To Fight The Juggernaut

[Enigmatic Immortal]

To all those wishing to join, see the Recruitment thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=173360#post173360) first!

“Hmm, you sure about this?” Stephanie asked lightly as Jensen finished hammering the notice on the bulltin board. As he finished setting the nail and looking at his work, he turned to his girlfriend kissing her on the cheek.

“As sure as I am with any hair brained scheme!” She giggled as he lowered himself and put the hammer back in the tool box and lifted upwards again reading over the note once again.

To all asshats and wannabes of the Ixian Knights,

The Citadel will hold a room in my name for up to three other people to join in on the hunt for the legendary warrior of the Kilani Jungles: Ramah Quenzecotl. For those unfamiliar with this legendary behemoth, he was a force so powerful that even the demon army steered clear of his rage. This guy is so tough he makes William Arcus look like Felicity’s down syndrome kitten companion. Thought ot be fair, was William really that far off? I mean, seriously, look at the guy. Mr. Angry pants is coming, oh no! Run! Wait, never mind, he’s just a pussy.

Sorry, rambling…Big scary Lizard dude, lotsa fighting, who’s a coward, and who’s a man?

PS: FUCK OFF REMI, YOU CAN‘T COME!

Jensen nodded to himself proudly as he took his jacket and tossed it Stephanie. “I’ll be home for dinner after I kick this so called legendary warriors ass.” Stephanie sighed as she looked to Jensen, seeing the man look as people began to assemble and talk about this mysterious new battle plan.

Jensen felt all his pride go out the window as a wave of dread washed over him and he turned with Stephanie to sigh in time with her as they looked upon the smiling form of Cassandra Remi. The last time he saw her the bitch had slit his throat in the Citadel using his little girl hostage. The tension between he two became palpable as everyone moved away from the trio of warriors.

“The sun’s still out, cutter,” Jensen said darkly. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping in your coffin or something?” Cassandra feigned a giggle as she moved towards Jensen’s note.

“Again Mr. Ambrose, you mistake me for a common Vampire. Like I would ever stoop to be something so weak. I simply was curious as to your new brainchild.” She read the note and giggled again. “Oh my, Ramah Quenzecotl. If my history serves me well, I do believe that is a thunder Lizard. A humanoid Lizardman with immense strength. The lizard was deemed to strong by his own kindred that they bound him in the strongest chains of adamantine and shackled him to the alter of Fatos. It was there that he made his legendary name by ripping himself free, killing all in his path as he raged.”

“Did you want a cookie?” Stephanie sassed. “Ouu, Lady Remi knows her history. Congratu-fucking-lations.” She clapped as Jensen just eyed her vilely. Cassandra smiled to her, showing her perfectly white teeth as she eyed Jensen. The immortal gave her a nod before lifting a hand out.

“You bet, Blood Sucker?” Cassandra blinked a bit, but then nodded softly. “Here’s a bet. Should my team and I fail to defeat Ramah, I’ll let you cut me up like one of your holiday turkeys.” The room stiffened as Cassandra’s eyes flashed with sudden interest. Stephanie immediately looked at Jensen like he was crazy, gripping his arm tightly. He never left his gaze from hers.

“Alright,” Cassandra whispered seductively. “And should you or your team deal the fatal blow?” Jensen chuckled, cruelly.

“You, for one full day, are Stephanie and I’s personal training dummy. We get to hit you and beat you so bad you’ll beg for death. Nothing fatal, obviously, but outside that anything goes. I can even practice throwing knives if I wanted…” Cassandra’s eyes widened at this bet, and Jensen chuckled again as Stephanie licked her lips and turned to Cassandra.

“Hmmm…” Cassandra thought about it. The room was totally silent. Slowly she reached her hand up, and then gripped Jensen’s. “Deal. You and your team can’t defeat the beast, I get to enjoy my hobby on you. And Sei can have no say in the matter. You willingly be my playmate with no repercussions.” Jensen nodded.

“And If we deal the fatal blow, you have to take it like the bitch you are.” Jensen replied coldly. Cassandra grinned as she walked away and Jensen turned towards the Citadel, a brisk walk in his step.

“Do this, my love!” Stephanie ordered as she ran to him jumping on his back. He carried her as he walked, a few knights cheering for Jensen to win this. “I love you,” She whispered to his ear. “And I know you can win this.” Jensen felt her lips upon his cheek and lowered her as she waved him off.

“Ah this is gonna be a good day!” Jensen roared.

[Zerith]

Bunnying of Jasmine in this post has been approved by her creator.


“Well, now this is definitely interesting.” The words came out sincere but in a tone that made it seem almost sarcastic. Either way, Zerith read the sign again. He knew he had already heard of this Jensen guy, quite the feat considering the noble had just recently finished moving his family to Sei’s Tomb. Apparently the guy was a clown, not to mention immortal. Although the halberdier had already been told by others of the ‘Noodle Incident”, he wasn’t exactly sure what those two guards said were true. Especially when it seemed the only thing of importance to them was comparing Cassandra Remi assets with some of the other women.

“God, I bet it won’t be long until Jasmine quickly becomes mentioned between the two of them.” Just the thought of those two thinking of his wife in such a way irritated the prince. Thankfully, someone decided to catch his attention before his mind could dwell on the subject any further.

“Is this guy serious?” The question came from Jasmine herself, who had just joined her husband and read the sign herself. Her long ebony hair was tied in its traditional braid, and she herself was dressed in one of her more simple blue dresses. “Does he also have to be so…abrasive with his language?” she asked, nearly scrunching her nose up as she pointed out on the challenge to the specific line in particular.

Zerith merely laughed in response, “Apparently that’s just how Jensen Ambrose is.” He raised his halberd over and behind his head to lay it across his shoulders lazily.

“Please tell me you’re not thinking of joining in on this, are you Zerith?” the princess asked when she could see that familiar look in the warder’s eyes that meant he was usually had something turning the wheels in his mind. When her husband answered by trying to avoid the question, she responded by turning towards him and placing her left hand on her hip and proceeding to lecture him. “Listen to me, love. It’s not like you have something to prove-“

“That’s the thing though, Jasmine. I DO have something to prove. This isn’t Moriah, I’m the new guy at the moment and I feel like I need to show these guys just what I’m capable of,” the prince answered and cut his wife off. One thing he had developed during their marriage was some sort of intuition of knowing what Jasmine was going when trying to make a point, or knowing how she would act. The same probably could have been said for the princess as well. It would have certainly explained how she knew that Zerith was in fact thinking of joining Jensen in his little hunt for the Lizard Man.

“Why on Althanas would you need to ‘prove’ yourself to this people? Sei himself has already appointed you as one of the Nine.”

The halberdier nodded, “That’s a very good point, but let’s be honest here. I’m only one of the Nine because that tablet said so. People like Jensen here probably wouldn’t care about what some ancient prophecy on some old rock says. I may be one of the Sei’s generals, but I feel like I need to show some of these people why I should be one too. Hell, maybe if I do well with this it’ll boost my popularity up with the Knights and others will want to join my team.”

Taking a deep breath, Jasmine soon found herself smiling slightly. “Well, if you put it that way, I can see why you would feel like you have to do this.” Placing her arms around his neck, she pushed herself up onto her toes and gave him a small kiss. “I married a fighter, didn’t I?”

“You bet, soon to be known as one of the best in Sei’s army.” She giggled in response and ruffled the noble’s hair a little. “Besides, you should have known the kind of guy you were committing to before you said “I do”.”

“I did, silly, but that doesn’t make dealing with you any easier,” she teased. “Just be careful, okay?” I heard somewhere this thing is supposed to be a thunder lizard. I know that this whole thing is supposed to be in the Citadel, but after that whole dream incident of yours I’m not exactly too fond of the place.” Her eyes shifted downwards, as if she was expressing some sort of feeling of shame. In response to this Zerith gently placed his left hand underneath her chin and gently pushed her face back upwards so that it was looking at his once more.

“Everything will be fine. He’ll bring the thunder, and I’ll just bring the lightning. I’ll be coming back home to you and Siela before you know it.” He was referring to their infant daughter, who naturally came to Sei’s tomb with the pair of new parents. As the little princess wasn’t in Jasmine’s arms at the particular moment in time, he could only assume she was being watching by Kyla or someone else his wife felt comfortable with.

“I suppose you had better hurry then, Zerith,” Jasmine encouraged as some of the other knights around them began to realize that one of the new members of the Nine was taking Jensen up on his offer, causing excitement to grow at a rapid rate. She quickly pressed her lips against his cheek before whispering into his ear, “I love you, now go show Jensen how we in Moriah get the job done.”

The words surged through Zerith like how electricity leapt across the blade Amenzanil. Leaving as quickly as he could, the warder found himself walking with a little bounce to his normal step. “I was born for fights like these,” he told himself. It didn’t take long before the excitement became too much for the prince to handle. So before he knew it, he found himself running to the Citadel to meet up with Jensen.

[Duffy]

Duffy had started to wonder if anything Jensen did ever turned out...normal. He had a hard time dealing with the image of top hats, high tea and intellectual conversation in the smoking salons of down-town Radasanth, but somehow he hoped one-day they'd have the chance just to talk, to get to know one another, to rile one another's wits. Today however, bloodshed was once again the unifying factor in the two crossing paths. The notice on the board in the cankerous cave of Sei's Ixian Knight base had not been the most polite, nor the most informative, but it had been enough to pique Duffy's curiosity, and here, on the stops of the Citadel in the radiant sun, he stood waiting to discover just what he had signed up for.

With a bounce to his step he walked back and forth along the top step, dodging and weaving in and out of the constant two way traffic of eager volunteers and defeated, dreary looking combatants going in and out of the great gates. To his left, the dark chamber of the reception and the leery rolling chants of the floating monks who held a strange vigil over the proceedings, to his right, the uproar of the vast crowds all eager to watch, wave and wreak vengeance. Goosebumps had formed on his skin almost half a mile away from the vast structure, and once again he felt childishly alive - excited, glorious, scared.

Finally, he caught sight of Jensen approaching, and waved down at him from on high. With a cheeky, youthful grin as bright as the sun itself, he started down the steps to approach his new found friend with a bouncing amble and a jingle of sword hilts and dagger sheaths against belt buckles and studs. He had come prepared, by all means, and carried Tristan & Isould, Wainwright's Riposte, Tooth & Nail and the enigmatic Sword of the Western Weald, but had abandoned the Tinder Gear at the mention of lightning. He did not fancy erupting into flame himself at the behest of a stray flick of energy.

