A Fight Within Chaos

[Rigor Mortis]

((closed to this thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=5623)))

It had looked taller in his dreams. He had imagined a place where beautiful women escorted the fighters everywhere, a place where there were comfortable seats strewn about the lobby, and luxurious members of Althanas lounged in them, chatting gaily. A place that wherever he looked, he would always see a plant blooming, light shining through a window, or water trickling from a fountain. He laughed to himself as his illusion dissolved before his eyes, and he came back to reality.

"You're a fucking idiot."

Of course there was not anything of majestic wealth or beauty to be adored. It was just the Citadel, a place where warriors came to fight and hone their abilities. It was in fact why Rex had decided to come. He had heard amazing stories about the magical opportunities that the Citadel offered, and so he took advantage of his desire to improve his experience in battle.

There were no beautiful ladies, just old, greying monks who had no idea which way was north. Rex scoffed lightly, then addressed one, tapping him on his shoulder rather lightly.

"Dooooo yoooooouuu knooooooow whereeeee theeeee reeeeceptiooon desk iiiiiiis?" Rex asked very slowly, trying to help the monk understand what he was saying. The monk frowned, then promptly clocked Rex across the face, sending the young man sprawling backwards. The monk spat on the ground in front of Rex, and walked away in a huff. Laughter ensued throughout the entire lobby, mostly from the other monks who saw the embarassment occur. Rex growled in anger. A hand reached out in assistance.

"What were you doing?" laughed a voice behind him. "Don't you know that the oldest monks that work here have the youngest souls?"

"He looked like he had trouble with his hearing," Rex growled, pushing the hand away. He got up swiftly, brushing the dust off his pants.

"That's Roland, one of the most aggressive monks currently employed here," the man continued. "You're just lucky he didn't pursue his revenge any further."

"If he had tried, he would have lost," Rex snarled. He took a few breaths of composure, then started looking for his initial goal in the first place. When his eyes crossed the friendly man, he stopped. He was no warrior. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm a monk too," he said. "I'm the newest recruit. Name's Berl." He held out his hand in greeting, but Rex pushed it away impatiently.

"Where do I sign in?"

"Oh, we dont do that sort of thing," Berl said enthusiastically. "You just give a monk, like me, your preferences for the arena and opponent, and we do everything for you."

"Oh, okay. In that case, give me a..." he trailed off, talking with Berl as they walked down the corridor.

***

Rex was pleased. The stage was set. A platform rose high above four seperate dangers; hot boiling lava, razor sharp spikes lined with broken glass, poisonous waters infested with alligators, and a man-eating troll. Each danger was placed into a different quarter of the room, under the giant platform. Inside the circular room, there was three feet of space between the walls and the middle platform. Rex stood at the center of the platform, estimating the radius to be about twenty feet in any direction. He silently nodded, approving of the situation. He drew his tomahawks, awaiting his opponents.

He smiled. They did not know it wasnt going to be just a two-man duel. In fact, it was going to be a three-man duel. It was chaos to be desired.

[Lighthawk76]

“I’m interested in getting a battle for my young friend here.”

Alan was a riddle that Blank would just never understand. The young man sighed as he absently looked around the Citadel lobby. The first time he had been here had been a rash decision to prove himself a fighter to Alan, who thought it foolish of him to want to go looking for a fight. The fight had been, well, strange. A young kid named Damon Kaosi had been his opponent, and in the end, after wracking his head with worries over whether the kid was an adept fighter toying with him or some crazy kid who got in over his head, Blank had just given him the win. Alan had applauded his kindness then proceeded to laugh at how he had been scared of a kid that Alan was quite sure was crazy. Something about names and legendary, though dead, generals had entered the conversation, but Blank was ready to let it go. No need to dwell on the past.

Now though, after a few months of rather pointless traveling where his only real experience, read horrific defeat, in combat had been with an inexperienced mage against two of Althanas’ legends, Alan was the one dragging him to get into a fight. Was the man perplexing? Complex? Hypocritical? All of the above.

