. Donaxon silently applauded Kisean in his judgment. Sending Litlo to go get Coania was a great idea. R’Tearin and Misheal were holding their ground, making it seem like they were loathe to move in on Litlo when he had a hostage. Ludia played right along. “Coania!” she gasped. She drew her blade and leveled it at Litlo. Coania was doing her acting as well. Her eyes were wide with terror and became more so when Litlo pressed the dagger against her neck. “I’d not come any closer if I were you, missy,” Litlo threatened. Donaxon stepped beside Ludia and Ma’aten. He glanced over at the fat mage and was very pleased with what he saw. Ma’aten had not even a trace of concern in his face. “Let’s get moving, Lord Avoil will want his victory,” Ma’aten said. Ludia spun on the mage with fire in her eyes like Donaxon had never seen before. “What do you mean ‘let’s get moving?!’ He has Coania!” Ludia shouted. Donaxon was glad he was standing where he was standing for he had a momentary fear that Ludia would strangle Ma’aten where he stood, even if Litlo never would harm the young mage. “I mean she’s more then expendable,” Ma’aten said, not backing down. “What the hell-” Ludia began but Donaxon put a hand on her shoulder. She stopped short. “You think we should just leave the girl and complete our mission then?” he asked Ma’aten. The fat mage nodded. “There’s plenty more where she came from, and it’s not like she’ll be missed.” Donaxon waited a moment and then turned back to Ludia. “I’m sorry,” he said, though not to Ludia. Donaxon moved in a flash and slammed his fist hard into Ma’aten’s stomach. However, unlike when he struck Kisean, Donaxon focused all his power into his fist and sent Ma’aten flying. The mage struck a large gravestone hard and fell to the ground completely unconscious. Nobody moved for a moment. “Huzzah!” Donaxon suddenly yelled. “That felt good!” The monk let out a good laugh. “Ouch,” Litlo observed as he let go his grip on Coania. He was eyeing the crumbled mound that was Ma’aten. “I was right to stay out of your melee range,” he said to Donaxon. The monk gave him a wink. “I take it that Kisean and the others are in position?” Donaxon asked. Litlo nodded. “Ciran should be getting the demon riled up right about now.” “Wonderful, then we should get going.” Donaxon turned to Ludia who was sheathing her Bless Blade. Ludia caught his look and turned back to face the monk. “Are you ready?” Donaxon asked honestly. Donaxon was depending on Ludia to help him and since her recent run in with her goddess she has been questionable at best. “I am,” Ludia replied. Donaxon nodded to her but silently said a prayer to the paladin’s goddess to help her. He had a feeling she was going to need all she could get. * * * Ciran barged into the throne room with a flourish, slamming open the doors. All eyes were instantly upon him, as he wanted. “My lord!” Ciran shouted. “A small group has broken through our defenses, they were last seen heading towards the royal cemetery but we believe their end goal might be yourself.” Ciran saw the appropriate reaction in the demon that stood in his ruler’s guise. Phaen became wide-eyed for a moment, and then suddenly rage began to show across his face. The demon beyond that face knew exactly what the group was going after, and it was not his life. Phaen turned to Ort who stood right at his side. “Ort! My armor and horse, now!” Phaen demanded. Ort looked flabbergasted for a moment and then he glanced from Ciran to Phaen. “My Lord, surely you are not going to go into battle? That is what we have soldiers for,” Ort said. “He is trying to steal from me what is rightfully mine, and I intend to go out and face him on my own if I have to,” Phaen stated. He stood up and without waiting and stormed off to his chambers, obviously to get himself armed. Ciran watched Ort stare after Phaen and then turn back to Ciran. Ciran just shrugged as if he did not know what to say to the advisor. Ort glanced around one more time and then hurried after Phaen. Ciran let himself risk a small smile. “He took the bait, Gluake,” Ciran whispered. * * * Donaxon and the others reached the outskirts of the city and paused a moment. Donaxon turned to Ludia and R’Tearin. “We part here,” Donaxon said. “Your paladins are waiting for you now, I assume?” “They would have obeyed my orders until the end of time,” Ludia said with confidence. “Good,” Donaxon nodded. Donaxon turned to Misheal and Coania. “Now comes the tricky part. Coania, are you ready for this?” “I am,” the young girl said. It was the first time since Donaxon had met the girl that he could feel that she truly was ready to give her all. Donaxon glanced at Misheal. “When the time comes you grab Avoil and you run like a demon is on your heels, because if something goes wrong, he will be,” Donaxon said with a little smile. Misheal saluted Donaxon and gave him back the same smile. Donaxon then turned to Litlo who had trailed them the whole way. “I have no idea what you’re doing here now, but I thank you for bringing me Coania.” Litlo shrugged. “It’s the job,” Litlo said. He paused for a moment, looking as if he was lost in thought. “On second thought, this is nothing like my job. Assassination and kidnapping are quite different from one another. But as the old saying goes ‘What Lady Leather wants, Lady Leather gets,’” “She definitely has not changed,” Donaxon said. Donaxon took one last glance around and made eye contact with everyone stopping finally upon Ludia. “Faith is the only thing that can get us through this. Faith in others but more importantly, faith in ourselves is essential. Let no one person forget this.” Ludia’s eyes betrayed her stone face, and that in turn gave Donaxon more hope then he had before. “Anything happens to Coania and you will need faith in your own god, Monk,” Ludia said to distract others from her eyes. “Worry not, gentle Paladin,” Donaxon said with an overly flourished bow. “I shall keep her as safe as a newborn.” Donaxon winked and with a turn, two steps and an arm around Coania, he and the mage were gone. * * * Grothean had to resist the urge to burst forth from the puny mortal’s body and take back his precious Zarz’ah’t’zam. When the lackey came and reported that a small group had broken past the defenses and were in the vicinity of the cemetery, Grothean knew what they were up to. A quick check on his magic seals around the room confirmed his greatest anger. Zrethet had stolen Zarz’ah’t’zam from him. Grothean, hidden deep within the body of Phaen, ruler of Agregra, now rode at the head of a group of soldiers. They trampled through the streets as fast as possible, trying desperately to keep up with Grothean’s puppet. The soldiers at the gate ahead of the group were currently opening it up. There was relatively little fighting going on right around there, but Grothean did not concern himself with that, he had only one goal in mind. However, that one-track mind failed to notice a sorcerer standing right by the door. Grothean knew the sorcerer to be Gluake, one of the few mortal Matched of demon kind. Grothean had succeeded fooling the sorcerer for a long time, festering deep within Phaen, a person that Gluake would never dare scan without the ruler’s permission. However, Grothean recognized the fire in the sorcerer’s eyes too late. Gluake knew now. Grothean smelled the trap and tried desperately to halt the horse that Phaen rode. It was to no avail. Gluake had already spoken his name, and Grothean, as hard as he tried, could not resist the call. * * * Gluake’s magic stopped the horses and riders of the entire group short. Phaen had passed through the edge of the barrier, and, as if Phaen’s body had tossed it out, a mass of black and gray mist was ejected from Phaen. The mist flew out of the doorway and hit the ground hard. A flash of fire suddenly burst from the mist and then standing there was the demon Grothean. Grothean was more then twenty feet tall, his head the same as a massive wolf’s. His body was black and bulbous, two arms protruded from the torso and ended in razor sharp claws, each one the size of a horse. His legs were the legs of a bull, enormous and deadly in their own right. The demon immediately turned to Gluake, who stood in the center of the open gate, his staff at his side. “You fool,” Grothean said in a deep, horrible voice. “You dare challenge me?” “I challenge all trash in my city,” Gluake