freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol nodded at her plan.
"Fair enough. If either one of us gets into trouble, we'll try to double back, ok? Don't need to get caught in the snare of some ancient trap and die on a forsaken planet. That's not how my obituary is supposed to read anyway." A soft chuckle at the morbid joke escaped Yerbol's lips before lining himself up with the hallway he had been assigned. It was pitch black ahead.
"What a surprise." He whispered to the darkness, trudging slowly forward, left hand extended in front of him. He focused mentally for a couple of seconds before a light shone from his hand, the soft blue hues illuminating a couple of feet in front of him. Taking a breath, he continued to walk forward. It was then that he realized that he had been able to read the inscriptions quite clearly, without any hesitation on his part about misunderstanding. Did the True Sith know the Basic tongue? Or did the inscriptions have some sort of power that allowed for any to understand? What would that say about the kind of people the True Sith were?

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden flickering from both sides. Torches jutted out of the beige stone walls, their orange light both a comfort and a scare. How did the torches come on? Did he step on a switch or did he-
"Yerbol! Bolllllllllll!" That teasing name call filled the hallway, bouncing off the walls. No, no, couldn't be. That's not her.
"Bol, come on! We've gotta get through this!" He mouthed her name, then a second time with barely a voice:
"Lysa?"
"Ahead of us! Ahead!" The torches grew brighter, intense. Yerbol could see an opening up ahead, the Knight running to the sight to find he was standing on sand. Looking behind him, the hallway disappeared, replaced by an endless horizon of dunes that surrounded him. Stars lit up the sky and on the earth they shone on was her. She was shorter than he was, but not by much, standing at about five eleven. Her hair was a much darker ebony than his, her eyes a sparkling aqua that got the attention of several young men that Yerbol had to chase off as the hulking brother that denied his sister would ever ACTUALLY get involved romantically. She was standing a few feet away, her eyes glinting with mischief.
"What? Don't stare at me like that, it gives me the creeps." One step forward.
"Lysa, you're not here right now. This is an illusion of some kind, part of the trial." She shook her head.
"Nope. See?" She stuck out her arm, Yerbol touching it gently with his right hand.
"But you-"
"I what? I know where we're going, if that's what you mean. Glad you got my message. There's a Sith I saw nearby in the place I wanted you to see. Come on, we can get her out of the way." What was this? Alternative reality? Some strange vision of what Yerbol thought could have been?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha, no worries at all! Hope you get your laptop back soon...I know mine is like an appendage. Can't do much without it xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

The scream that Aria let out pierced every fiber of his being, the Knight collapsing to his knees, mind attempting to focus as the rending shriek continued to fill the air. Just as suddenly as the scream had began, it ended, Yerbol's gaze cast at the now empty entranceway. His ears were ringing profusely, but they were alive. That was what mattered. He could see Aria's face break into a small smile, something he had never seen her do. It was refreshing, even with the splitting headache that was slowly replacing the fading sounds of ringing bells. Yerbol made out:
"Sorry...if...ears...ring..."
He shook his head, responding a bit louder than he normally would have if his hearing hadn't been temporarily wrecked:
"We're alive! That's what counts!" He leaned against a nearby wall, hands on his knees. The ringing was now just a faint whisper, but the headache was still present.
"That was...that was so blasted powerful." He admired, eyes focusing on her.
"I had heard of the ability for Sith to manipulate their vocal chords, but that...that wasn't manipulation, that was just sheer force. You'll have to show me how to do that someday. It'll work wonders for when I don't want to lose an argument." His breath wasn't turning into vapor, which comforted the Knight. Eyes turned to the treeline, watching cautiously for a few silent moments. When satisfied, he looked back into the temple. There was a wide hallway that stretched down towards what looked like an open area of some sort, light filtering in through the ceiling.
"Let's not wait around to get ourselves slashed to bits. Shall we?"

The open area that Yerbol had spotted was littered with chunks of rubble, patches of the ceiling and wall strewn about randomly. In the center of the area was a somewhat rusted statue of a hooded figure, lightsaber in one hand, the head of a nameless foe in the other. Yerbol walked closer, examining an inscription on the pedestal before reading it aloud:
"Those who walk down the Path of the Truth will rise to conquer their enemies." The inscription glowed with a crimson light for a flicker of a moment before returning to it's dull state. Yerbol looked around, senses straining to pick up on any anomalies that the glowing may have caused. There was silence for a couple of moments, then a soft click. Beyond the statue, a stone wall slid away to reveal three different paths branching north, northwest and northeast. Above each pathway was an inscription that glowed the same crimson as the one on the pedestal. The Knight walked forward, reading each aloud:
"The Path of Vengeance..." The left.
"The Path of Redemption..." The center.
"The Path of Power..." The right.

"Almost feels like a trial of some kind."

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria's cry was faint, but one that Yerbol could pick up. He found her staring at a stone edifice that towered in the distance, poking up above the tree line. In front of them was a stone pillar with carvings that almost seemed to glow with a soft light. He ran his hand across the carvings, feeling the grooves and indentations for any kind of hidden switch or pulley that could be activated. Shrugging at his lack of discovery, he told Aria:
"Suppose we keep moving forward. Looks like a straightforward enough path, right?" He continued through the clearing to the thickly populated forest, the local jungle wildlife penetrating the silence between the duo on occasion. Buzzing, humming, roaring in the distance, their footfa-

Roaring?