Blank would just go along with it. Alan would gauge his abilities well enough and challenge him accordingly. The older man enjoyed laughing at his mistakes, but everything Alan did was normally for Blank’s benefit. Well, for the most part. A certain meeting with a female werewolf in heat could be seen more as scarring rather than beneficial…

As his eyes wandered around the room they settled on a young girl in a shirt, vest and breeches, a messenger bag at her hip, the strap falling ever so softly between her breasts. Her face was soft and smooth, framed by a waterfall of shimmering black. She was the kind of young girl that made young boys glance over without using the dripping sexual appeal that made young boys come over. She was talking in hushed tones with what one of the other warriors waiting in the lobby. As he watched a document was passed into the warrior’s hand, exchanged for a bag of gold that quickly found its way into the girl’s messenger bag.

As soon as the exchange was over they parted ways. The warrior smiled wickedly, looking over the documents and heading deeper into the Citadel, while the young girl began making her way to an exit close to where Blank was sitting. He watched her as she walked, mentally toying with the idea of talking with her.

It wasn’t until she was right by him that he noticed that he wasn’t really guarding his appreciative look.

“Are you watching something?”

The girl had paused while pushing back her hair, her head tilted down and her playfully smiling face behind a soft brown curtain. Her eyes were a dark brown and smiled with her lips.

“Uh, n-nothing. Uh, sorry.” Blank was like a kid who had just been found with his hand in the cookie jar. He hadn’t exactly got his hand on a cookie though, and it was the cookie that had spotted him.

The girl finished her movement. “Aww, and here I was thinking that I had caught your eye.” She gave him a small smile, almost a challenge.

“Well, maybe I was watching something.”

She smiled more broadly and let out a laugh. “Honesty. You don’t see a lot of that in Radasanth. What’s a young kid like you doing here?”

“Uh, Citadel match. My companion wants me to test out my abilities.”

“The old man over there? The one who’s looking to get the sister to break her vow?”

“Is he really being that brazen?”

“No, but you can tell by how he’s acting that there’s something very specific he wants, and from the looks of how that girl is blushing and giggling, about the only thing in between it and him, are some very specific promises she made to an immaterial idea.”

They both laughed.

The girl extended out her hand. “My name’s Reva, though everyone calls me Raven. Messenger to the Messengers of messenger’s guild. I hate the redundancy”

He smiled and took her hand. It was soft and dry. “Blank. Just a wanderer.”

“Wait, are you not telling me your name?”

“No, it’s Blank. Kind of can’t remember anything before a few months ago, so the village that took me in called me Blank because they couldn’t think of anything else and it’s just stuck.”

“Did you hit your head?”

“No, just washed up on shore and didn’t know anything.”

“Wow. That’s not something that happens al the time.”

“Well, you know, you live with it.”

A pause passed as Blank tried to think of what else to say. Raven seemed to be waiting, raising an eyebrow and biting her smiling lower lip. His mind suddenly forgot everything and was filled with one idea.

She’s really pretty.

Apparently he wasn’t so good at hiding what was on his mind. Her smile grew a little more and she lowered her eyes. He looked away nervously.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke up.

“Well, I guess I better get going. It was nice meeting you Blank.”

“Well, uh, maybe I could, uh, see you some time later. I mean I’m free after my battle and I’m sure me and Alan will be in Radasanth for a little bit.”

Her face took on a look of thought. She pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag and looked at it for a moment.

“Actually, I’m free for the rest of the day. Maybe I’ll watch your fight.”

His stomach plummeted. The last thing he wanted was to have this girl watch him get obliterated.

“Blank!” came Alan’s voice, “I’ve go you a nice fight against a rookie in a calm, peaceful battlefield. Come on.”

He could tell Alan was lying. The man could barely hold back his laughter. He’d probably paired him off against the Serenti Champion Storm Veritas.

“I guess I’ll see you after the match.” said Raven. “Good luck.” She passed a hand through her hair as she turned, heading off to a viewing room.

She had a nice sway to her walk.

“Who was that?” came Alan’s voice.

“Huh?”

“Well either way. Time for your battle.” Alan chuckled.

All thoughts of the vanishing beauty disappeared as Blank gave Alan a nervous look.