said. Grothean took a few steps closer to Gluake. “I will crush you here and now then,” Grothean threatened, holding out one of his claws in a mimic of crushing a body. “You have no power over me out there, demon,” Gluake said. “If you wish to fight me all you need to do is cross this threshold into my city.” Gluake pointed his staff at a line that suddenly appeared in the ground. Grothean took another step towards Gluake. The sorcerer slammed his staff into the ground and in response the walls of the city began to glow blood red. The ground all around Gluake began to tremble and the air became cold and dank. Gluake began summoning magic from every aspect of the city. From the walls to the people themselves, all forms of magic began to flow within the sorcerer. “Puffing up your chest will not make you more impressive,” Grothean said, taking another step. “Can you afford to underestimate me, demon?” Gluake said. Though his voice was little more then a whisper, everyone in the entire city heard it as if it was spoken right in his or her ear. Gluake’s staff exploded in a golden light and his body pulsed with an aura to match. Grothean paused in his stride, looking for a moment as if he were frightened. “Step over this threshold and you will know why I am one of the Matched,” Gluake said. “And it will be the last thing you will know.” Grothean growled low for a moment, weighing his options. Gluake could see the fear in the demon’s aura. Grothean was no match for Gluake in the city, and both of them knew that. Grothean took a step backwards. “Do not think you have won,” Grothean said. “I do not think that, I know that,” Gluake said. Suddenly Grothean’s head snapped to the side as he heard a loud yell. On the other side of the city there came a terrible howl and in response, Grothean crouched down to all fours and bounded off. Gluake wasted no time and slammed his staff once again into the ground, the walls went from red to gold in an instant and everyone outside of the threshold of the city was locked out. Gluake turned and saw the looks of terror in the soldiers who had been directly behind him. The true Lord Phaen was slouched on his horse, unconscious but alive, and free. Gluake slammed his staff again into the ground. This time, every man, woman and child throughout the city became frozen in place. Nothing moved in Gluake’s city. Nothing except Gluake himself. Gluake’s mind searched out his two first targets and freed Ciran and Vasia from his spell. “The demon is gone,” Gluake said into the minds of everyone in the city. “We can now only put our faith in those outside to rid the world of them.” Gluake slowly became more intangible as he walked. “Vasia and Ciran, I leave the sorting out of mayhem to you.” * * * Ciran felt the spell break and heard Gluake’s words. He knew that he only had a short time before the spell would wear off of everyone. Ciran reached into a pouch at his side and grabbed the glove that lay in there. He slipped it on his hand and immediately felt the power pulse through his body. To his left stood a frozen Lorathe. Ciran touched the gloved hand to her and instantly she could move. “What the hell?” she asked immediately. “No time to explain. Gather up all the weapons that the soldiers have as quickly as you can. Everyone, no exceptions. Then put them somewhere. We need to stop all the fighting within the city walls before Gluake’s spell wears off.” * * * Coania held on to Donaxon’s neck as the monk raced through the fighting soldiers outside of the city. She was amazed at the monk’s speed and agility, even more so then she had previously been. The monk moved effortlessly through all the fighting soldiers, pausing only the briefest moments to render someone unconscious or disarm someone. Coania closed her eyes for only a moment when she felt Donaxon stop. When she opened her eyes they were atop the hill where Coania was supposed to have met them this morning. Donaxon let Coania down and took the Chalice of Souls from his pouch, holding it high for all to see. Avoil was immediately visible, racing towards Donaxon, an entourage right behind him. “Splendid, Master Donaxon!” Avoil cried out. “Now quickly, bring it to me!” “No,” Donaxon said. Avoil pulled his horse to a stop a little ways away from Donaxon, staring down at him. “What do you mean, ‘no?’” Avoil demanded. “Give me that chalice now!” “I refuse,” Donaxon said. “What right do you think you have to refuse me?!” Avoil shouted, foam coming from his mouth. “I have all the right I want,” Donaxon said. “Zrethet.” Avoil’s body tensed up and a mist of black and red suddenly appeared around him. The mist suddenly gathered together and was tossed forward to the ground in front of Donaxon. The mist slowly congealed into a thirty-foot tall demon. Donaxon grabbed Coania and leapt back a fair distance to give the demon a wide berth. The demon had the head of a bull, with sharp, wicked looking horns protruding from its head. The body was almost that of a human, but it was red in color and instead of arms it had two great tentacles of the darkest black. Donaxon did not expect what happened next to happen. Zrethet immediately turned and slammed a tentacle down at Avoil. Fortunately for Donaxon, Misheal had expected that and in an instant she leapt at Avoil, grabbing him and rolling out of harms way as Zrethet’s tentacle crushed the horse instead. Misheal wasted no time and took off with Avoil as fast as she could run. Zrethet turned to pursuer, for a few of his strides could easily match Misheal, but he was stopped short as Kisean slammed his halberd into the ground at Zrethet’s feet. The demon faltered and howled giving Misheal the time she needed to get far enough out of the demon’s range. “Well well well,” Kisean said as he walked down to stand next to Donaxon and Coania. “It seems like people are having a party without me.” “I would never think of doing that, Kisean,” Donaxon said. “In fact you’re just in time to play a game.” Coania inhaled deeply and began to chant the beginnings of a spell. “So what,” Zrethet growled. “You think magic from a little girl can stop me?” “Of course I do,” Donaxon said with a smile. “You’re an insignificant little lesser demon with aspirations to claw your way through the upper realms of hell. I’m surprised that I need to deal with you at all.” The demon became enraged instantly and slammed its tentacles down hard, shaking the ground all around them. Soldiers who saw the demon and felt the trembling suddenly turned tail and ran. Donaxon was pleased. Fewer targets for the demon’s wrath. Kisean steadied Coania as she continued chanting her spell. “You will pay for your disrespect,” Zrethet said. “And how will you extract that payment?” Donaxon asked. “Without your little toy?” Donaxon lowered the chalice down so it was at Coania’s eye level. At once Coania and Kisean reached out and took hold of the chalice. Coania’s spell flared into life as the chalice began glowing in an unholy light. A moment later Kisean and Donaxon pulled on the chalice and each pulled away their own chalice. Donaxon let out a short laugh. The spell had worked. Both chalices were identical. He resisted the urge to hug Coania half to death. Coania finished casting the spell and fell back, exhausted. Kisean caught her. “You think a mere trick can fool my eye?” Zrethet yelled. The demon slammed its tentacles hard into the ground where the three of them stood. Donaxon leapt to the left and Kisean picked up Coania and jumped right, both of them narrowly missing the strike. “I do,” Donaxon said. He glanced at Kisean and nodded his head. Suddenly a horrid howl came from behind the demon. Donaxon saw another demon, one he assume was Grothean, loping towards the other demon at a high speed. “I think we should be leaving right about now,” he said to Kisean. “I concur,” Kisean said. He took off, holding an unconscious Coania under his arm. Donaxon waited a moment. He watched Zrethet spin his massive head around and look at Grothean. “I will take care of you when I get Zarz’ah’t’zam back!” Zrethet roared. Kisean bolted by Grothean and the demon skidded to a stop as he saw them pass. The bait was enough as Grothean turned and started to pursue Kisean. Donaxon let out a laugh to get Zrethet’s head to swing around. “You’ll have to catch it first,” Donaxon said. He took off in an instant with the demon running behind him. * * *

