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

Whats going on? We should be rewarded as heroes yet we are treated like mice in a maze!!! Val said in her head with anger. She sheathed her blades and took out her bow and drew an arrow and filled it with her energy and fired it. It passed everyones' heads and hitting the darkness and breaking teh dark matter for a moment so that everyone could pass through it.

"There are creatures all aruond us..." Val said to Lessien and Amras who were running right next to her.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Amras asked quickly looking aruond.

Its obvious...Empress...if you wanted to see us, you didn't have to do all this...or do you have other plans for us?.... Lessien thought to himself as he ran.

 

Chaos was tempted to grab the hilt of his sword and slash the enemy, but such desires were hurtful and brought back old memories of anything he had killed before, so he just clutched his ahnd around it, just in case, but even then, hurtful memories filled him. Not saying a word of protest to 'getting away' he followed the other quickly, removing his hand from the handle.
Sin took no heisitation either. She wasn't the bravest soul in the world even if she displayed quite a bit of bravery, but she was smart enough to know when it's time to run and she had already ran off when Seyra did. Neveks were easier than these things.
*
"I know, it's so annoying. We don't even learn anything about what they're doing..." Aquafina sighed.
"I myself don't trust the empress, Chaos doesn't seem to very much either, but then again, it's hard to tell who he trusts and doesn't deep down, I just know he doesn't like Alettais." she added, pretty sure the guy would not care, but said it either way.

 

Mirial shook her head. "No, I can't say I do know what's happening, Jyn." She looked about the dungeon, and began running her hands over the slick walls. "But don't you feel that?" She closed her eyes a moment and sighed, opening them again to look at Jyn with her kind, but piercing eyes. "I think we need to find the others... or anybody other than the royalty who knows whats going on. I've heard idle chat of the guards, seems our friends have gotten themselves into something... so they shouldn't be too difficult to find." Looking up, she squinted, then pressed her ear against the wall. "I can hear the song of everything, and a section of this building sings of battle. I can take you there, if your willing to help me fight."

 

As Mirial had been walking around, Jyn had stood and looked around. Being half Erthian, she had a slight degree of darkvision. She spotted something of interest just as Mirial was saying that finding the others wouldn't be difficult. She nodded absently at the comments, totally focused on the figure lying on a bed nearby.

The closer Jyn got, the clearer the figure became. It was a woman, an Elian -- she could tell from the platinum hair. And she was sleeping.

"Mirial," Jyn said in an urgent whisper. "Come look." She waited until Mirial was beside her. Not taking her eyes off the Elian, she asked, "Do you have any idea who this might be?"

***
Yunig sighed, giving a weak, "Yeah," in agreement.

Looking up at the sky, he said, as if thinking aloud, "I think I'm gonna go get some air." He stood and looked at Aquafina, scratching the back of his neck. "You can come if you want."

For a moment he thought that his whim would be more trouble than it was worth. He shrugged it away and half-closed his eyes, tilting his head down.

Vines and twigs emerged from his back, twisting into two medium-sized wings. The whole process took about fifteen seconds (which to him seemed a very long time). He then cast a slightly shy look at Aquafina, then motioned to the sky with his head.

***
Suddenly, a thought clicked in Lanah's head. What am I doing, just running and not doing anything to help?

In the space of a half-second, she decided what she'd do. She stopped and turned around to face the darkness behind them. Then, having fully engulfed her weapon in flames, she swung it forward. Several batlike creatures formed themselves from the fire that had been flung off the morningstar. They flew headlong into the dark creatures.

As the creatures charged, Lanah resumed her race, casting back a glance every so often to see if she'd bought the group time.

 

Mirial quietly scuttled to Jyn's side and looked at the girl. She looked sick, a cold sweat on her brow. She shrugged, and then peered into the darkness around her face.
"It dosen't look like she's going to make it, the way they're healing her.... it's almost as if they don't want her to get better." She reached out a hand and turned the girl's head a little. She began muttering something, quietly, and both Jyn and Mirial perked their ears visibly to hear her.
"We should help..."

 

The fire-bats collided into the dark creatures and both exploded, causing other shadow creatures to be destroyed.

