Tales of Darkness

Off in the Capital City:​

A man with a dark figure and heavy plate armor walked into the royal court. He gave a gracious bow to the Emperor in front of him. He began to speak, "Your Majesty. Word has it that the villages of the Wynaccia Continent to the south have begun to send troops to fight against us Guardians. They have refereed to themselves as Warrior. I believe they will join the knights and our goals will be put to a hold."

The Emperor rose from his seat and turned to the window. He looked out onto the city that was slowly being rebuilt piece by piece. With a soft tone he began to speak, "Do you know why the knights left the Empire?" He turned back around to the man. "Some say it is because of the taxes. Some say it is because of the laws. But you know what I think," he moved closer to the man, "I think it is because they fear the changes of this empire. I believe they fear the light. This new organisation just wishes for peace. But with their mingling, no peace will ever be made."

"Your Majesty, what are your orders then?" He said with a slight shake in his voice.

A dark smile appeared across the Emperor's face. "Obliterate them. Make certain they do not interfere with our plans for this Empire of Light. Send one of your best men out to the Village of Trees. End this third party rebellion."

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The Beginning Village

I am glad to see you off on your new journey adventurer. Please, accept these as a token of my gratitude:

EVERYONE RECEIVED AN ORANGE GEL AND APPLE GEL

Now, Warrior of our village, please head north to the Village of Trees. Be careful out there though. There are powerful monsters who lurk across the fields. I am sure with your skills this will not be a problem. Good luck and make us proud!

MISSION BEGIN:​

Objective: Reach the City of Trees.​

Requirement: 1 Post to reach the city.​

Extras: Make sure to fight the beasts on the field along the way for some Experience.​

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Status: Open​

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SELECT YOUR DESTINATION​

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• Crypson Forest
• Bandune Ruins

• 
  
  Description: The Crypson Forest is home to many monsters that have never seen the glory of daylight. It is a dark and mysterious place with many mysteries. It is said that during nightfall, around 1 A.M in the morning, a blue light will radiate from the plant life. This is when the Forest awakes with wild life. Those that take this path will be traveling to the Guardian Core Base. This forest also has another name... The Forest of Deception ​
  Text Color: #99CC00​
  Participants: Mist, Elisa, Rachelle, Skadi, Aiden​
  Status: Open​
  MISSION 1: Arrival​
  Journey to the forest and look at its surroundings.​
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• 
  
  Description: An ancient city once built across a land bridge. It has become drenched in water and has created a swamp environment. An odd phenomina occurs here year round, snow will fall from the sky no matter what the time of day is or what the temperature may be. Once in hits the warm ground however, it dissolves instantly. An arctic swamp lays between you and the Knight Institution. This place is also called... The Bridge of Miracles​
  Text Color: #33CCCC​
  Participants: Rowan, Sol, Sasha, Lennox, Sieg​
  Status: Open​
  MISSION 1: Arrival​
  Journey to the swampy ruins and look at its surroundings.​
  ​

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Spoiler: music

On a lone hill in the distance stood a black haired man, white cloth wrapped around him and blowing in the wind. He stood gazing at the forest a ways away. The city of trees. He stepped forth from his location atop the land. The grass swayed beneath his feet. A lone wolf, laying on the ground raised it's head from it's paws and stared at him. It seemed as though it had been sleeping prior to his arrival. Wolves usually traveled in packs, so Rowan assumed this one had gotten separated from it's pack somehow. The creature growled and bared it's teeth to the man treading in the territory it claimed as its own. "Please...stay back." Rowan pleaded, even though he knew the creature could not understand his words. The wolf didn't listen to his pleas, and pounced him. Having no other choice, Rowan batted the creature away with his staff and drove the tip down onto it's neck, snapping the bone inside.



Rowan's expression wasn't fear or surprise. It was sorrow. A life had been taken today. Human or not, that loss was a tragedy in his eyes. It was as though a miracle was snuffed out before him. Paying his respects to the departed creature, he buried it. He despised killing. Life was too important and precious to be wasted. He despised the ending of it, and how it was necessary to the world they lived in. Killing was everywhere. It was like taking priceless works of art, masterpieces which could never be recreated, and tossing them into a burning flame. "Does life exist naught but to end itself..." Rowan solemnly pondered as he made his way into the city.

 

Spoiler

Southern Wynaccia Field

The girl with lowing blue hair jumped through the trees with grace. The flowers and leaves passed by each time she took a step to speed through. With her sword in her hand she swiped through the monsters in her path. Her blade wedging at them as they tried to attack her for their next meal. This world was live of die and she had to fight on to live, for her village, for her family, and for the ones she loved.

