Post by Ninmast on Mar 8, 2008 16:39:40 GMT -5
Spain - 789 A.D.
The worst part about it was that all they could hear was the sound of their own feet hammering against the stone, the air hammering against their lungs and their hearts hammering against their chests. It was only the two of them left, the carriage master had died in the crash. Now, they thought that perhaps their only hope was to seek refuge within the castle walls.
She froze on the battlements when she heard the sound. A sound like ooze sloshing accompanied by the sound of bat wings. The same sound that had precursored the scream of the carriage master before they went off the embankment. For a moment, the image returned to her mind.
She and the warrior with her had been returning from a very profitable adventure in Southern Spain and were on their way back to France. They had taken a carriage because they could afford it and it was just an enjoyable way to travel and pass the time when they had spent so long on their feet. They had been reciting the more enjoyable portions of their journey and laughing at things that had occurred while reliving glory moments.
Then that sound filled the air. Their laughing and talking stopped, and an instant later, the carriage master's scream of terror split the air like a knife. An incantation was immediately on her lips as the warrior reached for his sword, but before either could act, the carriage swerved and veered off the road, sending them tumbling down the side.
They climbed out from the wreckage that had largely protected them and immediately went to check on the carriage master, only to find him half bloodied and crushed by the weight of the carriage, and half blackened and seared, as if he had been thrown in flames. As they stood there, though, some of the blackness raised up off of the corpse, a throbbing mass of evil that manifested a head, seemingly solely for the purpose of grinning at them.
Since then, all they had been able to do was run from it. The warrior could cut through it, but it would only reform, and her magic seemed to have no effect whatsoever. It had seemed particularly interested in the warrior, blatantly ignoring her several times in order to pursue him. Now, she whirled toward the source, a fireball flying from her hand in time to intercept it as it came up above the edge. She moved back to keep herself between it and the warrior, but while the fireball had knocked it back, it soon came immediately back up, and its blackness slammed into the battlements, causing them to quake beneath her feet. She took several stumbling steps as as an idea occurred to her, a plan.
As soon as she caught her balance, she ran to the edge and threw herself at the entity, but it wasn't her intention to attack it. The incantation was already flowing from her lips, and the moment it was near enough, she threw her arms wide, a sphere surrounding them both. It swung around and hit her, probably intending to knock her away, but as it sent her flying, the back of the sphere hit it and took it with her, causing the sphere to go shooting toward the ground and slamming into it, sending up dirt and debris as first she slammed into the sphere's wall, then it slammed into her.
"Release me," it hissed at her after pounding against the sphere with futility for several moments. "Or I shall simply kill you. I have no interest in the frail body of a woman."
But she just chuckled. To be trapped within her sphere, then to call her frail ... "I shall not, and killing me shall accomplish nothing. This sphere will only drop when I will it. If you kill me, then you will remain within it for all eternity, alongside my frail, rotting corpse."
The entity seethed at her furiously for several moments before it seemed to come to a conclusion it didn't like. "Very well, woman. Have it your way."
Her eyes widened a moment before the darkness obscured everything, seeming to fill the orb entirely with roiling blackness for several long moments before the sphere flickered out of existence, allowing it all to collapse to the ground in a splash.
The woman sat up from the mess and pushed herself into a standing position, completely clean despite the mess around her, though her robes were now solid black. A smirk came to her lips as she raised her hand before her face and wiggled her fingers experimentally, and it was her voice that spoke. "If only you can release me, Woman, then you shall be the one I take as my own ..."
-----------------------------------------------
There are times when Good doesn't always triumph, and when Evil isn't always what we expect.
Over 1200 years ago, an entity of darkness crossed into our realm from its own. And it still lives here today, in an odd little town called Capri Falls, on the border between France and Spain.
For most intents and purposes, it's a normal town. It has all the modern conveniences, a public school, a post office, a pub, even a community recreational center. But it's empty.
This always strikes people as odd. When the natives think back, they can always think of knowing someone from Capri Falls, going to school with someone from Capri Falls, even, on occasion, going out with a pretty little lass from Capri Falls. And yet, at the same time, as far as anyone can recall, the population sign has always read the same. Zero.
The locals in the area surrounding the town have never thought much of it. They simply go on recalling their memories, not necessarily with a lack of recency. Sometimes, you can ask someone, and they'll tell you they just saw someone from Capri Falls last week that had come up into one of the bigger cities for something. That such is impossible never occurs to them. It's simply a part of everyday life.
