Emergence of the Fallen (Open)

[Hiryuujin]

It was a long time before he could hear it again, the slow quiet crash of waves upon the shore. His legs were cold and felt wet. He could see only darkness. His eyes were closed. He merely lay there on the shore, on his back. He didn’t know where he was. He hardly remembered where he came from. Everything in his head was a blur. He heard another wave hit the shore, and at the same moment, another wave of cold hit his legs. He didn’t react. He didn’t move. He was unwilling to move.

Warm and moist breath touched his chest, a new sensation. The soft sound of air passing through a pair of large nostrils hit his ears, just over the sound of the waves. There was more sniffing. He still refused to move, even though his awareness slowly returned. Then something long and wet passed over his chest. It wasn’t like the water. It was slimy and warm. A sudden reflex kicked through his system and he grabbed it in his right hand.

There was a loud yelping noise. It was not like a yelp from a dog. It sounded much different, more like a bird’s call. He brought up his other hand and punched at the noise. He felt the impact of his fist on soft skin, and whatever creature he was holding yelped and whimpered. He let go and whatever he was holding quickly slipped into the water with a small splash.

His eyes finally opened. He looked down towards his legs to see a tail rise above the water before slipping back in. Whatever it was, it had escaped him. He sat up, lifting slowly from the sand. It stuck to his back. He could feel it drying his skin even more. He placed a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes. He groaned. He felt sick to his stomach.

He opened his eyes and looked out at the water. He saw two long sinuous bodies, like those of a pair of snakes, rise up from it. Their bodies looked the same as the one that escaped him, except they were much, much bigger. Two heads came out of the water and looked directly at him. He knew what he had gotten himself into then. He slowly struggled to his feet and stood straight.

He was a tall man, with hair of midnight black and eyes of blood red colour. He was built quite fit and muscular, but not overly so. There was a red mark on his chest that covered him from his right shoulder to his waste and might have been mistaken for a tribal tattoo, if not so roughly done. It looked like more of a large stain on his skin instead of clothes. He wore baggy black pants that sagged over his feet. Doubtless they were filled with water. The most peculiar thing about this man was the odd formations of hair poking above his wavy black mop. They looked like a pair of horns atop his head and grew backwards over it like a pair of antelope horns. On closer inspection, one would see that they were indeed no more than hair.

He felt weak, and wobbled slightly on his feet. His head was still fuzzy, his senses yet still incomplete. He felt something in his chest and leaned forwards. He wearily grabbed at his chest as he spat out seawater trapped in his gullet. He steadied himself and looked back up at the creatures of the deep. He righted himself, standing straight. He raised his fists, as if ready to fight, but was obviously in no condition.

The creatures paid little heed to this. He saw the young one that he had inadvertently attacked before poke his head up between the two. It looked at him as if confirming the already suspicious parents. One of them swam closer. It leaned down and put its head close to the man. It was then he could see just how large it was. It was many times the size of him, but only twice as wide.

He took a weak swing at the creature, and it only moved its head easily away from it. In response, the massive tail of the creature emerged. He saw this and stood ready to stand his ground. The tail swung at him, and though he still stood there, he was unable to react as it slammed into his torso. It threw him backwards, further onto the shore. He hit the grass instead of the sandy beach, and fell quite hard. He felt the pain shoot through his back and winced, arching it slightly and gritting his teeth.

Again, he slowly sat up. He opened his eyes and looked towards the water. His breathing was a bit heavier because of the impact, but it was slowing. He saw all three of the sea snakes turning away and swimming back out to the ocean, leaving him behind. He hanged his head, shamed by how easily he had lost to the snake.

Was this all that was left of him? His memories slowly returned to him. He was a once mighty warrior, the son of a god and a sorceress. The strongest mortals were powerless against him, entire armies feel before him. He was Azrael, the angel of death! Almost none could challenge him… Almost… There was one that could stand against him. Just one.

