The Dead and Undying (closed)

[Typheus]

((1. Defend Eluriand or Valinatal from undead attacks.))

Typheus was standing on top of a roof using a telescope to survey the surrounding area for a possible choke point. He had been commissioned to hold off an army of the undead which he was all too familiar with thanks to biological warfare back where he was from, which is to say, another universe, but that’s a story for another time.

There was nothing to do but wait and plan. He had been paid a sum of money for lending his services to the people of Raiaera. 100 gold for attempting to defend it, plus 50 gold for every undead he took out afterwards. They claimed it was so he didn’t cut and run with a very large sum of money. Typheus knew it was so he would do his job with more precision. He had requested some supplies for this op, but he knew that he wouldn’t get all of it.

First item on the list was three sticks of TNT, hopefully to clear out large masses of the undead, or to craft the land into a workable environment.

Second item was the telescope he was now using. Typheus would have preferred binoculars, but this would do for now. Hopefully he could convince them to give him binoculars in exchange for knocking 100 gold off of his paycheck.

Third item was a set of arrows, 20 in all. If these things were the same as the undead where he was from, a headshot would be all that could take them down. Headshots were hard to pull off, especially with a bow and arrow, but Typheus knew he could pull it off if he wasn’t panicked. He was used to using guns, but he had a small amount of experience with bows after practicing with his Yew Bow that he had gotten off of a dead bandit.

Fourth item, which was a rifle, was given to him under much hesitation. Apparently they didn’t trust him with a gun, but after showing them that he knew what he was doing, loading and unloading the weapon, and also taking it apart and cleaning it, they finally decided to let him have it.

The fifth item, which was a radio transmitter was denied with a funny look. So funny in fact, that not only did Typheus forget to laugh, but he decided not to question it further. Apparently radios were not that common in this world.

Everything was in place. Typheus was watching for any sign of movement from the rooftop of a building near the perimeter of Raiaera. The sticks of TNT were in his pocket and his rifle hung loosely on his back. His white trench coat flowed in the breeze, which also brought the smell of death and decay with it. Typheus started remembering the last time the air felt like this. Soon after, hordes of the undead were crawling towards him and he and a large group of soldiers took them down. The zombies were slow and relentless creatures who’s soul strength relied in their inability to feel pain and fear and to swarm on unsuspecting victims. Typheus knew all too well what it was like to almost get bitten by one.

“Lexxum! How are things with you? You know more about what we’re dealing with than I. If only the bastards would inform me of more than the term ‘undead,’ eh?”

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Formely in Scara Brae, I lost contact with my friend there. After the battle ended with those hideous wolf-things, I found myself wandering the land of Scara Brae for a time. Lost in hiatus, I finally came across a port city in Scara Brae. Word on the streets was that a battle was taking place up North in Salvar and to the South in Raiaera. I jumped at the chance to participate in either battle. Since I did not want to expose myself to the harsh Northern lands in Salvar, I booked passage to Raiaera along one of the many merchant ships that were heading to that war-torn land.

The ship ride across the ocean was uneventful. I mostly kept to myself as I heard the stories of the wars in Raiaera and Salvar intensifying. I grew eager to join the battle. Lost in thoughts, I came across a strange Elf heading back to the land of Raiaera on a diplomatic mission from Corone. That was the only intervention from my own personal thoughts. The ship ride was otherwise a typical passage across the ocean. I had a hard time getting used to the rocking of the vessel against the harshness of the sea. An ocean's storm blew in from the depths of the sea to attempt to consume us all.

Our naval officers were skilled at their ocean bearing craft and made effective use of their talents. We navigated through the storm without much damage to the ship and finally ended up in a port city in Raiaera. I did my best to get to a Recruiter's Office. The armies of Raiaera were lacking in numbers and I found out that a certain General was eagerly trying to fill in the quotas for his front-line brigades. It seemed that the Nation of Elves stood weakened at the hands of an enemy that was without bounds.

I wandered through the streets of Raiaera until I came across the Recruitment Center. Entering that structure, I immediately signed myself up for battle. They gave me the honorary armor of a member of the militia of Raiaera. That was the first signs of desperation. The second signs of desperation was that they were willing to negotiate my salary on the front lines. I told them casually that I cared not for their gold. The chance to participate in battle was enough for me to go on. I thanked my superior officers once I was giving my marching orders and made it to the fort I was ordered to defend.

The fort stood against the backdrop of an ancient forest. Strangely, this reminded me of the stories I've heard about Corone's infamous Concordia Forest. The lay of the land was unfamiliar to me. I was given a map with my marching orders so that I could make it to the fort in time to actually defend SOMETHING. When I arrived, the soldiers were nervous and inexperienced. Many were part of a volunteer army. I saw their lack of courage and conviction and took it upon myself to train them in the ways of tactical warfare.

That was five months ago. And I've been here ever since. With my fellow commanding officer, a man named Typheus, I helped to train the brigade that we were using against our enemy. A Necromancer named Xem'Zund. I expected a glorious battle when our marching orders came. I was armed with various types of weapons that I'd gleamed out of the fortress' supply stalls. My companion in the battle was a capable lad. When he called to me, I turned towards his person looking down upon him.

"All is well. The men in our brigade have been ready for a time now, they just need their marching orders now. I've helped to train them for many moons." I said calmly keeping my eyes trained on the battlefield ahead. I observed the grounds for any signs of the undead army now marching towards us.

[Typheus]

Due to the silence and the intruded smell, the situation was growing steadily darker. It seemed as if some kind of force was making the air thicker. As time seemed to stand still, Typheus checked his equipment once again, pulling out his rifle and checking the cross-hairs, as well as the loading mechanism. He was a bit nervous to be fighting legions of the undead.

Having only a small amount of experience with them before, he was not sure what to make of the coming battle. Sure because of their slowness and stupidity it seemed like an easy fight, but it was the sheer number that got to him. If you were out in the open, and had room to maneuver, you had a chance, but once the zombies surrounded you, you better either have one bullet left in your gun for yourself, or you better find a way out.

It wasn't until he saw movement on a nearby hill did he grow weary of what to do next. So far it had been a simple game of waiting. Now, it seems, it was time to think of a few plans of attack in case the situation looks grim. He knew he was going to win. He HOPED he was going to win. He had troops, they had weapons. He had an advantage in this fort, and the fort had supplies, and defenses. What did the zombies have? A lack of fear, pain, and logic. Things could go either way.

He took out his telescope and looked at the oncoming zombies. There were five in total, and they were coming slowly towards the base. Typheus took his rifle and took his aim. It was a brittle piece of work, being the design of an old Garand which required constant loading after each shot. He had his cross-hairs centered on the first zombie and got a clean headshot, taking its head off completely. He repeated this with the four other zombies, and when the movement stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Lexxum. Don't tell me that's it!" Typheus said, half joking. He learned of his folly soon enough. Five more zombies approached the hill--no, ten--twenty--40--80--too many to count. It seems that this was not going to be any easy task. "All troops with long range weapons, on the north wall, ASAP! Get a barricade on both entrances! Get the stones ready on the parapet! I want the pikemen prepped and ready for battle in five minutes, let's go!"

He turned towards Lexxum. "If you've got some kind of god to pray to, I suggest doing it, eh? Unless it's a Thayne, which in that case, pray that damnation is loosed upon their souls."

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Valinatal lurked on the horizon some miles away from the fort that we were assigned to. This place was different from my native homeland of Fallien. I tried to adapt to the situation the best that I knew how by focusing upon the imminent battle at hand. My companion had a mysterious weapon I'd never seen before that seemed to be some type of advanced gun. All I had that could match was a liviol longbow I'd taken from the storehouse. Before me sat several quivers of arrows, each containing 20 arrows. They were bolted with Iron and made of inexpensive Yew.

The afternoon sun was beginning to set already as a darkness seemed to creep across the land. I noticed this penetrating dark coming from the direction of my enemy. Soon, several figures appeared in the horizon. I heard Typheus begin to bark orders before I could and I let it slide. Lord Mitra's shining glow soon vanished beneath black storm clouds that came in from the West. A darkness covered the land. I heard lightning rumbling in the distance as the battle began in such away. Loading a single arrow onto my longbow, I prepared myself for a long siege.

I expected this to be a conflict where eventually I'd get my hands dirty. I felt the air come alive as many arrows were launched from the various soldiers in our command. I saw several more of the zombies in the distance go down. Some of them slowly stood back up. I took careful aim at the creatures' head area and let loose at one that was several yards away. I'd practiced with the longbow for a time while I was here for many months preparing for this battle. I let the arrow loose with some degree of skill and watched it fly towards my target.

It covered a tremendous amount of space. My target was slow, unintelligent. It was struck by my arrow but I'd missed my mark. The arrow lodged itself well into the shoulder of the creature knocking it down upon the ground with the tremendous force of the recoil. The hideous monster got up a few moments later but I was already taking a shot at another one. One that was nearby to the exact position of the zombie I previously attacked. I let another arrow loose, and by a high degree of chance, the zombie was moving right towards the general direction of the arrow I'd launched. It was a perfect shot and the zombie went down. An arrow cleanly piercing the skull of the beast. The other zombie I'd struck was already up and I easily spotted the arrow in its shoulder.

I sent out another arrow. This time, I caught the first zombie square in the head as it started to move. The thing went down easily. I breathed a sigh of relief but knew there was much more work to be done. I loaded my longbow with another arrow and freely took aim at the many targets that presented itself. They were slowly moving down the hill. Sounds of moans and yells from the dead reached my position and this made me sick to my stomach. I swore I would make that Necromancer pay for the atrocities against the living that he had committed with his dark acts. I heard the gates of the fort closing down as various entrances were being barricade. I saw the pikemen at the foot of the fort preparing themselves to defend against the incoming horde.

Scores of arrows were launched like thick clouds at the crowd ahead, my arrows included. More went down. I thought we were making some sort of progress. But soon I saw a sight that made me cold to my stomach. MORE zombies were approaching. A crowd of thousands more. I looked down at my arrows and cursed in the tongue of my people. I looked at the single siege engine we had in our possession. I knew it would not be enough. We needed a plan.

"ARCHERS! LOAD YOUR ARROWS WITH FIRE TIPS, LETS START COOKING THESE THINGS! FIRE THE CATAPULT AT WILL!"

Flaming boulders were loaded upon the catapult by a handful of soldiers. I saw this and nodded. Lord Mitra. Give me strength to die well. The catapult launched its contents at the group of incoming zombies. I knew that our fort would protect us to a degree, but there were sheer numbers against us. And then I saw something that made me angry. A group of zombies were coming at them carrying ladders! These things weren't stupid!

"Typheus! Attack those ladders!" There was a crushing impact sound as the rocks that were launched hit the enemy squashing at least twenty of them. I launched my arrows at the nearest of the squads of ladder bearers. So far there seemed to be five of them.

[Typheus]

Typheus faintly heard Lexxum shouting something as the noises of battle raged on. Something about going after ladders. It wasn't until he saw the advancing zombies carrying siege ladders did he mentally say "duh."

It was a large horde, apparently smart enough to carry the ladders, though they were still not moving very fast. It was easy enough to pop a few of them in the head. He was having a much easier time than Lexxum because his weapon was a bit more straight-forward. You point and pull and a bad guy falls down. At least, that's the basic concept of it. The only difference now is that, unless you blew their brains out, the enemy got back up.

The worst part about this whole thing was, he was halfway through his rifle ammo, so he finally switched to the bow. The transition from trigger to a long string was hard and he missed his first couple of shots completely, but as he got the hang of it, his shots were starting to become effective, hitting the zombies, but not in the head.

Eventually, he saw the archers around him lighting up their arrows with fire, so he decided to borrow a few of them. It was easy enough with those shots, because no matter where you hit, the enemy was going to go down. He managed to take out a few more ladder carriers who, at being caught on fire, dropped their ladders on top of themselves, creating a small inferno which would sometimes catch the surrounding zombies ablaze.

