Member
angelsgrief
Remram
Lunari
headintheclouds
Nightwing95
ctrlsaltdel
BoomBadaBing
Thunder999999
Guy0fV4lor
PrinceAlexusYear 1017 YC
The Last Day
The Last Day
Vincent leaped up between buildings, kicking with his aura from wall to wall until he mounted the rooftops. His team moved to the next street---
"Already blocked, keep moving!" he barked. A figure in a hood, holding a longbow, had slain a pile of demons and now their bodies filled this alley. A long-dead part of Vincent's heart trembled. If not for the enhanced Sensations of his Aura, he wouldn't have recognized her. The next alley was handled too---by someone else he knew.
"Sir! The ships!" He turned, he cursed, he saw the armies below them fall back. "What...what do we do?" Vincent turned again, seeking in every direction for some weakpoint in the enemy---and then he saw the crosses the beasts had raised, their grisly victory banners, and the long auburn hair that waved like a flag. For a moment he gaped, mouth working silently... Then he grit his teeth with such rage that blood seeped from his gums.
"...Just...bleed them." he spat. "Kill, and kill, and kill!" What use was protecting the flank now, when they were surrounded and trapped? What use to run when there was nowhere left to go? He took off in the last direction he'd seen them moving, outpacing his hesitant squadron---they were not inspired to follow his lead, and he didn't care.
Last but not least, he found her too. But the three of them united, down on the broken streets, amidst fire and blood. For him to intrude on that last embrace...there wouldn't have been a point. Instead, he turned away, and leaped across the next roof. Just bleed them. Shadows edged with red flame trailed from his empty eye, while tears built up in the left, and he faded into the billowing clouds of smoke.
Scattered across the breaking shield walls, the front who had now become the rear-guard as the human army about-faced, Ferrucio and Mateo found themselves brought together by the crush of bodies rather than destiny. Ground that had taken them an hour to gain was lost in minutes. The plaza soon out of sight.
The fighting to the rear, nearer the docks, was far fiercer than the push through the city streets; but here the humans had no unified front. Every man rushed to either meet death or bring it, dashing down the beaches. Lucas and Rowan were among these, scattered amidst the demon army, every sword for itself on both sides. Eryx cast his Shield Spell to deflect a demon's blade, yet at the moment it was most needed the magic faltered and shattered.
Men died. Men were tossed into the raging waves to bleed out under the churning waters. Men burned on the ships that should have been their salvation.
As Rodin cut through not only those demons in his way, but the fearsome pressure of their King's Aura, he was not alone. Courage had little to do with it---Humanity was utterly cornered, and in the face of death even the weakest coward had no choice but to give in to that last primal effort for survival. But as the half-elf charged, he bore witness:
"Strike Flux." The Demon King's Aura blackened at its center, the nebulae within it now only at the edges. And as he moved he left "shadows" in his wake, which for an instant moved towards his attackers. The Demon King parried a sword and struck off a head. He slipped under a spear and amputated the arms that held it. An axe, another blade, a desperate dagger, again and again; the monster moved through each of his "shadows" like the steps of a dance, perfectly parrying and riposting.
But Rodin's attack came after all the others, and his glaive swept through a blindspot! The Demon King turned and recoiled, throwing up one hand--!
"Inertia!" The Aura crystallized, as if shards of the midnight sky had frozen around Rodin's weapon, creeping down towards his arms. There was no "sudden stop," as if his blow had been seized or intercepted, and yet he was simply frozen in place.
"...A half-elf?" The voice beneath the horned helm was amused. "How pitiful---to see both sides of one's heritage erased." The black sword came down, opening a vicious wound as the crystals sealing the glaive shattered---And from seemingly nowhere, a suppressed Aura became visible again, flaring scarlet rage as Vincent spun through the air. Making up for the lack of an arm with momentum and hatred, his sword point came so close that he saw the Demon King's eyes widen behind the visor.
