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Part One:
Drei focused his abilities on the task at hand. He faced a looming citadel placed on the side of the Ravenous Chasm. He saw the walls tower and the windows gleam in the pale moonlight. The waves crashed below them and resounded with a thunderous roar. Drei didn't know how, but there was a huge surge of energy in this fortress. He began to leave the shadows and began to sprint out of the forest and towards the wall. Within seconds, his presence triggered alerts along the watchtower.
First, blazing lights illuminating the ground flashed up. He avoided them by diving across the moat. He pressed himself against the walls and looked around. He found a small crevice and leaned against it. His body met the form and sunk into it. Soon he was on the opposite side. He looked around. He was in the cellar and was surrounded by food. He could feel energy pulsing under him, faint but there. He began looking about for a way to get lower. There were no passages except into the hallway where periodically gaurds could be heard. He slunk out and looked around. No patrols. Good. He sauntered outside and began peering into other rooms. All seemed to be empty. Finally, he found a large library chamber filled with books and tables. In the center was a pillar with insignias and symbols very simillar to the family crests of his generations.
He looked over them in the moonlit room. No one dared disturb him as he had inflitrated the personal quaters of The Master. He made sure no other presences could be felt. He began reading over them intently. The pulsing energy seemed to burn into his soul. Then, it came to him. He could see the places where energy flowed. He placed his palms on the center of each source. He felt small indentations on his palms grow into solid forms. As each form came to his palms, he began to wrapp them in dark clothe and packed them away in his pockets.
He escaped with much more easy then entering. The only difference was the sopping wet cloak doused in blood. Surely it was easy to feed when going inside out.
He then journeyed to one who could help him. One who would give him a set balance.
Part Two:
Drei had spend many days traveling from the fortress on the ledge of the Ravenous Cliffs. He had no idea of the power that had called him, but he knew it was harnessed in the items he had retreaved. He had decided to stop on the outskirt of Rosso's for the night. He'd enter tomorrow and show the Doc his spoils. Drei found a nice open clearing where the trees hung over him and created a cofortable canopy. The leaves were green as the last rain was only hours behind him. The night was coming quickly and Drei knew that he'd need to rest. He decided to set up camp here. Setting down his weaponry, he ventured to the near by river and dove it. He knew this area outside of Rosso's well, and could feel the lifeblood of the fish around him. Stretching forth his palm, a fish slithered over it and was instantly locked in an insatiable iron death grip. He gently dug into it's flesh with his fangs and drew out the energy of the animal, letting it writhe down his throat and sit in his stomach. He then tossed the fish into the clearing and got out.
After setting up a fire, baking his fish to a gooey perfection, and finishing it in nibbles, he closed his eyes and dug deep into The Void. He could feel the inky darkness of it swirl and sporadically lunge to him, but he kept calm. Slowly, he formulated in his mind where the items where. Calling one out slowly, he felt it form in his hand. It was warm and almost fabric like. He could feel matter forming more and more until he could not see it in his mind's eye, but felt it in his hand. If felt as if he had picked up an ember and held it tightly. He opened his eyes and looked down.
It had been the lightest of the power sources in mass. It was a two foot long bandana, with an odd flame design. Each prong of the flame seemed to shimmer and constantly move in its own firelight danc seperate from Drei's own source. It even seemed to posses a more comforting warmth as he passed it through his fingers, feeling the silky texture. He stared deep into its pattern for a long while before he saw symbols appearing in an ancient tounge. As he looked closer, his eyes grew in apprehension and he almost dropped the bandana. Slowly, the flames solidified into a single phrase. "Flame of Binding," it read in the vampyric home tounge of the Blood Lust Vampyres. Drei could feel it wrap through his fingers and the fire burn, not in the fabric of the bandana, but the very fabric of his soul. He focused on his opposite palm and there, just faintly, yes almost to hard to see, formed a single flame. It was small, docile. Nothing like its raging family. Drei focused more. He noticed it grow in intensity. Drei focused now on its shape. He found he could meld it with a simple bending of his mind. It was as maliable as The Void in his hands, and warmed him without singeing him. He smiled and let it drift out of existance, turning his attention to the bandana. "Definatly useful," Drei mused as he let it disperse from his palm and back into The Void.
