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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2007 0:43:23 GMT -5
Amon awoke, his shining white irises fading in and out, marking his returning vision. He hurt, his body sore and stiff, but he found the most grievous of his injuries healed away. Something, he knew, was amiss. He should have been long since dead, but here he lay, alive and well. It was disconcerting. Something must have happened while he lay on the brink of death, though what, he didn’t know.
He decided, after a few moments of thought, that it was something he could investigate later. There was no point in pondering such things without first gaining some knowledge on the situation. With a glance, he knew he wasn’t where he had been before. The area was covered in large, tall, brown and green apparitions. Trees, as he remembered them being called from his research, was what they were. Strange things, trees. They simply stood there and had no real purpose. Well, no real purpose that he could see.
The sky was the real interest. It was not blood red, nor filled with fire and the smoke from the fiery pits. In fact, it was a kind of gentle amber, and in it rested these strange floating things. What they were, he had no clue, but that wasn’t what had drawn his attention. It was the massive orb in the sky. It lit the world around him, almost pleasantly, in a gentle hue. This new world that he resided in was quite the wondrous place. It had “Trees” and the Orb in the Sky. Amon couldn’t wait to explore the realm he now existed in. Who knew what other wonders existed here.
He was so enchanted, as it was, that he didn’t notice the pull of being incomplete vanish. It’s pain was gone, as if it never were. Perhaps he was whole once more. Perhaps he’d gained his soul back. Either way, Amon didn’t notice the change. He had more important matter to attend to. He had a world to explore.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2007 20:13:11 GMT -5
Amon stared into the sky, deeply pondering this new world around him. His wings stretched, the thick bones cracking and burning. This world of twilight, it was something of a wonder to him. The fresh scent of grass, the trees, the feeling of the soft earth, the general sensation of life around him, was so different from the feeling of the heated fires of the Hellplane. Such a wonder, the mortal plane was. Something so strange, so bizarre, yet so beautiful. If only it wasn’t so full of humans. Foolish wretches they all were. They built their cities, and destroyed the natural wonder that was the universe at large.
He grinned, his fangs curling slightly, at the scent of the pine around him, his ashen skin feeling the cool breeze as it drifted through the trees. The blacksteel gauntlets on his hands clinked as he lifted them up, his hands brushing against the lines of mana that encircled this world, basking in the sensation of the calm feelings that coursed through him. It brought a small smile to his face, this sensation, a sensation not filled with the dark feelings of anger and hate, of suffering and pain. It was strange, yes, but endearing to him.
And then he heard it. A rustling in the wind, of crushed grass. The feeling of a sentient being, one with a soul, one who is young, foolish, innocent. One of those humans who so foolishly deluded themselves into thinking they have some value in the grand scheme of things. Amon could only sigh in annoyance. This... human... had ruined the atmosphere. Such a bother, these mortals. They always appeared where one least wants them. Perhaps, though, if he ignored it, the mortal would go away.
His spines twitched at the feel of a sudden, massive source of energy, however. One that washed over him with it’s sheer, contained power. It was something he could not ignore. It set off all of his senses, filling him with a wariness that he’d only had but once, when he was in the presence of a being infinitely more powerful than he. It was a sense that sank fear into his bones. But how...? his mind screamed. Certainly this sensation wasn’t coming from that mortal, was it? That was impossible. No mortal was so strong. He had to investigate.
He opened his massive wings, and thrust down with a massive push, sending his nine foot frame high into the air, where it bent in mid flight, sending him down, back towards the earth, through the foliage, and landing right behind the small mortal with little more than a whisper. He looked at her frigidly, and felt his muscles twitch with preparedness. In his guttural tone, he growled out a simple phrase that echoed through the silent world around them:
“Who are you?”