"Hey, Jensen!" He waved again, and ducked in and out of the crowd, "what the deuce is goin' on here?" He appeared before the dancer, hands on knees and panting. He slapped himself upright and looked from Ambrose to the man accompanying him then back, "and who's your friend?" With his manners on automatic, he pulled his bandanna off and adjusted his mousey brown hair into something approaching respectable, and tucked the white cloth into a belt pocket.

[Hysteria]

Talen the commander in charge of information gathering was sitting in the small room within Sei's cave he called his own. The bow was sitting in the near pitch black room on the floor cross legged. His small frame was easy, in charge. The boy was dressed in his normal dark cloths but his pale skin caught the little light that came under the door in a blaze of luminescence.

The boy's eyes was closed as he sat there and listened. Around him darkness stretched and bent out of the shadows. The little youth listened to the shadows, in a speak he was privy to understand.

“...he plans to sell the weapons on the black market.”

Talen paused as he thought about the shadow spirits words.

“Keep watching him. It is not worth busting him over some badly made swords. Is there anything else?” Asked Talen.

“Well, just one. It seems that Jensen has challenged some 'thunder lizard' for a battle in the citadel. He wants three other knights to join him.”

“Thunder lizard?”

“Some sort of powerful lizard humanoid, probably with some lightning abilities.”

Talen shifted his body.

“Thankyou for today, that will be all.”

The dark shape disappeared and left Talen alone. The youth took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Slowly he built up energy within himself and focused on the citadel. A few minutes past and then the youth disappeared in a puff.


* * * *

A formless Talen pushed through the shadow plane at tremendous speed. Over the grey landscape he passed until he came to citadel and popped back into the material plane on the steps. The youth placed his hands on his sword hilts and looked around. Quicly he caught sight of the trio of Ixian Knights. The youth placed a hand on his head and a smile on his face and walked over to the trio.

“Yo.”

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen watched as Duffy made his way through the throng of people to meet with the immortal and the halberdier. Though Jensen had no clue who Zerith was (apparently he was a general of the Nine or something…he wasn‘t paying much attention to anything but Kyla‘s ass as she explained…) he did happen to know a great deal about the Tantalum Troupe leader. Duffy and Jensen met within this very building and created a brotherhood made out of spilt blood. Now the two would fight again as comrades.

And if things couldn’t have gotten better the shadows seemed to belch out the smallest member of the Nine, Talen Shadow-something or other. He didn’t know the boy well, but did happen to see his strength when the two crossed paths fighting for a Thayne’s personal amusement. The soft spoken man/child was very easy going and did most of his speaking with actions, not words. He smiled to his group of fighters. A shadowmancer, a brother, a halberdier, and an immortal. Yep, this was the perfect team to handle this mission.

“Hey Duffy,” He nodded to the man and grinned as they shook hands. He turned to Talen and gave him a curt nod. “Sup bed wetter?” Jensen teased. Though the boy had won the knight’s respect that didn’t mean he would stop making fun of him. “This is Zerith, a pussy whipped member of your little elite team. He‘s married and everything.” Jensen laughed shoving the man forwards. “Come on, I got a monk who will give us details before we enter the arena.”

Jensen led the way as everyone quickly greeted each other. The hallways were in heavy use this day and Jensen was secretly happy he arranged for his room a week in advance. The monk who he usually dealt with mentioned he could set up historical battles. The topic spiraled eventually down to one tough guy that the man had read about. The immortal grew interested, asked if the monk could set it up, and now it was time to do battle. The monk insisted that Jensen bring some friends along.

There was a small room off to the side of a larger oaken portal that would lead to their room. Jensen’s name was already upon the wooden frame, written in neat scribble. The door opened and a robed monk, fairly chunky and bald smiled as he waved them all in. The room was very unattractive, four white walls and a long conference table with several wooden seats as well as one crystal window pane. When they all entered Jensen and Duffy took the back seats, kicking up their feet and leaning back. Zerith and Talen both took their seats, and the monk bowed to them as the door was softly shut by an attendant.

“Greetings gentlemen, I am Belsavius, an Ai’bron monk of the citadel.”

“You had a name?” Jensen blurted. “Shit I always thought it was fat guy at the counter…” The immortal looked to his fingers and wiped away imaginary dirt. Belsavius smiled, knowing full well Jensen just loved to get under people’s skins.

“Alright then, let’s not waste anymore of your time,” The monk said lightly pointing to the crystal. The crystal glowed a deep blue before softly glowing white, then small lines began to fracture around the glass. In time it showed a dossier report complete with name, age, date, and other information as well as a picture of Ramah from a historical book.

“Ramah Quenzecotl is a seventy four year old Thunder Lizard. This species of humanoid reptiles are mostly known for their speed and strength. Most aspire to become full fledged warriors and some of their clan still live to this day as bodyguards of nations. The beast you fight is the most famous of these creatures, for his time was during the demon wars.

“Ramah is seven and a half feet tall, weighs close to two-hundred and seventy five pounds, and is all like deeply corded muscle. He has about t three and a half foot tail, all corded muscle as well.” Jensen yawned loudly. The monk smiled to him. “This is considered a runt by normal standards.” Jensen at last narrowed his eyes.

“You mean this thing we are about to start a fight with is a runt?” The monk nodded. “Shit…” He snorted, a bit impressed.

“This creature is deadly in strength. For a normal thunder lizard, they are about three to four times stronger than a normal human.” He let this news sink in. “Ramah was five to six times as strong at the time of his puberty. At adulthood, thanks to the Manacles of the Unfettered Juggernaut, Ramah is possibly nine to ten times as strong as an average human soldier.” The room stiffened.

“Blimey,” Duffy said in wonder. “Da’ bloke could end us in a single punch…” The monk laughed, but lifted a hand to stop any further outbursts.

“Ramah is strong, but be noted that unless he’s enraged he’s not going to strike with ALL his weight. Most likely he’ll punch and hit you, but you won’t die in a single hit unless that’s what the beast wants. Which I should warn you, do not set Ramah’s temper off. The beast is known to be violent when angered. History teaches that it was when Ramah was tied by the manacles of the god Fatos, he was angered and ripped himself free of his bonds and killed everyone around him.” They all nodded. The monk smiled and continued onwards.

“Ramah has no special magical skills and the rumors he has lightening is a falsehood for him. On the contrary, most spells usually are effective, but be warned! He can smash aside the effects of physical spells, like fireballs and break free from any spell to hold him thanks to the enchantment of his manacles. Ramah will never be bound.”

“No cages of shadow for you, kiddo!” Jensen joked to Talen, remembering when the kid trapped him inside a cage. Not the best way to spend a fight.

“Lastly I will explain a few details on his magic weapons. The manacles of the Unfettered Juggernaut are enchanted to repulse the effects of any spell to bind him, and in addition allow him to ignore the pain he receives when the beasts temper is flaring. Most things you do to Ramah will not really phase him when he gets serious and wants to kill you.”

“Like Stephanie after a night of drinking,” Jensen said to Duffy, who grinned back and muttered something about Ruby La Roux.

“The Maul of the Titans is a five foot obsidian stone tetsubo. The weapon, club in nature, is linked to him at all times by the chains of his manacle on his right hand. The weapon is capable of smashing aside anything with ease. Not to deter you gentlemen, but when it comes to physical domination, Ramah is the example of perfection.” The room remained silent.

“So then, if this Lizard is so damned tough, what killed it off?” Duffy asked smartly. The monk chuckled.

“A blueberry muffin.” The monk didn’t lower the grin. The room all loked to each other, before at last they erupted into laughter. Cries of doubt broke the silence as they all asked for the truth. When the monk didn’t drop his grin they all got quiet.

“You’re…you’re…” Jensen tried to say, but the monk merrily nodded his head. As he continued to speak an image would replace the one on the crystal, showing an example of each deed the dumb brute had done.

“Ramah was recorded as dying when he chased a blueberry muffin into a pit. I do not joke, that was really how he died. The weakness of Ramah is that he’s fairly, fairly stupid. The beast had at several times shown his stupidity in asking a genie of the lamp for pants, walking under a flow of lava, drowning a comrade in sewage waste without knowing it. Trying to help a comrade who was drowning in feces by slamming his club into them, splashing the dung everywhere. Yes, Ramah is incredibly stupid. A monster of the battlefield, but a gentle lamb when pacified.” They all slammed their fists on the table as Jensen howled out in laughter. Was this monk for real? He had to be joking, but if that was Ramah’s only weakness, well then they were in for an easy ride.

“If that’s all I think I’ll go now,” Jensen said standing up. The others did likewise as they prepared themselves. “You got the door ready so we enter the temple of Fatos, right?” The monk nodded. “Alright, once we walk through it’s game time. Not to be picky, but I really want to make sure we kill this guy. Got a bet with Lady Remi I wanna win.”

“Should be home in time ‘fer dinner,” Duffy said easily as he twirled a dagger in hands. Zerith lifted up his Halberd and walked out with Talen in tow, the boy chuckling as he recalled the image of Ramah trying to save a person in shit.

They all waited in front of the door, and as it opened the four warriors stepped forwards and into the hot air of the jungle, the air dusty as if time had aged the place. First thing he noticed was the bleached bone rocks that had built this temple. Several holes of sunlight shone forwards leading towards a large statue of a two headed bird, it’s wings wide and made of several different colored rocks for each feather, and a long ornate staff in the shape of a flaming eye at the peak. One hand lurched feebly forwards, as if ordering an army forwards and at the base was a small curled up rock.

Several pillars lined the room, twelve in all with six on each side. Along the pillars were shapes of heads and other tribal fetishes, and along the rear wall was a grouping of ceremonial weapons. Jensen lifted up a few throwing daggers as he approached the last of the vaulted lighted steps, standing before the statue of the god Fatos. He could hear the shuffling of his comrades behind him as they all took their own positions, but he didn’t turn to see them.

“HEY!” Jensen called out to the statue. “We come for Ramah Quenzecotl!” The sound of a deep rumbling echoed in the temple, followed by the sound of something heavy and ominous rolling forwards. The feeling made all of Jensen’s blood boil like an active volcano, ready to spill out into his bubbling, heated laughter of a passionate fury. The coming battle made all of Jensen tingle as the steps grew louder, and he began itching as he started chuckling to himself.

“That’s right, you brute! We come for you to fight you!” Jensen called out, louder as he let the echo linger with a dark laugh. “Come, and take us! We want your anger, and we laugh at your power!” Jensen laughed merrily as the rumbling grew louder. Before he could speak again the rubble at the base of the statue slowly began to quake, before it was pushed forwards and a head poked out. It was a blue lizards head, and it’s red tongue licked the air twice before darting back to the side lazily. Jensen smiled as he bowed to the beast, before coming up throwing one of his glaives. It hit the snout of the beast, trailed a dark crimson line off to the side before hitting the statue and sticking in.