He shook away the memories with a shake of his head. He stood up from the grass and made it once again to his feet. He looked out at the water once more, and then cringed, almost doubling over. He felt a sudden pang in his stomach. It was painful and harsh. He heard the gurgling of acids within his own body. It was a rather severe stomach growl. He was hungry. It had been ages since he ate. He was so very hungry…

He stumbled and came to lean on a nearby tree, his right hand resting against the bark. He breathed heavily, attempting to ease his hunger. It was no use. It was a large tree, with a wide trunk. It was old and had patches of bark missing that had been eaten away by insects. He appeared to be at the edge of a forest. He heard the sudden scuttling of many legs. He reacted instantly, bringing his left hand away from holding his stomach to slam it against the tree. Something spattered beneath his hand. He had gotten it.

He looked at it. It was an enormous blue centipede that was almost as long as his own arm, and a little under half as thick. He had squished its head, and its similarly blue innards had spilled on the tree and onto his hand. He grabbed it from the tree. He held it up and looked at it for a moment, then bit down on the squished head. He began eating it, a pair of legs at a time.

He didn’t mind it much. He had tasted more horrible things, and with even more legs. He consumed such things as a child. Living so deep in the earth, you had to make due with what was there. He was ravenous then, and even more so now. A normal man would have died of hunger already. Lucky for him, he was no normal man.

He finished the centipede and then sat back down on the ground. It was hardly satisfying. He needed more than a measly insect to satisfy his hunger. He needed something larger, something with more meat. Maybe he’d get lucky and something would come along…

[Sao Ilroc]

Some time had passed since the ragged man had visited these parts – years, in fact. Ilroc hardly knew his way through the undergrowth and thickets of Scara Brae anymore, his gaunt figure wrapped tightly with a weathered cloak despite the warmth. Perched upon a wide, flat rock beneath a low oak, the ranger sat silently and watched the forest around him. The trip had been easy, once he’d gotten through the rocky wastes surrounding his isolated homeland. There weren’t many regions more dangerous than that great salt desert – flat pans of rock and sand, without so much as a bird to be seen for miles. He was glad he’d come back; though the woodlands and glades weren’t his home, there was easy food to be had.

He doubted his old theater was still standing – owned by a corporation registered with city hall as Projects Incorporated, the deed to the marble building was tucked safely away beneath the scarred and burnt leather shirt Sao wore. A few times in his southern travels, he’d taken the old sheepskin scroll out to reminisce and promise himself again that he’d return. In an odd sort of way, he missed the bustling streets of Radasanth, the wasteful comfort of the derelict edifice. Most of all, he missed the cache beneath the theater – a basement with sewer access, the entrances and exits fortified and camouflaged. In that room, a dozen books on chemistry and three long tables laden with alchemical equipment.

That was why he’d returned; the reason he’d braved the dead lands on the northern edge of the distant desert, the reason he’d swam the narrow channel to a small port city and taken a ship around Dheathain and to Fallien before crossing that dead nation on foot. A second ship had unknowingly carried the crafty ranger to Scara Brae, but the first mate had found him before they disembarked for Corone. He was almost there. This piddling little island was all that stood between him and reaching Radasanth and the cache beneath the old headquarters. Lima’s old workshop would make things interesting again. His wanderings were at an end; it was time to get back to work.

Ilroc snapped out of his reverie to realize that his hand had crept between two buttons of his shirt, his fingers curled around the scroll. His clear grey eyes scanned the dense tangle of tree limbs and leaves before him – something had gotten his attention, and he inwardly cursed the moment of vulnerability. Slowly, he took a step forward to the edge of the boulder and paused to listen to the wildlife. The birds had stopped singing to his right. Somebody or something was close at hand, between him and the narrow strip of sand a hundred yards off.

He turned, scooting from the rock to steal through the verdant labyrinth. Creeping under a twisting root, silently pushing aside a snarl of branches and slowly picking a path through the forest, Ilroc kept his eyes and ears open as he approached the unknown creature. He had no intention of being taken by surprise.

[Hiryuujin]

Azrael looked at his legs. He had ignored it thus far, but figured that since he was sitting here, he might as well get it out of the way. He reached down and lifted his left leg. He gripped the end, near the ankle and stretched it open. Seawater poured out of it onto the ground. He twisted the pant leg up and squeezed more seawater out of it. Then he placed the leg down, lifted the other and repeated the process.

