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Post by Mise™ on Dec 6, 2013 12:21:47 GMT -5
”M? What a strange name.” 'Lian' in the chains spoke, apparently unaware that it was the name the leader of the Virtues went by. ”They ain't mistaken. I'm Lian of the seven virtues. However I'd rather not get executed so I'll do as ya say, if ya can get me outta here.” He was ready for a jailbreak, though he really couldn't do much, but to wait for M to help him. ---
Father Ylin stayed quiet for a while as Arx spoke, just calmly listening to what he had to say. Eventually however, he began speaking and when he did his tone and manner of speech were way different from before. ”I knoweth who thou art, Arx, Virtue of Diligence. And thou knoweth who I am. The Lian who hath been captured is but a foolish imposter. A man who desireth to be known so he took upon my name. He ist but a common thief, nothing more.” The man speaking clearly wasn't Ylin anymore, it never had been. ”If thou desireth to return to this town so be it, but I hath no reason to go there, since now I hath succeeded in the mission o' mine. I shall be gone. M ist strong, dost she really require assistance with such endeavor?”
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Post by Hitotsumami on Dec 6, 2013 13:28:56 GMT -5
Arx listened in disbelief as Ylin spoke. When he finished, Arx said, "So it is you, Lian. I knew I felt something. I am glad you are safe."
He then realized something. "But if you are Lian, and you are here, safe... Then that means M is going after the wrong person in a place crawling with Holy Knights. I trust in her power, but I do not know what tricks the Holy Knights may try to play. I must go to her."
He turned to run back to town, but paused. He looked back at Lian. "If you wish to come with us, for M surely wishes to speak with you, I will meet you at the end of the day, at the edge of town. If not..." He sighed. "I understand."
He then dashed off, running back towards town. With time, he'd be approaching the place the imposter Lian was being held.
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Post by CJ on Dec 7, 2013 21:06:18 GMT -5
"You're Lian?" she asked the prisoner with wide eyes. "Well, just yesterday there was a man who looked exactly like Lian and said he wasn't him, and now you're here looking only partially like Lian and saying you are him. Maybe everyone's telling the truth... or maybe everyone's lying. It doesn't matter now. You have to get out of here."
M stepped some paces away and paused. Just before she put on the mask, she looked to "Lian" with dull eyes.
"Don't be scared."
M hunched over and let out a near deafening scream. It echoed as though she was in a huge chamber, not a tiny cell. Spikes of hair shot of her skin as it began to bludge and convert. The hulking mass grew and grew, pressing against the ceiling and nearly crushing the prisoner.
Whatever it was, the closest thing the prisoner could compare it to was a dog or a wolf. It had huge circular, white eyes that were void of expression.
Moving its head in the small space, it tore apart the prisoner's chains and rammed its body into the wall. It easily smashed in a large hole, so the prisoner could escape.
It motioned its head toward the hole, wanting the prisoner to leave before it. Even in this form, M was more concerned for the prisoner than for herself.
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Post by Mise™ on Dec 8, 2013 12:25:01 GMT -5
"Thou worrieth for nae good reason, Arx. The holy knights art not that cunning. But do as thou willeth. I shall wait for thou outside this hole in the ground." With that Lian disappeared in to the mist. Waiting was not a problem for him, he was the Virtue of Patience after all, but as he had said he would not be returning to this town. He had already accomplished his goal, there was no point for him to be there anymore. Arx would have to run for quite a while to get to where M was and he probably wouldn't make it there in time to do anything, but then again being diligent was his thing. --- As M spoke of the man who looked like Lian the imposter Lian was just clueless, but in truth all he cared about was getting out of here and so when M did her thing and put on the mask 'Lian' was scared. He had not expected this, but then again anything would better than rotting here and then getting executed. When he was freed the imposter ran through the hole on the whole and then disappeared in to the mist. A faint "Thanks." could be heard. It seems like he had managed to escape for now. The fake Lian was just a common thug that wanted to be something so he started calling himself 'Lian', like the famous criminal and tried to match the appearance Lian had been given in his, very inaccurate, wanted poster. All that ended up quite horribly as he drew too much attention and got caught. But he was freed now, but would he just repeat the same mistakes again? The loud noises M had made had alerted the Holy Knights around here and they were now running towards the cell to see what was up and would be there in a matter of seconds. The hole was invisible for the guards outside for now as the mist covered it until they got close enough, but even that was just a matter of time. M's best option was probably to do just like the imposter Lian had done and just run out of here.