Ramah, if he even noticed the attack, just yawned, clambered out of his hole and showed Jensen Ambrose all seven and half feet of his cable like body. Each muscle was taught and ready, his belly was a light blue compared to the deep sea blue of his back scales. The beast stepped over the rock, now nothing but a mere pebble in his presence as the yellow eyes of the creature looked down to the immortal and licked the air again. It let out a garbled tone, as if trying to talk to Jensen, before turning around and showing off its back reaching over the rock for something it seemed to have forgotten. Jensen was able to see the shining silver and purplish tinge of the adamantine manacles that had once bound the beast. Chains a thick as Jensen’s arm hung off the clamps like tiny whips, and when the beast turned around it was holding a very large and black colored club, it’s shape designed to bash in skulls and leave nothing left.

“Human,” It licked the air again. “Challenge,” Ramah pointed the club at the immortal. “Ramah?” It tilted its head to the side as if confused.

“Starting to have second, thoughts, actually,” Jensen admitted with a mere pip. All his blood drained from his body and the fire of the battle left him to stand before such a beast. Ramah looked around the room, licking the air before grinning stupidly and looking back at Jensen.

“Ramah accept.” The beast said at last, swinging his club at the ground and smashing the tiled floor as his last warning to prepare for the fight.

“AW SHIT!” Jensen roared as he turned and ran, Ramah giving chase snarling like an ancient titan and swinging its club up.

[Zerith]

It didn’t take long for Jensen to act the exact way Zerith expected he would. In fact, the halberdier even anticipated that the immortal would make some sort of comment about the newest of the Nine. Though seriously, ‘pussy whipped’? Was that the best he could come up with? It was a tad bit disappointing.

“Right, you call me pussy whipped and meanwhile you’re the head bodyguard to Sei? That's a good one,” Zerith countered with a grin. He had a feeling that he and Jensen would get along just fine, as the immortal did remind the warder of Zevernus quite a bit. “Why not make things more interesting, I bet 50 gold pieces that out of the two of us, I’ll land the killing blow.” The sudden appearance of Zerith’s backbone went by mostly unnoticed due to the arrival of one of the monks, who quickly pulled the party aside and into some sort of conference room. As he went on to explain just who Ramah was, the noble listen while examining the other two people he had just met.

Duffy seemed to be one of those lightweight and nimble men that could do ridiculous acrobatic feats, or at least so Zerith had heard. Yet his youthfulness was fun to watch. Somehow a sense of ease a flexibility lingered with him, and the halberdier found himself smiling at the man before he even registered he was. Talen on the other hand, appeared withdrawn. His age surprised the warder greatly, especially when Ambrose mentioned that not only Duffy, this boy were part of Sei’s ‘elite team’. Surely he was being sarcastic. A mere kid was one of the Nine? No, Zerith would have to see it to believe it.

Thankfully, the meeting didn’t take anywhere near as long as the halberdier thought it would. After the group of Ixian Knights crossed the comfort of another threshold, they took their first steps into the depths of a jungle. Personally, Zerith was reminded of home in Moriah, and the jungle that stood in the southern part of the island. The wildlife was thick, to the point where it was said that it was impossible to cut through in some area. Though the real thing that the prince gravitated towards was the temple he found himself standing it with the others. This was new to him, never before standing in such architecture. Time had beaten the building repeatedly over the years, yet now it only seemed to make the experience more surreal. It was like uncovering a treasure for the first time, a sense of wonder that couldn’t help but fill your mind. So while Jensen called out the mighty Ramah, Zerith was staring at the pillars, wonder just how people must have created them long ago.

It wasn’t until the ground shook that the warder finally came out of his daze just in time to see a monstrous lizard being charge the immortal. Ramah surged forwards like a tidal wave, threatening to crush any that stood in his way and let out a roar that would drown out a lion’s with incredible ease. Jensen, who was standing next to the halberdier, had already turned around and was running for his life. So this left the Morian between the blue beast and the immortal, and very bad place to be when given the circumstances. Instinct kicked in and Zerith acted without thinking, diving to the left and tucking his body into a roll. Luckily, the manoeuvre was executed just in the time, as the spot where Zerith had been standing was crushed underneath Ramah giant foot. The halberdier didn’t even want to imagine what it could have possibly done to mere flesh and bone.

“Jensen!” Zerith shouted, clearly not thinking about what he was doing. He acted naturally, and knowing that his comrade was being chased by a barbarian only meant that the warder was going to do something stupid. He charged after Ramah as his halberd rose in the air, lightning leaping across the blade as if it could already taste the lizardman’s blood. With the reach of the polearm, the legendary warrior was just within reach of the prince, and the Sei’s bodyguard was really in need of some help. So Zerith leapt into the air, bringing his weapon down upon Ramah’s back. Yes, it was probably a very stupid thing to do, attacking a giant lizard would probably could have broken every bone in the halberdier’s body with a mere pinch of his fingers, but Jensen looking like he really needed to some help.

Besides, trying to challenge Ramah at all was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place.

[Hysteria]

Talen frowned at the bed wetter comment. He never had a bed until recently.

“Ambergris, when I heard you had organised something I figured it would be a whale of a time.” replied the youth.

Actions and words followed and Talen only remotely paid attention, although the picture of the lizard slamming his weapon into excrement to try and help a comrade did resonate with him. The youth was wondering how exactly he was going to aid the group in the battle. Jensen had a point, Talen's Shadow Hold ability wouldn't work, nor would his other physical attacks. It was, to say the least, unnerving.

The group entered the door and Talen quickly broke off and walked around the stone pillars away from Jensen. Just as Talen had predicted, the immortal screwed himself over in the first minute. Talen lent against one of the tribal art pillars and watched with amusement as Jensen ran past with the giant lizard in tow. The lizard's eyes flashed to Talen and the youth felt his stomach clench with fear. Instinctively the youth put his hands up in the universal sign of “Woah! I'm not with the crazy guy.”. The lizard's eyes flicked back to Jensen as Zerith dived out of the way and followed up with an attack.

Wasn't he listening to that part about shrugging of physical attacks?

Talen's eyes turned to the pillar next to him. The youth smiled and grabbed onto the ancient pillar and start to climb up the side using the different heads as hand and foot holds. Quickly Talen reached the top and manoeuvred around and pulled himself into the rafters of the decaying structure. The youth looked at the pillars thoughtfully.

As strong as ten men, could ten men lift one of these pillars? The youth looked down at the fight.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen’s fists pumped furiously up and down as he heard the trotting gait of the lizard beast. Ramah was doubled down to his feet, skimming low to the ground and sniffing the air loudly with a forced exhaling grunt of the predator chasing the prey. This wasn’t even remotely how he saw things kicking off. Ramah’s breath was getting louder, and he felt hot wind pass to his back and the immortal whined as he picked up the speed, pushing himself to that last and possibly final sprint. Ramah was easily keeping pace with the immortal who prided himself on his agility, and that was all he really had.

With a roar of defiance Ramah rose his club up and Jensen thought it was over before it began. Yet it wasn’t his body that felt the impact. “SNEAKY!” Ramah roared as his club slammed into the Halberd of Zerith, the knights body flying upwards and away. Lightening tingled around Ramah’s club, the lizard turning his snout back to the immortal. Jensen took a quick look behind him to see the halberdier’s body slam into one of the pillars and free fall to the ground five feet below with a clatter of metal scraping the stone floor.

Ramah turned again and chased after Jensen, club smashing the ground again as if heralding his coming. Long strides shook the earth as the thunder lizard lowered itself into its hunting run. Jensen looked forwards to see Duffy standing there, grin wide as a mile as he lifted up a dagger, tooth, and tossed it at Ramah. Jensen had to turn his head to the side to avoid the weapon, the whooshing sound of the steel cutting through the air passing his ear. Ramah snarled in rage as the weapon lodged itself into his mouth, clattering off the beasts teeth. It slowed itself for a few paces to account for the sudden attack, eyes darting as tongue licked the air before getting Duffy’s scent.

“Com’ on then!” Duffy called to Ramah as he lifted up another throwing weapon. “Beastie ain’t not’in scary!” Duffy released another throwing weapon and Ramah lifted his club to stop it from hitting him. He missed and the weapon slammed into the beasts chest where it dug in a bit before falling out like a loose nail.

“Duffy!” Jensen called as he ran past his brother. The actor merely lifted one hand to his hip, pulled out a long, thin rapier like sword and with a few practice swings his entire face changed. He was far more serious, determined even as the weapon saluted the Lizardman. Jensen had seen the man do this once before. It was as if he became a whole different person, Wainwright if he remembered correctly. The fool was a hero, a true hero, and what his presence meant to the immortal was ill boding indeed.

Last Jensen saw Wainwright he had nearly gotten Duffy killed.

Ramah approached Duffy with a new face of concentration. He licked the air, but his eyes widened. He licked the air again as he studied Duffy Bracken, and still he couldn’t figure it out. Wainwright gave him no more time to prepare as the rapier lanced forwards. Ramah’s club slammed into the earth in a block, creating a tiny crater where the pommel was. The beast rushed forwards to slam his body into the fencer, but with a flick of the wrist and two nimble dashes to the left the weapon lifted up and dragged across Ramah’s chest. Angrily the beast shouted as it turned, tail and all to slam into the fencer. Again Wainwright dodged the blow.

“You shall never prevail, beast. If so I die, so to shall you!” With all his strength he slammed the weapon into Ramah’s chest, impaling it half way up the weapon’s blade. Blood leaked out like a tiny spill from a faucet, and Ramah’s eyes went wide. Yet without even screaming he lifted hand outwards and grabbed Duffy’s head and lifted, turning his body in time and throwing the man into a pillar. With a sickening crunch the sounds of bones snapping echoed in the stone temple, and like a rag doll Duffy fell, neck broken and back severed.

“Ah shit man, that had to hurt!” Jensen empathized with the warrior. Yet he couldn’t dwell for to long as the thunder lizard strode right at him not skipping a beat. One clawed hand grabbed at Wainwright’s riposte and pulled until it clattered to the ground uselessly. Jensen was fast running out of room and he had to think quickly of a plan. Looking to the walls and the pillars one idea took shape and he looked to see Ramah was only twelve steps behind him. That was enough room.

First Jensen pulled out a throwing knife, weapon in hand as he sharply turned a corner sliding on some dried vines that slipped onto the stone floor. Dirt kicked upwards as a dust cloud formed behind him and he pushed himself to the limits as he ran right at the wall. With a roar of challenge the beast turned the corner, his body sliding into the pillar sending up some hairline fractures before racing to catch up to the immortal. Jensen tossed his head backwards for another glance and put on a bit more speed as Ramah lifted one claw outwards to grip him.