This was nothing compared to what the catapult was doing, though. One blast from it, with its napalm and fiery rocks, created a large torch, lasting throughout the battle, catching nearby zombies on fire, and impeding the progress of the rest. It made one wonder just how a zombie army could be anything to worry about, but when one focused on the entire battlefield, he could see that progress was not being made very fast.

Zombies were still pouring over the hill, some of them carrying siege ladders. The few ladders that made it were quickly pushed off by the pikemen, taking a handful of zombies crashing to the ground, only to get back up and try the ladder again.

"Get the oil!" Typheus shouted. "Pour it out in front of the walls and light it!"

He could see the soldiers rushing to create a small barrier with the oil, sometimes stumbling and getting covered in it themselves. These soldiers needed to be trained much better.

When it was finally in place, a few archers shot their arrows down towards the ground and ignited it. The oil burned and the zombies went up along with it. The smell of burning corpses filled the air and it made Typheus slightly sick to his stomach. "This Necromancer is one sick fuck," Typheus thought to himself. The zombies did not want to approach the wall after what happened to their comrades, so they were staying back for the time being.

The pikemen hurled the ladders as hard as the could away from the parapet and the flaming stacks of wood toppled over on a few clusters of zombies. It seemed as if things were going well. The fire, the arrows, the catapult. If they could keep the zombies from breaching the walls...they stood a good chance.

"I've killed maybe 40 so far! How's your paycheck coming along!?" Typheus asked Lexxum, taking aim with his arrows again, now out of his borrowed fire tips.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

But I was too busy concentrating on the task at hand to be distracted by my friend. I let loose several more arrows in succession and their targets went down a few moments later. Luckily, these things weren't too fast--yet. I knew that the leader of this particular siege would only send his grunts out for the slaughter in the beginning of the battle. The arrival of the siege ladders lead to me to believe that there were more secrets ahead of us. I'd already taken down fifty zombies at last count. Plus ordering the men behind to me get the catapult going ensured that hundreds were falling.

The problem was that there were too many. I've seen Necromancy of this nature before with the Atra of my homeland. Raiaera wasn't the only Nation being attacked by the powers of Necromancy. Right now I loaded another arrow but saw something disturbing. The pikemen were felling foes quickly, but were being overwhelmed by the zombies' hordes. There were simply too many of them. I looked over at Typheus and decided to take drastic action in order to defend the foot soldiers on the ground. I already saw several of the pikemen going down to enemy units.

I took one last look at my friend and developed the plan in my head. We weren't defending against the zombies with a strategically superior plan. We needed more skilled soldiers on the ground. So, I took several quivers of arrows with me and attached them to a utility belt around my waist. Sheathing my liviol longbow, I prepared myself for imminent combat. My eyes narrowed as I observed the conflict before me. Moving to the edge of the fort, I climbed to the topmost portion of the wall and began to allow myself to slide down the side of the wall. When I was about halfway down, I jumped the rest of the using my powerful muscles to guide me in a graceful motion.

Once my feet touched ground I was able to assess the damage that was taking place. Several of the zombies were tearing through the squad of pikemen, easily attempting to overwhelm them. I drew my steel buster sword and rushed forward without fear. I didn't care how many there were against me. I would take them all down, or, die trying. With my sword reflecting light, ran forward to the nearest battle on foot. I swung my weapon at the nearest zombie. A moment later, the head of the beast flew through the air with a gush of blood spurting outward. I saw a nearby group of pikemen engaged in combat with several zombies. I decided that they needed my immediate assistance.

"We have reinforcements! Finally!"

One of the pikemen yelled as they saw my approach. I carefully swung my weapon towards the closest zombies and easily got rid of them. I already knew how to fight this foe so I made short work of them with my large weapon. Several more went down. I looked upon the pikemen and attempted to rally them to my side. There were at least ten in this group. The others were scattered in small skirmishes throughout the area. If I could just rally these men, we could easily take the incoming numbers and start causing some real damage. I evaded an arrow that came too close to my person and prepared my longbow. I started launching arrows at the nearest groups of zombies to assist the archers perched on the wall. I took down twenty more in a matter of minutes. My blood was beginning to boil up with the fury of my people. Keeping myself level headed took a great deal of concentration. I couldn't play my card until I was certain to get rid of the Commander of these bastards.

I pointed my sword towards the nearest such skirmish and was making an attempt to rally our side to a proper defense. Any zombie that came too close to my person, I simply got rid of it without hesitation. So far I wasn't facing anything that was too severe a threat to my person...so far anyway.

[Typheus]

Typheus saw that his friend was down outside of the fort fighting alongside of the pikemen below. He ordered the bowmen closest to Lexxum to watch their aim and help him out. The last thing Typheus needed now was a dead soldier who was capable of taking at least a fourth of these bastards out.

All in all, everything seemed to be going well. Typheus about ran out of arrows, so he was getting ready to jump down into the fray himself. When he looked over the parapet, the battle raging below made him a bit uneasy, but he knew that if he kept his pace high, he would easily be a step ahead of the zombies, and they wouldn't have a chance on getting to him. They were so slow it was kind of funny. It was as if they were bored out of their minds assaulting this fort.

Typheus jumped down and almost immediately, he was attacked by the zombies, taking out his sword and cutting their heads off one by one, and sometimes by twos if they were close enough together. It was a mindless slaughter, but if the people of the city were to survive, it could not be avoided. Typheus had to defend this town at all costs.

A zombie lunged at him and was about to bite into his neck, going for a major blood vessel possibly and Typheus couldn't cut his head off properly because of its proximity. Typheus placed his hand on the zombie's face and let out a blast of light energy, incinerating its face and causing it to get away. He then cut its head off with a violent swing, sending it flying into the fort walls

"Lexxum, I swear to God, this guy better be immortal like every other damned super sorcerer or I am going to put my foot so far up his ass!"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

I continued to fight against my enemy, pushing through their ranks. Like a beast from a war-time novel, I moved forward letting my buster sword smash through their ranks. The men followed my lead and we moved towards Typheus' position trying to secure the area in front of the fortress behind us. Fighting like this was more my tempo and speed. I felt the rush flowing through my person as I worked to cut through the monsters ahead of me.

As was the nature of my people, all of my blows were killing strikes. I wasted not a single movement in destroying the beasties before me. With Lord Mitras' blessings, I made my way forward through the enemy ranks. In the blink of an eye the battle was slowly starting to turn to our favor. I kept up the pressure and continued to attack forcing the enemy to react to our movements instead of keeping the enemy in an advancing pace.

Arrows from overhead blocked out the sky as the soldiers within the fort continued to use their rapidly depleting arrow supply. Soon, all of the able bodied men in the fort would join the war. At the time being, our small legion worked against the zombies' horde. Soon we started to push our way up the field as we took the battle to the enemy. Swarms of zombies fell to our battle as we fought them through the field that surrounded us. Death filled the air. Old death. Decrepit death. I savored the scent as the bodies mounted up. Soon, I was fighting atop a field of corpses.

Some of the corpses were the fallen from our side. When I came across such a corpse I immediately lopped off their head so that they couldn't come back to bite us later. So far, the legions of our enemy were slow and unintelligent but had superior numbers to us. With Lord Mitra's grace I fought to a point that would exhaust any normal warrior. I felt the thrill of battle in my gut, longed for it. With each successive kill my rage grew. I prayed to Lord Mitra in my native tongue for guidance as I strove to take out as many of these undead as I possibly could. I wasn't in this for the money. I just wanted to fight.

I wanted to fight and to kill.

[Typheus]

Typheus kept fighting as if his life depending on it--hell, his life DID depend on it. There was nothing between him and zombification or death except for his steel and his wits...along with an occasional blast of energy. There was something fun about this whole ordeal. It made him feel as if he was back home. War was all he knew before he came to Althanas. War, training, prophecy, beautiful planets, exotic creatures, the most advanced weapons ever made, living planets, quad star systems. Ok, so maybe war wasn't the only thing he knew, but it was definitely a big part of it.

The war around him was much different from previous wars. In his past experiences, he would be using a gun, and sometimes his sword if he ran into something powerful such as a super soldier or perhaps someone who could bend energy to their will similar to the way he did.

The best part about the current war was that there were no planet destroying devices. Had there, been, this necromancer would have certainly threatened us with one. And the allied commanders would have certainly surrendered.

A zombie was about to climb onto the parapet with a siege ladder until Typheus kicked the based of it as hard as he could, sending it shifting enough to knock the zombie off. A pikeman on the parapet pushed the ladder off.

There was nothing to do but continue fighting until there was nothing left. "I'm getting an assload of money for this," Typheus thought to himself. "Perhaps it will come in handy when it comes time to get equipment worthy of a true soldier."

73, 73, the zombies kept falling over, but there was no end to them. The catapult was starting to clear the field, but more were continuing to climb over the hill.

Another zombie lunged at Typheus's neck and almost bit him until he pushed it off, stabbing it through its cranium.

"Lexxum, this is bullshit! We've got to come up with a plan or else this is going to become a war of attrition and I fear we'll give out before long."

[Lexxum_Vordic]

By now, my casualties were reaching well into the hundreds. I was bread for war and born for the slaughter. The battles of the desert honed my skilled and prepared me for such a desperate situation as this seemed to be. A plethora of corpses were behind me as I moved forward swinging my buster sword with some skill. I still hadn't mastered the weapon, but it was relatively simple to use with my size. All it took was some clever swinging to come up with a comfortable fighting style and I could easily dispatch several of the incoming groups of zombies all at once.


Typheus, I was worried about. The battle seemed to be taking a toll upon his spirit and reserve. We finally caught up to his person and my squad of pikemen were motivated to fight by seeing me battle alongside them. Archers posted on the fort wall continued to launch volleys of arrows and bolts into the incoming crowd providing some degree of air support for the soldiers on the ground. But Typheus was right, we needed to do something fast to bring this thing to some sort of resolution. As I continued to hack various necromantic foes that came towards me, I finally caught up to Typheus and heard his decree. I nodded towards him. We needed to find the commander of this legion fast.


"Typheus. We need to get rid of their commander! It is the only way to end this. We should concentrate on breaking their ranks and moving forward through the battalion that's heading for us. They're numbers are great but we are smarter than they are. If we can just get to their Commander and engage him in battle we should be fine."

I responded casually as I continued to hack at nearby opponents. My pikemen provided adequate support once they got over their initial fears of the battle ahead. Our enemy was fearsome and a few of them managed to break through our line of skirmishing. That's what was keeping us at the base of the fort. We needed to clear this particular group of zombies before we were able to move anywhere. And then things hit the fan. I heard a tremendous roar and a large necromantic beast was approaching us. The enemy commander was starting to reveal more of his secrets.

"Typheus look at that thing!"

[Typheus]

"Now, we're talkin'!" Typheus shouted as he finally had a close-by goal. It did not matter to him that a powerful beast had emerged, so long as it did something to break up the monotone battle. Walking corpses are only fun for so long, and then they just become troublesome. They don't have emotion, the don't know fear, and they don't die easily. A troublesome enemy indeed.

The beast that was now approaching the fort reminded Typheus vaguely of a cross between a wingless dragon and a mutilated hunk of meat. It was easily large enough to have a chance at leaping up over the fort walls if it stood on its hind legs and held onto the walls with its front legs. The worst part is that it seemed to breathe some poisonous gas instead of flames, as noticed when it killed any grass it hit. This meant that it would linger in the air even after it had stopped its attack.

Typheus was unsure of how to take on such a creature. Sword attacks would hurt it, definitely, but the gas would kill any swordsman who would linger long enough to make multiple stabs at it. This could also work to Typheus's advantage. If he could make an attack quick enough to hurt the monster, yet leave him time to escape, he could probably deal a death blow. But what could he use? The gun was almost out of ammo, the arrows would be too weak and he was running low on even them. The TNT...would be perfect.