But a month ago, a team of paranormal investigators caught wind of the town and decided to go pay it a visit. While their initial responses were amazement at how perfect the town was kept for not having anyone living there, but otherwise uneventful, their reports ceased completely after only 24 hours. The same happened again when a search team was sent in after them a couple days later. Again and again, teams were sent into this empty town, knowing exactly where the other teams should have been, but only finding nothing before they, too, would disappear without a trace.
Growing alarmed, officials have funded a special "search and rescue" team, deciding to fight fire with fire and send in some of the most "special" individuals in the field they can find. It will be the mission of these people to find out what happened to the missing crews, recover them if possible, and get out with their own lives intact.
-----------------------------------------------
St. Charles Airport, Continental United States - 2008 A.D.
The dark-skinned woman traveled surprisingly light, with nothing but a small bag with personal hygiene belongings - a toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, mouthwash, soap, spare ammunition, a small first aid kit and a change of clothes. She flicked a lock of pure-white hair out of her face as she removed her sunglasses to peer up at the terminal announcements. A moment later, after scanning the list, she looked back down at her ticket. Her terminal wasn't listed. That could only mean it was a private flight, only her and whoever she was supposed to be working with would be boarding it. That also meant that it likely had special flight privileges, and she wouldn't have to wait for it to come in.
She slipped the sunglasses back on and turned to stroll on down the hall, her appearance drawing more than a few looks, the majority of which belonging to males, but she had something that she might get to blow up, so she was sufficiently distracted. Oh, how she did love getting jobs from the government. They always came with free tickets to exotic locales and a license to blow them up if need be. She didn't consider herself a pyromaniac, but she enjoyed the lovely orange-red of a fire flower as much as the next lady.
Soon, she had reached the terminal and flashed an I.D. at the soldier boys there, alongside a perfect smile, the former of which read, "Aeven Mor'lenna," and the latter of which, "If you're bored ..." They cleared her, of course. Few men ever told her no. The soldiers were always harder to crack, but her clearance level was actually authentic for a change, and soon, she was taking a seat on the so-far otherwise empty plane.
The worst part about it was that all they could hear was the sound of their own feet hammering against the stone, the air hammering against their lungs and their hearts hammering against their chests. It was only the two of them left, the carriage master had died in the crash. Now, they thought that perhaps their only hope was to seek refuge within the castle walls.
She froze on the battlements when she heard the sound. A sound like ooze sloshing accompanied by the sound of bat wings. The same sound that had precursored the scream of the carriage master before they went off the embankment. For a moment, the image returned to her mind.
She and the warrior with her had been returning from a very profitable adventure in Southern Spain and were on their way back to France. They had taken a carriage because they could afford it and it was just an enjoyable way to travel and pass the time when they had spent so long on their feet. They had been reciting the more enjoyable portions of their journey and laughing at things that had occurred while reliving glory moments.
Then that sound filled the air. Their laughing and talking stopped, and an instant later, the carriage master's scream of terror split the air like a knife. An incantation was immediately on her lips as the warrior reached for his sword, but before either could act, the carriage swerved and veered off the road, sending them tumbling down the side.
They climbed out from the wreckage that had largely protected them and immediately went to check on the carriage master, only to find him half bloodied and crushed by the weight of the carriage, and half blackened and seared, as if he had been thrown in flames. As they stood there, though, some of the blackness raised up off of the corpse, a throbbing mass of evil that manifested a head, seemingly solely for the purpose of grinning at them.
Since then, all they had been able to do was run from it. The warrior could cut through it, but it would only reform, and her magic seemed to have no effect whatsoever. It had seemed particularly interested in the warrior, blatantly ignoring her several times in order to pursue him. Now, she whirled toward the source, a fireball flying from her hand in time to intercept it as it came up above the edge. She moved back to keep herself between it and the warrior, but while the fireball had knocked it back, it soon came immediately back up, and its blackness slammed into the battlements, causing them to quake beneath her feet. She took several stumbling steps as as an idea occurred to her, a plan.
