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Post by Raphael on Sept 14, 2014 1:09:20 GMT -5
Arin climbed up the ladder at his own pace, taking about twice as much time to reach the top than the one who could lift herself to the top in less than a minute. When he reached the top, JessY offered for Arin to take the lead, who nodded in agreement and opened the door. "Good idea..."
As he silently led them through the door leading to the next floor, he started reflecting on the battle with Nirax. The doppelgänger spoke and acted exactly like the way he acted the first time they clashed. Nirax was so fueled by hatred and darkness, a darkness that Arin was also a part of.
Arin then began to think back to his moments when he was struggling to maintain control over his darkness, to keep it from consuming him. The more that he thought about how his own darkness was what almost brought about his downfall, grabbing onto the keyblade balanced his soul again, the light keeping the darkness stable in his heart once more.
…Balance…Was that it? Was the reason he fought was in order to maintain balance in the worlds, and not let one side grow too powerful?
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Post by Prythian on Sept 14, 2014 1:23:03 GMT -5
Prythian blinked, his eyes drooping. "Good... good work. I hope... hope the next floor is..." And with a perceptible sigh, his eyes rolled back up into his head, eyelids closing, and what little muscles he had that weren't relaxed already slumped. He was completely out cold. His skin felt cool to the touch, and the colored lights shining through the cracks and holes in him was alternating between rapidly whirling and slowing down to a crawl. Still, though, he continued to breathe, and a pulse would still be there if either Arin or JessY tried finding it.
Despite his lack of consciousness, the door on the next floor still attuned itself to him. If and when the group traveled through it, they would find a cut-up corse holding onto what remained of the hilt of a blade made entirely out of crystal.
((Not saying you have to go through the door just yet; I just wanted to work this in real quick.))
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Post by JeY k on Sept 15, 2014 11:43:30 GMT -5
There seemed to be a lot of life contemplation going on. JessY wondered just how they would manage to continue to their goal and what might entail finding the girl and how this strange entity of manifested space would react once they got there. There were too many unknowns, but she was willing to stick with them and see this to the end unless she became conscious of the situation that might be the end of her. She wasn't that committed but she would definitely try her hardest. She wouldn't really know it either, but Arin seemed a bit lost in thought as he went ahead, and poor Prythian was hanging on for dear life.
He almost scared the piss out of her when he slumped further but quickly bringing her ear to his mouth and looking at his chest and seeing it rise and fall while she heard the faintest of inhales and exhales, realizing he was still alive but who knew for much longer. "Poor boy's out cold. Literally too. He's breathing for now but who knows how long that will last. Let's be quick about this next bit. Stop and fight only if we're completely blocked, or at least just knock things away or disable them if you can." She definitely anticipated more fighting, whether or not that would be the case.
When they finally made it into the next room, a chill went down the girl's spine as she laid eyes on the defeated soldier. He only hung onto a hilt, but something told the girl that there was much more there before. It was creepy. She wasn't fond of whatever was going on here. It wasn't anything she would recognize, so she hoped that the at-least-conscious boy to drive this one home again. Then again, key word was hope; if this had to do with Prythian, they were boned six ways from Sunday.
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Post by Raphael on Sept 15, 2014 22:37:42 GMT -5
Arin looked back when JessY mentioned Prythian falling unconscious, sighing in relief when she found his breathing. It was a no brainer that they needed to hurry, and he knew that fighting would only delay them further. If he absolutely had to, he would stay behind and let the other proceed to the next floor, if this one turned out to be hostile.
But this room wasn't too hostile from the looks of things. The corpse on the floor was cut up and bloodied, and he was holding onto a crystalized sword, one that Arin could only deduce as the sword that was Prythian's origin. Arin advanced first, looking around to see if anyone was within sight. If not, then he would just signal for them to continue without any fuss.
