Heirs of Tomorrow

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Closed to redford.

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Anubis sat cross-legged on the tiles, brown locks swaying against the warm waterside breeze. Mid-morning sunlight bled through violet clouds, kissing his bare skin with its caressing touch. His iron sword lay, under his gaze, in its leather scabbard before him.

An observer standing a dozen paces off would infer that there was a conversation underway - between human and metal. A bond had formed, seen by no-one but the Salvarian. It had been chained through time and memorable trials.

A set of stairs revolved his position, rising into a ruined, concrete platform. It was suspended in the air, supported by magic. At one side the platform rose into a sapphire-blue dome, its vault made from royal jade. Two statues flanked the circle, concrete erections thrust into the morning sky. They were ten feet high - bodies of humans capped by heads of royal phoenixes. A long sword acted like a crane in their stony grasp, the tip anchored in the concrete floor.

“Sir?” A voice said, its sound reaching no more than beyond his mind.

The Salvarian youth retrieved his sword, straightened to his full height. “Yeah?” he grunted.

“Just checking if you’d begun the fight,” Plague said, tone reassuring. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Anubis said nothing, heaving a sigh as the scabbard lay stock-still in his grasp. The phoenix heads of the statues were like a reflection, standing in front each other. Their beaks were matching, in size and sharpness both. The Salvarian took the brief flight of stairs to the side opposite the dome, his moccasin but a few feet away from dangling over the seas. Must be a thousand feet drop. Yeah, can’t let my guard down.

The place was, he reckoned, an old castle ruin. The walls were ancient, crumbled; a handful sum of it sunken into the depths below. The monks sure are creative when it comes to setting an arena. It had something… foreboding to it. Which, he considered, always held a grim finality. Nevertheless, he’d come here. By entering the Citadel, blood would follow. Or heads will roll, Anubis considered;a lesson many a time taught to him by his mortality.

“But they sure are damn slow when it comes to bringing opponents round,” he muttered.

There were always gaps, always wasted movements to John's fighting style. Effective though it was, his apparent lack of skill bothered him, mostly due to the amount of training he had undergone since receiving his armor. Vince had made this quite plain to him, and so John arrived at the citadel again, to train.

There were the small formalities of his name and rank in the citadel, as well as a preferred arena and opponent, but the giant was too wrapped up in his thoughts to care what or who or where he fought, only that he would be fighting.

He popped into existence in a small field just outside the courtyard of a castle.

Perhaps calling it a castle would be a little too generous, though. The 'castle' was in fact a ruined stone citadel, spires that would rise now were nothing more than walls of stone piled high enough to balance, and the ceilings of it were caved in, rendering the scene less citadel arena and more dystopian era, despite the pleasant mid-morning light that streamed from a patchwork sky.

The signs of a long-forgotten battle littered the ground where John stood, just beyond the outer wall, here and there were broken and rusty pieces of armor, arrowheads left behind where the shafts had rotted away, and one large siege-ladder to the right of the arch that would have held a massive wooden gate, now only a rotted husk. John hiked his massive dehlar shield up closer to his body.

Clearly the keepers of the castle had not done their job correctly.

Though, John mused, I suppose there aren't any keepers in a castle that doesn't exist.

Without wishing to remain outside the castle any longer, John stepped through the arch, intending to find his opponent, the citadel monks said he was already here.

Best to be on the safe side, he thought, walking more slowly and warily until he came across a walled off yard with someone in it.

The only other person in their universe.

John turned in to it, having to bow his head so he could cross through the doorway. His opponent held a sword in a leather scabbard quite intensely, and as John took another step the man across the yard looked up, sharp eyes meeting his own.

John set the shield down beside him, still holding it to be ready for action. From his other hand grew a short sword of liquid metal as the armor covered the rest of his body, except for his head.

Sweat soaked the quilted undergarment beneath Anubis’ chain hauberk, running down in dirty runnels beneath gauntlets and into his palms. The day had turned hot, the parched tile floor rising in clouds of dust against the humid wind. He’d sensed someone arrive. The swordsman called in his mind, “Plague.”

“Right here, sir. Do you need something?”the eagle replied curiously.

“Nah,” he said, his face a droll grin. “Just checking if you’re still there.”

“Well played, sir,” the eagle said, his jesting tone implying a hint of annoyance.

Anubis turned on his heel. This time to himself, with a grin, he thought, Never change, eagle. A large shadow inched closer through the doorway that lead to the front yard. We could say you’re mostly why my sanity remains intact till today. Who knows how, though.