Aria looked over her shoulder and saw this. Bravery that had been lost earlier suddenly swelled inside her and she stopped running.

"Keep going!!" She yelled to Nuria and anyone else who was near her.

But Nuria skid to a halt and looked at her, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me, just go!" Aria said determinedly, slicing creatures with her sword as they charged at her.

Nuria hesistated, but since she had no weapons, she'd probably would just be in Aria's way. So with one more look at her friend, she took off again.

Moments after Nuria and the others left and after destroying countless of creatures, Aria realized there were endless of them and the huge monster was getting closer. Soon, she was completely surrounded by the shadow creatures.

~~~

Soon, Seyra and the others only had one path to take that was clear of monsters. It led to a stone staircase that led to the entrance hall of the Palace.

Scowling, she quickly went up them, her sword gripped ready for whatever they were to meet behind the stone door.

Which was....nothing.

The Sinalett rushed out into a completely desolate, yet still magnificent entrance hall of the Palace of Light. It was eerily illuminated by the glow coming in from the front doors and windows since night had finally fallen, and the echoes from Seyra's footsteps made the scene even more creepy.

~~~

As a last ditch effort, Aria powered up her sword as much as possible and threw it in the direction of the red glowing eyes which belonged to the giant monster, before breaking free from the other shadows and running for the others.

There was no screech of anger from the giant shadowmonster or from the others creatures. The sword seemed to have been engulfed in the darkness. Then, suddenly, all the creatures and the veil of dark matter vanished as though it was never there. Even the giant one faded away, without so much as a roar in protest. All at once it became silent throughout the dungeons , except in the area where Aria had thrown her weapon at. For the noise of a metal object clanging on the stone floor suddenly echoed in that passageway.

One by one, the torches that had been set up on the walls suddenly became lit again, revealing the hilt of Aria's sword on the floor at someone's feet.

A hand reached down and picked it up, "Damn...they sure did put up a good fight..." Sevita said to herself as she examined the weapon.

Her other hand was gripping her houlder where the sword had slashed when Aria had thrown it. It appeared the sword either missed or went right through the giant creature and hit the Advisor, who was standing behind it, causing her to lose hold of her spells.

Sevita grinned to herself, "Maybe Isis did make the right choice after all..."

 

Jyn held up a hand to both silence Mirial and stop her from advancing. The longer she stared at the Elian woman, the more she felt she should remember her.

"She's recovering from more than enough blows," Jyn said as if thinking aloud. "Her body isn't calling out for healing like others'. She has been treated well enough, from what I can see, though your suspicions may be right -- she could be given even better treatment. Even so..."

Jyn moved from the spot and walked to the bed she had been on, which was not so far from the one Elian woman was lying in right then.

"We're in an upstairs room," she stated, turning around to face Mirial. "Now we have a dilemma: either we stay here with this Elian or we go out and find the others. I need to know if my brother is all right... and he won't rest until he's seen me, I know that..."

**
Lanah ran into the entrance hall and stopped, trying to control her breathing. The sudden silence was almost deafening. She didn't dare go too far in, not while she was liable to make a sudden noise and give away their position, so she opted for staying by the door and watching Seyra while she gathered her breath and waited for the others.

**
Yunig jumped up, picking up wind under his wings and going high above the walls surrounding the area he'd been in. It was refreshing to escape this way. However, what had driven him to take flight was a vague suspicion that he should look at the city from above.

There he saw an unguarded open window on the third floor of the Palace.

"There! We can sneak in through there!" he told Aquafina before he flew downward, toward the Palace of Light.

 

"Well..." Mirial thought for a moment. "We could split up. Stay here with her, in case she wakes up, and I'll go to the others, and the come back for both of you." She continued, "It would be dangerous to take her with us. So, might I ask who your brother is? I assume he's one of the others who fought with us?"

 

Jyn shook her head. "I can't let you go alone."

She looked again at the sleeping Elian, then back at Mirial.

"She won't be left to die here, that much is certain. If what you say is true and there really is a battle going on, it will be best if we're together."

 

Rhye shielded his eyes from the sudden burst of light as he came through the door into the entrance hall. He looked around for any sort of threat awaiting them here. Surely, this was not where they were supposed to be. Someone was going to stop them, he just knew it. His blade still out, he began investigating every nook and crannie of the large, grandois room. He just wanted to get out with his hide at this point.