* * *

And this was why he should never trust Alan with his well being.

He had nervously entered the portal shown to him by the monk, and rightly so. Blank gave the place a horrified inspection, taking in lava, spikes, alligators, and a troll. Whoever thought up this arena had one twisted mind.

On top of that, the place was dark, the only light coming from the torches spread haphazardly along the circular floor. It was enough light to illuminate the dangers beneath, and enough to lighten the corners. As for the shadowy figure in the middle of the platform, who Blank figured to be his opponent, very little detail could be seen.

“I guess you’re my opponent,” Blank said, raising his voice above the sound of the gurgling magma and the roaring troll. The young man put his staff forward, spreading his feet apart. “I guess we should get started.”

Below his feet, he heard the troll’s humongous roar and what felt like its hands beating on its ceiling. This wasn’t going to end well.

[Drake]

Drake watched in amusement as a man talked down to one of the monks.

“Bad idea.” Drake mumbles to himself as the fool proceeds with what he is saying then gets punched out by the monk.

“What an idiot…” Drake says with an evil smirk.

Drake, having been out of work for a while, Drake had been wandering around looking for some fun, had just arrived at the Citadel just a few minuets before the man, the smirk never leaves his face as the man leaves to go to what ever match he is to fight.

“Maybe I’ll watch the fool get clobbered.” Drake thinks out loud.

A little while later he watches as a fool of a boy practically drools over a girl, this draws an annoyed sneer at the child.

“The foolishness of youth.” Drake couldn’t help but feel disgusted with how he acted.

After a little while he enters the same portal as the other fool.

An evil smile crosses Drakes face.

‘Maybe I’ll have some fun with these fools…’ Drake thinks, and enters the same portal as the others.

* * *

Drake finds himself within a fairly dark area, his opponents, just ahead of him.

Drake knows that one on one he would get raped, so he takes to the shadows and hides waiting for the others to begin their fight, so he could have his fun… the evil smile Drake wears returns to his face.

From his vantage point Drake could make a good observation of the area, it consists of a platform suspended above 4 separate obstacles, none of which worried Drake, the only one that might give him trouble would be the lava area, but other than that he was just fine.

[Rigor Mortis]

His attention turned to the newcomer, who sported a staff, a difficult weapon to master, but one, if used effectively, was difficult to overcome. For this reason, Rex was glad for the shading of the arena. It allowed for less committed fighting, and more potential confusion amongst the trio. Rex had noticed the third man come in, but he wasn't sure the staff-wielding human had.

"You guess a lot, don't you?" Rex chuckled lightly. "Let me guess, you didn't even decide to fight me." He sniggered again as he grabbed his tomahawks from his belt. "If you don't want to be here, then just step backwards," Rex commented as he lunged forward, swinging both tomahawks over his head in an arc, aiming at the person's head; retreating backwards after he had done so. He cocked his head in mock confusion, stifling more laughter.

"You should be more careful," the young adult said. "After all, I don't even know your name. If you knew your fair share about battles, you'd know emotions rule a big part of fights. We'd be emotionally connected with names." He flicked his head back, attempting to seem powerful. "I'm Rex Craspbil," he snarled, "...and you'd be best off not forgetting that!"

Turning to the man in hiding, Rex smirked slightly as he stepped towards the darker area of the stage. "You know, it's not just us two in here," Rex shot at the man. "There's someone else here, and he's looking for the element of surprise."

"You won't get it here," Rex said. He turned his head to the torch next to him, blowing it out, plunging the human into darkness.

((sorry about that, now we can get underway)).

[Lighthawk76]

If an enemy wants to swagger, let him swagger right into your grasp.

Like in every battle, Alan’s words of advice seemed to filter out everything else in Blank’s head. The old man would constantly barrage Blank with random tidbits as they would spar.

The young man had remembered the lesson about arrogance quite well. Alan had decided to go into combat without a weapon and with one weapon behind his back. Blank had scoffed. In under a minute, Blank was five feet away from his weapon with Alan sitting atop him. And you just swaggered into my grasp.

This man was cocky, and if Alan was right, and the old man had rarely been wrong, then he would swagger right into one of the ends of Blank’s staff.

