The world transformed (OPEN to anyone)

[Logan]

"What do you mean, 'No'," Logan telepathically queried the man to his right.

The psion's fist slammed down onto his desk hard and the wood splintered beneath it. His eyes burned with rage as they burrowed into those of the chiseled man.

"With all due respect sir," the man responded with a voice quivering in fright. "The order to have Joshua assassinated is, well, hasty at best. We have no information beyond what you already know, and for all intents and purposes that information leads us to believe that the warrior has not betrayed us."

With a flurry of movements, Logan spun to his right. The quick, focused reflexes of the psion allowed him to grip both swords simultaneously in mid-spin and swing both swords in one fluid motion. The effect was mesmerizing to the chiseled man, but only for the duration of Logan's spin. The end result was swift, and the man's head fell to the floor with a thud.

A clean cut. I've still got it, Logan bemused to himself as he set both blades upon the desk taking ever so much care to not let blood drip onto the surface of the wood. Reaching into his shirt pocket he pulled forth a white handkerchief stained crimson by other such acts of defiance. He shook his head silently as he wiped one blade of the crimson liquid and then the other. As he slipped the two blades into his sheaths, he smiled.

Quite a time had passed since he had last killed, or done much of anything beyond navigate the group known as Vice from his office in Headquarters in Fallien. Dusting off his clothes, Logan closed his eyes. He breathed in deeply, taking in the fresh aroma of death. There seemed to always be that lingering aroma after a fresh kill, and it always struck a nerve in him.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking to adjust to the light above as he looked down upon the pages before him. A journal of some sort lay strewn about upon the desk, minus the area where he had nearly forced his fist through earlier. Scribbled amongst the pages were entries that described locations of the Vice holdings. Rubbing his chin slowly, he looked toward the door.

Come on, Logan, get it together. We have to figure out how Joshua got a hold of this information, the psion's expression changed instantly. His fists balled and his lips pursed. W...we, he focused in upon himself as the faint feeling of de ja vu struck him like a brick wall at forty miles an hour.

I would say welcome back, old friend, but that is probably an understatement at this juncture, the voice from within Logan echoed inside him, The Citadel beckons.

The heels of his palms reached his forehead at near terminal velocity as he fell to his knees. His eyes sealed shut as he focused on the 'we' within, but it was not to be.

The 'we' had been set free, and the pain was just beginning.


(OOC: Three important things. One, there will be some heavy character development for Logan in this battle. Two, this battle is open to anyone, though only one. Three, I have an idea for the arena already in my head, and would love to discuss it with whomever elects to take on this challenge, just AIM me to discuss it. Thanks...and good luck!)

[Mutant_Lorenor]

(All right I'm in dude)

How Lorenor found himself in The Citadel for that particular event was a funny story.

Running an errand for the Empire's Guard Captains, Lorenor was finished with the job. He'd cleared the parcel with the client and stepped outside into the night. As Lorenor walked forward into the darkness to return to the Guard Captains a group of young misfits showed up. The mutant reacted quickly by drawing his swords, but there was something dark afoot about the misfits.

This was no ordinary band of Empire-protesters. There were about six of them, and they did not draw any weapons. Despite the fact that Lorenor drew a prevalida sword. A confrontation seemed inevitable to the mutant, late-night fights were commonplace in Radasanth. Lorenor's recent alliance with the Empire made him a target of the Empire's enemies. It was like a never ending cycle.

First it was the Knights of Dawn, a group of Paladins who worshiped the ancient All-Thayne, that pursued now it was the enemies of the Corone Empire. Most dangerous of all to Lorenor's well-being were the Corone Rangers who had spies everywhere. By making one necessary decision, the mutant had adapted both benefits and consequences of his actions. The Empire needed strong warriors to defend itself from the growing numbers of the Corone Rangers. And Lorenor found solid employ and protection from the Knights of Dawn.

"You are to come with us! And don't try anything funny." The leader of the bandits said. Lorenor looked at the scrawny lad and started to laugh at the youth, when he saw what he was looking at, he rotated his weapon, sheathed it in his scabbard, and began to walk away. "Look kid, I don't have time for these games go bark up some other tree." And that's when the bandit leader acted. Taking a cube-like device out of his pocket, the youth held it in his left hand. "All right, you asked for it. You Imperials are all alike. They always underestimate!"

Lorenor barely made it a few paces when there was a sudden flash of light in the air, a loud noise, and everything went dark...

****

"Yeah. It wasn't hard at all. We just used the device like you showed us."

