RPG Archives [Heroes of Arian][RPG] Chapter One: A New Threat

Val gripped Kael's hand tightly as they made their way through the darkness. Every sound was bouncin off the close walls pf the passageways. She thought in her mind I wonder where all the guards are...

~~~

Lessien and Amras moved aruond in the shadows aruond the area where all the ways out of the dungeons led. They smiled as they took all the gaurds stationed their in complete silence.

"Any minute now?" Amras asked contently grinning.

Lessien nodded, "Any minute now..."

 

Up in her chambers, the Empress paced anxiously as night approached. Kaiya was sitting casually in one of her chairs.

"You know…I still disagree about letting the half-breeds in on this. I mean…what if they succeed? It’ll change everything." the Pyrian said.

Isis continued to pace, "Then our world will be saved in exchange for a little change. Besides, this place could do with a little change." She then paused and looked at her Bodyguard, "By the way, I haven’t heard you complain about me choosing the Erthian. What, you got a crush on him?"

Kaiya nearly fell off her chair, "No! Its just that…it’s not like he’ll survive anyways."

Isis continued her pacing, "We’ll see about that…I just wished the damn map would get here like prophesized already!"

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Kaiya went to answer it while Isis stopped in her pacing. It was her Advisor.

"So, is it here?!" the Empress asked.

In reply, Sevita moved inside the room and showed her a pane of glass the size of a sheet of paper. The Empress quickly walked over and took it gently from her, inspecting it. The glass was clear and had nothing on it, but when she touched it she could feel the warmth of magic at work.

"How are they? The ones who brought it?" Kaiya asked as Isis inspected it.

Sevita sighed, “There was only one…and she was severely injured when she got here. The guards almost didn’t let her in because of the attack.”

Kaiya’s eyes widen with shock, while Isis looked up and said, "One? Out of the twenty I sent, only one?"

"Yes, your highness. It seems as though they tried to retrieve the pieces besides just finding their locations" Sevita replied.

"The fools…and you’re going to send only 12?!" Kaiya said suddenly, but was quickly silenced by a look from the Empress.

"I’m sending 16, not 12.” she then sighed, "It’s a shame. They were so strong…"

"Speaking of the 12, I’ve just heard they broke out of their cell." Sevita said with an amused grin at Kaiya’s reaction.

"WHAT?!!! The little ungrateful bastards…I‘ll teach them!!" the Pyrian yelled and reached for the door.

"Wait, Kai." The Empress said suddenly and Kaiya stopped and looked at her. There was a strange, dreamy expression on the Empress’s face, "Ask all the guards to ask everyone in the castle to go to their rooms….then tell them to stand guard outside. Then…I want you Kai, to take the fighters here…I’ll speak to them. Sevita…," she suddenly turned to the Sinalett, "…go to the dungeons and bring them to the entrance hall, that’s where Kaiya will meet them…and, both of you, use force if necessary. It‘s time to speed things up."

Comprehension soon donning on them, Kaiya smirked, "Right. I’m on it, Your Highness." Then with a bow, she left the room.

Sevita, however, had a question, "What about the other four you didn’t chose?"

Isis shook her head slightly and the dreamy expression was gone, "It’ll be dealt with."

"Of course. I’ll go now…your highness," the Sinalett bowed and followed Kaiya out of the room.

~~~

Aria and Nuria looked at each other and sighed before following the others through the gap in the bars.

"Ouch! Damn, it’s dark in here." Nuria whispered after she bumped her foot into a wall.

"….I don’t like it…" Aria muttered and quickly moved ahead, following the glow of Bara’s fire creatures.

Kaiya smirked, "She’s still not over the whole dark thing…"she muttered to herself and followed.

Seyra up front, stopped when she found a fork in the tunnels. There was no lights, so that meant no guards. But where were they? Also it was going to be night soon, and that meant the Elian ground will start to glow*. "Then we could all see…but also the guards could see us….hmmm"