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2007 22:19:27 GMT -5
A minute passed before the mortal child, the human thing, opened her mouth to speak. Her voice was soft, shaken, fearful, and yet strangely firm. Her question, one that would have been almost insolent if it didn’t sound so pathetic, rang through the demon’s ears, causing it to narrow it’s eyes. Such a strange creature, this human. Able to look him in the eye, even as it quaked in terror, giving him a look that told him she would fight him should he attack. It was almost amusing to him, really, as he towered over her seated form. She, this little thing, barely past her first decade, had the spunk to raise her weapon to him. He gave her a full, toothy smirk, showing off all of his needle sharp, inch long fangs that looked twisted, evil, and almost sadistic.
He saw it now, where all of this slip of a human’s power came from, that being the strange key-like weapon in her grip. His pale eyes flashed, the aura of power of that odd blade nearly blinding, yet contained within the seemingly frail item in question. Within it he could see the pure lines of energy as they wrapped around the weapon, cradling it, nurturing it, to it’s full, undaunted strength. He could tell, instantly, that this weapon was something far beyond him, and in the right hands, would be absolutely deadly to even a Sin such as he. But this girl’s hands were far from right. Her grip was too tight, and her position leaving her open to attack. No weapon, regardless of how powerful, would save an inept user from a decently skilled opponent.
He almost chuckled in pity. Almost. Mirth played clearly across his face, as if he were merely tolerating her for her sheer entertainment value. Which was true, in a way. If he truly wanted, he had no doubt he would kill her. His scythe may not be able to slash through this enemy’s weapon, but he could work around that, instead coming in low, or perhaps from the side, or maybe even above, if he were so inclined to do so. He didn’t of course, as he was neither sadistic nor particularly bloodthirsty, and saw killing her as more of a waste of energy than it was worth. Besides, he wanted to study such an odd piece of mystical weaponry, and such weapons had a habit of vanishing with their owner’s lives. That simply wouldn’t do.
Amon stared at the human thing for a few more moments, his glee fading back into the cold glare he’d begun with, his glowing eyes never leaving hers, before finally speaking. He’d decided to indulge her, as reward for not wetting herself, something many other mortals had done in his presence. Of course, his frigid, gravelly voice reverberated across the silent forest, but now with more of a mocking tone to it.
“I am Amon,” He began, his voice sharp and mocking, “Master of the hellplane Sholoth, Lord of the Court of Lucifer, Dread Paladin of the Third Brotherhood, and the Sin of Cruelty.” He made sure to emphasize that last bit, telling her exactly what his specialty was in the service of the Dark Lord. He continued on, in his similarly dark tone, but this time without the mocking lilt, his visage suddenly cold, vicious and utterly devoid of emotion.
“Now that I have graced you with my title, I advise you do the same, lest you begin to try my patience.” He finished, making known that he had very little tolerance for those who continued to try him. He was never the most patient of Demon Lords anyway, not for such trivial matters. Regardless, he stared her down, and though he made no move to step forward or attack, he did lean forward, his dark eyes glistening and a sickly purple aura manifesting around his towering form. He awaited her answer.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2007 21:01:05 GMT -5
Amon stared at her a moment, his eyes shimmering in the twilight, and then grinned. He could see her trembling soul, through her strong will and into the depths of who she was. His gaze cut through her, weighing her, measuring her, and then, after a moment, decided that perhaps she wasn’t as pathetic as he’d first thought. A very brave few ever dared stand against a Sin. It was always welcome to see some spine in the face of Death itself. Many thought these few to be fools, but those who knew, who understood, that death while standing was a far better fate than living the life of a slave, never questioned their actions. They always, always respected those who chose to die fighting, even if their names were lost to the sands of time. And Amon had thought he’d found another.
“Yes, Just Plain Kumei, it is a rather simple title. But titles change, based off of what you do in your time. I think you know this.” Amon began, straitening to look at the girl from his full height. His massive wings folded back, the large, digit like protrusions occasionally twitching, but otherwise still, and the demon himself folded his hands behind his back. The grin never left his features, even as he watched her. His frame was stock still, the rising and falling of his chest the only sign of life in him. He thought for a moment, about this slip of a girl and her strong will, and finally spoke again.