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Post by CJ on Dec 8, 2013 23:26:44 GMT -5
The beast looked on to make sure that the fake Lian had gotten away. It waited a few moments and then went itself.
In the light, the dog looked translucent. Every flicker of light made its fur change different colors, like it was trying to blend into the walls and ground around it. It sniffed and glanced around frantically.
Taking off, the beast barreled down the street, trying to find an alley or abandoned building to hide. If M could morph out of the form without anyone seeing her, she might have a chance to escape without a fight.
As much as she wanted to take her rage out on the Holy Knights, she knew that there was always danger of hurting innocents, so she decided she'd rather not get involved.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Dec 9, 2013 11:20:12 GMT -5
Arx had been running for what felt like forever until he eventually reached town again. However, things were not looking good. A few townspeople pointed Arx in the direction of a big commotion, and Arx found that the prison in which the imposter Lian had been in had a huge hole through the side of it. It could only mean that M had used the mask.
Arx ran down the street and soon enough caught a glimpse of M in her terrifying beast form. Arx had seen it before and although it was a magnificent sight, it was horrifying as well. He heard people calling for Holy Knights behind him and he knew if they started getting chased by a group of Holy Knights it would end up being a long day without rest. He had to do something so that M could get away. He had to cause some kind of distraction.
"The rock from heaven," said Arx. He looked at M, who was still running, and then dashed towards the town center where the giant meteor was. While running, he pulled the turtle shell off of his back and held it in front of himself like a shield.
"BLOCK."
Using his virtue ability, his barrage could go through anything, no matter how powerful it was. It could not be stopped now, no matter how much the Holy Knights might try. And he was aiming straight for the meteor.
He intended to fly past the guards at the gate, over the bridge, and then collide head on with the meteor. If everything went as planned, the meteor would crack down the center and then explode into thousands of shards, flying high into the air and out of the town in a magnificent eruption.
And in the dust and chaos of the towns most prized holy object being destroyed, Arx would escape to the edge of town and would hope that M could as well.
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Post by Mise™ on Dec 10, 2013 12:20:17 GMT -5
M's escape was going quite well. The Holy Knights clearly weren't expecting someone to just blast open the cell and free 'Lian'. The fact that the town was covered in this heavy fog certainly didn't help at all as both fake Lian and the beast that had attacked their headquarters were completely invisible for anyone further than a couple of meters away from them. It took the knights a moment for anyone to figure out what was it that was actually behind the attack. Only when one lucky (or maybe unlucky) grunt got close enough to see what it was for a brief moment and then let the others know.
"Um... It's some kind of huge beast..." The grunt struggled to really describe what it was that he had seen, all he really could say was: "If you see it. You know it!"
Now the Holy Knights knew what they were after, a large monster of some sort and to capture it they spread out across the city to seek their target. But what when they would find it? If they ever did? M really shouldn't run in to much more troubles in escaping if she only acted smartly.
---
There are bad ideas, everyone sometimes has one and they usually end up harming someone in one way or another, even if just their pride, but whoever were involved would soon recover and usually eventually forget that it had happened. Then there are really bad ideas where the damage caused may be permanent or at least take a long time to recover from and those involved would never forget what had happened. And then there is whatever you would call Arx's idea. It was quite possibly the worst idea anyone has had since the dawn of time. An idea so bad and stupid that words could not describe it.
M was doing just fine on her own when it came to escaping from the Holy Knights, but Arx still wanted to do something to help. He could have just went to fight the knights if he had wanted to. The Holy Knights were here to capture Lian, one of the Heavenly Virtues so if M and Arx, two Virtues, were to fight together they should have no problem taking on them. Actually looking at the troops the Holy Knights had brought with them it would be questionable if they could have been even able to take on one of the Virtues, they only managed to capture an imposter after all.
Instead of dealing with the second rate Holy Knights chasing after his comrade Arx instead decided to destroy the towns most sacred treasure the holy rock. Not only would this anger the monks guard the rock, who didn't just look tough, but actually were, it would also cause much more damage than Arx probably expected to. Also it would actually accomplish nothing as the Holy Knights weren't in charge of looking after the holy rock in the first place and did not care about it. Their mission was to capture Lian.