She left the woods in which her village was born. Mist came across the great plains of the Wynaccia Continent. It was said that they were the most peaceful being that the monsters here weren't the strongest. She looked back to the forest. She kissed her hand and blew back to it. "I will return soon everyone. Just hold off until I return." And with that she ran off onto the plains. With little effort, Mist managed to cut her way through anything that decided to cross her path. Shortly after, she would reach the City of Trees.

 

Spoiler: Thematic

Skadi walked through the forest. She was in a hurry, and yet she was not. She walked swiftly, but also with care; for she had not walked through the forest much. She tried to remember why she was doing it again. "Ah, I remember now, the villagers" she said quietly as it came to her. The villagers she cared little for, the ones that had been harmed, she had set out to put a stop to the violence in the only language the enemies would understand; the language of war. As she walked, her white hair flowing in the wind, she heard a low growl. A small bear cub fell out of the tree above her and landed on the ground beside her. When it began crying in pain, Skadi bent down to comfort it (after looking around to make sure nobody would see her being nice, of course). "Do not cry, little one. There is nothing to fear, you are safe" she said gently. It was then she heard the growl once more. She looked up from the bear to see another bear, presumably the mother, standing on its hind paws and trying to intimidate her.

Skadi brandished her staff, white as the snow itself with a pale blue orb on the top of it. "If you try to harm me, I cannot guarantee you leave this alive" she warned, as though the bear could understand. Of course, the bear did not understand and ran at her. Nimbly Skadi leaped over the bear, and brought a crushing blow to the back of the bear's skull with her staff and knocked it to the ground, the bear having not actually been prepared for that. She then walked over to the little bear cub, which had begun crying again, and picked it up. Her kind nature had since vanished, adrenaline seeing to that, and she dropped the bear at the mother bear's feet. "You should protect your children with more care" she stated. She turned and continued walking towards the village of trees; the mother bear would soon gain consciousness and she did not want to have a second round against it.

 

Aiden walked along in the austere silence of the fields. He knew there were others passing this way; the wind told him so. There was, however, something else the wind told him: Someone was in danger. He quickened his pace towards the sound and found two wolves. One was injured; A deep cut ran across the side of it's body and blood was pouring out in large amounts. Another wolf was standing near in an offensive position. It's fangs were bared and it was about to attack. Aiden swooped into action, the wind pushed him forward as he uppercut the wolves jaw, sending it flying backwards. He stood up straight in front of the injured wolf. "What is this nonsense? Did he strike first? Or is this merely an act of cowardice?" The Other wolf stood up, snarling at him. "Then there should be no reason for a fight." The wolf barked loudly as if in denial. "I warn you, Senseless violence is not valor or protectiveness; It is sheer idiocy." The attacking wolf lunged. In response, Aiden quickly pulled an arrow from his quiver, aimed with his bow, and fired, all in a split second. As the shocked wolf came tumbling toward him with an arrow in it's chest he kicked it's stomach; killing it. "Such foolish waste." He turned and kneeled next to the injured wolf. "Let's see what we can do about that wound." He grimaced as he comprehended the severity of the wound. There was only one action he could take to keep the wolf from dying withing the minute. He took out his one and only seed; for use of an emergency, since he could not use them frequently here, and placed it on the wolfs body. It's glowing radiance enveloped the wolf. When the light was gone, the wolf was fully healed. It looked up at Aiden in confusion. It was also still dizzy from the loss of blood. "Go home..." Aiden said. "...And tell your king of my presence." With that he turned an left the wolf to head for the village that awaited...

 

Spoiler

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As the lone figure made his way through the forest, his eyes occasionally darted from each of his sides. While he wasn't normally a paranoid person, his reasoning behind his behavior was simply because he knew that something was around him, that much he could hear. There was the occasional snarling and rustling around him. It was only a matter of time before they attacked.​

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Eventually he came to a stop in a nearby clearing, leaving himself open to whatever was around him. While he was against senseless fighting or any act of violence without a reason, this was self defense and it seemed lie the creature wasn't going to give up on hunting him any time soon. So he waited until the sole creature made it's appearance before him. Sieg had to admit it himself, this once wolf was the one who was stalking him. He was expecting it to be a pack. No matter this just made it easier for him to work. Taking a hold of his lance, he ready himself for the wolfs attack.​

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While the wolf put up a good effort, in the end it was Sieg who walked away from the clearing and continued to his way. This time there were no distractions or animal sounds as he approached the City of Trees.​

 

Takeru walked across the dirt trodden path, giving a little humming tune before noting a growling noise, it was a wolf, or rather, three of them, eying him hungrily as if he was the special dish of the day and he gave a sigh, his black scarf flapping in the gentle breeze of the wind and the glorious sunlight coming down upon the field.