When he looked forwards he saw the incoming wall and with a renewed feeling of adrenaline push through his veins he let out a dark chuckle. Two steps towards the wall and then with all his momentum he lifted his feet upon the stonework. He kicked up the wall, walking the length as far as he could until he felt himself slipping. With his instincts in place he kicked off the wall in a spinning kick up and over Ramah’s head.

The Thunder Lizard could have absorbed the blow by shouldering into the wall, even pushing his hands out to prevent from colliding with it, but instead with all the force of an unstoppable juggernaut of legend the lizard slammed into the wall and bounced off it, shaking the entire temple with the hit. Several of the blocks on the wall fell out of place, letting in loose strands of light as Ramah quarter turned and stumbled, roaring in confusion.

“Eat that, dumbass!” Jensen chuckled as he darted away.

Duffy, I am sorry but you have been eliminated. Three days has elapsed and Hysteria moved on, as we all should. If you feel your death isn't epic enough, I'll edit it or let you get in a post to write yourself out.


I'm actually sad now... :(

[Zerith]

The sheer amount of strength Ramah possessed was ridiculous and Zerith had never been hit so hard in his life. As he flew through the air for those brief few seconds, he didn’t know what had happened. Sure, he had seen Ramah turn around and swing his club, but he couldn’t believe the giant had just swatted him out of the air like a fly. Perhaps charging Ramah was a foolish thing to do, but hoping it bought Jensen a moment or two to get further away.

When the halberdier hit the pillar, it was like running into a brick wall. His left side crashed into the stone, and he could have sworn he felt the weight of the pillar shift. Falling to the ground, halberd clattering on the floor beside him, the noble felt like he was thrown around like a rag-doll. He tried to move his arms but his muscles immediately protested and began to ache. Suddenly it seemed like Zerith was going to be out of fight just when it was getting started.

As his cheek pressed against the dirty, stone floor, sapphire eyes stared at the crimson shaft of the weapon that lay just beside him. He tried to make a feeble attempt at reaching out for it, but again the pain surged through his body and he gave up. He was just about to give up entirely until he heard something.

“Come on, Zerith. Do you want them to think that people from Moriah are quitters? I thought you were supposed to be the head of her army.”

It was Jasmine’s voice speaking in his head, her voice melodious and uplifting. Yet she was taunting him, challenging him to prove herself wrong and get back into the fight. Though she did make a good point, he was the Captain-Commander of the army, Moriah’s ‘Sapphire Spear’ as he liked to joke. Yes, Ramah was a legendary warrior and had every right to be a difficult challenge, but to give up so quickly was just not normal for Zerith. So despite the aching and pain, the warder willed his arms to push off the flow and ordered his body to climb back on its feet.

He groaned as he did so, and again when he retrieved Amenzanil. The polearm greeted it’s master and obeyed him immediately, a single rune coming to life and glowing a fiery red colour. “I may not be stronger then the lizard,” the halberder spoke to himself, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not more skillful.” The shaft of the halberd was swallowed by flames that danced in Zerith’s hands. He may have felt sluggish, but the knight was still going to try another round against Ramah.

“Come on then!” the prince roared as he reentered the battle. Amenzanil beginning to circle through the air as the wielder began to twirl it. “You just got a lucky shot, Ramah. Face me one on one like a real warrior! I dare you!”

The warder was planning to take the juggernaught on in a battle of attrition. Relying on skill and dealing numerous blows to the giant before it could crush him. Though if the others could come up with something while he tried to keep the thunder lizard occupied, that would be much better.

Ramah crushed Duffy rather quickly. Zerith prayed to Draconus that he wouldn’t suffer a similar fate.

[Hysteria]

Talen'a blue eyes followed the lizard chase Jensen after swatting Zerith like a fly. The boy winced as the man struck a pillar. The youth was sure he didn't want the same thing to happen to himself. He followed the movements of the fight and waited for his chance while crouched high in the ceiling. A signal came when the lizard smashed into the pillar Talen was purchased on and created a number hairline fractures.

As soon as Talen recovered from the shock that travelled up the pillar the boy set to work. He started to rock from side to side. The momentum slowly started to increase and the cracks started increase along the side of the pillar sending a shower of small stones to the ground.

The youth continued to watch the fray and was surprised to see Zerith stand up and move to engage the lizard again. The direct approach of the Ixian Knight amazed the little warrior, he could see Zerith was incredibly strong willed, if a little suicidal in the youth's opinion.

Ramah responded to the challenge and stopped chasing Jensen and approached Zerith. The giant swished his club through the air as he stomped towards his opponent and growled.

“Didn't I squish little man?” spat the legendary warrior.

Talen knew that it was time to act. The little warrior pushed off the wall as hard as he could and the base of the pillar cracked and splintered. Stone shards shot out from the bottom as the pillar freed itself from its base. The mass of carved stone fell towards Ramah and Zerith. As the pillar past the point of no return Talen leapt into the air and grabbed one of the supports across the roof.

“Heads up!” shouted the youth as he dangled from the roof in a warning to Zerith.

Ramah lifted his head just as Talen had yelled. The pillar smashed into the lizard in a spray of stones. The beast roared with pain and anger as it was knocked to the ground. A grin spread across the youth's face as he started to swing from hand to hand along the beam to the other side of the temple. The youth reach another pillar and crouched on it as another roar from Ramah echoed through the temple. The lizard stood up and the stones tumbled off his massive frame. Blood oozed from a cut across his head and he moved with a distinct wobble.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

The earth shook once again as Jensen moved along the outer walls. The pillar on one of the buildings had collapsed like a house of cards, slamming into the earth with Ramah undertow. The immortal watched as Talen hopped from pillar to pillar, and he let the child general do his own thing. It wasn’t long before Ramah roared out another bellowing cry of rage, stumbling about in a circle flailing his weapon around before eyes cast upon Zerith who stood defiantly in the wake of the dust that had washed over him.

With a kick to the dirt he moved, arms pumping wildly as he let all his adrenaline fuel his actions. It took Ramah a couple test swings before he shook the cobwebs free, tongue lazily darting out to lick the air before moving in on Zerith. He changed his course and went wide, running to the left and then veering to another column before he was right behind Ramah’s back. He watched the meaty tail swish back and forth as he moved over the rocks with ease like one would walk across the desert sands.

Zerith still held weapon at the ready, and Ramah slammed his club down to the side in challenge, turning the chunk of the toppled pillar to dust and pebbles. Feeling all his blood boil at once the feeling in the pit of his stomach returned and he let out a wild chuckle of mirth, rising up over a couple large pieces of the shattered column and lifting himself high into the air curling into a ball.

“FOR DUFFY YOU LIZARD SWINE!” Jensen called with another round of roaring laughter, kicking his legs out in a dropkick aiming for the lizard’s neck. The beast turned, but not fast enough as Jensen’s body collided with his. He felt his feet slowly push inwards and he laughed kicking them back out to add extra strength to the attack as the lizard stumbled forwards, tripped on a rock and floundered into Zerith’s range without any defenses up.

“Do it Zerith, cut him up!” Jensen hollered as he landed on the ground with a thud and a weak laugh, scrambling to flee again as he looked up to Talen. He motioned for the boy to follow him as he came up with another plan.

“Yo, kiddo!” Jensen shouted with glee. “You may not be able to use your magic to hurt him, but can you use it to destroy the arena while Zerith holds off the beast?” It was a chance strike at best. Assuming Ramah was rather stupid, which so far he was stating to show by running into walls, would he learn to avoid another falling column? Jensen turned to check and see if Ramah saw him, but the beast was obliging the challenge Zerith had set out to one on one combat.

[Zerith]

The Ixian Knights were finally beginning to work together like the components of a machine. Despite his size, Talen proved to be more cunning that the halberdier thought he could be and brought one of the stone pillars down on the beast, narrowly missing Zerith in the process. Jensen took the next shot, capitalizing on fact that the behemoth decided to accept the challenge issued to him by the warder and delivered a devastating dropkick to Ramah’s neck. This in turn pushed the lizard forwards, causing him to stagger and trip over one of the many pieces of the broken pillar. Luckily for Zerith, the juggernaught happened to fall just within his reach.

“You’re just a little runt!” the prince bellowed as he charged at Ramah. The barbarian was just about to reach its full height when standing when Zerith attacked. With no defense, the electrified blade of Amenzanil cut through the air without any hindrance in its way. The titanium sliced into Ramah, forcing itself through the scales and into the flesh of the beast’s torso, which caused the halberdier to grin with satisfaction. Blood began to flow from the wound and stain the metal blade of the polearm. Yet although this marked a small victory for the noble, not everyone in the ancient temple celebrated. Apparently, something inside the Ramah went off as a deafening roar quickly erupted from the mouth of the juggernaught.

“NOT A RUNT!” the lizard roared as loudly as a thunderclap. “RAMAH CRUSH PUNY HUMAN!!” he added before Ramah swung his tetsubo in a horizontal arc with bone crushing strength. The weapon carried more than enough force to probably ensure that the halberdier would meet the same fate as Duffy, but somehow Zerith anticipated Ramah’s counter and prepared to act according. Pulling down on his halberd, the prince yanked his weapon out from the giant’s body to try and cause further damage to him. As he did so he also bent his upper body forward and ducked, allowing the tetsubo to fly by above him and denying Ramah the sight of another broken body.

When he rose once again, Zerith took the initiative by raising his halberd high over his head again and bringing it down with all the strength he could muster. The flames of the crimson shaft of the polearm lashed out at the upper arm of the limb that held the Maul of the Titans shortly before Amenzanil struck again. However this time he only managed to inflict a rather shallow cut into the arm. “Come on, Ramah. I thought you were supposed to be legendary.”

Clearly Zerith must have had a deathwish if he was going to continue to taunt the barbarian, but he loved this new method of fighting. He would continue to hold Ramah’s focus while he delivered small, repetitive blow to give Jensen and Talen the time they needed to come up with something big enough to topple the giant. Though if Jasmine was watching, she would most certainly be hoping that would happen sometime soon.

[Hysteria]

Destroy the building?

Talen looked around the temple’s roof and furrowed his brow. He didn’t know what Jensen expected him to do; the little warrior’s spells were more for killing than destroying. Before he could shout down that it was impossible an idea struck him. The youth swivelled on his perched position and lifted his hand towards Ramah.

Shadow swirled from around the youth and gathered in front of his hand. The growing ball of darkness split and spread out. The shadows formed a large dark cage and Talen pulled the shadows into reality and gave them a physical form. At once the cage fell through the air towards the giant lizard.