He kicked out his right leg a bit, making sure that the majority of the seawater was out. It was then that it could be seen that he was barefooted. He relaxed a little. He wiped his mouth with his bare arm, having forgotten to earlier. He looked at his arm and saw blue smeared onto it. He realized it must have spilled from that centipede. He licked it up, much like an animal would. Shirtless, shoeless, and with poor mannerisms, he might as well have been a beast.

He heard a sudden brushing of the leaves and looked immediately in it’s direction. He searched the woods, but found nothing of interest. Thick trees and bushes blocked almost all view within the forest. He shook his head and passed it off as nothing. Perhaps it was just the wind. He seemed to have no notion that there may be someone nearby. He was no hunter. Many things passed beneath his awareness until they brushed against his skin. Yet he did have some sense of danger, but sensed none at the moment.

He stood from the ground. It was no use staying here. Though his stomach still complained, just sitting wouldn’t get him any food. He wobbled on his legs, still weakened, but steadied himself. Something jingled and fell from his shoulder. He looked down and saw the black jewel pendant that hung from his neck. He had almost forgotten about it. He lifted his hand to it and raised it up in his palm. He seemed saddened somehow, just looking at it. He let it drop and stood straight again.

He looked back towards the water. Far in the distance he saw a tower of smoke rising from some unknown location. He had a guess of where it was. He wondered how far he had drifted from that terrible place. He looked away. It was an irrelevant thought and he pushed it from his mind. He turned back towards the forest.

He forced himself to take a step forwards, then another. He walked into the forest. He didn’t know what he would find there, but he hardly cared. He would eat anything at this point. He suffered another stomach growl and stopped to lean against another tree. He punched his stomach as if to get it to stop complaining, though his fist met nothing but a thick and strong set of abdominal muscles. He then slowly walked on, hunched over and swaying slightly like a lumbering beast.

He moved around the thick trees and large boulders that littered the ground. The thick canopy began to block the blazing sunlight. He then turned back, and shook the irrelevant thought out of his mind. What mattered right now was food, and he would have it before the days end. At least, he hoped so.

[Sao Ilroc]

A handful of paces were all that remained between the hunter and the shore – that and a mammoth man with an odd style of hair. Ilroc crouched, body pressed into a hollow in the sandy soil. He watched as the man finished examining the strange pendant he wore, marveling over the apparent health and vitality of the thickly-muscled stranger. Such a fit individual would have commanded a similarly hefty wage on any one of the hundreds of plantations on the island. The pendant, too, looked valuable.

Ever wary of violence, Ilroc shifted his weight and rolled onto his side, slithering like a snake with the aid of exposed roots through the swampy not-forest, not-beach thicket. There was a faint hint of smoke on the air, a musky odor that clung to the giant and mixed with the tang of saltwater. The ranger instinctively assumed the worst, and went still when his quarry paused, continuing after the man silently only when he took stumbling steps into the forest.

Through a wall of leaves, Ilroc studied the man and pondered the significance of the red mark that covered most of his torso. He obviously wasn’t a local, and the cloying scent of smoke called out foul play. He inhaled sharply and held his breath when the man stopped to lean against the tree, arching a brow when he spied the man thump his own stomach solidly. Either he was more a primitive sort and knew he was being shadowed, or he was more a stupid sort and was convincing his stomach not to complain. Sao guessed it was the latter.

Then he turned and moved on, lumbering through the forest like a massive ape. Ilroc followed, more slowly than before. This stranger seemed injured, judging from the slump in his shoulders and hitch to his walk. If there was one thing the old nomad knew, it was to never corner injured prey and especially if it was so much larger than himself. Eager to help an honest soul and more so to avoid a dangerous foe, Ilroc decided there would be no better time to speak up. He was well-hidden and could tell that this odd giant was out of his element and completely unsuited to a pursuit through the dense forests of Scara Brae.

He cleared his throat and called out. “You seem lost, stranger!”