Drei then relcined by the fire and stared up at the stars. Drei's body was still warm from his experiance with the Flame of Binding, and he needed nothing to cover him. He drifted to sleep for the next day's adventure.
Part Three: Updated
Drei awoke to find himself imersed in The Void. He was unaware of where he was and instead did the most sensible thing and got his bearings. He was sprawled out on the floor of a gargantuan citadel, the cold marble running a chill down his spine. At least it should have. The floor actually seemed quite warm as a substance coated the entire floor. Drei inhaled deeply and the shock of what he was doused in hit him. Blood. He quickly got up and looked around. In the pale light of the moon bleeding through the crevices and windows cast long shadows around the foyer. The pale ghost of moonlight shed its aura over each item in the room, covered in the milky substance of life. It also revealed the horrenous fountains of the lifeblood origns. Thousands of bodies strewn across the floor, draped over the foyer banisters, impaled on the grand chandeleiur, and hanging grotesquely from the rafters by tethers of tendons and human muscle. His stomach churned at the sight and he began to turn and stumble towards the door. There, he was greeted by the horror of where this citadel de mortum was located. Draped over the arched doorway was a simple sign made from bamboo and surfboards. In dark letters, underneath the thin layer of blood, could be read the normally heartwarming and welcoming words, "Welcome to Rosso's, dude!" Drei crumpled in fear and disgust as he hit the floor, a small ripple swelling through the blood. He sniffed the air and confirmed that this blood bath was where he called home. He could smell the familiar scents of one's he called family. Ones who stood by him and helped him hone his craft of fighting acted as ornaments and grotesque paintings. In the distrubed silence of his sobs, he could hear something rustling in the echoing foyer. He sniffed the air and did a double take. Then it hit him. It was the overwhelming power that he had felt only once before. He turned and was greeted by a looming shadow bedecked in a white aura. It towered over him and began to speak in a jumbled vampyric toungue that made no sense to Drei. It sounded only like an incantation as the shadow raised his hand and struck Drei across the face. In an instant, Drei was felled and laid in the bloody pool. Then, slowly, his eyes closed as his mind reeled.
And then he awoke in the clearing. He was covered in a cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably. He quickly looked around and began to take deep breathes to calm himself. The trees remained, green and lush. The morning was cold and overcast, a steady fog rolling in as well. Drei had seemed to follow the bad weather as he traversed the trip to Rosso's. "Or maybe it's the other way around..." Drei pondered before shaking of the feeling. He gathered his gear and paced himself to come home.
Part 4: Updated
Drei came to the outskirts of Barton and looked around at his town. It sprawled itself over a mile or so, and was crammed to almost cartoonish proportions. He sighed and got on the main road and walked towards the gates of the city. Nearing it, he diverged onto a side road that would take him to the beach, and Rosso's. He couldn't help having the nagging feeling something was happening and that what he was going to do was wrong. He approached the forest entrance of Rosso's and stopped for a moment. Rosso's was in a rowdy mess as a small sparring match raged on. Coincidentally, the wind picked up before he could duck behind the building and caused him to pause for a moment. The wind smelt ... No, it couldn't be. "No, I won't let it be so ... It can't be like this." He entered and was greeted by a warm gust of air and the chaos of coming home. Drei entered and was also greeted by a brand new set of power fluctuations. One came from his almost brother in arms, coming towards him. "Hey Ziek," he said as Ziek sauntered by him and exited the building, making eye contact for only a moment. That moment told him everything and nothing at the same time. Ziek was different, and this was the start of change. Drei shrugged the goose bumps that came on anew and moved farther into the warmth. He leaned against the wall and took in everyone. He noticed a battle raging in the main ring, conversations and laughter surrounding him, and the aura of home seemed to be upheld. But it was all so stilted and stale. Everyone was on edge as soon as Drei had entered and possibly even before he came in. He walked over to a couch and crouched next to a dozing Rosso. "Is the Doc in?" Drei whispered, coaxing a nod and a flick upstairs. Drei nodded and used the shadows to his advantage. He passed through a corner that effectively belong to the illustrious Skeleton Queen and felt another power spike. He paused and shrugged it off again. He quickened his pace and lunged up the steps to the Doc's quarters on the upper level three at a time. He reached a large metallic door that barricaded Doc from everyone else. He placed a palm on the door and phased through it into the laboratory. He crept in silently and looked at all the classic and new age technology the Doc had. Doctor Shamal was crouched over another experiment, his wings twitching in apprehension of a new discovery. Drei silently crept up and hung over the Doc. With out turning around, Doc addressed Drei in his split voice. "Dude, you must have some serious stuff to be carrying power levels like that, 'specially if they can spike over everyone here." Drei just shrugged and began to pull from The Void. After each Item Drei noticed Shamal become more and more rigid untill all seven where out and Doc was fully turned around, pale faced and seriously scared.