Ramah’s caught a glimpse of the falling object and his club soared through the air to meet it. There was a deafening crash as the two met. The cage’s weight was nothing compared to the force it was struck with. The black metal crumpled as the object flew back the way it had come and smashed through the roof and support beams in a rain of debris.

The youth clicked his tongue at the sight. The gapping hole in the roof only a few feet away was a testament to the strength of the enraged creature. Talen would have to destroy some more of the building to bring it down, but he was off to a good start.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen watched as Ramah repulsed the magic with his mere club, and also a good portion of the ceiling with it. He shook his head in awe, unable to comprehend how powerful a beast Ramah really was. And as far as he could tell, the thing still wasn’t even pissed off yet. That was the scary prospect.

Jensen watched as Zerith made his moves, fighting and darting around the creature as the tetsubo flew through the air, nearly killing the man with each swing. Jensen knew borrowed time was all the halberdier had and went forwards running, laughing as he did so. His blood sang with him and he felt the beat in his soul resonate in time with his heart, and shortly the immortal was sliding before Zerith in his favored fighting stance.

“Take a break, pussy whipped daddy,” Jensen moved his body side to side as Ramah’s eyes watched him carefully. “You’re breathing hard and nearly got clipped, go help the boy and wait for the signal!” Zerith made a motion to refuse, but Ramah’s roar was all the immortal needed as he turned his head and angrily pointed to the man to take a hike. Zerith nodded once and retreated as Jensen looked back to the brute and laughed, lifting up his punch dagger to his hands.

“Well then, let’s begin!” Jensen challenged Ramah as he bobbed side to side, his feet always in constant motion. Ramah looked to him and with another roar he flew forwards, weapon swiping outwards. “Come dance with me!” Jensen laughed riotously as he ducked under the swing, punching his dagger into the beast’s torso and pulling it out pirouetting out of range. Ramah looked back to him, down to his wound, and licked the air with his tongue.

“It’s called blood, ya retarded gecko!” Jensen lifted up Ramah’s life force and let it drip from his blade. The beast snarled and snapped it’s jaws before lifting up it’s weapon in a two handed death blow. Jensen scoffed at the simplicity of the attack as Ramah’s club came down, and with ease he side stepped it and jabbed the weapon in his hand deep into Ramah’s arm.

For the whole battle Ramah didn’t really show he was feeling pain, but this attack got his lungs working as he let out a yip and ripped his hands back, dragging the weapon with it. Angrily he shook his hand until Jensen’s weapon clattered to the ground, and looked to the immortal with blood shot eyes.

“Oh, did the baby get a boo-boo?” Jensen leaned over and laughed at the beast. His cries echoed in the temple, and Ramah’s head shook violently as the shrill mirthful wails pierced his lizard skull.

“Stop,” Ramah bellowed. “LAUGHING!” And Ramah ran forwards without his club, claws reaching out as Jensen curled a finger, taunting the beast to get him. Ramah’s body seemed to move faster as he snarled, and his hands moved side to side as Jensen ducked, dodged, dipped and dived away from the beast. He kept up his act and the entire time he continued to laugh, leaning into Ramah’s skull just to make sure he knew how seriously the immortal was taking the legendary Lizardman.

Jensen rolled to his side and came up, face leaning forwards as he tapped his chin twice. “Can’t touch me!” Jensen joked, preparing to use his signature finishing move. Ramah’s fist came fast as the lizard ran forwards, and the digits of the creature each struck Jensen upon his jaw with the full force of an active volcano.

When Jensen employed this trick he let the opponent hit him, for in their enraged state they always tried to end him quickly, but the immortal would ride that hit and then retaliate with such a ferocious counter that it usually ended the match. William Arcus felt this, a filthy Reverian elf felt this, and countless others all took the bait, and Ramah was no different in that regard. However, Ramah’s strength was a huge factor that Jensen underestimated.

Enraged and wanting nothing but blood the beast let go of all it’s self control and reverted to a barbarian in a frenzy. It’s chains whipped the air like an octopus, and the beast’s eyes that were once yellow turned to a blood red. The Ramah Jensen saw before was a damn house cat compared to what he witnessed, and the strength of the blow damn near killed Jensen in the swing.

Instantly he felt his jaw break, brain sloshing to the side from the impact as his eyes flashed white. His feet left him, and up in the air the immortal flew until he hit the pillar and fractured it with his own body. The immortal fell on the ground in a heap and was drooling blood as he weakly opened his eyes, tried to lift himself, and fell down again.

Ramah looked to Jensen with a look of satisfied triumph and turned to find the others as he reached down and grabbed his club. “You are not funny,” Ramah snarled as he licked the air in search of the halberdier.

[Zerith]

When Jensen suggested for the halberdier to take a break from fighting Ramah, Zerith was more than happy to comply. As scary and yet somehow exciting it was to know that a single blow could kill him, the warder really didn’t want to die. Yes, they were fighting in the Citadel and that meant that death didn’t really hold its sting as much as it usually did in Althanas. Yet for some reason Zerith wanted to be able to leave this place and say he fought the legendary Ramah Quenzecotl and survived.

As quickly as he could, the prince ran and hid behind one of the pillars, pressing his back against the dust covered stone. From his small place of sanctuary, his eyes stared at the rubble of the shattered pillar that fell upon the juggernaut and then shifted to look up at the gaping hole in the ceiling that Talen’s spell plus Ramah’s strength created. Suddenly Zerith found the wheels in his mind beginning to come to life, all working in unison to form an idea.

“Blueberry muffin,” He spoke aloud to nobody in particular.

All of a sudden the halberdier understood as if a light was suddenly turned on in a dark room. All he needed was something small to cause Ramah to kill himself, his own version of blueberry muffin. With the proper motivation, the giant would unknowingly do all the work for the Knights. Talen had come up with the genius idea of bring the temple down upon the lizardman, and it had to take a broken pillar and a hole in the roof for the halberdier to see it as well. Now that he did, he decided he would try to speed thins up a little.

In the distance, Zerith witnessed Jensen fly through the air and into another pillar. Immediately the warder thought that the immortal met the same fate as Duffy, and from where he stood he couldn’t tell that Jensen had just been knocked out. So thinking they were only down to two fighters, the noble decided to make a gamble.

“You think you’re so strong,” the warder said as he stepped out from behind his cover and toward the towering behemoth. Halberd held tightly in his right hand, he smiled at Ramah as if the barbarian was just a child thinking he could fly. “But you’re really not. You just like a little puppy, all bark and no bite.”

He shrugged and lifted his polearm up so he carried his over his shoulder. “Why, I bet you can’t even knock over all of these old, brittle pillars. I mean, I hear any normal sized thunder lizard probably could. Yet you’re not normal, are you? No, you’re just a little runt compared to the others. Isn't that right?”

Yes, that was it. Another dare would be his own blueberry muffin thrown out to Ramah. Surely the juggernaut’s sense of pride would make him unable to resist accepting the challenge. If it worked, he would soon being going on a rampage, destroying the pillars as of they were mere twigs. Though there was that risk that Zerith would be crushed underneath all the rubble as well, he would much rather be crushed that way and know he inadvertently killed Ramah as well than to be crushed by that tetsubo.

“Prove me wrong. I dare you.”

[Hysteria]

The giant lizard roared in response to Zerith’s goading, seemingly unable form words such was his rage. With a giant sweep of his club the lizard cleaved the bottom of closest pillar, sending a shower of stones across the temple. Unfortunately for Talen, it was the pillar he was crouched on. Even before the pilar fell the youth found himself with a sinking feeling in his gut.

A warning would have been nice Zerith…

Talen focused on his timing and leapt as the pillar smashed into the ground. The ground vibrated as the stone shattered on impact and bits of rock, and Talen, tumbled across the floor. The youth hit the wall and was still for a few seconds as his head slowly stopped spinning. Back from his foray into the land of dizziness, Talen climbed to his feet, making sure he kept his back to the wall.

Ramah smashed the bottom out of another pillar it fell into the ground with another ground shaking impact and shower of stones. The giant lizard slammed his club into the stone floor and roared at Zerith.

“Ramah crushed pillars!” The lizard seemed to forget the challenge was to destroy all the pillars and while Zerith may have out-smarted the lizard, Ramah had out stupid-ed the nobleman. His club lifted into the air as he returned to engaging the Halberdier.

Talen realised he might need to actually engage the lizard in combat, but his self-preservation instincts prevented him from actually doing so. Instead the youth lifted his hand towards the roof and focused. Dark shadows twisted into existence in the palm of his hand and the youth quickly separated and isolated the specific energies he wanted to use. From the shadows in the palm of his hand a jet of black liquid shot outwards and sprayed across the roof. With casual glances at Ramah to make sure he was out of the line of fire, Talen started to walk around the edge of the building and continued to dose the roof in the flammable liquid. The building had been destabilised, the youth hoped that some fire might aid in its demolition.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Slowly Jensen’s fingers dragged along the dirt as he opened his eyes, blinking away the red pool of blood that was created from his mouth. Dizzily his body adjusted to being knocked out cold, and with painful grunts he began to stand. His mouth was held ajar and open, and a ginger finger told him the story that his jaw was shattered. Ramah most defiantly could touch Jensen Ambrose.

The ground shook as Zerith fought with Ramah, the lizard’s gait nearly trampling the immortal as it savagely swung its club back and forth nearly killing the halberdier. But as Jensen’s nose started to breath in air, he felt his lungs wheezing from lack of oxygen. He coughed painfully, more blood coming out as he sniffed the air again.

It smelled like fire…

Jensen turned to see Talen running around lighting the place on fire, and Ramah was to damned crazed to care that the place was literally about to collapse. Jensen saw that of the twelve pillars that were standing, only six seemed to be remaining. Jensen painfully stood back to his feet, his arms limply held to his sides as he reached up and pulled out his throwing knives. He gripped them tightly, and with loud, agonizing grunts he began to laugh again. The sound itself was anything but mirthful, more like air passing out his windpipe to the open burning ozone.

Ramah licked the air and studied his surroundings, letting Zerith run off. When he turned he looked at Jensen, growled angrily and charged at the immortal. Jensen lifted both knives up and tossed them to Ramah, hitting the beast right on it’s shoulder near the neck. With a guttural cry of challenge Ramah swiped his club at Jensen, slamming a hairs breath above the immortal’s face. The stone foundation crumbled down, and the immortal rolled to his feet, looking to Zerith. The blocks slammed down upon Ramah as the beast swatted at them, but something more profound happened.

The ceiling also fell in large chunks, and Jensen was nearly crushed.

Fight or flight time! Jensen thought running towards Zerith. Ramah shook himself free of the rubble, slammed his club into the surrounding debris, and charged blindly as bits of the roof collapsed onto him. When the immortal was near the Halberdier he pointed to the exit.