 

Val entered the hall in front of her brother and Amras. She looked aruond the beautiful hall. She put the bow back onto her shoulder and drew her two long knives and twisted them in her hands to get a better grip on them.

"Set up...if they wanted to push us somewhere...why would they lead us into the hall of the Palace and not back into the dungeons," Val said softly looking aruond suspiciously.

***

Lessien looked aruond with his sword. He saw Amras walking next to him.

"What are you thinking about Lessien?" Amras asked watching over Val from behind.

"NOthing...hoping we get out of here alive..." Lessien said vaguely.

Is this all your doing Empress? IF you wanted to see us no need to cause such complications... Lessien said inside his mind.

 

Mirial glanced again at the girl. "I trust you. It's best that I don't heal her... I don't think she's in risk of death." She looked up and hummed softly a bit, and it seemed the sunlight pouring in warmed a bit, and the room lightened a little.

"Lets go, then." Fetching her bag, she drank from the water that had been provided for her earlier, and packed some rations for the two of them, and some extra- it was good to stock up while they could. "Where are they?" She put her ear against the wall, and closed her eyes momentarily, seemingly searching with her mind. "Down." She whispered.

And with that, they were off.

(ooc: you're upstairs, remember? second floor)

 

Kael walked up next to Val, "It's a test..." He said in response to her question.

Suddenly, a gigantic wall of flames erupted out of nowhere, right in front of the warriors. The flames then twisted and formed into yet another giant monster, this time looking like a giant minotaur. It glared down at them from the ceiling, but didn’t attack.

Seyra jumped back by the sudden appearance and glared back at the thing, "Oh come on!! Couldn’t you think of something more original!!"

Nuria rushed into the hall just to quickly skid to a halt, "Whoa...!"

Moments after that, Aria also rushed in, but this time couldn’t stop in time, and bumped into Nuria and fell to the floor.

"Ow…what the!!" she said from her sitting position on the floor as she looked up at the massive creature.

Once they were all inside the chamber, a voice echoed into the room.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!!!"

Nuria flinched at the voice…she knew exactly who it belonged to.

Coming from out of the flames was the Royal Bodyguard and she looked pissed.

"Listen you idiots!! When the Empress tells you to stay in a cell, you stay there! Now, you will all follow me to the Empress’s chamber since you people are in such a damn hurry." She yelled at them before walking toward the staircase.

With a wave of her hand, the fiery minotaur moved to the side, clearing their path. "And if you even try something, I’ll personally burn you all to a crisp!!" she added without even turning around. "All will finally be explained if you just be patient for one more freaking moment!"

Seyra, who hadn’t expected this, stared dumbfounded for a moment at Kaiya’s retreating back. Then, determined to finally find out what the hell’s been going on, she followed.

Aria got back to her feet and looked at Nuria, who merely shrugged. Both then followed, thinking there wasn’t much more they could do.

 

Bara was now peeved about having to follow the Royal Bodyguard. He just wanted to leave the place at all...and preferably alive still,'Why did I help fight? Helping in a fight can only lead to good or bad. Not between. What does the Empress want?? We're just a group of fighters......well except for the three girls from the ring who are daughters of three high ranking people..I want to get home....Now I can't even use fire without getting into trouble.'

The fire dragon he'd made was still curled on his sholder, doing nothing but growling quietly now and then. He wanted to protect the dragon since the dragon was one he formed alot and was a close companion alot of the time. Controling fire still took some energy and he glared up at the large minotaur as he passed, snorted, the fire dragons growls rising slightly in sound for a moment until they were passed and it died off to a soft purr.

 

Val gripepd her blades angrily and moved forward to say something out of her frustrationa dn confusion but a hand fell upon her shoulder from behind and it was her wiser brother.

"They are about to explain, hold your anger," Lessien said sternly walking in front of her.

"I hate his patience," Amras said stepping to Val's side.

"I do as well..." Val said sheathing her blades behind her.

She turned to see Kael at her side as well. She lit a small smile but turned back and glared at the royal body guard.

Now is the time Empress...we will finally see what the hell all this was for... Lessien thought as he followed the royal bodygaurd through the great hall.