Aardvark's Brain.....because morbid curiosity outweighs my horrid fear...

The sun fell slowly to the horizon. Kisean thought it was taking extra long time to fully set. He was especially agitated this evening, because tomorrow was going to be the day of the attack. He stood as a silent sentinel, his hand around his halberd, it’s blade pointing up to the sky and the other end planted firmly on the roof of the tower upon which he stood. To his left sat Lorathe, she was transfixed upon the trailing edge of the sun as it dipped beyond the horizon. On the other side of the tower was Grol, lying on the roof with his eyes shut but his ears alert. These two captains had no knowledge of what Kisean, Ciran and Vasia had been up to. Kisean was a little worried about telling them about what he was planning to do for it was treason, no matter how you sliced it. He would rather that Grol and Lorathe know nothing about it so they can still remain captains of the City of Agregra should Kisean fail. Though, as Kisean thought about it more, if he failed, the chances were that the captains of Agregra would not matter anymore. “I have a favor to ask of you two,” Kisean said, not taking his eyes from the sunset. “Of course,” Lorathe said. Grol said nothing but Kisean assumed he agreed. “Today, I want you to do me a favor. Question no order I give you. Simply obey.” “What?” Lorathe asked, a little confused. Kisean turned and looked down at the sorceress. Her staff was set across her crossed legs and she was fingering it, probably unconsciously. She was confused, Kisean saw that in her eyes, but Kisean could only reiterate his point. “I need you to just obey me blindly, just for today,” Kisean said again. “Why?” Lorathe asked. “For your own good, you can’t know,” Kisean said. “Believe me when I say I would like to tell you but that would only cause you more trouble then it would be worth.” “That’s not like you at all Kisean,” Lorathe said. “What’s going to happen today?” “Lorathe, I can’t tell you, you just have to trust me on this,” Kisean said. He really hoped she would agree with this, otherwise he would have added worries as the day progressed. “Kisean, I need to know what-” “Obey with no question,” Grol interrupted, the only indication he moved was the sound of his voice. “Can do that.” “Grol!” Lorathe said. Kisean silently let go a sigh of relief. “Kisean is our leader for a reason Lorathe,” Grol said. “We all accepted this when we became captains. Ours is not to question why, ours is simply to do as we are ordered.” “But-” “No ‘buts,’ Lorathe. Besides, have you ever known Kisean to lead us astray before? I trust Kisean and I intend to obey his orders.” Kisean was so relieved he would have kissed Grol had the man been standing before him. Lorathe sighed softly. “You’re right,” she said. She looked back up at Kisean and he could see in her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. You have never given me a reason to doubt you before and I will try not to do it in the future.” Kisean wanted to say he was sorry but instead he simply nodded his head and turned back towards the sunset. I hope there will be a future, Kisean added silently. * * * Coania came out of her trance quickly, her breath increasing to catch up on the air she was lacking. The trance often times caused her to forget to breathe for short moments. She took this risk gladly today, for the spells she was preparing were going to be needed. Today the battle was going to be launched and today, with the aid of Donaxon and Ludia, she was intending to stop this siege. She has been up for most of the night, getting a short nap once when she could no longer keep her eyes open enough to read the spells properly. The spells were longer and more complicated then she had remembered them being, though honestly she had only learned the lower versions of them. She could not worry about that now though since the others were depending on her. For once in her life she did not worry about putting her all into the magic. For once she felt more confident about herself then she had ever felt before. She stood up and put her book into one of her bags at the side of her tent. She could see the sun start to shine its light against her tent, and she knew she had to get going. At sunrise everyone was to get to their positions. The shadows, which danced across the side of her tent, told Coania that the soldiers were starting to move now. She needed to get herself to where she was meeting Ludia and Donaxon. She stepped out of the tent and froze when she heard a voice. “Where do you think you’re going? You needed to be at the magic circle before sunrise.” The voice belonged to Jiklan, Ma’aten’s prized puppy. Coania could not even stand to be near him, nonetheless talk to him. Thankfully, she was too confused to become angry with him. “What?” “Master Ma’aten has ordered you to go to the magic circle to aid us upper mages with our assaults against the city.” Coania still did not understand. Donaxon had told her that she was going to be going with Ludia and him. If they wanted the plan to work out like they planned, they would need her there, and Avoil had agreed to their plan already. “I’m supposed to be going in with Captain Ludia,” Coania said. Jiklan cut her off before she could say anymore. “You don’t think that Master Ma’aten was going to leave that job in the hands of a pathetic mage? No, he is going to be going with them himself.” Jiklan had a smug sense of self-satisfactions in his voice when he told Coania this. She could tell he had wanted to let her know of it for a while now. Coania found it particularly heart-wrenching to be told this now. She knew she had to do something. “I have to talk to Captain Ludia and Captain Donaxon about this!” Coania said, grabbing her bag and making as if she was going to leave her tent. Jiklan stepped in front of her to stop her. “You have to do nothing other than to go to the magic circle, those are Master Ma’aten’s orders,” Jiklan said. Coania felt a twitch as Jiklan gathered up his power. Coania knew that if she were to confront him right now things would be found out, and she could not afford that. Her only hope was to try and get in touch with Gluake or Ludia somehow. Coania looked directly into Jiklan’s eyes, not letting any of her anxiety show. She also was not going to give him any satisfaction. She tossed her bag back onto her cot and then walked right by Jiklan heading for the magic circle, and right now she was doing some very quick thinking. * * * Ciran knew it was Litlo standing next to him but he did not let on. Litlo, dressed as a guard, had appeared beside him a few paces before he entered into Phaen’s presence. He started breathing heavily and pulled off a good impression of someone who had just ran full speed. It helped convince Phaen in an instant. “What do you mean they’re amassing?” Phaen demanded, rising in his chair. “They’re getting in battle formation, and they’ve created a magic circle well outside of our archer’s ranges. I am almost certain that they are going to attack,” Ciran said. He watched Phaen twitch a few times. Ciran had to remind himself that was not Phaen that was standing before him, that was a demon. “That bastard,” Phaen said to himself quietly. Ciran was sure that he was not supposed to hear that, or more aptly, to understand that. Though he did. “Sound the alarm, and wake all the guard. If he wants to try and take this from me he has another thing coming!” The other advisors in the room did not question him at all; they simply gave a cheer when he spoke. They simply thought that their leader was going to lead them into a glorious battle to defend their hometown. Ciran silently hoped that their plan would work as he turned and ran from the room, Litlo trailing behind him. They wanted to get to their positions quickly. * * * “She’s late,” Ludia said, sounding annoyed. Donaxon smiled at her in his usual way. “She’s not late,” Donaxon said. “If she was late the battle would have begun already.” “I told her to be here well before the beginning of the battle though,” Ludia said. Donaxon heard more anxiousness then annoyance this time. While he shared a little of the anxiousness, he had been around long enough to know that things come as their time arrives. “R’Tearin!” shouted Ludia. The big paladin was standing right behind her when she yelled, though he did not jump. It was almost as if he was expecting the call. “Yes, Captain?” R’Tearin said, stepping into Ludia’s field of vision. “Go get Coania and bring her here,” Ludia said. R’Tearin simply bowed in understanding. The paladin turned to take a step when Donaxon heard a voice. “You have no need to get that girl,” Ma’aten said from behind Donaxon. The big man turned and watched Ma’aten ride a rather pained looking horse up to the top of the hill the group stood on. Donaxon said a silent prayer for the horse because the beast looked as if it was going to need a prayer or two. Walking beside Ma’aten was Jiklan, a smug smile across his face. Donaxon held out his hand in a stopping manner to hold back the anger that Misheal was suddenly brimming over with. She had to do extra work because of Jiklan and she put her resentment where it correctly belonged, on the mage himself. “And why is that, Master Mage?” Donaxon asked, being polite. “Because I would have to be out of my mind to let someone of her level be on a mission of this importance. I’ve sent her back to the magic circle where she can do the same as the other mages and contribute to the magical attacks on the city,” Ma’aten explained. Donaxon held back his own anger this time. “Well then who is going with us? We need a magic user for this,” Donaxon said, speaking before Ludia could. Donaxon was sure the paladin would not be able to hold back her ire as Misheal did. Ma’aten looked down upon Donaxon with a look of arrogance. “Myself of course,” Ma’aten said. “There is no one with enough magical ability to do this but myself.” Donaxon swore loudly in his head. This was not a good thing. In fact this was a horrible thing for Donaxon. However, Donaxon was not going to give anything away. He had sensed something amiss yesterday when he had talked with Ma’aten. The mage knew something that he was not letting on to and that worried Donaxon. “Of course,” Donaxon said. “You make a very good point. This is an important mission and I’d expect nothing less then the best.” That seemed to cow Ma’aten for now. Donaxon turned as if he was looking at the units that were approaching the wall but instead made eye contact with Ludia. She did not give him a positive look but he could do nothing about that right now. “We should get into position then, we’ll be off in a moment.” R’Tearin was mounted on his horse in an instant and Ludia walked over to hers, pausing a moment to look at something on the saddle. Donaxon, who with Misheal would not be using horses, stepped over seemingly to help Ludia. “What the Goddess was that?” Ludia demanded. “He knows something,” Donaxon said in a low voice. “Once I find out about it I’ll do something, but now we just have to go with the flow.” “What about Coania though? We need her for vanquishing the demons.” “I know,” Donaxon said. “I just hope Kisean is smart enough to notice she’s not with us.” “We’ll see.” * * * Kisean ran along the streets heading for the place where the first attack had hit. It was fairly easy to find it too, since lightning struck the wall of the city from a clear sky. Grol and Lorathe were a step behind him as they ran through a nearly empty street. Most people had been evacuated to the inner parts of the city by now. Kisean was nearing the battle site, the sounds getting louder and louder. It was then that he saw the signal he was looking for. A ball of green shot up into the air and then landed hard upon the ground beyond the wall. Everything around them shook violently and a few things fell to the ground. Kisean stopped suddenly and Lorathe and Grol sped by him only to skid themselves to a halt a little bit beyond him. “Kisean? What’s wrong?” Lorathe asked. Her staff was glowing in anticipation for the battle right ahead of them. “Remember what I said last night?” Kisean asked. They both nodded. “Good. Go to the battle, but try to avoid killing too many people. Focus more on defense then offense. Just try and keep them repelled for as long as possible.” “Why?” Lorathe asked. Kisean gave her a small smile. “I asked you to trust me on this…” Kisean began. “And so we shall,” Grol finished, giving Kisean a salute. With a tug he yanked Lorathe with him, sparing only one more look back at Kisean. In an instant they were beyond Kisean’s sight. Kisean inhaled deeply and started counting. As the numbers started growing he began going through different alleyways, moving swiftly. He encountered a group fighting but did not pause to help them. He had to meet them perfectly otherwise it was not going to work. Kisean heard voices and then the galloping of horses. He grinned to himself. He was only going to mock battle with Donaxon but he had to at least make it look real. Kisean grabbed hold of his halberd and crouched low, waiting for the voices to get loud enough on the other side of the building he was facing. With a grunt Kisean launched himself into the building.