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Post by Prythian on Sept 15, 2014 22:44:30 GMT -5
As fate would have it, there was one person nearby to the right, who had just walked up to them. He wore no shirt, revealing a large gnarled scar in the center of his chest, and strange light-green hair and grey eyes. "You should just put him down there." He said calmly, indicating a spot right next to the corpse. "I have no qualms with you, but I'm afraid I can't let you continue with... him." A bright energy flared up in his eyes. "I gave my life to destroy it once..." Here, he gestured to the shattered sword. "...only to find myself trapped with the victims I sought to free. Now he's dying all of his own accord, and my work will be finished. All I need you to do..." He said lightly, almost with a smile. "...is to put him down and walk away."
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Post by JeY k on Sept 17, 2014 12:02:05 GMT -5
Whatever was going on here, JessY was very interested in just not being a part of it. She was about to follow closely behind the other boy before they were approached by someone who claimed that they needed to just put 'him' down here. JessY assumed Prythian, to which she rolled her eyes. As if it would be that easy. She would've pulled out her swords, but she wasn't in any position to do so at the moment. So, she would use the next best weapon: the dude in front of her.
"And, uh... we have no issues here either, but we have shit to do and we need this guy so uh... fuck off?" Wow, harsh. This was just a cruddy memory, who cared what Prythian's past was. Sure there may have been some darker bits but there would be no giving up now. She wasn't discouraged through this fleeting negligible scene. "Hey, whatever-your-name-is, beat this guy to a pulp for me if he takes another step, alright? We're not here to mess around in ancient, un-rewritable history. It will make our lives easier in the long run if we dispose of him now if he doesn't play nice." Perhaps that may have started out a little rude, forgetting the boy's name for probably the second or third time now (if it was only once she would've been amazed, if she never got his name even more amazed still).
Primarily, she hoped Arin got the hint that whatever was going on here was in the past and taking part in whatever demands his past made had no point. She would be more than willing to point it out directly at his expense, but she assumed he was a little smarter than that (even if she already didn't think that highly of his intelligence, he didn't seem dumb). However, she couldn't ignore a chill that just went down her spine, something bigger was at stake here but she couldn't put her finger on why she had such an ominous feeling. She was quite finished with any BS, so she sincerely hoped they could just murder this guy and get on with their journey.
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Post by Raphael on Sept 18, 2014 22:25:37 GMT -5
Arin looked over at the soul that chose to approach them, not too keen on the way he was thinking of Prythian *This must be the person that the old man was talking about...That means we have one more floor to go before we reach our destination...*
Then, JessY spoke up, and once again, her bitchiness likely got us in trouble. She didn't need to tell him to step in, he chose to do so himself, drawing both sword handles and glancing back at Prythian, before glaring at the hostile warrior
"As bitchy as ever...Just take him to the next floor, so he can recover...I'll keep this guy busy until you reach the next floor."
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Post by Prythian on Sept 18, 2014 22:33:30 GMT -5
The man barked a short laugh. "The past? You think so little of me... and here I thought you might've figured out by now that when it comes to this... boy..." His lips curled up in disgust. "...this castle behaves entirely differently. Not past memories... at least, not his. Not images stuck repeating themselves over and over..." He pointed one finger up towards the sky. "...For instance, I can guarantee you that I never once used this spell when I was alive... too destructive." Up in the sky, a bright light appeared... and slowly hurtling towards the battlefield was a large meteor. It would land relatively soon.
"Not that that matters here in this place!" His hands began to glow with a bright light. "If you won't leave him to die of your own free will, then I have to use force! I will not let him cheat death and bar me my freedom again!" He raises his hands up and flung them forward, and in the distance behind him, a large wave of water could be seen hurtling their way. "TSUNAMI!" Also made briefly visible by the large water spell was that it briefly seemed to split open and then back together around an invisible object about twenty feet past the insane mage.
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Post by JeY k on Sept 25, 2014 12:12:15 GMT -5
Besides some generic snide comment from Arin, seems everything was in good shape. "It's what I'm here for!" Of course, she could only move so fast while attempting to lug someone around who was completely unconscious. She managed to catch the entire retort of the guy who attempted to stand in their way, all by himself. Not particularly the best of ideas, but she stopped dead in her tracks with how self aware the entity was. The mysterious man seemed to know exactly what he was and his relevance to the story. Okay, now that definitely wasn't right.