Turning around she noticed everyone was following her, "…What, did you guys think I knew the way? This place is like a maze…"

~~~

Amras and Lessien heard a little girl giggling. The sound was coming from behind them, leading into the dungeons. If they looked, they would see a small Elian girl, totally illuminated by a light that seemed to be coming from her. She had long curly platinum hair and six small white wings on her back. She giggled again, and motioned them to follow before disappearing in the darkness…


(ooc: *if you read Arian‘s History, the planet Elinas glowed like a star. So, at night, the Elian Territory ground would glow brightly. Another reason why Sinaletts don’t like it there..)

 

At a soft word the fire bird lifted from his sholder, jerking some of the lighting slightly before flying over head of every one to fly to one side of the lead girl or girls and help them. He kept a hold of the dragon since that would do no help at the moment other then get in the way of feet.

He searched the walls that the fire lit, after a moment gently nudging his way to the front to where his fire bird flew and beside Seyra,"I have a bad feeling with no guards around. Call it a sixth sense but I have a guess they may try to trap us somewhere. Be on your guard."

He gently released the dragon, who droped a bit then the large wings spread and kept the fire dragon aloft, flying close to Baras hip. He kpt his gaze ahead as he steped carefully, the light of the pair so close to the front also helping everyone else to see anything that could trip them up along the way.

 

Val walked next to Kael with ehr hadn still in his. She looked aruond oddly noticing no security at all.

"Kael...this is strange...there are no gaurds anywhere..." Val said looking aruond suspiciously.

~~~

Amras stood enxt to Lessien watching teh glowing girl.

"Should we follow her?" Amras asked stepping forward.

Lessien put his arm in front of Amras adn said, "It could be a trap."

"I don't care! Too much time has gone by! I won't wait to go in there and get Val out!" Amras said walking in the direction teh young girl was leading them too.

Lessien looked up at the sky and for a moment he stood them closing his eyes but he soon opened his eyes again and followed his friend and the young girl into the darkness.

 