“Fo!” Jensen ordered with his broken jaw. “Het dayhen ake hair uh da ress!”

[Zerith]

As the inferno Talen was creating grew larger in size, everything was happening and a rapid pace. The temple was beginning to collapse, Ramah was flailing his club around like a frenzied madman and Jensen was tugging on Zerith’s arm while trying to issue some sort of order. Yet with the immortal’s broken jaw, the words came out strangely and made it hard for the halberdier to understand what was he was being asked to do.

It wasn’t until the Knight of the Apocalypse started pointing to the way out that Zerith finally understood what the message was supposed to be. It was a plea to retreat, to fall back and let the small Talen take care of the rest while the two of them ran back home to their women and reaped the rewards they would have earned for facing a Juggernaut. It was definitely a smart move to make, one that any other man probably would have made if they were in the same place Zerith found himself in. Yet for some reason the prince didn’t react the way he probably should have. Instead he hesitated.

His head turned around and his sapphire eyes stared with amazement at the towering form of Ramah as he fought for his life. The heat was continued to build and made even the thunder lizard appear somewhat hazy while the flames were quickly consuming the temple. Slowly, the halberdier gave his comrade a simple answer. It was one that the immortal was definitely not expecting to hear.

“No.”

“Huh? Hut ou ou ean, oh?” Jensen asked perplexed

“I was born for fights like these. Now here we are about to take down a legendary fighter, Jensen. I can’t run away from this now, it’s all or nothing.” Zerith answered with a smile that seemed to be filled with a newfound confidence. He couldn’t remember the last time when being so close to death feel so exciting. It was like he was almost toying with it and taunting it by avoiding Ramah’s tetsubo and engaging the beast in combat. Maybe the rush of adrenaline was getting to the noble’s head, but the thought of having the temple collapse on him while fighting the giant seemed like the perfect way to end the encounter, a rather heroic way of facing the end.

Yes, people back at the castle would talk for month about this moment. How a few Ixian Knights fought a Juggernaut until the temple they fought in collapsed and buried them all. It would piss Cassandra Remi right off and others would probably start to idolized Jensen, Talen and even Zerith. It all seemed perfect.

Laughing, Zerith placed his left arm on Jensen’s shoulder. “Fifty gold pieces says I’ll land the killing blow, remember? Hope you’re ready to pay up!” He exclaimed before he took off running back into the fray. He tapped into his hidden reserves, unleashing his heightened senses of strength and agility. Leaping into the air with inhuman speed, Zerith brought the keen edge of Amenzanil down upon Ramah’s shoulder as soon as he was able to. All around them the temple continued to burn and crumble, but the battle was just reaching its peak.

The one thing that was absolutely certain was that Ramah would fall. If it meant that Zerith had to die in the process, then he would go out with style.

[Hysteria]

The burgeoning arsonist stood just inside the door of the temple and watched Jensen try and talk Zerith into leaving. Talen felt a twang of guilt at the thought of running out on the fight and leaving Zerith to probably die in the fiery coffin. It wasn't so much because Talen was an honourable person, it was because he knew that Zerith would be brought back to life and would be able to tell of his bravery and hence; Talen's cowardice.

Zerith's blade cutting down into Ramah's shoulder was the last straw for the youth. He drew his sword in a flash from his hip. The fighters had all scored respective hits on the giant lizard, but Talen was the weakest of the three remaining knights, and he knew it. He could act as a distraction as best, but not a threat in close combat. The youth lowered his blade and touched the tip of the sword to the ground. The magic of his Zodiac weapon entered the thin shadow of the blade and drew it forth as a dark snake. Talen bent and scoped up the reptile and with his free hand and dodged around the falling debris towards Ramah.

Talen's sword tip pointed towards the rampaging lizard's feet and, being used as a focus point for Talen's magic, condensed and fired another jet of black liquid. The substance splashed against the floor, covering it with the extremely slippery black oil. Ramah stepped back and Zerith's halberd ripped from his shoulder. The lizard made to swing his club back at the nobalman, but his feet found themselves with much less friction than before and he slipped on the liquid and fell hard. Talen twisted his body and threw the snake towards Ramah. The small reptile twisted through the air unceremoniously as Talen was turning on the spot. The snake was more than a servant of the youth, it was an extension of his Zodiac weapon, and hence himself. The snake flopped on Ramah as he struggled to stand. The lizard regained his feet as the reptile slithered up his back and onto his shoulder and started striking at the bigger reptile's face. The snake's attacks caused the giant warrior to roar with anger and he struggled to grasp the snake while keeping his balance.

Talen bust out of the entrance of the temple and skidded to a stop. Both his actions were purely to help Zerith; a gesture to ensure that he would not be seen as the coward of the Ixian Knights. His eyes turned back to the temple and he watched with bated breath.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen’s eyes watched as talen managed to land more than a decisive blow. It was the younger knights antics that made a hopeless situation far more feasible to achieve victory. It took him several seconds for the immortal to realize the boy had given them their out. It was now or never! Jensen let out painful bellow of challenge, rushing forwards as his jaw stung like crazy, blood raged adrenaline the only thing keeping him moving. He slid on the oil, using it as a propellant keeping his balance perfect on the slippery ride. Zerith’s weapon pulled back and thrust forwards, the opening clear as day. Ramah’s exposed throat was laid bare as the snake around his shoulders and face uncoiled just enough for the weapon to pierce the Lizardman.

Laughter echoed in the hall as the immortal thought about the beating he would visit on Cassandra Remi. His bet with her was all but won and he was positive the bitch was watching and he wanted to make sure she knew she was going to go through the same hell the four warriors did. He would avenge Duffy, and catapult Zerith and Talen into Ixian Knight history.

Ramah Quenzecotl would have none of that.

One clawed hand lifted up and grabbed the haft of the spear before it impaled his gullet, a foot lifting up and knocking all the wind out of Jensen as he was stopped on his slippery ride. The momentum caused the lizard to fall, with a snarl and shout as it used its other claw to grapple with the snake that hindered it. Jensen’s eyes blurred as the smoke of the fire built into their lungs. Zerith scrambled to retrieve his fallen weapon as the immortal watched him move. Ramah’s eyes flashed with blood crazed intent, the snake falling to the floor in a lifeless pile standing up.

Jensen fought to alert Zerith, but all he got was coughs of blood as the smoke made his breathing near impossible. Even Zerith had trouble breathing as his own coughs echoed in the air, the metal weapon’s blade scraping on the ground and turning to fight the beast.

Ramah’s fist dove out and grabbed Zerith by the collar, shutting his wind pipe as he crushed it, the halberd dropping to the ground uselessly. His feet protested as the Lizardman lifted him up in the air, a chunk of ceiling breaking the line of sight Jensen had. Cursing to himself in a grunt the immortal pushed himself to his knees, moving forwards as he listened to painful cries of agony from Zerith’s lips as Ramah began to go to work on him earnestly.

Another cry filled the room, and Jensen managed to peak over the fallen debris to see the boy Talen jump upon Ramah’s back with blade held high, digging it deep into his shoulder letting Zerith be free. His face was swollen and bloodied, one eye unable to open from Ramah’s face pounding as he collapsed to the floor in a heap. His breathing was ragged and shallow as he looked to Jensen. When the two met gazes they both smiled, a stressful smile of two who admitted they never stood a chance.

Ramah roared in pain and frustration, his arm reaching for Talen as the boy looked around frantically from his seated position. Ramah’s body thrashed around, trying to offset the boy as he held on for dear life, the temple statue being hit by a fallen pillar and tilting downwards with a groan as the stone work fractured and split. The temple’s god fell over, slamming the earth and shattering sending fragments all over the area like splinters. The shards impaled Ramah’s right leg and Talen was hit deep in the side as the boy let go and screamed, a rocky shard of Fato’s colored wing protruding from his hip.

The immortal and Zerith both covered themselves as the Halberdier groggily stood up, running towards Talen to rescue him. His efforts were met by a black obsidian club as Ramah bellowed a thundering cry, echoing over the sound of the collapsing temple. Zerith’s face didn’t even have time to contort, his lips making no sound as a torrent of bile and blood escaped his body through his mouth. The impact to his chest caved in all his ribs as one, stabbing into his own body like knives as his lung was punctured, his heart was cut in twain, and his veins severed by his own bones. His body cart wheeled in the air into a pillar, smashing it down toppling another section of the temple creating his grave.

Jensen pulled himself to his knees, wheezing as he turned to find Ramah grabbing Talen’s hair and lifting the boy. As he was lifted he scrabed his sword upon the ground, creating a long dark line as a snake was formed, but Ramah’s foot crushed it under his feet, looking at the child warrior.

“Snake…boy….die…” Ramah hissed as he adjusted his grip to grab Talen’s arm and toss him into the fallen statue. The boy’s chin bounced off the stone and woozily he turned with bloodied nose to find a double handed swing incoming for his face. Where once Talen Shadowalker was, there was no more. His body crumbled in a bloodied mess, and the statue of Fatos was stained by the boy’s cranial fluids.

Jensen looked up to Ramah as the lizard licked the air. Slowly his eyes turned to the immortal, and with a menacing walk he slammed his club into the ground and walked forwards. More of the temple crumbled downwards, Talen’s body being smashed by the events he shaped. Jensen weakly clawed to stand, but the more he tried, the more he failed. Ramah looked to him and beat his club into the earth again, destroying the floor of the once noble temple of Fatos.

As the Immortal slipped to his chest and coughed more blood out he looked up to see Ramah within striking distance. His own head was perched in such a way that he felt he was on the executioner’s block. As the lizard lifted up his club to end the fight the temple shuddered deep sigh as the wood snapped, and the entire building went down and buried everyone underneath the ceiling. Jensen covered his face, feeling his bones snap as blocks the size of Ramah’s chest collided with him. The legendary warrior was flailing his club around uselessly as he fell to one knee, before getting hit in the head and collapsing, snarling in protest as the two entered the black abyss.

~*~*~*

Four hours later there was a rumbling sound echoing from the rubble. It sounded like a grunt of exertion, mixed with a sorrowful wail of laughter. The top layer of the temple ruins shuffled and the sound of laughter drowned out, replaced by silence. One taloned hand grabbed the heaviest stone sitting atop the debris, and with a mighty grunt of exertion it was slowly pushed to the side. A small tongue darted into the air and licked the silence. With a few mighty whiffs of the air a snout slowly protruded from the tomb, and lazily the tongue fell to the side as if in total content. There was another rumble and the debris parted like water dripping from a body as Ramah Quenzecotl stood up over the fallen temple, body covered in dirt and dried blood. He reached for the sword in his shoulder and pulled it out, tossing it on the ground as he took a few steps forwards, not noticing he stepped on the haft of an ornate halberd.