The light would definitely catch her attention, and making no mistake she saw the giant ball of fire making its descent. "...Great," the young girl said under her breath. She would need to gently lay her companion down again like before but she would have to keep close. Moving too far away spelled immediate danger, but she couldn't defend herself with him in her clutches. Nobody was going anywhere until they were dead or the madman was. JessY's rather playful face dropped to something grave, her expression signaling just exactly how done she was with this situation. She seemed to bear little emotion this time around, just irritation if anything.
Just before she could really summon her sword and get things moving, the madman had a different course of action ready - a huge friggin' tsunami. It was a ways away and though quick moving, no severe rush to defend in this case but she was prepared. Without a word she would run out to grab Arin by the arm and try to pull him back toward where she left Prythian. "Sit tight if you don't want to get wet." Her voice was colder and less energetic than before though. Lifting her arm into the air, a thin line of energy shut up and rapidly expanded into a dome. Her will of the energy's position would be stronger than whatever force a giant wave of water could apply, so long as JessY concentrated it was incredibly likely that the tsunami would have no effect while just washing over her protective barrier, which could hold as long as she needed it to (or until her arm got tired).
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Post by Raphael on Sept 26, 2014 1:00:59 GMT -5
Arin shielded his eyes when the man summoned up that bright light, looking up to see a giant meteor falling towards them. Then he saw the giant tidal wave and covered his face with his hand "Oh come ON!" He was quickly pulled back by JessY, who had brought up a barrier to protect them from the tsunami.
"A meteor and a tsunami, are you fricking kidding me?! This is complete bullshit!"
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Post by Prythian on Sept 26, 2014 1:24:10 GMT -5
The tsunami swept over the shield without issue, the water magically vanishing almost as fast as it had appeared. "No, what's BULLSHIT is that you damned heroes keep protecting the results of one of the greatest evils ever unleashed on my world!" The mage spat, hands moving swiftly. "It took all of the magical power I could channel to destroy that sword from within, and I will not let the opportunity to finish the job be wasted again!" With that, he held his hands by his side, energy coursing between them, before expanding outwards into an enormous, lance-like arrow of light.
Prythian's unconscious face twitched, twisting in the face of someone having a nightmare. "The door... can't find... the door... where is it?" The words passed from his lips, almost barely audible. Meanwhile, the mage was finishing up his spell. "PIERCING FLARE!" With a single thrust of his hands forward, the arrow flung itself towards the shield protecting JessY, Arin, and Prythian. The meteor in the sky grew larger as it continued to fall towards the ground.
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Post by JeY k on Sept 26, 2014 11:57:37 GMT -5
Fortunately the defensive measure that JessY would take managed to hold against the crushing force of the water, which seemed to realize that it was defeated as it vanished as quickly as it arrived once it was fully past them. Arin wasn't too happy about the whole ordeal though, prompting the girl to reply in a voice that spoke to her lack of amusement. "Keep calm, have dealt with worse," she said while under the protection of her bubble, which also prevented sound from escaping and the mage from hearing her plan. "Just keep psychonuts busy. I can take out the meteor, but I will be almost completely immobile while doing so. Draw his attention and keep me from getting attacked. Can you manage?"
She would give him a tiny moment to respond before dismissing the barrier that was no longer necessary as the tsunami was gone, barely catching Prythian's mumble but now they had a new problem - luckily the attack was telegraphed from miles away, but the mage had something new in store. Without any time to address Prythian's utterance she would go to push Arin to the side to give him a little momentum to dodge and throw a line at the ground to propel herself up and over the attack once it came, landing some distance farther away as to create a bit more spacing so she could execute her plan easier. She formed a few lines of energy extending in various direction, though didn't form anything obvious as of yet. She scouted to make sure Arin properly maintained the focus target of the fight before pinning herself down to anything. In this position, she could defend herself or Prythian at a moment's notice.
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Post by Raphael on Sept 26, 2014 16:26:23 GMT -5
Arin looked back as JessY was trying to be the voice of reason. Apparently, she had a plan to handle the meteor, but would need his help distracting the hostile soul fragment. Nodding silently, he dashed out of the bubble, rushing the man as he was charging his lance attack. If he could catch the man before he could launch the attack, he's try and break his focus by aiming for his chest with a cross slash, his swords drawn and ready to fight.