After his opening remarks, the man jumped. Blank saw the move coming. At a closer range the little axes may have found their way into Blank’s skull, but at the distance, the move was easy to sidestep, which is exactly what Blank did.

As his opponent came into the light, Blank finally got a good look at him. He was young, around Blank’s age. With hair like hay spattered with mud. His eyes though were what really caught the defender’s gaze. Blue surrounding a core of red.

Blank didn’t allow himself to dwell too long upon his opponent’s appearance, preparing a counter. Before he would release his own attack the man was gone. For all his cocky swagger, he was quick.

Blank squared off again, prepared for the man to again take the initiative in the attack. Instead he went back to talking about emotions and their connection with battles. This went against everything that Blank understood about a fight.

Rage can empower you, but never give yourself over to emotion. It’s the rule you’ll break most often as soon as you learn what it feels to love someone.

It was a lesson that was constantly taught to Blank and one that he had come close to mastering. If he kept cool, he could sometimes even hold his defenses against Alan. Emotions may be important to Rex Craspil, as his opponent had just named himself, but if Blank knew anything about emotions, they would be his downfall.

With that constant swagger, Rex turned to the darkness of the platform. Even Blank knew that was just plain stupid.

The hay haired kid spoke over to Blank, notifying him of a third opponent.

Blank suddenly had his heart drop as he let his eyes scan the rest of the room. It was dark, but not so dark that he shouldn’t be able to see the third. Was someone really hiding in there?

If there really was a third hiding in the shadows, what Rex did next was the epitome of overconfidence. He turned himself towards a torch, taking in a great breath to blow it out. Blank saw what he was doing. Why make it darker for the unknown combatant to better hide?

More importantly, why leave your back open with an opening to a Troll’s lair in front of you? Especially when a man was behind you swiping at your shins and following up with a strike at your body that could send you for a very unwanted closer look at the previously mentioned Troll.

A little underhanded, but Blank was always up for giving cocky little buggers like Rex exactly what they deserved. A much needed lesson in humility.

[Drake]

Drake smiles and steps out of the shadow he was hiding into plain sight, no longer trying to hide his presence since he had already been found out, but hunched as to not reveal his true hight, making him seem 6,10.

"You must have quite sharp eyes to have spotted me so quickly" Drake says casually as he draws one of his knives that he has hidden in his cloak.

"But it will do you no good, because in the darkness I reign supreme" then throws his dagger at the Tomahawk wielder and shadow melds.

Drake walks towards the staff wielder, completely invisible while in shadow meld, walks right up behind him.

"Death is your only escape from me boy." Drake whispers into his ear then moves on to find a good vantage point.

[Rigor Mortis]

Now that darkness enveloped him, Rex surveyed his two opponents. While he had identified the presence of the second competitor, he didn't actually know where the bastard was. With this lack of information in front of him, Rex crouched, listening for any sign of movement to his right, trying to identify a location. Just as he did so, however, he heard a voice.

"Fool," Rex thought. "Why ruin your element of surprise?"

Just as he thought this, Rex heard a whistle above his head, which he immediately identified as a weapon of some sort. If he hadn't been crouching, the darkness would have ejected him from this battle quickly. Rex would have to be more careful. He carefully drew himself farther away from the hidden threat, rising as he drifted back into the light. As he moved away, he could tell it was getting hotter, which confused him. Turning to look downwards, he noticed the lava far below, and realized the true dangers of the arena. Additionally, he realized how he could work it to his advantage.

"It isn't smart to linger perilously close to the edge," Rex noted, shrinking away as if he took his own advice.

He remembered a specific moment of his childhood, how he had been cornered in an alleyway by a gang of three burly bullies. They enjoyed beating Rex up, and they were preparing to do so again. Just as they made contact, however, Rex had preempted their assault with his own, tackling the head honcho in the stomach, and making a run for it. Rex didn't intend to use the same tactics here, but rather, a modified effect of one. He turned to face the staff-wielder once more, and this time sprinted towards him, arms raised, in an attempt to grab hold.

[Taskmienster]

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

Thanks,
~Task