"Good. And he's still intact?"

"We did not harm him. You're lucky you're paying us, he had some sweet trinkets on his person. Worth a pretty penny. But you're paying us a solid gold piece. Pleasure doing business with you. This will cover our stipend with the Syndicate." The bandit said, Lorenor was slowly coming too and recognized the voice of the bandit's leader. "Look he's stirring this is where we part...Nenkulor."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Nenkulor said in response even as the bandits left. Lorenor felt a tremendous headache. He was on the floor of some sort of building or structure, nothing present was botching up his senses. "You're in The Citadel in case you're wondering. We knew you wouldn't come willingly but there was an important task for you." He said calmly. The man was dressed in monk's attire. He was a tall individual with platinum colored hair and blue eyes. His long hair was braided. Judging by the man's robes, Lorenor knew that this was a Monk that followed N'Jal, and furthermore, he was a Monk of some significant influence in The Order.

Lorenor knew that no matter what he would attempt against this Monk, the Monk would make short work of his actions. The mutant sat up and stretched briefly trying to orient himself. "Don't worry all your belongings are intact. We just needed to physically abscond you."

"Why am I in this Thayne-forsaken place?" Lorenor asked, his irritation clearly visible. "I have business with the Guard Captains that must be completed!" Lorenor said. "You should be done with enough time to conclude your affairs. There is an individual you must meet in battle. The Fates have foreseen this occurrence." The man said casually, again, that feeling of familiarity was resonating strong with this Monk. Lorenor shook his head and knew he could not argue with a Monk. Warfare was their way of life. Lorenor had some Monk's training but he was still a Novice in their way of life.

After he'd sat up, he took a look at his environment. He was in a large chamber, somewhere within the hall of the Citadel. There were paintings and large wall-scrolls that hung from nails. Lorenor glanced at these wall-scrolls seeing that their symbols came from many lands. Dheathain, Raiaera, Fallien, Salvar, Antioch, Haidia, Keribas, and lastly Corone herself. Lorenor admired the scrolls on the wall. They depicted historical scenes of each of their lands of origins and were printed on resources that came from each land. Lorenor smelled a strong scent of hemp smoke in the room coming from a pipe. It was located on a single desk that was in the back of the room.

A fireplace was present that was lit up. The Monks liked to live modest lives. At least that was the case with Monks that were ranking. Lorenor looked around a little more, but his eyes were pulled back to the man called Nenkulor. Something about that man made the mutant realize he was looking at an ally. "Why don't you stand up?" The Monk asked. Lorenor took the man's hand and was lifted to full height. Even standing, Lorenor was at least two heads under the Monk who stood at about seven feet in height all together. Lorenor could only imagine his weight.

"What's this about a job?" Lorenor asked.

"Well about that..."

***

And that's how it began really. Just another day in Radasanth. Lorenor had traveled a lot in his day, and none of the places in the world were more dangerous than present-day Radasanth and present-day Raiaera. Lorenor looked at the front gates of the arena which had been set aside, and stepped into it. He waited for his opponent to show up.

[Logan]

The creak of the gates signaled the arrival of the psion, but if that didn't give his opponent fair warning then the psionic blast that erupted from him ripping the gates from their hinges certainly would. With a chuckle the less than sane Logan stepped through what was once the large gates as his red eyes scanned the area for any signs of a presence beyond his own.

Closing his eyes, the psion filtered out anything that didn't emit a mental signature, trying his best to zero in on his opponent whom he knew had already arrived. He narrowed in one on such signature and opened his eyes in the general direction of the mental presence.

"Show yourself," Logan telepathically intruded into the presence's mind. Slowly his hands slipped over the balls at the ends of both hilts of the Silence Blades. Fingers slid around the hilts, gripping them forcefully as they slid from their sheathes.

The sound of metal sliding across the leather sheathes reverberated in the intensely focused psion, and instinctively he dropped the blades and covered his ears. DAMNIT, the sane part of him screamed at the insane part, but it mattered not. The sounds of metal moving about began to echo throughout his mind.

The transformation had begun.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Standing in the midst of some sort of warehouse, the mutant understood that the war was now beginning. A loud disturbance erupted from somewhere behind him as the gates were literally exploded open. Sighing, the mutant made no prior attempt at hiding himself. Amongst the strange artifacts he saw in the warehouse there were several points of interest. Spread periodically through the structure were devices that were foreign in design.