He moved to the temple’s altar, the area completely destroyed and slowly Ramah began to shove rocks aside peacefully, his tongue still draped to the side like a bookmark. He looked almost happy as the lizard at last let out a laugh again. He removed everything out of his way in a hurried gait, tossing rocks over and over until he bent down and picked up one rather dirty blueberry muffin and with a satisfied, if not stupid looking smile. He ate at it with one bite, eyes fluttering in content as he looked to area he normally slumbered and began to move rocks out his bed.

When he felt he removed enough he looked at his wagging tail and chased it three times in a circle, before giving up with a yawn and lowering his snout and body to a relaxed position, basking in the sunlight with happiness. One yellow eye popped open and he looked a small throwing glaive. With a causal flick of his wrist he grabbed it, and put it on top of a small pile of rocks like it were a shelf, licked it, and went back to sleep.

“Silly humans…” He muttered.

[Zerith]

Not even death could have stopped him.

Well, that was something Zerith wished he could have said then everything was said and done. However, it seemed that reality didn’t really like that idea. Ramah Quenzecotl, the juggernaut, obliterated the victory the prince envisioned in a single swing when he killed the halberdier. From there, Jensen and Talen didn’t last much longer until they also wound up like Zerith. It was thanks to the powers of the followers of Ai’Bron that death was only temporary. Soon the three knights were up on their feet and heading back home. Yet despite the fact that they were alive to see another day, the overall morale of the three was still hurt.

“So close.”

The noble could have sworn he tasted that victory over Ramah, the mental image of the three of them standing over the fallen thunder lizard had been as clear as day. Yet they fell short, and now with so many people back home expecting to see the triumphant warriors who dared to take on a juggernaut, the thought of being nothing but a disappointment to them stung quite a bit.

He had failed, all of them had failed.

Not a single member of the trio said a word, instead all three pairs of eyes just stared at the ground as they were about to turn the final corner before they would be able to just look up and see their destination. Even Jensen, the enigmatic immortal, didn’t even bother to speak. Instead he just shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his and kicked a small rock along the way. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips before he finally broke the silence, “Alright, guys. It’s time to face the music.”

As they turned around the corner, not one of them expected to be greeted. Yet they were, and the manner they were surprised each of them.

“There they are! The guys that took on Ramah!” Duffy's voice cried out from a crowd that stood before Sei’s Tomb. The actor waved to his comrades before the rest of the mob began cheering. Knights were jumping, waving their arms, ecstatic to see the three finally make their appearance. From where he stood, Zerith could barely make out of the forms of Stephanie and Azza, the latter of two was jumping up and down and whistling as loud as she possible good. Not far from them stood Jasmine, carrying a bright smile and holding precious little Siela in her arms. It was definitely a hero’s welcome.

“I don’t get it,” Talen spoke to the three of them as they stood, astonished with the display. “We didn’t beat Ramah.”

“You’re right, Talen. We didn’t.” Zerith answered with a smile. Always one that loved attention, he waved to the crowd and they respond with another cheer.

“Then why are they cheering for us?” the youth asked.

“I guess being a hero doesn’t mean you have to win all the time,” the halberdier tried to explain. “Sometimes a hero just has to show others that even ordinary people can do something great. Having the guts to take on a thunder lizard is a good example.”

“Or maybe we just taught all these people that doing something crazy is not always a good idea. The heroic tale of “Don’t do it.”” Jensen added with one of his trademark grins and caused the other two knights beside him to start laughing. “In all seriousness, who gives a shit as to why we’re getting this treatment? I say we enjoy it as much as we can. So run along, Talen. Go have some fun for once.”

Without needing any more of an invitation, Talen took off into the crowd after he said a quick thank you to the immortal and the halberdier.

Meanwhile, Stephanie had bent over and whispered something into Azza’s ear. Nodding, the girl took off running, nearly knocking over a couple people in the process. One hand planted onto her head to keep her hat from flying off, the other held out as she charged Jensen. It didn’t take a scholar to know where this was going. “I guess it’s time for us to reap our rewards then. I’ll see you around, Jensen,” Zerith said with smile and started to make his own way towards his family.

As he closed the distance, the warder handed his halberd to one of the cheering knights to hold onto and who was more than happy to do so. Then, while others were patting his back and telling him how excited they were to see him, he crossed those final few feet and held out his hands to make an offer to his daughter. The baby smiled in response, and immediately did the same while trying to lean forward to escape her mother’s arms. Laughing joyfully, Zerith kissed Siela’s forehead before trying to give his wife a hug with one arm, while the other held the infant. “So how did it go?” the princess asked.

“We lost, but I can’t explain how exciting it was to fight Ramah.” The prince winced as Siela had already managed to grab a small handful of his curly hair and tug. After he carefully untangled his hair from the little girl’s grasp, he continued. “It’s not nearly as exciting as coming back home to my two lovely ladies and being greeted like this though.”

Just as he was about to try and get a kiss from his wife, Zerith felt something tap his shoulder. Wondering who it was or what was demanding his attention, he turned and was a little surprised to see Jensen once again. “I wanted to catch you before you lost yourself in your wife, pussy whipped daddy. I was wondering if you had anything planned on Saturday.”

“I’m not pussy whipped, Jensen.” Zerith groaned. “But to answer your question, I don’t think I have anything planned on Saturday. Why do you ask?”

The Knight of the Apocalypse scratched the back of his head. “It’s nothing really, I was just thinking we could go back to the Citadel. There’s another warrior I want to take a shot at, and I just figured you might want to come as well.”

The offer of fighting another warrior alongside Jensen was an interesting one, one that Zerith definitely wanted to take the immortal up on. So the prince turned his eyes toward Jasmine, and gave her an expression that asked what she thought of the idea. When she merely shrugged her shoulders, smiled and replied, “Why not?” It only took a few seconds before the halberdier new the perfect way to answer his fellow knight.

“One hundred gold says I deal the first blow on Saturday. Deal?”


Spoils:

I'll Show You Who's Pussy Whipped: Though there is a friendship quickly developing between the halberdier and the immortal, there's also a little friendly rivalry going on as well. When fighting together, the two constantly try to one up the other and prove who's the bigger man. So while fighting alongside or against Jensen Ambrose, Zerith's endurance is increased by a X1.5 modifier.

[Hysteria]

The party was overwhelming. Talen slunk through the ranks of people and received more pats on the back than he’d received his entire life. The introverted youth smiled, talked, drank what he assumed was grape juice and tried to get along well with everyone. The boy felt the party slowly drain him of energy, but compensated by drinking more and talking less. Soon he found himself back with Jensen and Zerith.

“You!” Talen pointed at Jensen, “I ‘ave a… a… uh.”

The youth’s face twisted into an expression of puzzlement as he searched for the word.

“Theory! That’s wad I’m tkn.” Talen took another swig of the juice, “I think you mask your feelings of inadekisy with that acid, er tongue. And you really like us more than you let on. Like yur a father right? You love that kid of yurs. So you can’t be that bad huh?”

The youth swayed a little as he addressed the immortal.

“Cuz… um. Its like, what you call it... an avoidant personality type. You hide your true feelings with anger and push people away. Then you’ll never be hurt. But really you are creating a self-fuling prophecy, you assume that people will push you away, so you act in a way that will make them leave. Then you feel reassured in your beliefs. Like… Um. self-verification or sumthnk. The subconscious act that you uh…”

Talen turned to Zerith.

“Back me up Z-Dawg. You know I ain’t tripping.” Talen rubbed a hand over his face and looked bleary eyes at the two men. He managed to gesture towards Jensen before slowly falling backwards into the grass with a thud. The soft sound of snoring left the youth’s mouth as a line of drool slowly dripped down the side of his cheek.

[Requiem of Insanity]

“Uh-huh,” Jensen said looking to the fallen Talen, seeing the form of his body curl up as he smiled stupidly and drooled. The immortal bent over, petted the bed wetter on the head, and laughed as he moved onwards commenting on how it was inappropriate to give a minor alcohol.

The party was a rocking good time as Duffy recalled the valiant tale of how he single handedly stopped the lizardman in its tracks, using all his guile to save the screaming Jensen from harm. He heroically took one for the team, going mono-a-mono with the warrior beast and though he came up short, his deeds allowed the team five more minutes of fun.

Yet all good things had to come to an end, and this was no exception. At the edges of the party the life seemed to stagnate and die, a cold rush of something tangible creeping down the party members spines. A shiver of fear, a powerful sense of dread kept them at bay as it permeated forwards into the group of people like a spilt cup of water. Boots treaded with a gait of one who was excited, a confident smirk parting the lips as hazel orbs focused solely on the loudmouth immortal. The party’s energy quickly deadened and loud coughs of discomfort filled the air.

Jensen swallowed more of his drink before turning, a bit drunkenly to peer into the eyes of his watcher, and his nose wrinkled into dissatisfaction as he cursed miserably to the one woman he hated in all of the universe. Hell he hated her more than William Arcus, and that was saying many a great thing.

“Did we have fun today?” Cassandra Remi asked with a soft chuckle. “Did you get to beat your chest and grunt like a primate with the other Neanderthals as Ramah Quenzecotl tore you to pieces? If I heard correctly, not a single one of you managed to really phase the mighty thunder lizard.” She tapped a finger on her chin in contemplation, smiling roguishly as Jensen rolled his eyes and drank more of his beer. “I can’t seem to remember all the details, but if my memory serves me well I do think you and I both made a bet,” She giggled biting one of her fingernails in seduction.

“Getting off to the thought of cutting me?” Jensen grunted. The red head girlfriend of the immortal stepped forwards, as did Zerith and Duffy, all looking to the Serial Killer with deadly intent. Cassandra laughed to them all as if they meant nothing to her. She lifted one finger upwards, pointing to the immortal and then curling her finger.

“Come now, child, you are mine for the night! Nothing to interrupt my playtime with you! Not even a peep from Sei Orlouge! That was the deal, and I expect you to honor it.” Jensen gave her a dark look before he finished the beer.

“Far as I see the sun is still up, Remi, so you can go back into your coffin and wait like a good blood sucker for the evening to come.” Jensen shooed her away with his hand. “Go on now, get!” He barked. Cassandra turned around and gave him a longing look as she stepped away from her playmate.

“Enjoy the sun while it still stands, but the early night is coming into season. I’d say you have no more than two hours before you’re mine.” She chuckled as she walked away, feeling the tension in the room rise as Stephanie and Jensen passed disgruntled looks.