The little girl only appeared once or twice in the surrounding darkness as she ran ahead, turning several coners before she dissapeared all together. But her laughter could still be heard, leading the two closer and closer to the others...

~~~

Kael nodded to himself and squeezed her hand to say he agreed. His ears then picked up the girl's laughter and looked around but didn't say anything, his free hand at the hilt of his sword.

Meanwhile, Seyra quickly whiped around. She could've swear she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Aria walked up to her. She then concentrated for a moment and her hands begun to glow, giving even more light in the area. "What is it?"

Seyra used her hand to shield from Aria's light and was about to reply when she heard footsteps, and quickly reached for her sword.

 

Val began to hear footsteps and concentrated on them. Those sound like... she said in her mind

Suddenly she ran forward ahead of everyone letting go of Kael's hand and ran quickly towards the footsteps and as she grew nearer she focused her energy in her hands and as she grew closer aruond the corner the light of her hands lit up Lessien's and Amras's face. She ran straight into Lessien's arms.

Then she stepped back and punched him hard in the arm. "What took you guys so long?" she whispered.

"Well if mister 'i have to think about every little thing' didn't stop me we would have been here earilier," Amras said in a very lwo voice.

"A strange girl led us here...did you see her?" Lessien asked whispering.

Val rememebred a laughter but she wasn't sure.

 

Kael followed her, and stopped when he saw the two others. Seeing how Val talked to them, he figured they werent enemies and relaxed.

Aria and Seyra came up behind him next.

"Great....more to join the 'I'm lost and have no idea what's going on club.'" Seyra muttered under her breath, and relaxed a bit.

Aria walked up to them, "Um...Hi...I am Aria Lyndial, and well..we're kinda lost here.., I see you know...um....whats your name again?" the Princess asked Val.

 

“Oh that’s right. I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves did we? My name is Valaina Telperien, and this is my brother Lessien and our close friend Amras,” Val said pointing to Lessien and Amras individually.

She then turned to Lessien and said, “Wait how did you get in here? From outside right? You must remember the way back!”

“Yes…I remember the way…we should go now…” Amras said looking around.

“Amras what is it? Your eyes…” Val asked pointing out that Amras’s eyes were now like a Persian cat’s.

Amras’s ears twitched slightly as he heard through the darkness, the sound of footsteps…

 

Nuria walked quickly up to them and was about to say something when she also heard the footsteps.

Seyra didn't like it, "Something's wrong here...wait...shouldn't night have fallen by now?...then...why is it still...". She stared around at the darkness and thought the shadows made by Bara's bird and Aria's hands were awfully thick-looking...

The footsteps stopped.

"Aria...take out your sword..." she said softly, drawing her own sword and slowly backing away, toward Bara and the others.

Aria didn't ask questions and activated her light-sword. Immediately she noticed something wrong...the darkness didn't ebb away from the light. In fact, it was clinging to it...

"Magic." Kael muttered softly as he drew his own sword.

The shadows suddenly spread out, engulfing the light made by the fire bird and then tried to engulf the creature itself...

 

Bara cursed softly when the shadow magic went after his fire bird and quickly reached out, fingers barely brushing a wing before the fire returned to him, the dragon pressed close to his chest, his own sword sliped from his grip. He had a bad feeling about getting rid of all light and kept an eye that no shadow came after his dragon. The dragon growled low, a small flicker of flame appearing from flame formed jaws toward the shadows as though to show off.

Bara growled low in his throat at the dragon and the creature relaxed, pressing against him. He glanced toward the others,"Should I pull him back also? Or leave some light?"

He slashed his sword slightly before raising it once more at an angle in front of him to protect himself, the black metal glinting in the faint fire of the dragon.

 

Val stepped back as she watched the darkness engulf the area. She looked aruond adn reached back to her long knives on her back adn drew them softly. Her energy flowed through the steel making an eerie white glow aruond her blades. Lessien drew his sword and so did Amras.

"Something comes..." Val said sensing something stragnely chilling in front of her.

 

Rhye had never really seen any form of magic before and thought of it as such. This was different. This was definitely magic. Someone wanted them to stop. Rhye wasn't sure why, but it must have been urgent. He drew his goorkha as much in defense as possible, as one cannot truly use such a blade for defense, and started to back away.

Perhaps someone wanted them to stay for their own good? No, he thought. Such goodwill no longer exists. Nonetheless, he was hesitant to attack such powerful magic.

 

A shiver was sent down Mirial's spine as she awoke, the utter silence seeming to be the source of disturbance. Her skin had returned to it's normal color, and once again, her hair was rich, her eyes watery and deep as a clear cerulean sea. She noticed Jyn nearby, and then noted the sounds of commotion from outside the room. She didn't need healing, and water was enough... but she still had felt that she should stay until something.

Had that something come?

She looked doefully towards the silent Jyn, and opened her mouth to speak. "Greetings," she whispered warmly, the words spilling out of her mouth like liquid. "I don't believe I've even properly introduced myself." She stood, bowed deeply, and then evened herself with Jyn once again, all in one sweeping motion. "I'm Mirial."

 

Jynaiyu's eyes opened calmly at the sound of Mirial's voice. She did not feel disturbed by it, rather, she felt reassured. She felt all her strength was with her again, but that she would do badly in battle should she be faced with such a task again. She sat up, glanced at Mirial, and nodded to her, smiling politely.

"I am Jynaiyu," she said, her voice sounding nurturing. "But Jyn will suffice." She glanced around the room apprehensively. "Do you know where the others are? And what they did to those the Empress did not point out?"

***
Lanah pulled out her morningstar and held the weapon tightly in both hands. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked around cautiously. The darkness didn't let her see very much, but by the light of Val's daggers, Ariana's sword, and Bara's fire dragon, she could at least see something... Not that it was enough, she thought...

***
"Hmm?" Aquafina began, hearing someone talking to her. "Yes they did, they took my best friend Chaos with them, those miserable fiends."