“I wonder what drives you to stand against me? What gives you the courage to lift yourself and your blade? Surely it is not your weapon, as you do not appear to be skilled with it. I doubt that you could even wound me should I strike, something I think you know as well, yet you lift it anyway. Where does your courage come from? I would like to know.” He said, his dark voice almost casual, as he looked at her. In this time he’d taken the opportunity to look her over, from her flowing brown hair to her suspenders to the hiking boots over her feet. He would admit that she didn’t look like one who had the will of a warrior, but then again that was why he was always so interested with this species of being. You could never tell quite what was beneath the exterior.
This one, especially, interested him. Somehow she’d come upon a weapon of unimaginable power, and had managed to tame it. She had the courage that most warriors lacked in the presence of one such as he, and even went so far as to give him cheek. It was a rare opportunity to study a human like this, in this condition, just so he could see how she progressed. He could only wonder what destiny awaited her, and he wanted to see it play out. After all, he was immortal, and as such, could spend centuries following mortals around and it would only be a drop in the entirety of his existence.
Amon was torn from his thoughts as a sense of malignance wrapped around him, filling him with the dark energies of rage and hate. The smile fell from his lips, his arms sliding from behind his back, palms open. His left arm lifted, the black chainmail glinting in the twilight rays of the sun, and from his open palm formed an orb of light. But it wasn’t the right color of light, per say, with an off purple hue defining it rather than the normal white that light had been known to turn. In an instant two long shafts of purple energy formed, each ending with a blade of energy, one being a wickedly curving scythe, and the other ending in a triple pronged trident. His hand closed around the weapon, and from there he slashed at the girl with a vertically arced cut.
The attack had come completely out of nowhere, and for a moment it looked as if Amon meant to behead her. At the last moment, however, he altered the slash of the energy weapon, instead passing the crackling scythe over the girl’s head, catching the black-skinned being that had attempted to strike at her from behind, skewering it through the chest. The creature let out a strangled cry as the energy began to burn it away, purple flame following in the wake of the weapon as it crossed the sky and finally slammed into the ground next to Amon, the black skinned beast’s yellow eyes flickering once before it died, the body itself fading into black dust and shadow. In an instant the two found themselves surrounded by a great many more, at least thirty, if Amon guessed right. His plans would need to be put on the back burner for now, as the third party made itself known.
Letting out a low, guttural growl, the demon spread his wings and lifted his scythe up threateningly. The weapon crackled with dark energy, the ground where it’s tip had touched already turning black and dying. His voice low, dark, and dangerous, the Sin of Cruelty spoke.
“You dare interrupt me? Foolish creatures, I will kill you all for this insult! Taste the edge of Malignance, and feel my CRUEL INTENTION!” At the scream, the demon dragged his weapon across the ground, purple sparks shooting from the point where the two touched. The weapon then left the earth, a gouge marking it’s path, trailed by a scarlet wave of energy. The wave shot forth, slicing through trees, rocks, earth, and air, and finally making it’s way through three of the attackers, killing them all instantly as it eviscerated them. The other monsters al tensed, and in an instant, the battle was met.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2007 2:12:09 GMT -5
In a slash of purple flame, Malignance danced through the air, singing it’s deadly song as it passed through shadow after shadow, sending them to the darkness from whence they came. Amon bent and twisted in a familiar waltz, one he’d learned long ago, during his eons of study in the darkest pits, his large frame moving fluidly from one enemy to the next. His rage had long since faded into the background, the hot emotion fading behind a wall of frigid logic and analysis. His face was blank, no emotion showing, for none was needed. All his mind knew, was that with every flash of soft, pulsing pressure, another one of the shadows fell.
Yet for every one of those shadows that dies, two more were born. They appeared from no where and everywhere, the puffs of smoke that signaled their births flooding the field of combat. To Amon, their clawing assaults and razor fangs were little more than scratches, but even those, if left to build, would fell him. He was immortal, yes, but far from invincible. Those shadows, those ugly little trolls, were fast, and very agile, and to their advantage, Amon found himself having to overextend each strike in order to reach them. This left him more open than he would have liked, allowing these small, pitiful creatures to strike him time and again.