Thinking about the Golems of Dressed Fish Town, Lorenor considered the advanced looking nature of the devices. He walked over to one for moment, the closest one. Just before he could readily examine the device, something mysterious happened. Due to his enhanced senses, the mutant could perceive various matters in the Firmanent more readily than most individuals. A certain signature of energy passed across the Firmanent, rippling through the air.

Now the Firmanent, according to the Thayne Codex, was physical reality as was perceived by the normal set of senses. Phenomena such as the one approaching him at the moment had a subtle affect on the Firmanent creating a ripple in the air, and tinging things with the colour of energetic residue. Lorenor saw that the energy rapidly approached and causes a strange sensation that pierced through his sensory array. For a second, the sensory array was perfectly still, but only for a second.

All focus was upon the incoming energy as it touched his head in a way almost like a serpent might strike a hapless bird. Lorenor's mind cleared of all other concerns for the moment and he concentrating on that mysterious energy. A voice suddenly manifested. So close to where an ear should be, that the mutant could feel hot breath from the individual upon his epidermis. Lorenor heard something forming, a series of concrete words, thoughts, colors and ideas.

These concepts became one unified form in his head as he heard the focused form of communication. Already insane, the mutant simply reacted to the voice as he normally would to such disturbances. Hearing the command, the mutant instinctively turned. He was no more than a few feet away from the entrance of the arena before it was terraformed into the newly discovered factory. Chains hung in the factory and a cool breeze travelled in from some open windows someplace. The mutant could detect the strong scent of oil. He studied Logan as the man entered and responded to the telepathic command.

"I am not hiding!" Lorenor called out to Logan. He saw that suddenly, his opponent was in a tremendous bout of pain. The mutant wasn't sure how to react to that or the telepathic communication. He'd heard a voice, some voice, and had assumed it had come from his opponent. As soon as the voice spoke, the disturbance in the Firmanent faded away. Lorenor saw that the man had dropped his weapons. Is he for real? Dropping his weapons in the middle of a Citadel Battle? Lorenor shook his head and began to walk towards the fellow. He did not draw a weapon...yet.

He stopped moving once he was about a pace or two away from Logan.

"Are you sure you're in any condition to be here man? Get it together, you're in the Citadel and you don't appear to be some Neophyte Adventurer." Lorenor would have taken advantage of the man's plight, but there seemed to be no point. He would wait.

[Logan]

Logan neither heard nor saw the approach of the mutant, but he felt his presence all the same. Breaking his intense focus, the psion lowered his hands to the ground fingers running over the hilts of his blades silently. He turned toward the mutant, the mental signature keying the presence for Logan. The head of the psion rose as he eyes locked onto those of the mutant.

The mutant spoke, but he heard nothing except a distinct ringing. Sliding the blades across the dry ground, he hoped to hear something but instead heard nothing. Nothing but complete silence.

He knew it well, Silence. It was something he cherished, because it meant the insane half of his mind was under control, but this felt...strange. Slowly, he rose to his feet and then it hit him. Why the hell did I focus that hard, he inwardly yelled at his self.

It was then that the all too familiar insane half of his mind responded unexpectedly, Because I wanted you focused on me, and me alone. It is the only way you will learn of your true power!

The psion shook his head silently. He hated the after-effects of the voice, which always left him feeling slightly hungover. Standing to his feet in front of the mutant, he finally got a good look at who his opponent was.

"The Mutant Lorenor," the psion telepathically invaded the mutant's mind once more, "Why didn't you attack me and just end this damned charade?" Swinging his swords in more show than actual attack, Logan swung one down at an arc toward Lorenor's left shoulder as the psion took a step forward.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor missed an opportunity and the fight started. In a moment everything became a mad blur, as the fighting started. The firmanent glowed with a purple residue that flowed from Logan's head. The mutant studied this mysterious resonance even as the psionic attacked. With enhanced reflexes, the mutant reacted. The world slowed down, there was no unfair advantages to stop him at this juncture. Somewhere in the distance, the Monks were watching to record their battle-data for future generations of Monks to observe.

Drawing his prevalida sword, the mutant began the motion of parrying the incoming attack. However, something unexpected happened. One of the nearby devices gave off a tremendous amount of energy on the Firmanent that spilled off into the Antifirmanent like a wellspring. This energy increased the heat in the room noticeably by about fifty degrees or so. Lorenor could detect what was going on because the event was occurring within his sensory array.

Since the world was moving in slow-motion the mutant had just enough time at his enhanced reflexes to see the device transform into a metallic insect-like creature. There was a bizarre noise that sounded like muffled gears and the movement of several complicated machine pieces. The mutant had no idea how this all worked and yet the creature was alive somehow, giving off its own aura of sentience.