Yunig felt sympathy for her. He too was angry about having been separated from someone he was close to.

"I don't get the Empress," he said, thoughtfully. "I mean, why would she do that? We all helped save the entire city, then she takes the ones who did most of the work and throws them in the dungeon." He made a tossing motion with his hands. "Then we can't even go with them!"

He shook his head and sighed. "Jyn has faith in her for some reason. I'm not too sure... right now, at least."

 

(Bara growled low in his throat at the dragon and the creature relaxed, pressing against him. He glanced toward the others,"Should I pull him back also? Or leave some light?")

"No! Leave it! We need all the light we can get. Trust me, if we get plunged into complete darkness we'll be dead." Seyra told him.

The Sinalett then swiped at the darkness, which stuck to her blade like a curtain of melted...

"Dark-matter?" Seyra muttered to herself.

Nuria quickly turned to her, "What?!"

Aria glared at the darkness, "It's surrounding us!" She then slashed at it and some of it exploded into black particles, revealing some of the passageway. But the curtain of darkness quickly covered it up again.

("Something comes..." Val said sensing something stragnely chilling in front of her.)

Kael looked too, just as a laugh broke the eerie silence.

"Do you really think you're going anywhere without the Empress' consent??" a voice said from the direction where footsteps stopped.

"Mother?" Seyra muttered, recognizing the voice.

Nuria was pissed, "Hey, lady!!" She walked foward, ahead of the rest, "Do you think we're just going to be scared and go back to our prison cell?! Well you've got another thing coming!"

"Really? You have no idea what you're dealing with...." the voice then faded away, replaced by a moment silence.

The ground shook slightly, like a footstep of something huge, and a loud growling sound came from where the voice had come. Two glowing red eyes pierced the darkness and the ground shook again as the owner of those eyes took another step forward.

Nuria cursed under her breath and took a step back.

"I think it's safe to say, we should go now..." Aria said walking backwards.

Looking back, Seyra noticed the black curtain didn't cover the passageway behind them, giving them a way to retreat. More red eyes appeared, yet they appeared to be of smaller size and gave noises that sounded similar to bird's screeches.

Making up her mind, Seyra started to run.

 

Rhye was starting to get a feeling he'd never felt before in his life. He was torn between the thought of the Empress scaring them back into their cell and the thought that perhaps she was trying to help. He did not know the word to describe it. Perhaps this was confusion?

He also, however, felt fear. There was no way even he could help destroy such large, powerful creatures.

But then, he thought to himself, how would the Empress know such powerful shadow magic? No time to ponder. He ran, following Seyra again to try to stay together. There was at least a little security in numbers.

He also noticed that nothing attacked while they retreated. Perhaps...

 

Val wacthed the dark matter aruond them and stared directly into the red eyes that shown in teh darkness. Such dark magic, not even the Empress could know htis magic...or could she? Val thought in her mind. Then Lessien's voice broke her thoughts.

"Run Val!" Lessien said pushing her backward.

She reluctantly began to walk backwards as she glared into teh darkness to try and see whoever it was that was talking to them but she could see nothing. She Ran along the passageway as the dark matter surrounded the group. She used a little more power into her long knives to generate more light.

 

Those deep crimson eyes set off a fear so deep inside Lanah that she was immensely glad that she wasn't alone. She followed the movement to the back, engulfing her morningstar in flames to light the way.

She charged on behind the others, tripping on something but managing not to fall. Seeing light from someone ahead of her, the sudden surge of fear left. Now that she could think clearly, she focused more on where she was running, trying to be careful so no one would be slowed down.

 

Bara had darted soon after a few had started to run, keeping an eye on the creature and dark matter, backing up and only when he heard the footsteps of a few of thm starting to run did he twist around, the dragon curled against his chest but shining light ahead of him and took off running, enflamng his sword also as he ran, giving a little extra light but when he saw the same light ahead as Seyra saw the flames died down a little instead of the bright coloring they'd had a moment before and the dragon growled low against his chest. Bara barely glanced down but spared a glance over his sholder and transfermed the dragon to his sholder before, it almost looked like, he gathered fire in a ball from what was surrounding the sword and tossed it over his sholder in the direction of the creature, throwing it hard. He wasn't trying to hurt it, only see what would happen to his fire, still sprinting but slowing slightly.

 

Nuria, appearing too scared to run, slowly took steps backwards. Kael and Aria stayed, but only hesistantly so.

"Come on!" Aria said, tugging on Nuria's shoulder.

Just then, Bara's flame of light passed by them, inches from Nuria's face and collided with the huge creature.

It exploded and lightened up the area for a moment, destroying the dark-matter surrounding that part. Revealing a huge black shadowy creature, taking the entire space of the tunnel. Two enormous claws in front of a ugly monstrous face with fiery red eyes. Around it, climbing on the walls, were about a hundred smaller shadow creatures with wings and sharp claws. They were quicky scurtling here and there, getting ready to attack. They roared and screeched, creating a din of hideous noises.

There was a hole in the larger one's chest where the ball of fire had hit, but it was quickly fixed as the fire and light was engulfed by shadow and dark-matter again.

"They're not dark-spawn...but are extremely similar..." Aria muttered in awe.

Just then, one of the winged shadow creatured pounced at Nuria, who didn't see it coming. Kael quickly sliced it into two with his sword and it dissapeared.

"We should go now." He said simply and took off after others.
"They can be easily destroyed, but there are too many of them...I never knew the Royal Advisor had so much power..." he thought.

"Right!" Nuria said, and followed Kael. Followed shortly by Aria.

~~~

Seyra tried to turn one corner, and found her way blocked by more shadow creatures. She had to fight some of them off before changing directions and down a different passage, thinking as she did, "Mother...why are you doing this? Where are you forcing us to go against our will?"