~*~*~

Cassandra watched as Aerith dragged Jensen’s limp body to the table he would be tortured upon, a full view of the moon so he could see with his own eyes just how slow the moon would phase out when under her knives. A trickle of excitement was palpable as Jensen was chained to the table, his shirt cut open and his pants torn off. Aerith was getting better at this process of prepping her playmates. And she had longed so much for this day that she even went out and bought herself a new set of cutlery just for the occasion, sharpening all her other toys like her potato peeler.

She dressed in her nicest dress, wearing her extra high heels for the kill. The dress, made of Akashiman silk, draped across her body revealing a long slit up her left thigh and ruffled arms padded her shoulders. Each inch of her curve was detailed and perfect, and why shouldn’t it be? It wasn’t everyday she would get to make the loudmouth use his vocal chords for good rather than spit out garbage. Why, maybe he would humble himself from the experience! Perhaps he would show a bit more restrain and Sei would order more of these therapy sessions! Oh the possibilities!

She felt the cold rush of fingers dancing along her skin and she tingled with delight at the touch of her darkest lover, her darling companion. The mood was set, the reality was indeed real, and the show was about to begin. As soon as Aerith stepped away the Immortal’s eyes rolled open, his lips chopping up and down as he groaned loudly.

“Why the hell did you need to knock me out?” Jensen muttered. “Stupid bitch…stop hiding in the shadows and let’s get this over with,”

“You’re probably wondering-” Cassandra started to say with all her seductive charm and most vilest tone.

“Why you won’t shut the hell up, yes, I am wondering that. Hurry up! JEEZE!” Jensen protested. Cassandra waited a while as the immortal squirmed. “Holy crap, I need to shave…Hey, Cassie doll, do you mind shaving my pubes. Gotta keep a smooth playing surface for Stephanie!”

Silence permeated as the wave of dread lanced outwards, the dark hissings of her twisted lover slithering into Jensen’s mind as he began to shake and shiver. Jensen put up a tough act, but she could tell even the Enigmatic Immortal Jensen Ambrose wasn’t in his element when under Cassandra’s gaze.

“You’re probably wondering why I am here?” Cassandra purred with delight as Jensen’s eyes turned to face her, his look of bewilderment telling her had thought she was someplace else. He tested his bonds and began to sigh, and Cassandra ordered her Dark Companion off. He could play with the idiot later, but for now it was her time. Easily she hooked one of his throwing knives in her finger and danced the blade across her fingers much like a pen, daring to twirl it in such a way as to cut herself.

“I lost a bet, not much to wonder,” Jensen spat. Cassandra smiled to him as she lifted the knife up and slammed it down just next to his hip. That would be for later. Instead she pulled back, breathing in lustfully as she wrapped her hands behind her head and pushed her long black hair out in a sinfully seductive manner, showing how much trouble she went to just to cut into Jensen’s flesh. “Whoa,” Jensen whispered. “That’s, that’s…kinda creepy and…hot,” Jensen admitted.

“I wanted to make sure our alone time is special. I sent my servants away so it’s just you and me. Well, for an hour or so, then I plan to invite my dark ambitions to play as well.”

“A threesome huh? Always thought it’d be with Ruby or Tobias, but hell, I’m game. I’m assuming your lover is a chick of some kind, right?” Jensen sassed, and Cassandra flashed him a toothy smile as she waltzed into the shadows towards her knives where she patted them lovingly. “Hey Cass,”

“Yes?” She replied lifting up a fillet knife and looking to her reflection, removing a stray strand of hair from her eyes.

“You got one hell of an ass, and don’t you fucking tell Steph I said that,” Jensen insisted. “Seriously though, grade A beef there.”

“Thank you,” Cassandra giggled as she dropped the fillet knife and went right for the potato peeler. “I imagine that Ramah put you through quite a bit of pain. I just want you to know that it will feel like a school yard scrape after I’m through with you. But because I like you, Blessed Immortal,” She stressed the word Blessed because she knew he hated that nickname. “I’ll make sure you stay awake through the whole thing.”

“How sweet,” Jensen rolled his eyes. “But speaking of Ramah, did you know he had a thing for pastries?” Cassandra hummed to herself as her boots clicked across the stone floor. She picked up a small salt shaker and turned back to the immortal thinking which eye she would stab first, before dabbing the salt into the wound. Jensen began to chuckle, ever so softly.

“It turns out that retarded gecko died because of his love,” Jensen began to giggle softly as Cassandra picked the left eye. She never did like the way he looked at her with his left eye. “Seriously, bastard ate a blueberry muffin and choked on it! Destroyer of many to the point Demon’s avoided his wrath, and he choked on a blueberry muffin!” Jensen was in hysterics and Cassandra rolled her eyes as she walked forwards. He began to roll side to side in mirth as he laughed wildly.

“Ya know the best part?” Jensen said with a wink and a whisper. Cassandra lowered the knife and gave him a more concerned look. His smugness, his confidence, where the hell it came from she didn’t know, but it was growing as well as that insufferable laughter! “I decided, oh why the hell not, and took a page out of Ramah’s book!” Jensen then let out one obnoxious fit of laughter, laughing harder and harder as Cassandra began to put the pieces together.

“You didn’t” Cassandra breathed. Jensen let out even more screams of mirth.

“Oh fuck yes I did! Aislinn knows all about poisons too, creepy blood sucker! She got me a poison that had to be baked into pastires. Works with the sugar. Well when my adreneline starts to pump it floods my system with this shit and well…it’s poison, you tell me what happens next!”

“NOOO!” Cassandra screeched as Jensen laughed louder and louder, the voice echoing in her mind as her dark companion raged forwards. Cassandra dropped her knife and ran to her poisons cabinent, looking for an antidote as she slammed vases and vials to the ground, shattering them. She looked for one that she thought would work, but his damning laughter was distracting her.

“Did you know when I laugh my blood starts pumping, HAH HA HA!” Jensen was crying tears of joy, unable to even control his own body as he twitched violently on the table. Cassandra found the needle and vial combo she knew would work and turned, running as the immortal’s laughter slowly started to die out. When she reached him she tripped in her haste, making him wheeze with a coughing fit of the giggles, blood escaping his mouth.

“DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME, JENSEN AMBROSE!” Cassandra was screeching in rage as she watched his eyes glare to her, that smug bastard smile and laugh telling her he got her, and got her good. She bellowed in fury, trying to inject the antidote, but it was to no avail. Jensen’s eyes lost all life as he titled his head back, dying softly and peacefully. She grabbed his knife, determined to get something out of him, but it was too late.

“Love…blueberry….muffins…” Jensen wheezed as his last breath was also his last laugh.

[Breaker]

Music: Keep On by Testament and Illogic
Mood: Sleepy

As usual, I'm happy to expand on my commentary via PM or IM, and assist any of you with specific things you'd like to work on. On to the judgement...

Condensed rubric with some pro and con commentary coming up, as requested. But I'm gonna go ahead and tell you guys now - and I might be telling some of you for the second time - judges no longer approve abilities as spoils, new abilities have to wait for your next profile update. Cool? Cool.

This story read like a choose your own adventure book. I read upwards of sixty of those (the entire supply the local library had) when I was a kid, and I think it's a fair comparison. If the writer of the Goosebumps series got together with creator of the Hardy Boys, and they got really drunk and wrote a Legends of the Crypt style choose your own adventure that was themed around the Ixian Knights, this would be it.

Story: 14/30
The pros in this section are that this story actually contained elements needed for a simplistic storyline. They were glaringly obvious and presented in the most convenient way possible, but they were there. Also, while the setting never built a vivid mental image or showed close attention, it was mostly consistent and well described and interacted with.

The reason this read like a choose your own adventure book is that the plot was built almost exclusively by way of "character makes prediction-prediction comes true"... by the third or fourth post I knew with a reasonable degree of certainty the thread would end one of two ways. As far as Althanas continuity goes, I didn't see any real attempt to situate the reader in this world. So basically your setting and storyline were present, but continuity dragged this score below average.

Character: 14/30
Overall I felt this thread showed some decent creative flair. Within the incredibly limited premise you allowed yourselves for this story, the characters are what kept the ball rolling, even if it rolled slowly. However you need to be creative about the storyline and setting, not just your own characters. Also I saw more instances of misused literary devices than well used ones. As I said, you all did a good job of portraying your own characters consistently, but that is where your praise ends here.

EI, your character is consistent, but that's because he's incredibly shallow. Speaking in terms of this thread specifically, he came off two dimensional. But what dragged this score down most was your inconsistent and frankly disrespectful portrayal of everyone else's characters. It is fine that they give you permission to bunny them, but if you do it poorly and make everyone act like an extension of your persona, you're going to drag the score down every time.

Zerith, I haven't read many of your threads but I got the feeling this story did not do a good job of representing your complete character. That's a shame, because when you weren't responding in kind to EI's style your stuff was the best in the thread. Think about how a long battle would wear on Zerith's nerves and body more next time, even if he does have incredible endurance.

Hysteria, your posts were mostly quite short and thus, lacked content. Short posts can of course be very effective, but I found Talen faded in to the background because of it. Despite the fact that he may not be the most charismatic individual, you can still find more unique ways to represent his personality with actions and internal dialogue. One local player whose stuff you could take a look at is Ataraxis. His character often doesn't say much, but she always has excellent presence.

Writing Style: 12.5/30
While reading the first ten posts, I felt like I stumbled on at least one obvious mechanical error in every line of every post. That's likely a slight exaggeration. Slight. I can't say enough about editing your posts guys. Not only will it make readers get into your threads easier and enjoy them more, it will provide an opportunity to reflect on what you've written and edit/rewrite to improve. Also, while this thread was composed largely of action, it was never written clearly or consistently enough for me to really get into it. And EI, this is a lesson every writer needs to learn at some point so please pay attention. No matter how much you dress it up, you can't just a slap a twist ending onto a separately written story, it disrupts the whole flow. Cassandra was basically just a cameo in this thread, and the reader in me was much more interested in finding out what was going on with Talen and Zerith than wading through another of your enormous purple posts.

I have told you time and time again that I'd be willing to help you work on some things, but the first step is always going to be the willingness to edit your work.

Wildcard: 3.5/10
When I read a thread that shows no effort to grasp or hold my interest, it gets a diminished wildcard score. Although this isn't an especially long story and I'd consider it light reading, I had to take three long breaks in order to get through it.

Total: 44/100

Enigmatic Immortal gains 500 exp
Zerith gains 600 exp
Hysteria receives 400 exp
Duffy Bracken gains 100 exp
Requiem of Insanity gains 100 exp

[Silence Sei]

Also had exp-gp added, but never moved

Must I do EVERYTHING?!