Lorenor reacted by revealing a prevalida sword of his own, a well crafted longsword, masterwork of quality. The mutant began a rotating upward slash in a parrying motion to attempt to intercept the blade that was coming down on his shoulder. Lorenor's movements were well refined and practiced, not the work of an amateur at all. He prepared to attempt to parry the second sword should the need arrive to do so. Lorenor had not fought sword-to-sword in this fashion in sometime. It would be an experience not to have to hold back during this specific match.

And as the blades were about to intercept one another, the insect-like creature lumbered towards their with a surprising burst of speed. Then it raised an arm, conjured some sort of strange purple energy and released a sphere in Lorenor's general direction. Traveling quickly through the air, the sphere expnaded in size every few inches and finally reached critical mass a about an inch or two away from the two combatants. The energy suddenly exploded outward with spectacular effect. Lorenor was knocked back several feet and crashed through a wooden crate as he saw rippling fires cascading across his body.

"What the fuck!?" Lorenor cried out as he registered the pain and screamed out loud.

[Logan]

In the blur of Lorenor's movements the psion barely noticed the machine transforming. After all, he couldn't hear the sounds of it's metallic exterior shifting and moving around as it changed shape. Even as the machine insect hybrid began it's firing sequence, the psion was completely oblivious.

At least, that was the case until the machine emitted the heat wave preceding the sphere of energy. As Lorenor's blade neared his, the psion's eyes locked onto the machine and he swallowed hard. This was certainly not going to be good for either competitor.

"Roll backwards," the voice said, but the psion stood his ground and refused to obey. Perhaps it was his natural defiance of his insane half, but he just could not give any sort of power over himself to that side again. The last time didn't end so well. So he stood his ground.

The sphere came, and Logan ignored every movement that Lorenor made. His eyes were locked onto the sphere of energy, fueled by something inhuman and quite powerful. And then it exploded.

The psion flew backwards a good ten feet landing on his side and sliding underneath a machine. As flames passed around him, he did his best to ball himself. Strangely, however, the flames never touched him. He wasn't sure why, but they seemed to circle around him and then leave.

He looked out from under the machine and noticed the machine insect hybrid had focused it's attack on Lorenor. A smile pursed the psion's lips, but only for a split second.

Out of nowhere another machine had transformed and slammed into Logan with such force that it sent the psion sliding across the ground below toward Lorenor. He had no way to stop his slide, and even worse, he suspected the mutant wouldn't even notice. The only thing he could do was thrust his swords above his head hoping to land a blow.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Chains hung in various intervals that were used to transport goods to the various higher levels of the factory. A particular such chain lurked close by to Lorenor's position. Once Lorenor adjust to the licking flames that wrapped about his person, the mutant managed to stand, getting a hold of himself.

Fire still flowed about his person, but the Vlince held true. Lorenor was caught off guard with that attack but it would not happen again. These devices are hostile, I will have to be quite careful from now on. And Lorenor sensed that another one of the mysterious artifacts transformed and attacked Logan this time. The mutant saw that Logan slid towards his position and he acted quickly in response.

Rubbing the ring he'd obtain from Argus Lightfeather, the mutant grabbed activated his Flight ability. It was activated a moment later, and the mutant began to fly, however limited the ability was. A mental clock of five minutes manifested strangely enough in the mutant's mind. As Logan McCloud slid closely to his position, Lorenor stabbed the ground downward to intercept the incoming attack. He moved with great agility allowing his body to adjust to the stresses of flight.

Soon, Lorenor was airborne. As he stabbed downward, he grabbed the chain and jumped upward. Grace was lacking, but the movement did the job at hand, he'd evaded the deadly attack from the man's prevalida sword. And at the same time, one of the nearby devices transformed again. This time, it was a much larger insectoid creature. It released a tremendous blast of energy that rippled at a wave of about twelve feet wide, and moved at about 100 miles per hour. Lorenor felt that same radioactive energy coming at his personal direction, attempted to fly up higher in the arena, but could not avoid the speed of the attack.

The wave came crashing against the mutant. Lorenor was knocked out of the air but caught control of himself right before crash-landing. He extended both arms and pushed himself up off the floor and into the air again. None of his movements were flashy, but they did the trick of the hour. Lorenor looked in the general direction of his opponent to attempt to ascertain just what had happened. More of the elemental radioactive fire burned across his vessel, but the energy rapidly dissipated. The heat was not enough to burn through the well manufactured Vlince fabric, but Lorenor's skin was burning nonetheless. He'd seen roughly two of the devices transform. And whilst fighting Logan, Lorenor flew to the nearest of the devices with prevalida sword in hand, after removing it from the ground, and slashed at the device attempting to destroy the insectoid creature.