[Hiryuujin]

He slowly straitened his movements as he walked. He had never felt like this before. His ordeal had taken him to the very limit of his abilities and beyond. This state of weariness was entirely new to him. He knew he had seen it in other things before, human warriors that went to battle with him, primarily. But he had never experienced it himself. He never wondered what it was like before, and wished he had never found out.

His slightly groggy waltz brought him a touch too close to a tree in front of him. He lifted his hand and brushed it against the bark. He guided himself around it, and almost tripped on one of the roots. He stumbled a little, stepping out with his left foot to stabilize himself. He growled quietly. He would have ripped the tree from the earth, but right now, it would be a waste of energy. He moved the rest of the way around it, paying slightly better attention to his feet. He was nearly past the tree when he heard something.

A noise. Danger? Instinct threw his entire body into gear. His loose muscles tensed, his reflexes snapped, and he instantly turned. He swung his left fist out in a wide arc as if to hit an approaching danger, but was more to ward and scare it off than that. The fist impacted the ancient tree, cracking the bark, and Azrael’s eyes shot dead into those of the man who spoke. His crimson red eyes instantly conveyed a primal and irrepressible aggression that would be felt through to his very core.

However, the eyes immediately lost their effect, once Azrael realized what it was. Azrael’s body switched back to normal, and he stood straighter, more relaxed. It was only a human, nothing more. Able to process things more clearly, the hulking man remembered that the human had tried to say something to him. He used a language that Azrael did not recognize. He could not understand, nor did he really care to understand.

He examined him, looking at the man from head to toe. He was fairly average for a human, not too big, not too small. Azrael decided that he would not be a threat to him. Then again, appearances could be deceiving. Azrael didn’t pay much heed to this bit of common sense, he considered himself superior to this being. But maybe the human would be worth his while. The beastly man licked his lips a little. Surely he would provide a better meal than an insect. Hunger appeared in his crimson eyes, and he took a careful step forwards towards the stranger.

He began a slow approach, cracking his knuckles and getting ready for any resistance this prey might offer. His eyes traveled down a bit. Then he stopped, noticing something on the stranger’s belt. A sword. Azrael stepped back. He suffered a momentary vision of a sword, raised high in the air, amidst a torrent of flames. His eyes momentarily reflected this vision, along with another emotion, one would not expect from such a bulging figure. Fear.

He shook his head and then looked into the face of his prey. Yes, his prey. He convinced himself of that. There was no room in this world for fear. He did not experience fear. Fear only existed in the eyes of the weak and helpless. He was neither. He began to advance again, a flash of anger gracing his eyes. An old and rusty sword would not deter him.

[Sao Ilroc]

Ilroc cringed as the giant whirled around, his brutish fist pulverizing the weathered trunk of a nearby tree. The hapless bystander groaned under the assault, boughs bending and leaves tossed to the breeze. Clearly, the ranger was at a distinct disadvantage – this was a hostile creature, and his hearing was at least good enough to determine the ranger’s hiding spot. The blood-red eyes burned through the leaves and into his own, shaking the savvy woodsman's bones but not his nerve.

Cursing quietly as he rolled out from beneath a tilted and half-rotted log resting in the sandy loam, he raised himself up on his elbows and just missed the initial bit of rage that coursed through the odd man’s body. What he did see, however, was that the other had relaxed and even seemed a bit curious. Ilroc knew he was being sized up.

Slowly, Sao raised himself up to one knee, steely eyes locked on the other mans’. Noting the subtle widening of Azrael’s eyes, he recognized something he hadn’t expected. The giant was afraid of the sword! The ranger made a mental note to tell his horse, if he survived the encounter. Then he made a mental note to laugh later at the ball of irony settling in his pelvis in the form of adrenaline. Here he was, with a weapon that might actually upset somebody that could easily pulverize him – even if he could use the damned thing passably well.

“I mean you no harm, giant.” Ilroc kept his voice steady and low, raising his hands upward, as if in supplication. “Are you lost? Hurt? Hungry?”

Gingerly, Sao twisted his ankle to the side, digging the cracked leather of his boot heel into the soil. If things went sour on the quick side, at least he’d retain maneuverability over the hulk striding confidently towards him.

