TheMerlin

Scorched Earth

Speaking of which,

@deadpixel101@RezonanceV@John F Kennedy

It's time for your characters to shine, you guys still with us?

Hello!

Reminds me of that time I got reincarnated as a slime. Welcome to the guild.

Scorched Earth

As the shuttle made its rapid descent towards the battlefield, Liffis could feel the heady blend of fear, pain, hatred, anger and exhilaration radiating in waves from all the soldiers below, churning together into an almost narcotic like intoxication the closer they drew. No matter how many times he experienced it, Liffis could never quite seem to get used to it and it always took a great deal of effort to distinguish which parts of what he felt were his own sensations.

He felt the impact of a bullet ripping through his chest and looked down to reassure himself that it was not happening to him. Then came the raw grief of seeing a friend drop dead to the ground and he looked around at the other Spectres, reminding himself that he was not the soldier on the ground, firing his gun with rage in an attempt to avenge his fallen companion. Then came the sudden shock of an explosion and Liffis barely managed to restrain himself from flinging his own body into the side of the shuttle. That would have been embarrassing.

One by one, he addressed each of the intruding sensations until they faded into the background like white noise and he became aware of himself again. His own mind, his own thoughts whispering, Peace. Serenity. Calm... Calm. Let all else be washed away by the Light and trouble me no more.

Liffis breathed a sigh of relief as he had found his centre again, but there was something else. A feeling of... uncertainty? A change. Then terror. Sheer terror! And an almighty attempt to quash it. Were these emotions his own? No, Liffis realized as he looked around. They were someone else's. Someone nearby.

Then in a furtive voice, that someone spoke, "Knights… Mages… good people?”

Duncan, of course. The artificial human. Unique even among Spectres. Though he was young compared to the others, he had been a Spectre all his life and was thus technically the 'oldest' among the program. Still, as far as Liffis was aware, he himself was the oldest in terms of physical age and that made him an elder brother of sorts. A role he accepted readily as he responded to the young Spectre with a gentle smile, "Yes, they are good people."

Then the shuttle ramp dropped as the craft slowly touched down upon the ground, easing into position. The cacophony of battle instantly spilled in through the door and Liffis made sure he was the first one to stand outside on the ramp as the shuttle landed, raising his arms and throwing up a kinetic barrier to deflect any bullet, bomb or energy bolt sent their way.

"Let's get to work now and take care of each other out there. Light be with you all."

Scorched Earth

Hope it's not covid.

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It's been pretty eventful for me, but I'll have time to post tomorrow if no one else will.

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So just another reminder, or more rather a notice for any newcomers, everyone is free to post whenever they like here. There's no need to wait for someone else if you don't have to.

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Oof, been there done that. Thanks for the heads up, looking forward to seeing your first post.

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Drowning in inspiration!

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@yoshua171 If you do decide to join, please let me know so we can work something out together.

Anyways, apologies to anyone who hasn't posted yet, but the action officially starts now. So everyone feel free to go absolutely wild.

Scorched Earth

Meanwhile on the ground...

Fire and madness filled the air as the soldiers of Belisio battled on with all their might, each one of them bloodied in some way, but still holding on and facing down the endless horde of Vaimese invaders. Guns chattered, explosives thundered and above the din of combat, men howled their souls into the night with every trigger pull and thrown grenade. The Belisians knew that they were doomed, that this was their final hour and what remained of them would soon be engulfed by the endless tide rushing towards them, but still they screamed in defiance of that fate and fought on to the very last.

Minutes passed and the fighting was no longer at a distance, but hand to hand. Among the front ranks, Belisian combat knives clashed against Vaimese steel. Then seconds passed and a barrage of magic fire rained down from above, incinerating friends and foes alike. The mages of the Empire cared not for the lives of their slave soldiers, culled from the vestiges of nations conquered. Then just as it seemed that the end was near and the defences were finally about to be breached, a new sound emerged from the chaos. Compared to the noise of battle all around, it was barely a whisper. Only audible to those with still functioning commlink devices and augmentations, but the words were like trumpets heralding the approach of imminent salvation:

"This is Steed 1, reinforcements are en route. Coming in hot."

"Fight on you bastards!" shouted one of the men who heard the message. "The Knights are coming!"

"The Knights are coming!"

The shout was echoed all around and the Belisians took up arms with renewed vigour, guns raging against the coming storm.

---

After a brief look on the battlefield below, Roland determined that the situation was worse than he had initially thought. Had there been another moment of delay, it might have been too late. There was no time however to feel vindicated in his decision as the shuttle propelled forth, shooting out of the carrier ship and into the fray with VTOL engines screaming like wings of fire. From thousands of metres in the air to the scene of battle below, the drop took less than a minute and in that time, the left flank of the Belisian defence had managed to save itself from the brink of collapse, fighting the enemy forces to a standstill.

"Open the door, pilot," Roland said as the shuttle neared the ground. "Let them see us."

"Roger that, sir. Door's opening."

And with that, the Knight Commander unbuckled himself from his seat to stand at the rear of the shuttle as the door ramp was lowering, allowing a clear view of the Belisian defenders below. With his hair and cloak whipping in the wind, Roland drew Starlight from its sheathe and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Warriors of Belisio, you will stand firm!"

Then without waiting for the shuttle to land, he jumped out and landed light as a feather between the Belisian defenders and the enemy ranks, deflecting every bullet sent his way with the blade of his sword. As soon as a gap emerged in the hail of gunfire directed at him, he charged his ancestral weapon with Ki and released it in the form of a sweeping horizontal slash, cutting a swath through the invaders before him.

"Rally on me!" the Old Lion roared as he held his sword aloft, shining brightly with power like its namesake. "No quarter! No mercy!"

The Belisian soldiers echoed his shout as they formed a firing line on either side of him, emboldened by his presence. When the first shuttle at last touched down upon the ground, Roland called out to it, "Sir Vires, I shall hold the line here! Commence the attack and do not let a single enemy mage escape our wrath!"

The other shuttles were mere moments behind, but when they arrived it would be in a clear landing zone as the enemy forces were being pushed back further and further by the Knights of Belisio, charging into battle like the heroes of old.