Typheus was reluctant to use the TNT, having the mindset to save it for the very worst, but this WAS the worst, or at least very close to it. Typheus didn't know the enemy, and so he always expected them to be toying with him, waiting for him to make a proud and powerful maneuver, only to have it snuffed out by a scene of total futility. He had to quit thinking like that and start thinking that this is a war just like any other.

"Lexxum, it appears unfortunate, but I think it's time for a big bang," he said as he put his sword into its hilt and then pulled a stick of dynamite from inside his coat and held it in his left hand as he drew his gun from the opposite side and held it in his right hand. He would only have three shots at this. Hopefully he could get it in on the first. "I'm rushing him. I'd appreciate it if you would come as well. I don't have a third hand for a close range weapon so I'll need you to come with me so that I don't get bitten by some random zombie."

[Lexxum_Vordic]

"Very well Typheus. I shall follow you by Lord Mitras' blessing!"

This was the moment I was waiting for. A large fell beast arrived on the battlefield. With it came the chance to test my skills against a worthy opponent, rather than these cannon fodder zombies. They were a stalwart lot but I was a dangerous beast fully trained in the killing arts. Nay. Dedicated them completely to the blood. I heard a large roar and turned my attention to the approaching beast. It had many traits similar to a Saurian and a part of me wanted to help the creature destroy units on the field. I lived for destruction.

Already, blood was on my person dripping down my scale-like hide as I fought my enemy. Many zombies fell to my blood-coated sword. It wasn't Delyn but I'd managed to obtain a steel weapon from the shopping district in Fallien. It would do for the time being. I liked Typheus' planned and moved along with it. A group of zombies showed up in front of me. I reacted quickly and lopped off their heads on a completely instinctive reaction.

By now, I'd lost track of my body count. It no longer mattered, there was no way that our Employer was going to pay us a massive lump sum. I didn't know how to tell that to Typheus, but I let the thought go. Hordes of zombies continued to perish all around me as I fought the nearest ones. The pikemen and various swordsmen eager to join the battle pushed the skirmish line forward. We were rapidly gaining yards up the large field afore us.

Every now and again the catapult would launch a huge boulder of destruction at the field. I saw another being launched in the general direction of the newly approaching beast. The ball of destruction soared through the air with a whistling sound. In turn, I saw the beast turn its eyes upon the incoming object without fear. The thing seemed incapable of feeling any normal emotion other than pure hatred and violence. My own violence filled heart admired the strength and power that the beast seemed to possess.

I ran behind Typheus and took down any zombie that came too close. The zombies became no consequence to me at this point. I'd motivated the soldiers to fight with their greatest sets of skills. They fought without fear and without hesitation killing whatever monster came their way. Soon, only the zombies running down the hill seemed to be left. I couldn't help but wonder how many of these damned things were left. From time to time, I had to take down a zombie that wore the armor of one of my former men. It was hard to perform such a task and it took a lot of me, but my heart was already cold with constant warfare. Where they were formerly allies, now they'd converted to the side of the zombies. Those that were bitten had to fall as well.

My blade swung about in a circular direction as was my unique fighting style. I cleared the way for Typheus. A group of heroic pikemen and swordsmen followed up behind me to provide cover for the both of us. Without orders from me, they'd followed behind me like good warriors. They'd understood the nature of Typheus' plan and provided adequate support with a small guard of five pikes and five blade, ten units all together. I saw the large beast ahead and only then, when I was but a few feet away from it, could I appreciate the vastness of its huge size.

"By Lord Mitra." I said with a certain audible level of tension in my voice. The beast was blowing streams of a green cloud upon the battlefield. These would have to be avoided at all costs. I signaled the men behind me to move around the clouds and they obeyed my commands.

[Typheus]

Typheus ran full speed towards the monster as it opened its mouth to spew a large cloud of the poisonous gas. He held his breath and closed his eyes as he entered it, feeling the sweltering heat and humidity that accompanied it. This was obviously to keep the poison sticking to the skin of its opponents. A trap that Typheus fell for and would have to rectify soon if he wanted to keep it from eating through his skin. When he felt the cloud pass, he opened his eyes and saw that his vision was a bit blurry. "DAMNIT!" he cried as he realized that some of the poison had slipped under his eyelids.

He could vaguely see the monster opening up its jaws to spew another cloud of death and he feared he would not survive another, so he took aim with his rifle and shot the monster in its throat. The monster then hesitated and Typheus finally got close enough. He used his energy to light the stick of dynamite in his hand and pitched it as hard as he could into the monster's mouth.

"Lexxum, get your ass down!"

He saw a red blur disappear into the monster's mouth. He then got down into the grass and covered his head with his hands. He was waiting for a loud explosion, hoping to God that nothing would grab him before the event. He waited and felt a few bodies drop near him, but no explosion came. When he looked up he saw the monster still there, spewing smoke, with a small red blur stuck in the middle of the mass. The TNT had gotten stuck in the monster's teeth and the fumes must have smothered it.

Typheus stood upright and took aim with his gun, aiming at the little red blur. He fired and missed, but heard a roar from the monster. He took another shot and saw some faded sparks. He must have hit a tooth or something else metal. He took a third and all hell broke loose. A heat wave swelled up in front of Typheus as well as a bright ball of light. The smoke from the TNT blast reached Typheus's nose and it was a welcome relief to the smell of decay, but the smell was soon replaced by another one, one of recent death.

Typheus turned his back towards the dead creature and covered his head as meat chunks rained down on various parts of the battlefield. He felt a few thumbs on his back, and felt something very heavy land close to him. Whether it was the monster's or a body was beyond him.

None of this mattered, for Typheus felt a slight tingling sensation on his skin. There was no water around except for that in the fort, and he knew that he couldn't make it back as he was now without getting bitten. He could barely see enough to fight. "Lexxum, I need help! I need some damn water, or else I'm going to go blind and skinless at the same time!"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Everything seemed to go in slow motion when Typheus launched the stick of TNT into the mouth of the beast. I'd barely managed to evade the gas cloud but my men weren't so lucky. There was just enough room underneath the cloud for me to duck under it. But my sails were scorched by the acidic like substance as I moved underneath it. Some of my men saw me duck down and in turn, they ducked down as well but other weren't so lucky.

The cloud of poisonous death seared through flesh and bone quickly eradicating the fellows behind me. I moved quickly forward, crawling on all fours like the Saurian I was. I hissed as I felt the burn on my sails but the wounds weren't lethal. In time, they would heal naturally on their own as layers of the scaley material regrew back where the injuries took place. It would take many weeks of healing. I crawled past the gas cloud and proceeded to take out some nearby zombies that were attempting to take advantage of Typheus. Another cloud of death came, and I quickly evaded it this time. My men had a few more losses but some evaded that cloud as well. I was grateful for such competence in my soldiers.

The afternoon sun overhead quickly started setting as the battle lingered onwards. I knew that we needed to do something fast. I heard the sound of an explosion and the huge beast fell to Typheus' explosives. I smiled seeing such a glorious thing. Continuing my dance of death, I leaped up at the chance to help Typheus in kind. I had supply packs with me and within them were a few jerkins filled with water. I dispatched two more zombies and moved towards Typheus. I was thankful at this point that only my sails had received any injuries as I knew that our enemy was growing desperate.

Another group of zombies emerged from the ground near to Typheus, but I was on top of them. I moved forward with my sword, decapitating what I could and my men finished off the rest. The huge beast that Typheus killed rested in the dead center of the battlefield. I took my jerkins in hand after I sheathed my sword and handed two of them to Typheus. They were filled with fresh water. I knew I didn't have to say anything. After I handed Typheus the fresh water my eyes went to the horizon and I saw something that made my gut get tied up in knots. More of the zombies were approaching. We weren't slowing them down!

I took down another small group of incoming zombies and took a glance back at the fort. Thankfully none of the zombies had breached the skirmish line...yet. I turned my glance back to the incoming group, a large crowd of them was running towards us. They were yelling as they ran too. This disturbed me at least a little bit, and I rubbed my hand across my well form chin. Blood covered my person, but thankfully they most of it was the blood of these creatures. I thanked Lord Mitra for the blessing of such a great battle on this day and killed as many of these things in his name as I could.

In the distance, the enemy Commander awaited.

"Regroup men! All blades at our side!"

[Typheus]

Typheus accepted the water gratefully and poured it on himself. The toxins came off easily, leaving Typheus's skin intact. He looked up and poured some on his eyes, straining to keep his eyelids open and his vision recovered slightly and was starting to fade back into its usual strength.

Typheus dropped his gaze to the battlefield when he heard hoarse yells coming from the enemy's side. When his vision cleared almost completely, he saw that they were not wearing armor like his own troops. They were also running kind of awkwardly. Typheus poured some more water onto his eyes and his vision returned to normal, though part of him wish it hadn't.

The zombies were running toward them now, screaming gibberish. A few of them carried weapons. These new zombies appeared smarter than their cannon fodder counter-parts. Typheus then realized what had happened. The dumb zombies were sent to waste their ammo. Make them use up their resources, as well as get them used to fighting an easy enemy to dull their senses.

Also, had he and Lexxum not killed that lizard when they did, the odds of winning would have been very slim indeed. The enemy had planned for the lizard to be artillery support with its toxin fumes while the smarter zombies stormed the fort. The fumes didn't affect them, so the entire fort area could be bathed in it without them losing a single ally. Now, however, it seemed that the smarter zombies would have to fight this war without a devastating advantage.

There was a man standing at the very top of the hill, watching the battle unfold below. The zombies were running past him, not paying him any attention at all, and that could only mean one thing. He was a leader among them.

Typheus had one bullet left, Lexxum had years of experience in fighting with his weapons, Typheus also had two sticks of TNT as well as his sword. Typheus had not been in this world long, but he had a funny feeling that if the commander fell, the zombies would either fall as well, or would simply not know what to do.

"Lexxum, we've got to blitz this guy! That's the only way we're going to end this battle intact! One strike, one chance! Take our pikemen with us to clear the way and leave the fort undefended long enough for us to kill the commander! If we succeed, we win this battle! If we lose, then it'll be the same outcome as if we stayed here!"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

The group of zombies quickly descended upon us but we were ready. We needed to pull this off just right. They came with us like experienced warriors against our handful of men. I immediately threw myself against a group of swordsmen coming our way. O it was glorious. Swords and weapons clashed against one another as the true battle began. We'd suffered heavy casualties but it was nothing compared to the casualties that they'd suffered. We'd exterminated the last of the cannon fodder group of zombies and I thanked Lord Mitra for this blessing.

Fighting on such ground was different than fighting on the sands of my homeland. I missed Fallien and wished that some of my fellow warriors were with me to partake in this needless bloodshed. Such a chance to participate in a war of this nature was rare. I was enjoying myself. I wore a grin on my bloody face as I fought. I'd sustained some damage from the fight but nothing was serious. Now, the seriousness of the matter revealed itself.

Spotting a quick image of the enemy Commander, I was surprised at how many yards we'd covered. The day seemed like it could truly be ours at this point. All of our men fought courageously and I let out a mighty howl to rally the warriors behind me. At this point we were fighting an enemy that was more on par with our training and it was a welcome sense of relief. The battle beforehand had been nothing less than a complete slaughter of the enemy side. The enemy commander certainly seemed like it wasn't expecting to loose that big unit they sent against us.

I certainly hoped for our sakes that Typheus was correct. After fighting the clever Atra, I was prepared for the worst. The worst was now upon us, running down the hill with awesome velocity. I engaged the nearest of the few and remembered all I had learned about my enemy thusly. Removing their heads was an easy matter after a few carefully placed parries. My concentration was at its peaked. I thanked Lord Mitra with every kill I got, blessing it in his name. There were many trophies to be had, but I wanted a piece of the big beast before us.