Orlan, Sexy Sexy Elder, sat looking at the glowing lights coming from the Pen Keep. He stood just outside the main entrance; his painting overalls had a fresh sheet of Cocoa Banana Cream Coffee latex paint, as did his hat, shoes and some of his hair. He had an empty paint bucket with various brushes sticking out of the top of the bucket. The door opened itself before Orlan under the elder’s command and Orlan stepped his way through. He caught sight of a few people, well dressed, filing through to the Cabaret Room. “What the f-” Orlan began. He walked over to the door to the Cabaret Room and was a little shocked. He had not seen the Pen look like it looked for a long time. Decorations were all over the place, sprucing up the entire room. Standing before the door, glowing in her own right, was Ayshela, a vision of beauty herself. Orlan walked over to the young miss and smile at her. “Did I miss something, Ayshela?” Orlan asked. Ayshela gave Orlan a confused look. “It’s the Fall Ball,” she said, her voice imitating her look. “I gave you an invitation, didn’t I? There were so many to give out but I was certain I made one for everyone.” “Invitation…that doesn’t ring a bell, but I haven’t been around much lately,” Orlan said, touching a hand to his paint stained overalls. “The work of an Elder is forever in ‘almost done.’” “Hmm, if I didn’t give it straight to you, chances are that I’d put it in your room,” Ayshela said. Orlan set down the paint bucket and reached it out in front of him. His hand vanished into nothing as Orlan phased his hands into his room and an instant later his invitation appeared in his hand. Orlan cracked it, opened it and read it, his eyebrows shooting up as he read. “Hmm, this sounds fun…but I don’t think I’m quite set up for this…” Orlan said. He tossed the invitation up in the air and grabbed the front of his overalls, giving it a good solid yank! A flash of light later, Orlan stood, decked out in a suit of the finest fabric found in the entire realms. Night black suit, a dark grey shirt and a tie with stars that constantly were swirling around the black tie. Ayshela laughed and clapped her hands together at the show from the Elder of Bards. Orlan stretched out his hand and caught the invitation before it hit the ground. “Ahh, that feels better…now let’s see…I certainly can’t go alone to a ball so…” Orlan reached down and grabbed hold of the bucket with painting tools in it and tossed it into the air. When it came back down and hit the ground the floor exploded in a shower of sparks. Standing there was Rapier, Orlan’s general and favorite Fallen Dominion. The wingéd beauty stood next to Orlan, dressed in, or rather wrapped in, a piece of inch wide black leather, covering the most necessary places. Her black wings flapped a few times. She looked down on her apparent dress. “Sir, what the hell is this?” Rapier demanded of Orlan. The Elder laughed and winked. “Nothing my dear, just a ball.” Orlan turned back to Ayshela who was now wide-eyed at Rapier’s outfit. “Now then what kind of guest would I be if I did not bring a gift. Let’s see…where is that…hmm…I forget…aha!” Orlan produced a business card from his pocket and handed it over to Ayshela. She took hold of it and read the card aloud. “ ‘Sands of Slinky! A Great God and Pharaoh Nanotoknonnen product!’ … What’s this?” she asked him. As if in response, the business card withered into sand and fell from her hand. She reached down and tried to catch the sands, and succeeded, and the sand congealed again into the same business card. Ayshela stared at the card for a moment. “That’s just a prototype, best not to get it wet,” Orlan winked and offered his arm to Rapier. His general took it, though the look she gave Orlan was one of exasperation. “How about we mingle, eh?” Orlan and Rapier stepped into the ballroom.