Too late! The arrow was flying right at him. Juking to the right, he aimed both blades at the light arrow and tackled the side of it, charging light and dark auras into the shaft and trying to redirect the attack before it could reach its mark.
"You know, it's self-righteous assholes like you that really get on my nerves. You can't even tell that even after all that weapons done, it's created someone who isn't evil. If someone like that was alive for as long as I assume he's been, then why aren't the worlds being terrorized by him?!"
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Post by Prythian on Sept 26, 2014 18:23:33 GMT -5
The mage laughed as Arin deflected the arrow to one side. "First off, boy, that thing you see there was born in that exact form. It's only been alive in this world for about one year now. Its apparent age is an illusion. Secondly, its very existence is evil! I, and all the other soul fragments, are still trapped within him. We may not be the whole of what we were once were, but some of what we were is stuck here for as long as he draws breath." He spat to the side. "Do you know what happened last time he came to this castle? The fragments of previous wielders of the sword tried to destroy his personality so that they could take over his body..." His eyes flashed. "...RETURNING TO TERRORIZE THE WORLDS YOU CLAIM TO HOLD DEAR! Enough of this."
The mage began doing more gestures, magical lines following every movement he made. "TORNADO!" And next to the man whirled into being dark winds and thick clouds, forming an onimous funnel that began sucking away pieces of the ground. The mage pointed at Arin and it began to move forward towards him. "If you insist on getting in my way, I have no choice but to blow you away!"
Meanwhile, the meteor began to look like an enormous sun hanging murderously above them. The orange light it gave off colored the entire world, casting long shadows. And while it was possible that between the tornado and the mage between it and them, it was possible that someone would notice the shadows of a doorframe... being cast from a place where no door was.
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Post by JeY k on Sept 29, 2014 13:23:23 GMT -5
In a miraculous chain of events, it seemed that things were perfectly going their way. The punk didn't put up any resistance to her plan and to both of their benefit trusted her completely, especially when he had every right to question her about what she was capable of and how she could possibly manage such a task. Well, it wouldn't be easy, but it was certainly possible. The fact that he executed his side of the strategy with precision without letting doubt muddle the equation would made this plan substantially easier. She made a mental note to give him the proper thanks and praise after this was over.
For now, she would remain clueless as to the door shadow as she focused on the rogue mage attack patterns and aiming properly at the sky in order to prepare her meteor take-down. She identified that she had a clear opening as Arin had full focus of their enemy, giving her a great opportunity to strike. The lines she prepared before already being in place made his much faster, within moments the intricate structure she laid out with paper-thin ribbons of energy rapidly expanded into something much bigger. Her arm was now a mounted tripod cannon turret made up of rainbowy semi-transparent ability energy, the barrel pointed straight up at the sky.
This massive weapon used up a lot of her capacity, so she only had enough spare energy to form three round shots, which took a few moment to materialize leaving her slightly vulnerable to sudden attacks should she suddenly become a target. Being allowed to fire though, there would be three loud 'clang's in succession from firing the cannon, the round shot soaring up. She would keep focus, and once they made impact she would mentally force the shots to shatter and break the meteor apart into tiny fragments, making it far easier to defend against. She would have to deal with any immediate complications should they arise to delay the firing, but hopefully Arin would do his job and she wouldn't have to resort to dismantling the cannon again to defend herself.
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Post by Raphael on Oct 2, 2014 22:07:49 GMT -5
Arin gritted his teeth when he saw the tornado forming in front of him. As good as he was, even he couldn't beat the power of the elements. Still, the light from the meteor revealed something interesting. A door-shaped silhouette was behind the mage. Ducking back into JessY's barrier to ride out the storm, he looked at her, pointing toward where the silhouette was while the winds outside of the barrier blocked out sound to those closest to them
"I found the exit, if I can distract him long enough, you need to get through that door with Prythian. How much did that attach take out of you?"