"Why am I not at all surprised?" He muttered quietly to himself, he had two chocies, run or stand his ground, naturally, he was going for the first option, especially since he knew he had the skill to combat these easily enough, that and his parents wouldn't be too happy if he wasted their lessons together, becoming rather skilful with the O-Katana, a short sword and a pouch of throwing knives hidden away. "Fine... bring it."

The wolves needn't to hear more, as they took this invitation gladly and charged at him as he relaxed into his stance, resting his right hand on the katana sheathed at his left hip and as soon as they leapt, he immediately unsheathed it diagonally, catching one of them unawares and drawing blood, severing one of their hind legs and into it's body a little as the first one fell due to blood loss.

The other two cautiously decided to surround him and Takeru followed their movements accordingly and moved, charging at a wolf as he spun the katana into a reverse grip, slicing across it's side as it tried to chew his arm off, creating a huge gash on it's side before shifting his weight to block a vicious pair of teeth coming for him as the last wolf unfortunately, got the steel blade in it's mouth, cutting and he flung it off, staring at the injured creature,

"Leave now, unless you want to end up like your companions." he said sternly, and the wolf whimpered and left before he swung his sword, getting the blood off and re-sheathed it and continued on as the two dead bodies merely disappeared into the air, to return to the ground.

 

Spoiler

Derik took the Gel's from the weird guy. "Thanks for... Whatever." He went to his house, grabbing his swords: a long, thin Rapure, and a broad, somewhat short sword known as a Scimitar. Strapping the black sheaves on, he thought about all the strength to come with his adventure. The stronger, the better for my family's memory, I guess." He tied the sheaves on, then mounting both of his blades on his back, Derik stood up in the little hut he called a home and looked around it for the last time. It was a small, white mud brick house with a small white brick oven. A little rope hammock served as the bed. The dirt floor was a little below the house's walls due to how often he was practicing in there. He stepped out of his house and began to journey out of the town by walking over to the near-by gate. A brown path and grassy fields awaited him. "Almost like every other adventure. Heh. Well, time to go kick ass and take everyone's names." He walked into the field ahead of him, waiting till something, a wolf, a bear, a feral cat, something attacked him. He walked and walked for hours on end. "Nothing... None at all... This path is completely strait, too. It's almost like the world is telling me that this adventure is going to suck hard..." He sighed, bored and tired of having no action, he went into the near-by forest looking for a bear cave. All he could find were empty hibernation caves in the area. "Gosh dang." He thought, eventually finding his way back onto the path and continued to walk. Eventually, he finally nearly reached The Village of Trees.

Spoiler

"Boring. I thought I was going to fight on this adventure, not take a leisurely stroll down a perfectly strait path." He sighed. As he approached the entrance, a pack of wolfs attacked, encircling him, five in all. "Finally, I'm going to loose some blood!" he smirked, drawing his blades, he took stance: Putting his left to the front, which had the rapure, and the right to the back, which had the Scimitar. He held the blade of the rapure out to the front horizontally, and the Scimitar across his stomach the flat edge towards his stomach and the sharp edge out. One of the wolves lunged, opening it's jaw. Derik thrust his Scimitar into the maw of the beast, the blade was half-way in the wolf's body. It resembled a shish kabob as Derik took the blade, and subsequently the wolf, and drove them into the one next wolf to him in the circle, the blade erupting from the side of the first wolf into the next one's side. He smirked and the wolf's flinched back at the fall of two of their pack. Four minutes later, the wolves were beginning to disappear as their dead bodies were lying on the floor. Derik took out a cloth he kept for cleaning his blades, which he used to clean the blood off, and re-sheaved the blades. He entered the Village of Trees with a little blood in his hair and a smirk.

 

Mist Leveled up!​

Learned Hyper Slash​

Rowan Leveled up!​

Learned Fireball​

Skadi Leveled up! ​

Learned Fireball​

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Aiden Leveled up!​

Learned Charged Shot​

Sieg Leveled up!​

Learned Straight Impact​

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Takeru Leveled up!​

Learned Hyper Slash​

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Derik Leveled up!​

Learned Hyper Slash​

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City of Trees Yorngant

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Many Warriors began to gather into the City. The City of Trees, A beautiful city filled with large homes built straight into the bark. It was the time of year for the trees to bloom a purple flower as well. This flower was commonly used for herbal medicine. A large stage was set up where 2 men stood while a young girl sat in a very fancy chair.