Orlan, the sexy sexy Elder, plopped down into his chair with an unceremonious POOMF! Dust was knocked up in every direction, lingering in the air for a good while. He had not had much chance to sit down lately, for Orlan had been overly, overly busy. He looked over at his desk in his Pen office. Piles upon piles of paperwork littered the mighty oak desk. Orlan had work he needed to get done, though he never found time for it. Orlan could go out, work his tukuss off, come back, listen to new stories, stop by the Banquet Room and hear all the latest poems, and then walk through the Tower Lounge making sure things run like the well oiled machine the Pen had become (Orlan hacks and coughs at that thought for some reason). All this left little to no time to attend to many other matters. His latest manuscript lay open to where he last left off. Right next to it laid his copy of “Final Death” which is going to be a “bestseller” says Cousin Vinnie down at the Slow-E-Mart. So many projects left undone. Orlan exhaled a breath, blowing the dust around so it danced in the rays of light that streamed into the room. Orlan’s gaze wandered down to the aim of one of the rays of light. Its target was a piece of paper that was half hanging out of the middle of a giant stack of paper. Orlan’s curiosity overwhelmed him, but his laziness, as always, won out, and the Sexy Sexy Elder quite Sexily leaned back in his chair to try and grab the paper. Orlan thought about what he was doing a little too late to actually be able to stop himself from falling back and stumbling into the tower of paper, which dominoed into the stack next to it, and then stack next to it, until a flurry of paper was flying everywhere. Orlan quickly cast “Protection from 100,000 paper cuts” as the papers tumble and fly all around the room. After all had return to calmness Orlan stood holding onto the piece of paper he was going for and surveying the destruction. He’d need to call Ms. Yomiko Readman to help him with the clean up. Meh, Orlan thought. He looked down at the paper and paused for a moment. He re-read what was on there. He re-read it again. If what he read was true, it was a grave mistake that DESPERATELY needed to be remedied. Orlan needed to make an announcement, and he needed it fast. The Sexy Sexy Elder loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. In a flash he had his sport coat off and whipped it around him, causing the dust to catch fire and in a flash of light he was standing in the halls of the Pen. “Attention!” he yelled out to the various rooms. He waited a moment, but no one stirred. Orlan grumbled. He knew people were around, he could hear noise in the background. “HEY PEOPLE!” Orlan yelled again. Still he got no response. Orlan once again grumbled. “Don’t make me do this the hard way,” he said to himself. Still no one showed up. Orlan stood up tall and took in a breath. “Fine then.” Suddenly Orlan crouched over low to the ground and snapped his fingers. “Just play it cool boy…..real cool,” With that he starts dancing down the hallway, snapping his fingers in tempo with his steps. Slowly the hallway begins to fill with the Pen denizens, all of them mimicking the movement. A particularly confused Big P snaps his way up to Orlan’s side. “Uhm, I don’t normally question any West Side Story spells, but how come we’re Jetting our way down the hall?” he asked. “Because I got an announcement to make and no one’s paying any attention,” Orlan said. “Plus now we’re Sharking, technically.” Orlan brings the entire dancing group of Pen members into the Cabaret Room, in a flash vanishing from view and reappearing on stage. The break in the West Side Story Spell causes everyone to assume a random knife fighting position, which leaves various members poked and prodded with fingers used like knives. “Now that I have your attention, we need to have an announcement.” Orlan glanced out into the crowd. “Wyvern! Get up here!” Orlan struck a pose and snapped his fingers, in an instant the almost Dragon was snapped up onto stage…. unfortunately he was upside down, and promptly fell on his head. “Oops, my bad, I did the wrong snap. Anyway…” Orlan held his sheet of paper out in front of him and cleared his throat…. then he paused, looked at his sheet at an angle, and then pursed his lips. “Y’know, nevermind. I’m not going to make an announcement, this is Gwai’s job.” Orlan snapped his fingers again and suddenly a naked Gwai appeared with his back to the audience. He had a bottle of shampoo in his hand and was holding it above his head like a mic. “Baaaaabbbyyy…… You’re my Baaaaaaaaabbbbbbyyyyy…..” Gwai belted out. Orlan gave a whoops and snapped his fingers again and Gwai vanished. “Let’s fix that first,” Orlan said. He snapped his other fingers and then snapped the first fingers again. This time Gwai appeared in a tailored glassy black suit. His hair was slicked back and her had an actual microphone in his hand. “What the? Where’s my Mr. Sudsy?” Gwai asked looking at the mic in his hand. “I’ll explain later,” Orlan said, handing Gwai the piece of paper and then snapping his fingers and vanishing into nothingness….