I also wanted a piece of the commander. Maneuvering my sword like a swath through the enemy ranks, I continued my ferocious attack. I swung my weapon around with tremendous skill, comfortable with the huge blade after many months of training with it. I slashed at creatures that came at me, quickly slicing many of them in half or taking their heads off. I would prove to them that they'd made a fatal mistake of attacking Raiaera on this day, with me, Lexxum Vordic as a commanding officer. We were going to do our Knight Captain justice.

And I would have many tales to tell my friends and family back home. I was a native to Fallien so I could come and go as I pleased. I kept fighting near to Typheus' position gathering myself as we prepared for the mad sprint towards the enemy commander. Several squads of soldiers fought in various position, including our Knight Captain by now. It was truly a thing to behold as the sounds of battle filled the air. The scent of death accompanying it, a welcome taint. I'd suffered a series of injuries that I couldn't feel because of my adrenalin pumping through my vessel. They were minor cuts and incisions at best, a few piercings from the pikes of enemy units. Some of them carried pitchforks and other non-sophisticated weapons. I was grateful for this turn of events. The enemy met with our skirmish line and we fought them dead on.

"Men! Let's show them what Lord Mitra has taught us about conflict and war! Let's keep our skirmish line and tear into their ranks!"

All of my men gathered around us to secure the line of skirmish. They wanted to keep gaining yards and understood that the enemy commander was at the top of the field. I looked across the ranks of our allied forces and saw that our Knight's Captain was nowhere to be found. This troubled me greatly. Was he already dead? Was his whole unit already dead? I had no time to think about this turn of events as I continued to fight. We kept moving forward inch by inch and foot by foot. Every so often, a hail of arrows from the few remaining Archers perched on the fort wall provided air support, as well as a volley from the catapult. It seemed like we stood a chance to win this thing...I still had a card left to play if the worst truly came about. I would face it without fear.

[Typheus]

When Lexxum had rejoined with Typheus, he was already in engaged in combat with a couple of the smarter zombies. They fell quickly thanks to the fact that their skills with the blade weren't as good as Typheus's. When they hit the ground, the sickening smell of blood hit the air. Their blood was much fresher than the others. That must have been how they were capable of intellectual thought. Their brains hadn't deteriorated as much as the ones that had been dead for long periods of time. But something was missing, for their allies who had resurrected had been slow as well. Perhaps there is stronger magic endowed into these beings to allow them to function with their blood at full capacity.

Typheus felt that there was nothing more to do as the zombies closed in. "MEN! CHARGE FOR THE ENEMY COMMANDER, KILL HIM, OR DIE TRYING, BECAUSE AS LONG AS THAT MAN STILL LIVES, THE BATTLE WILL BE LOST!"

A few of the pikemen responded by forming a line in front of Lexxum and Typheus, and they crouched down and pointed their spears at the enemy commander. This was good. They would have a stronger chance with this kind of maneuver.

"Lexxum, they're going to charge for the commander, clearing a path for us. We're going to move in behind them so that we can reach the commander as well. Now, I think it goes without saying that you're up to this..."

Typheus took a pose where he slightly crouched down with his sword behind him slanted upwards, pointing behind him and into the sky. His left arm was in front of him, with his forearm horizontally in front of his chest. "LET'S GO!"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Once they heard their orders, the pike-men gathered bravely around Typheus and myself. Those that could anyway. Many were engaged in fierce combat with the smarter zombies that came in and were unable to break away in time to assist the charge. I looked up at the sun and thanked Lord Mitra for whatever assistance he could give us this day on our darkest hour. I took down a couple more of the zombies after a quick and brief skirmish with them. I'd suffered a few more injuries to my body, but none of them were serious enough for me to concern myself with.

I moved behind the line of pikemen and prepared myself for the mad sprint towards the commander. Periodically, clouds of arrows and a single object of death from the catapult was launched upon the field to crush all. It was beautiful, a work of art. They would sing praises of the battle at Valinatal. Other wars and battles were going on as we fought, the fate of Raiaera resting in our hands. I liked our odds. Even though we were hopelessly out numbered, we fought bravely to help defend the homeland of the Elves. For freedom was the right of all sentients. Even we blood lizards.

Suddenly, a zombie came up behind me wielding a longsword of some sort I hadn't seen before. I felt the presence behind me but it was too late. He stabbed his sword in my general direction and got a piece of my shoulder. I hissed in agony and turned around to the warrior. I swung my buster sword in a mad swing towards his midsection, but the zombie was fast, unnaturally fast. It moved with quick reflexes and speed to match my own. This was the first such zombie I'd met on the field and I was thrilled to battle such a skilled warrior. I concentrated on the battle at hand and was not able to make the mad sprint in time.

Pikemen ran forward, leading the charge. They skillfully picked off any zombies that came their way. I swung my heavy weapon and somehow, the zombie-man was able to counter or block each of my swings. I worked hard to keep on the same pace as him. Other zombies came at me, I quickly dispatched them. However, every time that I did so, my enemy took a piece of me. I was suffering more cuts and slashes with every passing moment, and I still hadn't gotten a single injury off of the zombie. By now, I was completely alone against the horde. Several groups of warriors fought zombies nearby but were so engaged in their battles that they could not provide me support.

I was alone. And I knew it, I had to depend on my cunning and survival instincts in. I'd been in many battles on the desert but this was the most important one so far. Not even the big beast provided a huge enough challenge for me up at this point. The Super Zombie-Man fought with hard earned skill and I quickly respected this unit. It seemed like a ranking officer of the enemy's army. My sword slashes kept meeting with counters from the warrior and it showed no signs of slowing down. This was filling my heart with doubt of my own personal skill in the killing arts...

*******************************

"Look he's alone sir. We can provide him with aerial support from our Archers. He's helped our men hundreds of times already." Said one of the soldiers in the castle-fort. The high parapets of the fort was well defended by the archers upon the walls. Every few seconds they launched a volley of arrows into the crowd of zombies. These zombies were clever and able to react to the incoming attacks. Sometimes, they blocked the arrows with shields. "This batch is different somehow."

The Captain of the men stood upon the wall with his hand on his sword hilt, ready to attack a zombie at any moment. An entire squadron of soldiers was ready in the fort and waiting their orders to march. "Ignore him." The Captain finally responded. Concentrate your fire with the rest of the group and provide support to Typheus." The Captain pointed towards the general direction of Typheus and the pikemen. "It seems he has a plan." The Captain said calmly. "We cannot afford to waste resources helping out a single unit. If he is lost, then so be it. We provide support to larger squadrons as this is what is most important. Single units are expendable."

The Knight Captain said. There was an edge to his voice. "Understood sir. Men! You heard the Captain, ignore Lexxum." The archer proceeded to continue firing upon the zombie horde. There were several squads of their warriors engaged in combat against the horde. Arrows flew through the air in succession, hundreds of them. Only a few were destined to make their mark.

The men were weary--they needed a miracle.

[Typheus]

Typheus traveled behind the Pikemen who were slowly disappearing due to smarter zombies that forced them to break off into individual combat. The zombies themselves were starting to dwindle as well, but there were still too many to count, and that wasn't the case with his own men who were disappearing one by one to either fatigue or a cold piece of steel.

Lexxum was currently engaged with some kind of super soldier on the zombie's side. Apparently they wanted some insurance in case there were skilled fighters on the enemy side. They were smart for doing this, and Lexxum seemed to be having a tough time taking down the super soldier. Typheus wanted to go back and help, but he could not, if he wanted to win this war. If he stopped for distractions now, he would never reach the commander.

Speaking of which, the commander was only about 20 yards away and was getting ready for combat. Two of the Pikemen fell to the smart zombies and the rest broke off as soon as the commander pulled a dagger from his belt and sliced open a couple of the soldiers, and then electrocuted the rest with his magic.

Typheus narrowly avoided a lightning bolt and swung his sword madly at the commander who was disguised in a large robe so that his face was hidden. After throwing his knife at Typheus, which was dodged, he stood still for a minute. He removed his hood to reveal dark droopy hair and a maniacal face. He was definitely insane, but his skills proved that this did not affect his battle, especially when he pulled two more daggers from his person and hurled them at Typheus, who narrowly dodged them and got a cut along his right cheek.

When the commander tried to hit Typheus with a lightning attack, instincts kicked in and Typheus countered with a ball off light. It soared through the lightning attack, reaching the man's hand before being destroyed, also causing the commander's lightning to perish for the time being.

The commander pulled out two more knives and was determined to fight with them this time. Something told Typheus that the commander was running low on supplies and would now have to fight like any other soldier.

Typheus got into position and they charged after each other.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Netha'Tu looked upon the form of the incoming troops. At last, I can taste some blood. My magics were eager for combat. The older Magus prepared his limitless supply of Plynt knives for combat. The green blades reflected the afternoon sun across the length of their structure as they flowed elegantly through the air. Many of the defenders' soldiers fell in the first onslaught of his attack. Netha'Tu prepared the energies of his personal Tap Reserve channeling the elemental forces of Darkness that Xem'Zund himself taught him to command and control. Many years of study made Netha'Tu an expert of the Dark Arts.

Xem'Zund approached Netha'Tu with an offer he couldn't refused. Netha'Tu accepted Xem'Zund's call and now they stood on the verge of taking Valanital with force. Other skilled commanders served the Forgotten One's army. Some were even warriors of Althanas' current Age who decided to join in on Xem'Zund's sheenanigans. All of the world was looking to fall to a second age of Darkness. Not since the war of the Tap and the Demon War has Althanas faced such an age-defining threat. Netha'Tu was a man with long, silvery hair. His hair's length ended at the mid back range. He was build with a slender build. Robes made of Vlince covered his person colored with blood reds and black. He wore a crimson cloak that was wrapped completely about his person enabling him to move with supernatural grace and speed. He wore various amulets and talismens, won in this or that military excursion, that granted him various gifts and powers. The trick with the knives and the dark lightning were just two manifestations of his power.

He wasn't on par with Xem'Zund himself, but he was no push-over. He stared at Typheus with cold green eyes, calculating eyes. There was clearly an intelligence mixed with his madness. Sharp Raiaeran features made his origins clear that he was a native Raiaeran. He was a Magi who had betrayed his own land. Channeling the various Tap Energies at his command, Netha'Tu shrugged off the small explosion of light. It was barely enough on Typheus' behalf to even singe flesh.

The mad Magi wore a triumphant smile on his face. "You're better off fighting the cannon fodder Methinks. You can't face off a TRUE Althanian, Off-Worlder. The Darkness spoke to me of your name and your origins. The powers of Xem'Zund are absolute. Give up now, and I shall spare your lives. Fight and be destroyed." The Magus knew his words well, they rang of truth. They Thaynes were on Xem'Zund's side. Tapping more energy, the Magus released another volley of electricity towards Typheus' person. The electromancer was clearly just toying with the warrior. "How will you best decide Valanital's fate?" He asked in a half-hearted taunt. A pikeman ran towards Netha'Tu and was cut down by electricity...

***************

Careful now. A shimmy to the left, and evasion to the right, a quick decapitation of an enemy unit. It was a dance now. He moved with the ebb and flow of the wind. The grass was tainted with corpses and the blood of the dying. I knew that I would not be getting any help but I was determined to stay alive. I soon lost sight of Typheus' position as I continued my battle with the zombie warrior. I knew I had one more card to play. How does he think? Does he think like we Blood Lizards do?

I wondered that casually as my blade met with his own. I suddenly found myself wanting his weapon. I would be sure to claim it as a trophy from this battle. My sword continued to bounce off his own blade as I clashed weapons with him. The resonating sound that flowed from each crash of the blade sounded like thunder in my ears. Screams of pain and agony filled my ears as the sounds were released into the air. My feet crushed bodies that were beneath me as I moved against my foe. Blood stained the ground like a thick red carpet. I was making no progress against the better swords-man. It seemed like I found my equal.