As soon as she caught her balance, she ran to the edge and threw herself at the entity, but it wasn't her intention to attack it. The incantation was already flowing from her lips, and the moment it was near enough, she threw her arms wide, a sphere surrounding them both. It swung around and hit her, probably intending to knock her away, but as it sent her flying, the back of the sphere hit it and took it with her, causing the sphere to go shooting toward the ground and slamming into it, sending up dirt and debris as first she slammed into the sphere's wall, then it slammed into her.
"Release me," it hissed at her after pounding against the sphere with futility for several moments. "Or I shall simply kill you. I have no interest in the frail body of a woman."
But she just chuckled. To be trapped within her sphere, then to call her frail ... "I shall not, and killing me shall accomplish nothing. This sphere will only drop when I will it. If you kill me, then you will remain within it for all eternity, alongside my frail, rotting corpse."
The entity seethed at her furiously for several moments before it seemed to come to a conclusion it didn't like. "Very well, woman. Have it your way."
Her eyes widened a moment before the darkness obscured everything, seeming to fill the orb entirely with roiling blackness for several long moments before the sphere flickered out of existence, allowing it all to collapse to the ground in a splash.
The woman sat up from the mess and pushed herself into a standing position, completely clean despite the mess around her, though her robes were now solid black. A smirk came to her lips as she raised her hand before her face and wiggled her fingers experimentally, and it was her voice that spoke. "If only you can release me, Woman, then you shall be the one I take as my own ..."
-----------------------------------------------
There are times when Good doesn't always triumph, and when Evil isn't always what we expect.
Over 1200 years ago, an entity of darkness crossed into our realm from its own. And it still lives here today, in an odd little town called Capri Falls, on the border between France and Spain.
For most intents and purposes, it's a normal town. It has all the modern conveniences, a public school, a post office, a pub, even a community recreational center. But it's empty.
This always strikes people as odd. When the natives think back, they can always think of knowing someone from Capri Falls, going to school with someone from Capri Falls, even, on occasion, going out with a pretty little lass from Capri Falls. And yet, at the same time, as far as anyone can recall, the population sign has always read the same. Zero.
The locals in the area surrounding the town have never thought much of it. They simply go on recalling their memories, not necessarily with a lack of recency. Sometimes, you can ask someone, and they'll tell you they just saw someone from Capri Falls last week that had come up into one of the bigger cities for something. That such is impossible never occurs to them. It's simply a part of everyday life.
But a month ago, a team of paranormal investigators caught wind of the town and decided to go pay it a visit. While their initial responses were amazement at how perfect the town was kept for not having anyone living there, but otherwise uneventful, their reports ceased completely after only 24 hours. The same happened again when a search team was sent in after them a couple days later. Again and again, teams were sent into this empty town, knowing exactly where the other teams should have been, but only finding nothing before they, too, would disappear without a trace.
Growing alarmed, officials have funded a special "search and rescue" team, deciding to fight fire with fire and send in some of the most "special" individuals in the field they can find. It will be the mission of these people to find out what happened to the missing crews, recover them if possible, and get out with their own lives intact.
-----------------------------------------------
St. Charles Airport, Continental United States - 2008 A.D.
The dark-skinned woman traveled surprisingly light, with nothing but a small bag with personal hygiene belongings - a toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, mouthwash, soap, spare ammunition, a small first aid kit and a change of clothes. She flicked a lock of pure-white hair out of her face as she removed her sunglasses to peer up at the terminal announcements. A moment later, after scanning the list, she looked back down at her ticket. Her terminal wasn't listed. That could only mean it was a private flight, only her and whoever she was supposed to be working with would be boarding it. That also meant that it likely had special flight privileges, and she wouldn't have to wait for it to come in.
She slipped the sunglasses back on and turned to stroll on down the hall, her appearance drawing more than a few looks, the majority of which belonging to males, but she had something that she might get to blow up, so she was sufficiently distracted. Oh, how she did love getting jobs from the government. They always came with free tickets to exotic locales and a license to blow them up if need be. She didn't consider herself a pyromaniac, but she enjoyed the lovely orange-red of a fire flower as much as the next lady.
Soon, she had reached the terminal and flashed an I.D. at the soldier boys there, alongside a perfect smile, the former of which read, "Aeven Mor'lenna," and the latter of which, "If you're bored ..." They cleared her, of course. Few men ever told her no. The soldiers were always harder to crack, but her clearance level was actually authentic for a change, and soon, she was taking a seat on the so-far otherwise empty plane.