Drei peered at all of the items and laid them out on the table. There was the Flame of Binding bandana which seared a small hole through the stainless steel table. The next was a daggar with six sides and varrying sarations, and a wierd fingerprint like patern. The third was an leaf shaped jewel that shone brightly in the light, sending off green rainbows in the room. The fourth was a perfectly circular orb made from a deep blue saphire like hue that seemed to drain the heat from the Flame of Binding and balance the room temperature at a perfect 72 degrees. The fifth was a star shaped jewel with five prongs, each seeming to move as if it was alive with some sort of liquiescense. The Sixth was a grey glove with several wierd insignias, varrying from swirls and shapes to Vampyric symbols. FInally, Drei pulled out a small orange stone that seemed to crackle as it touched a new surface. "Doc, You have three days to piece together what the hell these are. I have no idea why, but they've been haunting my dreams for the past two weeks." Shamal only nodded and soon they set to work
Part five: Updated!
Drei paced the room as Doc began to seperate the artifacts into different cases of glass. He began by meticulously taking down the information into file folders and complex looking sheets. But then something wierd happened. The Doc snapped picture after picture of the items, but it always came up as empty glass boxes. "Doc, what the hell is going on?" Drei asked. Shamal was speechless and took out one of the artifacts delicatly with a thick lead glove. It was the Daggar. He placed it on the scales and they watched as one moment the scale is spinning from intense weight, and the next, it stops at a perfect zero. The computer threw up two words, no weight Drei gently pushes his jaw off the floor and looked at it again. They did the same with every item and all the time, they all registered as no weight. Drei and Doc did everything else they could and then sat down, both exhausted from the energy being given off and the hours of arduous work. Finally, they conffered on what they saw. Drei began.
"We know they have no weight."
"We know they don't register on pictures."
"We know they have physical demensions and textures."
"We know that they have insane power levels."
Drei turned and looked apprehensivly over each items and then made a desicion on what the hell was happening. "Doc, could it be that these exist outside space and time, and that they are the physical manifestations of pure energy harnessed into a concentrated amount over the millenia?"
The Doc was thunderstruck, not only from the very idea of that possibility, but that someone as time lost as Drei could come up with such a forward thinking idea. He moved behind Drei and peered over his shoulder. "Well... maybe... but... I don't know!" Shamal stammered in exasperation. "How the hell did you come up with that?"
Drei smiled. "I got it off of your StarGate SG-1 Box set." As soon as Drei finished his sentence, a loud explosion was heard outside. There, in the distance, Radachure the Blue was in an epic battle with Jing over the long lost Tridium. Drei watched as Blue fell from the skies and slammed into the ground. "Doc, put this place in lock down. I'll be back." Drei flitted out to Rad as Doc slammed on the Lockdown button.
Radachure was beaten badly into an almost lifeless mass Drei attempted to comfort his fading friend, but soon Radachure was resigned to life, shtting himself from aid. Drei turned and began to head for the Artifacts, the thought of revenge bleeding through his mind. Within an instant Drei was standing outside of the Lockdown doors.
Or what was left of them.