Another crimson wave exploded from his scythe, carving away trees, earth, rocks and shadows like a hot knife through warm butter. The heated wave of pure, dark energy slew a trove of the beasts stupid enough to clump together, creating a cloud once more, this time of ash, to mark the end of the creatures. But it was far from enough. A twirl of Malignance silenced two, and four more took their place. A stab of purple energy, and yet another was no more, yet somehow leaving two in it’s wake. Amon’s eyes narrowed as he took this in. Something here was making no sense. The creatures were continually spawning, yes, but each spawn came instantly after a kill. That was when he began to notice how the creatures, whenever they spawned, one was always smaller than the other, and in them he could sense no souls, only a familiar energy that struck an odd cord in him. That was when it hit him.
He was creating them. There was no other explanation. Somehow, they were taking the energy from his scythe and using it to multiply, as they only seemed to form when he slashed them apart, rather than when he slew them with a Cruel Intention or crushed them with his massive wings. He was only destroying their physical forms, and not their energy, allowing them to manifest in doublet. Once he realized this, he allowed a dark smile to grace his features. He now knew how to beat them. He just... needed some help.
He halted his attack, and then formed a dark, unintelligible whisper, the words of the demonic tongue, words ancient and long forgotten to the realm of man, echoing through the field. The words, dark, and terrible, were capable of making a mortal’s ears bleed in their intensity, as they focused and harnessed the currents of dark energy that all realms shared. And that’s when an eerie voice began to whisper on the wind, a dark melody that coursed through all living things, almost silent in it’s existence, yet clear as the sky around them. The words, long since garbled, simple wove through the air as a combined cry of despair, stealing the energy of all that were touched by it.
The sun dimmed slightly, as the air itself began to dry out and stale. The trees began to die, their leaves slowly turning brown and falling off. The grass began to brown around them, slowly rotting in the earth as the winds carried song of life’s end. Birds fell from the sky, no longer having the energy to fly, and small animals fainted dead away. The larger animals all fled the area, panicking at the sudden darkness they felt claw at their very souls. And the shadows, the ones that had thought to steal Amon’s own dark power, slowly began to shrink as their energy was stolen away by the Soulsong that Amon himself had summoned.
And the demon himself, Amon, the Sin of Cruelty, looked on at the devastation as it wrapped around the twilight forest. He lifted his scythe and in a smooth, cold motion, slew the nearest of the withering shadows. It’s energy drained, the creature could not summon enough of Amon’s own power to sustain it, and in an instant, it perished, falling into a cloud of shadow and ash. That was when he smiled his cruel, dark smile, and went about the eradication of these creatures. They didn’t stand a chance.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2007 22:45:38 GMT -5
A flash. One final, purple flash, and it was done. The last of the forest bound shadows had fallen, the creatures manifesting no more in the dead grove that consisted of the battlefield. No more did they spawn, to vex him, to strike at him. They were all dead, or as dead as a barely contained being of energy could be, in any case. The song of death still wafted through the air, the darkly melodic tune whispering on the wind, and it would do so for some time still. The earth around him, dead, sterile, met his gaze as it lazily drifted across the ground. There were no more of his enemies, at least not alive. But then again, there wasn’t much alive around him period. A shame, he supposed. The scenery had been so nice.
The demon had known the girl fled at the beginnings of his Soulsong, but there was little he could do about it. Even he wasn’t omnipotent. Well, not yet. He had been too busy killing the strange shadow creatures to see where she’d run off to, but then again, the girl was leaking enough energy to power a small city for the rest of eternity. It wasn’t like she was very hard to track. He would have flown, but she wasn’t more than a kilometer away, and he’d finished killing off the bulk of the shadows by the time she’d left. She only had a few minutes on him, at most. It wouldn’t have been worth the effort. So rather, he decided to take it at a leisurely stroll, not really bothering to put away Malignance, preferring to have the weapon handy and lose a little energy than resummon it and waste more.