I listened to the battle with a heightened awareness of things. It seemed like everything had slowed down. The screams felt like an ocean of sounds wrapping me with a certain sense of comfort. I enjoyed the chaos and blood spilling even as I moved my worn and aching muscles. Each part of my body burned with agony as the injuries mounted up and blood dripped down my scaly flesh. I continued to keep the swordsman at bay. I needed to change my strategy if I was to outwit him. By Lord Mitra, I wanted his sword. My own Buster Sword, made of steel, was proving to be quite useless against the man's weapon. So I continued to fight and the enemy continued to die.

I stared the warrior in his eyes...

[Typheus]

"You're better off fighting the cannon fodder Methinks. You can't face off a TRUE Althanian, Off-Worlder. The Darkness spoke to me of your name and your origins. The powers of Xem'Zund are absolute. Give up now, and I shall spare your lives. Fight and be destroyed."

Netha'Tu gave his little arrogant message for Typheus. Absolute power. Althanians being more powerful than any other being. Being destroyed or enslaved. Wow.

"Netha'Tu, do you have any idea how many times I've heard someone say that?" Typheus asked the man, being somewhat serious. "If only I had a trillion of my old power for every time someone said that to me."

"Your 'old power' doesn't count here boy!" Netha'Tu said, giving Typheus a large grin. "The only power here is the power of Xem'Zund! And of course, the power of his disciples." Netha'Tu raised his hand and some true lightning shot out of it, raising the hairs on Typheus's neck and causing a loud crack. Netha'Tu had been hiding his powers from Typheus and probably still was.

He and Typheus clashed, both obtaining a few nicks and scratches here or there, but Netha'Tu was toying with him. When he finally made his move, Netha'Tu cut deeply into Typheus's side, sending a layer of blood down his white coat, making it seem all that more deadly.

Netha'Tu shot him in the chest with one of his lightning bolts and Typheus flew backwards from the impact and electrical energy. Netha'Tu walked up to him just as Typheus managed to pull himself up.

"We're going to burn away anyone who is our enemy, Off-Worlder! All men, women, and children who oppose us will burn! You included! Do you have ANY idea what we're going to do with this world? Do have ANY idea of what you're up against!? You might as well go up against a Thayne! You might as well-"

"-SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He screamed as he let out some energy discharge, He was sick and tired of listening to the man prattle on and on about how powerful he was. "Do you expect me to be afraid of you!?" He asked, feeling his temper rising. "I'VE SEEN TOO MUCH TO BE AFRAID!!"

Typheus charged at the man with his sword in check, sending a small flow of light energy into it. His anger arose when the word "Thayne" was said. The same species as the one that hurt him when he first came to Althanas. The species that took Ramia away from him before he could be told what the hell he was and what he was for. The species that brought forth pain to those who don't deserve it.

"I AM THE KEEPER!" He said as he struck at Netha'Tu, causing one of his daggers to go flying out of his hand, only to be replaced by another one, equally as strong.

"I AM THE SAVIOR OF EVERY LIVING THING!" He screamed as his fist connected with Netha'Tu's jaw, sending him back a few paces and causing him to recoil.

"I AM THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS!" He yelled as his sword lunged toward Netha'Tu's chest, but missed and merely put a deep cut into his left arm, possibly affecting Netha'Tu's ability to fight.

"I AM TYPHEUS!" He screamed as he plunged his sword into the ground, and swung around its hilt and kicked a surprised Netha'Tu in the side of the face before swinging back around and taking up his sword.

"Why don't you tell your master that if he wants to be treated like a Thayne," Typheus said, a glint of pride in his face, "then I'll be happy to put my boot up his ass for him. Arrogant little sh-"

Typheus suddenly stopped speaking. His eyes grew wide with surprise and his arms refused to move as an electrical current flowed through his body. His sword was vibrating a bit due to the amount of magic it was conducting. His insides started burning and his skin seemed to be getting tight as he let out a horrendous scream. It felt as if he was burning from the inside out. Netha'Tu was standing about a yard away, pointing his hand at him.

"You godamned little punk!" Netha'Tu cried, strengthening his grip on Typheus. A trickle of blood was running from his mouth and the cut on his arm was bleeding madly. "Don't you DARE speak of my master or the Thaynes in that manner! They have done things that you mortals can BARELY comprehend. They have manipulated time and space, they have time and time again brought chaos, and they have never been killed by the likes of you!"

"Oh, yeah?" Typheus said, feeling the rage build up again. "Well, I was nominated employee of the month!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Netha'Tu screamed as he tossed Typheus about twenty-one yards away.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Every ounce of my being screamed for blood. Every inch of muscle and sinew burned with maddened agony. I crushed the ground beneath me, tainted with blood and flesh, as I moved gracefully with each of my attacks. The battle was getting to me, wearing down upon my Atma. (Soul in Sanskrit) My sword finally gave out under the pressure of his weapon. The metal of his equipment wearing down my poorly made steel Buster Sword. I expected it to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping for my weapon to hold out a little bit longer than it had. I was left with half of a sword when a mighty sound signaled the destruction of my weapon. I was left virtually defenseless and forced to depend on my claws and teeth.

I'm sorry I couldn't be with you Typheus. I thought solemnly as I continued the battle anyway, using the half-sword in my hand. Pieces of shrapnel from the explosion of the blade jutted out various portions of my body. Some of it stuck in the earth and nailed the heads of various zombies on the ground, crawling desperately for my flesh. I crushed the head of a nearby crawler feeling blood and flesh pour up and out from underneath the impact point. I felt the hot substance sticking to my skin and knew I would have to let it cool from experience. Even though I knew my scales would grow back over time if they were injured.

Electricity filled the air as archaic forces were suddenly launched into the battlefield. That meant that by now, Typheus was fully engaged with the enemy commander. An explosion nearby was caused by a lucky shift in the wind when a stone of death came flying in my general direction. Bodies were crushed and earth was uplifted, landing upon us in a thick cloud of debris. My vision was blocked out for a moment and this proved to be a disaster for my chances against the warrior. I closed my eyes, and took several steps back as I swung wildly around in a circular motion with my half Buster Sword.

There was a loud ringing in my ears and I had a huge headache from the weight of the impact point nearby. Suddenly, I felt a blade pierce my flesh and I heard a hiss from the zombie warrior. The Atra had won. But I would not go down without a fight. I called upon Lord Mitra for strength and let out a mighty roar even as I felt the sword pierce my chest. I cried out in anger and reached forward in an attempt to grab the enemy Atra. In my delusional state, I reached out with my jaws and bit at something that was nearby. A few moments later, I'd grabbed the warrior before and pulled him towards me, sword and all. The weapon sunk into my body but I didn't care. My adrenalin was pumping and I barely felt any pain. My body was a big weight as hot blood from the desert poured onto the masterwork sword.

My jaws met with something as I clipped undead flesh. Blood sprayed everywhere as I let my predatory instincts take over once again. I was thinking too much like a man and not enough like a predator. I let out a wild howl as I felt the zombie's blood gushing through my body. This reinvigorated me and I tore through the warrior quickly. He let out a scream that satisfied my warrior's heart. I felt relieved that I'd finally won, despite my serious injury. In time, it might heal. I tore the head of my opponent clean off with my powerful teeth. It rolled off, backwards, and landed upon the earth with a sickening thud. A satisfying thud. I tore into the flesh of my enemy. Tainted blood laced into my own blood as I went into a rage. The cloud of dirt finally settled upon the ground covering everything with a layer of fresh debris. I looked upon the nearest group of zombies and ran towards them, with the sword still jutting out of my shoulders. Pulling the newly acquired weapon out of my shoulder, I noticed that longsword was made out of Plynt, a green colored material. I didn't think about the blessing right away, I simply grabbed my trophy without thinking.

Blood poured down my jaws now as the enemy's tainted vessel came through my system. My red eyes gained a darker tone of crimson as I ran towards the zombies that were my enemy. I'd make sure each of the Atra would pay for what they've done. My blood lust ensured me that I would not feel the pain for a long while to come. I decided to wait for playing the final card that I could play, but I felt myself changing. My logic and form of thought came in a sort of obscured sort of way and I yelled as I ran. I felt my anger level rising to its peak point, and I literally threw myself at my enemy...I was still too far away to make any significant attack upon the enemy Commander, but I can take the remaining zombies upon the field with my newly acquired weapon.

[Typheus]

Typheus flew backwards and felt the wind rushing past him on all sides. The world seemed to move in slow motion as his feet left the ground after another lightning attack. His body felt pain all through out and it felt as if his insides were cooking. He had suffered electrical discharge before, but this time he was much weaker. The thoughts of his fellow soldiers in the previous world flashed through his mind. How they suffered from attacks that he could easily take head on. They must have felt so useless as Typheus did now. He could not kill this man with the amount of power he possessed. Raiaera would fall, and Typheus would die.

"Ramia...if only I still had you," Typheus though as he started heading towards the ground. "We could beat them without any struggle, Raiaera would be saved, and Typheus would live." His thoughts were focussed on sadness and despair, and as if answering his struggle, something rang out inside of his head.

"I am your guide," came Ramia's voice.

"What?" Typheus found himself saying out loud as he hit the ground.

"I am your guide!" came the voice again.

"Ramia? Are you-"

"I AM YOUR GUIDE!" she said, frustration in her voice.

"....you are my guide," Typheus found himself saying out loud as he sat up and put one hand on the ground to brace himself.

"I am the one chosen to help you," she said, calm returning to her voice.

"You are the one chosen to help me," Typheus repeated, pushing himself up to his full height.

"I will protect you, and punish your enemies!" she said, her voice raising.

"You will protect me, and punish my enemies!" Typheus found himself yelling.

Netha'Tu got an awkward look on his face. He was obviously wondering what the hell Typheus was going on about. "Who will protect you from us? Fool...:"

"WE WILL FIGHT!" Ramia screamed, determination swelling from her.

"WE WILL WIN!" Typheus screamed, determination swelling from him.

The world faded away, leaving Typheus in darkness. The darkness was absolute, but Typheus could see himself quite easily. He was perfectly visible as if standing in the most perfect light imaginable. The rest of the world was perfect darkness.

Out of the darkness a light burst forth and started to grow until Typheus had to shield his eyes from the sheer brilliance of it. The light soon started to fade, but was bright enough that it tore through the darkness enough to make Typheus have to squint. Typheus could just barely discern the shape of a bird when the voice came again.

“Nothing in this world is as powerful as you can possibly become. When the chosen moment arrives, this world will be at your mercy, as well as every other world you will ever see, but that time is far away. Until then, you will have to abide by the rules, make your way like the denizens of the world you’re in, and fight according to their rules, but even then, you will win.”

Typheus found himself healed a bit as the light drew closer. “Ramia?” He started to say, but the light grew until the darkness was no more, and the world drew back to its original state, with him standing in the middle of the field facing his adversary. The only difference was that a large white feather was in his right hand. When he looked at it, it didn’t seem to quite be a feather. It was something else, but Typheus couldn’t put his finger on it.

Netha’Tu interrupted his moment of reflection with a lightning bolt that shot up the ground nearest to him. “Hurry up and do something so I can put you out of your pathetic misery!”

Typheus had a moment of crystal clarity. The battlefield was laid out before him, with a steady cloud of smoke and dust, from the catapult, ready to move in between him and Netha’Tu. Typheus would have to find a way to use the dust cloud to his advantage, or else he would die and nothing of his past would have any meaning here. The feather…Typheus now knew its use and it would be Netha’Tu’s bane.

Typheus pulled out one of his two remaining sticks of dynamite and lit it between his thumb and fore finger using his light powers. He tossed it up and over the smoke-screen.

“You are rather stupid for doing that, boy!” Netha’Tu said as he put his hand up to blast the stick of dynamite. Typheus took this advantage and got out his yew bow and held the feather up to it. The closer the feather got, the more it resembled an arrow. Typheus pulled back, feeling the power of Ramia flow through him, and released, feeling the torrent that was soon to follow.