[Logan]

The speed the psion was sliding toward the mutant was pretty fast, but the mutant was unfortunately faster. The machine that had been attacking Lorenor charged a less powerful energy blast at the psion that deflected him away from the downward thrust of the mutant's blade.

The deflection had caught Logan so off-guard he actually hadn't seen Lorenor's blade slam into the ground where he had been headed, nor had he seen the flight of the mutant -- as short in duration as it was. Standing to his feet and dusting his trenchcoat off the psion reached down to ready his blades once more, but soon the realization that one of his blades had been forced from his hand reached his mind. He scanned around to find the blade, and spotted it a couple of feet to the left of one of the transformed machines. Unfortunately, that machine was the biggest machine in the factory, and it had weapons armed and aimed at him.

"Stand your ground, Logan," the voice screamed in his mind again. He tried to ignore it, but it continued to urge him, "Seriously, listen to me for once and stay put!" The psion shook his head as he stared at the huge machine's weapons no more than ten yards from his position. Could he really obey the insane half?

Once again the psion's eyes darted to his blade to the left of the machine. Thoughts raced through his mind faster than he could comprehend or make sense of them. Scanning the machine for weaknesses, the psion found one that he was prepared to use. Closing his eyes and keying into the sentient signature of the machine, he focused his mental energies into the "brain" of the machine. And then it happened.

The machine began to pop and sizzle. Hoses began to disengage from their locked positions. Bolts and screws began to pop from various places. The wheels of the machine fell over onto their side and the whole machine began to fall forward. As it fell, Logan stood his ground, and within moments the machine crashed down in front of him with no more than a foot of clearance between the closest point of the machine and the psion.

Logan turned to look at Lorenor who was not where the psion thought he was, but nonetheless he was able to find the mutant quickly. The mutant had apparently taken care of one of the machines as well, the limp and unmoving skeleton of the machine the only clue to that. The psion nodded at him, almost more as a sign of respect for the accomplishment than anything else. It was in that moment that he remembered his blade next to the machine he had just felled.

Focusing himself on the blade, he bolted for the blade slipping his hand around it as he reached it. He continued his run, using the machine's parts to step up higher and higher until he finally leapt into the air aiming a blow for the mutant's head with one blade while his other blade aimed squarely for the mutant's right hand.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Still in flight, an entire minute had passed since the mutant managed to disable the insectoid creature. Lorenor stood there for a moment or two, hovering off the ground when his opponent came back in the picture. For a second, Lorenor had allowed himself a chance to relax and gather himself anew. But that only lasted a second, nearby a battle was waged between his opponent and another one of the machines. Lorenor had his back turned to Logan McCloud, but he didn't need to face him to see.

With the spherical sensory array all around him, the mutant could see without needing to turn around. It was like a series of eyes planted all around him that could float and move of their own volition. Lorenor thusly felt Logan McCloud's person more than he actually heard or saw him.

Sensing the psion coming up behind him, Lorenor immediately reacted. With as much skill as he could muster, he moved in a twisting motion to rotate quickly around. It took time, and Logan was getting closer. The mutant grabbed the hilt of his weapon with both hands and reacted with as much agility as his body allowed him to have. This was crucial. Logan McCloud was coming at him with a skilled leap and had thrust both of his weapons at particular angles. Seeing this occurring, Lorenor reacted.

His upward slash took the strength of his entire body. Instead of attempting to evade the attack or dodge the attack, the mutant reacted by intercepting the attack. He moved with all of his 200 pounds in mid-air. His prevalida sword glowed with a cold aura of its own as it affected the temperature of the room ever so subtly. Radiation burned through the air from the blasts of the robotic insects. Lorenor's sword moved ever closer to the the weapon that moved towards his hand. The weapon that moved towards his head was evaded. He leaned backwards, moving with the slash even as the sword came within cutting range. A powerful gash developed across the mutant's face, but it was not a lethal slash. Lorenor began to freshly bleed the black life-substance. With his weight and strength aimed at intercepting the bottom-most slashing attack, Lorenor hoped to throw his foe off guard even as the other sword bit at the mutant's flesh. Lorenor hissed but concentrated on his counter despite the pain in his face. He could not afford to sacrifice a hand...