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Post by Prythian on Oct 3, 2014 1:49:28 GMT -5
The three rounds impacted with the meteor, and as JessY detonated them, the meteor was blown into bits of flaming rubble that bounced around the field... but not around JessY and Arin, the blasts sending the rubble away from the point of impact from the attack that had demolished the meteor. As the mage stood up and gaped in amazement, the tornado stopped spinning slowly and shrunk away into nothing. "...No..."
His face flushed with anger, and he turned to look at Arin, JessY, and Prythian. "You will not get away, abomination..." He clapped his hands together. "THUNDERCLAP!" Thick clouds began spreading in the sky, lightning zapping between them in powerful flashes. The clouds themselves were building up to something powerful, though whatever attack it was hadn't happened yet.
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Post by JeY k on Oct 7, 2014 12:30:04 GMT -5
So there were some huge spells the guy could cast. Unfortunately, they also had big counters, one of them being easy and the other JessY made up on the fly without even knowing fully if it would work. Fortunately it did, and the meteor in question was blown to bits and was no longer an immediate threat. So, now that she could focus on offense, JessY dispelled her cannon and turned back to the fight. Without getting the chance for a proper assessment, she was greeted with good news. Wait...
With the meteor being blown up, there wasn't a shadow for JessY to witness anymore. A brief look around made her question the good news. "I'm good to go and everything but in order for this to work, I need to be the one aware of where this door is; mind filling me in?" There wouldn't much of a pause at all between her question and the mage casting his next spell though. She braced herself for the worst, but nothing happened. Well, it suddenly got darker and cloudier. Huh.
In any case, JessY wasn't a happy camper. "Hey uh, I'm willing to bet I'm a hundred times more evil than whoever you're pissed at, so there's really... wait. Where was I going with this?" JessY looked down and sighed. Seemed there was no point to her rebuttal anymore. "Regardless! Stop this uphill battle at once or I'll kill you; if I can take out your meteor with a clumsy cannon," she said while brandishing both of her swords. "You bet your butt I can take your head off with these." She wasn't completely ignorant to the storm brewing, she would have to keep an eye out, and there was no guarantee that taking out the caster would stop the spell, but it was worth a shot.
"Slight change in plans, sweetie, I distract this guy, you get him close to the door, then we switch." It was less than ideal, but so was dealing with this crazed lunatic in the first place. If Arin disagreed for whatever reason she would simply ask him if he had a better idea.
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Post by Raphael on Oct 12, 2014 1:26:56 GMT -5
Arin was about to direct JessY to where the doorway was, until things started going downhill very quickly. The mage summoned forth a dark storm cloud, and now JessY was trying to be the tough girl and wanted to fight the mage herself now. Seeing no real options himself, he started channeling his aura, a swirling pool of darkness forming at his feet while his body gradually grew brighter "...As much as I'd hate to object, I guess we're out of options...I'll make a mad dash with our collapsed friend here as soon as you rush our unwanted visitor..."
The moment JessY took her turn distracting the mage, Arin's drive form kicked in, the dark and light auras around his body engulfing him and exploding outward in a flash. With newfound strength, he picked Prythian up, fireman style, and started charging towards where he remembered the doorway being last, his light sword in front of him and guiding his way with any shadows that would clue him in on their escape route.
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Post by Prythian on Oct 12, 2014 21:41:12 GMT -5
The mage spit to the side. "'Kill.' That is exactly the problem. I... can't... die." He held apart his hands. "This part of my soul is TRAPPED within the construct you insist on protecting. I am fighting... so that I may kill him... and thus kill myself... and free every other soul trapped within him! And I will use all of my energy if it means that we can all... finally... move on!" And with that, he raised his hands up to the sky, and enormous amounts of pure magical energy surged upwards around him. The sudden bright light showed Arin exactly where the door was... but as the mage then fell to the ground, the door faded into existence, the invisibility spell concealing it no longer maintained by the mage.
As the energy surged into the clouds, it rippled through them, more lightning strikes appearing between the clouds... and then far away in the distance, a wall of lightning slammed down from the clouds, exploding powerfully, bits and pieces of debris flying away from the spell ripping through the ground. The spell continued, lightning falling down from the clouds so rapidly that it seemed like a wall of it was moving towards them, and random bolts of lightning scattered across the field.
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