The shadow belonged to someone formidably huge - at least three heads taller than Anubis. It approached the doorway, where at its mouth appeared the owner’s foot. Bowing through, a giant of a man crossed the threshold, hand dragging a shield no less impressive in size.

His gilded, shoulder-length hair swayed like a mane, the ends barely brushing against his exposed shoulders. Other than his intimidating size, the man was rather nondescript.

Anubis’ eyes widened. The giant’s gauntlets seemed to expand like molten rock, spreading up his arms in riposte to the Salvarian’s recent insult. As they say, don’t be so quick to judge, he mused.

Each inch covered by the substance sounded a hard click that resonated in the youth’s ear. Metal attached to flesh, carpeted the man in a glimmering, silvery color. A shaft materialized from the glaze. Anubis found a short sword in its stead, glaring at him like a bared tooth.

The Salvarian cursed under his breath. He regained his poise, eyes studying the glistening stronghold that was his opponent. “Greetings, John. I’m Anubis of Skavia,” he said, his voice hoarse and gravelly-like. He nodded, affording the giant a chance to make the first move.

John nodded his metal head down and up, raising the point of his sword and tapping his chest with it.

"John," he said quickly, wishing to begin as soon as possible. It took him a few minutes to find the man in all this rubble, and he was anxious to get the fight on. As he brought his sword down again, Anubis' eyes widened, even more of the golden color showing.

"You're that John?"

the armored brute growled at the statement. Even in the Citadel he could not escape his past. He swung his left arm forward, disconnecting his arm from the massive Dehlar tower shield, sending it flying toward Anubis. At the same time, he formed a massive warhammer in his hand, and sacrificed armor from his head and calves to make the head larger. Anubis dodged to the side quickly as John swung the warhammer over his head, intending to crush the boy. Again, he dodged quickly, and John's hammer crushed the stone under his strike, swinging sideways at him as he spoke one word.

"Yes."

A wave from John’s arm sent the shield careering across the arena, a tower of thick, concrete dehlar delivered to baste Anubis back to the real dimension. A quick side-step saw the shield whiz past by a hairbreadth and crash into the dome. The impact crazed the establishment with crevices as dust seeped onto the tiles, forming fine heaps of the substance. The shield stuck briefly to the dome’s base, then dropped to the floor with a heavy clank.

Anubis cursed as the giant’s next move appeared beforehand. A war hammer loomed atop the brute’s head. He side-stepped again, the hammer head meeting the tiles with a thundering smash. The ground rose in columns of dust as the weapon settled, only for its tall wielder to regather his strength and swing it in toward the swordsman.

So this guy slaughtered dozens, he thought, ducking as the steel head stirred the air above him. A hundred people, I think. Remember Plague telling me the story and why he murdered all those people… can’t quite put my finger on it, though.

The swordsman dropped to the floor, hands planted on the fractured tiles. He slid his blade out of its scabbard. One hand supported his weight as the sheath dropped limply to his side, then he tightened his grip on the hilt with the other. The blade swung to connect with the giant’s exposed calf.

John swung his maul round, intending to take the boy's head off, but his opponent dropped low and drew his sword across the half-giant's calf. A stinging pain lanced up John's leg, and he reflexively drew the maul back into his body, coating his exposed skin in metal. The cut was now sealed by his armor, and he quickly turned, aiming a powerful kick at the kneeling boy. He connected, sending him flying into the wall just beside his shield.

If there was one thing John hated, it was being associated with his past. His mind railed against it, he told himself that the massacre wasn't all he was, but the truth was, that was the only thing he was known for.

Brainpower’s usually the most potent ability, sure, but sometimes raw power can just be impossible to repel.Looks like I’m about to learn that today, Anubis thought, noting the dangerous proximity of his enemy’s foot. A pace away from a kick, behind it a permenantly damaging force. It's gonna be too long a way to victory, he thought.

The initial plan to hurt the giant’s calves was a success, but the giant’s rally to his queer nature had the wound quickly covered by his armor. John covered the first wound as if it was nothing. Heh, shame I won’t be able to see my handiwork. That shit probably might have healed everything while at it, he mused, if it hadn’t already. Anubis braced as the giant’s foot swung back and dived down like a pendulum.

It hit his flank with a force that rid his lungs of air.

Anubis flew across the arena like a flailing rat, meeting the fractured wall and settling under it in a crumbled heap - almost in the same manner of the giant’s shield beside him. The youth groaned, body quivering in a futile effort to straighten. Gotta get up before that boulder corners me like a-- Wait... his shield - wonder how heavy it is. He planted a hand on the wall for support, another on the piece of dehlar, wobbling on his way to a standing position.

Moved to the unresolved forum. Please let me know if you wish to have this re-opened at any point!