Part Six:`Updated
Drei looked at the rubble that was the upper level of Rosso's. The Doc's lab had been completly obliterated by a blow of combined forces that had shaken the very foundations of the room and had probably sliced through the door as easy as a hot knife through butter. Drei dove into the rubble, searching for Doc and the power signatures of the artifacts. He tossed out pieces of cieling and shards of glass through a hole in the wall that led outside. Finally, after digging deep, he had found Doc under a beam that had fallen. Raising the beam in an exllosion of force, Drei found two artifacts in the unconsious Doctor's hands. one was the crackling orange jewel and the multisaration blade. Gently Drei pried them from the Doctor's grip and slid them into The Void. He brought the Doc downstairs and laid him on a couch, going and getting the medical kit. Drei took a syringe and buried it in the soft core of his heart, pulling out a volatile blue liquid. Gently, he slid it into the doctor's spinal collum and injected his healing Vampyric blood to awaken the Doc. He knew that Doc wouldn't assimilate the blood and would lose it from his system before the day was through, if he lived.
After several minutes, the Doc began to shift and groan in pain. Drei gently held him back as he began to look around. "Where... where am I?" He looked at Drei. "Hey man, nice to... CRAP, THE ARTIFACTS!" Drei forcd the doctor down as he winced from pain.
"Shamal, calm down...." Drei said acidicly. He knew the blood was taking effect and he needed to set the wounds. Placing his palms on Shamal's clavicle, he snapped it back into place, prompting a shriek of pain. Soon, though, Shamal's voice was pushed to the limit as Drei set his broken hand and leg, and the Vampyre Blood began the quick healing process. The Shamal crashed into unconsiousness. He was covered in minor cuts that healed instantly and would soon be back to normal. Drei took this oppertunity to test his new power. "Sorry Shamal."
Drei placed his long spindle like fingers on Shamal's face and soon they sank into his flesh, assimilating easily. He then opened his eyes and drifted into Shamal's mind.
Shamal had been experimenting on the daggar and the orange orb, bombarding them with rays when an explosion ripped though the room. He was instantly set upon by several members of Rosso's drawn to the power ressonating from the Artifacts. Drei saw as the shadows passed over Shamal's eyes, and the breaking of glass and alarms could be heard. Then, he could feel the weight of the beam falling, and the faint howl of a beast.
Drei slid his hands off of Shamal and leaned against the couch. Phasing with someone like that cost a lot of energy, especially for someone new at it. But now Drei knew some more of what he was up against.
He dragged himself upstairs and began looking through the rubble. After several minutes, he was upon his first clue as to who had broken in. The was a single digit from the pinky finger of a Skeleton, and Drei remembered the power flux coming from the Queen herself as he entered. He poked the digit and it began to almost dance as it writhed in his hand. He noticed that it was singed from an intense heat, but filed that away in the back of his mind. In anger, he stomped on it and threw it into the water. The wind howled around him and he though back to the phasing. Howling.... Drei looked around and saw where the beam fell. There laid some black paper fibers, reminiscent of Ajax's paper tail given to him by the peace-loving Luna. Drei pegged him as the second attacker. He sat down and began to think more and more about those who's powers might want to be harnessed through the artifacts.
His concentration was broken by Shamal standing in the door. "Not everything was lost." He said through hopefully sniffles. "I have the data from the bombardment tests."
Drei rushed over to Shamal and caught the unsteady Doctor. He laid him down on a slab of rubble. "Damn your blood is intense," he joked at Drei, coughing up a little bit. "Look for the manila folders, and see what you can find."
Drei pulled up the seven manila folders and slid them into the Void. "Later Doc. I'm going after them first. We can't let the strong get any stronger." The Doc nodded and Drei began heading downstairs. Shamal called out to Drei at the last second.
"Wait, you forgot these!" He held up the orange orb and the daggar. Drei took the orange orb and wrapped Shamal's hands around the Daggar.
"Keep it safe, my friend." And with that, Drei left the Lab. As he walked down the stairs, he began to compile his knowledge of the situation.
Alright, I know there are seven Artifacts.
The Flame of Binding, dubbed The Bandana. I think Skele has it.
The Blue Orb.
The Leaf.
The Glove.
The Daggar. Shamal has it.
The Orange Jewel. I have it
The Star.
What do I know else. They have intense power signatures. Hmmm. Drei had an epiphany. Another who was exuding power was Ziek. He was changed, and thievery of power might not be out of his realm of capabilities.
Alright, so maybe Ziek has one. And I know Ajax has one as well. Drei stood downstairs and surveyed the area. There were definatly some people missing. But he knew where others were, and he was going to find them.
 Drei Harte · Fri Jul 27, 2007 @ 11:38pm · 2 Comments |
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