The arrow shot through the cloud of dust just as Netha’Tu had started focusing on the stick of dynamite. It sent out a blaze of glory behind it in a brilliant display of light reaching out in all directions. Netha’Tu had just blown up the dynamite when he reacted to the arrow. He put his hands in front of him and tried to stop it with his magic. It shown even more brilliantly, illuminating the whole battlefield and Netha’Tu could barely push it away. Typheus lit his second stick of dynamite and threw it straight through the cloud, trying to get it to land beside Netha’Tu. It landed really close, but Netha’Tu was too focused on the arrow to stop and try to toss it away.

Netha’Tu was gaining power of the arrow and was starting to win over its power when Typheus, holding his rifle up to his eyes, pointing it directly at Netha’Tu’s head, stepped through the smoke. His eyes were of the intent to kill and Netha’Tu knew it. Typheus fired his round and Netha’Tu ducked to the right, turning his head to avoid the shot, but it was in vain. The bullet didn’t land a kill, but instead it caught the corner of his eye before skidding off of his cheek bone, further injuring his sight.

Netha’Tu’s concentration was forfeit and his will to block the arrow vanished just long enough for it to penetrate his defenses just as the dynamite exploded, sending him flying off toward his left, with the arrow exploding on contact, sending him even further. He was in easily the amount of pain he had caused Typheus. His insides burned from the light magic, and his outer body burned from the dynamite.

Netha’Tu hit the ground and rolled over himself a few times before finally skidding to a halt, leaving a small trail behind him. He was injured more than any other had done to him. His senses were in disarray and his left eye had been shut down for good. He had only one eye to use now, but he was far from finished. Netha’Tu sat, trying to heal himself with any necromantic powers he had left.

Typheus, before he could do anything more to Netha’Tu, lost every bit of balance he had and fell straight to the ground, landing in a heap with his coat flung over him this way and that. His energy was draining from him, his life was still intact, but his pride had been injured. Netha’Tu was right. Their powers overshadowed his, and he could never match Netha’Tu in a pure battle of strength, but his wits had at saved his life at least for now.

“Lexxum…get me the fuck out of here…”

[Lexxum_Vordic]

After the explosion rocked the air around Netha’Tu, the Magus was shocked at the sudden turn of events. Typheus had tricked me! He thought to himself as he considered the deadly nature of the situation before him now. He’d underestimated his foe at least a fraction more than he normally would allow himself to. He’d invested too many emotions into the battle and allowed himself to grow careless; the sudden injuries were a testament to it. Netha’Tu prided himself as a highly skilled Magus and now Typheus shattered that perception of himself. Netha’Tu thought of himself as an invincible sorcerer.

Typheus managed to somehow shatter that belief in himself and the battle became personal. If the Magus appeared insane before, he became truly hysterical at that point. His face was twisted up with insanity. The injury he’d suffered to his eye was a serious one and he would never use it again. Blood poured freely from his eye. Steam flowed from his person from the recent explosion that rocked the area around him. Dirt still settled back on the ground from the upheaval that the stick of dynamite caused to the area. Netha’Tu suffered injuries in the form of harsh burns to his body as well.

Knowing that his eye was now useless, the Magus needed to do something about it. Nearby zombies fought Typheus’ and Lexxums’ warriors as they broke the like of skirmishing. Netha’Tu saw that the battle was quickly changing momentum and needed to do something drastic, soon. He was running out of chances to end this battle quickly and in his favor. Netha’Tu knew what would happen to him if he returned to Xem’Zund with a report of failure, he may as well not return at all. What could happen to him on the battlefield was a better fate than any that Xem’Zund could befall upon him. He didn’t want to think about such a horrible outcome. Instead, he focused on Typheus.
He wanted to demoralize the enemy troops by killing their commander. He wanted to destroy every last one of those accursed soldiers standing up for Raiaera and placing themselves on Xem’Zund’s path. Netha’Tu turned to look towards a nearby battle that was taking place between a small group of his finely crafted zombies and some of the enemy warriors. One of the zombies was armed with a sword made of steel. Netha’Tu cared little for the material of the weapon; he just needed to arm himself with a weapon for this part of his plan to work. Calling upon his mastery over the arcane arts, Netha’Tu willed his energies upon the zombie’s sword.

Just as the zombie swung his weapon to kill off one of the soldiers, a sudden pull of energy ripped the sword from its person and sent it flying through the air. Netha’Tu was several feet away from the battle. The sword flew the air, pommel first, and landed safely in his hand. A foolish soldier tried to dispatch Netha’Tu with his skill in the killing arts. Netha’Tu conjured up a series of lightning bolts and electrocuted the foolish upstart, sending him to the Anti-Firmanent. Taking the blade in his hand, Netha’Tu stood up and prepared to operate on himself. His injured eye was useless and thusly was no good to him.

He could always replace an eye with one of many artifacts in his possession later on, or summon Tap energies to do the job. After a quick moment to think about what he was doing, Netha’Tu stabbed himself in his injured eye and literally pulled his own eye out. Netha’Tu screamed in agony as he tossed the useless eyeball to the ground. The thing bounced several paces forward with a streak of blood and ended up underneath one of the many corpses on the battlefield. Summoning up some of the vast energies in his control, Netha’Tu sealed the injury with some elemental darkness. He screamed at the contact of energy to his injured face. More steam flowed from the wound.

With his eye socket shut, Netha’Tu returned his attention back towards Typheus. His face was twisted with the hatred that he felt for the warrior of light. “I will make you pay for what you’ve done today you bastard! By Khal’Jaren’s sorcery I swear I’ll make you pay a thousand-fold for this insult! Let the world know Typheus, that I hate you with every ounce of hatred in my atma! You shall regret the day that you ever thought to step foot in Althanas![/I]” Netha’Tu suddenly went insane with laughter and began to conjure up the vast Tap energies at his control. “I’LL MAKE YOU PAY!” He repeated over and over.

For a single moment, Althanas proper became as one physical plane with the eternal Tap. The very air around Netha’Tu vibrated with power as it was ripped by the energies he was calling forth into the physical plane. A doorway was ripped open that hung in the air causing a rip in the Time/Space continuity. Within that singularity, a powerful force gathered at the calling of Netha’Tu. He would kill Typheus and made him pay for what he’d done that day. With an insane shout, the Magus yelled two words that would forever be etched on the memories of those who survived that day.

“Atma Fire!”

And upon the battlefield, towards Typheus, Netha’Tu conjured the incredible power of…

*****

I fought my way through a cadre of zombies. Anything that got in my way fell to the might of the grey long sword in my hands. In my current state of blood lust I cut down whatever foe stood in front of me. They all looked like zombies at this point. I had the vessel of the zombies flowing through my blood twisting my sanity to the point where I perceived Althanas proper differently. All around me, the entire world appeared as a dull grey and I kept blinking to try and regain my focus. My anger swelled up inside of me as I wanted to taste more blood and flesh. Hunger flowed with the anger and I felt the pain of life coursing through my veins.

I felt the vessel changing me. I fought with a sense of being high. Like the ancient spirits were coursing through my body guiding my very actions and thoughts. Again, that grey cloud hung in front of me as I saw everything as a blur. My senses were tweaking in a strange sort of way. Ever scream sound amplified to a powerful symphony causing my heart to beat in my throat. I bit a few more of the creatures and consumed their flesh as I ran towards the one thought that kept me relatively sane. Typheus, I knew I needed to help Typheus. All the faces before me appeared as a hideous blur as the fighting escalated in my mind.

At this point, I was swinging at anything that moved in front of me. I spotted Typheus’ person several yards away from me. A group of the zombie creatures were heading towards him. But at the same time, I saw something else happening. Obstacles of the corpses on the battlefield barred my way just a small bit as I ran towards the enemy position. I spotted the enemy commander; he was injured but still dangerous. All at once, the Magus summoned up powerful energies into the physical realm. I cursed at my carelessness and saw that the enemy commander meant to destroy Typheus, my friend. I heard a single phrase chanted loudly.

After that point, I ran towards Typheus’ position just as the power started to flow upon the battlefield. Through my twisted eyes, I saw the doorway conjuring up something awful on the battlefield. I instinctively moved into a blocking position by placing my sword in front of me and grabbing the blade near the tip with my free hand. I placed the sword up and in front of my face to cover me from whatever was about to happen. I now strategically stood between Netha’Tu and Typheus. The enemy launched a mystical force from the portal. Streams of crackling dark red energies poured out of the doorway towards my position.

A blast of pure Tap energies flowed towards my person with impossible speeds. I had no hopes of evading such an attack. I screamed the moment that the fires of sorcery licked my flesh and broke through my defense. The purifying fires wrapped themselves around my body and I was scorched. I felt myself burning with agony as the archaic forces attacked me. The scream I let out was a maddening howl. My sword started to glow with the elemental forces of the Tap, but I was too busy suffering to witness any of that. The fires seared through my very living Atma.
I cried out to Lord Mitra for strength in my darkest hour.

Before me, I saw a field with my Ancestors in it. Ever Blood Lizard that came before me bid me come with them. But I refused, with my last breath; ever vessel in my body fought the fate that was chosen for me. Netha’ Tu had defeated me. I thought of my battle with the armed Atra named Lorenor. I had defeated Lorenor I could defeat Netha’Tu’s sorcery. By Lord Mitra! I could defeat it, and that’s what I set out to do. I gritted my teeth powerfully and feeling scorching heat exposing my bones. Bursts of energies burned me to my very core as steam flowed from me. And finally, at the moment when I was about to give up, the Tap closed in on itself. I, the son of my Father, Vexxum Vordic fell in battle.

[Typheus]

"Lexxum, what the hell are we supposed to be doing right now?" Typheus said, weakly, as he lay behind where Lexxum had fallen. "There's nothing strong enough in our arsenal to kill the son of a bitch."

Typheus managed to drag himself up just enough to witness Netha'Tu making weird hand signs and what looked to be some kind of weird little dance. It seemed as if the hand signs were for real, but the dance was just lunacy. Typheus could not believe that he had been beaten by some punkass lunatic who's only goal in life is to suck up to some necromancer who's only goal in life was to raise the dead and take of Raiaera. "That guy needs a life" Typheus found himself saying before his strength gave out and he went back down to the ground.

He could see the skies above him growing red and a fiery curtain was laced far beyond the clouds. Something from space was heading down towards the city, and it resembled a meteor. Even more so when it broke through the clouds, leaving a gaping hole and spreading fire out in all directions. This was the end. Beaten by some little punkass like that.

"Ramia...sorry I let you down, but you have to admit...a few more of those killer feathers wouldn't have hurt."

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Netha'Tu was victorious. Pulling on more tap energies, he let loosed the most powerful spell in his arsenal. The Meteor Spell. Seeing the sky light up with fire in the distance, the Magus smiled and laughed triumphantly. His Atma Fire hit a target that was not intended to hit, but regardless, he'd hit something close to his enemy. That was good enough for Netha'Tu. A powerful rumbling sound erupted from the sky as the sky came crashing down upon the city of Valinatal. This had signaled a new age on Althanas. The fall of Valinatal. Netha'Tu looked upon the wanton destruction he'd caused and knew that Xem'Zund would be proud. There would be survivors of course, but his personal forces could pick those off. After all, the meteor spell had created an entirely new army for him to reanimate...

On the battlefield, all of the warriors, even the undead, stopped to stare at the moment in time. Everything slowed down to a half-beat in time. Hearts beat with shock. Even the undead heard the screams of people dying...

***

Meanwhile...

Valinatal City. Children played as school was out in the local academy. It was a normal day like anything. Security was armed and patrolling the streets, everybody was on high alert because of the constant threat of Xem'Zund's forces. A security guard arrested a petty thief for attempting to rob a liquor store of fine ales. Kids from a local school watched an exhibit in a museum trip. Soldiers for the army trained in the barracks as they waited their turn to defend the city of Valinatal. An entire platoon of men awaited to back up the fortress at Valinatal even as they fought Netha'Tu. But the words of a Captain were all that stood between them and a victory against Netha'Tu. Children ran across the street as their school day ended and jumped into the arms of greeting parents.