Noooo!!!! Curse you Big P! Reminding me of so many stories I still have left to finish....! Curse you

What's 43 in elder years again...like 9.56 x 10^16 or so eh?

Tolkien actually asked people not to look too deep into LotR. He wrote a fantasy book....it was a backstory for a mythology. And also, If I remember correctly it's the other way around, C.S Lewis converted Tolkien. CS never wavered in his faith....at least I'm 99% sure...

And the story loves YOU too, Gwai! And now that our living room is almost refinished I can start working on this again. It will be soon!

I agree with Aardvark 100%. He's my greatest fear.

That is probably me forgetting what I had called it origionally and thinking it was something else. They should be the name of the capital and they should be the same. It's a variable spelling error.

Good start, nice layout of the world. Nice introduction of the first few characters. Good flow to it all so far. I have questions but I assume they'll get explained more later into the story, such as, what kind of magic do these people have, who's what and such like that. My advice: When the guy prays to lady luck he says "I’ll buy you an drink afterwards if you toss me this one" Just change the an to an a. You tend to use commas alot, making run on sentances. You have a lot of "so and so did this, and then this happened, with this, and this." which is not that bad really, since they're all related actions, but I've always been a fan of splitting up movement. For example: Maybe split it up some by doing That's not really the right way to do that...and now that I look at it it's not really the best, but I think you get the picture. Just break things up. I personally try to limit to two actions per sentence though, like most rules in writing, I don't pay attention to it lol. The only other thing is description. You've given little to none to distinguish characters at this point. I assume you'd give more physical descriptions as the story progresses on, but if not, you might want to add that in. I'm dumb when it comes to remembering names. Even more so in things I personally write. Sometimes I think it would be easier if everyone was named Bob. Anyway, good job, keep more coming, I'll definately be reading. Stories where everyone has thier own neat power were always my favorite.

Well it was a long summer, but I made it through. Sorry for the late update, I had so many problems trying to get the new scene to work. I still don't fully like how it is but I got around it so I won't worry about it until I go back and go over this story again (which will be when I'm done with the next one). Hopefully since School starts again soon I'll be back to more regular updates. Though there's not THAT much more to be done with this story. Though the final battles will probably be longer then I think lol