[Hiryuujin]

((Ahh, sorry. I forgot he was still hidden.))

Azrael noticed him raise his arms as if in surrender. However, if he was surrendering, he was doing it all wrong. Looking into the hunter’s eyes, Azrael noticed there was hardly a drop of fear. That just wasn’t right. Didn’t he know he was facing death? The demigod ignored the hunter’s words. He still did not understand. Was he begging for his life? That didn’t seem right. Why beg when you weren’t afraid? Why surrender in the first place? Azrael bared a set of pearly white teeth, an expression written with agitation. It was insulting.

Azrael raised his left arm and extended his index finger towards the hunter. “Ego volo essum te,” he said. Azrael knew the hunter probably wouldn’t understand, but figured he had a right to be told what was going to happen to him. It meant ‘I will consume you’.

Azrael stepped over the root that nearly tripped him before. He was more wary of it this time. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. He lowered his arm. He was quite close to the hunter now, only five feet away. He might have been running on empty, but he could still fight. Azrael refused to be halted by hunger, though his stomach hurt him still. He raised his large right fist and drew it back. The hunter would be a fool to stay where he was. He took one more step forwards with his left foot, and then launched his fist forwards towards the hunter’s face.

[Sao Ilroc]

(It’s cool, man. Roll with it, roll with it.)

He furrowed his brow, seeing the broad teeth bared in response to his offer for help. Where could this monster have possibly come from? In his travels, Ilroc had come to expect humanoids to have some knowledge of the common language – odd though the man was, the ranger hadn’t counted on him being that foreign. Then he spoke.

“Ego volo essum te.” The growl meant nothing to Ilroc, who was beginning to wonder if he’d stumbled across a demon – that would explain the smell of smoke that seemed to follow the stranger. The earthy and vibrant musk of the land was muted in his presence, even the flowery aroma of the thick Yews drained out of the air. Whatever Azrael was or wherever he had come from, Sao was beginning to realize that he was in trouble.

He tightened the muscles in his thighs as the giant took a lumbering step over a root, stretching his shoulders down and outward to reach with both hands to the ground; if there was going to be a brawl, he didn’t plan on sticking around. Lips tightened into a grim scar, and there it was – Sao hardly had time to react as the stranger pulled back a ham fist and charged at him.

His left ankle snapped like a rubber band, torso twisting to the right to avoid the crushing blow. With a surprisingly smooth execution, the ranger rolled haphazardly through a trio of saplings he hadn’t noticed. The slender tree babies rattled against his torn clothing, adding a few things to remember the mistake by and taking out a few more chunks of leather in the process. At least he’d avoided the potentially deadly right hook and had positioned himself a few feet to the left of Azrael.

[Hiryuujin]

((That should be much better))

Azrael anticipated a dodge. They always ran. His fist, meeting nothing but air, halted. He balanced the large amount of momentum he had by placing his right foot forwards and stopping himself. He looked to the side to where the hunter had rolled away through the underbrush. It seemed he had some skill, judging by the way he rolled. However, it didn’t seem he had any means of counter attack. Good, this was easy prey. If Azrael could only catch him, then he would be finished.


He advanced on the hunter again, more quickly this time. He didn’t plan on letting him escape. Despite Azrael’s large size, he was still agile enough. His muscles were not entirely dominating of his form, leaving room for some mobility, and not just pure power. He had a more slender look than that of a giant, something of a lesser giant. Perhaps it all depended on one’s point of view.

Azrael turned slightly to his side to slip between a couple larger trees. He pushed aside the small saplings as he made his way towards the hunter. He was careful to step over roots this time, and step quickly, but his large pants caught on a stray bramble more than once. He somewhat missed the wide open plains of a true battlefield, but now was not the time to be thinking of that. Once he was upon the hunter again, Azrael swooped both of his long arms down at him, attempting to catch him in a crushing bear hug.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been waiting for over a year. If you would like to complete it, or work on it further, you can PM myself or another staff member and ask for it to be moved. However, till that time, it will be resting in the Scara Brae Archive forum.

Thanks,
~Task