"Gather around my Warriors. Today we strike back at the Empire for causing us all harm. I know together we can win!" He said loudly. The Warriors began to gather around the stage to hear the speech. To some it was important to free their village. To others it was about peace. This is what Warrior was about. "Please allow me to introduce our Crystal Mystic Kessha

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The girl stood with her eyes closed and her hands folded as if she was praying. Her mouth moved to make words but none of which could be made out. Her hands lowered slowly and her bright green eyes shined to the crowd. She spoke with a light tone. "Hello everyone. I am the Crystal Mystic. It is my duties to make sure the Crystals that govern this world are kept strong and out of harms way."

"As you know, the empire has begun to tax the people heavily and has forced the knights to part from them. If this continues to happen, I fear bloodshed will occur at a drastic level. My only hope is to stop them before tainting the crystals with their evil. This is why you have all been summoned here. You are here to try and settle peace within the world. I know with your help and pure hearts, we can put the world back into order." She smiled softly and sat back down.

The other man who stood there the entire time not speaking appeared to be uncomfortable for some reason. He finally spoke out as if his life was on the line. "H-hello Warriors. Welcome to my City. P-please stay for the knight and get prepared. It may be best if you get acquainted too. T-tomorrow we split you into teams for missions." He finished and then ran. He was the mayor of the city and usually had to report to the empire. This event clearly would stress anyone in that position.

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Mist looked around at the people that joined her. There weren't very many of them that looked strong. Few seemed to have the slightest chance to actually survive. She wanted the tense mood to go down a bit so she jumped on stage. She looked around at everyone with a big smile. "You heard the man, guys, Lets party, relax and get ready to kick some ass!" She was energetic, that was for certain. Hopefully she could make a few smile.

She leaped back down and head over to one of the trees that supplied apples. She plucked one off of the tree and began to lean up against it. With a loud crunch she bit into the apple. "That's some good stuff. Wish the apples back home were this delicious." She finished it off then joined the festivities.

 

"Party? Relax? If I may say, greaaat ideas of how we should prepare the eve of a battle. I'm going out, never been much of a party-goer anyway, unless it's a party-on-party fight. Those kinds of battles get interesting." Derik though, sighing, he plucked an apple off of one of the near-by trees, and began heading towards the part of the village he entered from.

 

Rowan silently listened to the woman's words. He disliked the idea of this battle which was about to start, but he knew the consequences of not doing it were far worse. In an event where no matter his actions death couldn't be avoided, he tended to go with the lesser of two evils. He took a look around at his "allies". The first to speak seemed rather rowdy. This wasn't necessarily a bad trait in Rowan's eyes, just different from himself. The second to speak however, he found himself already beginning to dislike. He placed a hand on his shoulder, indicating for him to wait. With a shake of his head, he began to speak.

"I beseech you, do not kill more than you have to." He said, assuming that he intended to go train on some for of poor animal. This man thirsted for battle. "If you must train so, i shall offer myself as your opponent."

 

Skadi listened to what was being said. They spoke of peace, and avoiding bloodshed, and this pleased Skadi; it was the same reason she had volunteered herself. She looked around at the other warriors there. Would they be of any use? They would be split into teams the next day, and it was then she suspected she would find out just how well she worked with them. She chuckled quietly as Mist mentioned partying. She thought of Mist as naive, as she could think of nothing but of the possibilities of the coming day. Although she had no desire to party, she felt as though she ought to socialize and "fit in" with the others, as their bonds would determine whether or not their mission was a success. She, too, went to join the festivities.

 

"Reading my mind, eh? Yes, I was gonna use some of your fuzzy wuzzys as practice for what lies ahead. If you're a animal rights activist, you may not wanna be around me, see, I'm one of the worst offenders of wild animal abuse. Your fuzzy wuzzys ain't so fuzzy no more, ya dig?" He gave a bit of an evil chuckle before continuing. "If you would like me to skin ya alive and wear you like a fur coat instead, though, I'm plenty fine with that." He chuckled again. "I jest, especially when I'm offered a sparing partner who's smarter that a brick wall, I would never refuse. Now, unless you would like me to skin you alive, I need a practice weapon, so excuse me..." he brushed Rowan's hand off, walked out of the village and a little wile past, found a tree, and used his blades to make them into crude practice swords and returned to the village. "Okay, now I've got my gear, are you set or what?" he asked.