"Accel!" The stars within the King's dark aura flared white-hot, and he now stood behind Vincent. The Kaides Cripple's body spurted blood from three different wounds he had not felt touch him, and he tumbled across the earth.
And yet, these two warriors had earned a drop of blood that fell to the street. Its soft drip seemed to echo like a pin thrown in silence. The Demon King heaved a heavy breath as he turned back towards them---they lay bleeding, but were not yet dead. The monster clenched his fist, and his rage rippled through the tar-like power leaking from his armor.
"How quaint." snarled the monarch. "That any of you aside from Kaides could touch me---"
"They ARE Kaides." Golden light suffused the area as if the sun had burst free from the clouds, and just as the Demon King had moved in the span of an instant, the Patriarch appeared in front of Rodin and Vincent. For only a moment, he looked back at them---and nodded. Vincent's breath caught in his throat. This man he had hated for so long, and still hated...somehow, seeing his back like this, pained his chest more deeply than a spearpoint through the heart. Because it made him want to not hate this man---it made him want to hope, something he knew he couldn't do anymore.
There were no words exchanged as the battle to determine humanity's existence began. The great blade that divided space struck ravines through the earth. The Demon King leaped between chunks of stone that hung frozen in dark, crystalline stasis, leaving behind afterimages that continued to fight on their own initiative. The Patriarch batted them away, defending himself even as he tumbled through empty air. Clashing shockwaves of inhuman strength burst windows asunder and crumbled brick to dust. Black and gold Aura met with a resonance that sent vibrations through the very soul. Demons and humans alike stopped fighting to watch as if they bore witness to the descent of gods.
At the final clash, the clouds were torn apart by twin columns; one brightest gold, the other so black it swallowed reality. The red glare of the setting sun cracked like glass, and the sky behind it rolled back. Energy expanded in a dome so vast, it swallowed sound. A wind like that of a tornado swept out in every direction, and the earth collapsed. Within the bind of their blades, both demon king and hero...broke.
Everything was a white void, save your kin who stood in the distance, frozen in their last moment as you were. Perhaps because your soul no longer rested in your body. Patriarch and Demon King were locked together in...death? Victory or defeat? Martenos Kaides looked at you, at all of you, and spoke. Both their forms shattered. Intermingled Auric shards pierced your heart.
Year 1007 YC
The Second Life
The Second Life
Location: Across the Kaides Estates
Lush rugs, sparkling tiled floors, poster beds, hardwood wardrobes. Fine clothes, porcelain tea-sets, full length mirrors. Hanging portraits, tapestries, bookshelves and desks. Long halls lined by great arched windows overlooking immaculate green lawns and beautiful flowering hedges. Babbling fountains amidst stone walkways. The many possessions of nobility, not yet lost, yet already considered a waste on some.
The Failed Generation re-awakened on this, of all days: The first day of Collegem Orientation. Across the Kaides estate servants bustled; the noble Mothers wanted each of their children, no matter how disappointing the sons and daughters might be, dressed and ready to appear with the classmates of their age at the Collegem's Great Arena. The noble Cousins, too, were expected to be no-less well-prepared. As the morning sun climbed, it would soon be time...
And yet, all of this had played out before. Memories were as whole as bodies that had, at least to some extent, been restored from scars and injuries. Ten years could not have been a dream. Death had been too real. Mere imagination could not explain the experience they now witnessed, for even that which had faded from their memory was just as it had been...
Your Physical Strength is TEMPORARILY REDUCED by ONE STAGE, as 10 years of growth are negated.
Your Aura is TEMPORARILY LOCKED, as your Awakening has not yet occurred.
Your GROWTH RATE is MULTIPLIED, as you put your FUTURE KNOWLEDGE to work.
What will you do?
Feel free to create any unnamed butler/maid types you may need, individualized wings/rooms/etc of the Estates (there are multiple buildings across the property), and so forth. As always, ask if there are any questions.