Kisean watched Vasia’s leg as it bounced up and down over her other knee. She was on her back, staring up at the lights that littered Gluake’s ceiling. Ciran sat not too far from her, staring off into nowhere as he did when he was deep in thought. Kisean knew that Ciran was a little unsure of meeting Donaxon. He had voiced his opinion and Kisean was forced to agree to some of his points. Yet Ciran was not out there to see and hear what happened. Something was not right and Kisean wanted to know what it was. “I don’t know about this,” Ciran said for the fifth time. “It’ll will be fine,” Vasia said. “It could be a trap too,” Ciran said. “Do you really think Donaxon is just coming to talk?” “Yes, I do,” Vasia said without any hesitation. She did not look away from the ceiling. “I trust Jidan Axe implicitly.” “Well, yeah. But weren’t you trained by him like fifteen years ago? Maybe he’s changed,” Ciran said. “He’s still the same as he always has been,” Vasia said. “But what if this is a ploy to-” “It’s not,” Vasia interrupted. “But-” “Listen Ciran, you were watching from the walls, you saw what happened. I can guarantee you that Jidan Axe is serious about this, otherwise he would not have used his axe.” Vasia’s voice had a stubborn tone in it that Kisean had heard many times before. Ciran looked a little cowed but he still had an unsure look across his face. Kisean suddenly remembered something. “Vas, what was that axe?” Kisean asked. Vasia continued her staring up at the ceiling but her leg stopped bouncing. “That was,” Vasia began, “Something I had only seen once before. Jidan Axe never spoke of it regardless of how much we pestered him. We had to ask Jidan Rarua about it to even find out anything. Jidan Rarua told us that Jidan Axe had so much chi throughout his body that his blood was literally ‘on fire’ with it. He did not go into specifics but when Jidan Axe was little he was attacked and his chi reacted to this by merging with his blood. The end result was that axe. It was then that Donaxon was sought out by the Uri-Van, and then two years later he became Jidan Axe. I learned almost exclusively from him.” “He’s earned his position, that’s for sure,” Kisean said, rubbing a hand over his abdomen. Though the pain was long gone thanks to Gluake’s magic, the memory was still there. Kisean rose to his knees and then to his feet and lifted his halberd up over his head, stretching his arms up and then letting them fall back down. The butt end of his halberd hit the ground with a thunk and he turned around. There was a sudden flash of light and Kisean found himself staring at the end of a sword. At the other end of the sword stood Ludia, the paladin who had escorted Vasia and him last night. Kisean found himself too surprised to react properly. “Good Morning to you as well,” he said after a moment. “Sorry,” Ludia said softly. She pulled the weapon out of Kisean’s face and sheathed it quickly. Kisean noticed that Ludia had the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes. When he met her in person just a half day ago she had looked stunning. Right now she looked like she had been awake and worried for the entire half day. Kisean found that easily imaginable. He walked around the city several times after Vasia came to him telling him that Donaxon wanted to meet. Behind Ludia stood Donaxon, as impressive looking as Kisean had ever seen him. Donaxon gave off an aura of power, something that Kisean was able to feel first hand. Kisean took a step back, reaching down a hand to help Vasia to her feet. Vasia took the hand and stood, turning towards her former master. She bowed to him and smiled. “I wish we could have gotten together under better circumstances, Jidan,” Vasia said. The big man’s face brightened for a moment and he smiled at her and returned her bow. “As do I, yet you rarely visit,” Donaxon said. “And by rarely, of course, I mean never.” The big man gave her a wink. “It’s hard to get out when your job keeps you so busy,” Vasia replied. “Now then, just so we’re all on the same page,” Vasia said, looking around at everyone. “Kisean, Ciran, Vasia,” she said, pointing to the named person in turn. Donaxon took his cue well. “Donaxon, Ludia and Coania,” Donaxon said, pointing first to himself, then the paladin and finally to the small girl who was hovering at Donaxon’s side. Coania was among the group who escorted them earlier. Kisean did not pay too much attention to her when he first met her, but then again he was preoccupied with other things. She was a smaller girl, probably in her mid teen years. She had on a sorceress’s robe and large glasses across her face. She nodded to no one in particular when she was named. Kisean heard a rustling from behind him and realized they forgot someone. “And that’s Gluake,” Kisean added, pointing over his shoulder. He heard footsteps as Gluake walked up to stand next to him. Kisean was lucky to be watching Coania when Gluake walked up. Her mouth and eyes slowly opened wide. She stared at Gluake for a long moment as Gluake nodded to both Ludia and Donaxon. “We met,” Gluake said. Kisean glanced back at Gluake and saw him smiling at Coania. “A little brighter in person isn’t it?” he said to the girl. Kisean turned back and saw her nod her agreement to that. “You’re golden,” Coania said softly. “Brimming over with High Magic is what my master called it,” Gluake said with a laugh. “Though that was a long time ago. My aura used to be brighter.” Gluake tapped his staff on the floor and it began glowing with a golden color. “There, that should be easier on your eyes.” “Something you want to share with the rest of us?” Kisean asked. Gluake shook his head. “No reason to,” Gluake said with a smile. Ciran chortled a little from behind him. The archer obviously knew what the joke was which meant it was magical in nature. “Now that we have introductions out of the way, we have some things that need to be discussed,” Donaxon said, steering the conversation back. Vasia nodded her head. “Of course, Jidan Axe,” she said. “You were the one who asked for this meeting.” Donaxon held out his hands gesturing everyone to sit. Everyone did so, though Ludia seemed to pause before she sat, looking to Coania for some indication of what to do. When everyone was situated in a circle on the floor Donaxon took a deep breath and looked around. “While I do not know you two gentlemen very well, I know Vasia well enough,” Donaxon began. “And I know that she does not pick her friends lightly, so I am not going to play with words. This siege is a sham and it’s being orchestrated by a demon that is right now possessing Avoil.” Kisean stared for a moment, making sure that he just heard what he thought he heard. Kisean looked at Ludia to see her reaction but the paladin had her face tilted down and her eyes closed. Kisean could not decide if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Coania was looking at Ludia with concern etched in her face that made Kisean think that those two both believed what Donaxon said. “What?” Vasia asked. Kisean turned and saw Vasia staring hard at Donaxon. She had the same expression that Kisean had. She obviously was confused. “After I escorted you back to the city I was called to Avoil’s tent. While there he touched my arm and I felt the overwhelming urge to obey. There was a voice deep inside of my mind, telling me I wanted to do what I was told to do, and what I was supposed to get.” Donaxon’s face was like stone. He showed no emotion at all when he spoke. “If that’s true then how do we know you’re not under the subtle control of the demon?” Ciran asked. “He’s not,” Ludia spoke up. She had raised her head and her eyes had a fire in them that was not there a moment ago. Kisean wondered if she was defending Donaxon because they were on the same side or because she knew something that others did not. Either way, Kisean was inclined to believe a paladin when it came to the issue of demons. “And I think the word of a paladin would be good enough for most,” Donaxon said, echoing Kisean’s thoughts. “However if you would still require, I offer myself to be checked over by your sorcerer friend over there.” Donaxon nodded his head at Gluake. Kisean had forgotten that Gluake was there. He turned and looked back at the sorcerer. Gluake stood looking down on them all. His eyes were thoughtful as they looked at Donaxon. “I checked everyone out when I spirit walked out to the tent, they’re all clean of any sort of magical tampering,” Gluake said. “If Avoil’s possessed by a demon why are you not telling everyone, or alerting the