Somewhere, a pair of lovers met for the first time and embraced. Their mouths kissed in a beautiful kiss. These moments were all frozen in time as a city prepared to meet its final fate. The first signs of impending doom showed up overhead as the sky suddenly darkened. A force from the stars erupted forward. An act of coincidence heralded the coming of a second age of darkness on Althanas. The exact meteor that hit the surface of Altahnas in order to destroy Valinatal, was a meteor that contained a certain individual trapped long in it. Like a spider web descending upon the unsuspecting city, the Meteor came crashing upon the earth. Fire and brimstone erupted throughout the impact site. People looked upon the incoming rock from space staring at it with disbelief in their eyes. Xem'Zund's greed brought forth a darker enemy back on Althanas. A mushroom cloud erupted from the impact site of the meteor hitting Althanas. Faces were frozen in time. The moment was frozen in time to be remembered in infamy.

After the initial explosion, there were some survivors here in there, as was the nature of humanity. People came out of hiding as the air itself burned with the fires of hell. A large rock jutted out from the center of what was once Valinatal proper. Steam and kinetic energy flowed from the impact zone. A vast crater existed that dug several yards into the earth's crust. A sighing wind seemed to signal a cry from the planet. With the terrible scar ripping through her epidermis, the planet released a glowing energy from where the meteor hit it. This glowing energy had a mysterious side effect upon all those that came across it. The earth around the impact site created a natural steppe into the ground. Hours after the initial destruction survivors attempted to locate other survivors of the mass genocide. Where once a city maybe had millions of people living in it, only hundreds currently lived. Those that survived were terribly scarred emotionally and physically...for the Dark Mother had returned to Althanas at long last.

This day would be hailed as the day that N'Jal returned.

******************************

Something. I'm not sure what that something was, but an archaic force called to my very blood. Pulling me from the hands of death I called down from that place in between life and death. A place that my people called the Twilight. I saw the Halls of my Ancestors but I knew that it was not my place to go there just yet. Feeling the pull, I fell backwards for what seemed like an eternity. I heard a voice calling to me. "Back to the mortal coil. You are not yet ready to see your Ancestors Lexxum Vordic. Go back. There is a second age of darkness...Fallien has made you strong. You must grow strow stronger. Go now my child." The voice said and I found myself feeling the physical weight and strength of my body. A splinter in time, I blinked slowly to get up. Nearby, I saw my sword and it glowed with a certain terrible energy. I took my sword in hand and looked over at Typheus.

"We are in the Second Age of Darkness now." I said with a terrible remorse in my voice. We had failed Raiaera, we weren't strong enough to defeat Netha'Tu. But one way we would be.

Because it has already begun...

And one day, they would tell stories of the legends of Typheus and Lexxum Vodic.

Fin.

**********************************************


Epilogue

Walking over the battlefield, Netha'Tu had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. He'd done Xem'Zund proud. Making his way to the Captain of Valinatal's military forces, the two stared at each other for an uncomfortable moment before extending both of their hands. They shook each other's hands proudly as Valinatal died and Xem'Zund's forces proved victorious over Raiaera proper.

***********Spoils Request****************

001-Lexxum's New Sword. Stolen from the super zombie that Lexxum fought bravely in battle. The weapon is fashioned like a claymore. It is double-edged. The blade is made of Plynt and the handle is an ornate handle made of iron and leather. The quality is Masterwork. The sword is not sellable and comes with a Masterwork scabbard. Also, due to the fact that the Sword came in contact with powerful Tap energies, it has invariably become enchanted. Imbued with the element of Tap Fire, thrice a day, Lexxum can launch a potent Fire 1 projectile from his sword. The projectile has a distance of about ten feet and can only be fired in the direction that Lexxum is facing. Since the projectile is launched from Lexxum's sword, the attack requires very little concentration on Lexxum's behalf. The Fire can currently cause weak and minor damage and burns. But overtime, the living Tap energies will grow as Lexxum grows. ((I want Lexxum's sword to count as his "weak magical item of my choice reward"))

002-The Rage. ((Active Ability)) Thanks to the impure vessel within his veins flowing in his body, Lexxum has unlocked a new ability. Having consumed the flesh of a zombie, Lexxum can now access a demented state where he has achieved 100% rage. His previously crimson scales become black in color. Many spikes, equivalent of iron, protrude from his body. In this state Lexxum fights without remorse. He sees the world in a blood-red haze. Lexxum is in a berserker state when he has The Rage. Used in conjunction with his Blood Rage ability, Lexxum becomes deadly. All logic and thought are forfeit in this state, he considers all nearby units as enemies.

003-Lexxum's Buster Sword destroyed.

[Typheus]

Fire, brimstone, a tear in the sky. Typheus was happier now than he had been since he got to Althanas. This was a scene straight out of his past. The days when it was common for a large ball of fire to come ripping through the sky and he suddenly felt as if he could block it with his bare hands just like so long ago.

"General Wise, what the hell kind of weapon have you cooked up this time?" He said to himself, remembering the super weapons from he previous universe. The only thing missing was a Faceless, the beings that were nothing but a three dimensional silhouette that is able to shape parts of its body into various weapons.

This thought seemed to pull the universe together as Typheus look up and saw it, the one that had followed him into this world. Standing near a group of trees, a dark figure looked at him, no traceable emotions present due to its silhouette shape and faceless head. The Faceless stood there staring at Typheus and then slowly started walking away, hanging its head low.

"Wait!" Typheus called it, and the Faceless spared one last look before walking into the forest.

Typheus felt some of his strength come back to him as he pushed himself up and started running towards the forest where the Faceless disappeared. Typheus was not in the mood for another fight.

"Wait! I'm not here to fight you! I just want to talk!" He yelled as he ran off into the forest after the Faceless, disappearing from battle, and the scene, leaving Lexxum behind to cope with the mess.

He wanted to know something. He wanted to make damn sure of something. If he didn't know, it would plague his mind for the rest of his existence. That Faceless was the only thing that could answer his questions and he'll be damned if it escapes him and leaves him to madness!

Fin.
***************SPOILS****************

001 - Ability to manifest 1 light arrow a day. It would be the physical strength of a steel tipped arrow and elementally, it would be stronger than his light blasts, but it would take more out of him and also require a bow to use unlike his light blasts.

I WAS GONNA HAVE A LOT OF GP SADLY! LEXXUM HAD TO BLOW UP THE GUY THAT WAS GONNA PAY US! sheesh.

[Ataraxis]

Quest Judging
The Dead and Undying

Good evening, gentlemen! If you have any questions about this later, my name is Leslie. If you don’t, then I’m just Roland.

Let me first congratulate you on finishing a quest for the FQ, within a month at that. I enjoyed the read, and I’d actually read the sequel, if there is one. For the rest, well, the rubric will talk for itself! Don't be alarmed by that four you see from the corner of your eye. This was in no way a massacre, for a massacre this did not deserve!


STORY

Continuity ~ 4/10. You both explained your character’s motives for defending Valinatal: money for Ty and the opportunity to fight for Lex. Many would forget to include the basics, so I’m very glad you guys didn’t! On the other hand, there could have been more, a lot more, and I had a lot of unanswered questions by the end of the thread. I know Lex was in Scara Brae before the quest, but Ty’s whereabouts prior to it are still a mystery to me. Moreover, did someone approach him and offer him the merc job, or did he get wind of it by pure chance?

I gathered that he was some sort of inter-planetary or inter-dimensional traveler who was stripped of his power. Though you did a great job at providing snippets from past worlds he visited as well as their specificities, expanding a bit on the world-trekking dealio would have helped me situate Ty a bit better. That particularity of his came off as more of a convenient plot device than an important part of him.

Lex mentioned losing a friend in Scara Brae, but never said who it was or how it affected him. I also do not know what an Atra is, save for the fact that it is not a good thing, that it is most likely hostile, and that Lorenor is one, which raises a question for the unmindful newcomers: what/who is Lorenor? Don’t take for granted your readers’ knowledge of things canon to your characters: very few of them would know that the friend is Ifrit from your battle against mutant wolves, and I only know from having read that quest. I also only had an inkling to Ramia’s identity from reading another thread. I make a point of not reading profiles or the tidbits of info in your sidebar, since those are to help the people you’re writing with, not the person who will eventually judge your thread. It’s policy!

Setting ~ 5/10. All throughout this war against the zombies, all I could think about was the battle at Helm’s Deep, but I regret to say that it wasn’t due to any expressive description of the setting on your part. I had to fill in the blanks, and this particular scene fit the template. However, don’t you two go thinking that your use of the setting was abysmal or anything like that: it was present enough, only not used to an adequate degree. Describing how the grass was sopped with blood near the end was a fresh breath from the general blurriness of it all, which mostly consisted of a wall, a grassy plain, a hill, the sky and the obligatory boulders from the catapult, raining down stony death. Ty did mention a parapet, which defined the wall’s shape a bit. There was not much interaction with the few things at your disposal either, except when Ty used the raised dust from a falling stone to distract Netha’Tu. Good thinking!

I had a lot of qualms with the ‘when’ of this quest. Ty starts out quite straightforwardly in the present, while in Lex’ introduction, I only learn at the end that it’s actually been five months since the fall of Carnelost that this siege has been going on, and is still going. On top of that, look at this passage here, in post #4:

The afternoon sun was beginning to set already as a darkness seemed to creep across the land.
Now look at this one, ten posts later:

The afternoon sun overhead quickly started setting as the battle lingered onwards.
You did remember to let a few references to time transpire in your writing, just don’t forget to check with other such instances in your quest, to avoid paradoxes!

Pacing ~ 4/10. The premise of this quest was a simple one and, most of the time, that’s actually a good thing. You wanted to kick some zombie keisters and to have fun doing that. Everything proceeded rather smoothly at the start, with only a few bumpy moments, but when the story got into the thick of things, I started losing focus. For about five or more subsequent posts, Lex mowed through the zombies like he was playing in a medieval version of ‘Dead Rising’, and though that is fun, the delivery didn’t really hold me as much as it should’ve. There was destruction, there was carnage, there was rotten blood and decaying bits of festering flesh up to the ceiling, but there was very little character development on Lex’ part until the end, where he became more enraged. Ty had a bit more character growth with an economy of words, but the passage where the bulk of it happened, that is to say when Ramia (or a vision of her, I’m still not clear on that) suddenly appeared to him, was rather confusing.

Then, you made everything go boom. Netha’Tu somehow manages to summon a Meteor that destroys Valinatal and brings N’Jal back from wherever she was locked up. I’ll expand on this in the Action segment, but let’s just say that the abruptness of it all was unexpected, but not in a very breathtaking way. Millions were killed, and that’s that. Someone saves Lexxum from certain death, then Ty wakes up with a Faceless in his face (ha!), then runs after it in a very ‘Alice in Wonderland’ way. I admit that I didn’t really know what to think at the end. Many of the twists and turns you guys included could have been rather grandiose, but they came off with a more random feel, since you both seem to have focused on the more trivial parts while glancing a bit too quickly over the milestones. I definitely do want to know how all of this will be resolved, if it even will be resolved. The story engaged me most of the time, I only wanted a bit more to go on while I wait for you guys write out the sequel!


CHARACTER

Dialogue ~ 5/10. There wasn’t much to take from the interaction between Lex and Ty, since they only exchanged words with each other once or twice, and those moments weren’t exactly evocative. You’ll be glad to know, however, that there are quite a few gems that made me smile, sometimes frown, and almost cry! Well, not really the latter.

Lex was silent, a lot. When he did speak, I made double takes, especially the first time he ordered his soldiers around:
"ARCHERS! LOAD YOUR ARROWS WITH FIRE TIPS, LETS START COOKING THESE THINGS! FIRE THE CATAPULT AT WILL!" From his inner monologues, he came across as a quiet, calculating fighting machine with a bit of a Death God complex. That line gave him a strange sense of humor, and didn’t exactly fit with the image I had in mind. His lack of dialogue, however, seemed fitting, and I could get a clear vibe from the narration itself, since this is written in the first person.