 

Kaiya led them up the stairs and down a long hallway. There they saw Mirial and Jyn coming out of their room.

"Good, you’re all healed up…now come on. The Empress wants a word with all of you." The RoyalBodyguard said when she saw them, without stopping in her walk.

She went up another staircase, though less elegant, to the third floor. This had larger halls with many rooms on either side of them. Kaiya’s final destination was the fourth floor but she stopped suddenly.

In front of them, was the Empress.

"Your Highness?" Kaiya asked, taking steps towards her.

"There’s not enough time. I’ve just heard that there will be another attack this very night." The Empress said, her voice calm and determined. Her eyes scanned the group behind her RoyalBodyguard, stopping at her daughter, and smiled. "They are our last hope…"

"In here…" The Empress said, walking up to a door and opening it. "I’ll explain everything."

~~~~

Inside was a Technological Laboratory, filled with techno weapons and other high tech equipment. The Empress led them through this large room and stopped in front a large metal arc connected with orbs and wires at the very back of the room.

Ariana blinked, "It’s a Gateway."

Nuria was confused and stared from her own mother to the Empress, looking for some answers.

"So…" The Empress started, twirling the glass map in her hands, "What should I explain first?"

 

Lanah looked and felt rather tired as she followed the Royal Bodyguard. Not only that, but she was a bit confused. Everything appeared to be happening too... she couldn't find a word to describe it, but she knew it was strange.

When they stopped in front of what Ariana called a Gateway, and when she heard the Empress address them, she jumped at the chance -- not literally, though; she was a little hunched over and steadying her breath.

"What's this about there being another attack, Your Highness?" she asked, confusion and a slight glimmer of worry in her eyes. "Who's informing you? What's going on? Why were there dark-spawn in the arena to begin with?"

***

Jyn touched Mirial's arm with her hand as if saying she'd be back, then she went to ask for her brother among the group. Worry started to flood her mind as she received shrugs.

Inside the laboratory, it was only after Lanah finished speaking that Jynaiyu demanded, rather angrily and ignoring formalities, "Where is my brother?"

 

The Empress blinked at the sudden barrage of questions, but it was expected.

"Your brother?" Isis pondered, "Ah yes, the Erthian. If I'm as good as I think I am at judging character, he should be coming for you soon."

"Now...How the dark-spawn got inside the city, I do not know. And I'm afraid I cannot tell you who is informing me, it's not an important question anyways. But what I can tell you is..." The Empress sighed, "...the Alletai have managed to come back to this plane."

 

"And let me guess...you want us to get rid of them?" Val asked rather seriously.

Lessien bumped Val form behind rather sternly with a galre that told Val to be more repectful.

"Your higness...what should we do when we have spent this entire time in the dark not knowing to trust you for any of what you claim...can you offer us proof what what you say?" Lessien said in a dignified voice.

 

The Empress looked at Lessien with a rueful smile, "Your proof is standing next to you." She said, looking pointedly at Seyra, who blinked.

Nuria glared at her, "That's right! She's one of them, we all saw her!"

The Empress rose her hand to silence the Pyrian, and turned to Seyra, "Tell me, did you have anything to do with the attack today?"

Seyra stared back determinedly, "No, of course not. You know the circumstances of what I am."

Aria blinked and Nuria scowled in frustration.

"Yes, of course." Isis said.

Then quite suddenly her eyes glazed over as though she was a trance, but as quickly as the look appeared, it vanished. She looked over to her Royal Bodyguard as though nothing strange had happened. "The girl's brother is coming, as well as the Aquian. Get them...and also retrieve Kiyomi from the Medical Wing. She should have gotten treatment by now."

Kaiya nodded and left the room.

"Now...I bet you're all wondering for what I have chosen for...why I have put you through those tests...and put you in jail?" The Empress continued, and a playful smirk suddenly appeared on her face. "No, not because I want you to get rid of the Alletai. It's because, I have chosen you to be part of a... contest. "

Aria, Nuria and even Seyra blinked in surprise. Even Kael looked at the Empress puzzedly.

The Empress' mysterious grin widened, "That's right...a contest...and the winner gets to rule the entire planet."