The foliage didn’t quite agree with him, and lo and behold, a small trench of dead earth followed him in his wake as the dark energies of his scythe set black fire to the earth it touched. The black fire burned out quickly, though, as it had no energy to support it, and kept from lighting the forest ablaze. That would have been a shame, had Amon really, honestly cared enough to think about it, but he didn’t, so it wasn’t.
The trip itself lasted only about fifteen minutes at most, and the girl was right there in front of him most of the time. Amon smiled in his dark, twisted way, and tilted his head curiously at the scene before him. The girl had vanquished some more of the shadow monsters, and appeared to be tiring, once he had reached her. He didn’t, however, step in to assist her as more appeared. They were few in number and dwindling, and tired as she was, she seemed capable of taking care of those few whom had spawned after their comrades’ untimely ends. So he simply stood there and watched. He was curious to see what the child could do. His smile never left his features.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2007 1:08:26 GMT -5
Amon watched on in silence as the girl dealt with the few shadows that accosted her, the strange weapon in her hands flashing like lightning as it struck down her enemies. It really was a sight to see, the destruction of these things, undoubted shocked in their own ends as they came. To him, her clumsy moves were apparent, but these shadow-like beings were far worse, striking en-masse in hopes of scoring a hit, and then flying back with the strokes of her weapon, only to go forth again, to their deaths. It reminded him of certain imps that, at a certain point in their lives, dived into the lava pits with suicidal glee. Quite entertaining, really.
Regardless, the fight came to a most abrupt end with the last of the phantomlike figures fading into dust, ash and darkness. A moment later, she spared him a simple glance before speaking out loud, a single word, that alone managed to brighten her aura for a moment, and then vanish, leaving her body repaired of what little damage it had sustained in combat. A rather interesting trick, Amon supposed, but one that wasn’t all that impressive on the grand scale of things. Still, he made note to investigate the spell later. It would be most useful to him should he be able to puzzle it out, which he would given enough time.
His smile had yet to vanish, even as the slip of a human growled out her question. What “that” was, Amon wasn’t sure of, at first. Had it been the attack, he was in the dark as much as she was, and he had no doubt that the reasoning of such creatures was chaotic at best, and maddening at worst. What drove them could turn out to be a most interesting study, and he mentally added it to his ever growing list of experiments. But that still hadn’t answered the question stated by the child, Kumei, so he pondered again, his eyes not leaving hers.
The next thing he could think of would apply directly to his demonic heritage, that being Malignance. He had no doubt that a weapon made of pure dark energy was something not seen in this world very often, if ever. However, the mechanics behind such a thing were no doubt beyond her. Even he himself, who’d spent more then a century studying the weapon wasn’t exactly sure of all of the minute details, and he doubted she needed anything more than the term “Energy Weapon” which basically explained the scythe. That ruled out that possibility, as the girl wasn’t quite that stupid.
The only thing he could think of, besides himself, of course, would be his attacks. Now, this required a touch of thought. He had no doubt the girl had figured that most of his strikes were blasts of energy. Simple, really, if powerful. Contrary to popular belief, energy based attacks didn’t have a very complicated explanation. Amon had a feeling she wasn’t referring to something an animated turnip could puzzle out, and that left him with one more option. The Soulsong.
It was something he answered with obvious glee, though why it was so couldn’t really be puzzled out. Yes, he had been the one who created the Soulsong, but he wasn’t ever one to gloat. No, this glee came from the effectiveness of a skill he’d never been able to put to the test. It was supposed to cause death on a massive scale, and it had done so very efficiently. And that was the answer he offered her.
“The most effective way to take care of the problem, though it is a shame about the forest. So many lost experiments. A shame I couldn’t collect any samples, but oh well. I’m sure I’ll find something to make up for the loss.” He said, his voice not remorseful at the least at summoning massive scale death, but rather at the loss of some opportunity to dissect and study the woods. He barely even cared about that, and it showed with the pout on his lips and the gleefully annoyed glimmer in his eyes. The look quickly vanished and was once again replaced by his cruel smile.
“Did you enjoy the show?”
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