 

Rowan raised an eyebrow at this man. He was...crude. What's more, arrogant. Rowan had only interacted with him for a matter of minutes, but his dislike for him was growing strong. Apparently killing animals was a pass time of his, from his words. Perhaps not even limited to animals. This filled Rowan with anger and disdain. It was this kind of person he was alright with killing. His philosophy was that if one undermined the value of life, they were undermining the value of their own life, and didn't deserve a gift they didn't appreciate. Although he wouldn't kill this man, the thought certainly crossed his mind. The mage readied his staff, prepared for battle. "indeed" He knew he was no match for him physically. Mages were lacking in that department. However, if he used some of his artes at a lower power output, it should be just enough to even the playing field.

 

"Oh, magic, Interesting. Explains the pacifistic nature, since they normally like to be the healers. This will make for a decent fight." he mentally determined as he started settling into his stance. "If he has fire, I'm possibly in trouble." The disadvantage of wooden weapons in this case was bad for him. But on the up side, he was far lighter than before without his normal weapons of steel. "Okay, I'll take the opening move." He began to zig-zag across the field, hoping to be able to avoid any attacks Rowan could throw at him, knowing most magics head strait-on from the times he has had to fight magic users.

 

Aiden looked around at the taller people surrounding him. No doubt they would see him as just a kid; maybe even try to send him home. But he had been given this assignment by the king himself, and he was not going back empty handed. He went over to the tree Mist had taken an apple from, and quickly climbed to the top. From there, he could see everyone's activities: Derik and Rowan sparring, Mist and Skadi joining the festivities, and the mayor. What would that man do anyway? He seemed especially nervous about this event. He understood why, but what if he caved? What if he reported to the emperor? The thought made Aiden weary.

 

Takeru watched with mere interest of the others as the announcement came, a team up with other would occur sometime as Mist was the bubbly girl who wanted everyone to let go and enjoy themselves as the toher female too went to join in the festival, a mage and swordsman training each other and a child, it was certainly a ragtag group of people to put it simply, what would his mother say at a time like this?

"She'd be wondering if I found a Lord to follow after." he thought and decided eh too, should join this festival, especially since such a chance wouldn't come by every day.

 

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A couple of wolves were barking and running after a figure dashing through the trees. As the figure hit the ground, she twirled and fired a shot at one wolf followed by another. ​

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TWANG!​

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TWANG!​

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Before she could fire a third one, the last wolf tackled her to the ground and snapped at her neck. She struggled against the wolf before pulling out an arrow and stabbing it in the side of the head.​

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Breathing heavily, Sasha shoved the wolf off of her and brushed her clothes before closing her eyes and making a silent prayer. After that, she plucked the arrows off the dead wolves. "Man that's the second time I got caught! I really should brush up on my skills. No matter. I had my orders to go to that place." Plucking the last arrow and sliding it in her quiver, she made her way through the trees until she reached the City of Trees. ​

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She examined the area. "Humph. Seems like I'm not the only one here. Looks like I'm late to the party..." She made her way down towards the group of people, somewhat listening to another boring speech about the empire and their evil deeds. "I wish we could do less talking and more fighting. Though I do like the girl. All feisty and stuff." She smiled to herself, eager for the next plan of action.​

 

Rowan studied his movements closely. He followed the pattern he was taking and ran it through in his head, figuring where he'd end up a few moments before he did so. He seemed to be taking evasive action to avoid being hit with any of his spells. A wise tactic. He should probably conserve his mana for a moment when it would be more likely to connect instead of blindly firing at him while oncoming. He'd probably just miss. While this man's personality left something to be desired, Rowan could tell he would be no small asset in combat. Enough thought. There was no more time. Derik was almost ontop of him. With one swift motion, Rowan sweeped his staff at his thighs, slightly above his knees. The strike was high enough to avoid being jumped over, yet low enough to trip him and use his momentum to spin him onto his back, leaving him open for a spell. At a lower power output, it would be strong enough to hurt him, but not seriously injure him.

 

"Think you can get me with that classic, old bean? Think again." He thought, as the sweeping motion came for him, he stabbed at Rowan in the middle of his right ribs and inner side. He would still trip, but the blow would knock down even an ogre, which he had faced a few times, barely beating them, but still holding on long enough to out last. As each blow connected, Derik knew he had to recover fast or it would be over, as he tripped and fell, he put his hands down and spring boarded off of them, landing on the stage barely. "Guy knows a little about hand-to-hand. Good strategy, though, I think that my tactic could have gone better..." his legs did retain some damage, a little bruising, but nothing too serious would come of it though. He leaped off of the stage and onto the floor again, now he was in the crowd. "Stealth... The greatest technique to any fighter..." He thought, worming his way through the crowd carefully. When he had almost made it back to the area Rowan was in, he readied again, taking a different stance this time, holding both his blades parallel to his head(Think the way Riku wields a swordx2) and prepared for a lunge.