Whenever Typheus talks, he might as well scream that he’s a loudmouth with no tact who knows it and doesn’t give a damn, which I find great; one of those gems I talked about included the time he yelled out how he was nominated employee of the month. This wasn’t all butterflies and daisies, though; I had a distinct sensation of déjÃ* vu for a lot of his dialogue:


"I've killed maybe 40 so far! How's your paycheck coming along!?" This one sounded a bit like the competition between Gimli and Legolas in the LotR movie.


"I AM THE KEEPER! I AM THE SAVIOR OF EVERY LIVING THING! I AM THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS! I AM TYPHEUS!" This one sounded like the meme-on-the rise, “I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness(…) I AM BEOWULF!” Be careful of borrowing, even if you’re not really aware of it. If you feel it’s not original material, verify it, then edit accordingly.

Netha’Tu was a generic villain with a dash of conceit, a soupcon of megalomania and a bucketful of melodrama. There’s not much to say about him. You described that Atma was equivalent to ‘soul’ in Sanskrit (you even did it as an OOC note in parentheses, which is not okay), the base language for Fallien. Why, then, does Netha’Tu use that word? For that reason, the ‘Atma Fire’ was awkward to read.

The Knight Captain showed a bit more promising: his explanation of why troops should not be sent to help Lex, but Rather Ty, made sense, and stuck to his pragmatic character, and was also foreshadowing his impending betrayal. It’s too bad he didn’t get more lines!

Action ~ 4/10. Lexxum acted true to his personality. You made it clear that he was a warrior at heart, that he thought like a warrior and damn well fought like a warrior. You really did go overboard with his power, though. I know it’s annoying to hear, but Lexxum is still level 0, while his “casualties were reaching well into the hundreds”. Now zombies are slow and somewhat weak, but I don’t remember him getting one scratch until he rubbed elbows with the super zombie. Just remember to play out his abilities realistically. As a comparison, Izvilvin is level 7 and he got hurt by a quarrel after dispatching maybe eight goblins and half the number of giant spiders. You had some shining moments here, though: when he saw the faces of fallen allies, he didn’t hesitate to cut off their heads to keep them from being brought back to life as enemies, which shows he has a good head on his shoulders, and won’t hesitate to do something that could be sacrilege. He’s not emotionless when he does it either, which adds some depth to him, which I enjoyed.

Ty did good here as well. He has moments, many of them, where a bit of him just shines through the action. I liked how he switched from rifle to bow and arrow, then to flaming arrow when he watched the other bowmen shoot. It shows his capacity to adapt, and a bit of his thought process as well. The way he dealt with the green, corrosive smoke from the undead dragon was a golden detail that showed how little things can be a big deal. You made his eyesight blurry, made his skin hurt, and then made him ask for water. What offsets this, however, is how easy it was to deal with the dragon with one stick of dynamite, how Netha’Tu was only slightly scorched when another stick exploded right beside him. If he has a shield, mention it. I know you lose more fingers with a closed fist than an open palm, when holding a firecracker, but we’re talking TNT here. The way Ramia came to him, gave him a feather of light that turns into an arrow; how he distracted Netha’Tu twice in a row with things you’d think a mage smart enough to summon a meteor would be able to expect: all of these things felt a bit contrived.

Speaking of TNT, I’d like to point out the unlikeliness of that specific material existing on Althanas, in Raiaera no less. First off, TNT is Trinitrotoluene, a chemical compound, and is not synonymous to dynamite, which is a material soaked in nitroglycerin, then given a cylindrical shape before being paper-wrapped. In either case, Raiaera is a land of magic, and there are rumors that in Raiaera, technology malfunctions due to some sort of interference field. This is hard to come by as info, and testy to use at best, so I’m not going to deduct any points for using technology, but you have to understand that the real tech buffs around theses parts are in Alerar. They have the black powder, they have the firearms, and they are enemies to Raiaera. The chances Ty could’ve procured himself a rifle and dynamite sticks from a Raiaeran elf are slim to none.

Now, the Meteor. Let me ask you: if Netha’Tu could summon a Meteor to start with, why didn’t he just do it from the get-go instead of wasting time, effort and zombie power? Why doesn’t he just riddle Raiaera with craters and get done with his to-do list, just in time for high tea?

Persona ~ 7/10. I like to think of this as your strong suit, for both of you. With a first person narrative, it’s obviously easier to show emotions, but sometimes people fall into that trap and manage to make it less noticeable. You managed to write it adequately, only that your writing has a jumble of other things happening simultaneously, which tend to overshadow persona... but all in all, it’s there. Lex might be very closed, but you did good at showing how he walks a line between man and beast, and rather than being conflicting or paradoxical, it’s a very interesting dichotomy. When he’s near humans and elves, he seems caring, but when he’s off to fight on his own, he stops giving a damn. When he was confronted with a fellow reptile (the undead dragon) he even considered helping it destroy the wall. He didn’t, but that he contemplated that option is a scary thought in itself. Goodjob.

Typheus, your writing is still finding its form, but let me tell you that it’s looking good. You have little to no trouble juxtaposing a character’s emotions with the narration, without confusing the narrator for the character. It works, quite simply. At times, you may go a bit too far with the slapstick humor, but those moments are few and far between, and the rest is close enough to a happy medium. My only actual problem was when Typheus took on a more juvenile, immature feel, like some sort of adolescent boy with something against authority. That was mostly when Ty kept deriding Netha’Tu, bearing the light on the typicality of his personality. The comments about his ‘little dance’ and how he ‘needs a life’ made me lose a bit of respect for Ty, but it also happened in a very tense moment, thus breaking a flow you guys had just begun to create, which affected the Pacing score as well.


WRITING STYLE

Technique ~ 6/10. Ty uses a good deal of humor, while Lex has a more poetic feel. You both need to work a bit on those fields, since one time they may seem too subtle, another time they feel substantially over the top, as aforementioned in Persona. Lex focuses on describing the gore with metaphors and similes, though not overly so, and there weren’t many analogies or instances of other rhetorical devices. Both of you tried out broken sentences for style, though half the time, you would have done better without. All in all, this was decent, but nothing really leapt from the screen and ate my eyes. Adding ‘fin’ at the end of your last posts was also rather odd, especially since it came up twice.

Mechanics ~ 4/10. This may seem harsh, but I have about 5 pages of notes full of corrections pertaining to grammar, syntax and spelling.

Lor, you sometimes misspell the name of your own character, so be careful (Vexxum Vordic, Lexxum Vodic). You also have a tendency to muddle up the ideas in your paragraphs: for example, you described Althanas falling into a second age of darkness, and then switched to describing Netha’Tu’s physique, all in the same paragraph. When you reread your posts, make sure every paragraph makes sense.

Ty, you often go from past to present tense in you posts, and that’s a habit that’s better lost. There have been some typos and missing commas, but both of you mostly had a tendency to repeat the same word/name a lot in the same paragraph. Arrows and zombies, super soldiers, commander, Netha’Tu, Xem’Zund, the lot. There are other words to describe these, technical or poetical. Here’s an example of one such paragraph from the quest:

It was struck by my arrow but I'd missed my mark. The arrow lodged itself well into the shoulder of the creature knocking it down upon the ground with the tremendous force of the recoil. The hideous monster got up a few moments later but I was already taking a shot at another one. One that was nearby to the exact position of the zombie I previously attacked. I let another arrow loose, and by a high degree of chance, the zombie was moving right towards the general direction of the arrow I'd launched. It was a perfect shot and the zombie went down. An arrow cleanly piercing the skull of the beast. The other zombie I'd struck was already up and I easily spotted the arrow in its shoulder.

And here are a few examples from my notes, with the numbers in parentheses being the specific post:

Note: Odd numbered posts are Ty, even numbered are Lor/Lex.


(…)were slow and relentless creatures who’s soul strength (1) whose sole strength
(…)being barricade(4) barricaded
Plus ordering the men behind to me get (6) word order
I was bread for war (10) Bred, I really, really hope. Otherwise, tasty!
And then things hit the fan (10) This usually only applies to electrical, ceiling fans. Well, it applies to shit going up so far it touches the ceiling. But I doubt Lex’s ever seen one.
I swung my buster sword in a mad swing towards his midsection(18) repeated word
Built with a slender build (20) repeated word
(…)Xem'Zund are absolute. Give up now, and I shall spare your lives. Fight and be destroyed." (21) Don’t rewrite the dialogue from a previous post, just reference it in the narration and respond to it. It breaks the flow, otherwise.
It shown(23) shone
Vessel (24) You use it a lot, in a sense that apparently means blood. A vessel is more of a container, a body or a vein.
You must grow strow stronger. (26) grow stronger
But one way we would be. (26) One day

I skipped the repeated mistakes, so you have the gist of your mistakes right there. In any case, be careful with these, since they’re easily avoided mistakes. Use Word to spell-check, and then reread each other’s posts to look out for mistakes. If you can’t catch each other online, you can even read the whole thread backwards, edit your own posts and take notes for your partner. Teamwork makes the world go round! Or, well, something to that effect.

Clarity ~ 4/10. The writing itself was clear, though at times I had to reread a few passages to make sense of things, such as the method with which Ty momentarily disabled Netha’Tu. Why the score didn’t go any higher is because of the clarity, plot-wise. You started this as a very simple quest, but then you rushed the ending and added thirty-six twists that made me dizzy. Netha’Tu summoned a meteor that dragged N’Jal from her divine prison, then razed Valinatal. You mention an age of Darkness, but there’s no other mention of an evil goddess stirring in the crater. I’ve no idea why that happened if it was a fluke, if it was meant to be, if someone controlled Netha’Tu into freeing her. Might I add that this was a very ‘Jenova’ moment? This was as confusing as Ramia’s return and her contribution to the battle, and the explanation for that is still hanging somewhere in limbo. Yes, leaving questions unanswered is good when there’s a sequel in the make, but a few hints never hurt!


MISCELLANEOUS

Wild Card ~ 6/10. I enjoyed the read, and I think you both did a good job. It didn’t blow my mind away, and certain parts slowed me down considerably due to a few overloads of superfluous information. I’d have given you a five, but Ty’s strange mix of attention and aloofness, as well as his employee one liner, got you an extra.

TOTAL ~ 49/100.

EXP Rewards

Lexxum Vordic gains: 735 x 2 for completing an FQ quest in time = 1470 XP!
Typheus Orikoma gains: 765 XP x 2 for completing an FQ quest in time = 1530 XP!

GP Rewards

Lexxum Vordic gains: 190 GP x 2 for completing an FQ quest in time = 380 GP!
Typheus Orikoma gains: 205 GP x 2 for completing an FQ quest in time = 410 GP!

Other Rewards

Lexxum Vordic gains: A New Sword with three Tap Fire Charges per day!
Lexxum also gains: The Rage ability! However, be wary of powerplaying this skill, as Lexxum is already far too powerful without it in this quest. Simply put, tone it down to match the description in your profile (yes, I have now read it): “Note Lexxum is currently an AVERAGE close-range Fighter when compared to other level 0's and 1's of his exact same bracket.”
Lexxum's Buster Sword destroyed.

Typheus Orikoma gains: The ability to manifest one light arrow a day!

All spoils are granted, but are subject to minor edits or full re-approval upon level up, if the RoG staff deems it necessary.

FINAL NOTES

The events of this quest are to be considered canonical, unless the Raiaera Regions Writer later decides to revoke its canon status.

Congratulations, men, and welcome to the next level! I will look forward to your next quests, and I am eager to see in what crazy and amusing ways you and your characters will progress! Rock on, Lizard King. Rock on, Cosmic Traveler.

[Karuka]

EXP/GP added! You both level up!