They had only gone a few hundred yards into the forest when Yerbol heard it. He held out his arm, a gesture for Aria to stop. He turned to her, pointing at his ear. There it was again, a powerful, menacing roar that echoed through the air. It seemed to be closer than the last time he had heard it. Of COURSE there would be the potential threat of dangerous animals. It was a planet belonging to the Sith after all.
"Keep moving." He whispered as he trudged ahead, his right hand sliding instinctively to his belt where his saber hilt hung. Another few hundred yards were traversed when a sudden chill burst through the treeline and whipped them in the face, Yerbol's cheeks and nose burning from the sting of cold air that blew through. Accompanied by the chill was the roaring, this time much closer. Just ahead, Yerbol spied a flicker of a shape darting between trees, then another roar. Another flicker, another roar. Saber in hand, he ignited the blade just as the shape rammed Yerbol in the chest, staggering the knight. Refocused, he saw the source of the abnormal noise. It was a creature humanoid in appearance, but it had sharp claws in place of hands, it's face a pale white, mouth agape with sharp teeth, eyes without corneas. It lunged again at Yerbol, the Knight dodging to his left and slicing downward, clipping the monster's back. A howl of pain as it sunk to all fours, looking at the duo before tilting it's head up to the sky, howling as loud as it could. Howls answered.
"Great." Yerbol threw his saber at the creature, whose injury and subsequent call for reinforcements distracted it enough for the saber to slice through it's head, the corpse falling to the ground.
"To the temple." Yerbol could now see his breath crystallize into vapor.
They needed to run.

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Justin felt relieved at the arrival of assistance, but had to bite his tongue in order to suppress a groan when Sam kissed Cam's hand.

Seriously? Now? When an elite squadron of attackers are right at your doorstep?

He shook off the thought, looking to his companion with a small smile.
"Right there with you."

____

A defensive barricade of soot covered trucks stood about about four hundred yards off from the now amassing Harbinger force. The helicopters had lowered themselves about fifty feet from the ground, a number of Harbinger troopers sliding down a portable ladder before the airborne vehicles perched themselves on rooftops across from the barricade. Their machine guns hadn't moved, which gave Justin a flicker of hope that they were just for intimidation; after all, how on earth could anyone salvage a gatling gun like that in this chaos, let alone make it work? Then again, the advanced tech of the Harbingers proved that one could easily construct weapons and armor of high quality given the right tools.

Sam and Connor barked out orders to the rest of their squadrons, sending them around the trucks to the sandbags and other localized debris that would act as their first line of defense. Others were stationed behind the trucks on elevated wooden platforms with rifles at the ready. Justin and Cam found themselves in the trenches with the first wave of defenders(naturally), the pair armed with assault rifles given to them by Sam before they charged ahead(and a wink to only Cam...gotta give him credit for not giving up on trying to find a lady). They were instructed to not fire on the Harbingers until they made the first move, which they made after the Harbingers assembled in a straight, horizontal line. One in the middle, his chestplate a gold, almost yellow color gleamed as he placed a cone shaped device in front of his mouth, his voice bouncing off the concrete structures:
"I am Michael Southwright, commander of this platoon. I've seen too many of my men get murdered today and wish to avoid further bloodshed on both our parts. All we need are your two visitors. Once we have them safely in our custody, we will cease all activity and leave you be."
"Why so generous?!" Sam shouted back into his cone shaped device, which was probably how they had heard his entrance music in the first place.
"Because I'm a sensible man. I can see that our fight would be a fruitless exercise. We need both Justin and Cameron alive. There would be no chance of that happening if we engaged. Hand them over or we will be forced to open fire." He motioned to the helicopters, the machine guns whirring softly in anticipation. Justin's eyes went from Southwright to Cam, searching hers.
"We can avoid a lot of bloodshed if we hand ourselves in..."

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Hey there!

So, my wife and I are FINALLY moved in, but I've had about twenty hours of sleep this week, so I've felt kinda loopy today. I'm going to go hibernate. I WILL get you a post tomorrow. I miss Cam and Justin like I miss peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on real bread (I'm gluten free due to an allergy...man do I miss bread)

Thanks for your patience! Also, is that new position still killing you with work or has it calmed down?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Hey there! Thanks for the update and sorry about your laptop...that stinks :/

So we're finally moved into our new place, but I've had about...20 hours of sleep this week? Maybe? So I'm feeling a bit out of it. I WILL, WILL, WILL get you a post tomorrow or my name isn't Knickerbocker Fancypants.

Which it isn't

Thanks for your patience and I can't WAIT to get back into this. Yerbol and Aria's adventures continue!

Rescue for the ages(Seravee/Freedomliveson)

Hey there!

So, my wife and I are currently in the process of moving, which means I'm going to get a lot busier over the next couple weeks. I am so sorry to do this, but I'm going to be taking a hiatus until July 18th so that we can get settled in. I'll be back and better than ever(hopefully!) with more time to give to our thread.

Thanks for understanding!

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Hey there!

So, my wife and I are currently in the process of moving, which means I'm going to get a lot busier over the next couple weeks. I am so sorry to do this, but I'm going to be taking a hiatus until July 18th so that we can get settled in. I'll be back and better than ever(hopefully!) with more time to give to our thread.

Thanks for understanding!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Hey there!

So, my wife and I are currently in the process of moving, which means I'm going to get a lot busier over the next couple weeks. I am so sorry to do this, but I'm going to be taking a hiatus until July 18th so that we can get settled in. I'll be back and better than ever(hopefully!) with more time to give to our thread.

Thanks for understanding!