queen?” Ciran asked. “I have been in contact with the other two Jidans of my order and they have dispatched a messenger to the crown, but it will take them about a day to get there, maybe more, and then they’ll be faced with the bureaucratic battle to speak with the queen. I don’t think we can expect the queen to even react for a few days. But by then it would be too late, I’m afraid.” “What do you mean ‘too late?’” Vasia asked. “Avoil plans to launch a final attack in a little over two days, and he wants me to lead it and retrieve an artifact for him,” Donaxon explained. “An artifact? What artifact?” “Something that gives the user great power, is what he claims,” Donaxon said. “I’m not too sure about it though, my demon knowledge is lacking. I was able to find out more information from the other Jidans, though. From there I was able to get a few more names.” “Demon names?” Kisean asked. Donaxon nodded. “The most effective thing to have against a demon is knowledge of their name. We need to know their name to be able to exorcize them from this world because only by speaking their true name do they have to reveal themselves.” “So then you know the demon’s name inside of Avoil?” Kisean asked. “I do,” Donaxon replied. “I also know the name of the item and a couple other demons who might be associated with the two I know.” “Well then what’re the names?” Ciran asked, a little impatient all of a sudden. “The demon’s name is Zrethet, and the artifact is called the Chalice of Souls, or Zarz’ah’t’zam in the demon’s tongue. From these two I was able to get a few more names. The chalice was originally in the hands of a demon called Grothean who-” Donaxon was unable to finish his thought. Kisean felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He turned around to see Gluake glowing. His body lit up the room like it was high noon. Kisean suddenly became afraid when he saw Gluake’s face, for in there he saw something he had never seen before from the sorcerer. He saw anger. The sorcerer’s face was livid with his ire. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were grinding together. His eyes started to glow a bright white and his staff took on the same color. Kisean glanced back long enough to see Ludia ushering Coania behind her, and then Donaxon standing and moving in front of Ludia. Ciran had rolled out of the way, obviously sensitive to the magic around the sorcerer. Vasia just stared. “Gluake?” Kisean asked softly. Gluake did not respond, he simply tilted his head up and looked at the map on the ceiling. Kisean followed his gaze and saw a glowing purple light that seemed to be smoking on the ceiling. The light was directly in the center of the palace. “What’s that?” “That is Grothean,” Gluake’s voice echoed through the entire chamber. His voice carried so much power that Kisean cringed in pain. “In Phaen’s body. That damned demon has been in my city and I didn’t even know about it.” Kisean watched as Gluake tightened the grip on his staff, causing both ends of it to erupt in a flood of white light. The light went straight through the people in the room, not affecting them at all, and slammed hard into the walls, causing the room to shake. “Gluake!” Kisean yelled. Gluake said nothing, he continued to stare at the glowing point of light on the ceiling. Kisean did not know what to do right now. Fortunately, Donaxon did. “If you call out the demon in the city, you’ll end up leveling it!” Donaxon yelled. This apparently got through to Gluake since the light that surrounded him suddenly died away. The purple light that spoiled the ceiling map still glowed brightly. Gluake turned to Donaxon. Kisean saw the anger still there, but Gluake had been alive long enough to know when to accept the advice of others. “I want that thing out of my city, and I want it out now,” Gluake said to Donaxon. “And I am happy to oblige you,” Donaxon said, relaxing his stance a bit. “However, I need their help.” Donaxon pointed to Vasia, Ciran and Kisean. Gluake turned to the three of them. “Whatever loyalties you have towards Lord Phaen I understand, but the Lord Phaen that is up there right now is not ours. You loyalties lie with the city of Agregra, and as the city of Agregra I am ordering you to rid our city of that foul demon and whatever artifact he has with him.” Kisean had never heard Gluake give orders like that. They were short, to the point, and there was no way that Kisean was going to refuse them. For everything Gluake said, the sorcerer was the city of Agregra. Kisean looked at Ciran. He knew the archer longer then most people, and he knew that Ciran’s doubts would have been immediately tossed out after what Gluake said. His glance at Vasia was even shorter. It sounded to Kisean that she would follow Donaxon into the bowels of hell. And, Kisean thought, the Uri-Van master would probably walk out without a scratch on him. Kisean turned to Donaxon. “What do you need from us?” * * * Donaxon laid out his plan before the group and Ludia was amazed at the in depth planning the monk had put into it all. The plan’s overview was simple: lure the demons out by stealing the Chalice of Souls and one by one banish them. This plan relied heavily upon Donaxon’s apparent ability to banish a demon, but Vasia vehemently endorsed of all his claims. When Ludia agreed to come along with Donaxon she was unsure of herself more then she was unsure of what Donaxon would have to say. It had been a horrible feeling to be denied by her goddess. Ludia had never felt anything like that before, and it was something she hoped she never would have to feel again. When Donaxon initially told of his plan, Ludia wondered why she would not be the one to banish the demon. She was, after all, a paladin, and banishing demons was a paladin’s duty. However, after Donaxon explained that his ability to banish demons depended upon her ability to hold the demon in chains, she understood. For any mortal to be able to banish a demon required concentration and time. Two things a demon would not allow any mortal to acquire while around them. Ludia and her archaeon would have an easier time holding down the demon then Donaxon would. Because of that, Ludia now stood waiting for the return of R’Tearin. They were returned to their camp by Gluake and were now making their own preparations. Donaxon had gone to see Lord Avoil. “No,” Ludia said to herself out loud. She reminded herself that was not Lord Avoil Donaxon would be talking to, it was a demon. Donaxon would go lay out his “plan” to the demon, and the demon would immediately agree since Donaxon would spearhead a small attack squad to sneak through during the fighting and steal the artifact it wanted. Gluake was able to pinpoint the artifact and would be able to crack the magic that Phaen had placed around it to the point where Coania would be able to shatter it apart. The attack squad would be Coania, Donaxon, Misheal, R’Tearin and herself. They would sneak in and steal the artifact, encountering Kisean, Ciran and Vasia once in a mock battle for any spying eyes. After they “defeated” the home guard they would go on to get the chalice. Gluake would then urge Phaen to go out after it going beyond the city bounds. Gluake would be able to remove the demon from Phaen when that happened. When Phaen is freed they would try and trick the demons by using Coania’s magic to make it appear that both Kisean and Donaxon had the chalice. Then Donaxon would lead one of the demons into a trap where Ludia and her paladins would be waiting. Kisean would take Coania and avoid the demon for as long as possible before running back to the same place where Donaxon hopefully would have banished the other demon and they would banish this demon. At least, that was the plan. “Captain?” R’Tearin said. He had slipped in when Ludia was going over the plan in her mind once again. She turned to him and he nodded to her. “They’re ready, and, like I told you, they would follow you into hell itself.” R’Tearin gave a small smile and Ludia, uncharacteristically, returned the smile with one of her own. She still hoped and prayed to the goddess that this plan would work. Try as she might, though, she was unable to banish her misgivings. * * *

Valhalla is the hall of heroes where a warrior would go if Odin believed him to be worthy of it (by valiant fighting and such). Valkryies are female warriors on horseback who would fly down in battle and carry off said warrior to Valhalla where they were basically party all day and night.

Valkryies can fly but they lack wings. They have wings on thier helms, not on thier back