All in all Arx was successful in destroying the rock and so millions of it's shards flew high in to the sky. As he had planned they didn't fall on to the town and the citizens of Stardust were safe from having rocks drop on their heads. People of the nearby towns weren't as lucky though as the shards flew around and would fall down to earth at random. And the pieces of the heavenly rock would kill and destroy more than anyone could imagine, with each falling rock causing some damage to someone or something. Due to the randomness of the meteor shower some people would get lucky by not getting hit by one and stay alive from the cataclysm, only to find their friends and family been crushed under a rock.
With his actions Arx had killed hundreds if not thousands and that was not all. While the villagers of Stardust weren't going to die from this, the holy rock they valued so much had been destroyed and with it they all lost a part of their soul. Some might recover, but many would just spend rest of their lives feeling broken inside. Without it's heart the town itself would also die soon and in a year or two no one would be living here anymore; Stardust would become a ghost town.
Arx might not have deserved to be one of the most wanted men in the kingdom, but it all had changed now that he had done an unimaginably horrible crime and killed more than he could count. Death penalty might not have been enough for what he had done.
Or so would have happened if it weren't for one man that saved the day from the Arxocalypse. After Arx had destroyed the rock and the shards flew around the first ones would fall just outside of the crater and one of them were on a crash course with a man that wasn't going to take it. With his lightning fast reflexes he grabbed the piece of the meteorite out of the air and crushed it. And then all of a sudden back within the walls protecting the fallen star the heavenly rock itself returned to the way it used to be and despite clearly destroying it Arx had failed to leave a single scratch on it. The guarding monks were just baffled of what had happened and none of them knew what to say. They had rushed through the mist to take a look at their most prized possession after Arx had made a horrible noise of the rock cracking, but it was just fine.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Dec 10, 2013 13:10:17 GMT -5
Arx waited outside of town. He glanced back at the town to see that the meteor was back in place. That was a relief. It took a lot of energy to keep everyone in the vicinity safe, but he could not trust the Holy Knights. He once oversaw them. He knew what they were doing, what they could be capable of. The demon blood could have been used in that town.
And that's why it was necessary. If Arx and M could escape while a greater catastrophe occurred, if there was a Holy Knight inflicted with the demon blood, he would not... change. Arx had seen too many people changed.
He had seen his daughter change.
Arx looked away from the town. He attached his shell back onto his back and looked at M. No, he didn't see her that way. She wasn't his. She was just a comrade. Another person caught up in this big mess.
And that's why they needed Lian.
And so, at the edge of the town, he waited.
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Post by CJ on Dec 10, 2013 14:00:08 GMT -5
M managed to slip out of her beast form in a foggy alleyway. In the chaos of Arx appearing and distracting everyone, she somehow managed to remove the mask and transform back. She clutched her breath and breathed harshly, feeling worn out and cold. It always felt awful turning into the creature, like stepping outside in frigid, rainy weather.
Then she realized, she didn't know where the prisoner went. Of all the things should could have done, why would she care about herself and her own discomfort? She should have forgotten what the Holy Knights would do to her and watch after the prisoner. No, that would mean putting the citizens in danger. Even if the prisoner had a connection to Lian, she couldn't put a whole town in danger by picking a fight.
What would her princess think of her now? Hiding miserably in an alleyway while her friend pulled all of the work. She brushed herself off and began to walk on the street.
There he was, unmistakeably Arx. She half-heartedly jogged to him and noticed that something didn't seem right. She had been too focused on herself (oddly enough) to notice the near catastrophe.
"Arx," she muttered with her head held low. "There was a man inside the prison who called himself Lian but he probably wasn't him. None of these people are. Maybe this journey was pointless. It's an odd feeling, but perhaps Lian doesn't want to be found at all."
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Post by Hitotsumami on Dec 10, 2013 14:07:58 GMT -5
Arx smiled at M. He still had her. He wasn't totally alone.
"Do not fear, M, for I have met Lian personally."
Arx then explained how he had chased down Ylin and discovered that Ylin was actually Lian. He told how Lian had agreed to meet them outside the town.
"But he did not specify if he would come with us or not," commented Arx, looking down at the ground. "We can only wait for him to show at this point. If he does not, then perhaps we will have to continue our journey without him. There are many other Virtues who we must find."
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Post by CJ on Dec 10, 2013 14:22:02 GMT -5
"Ylin really was Lian after all," M confirmed. She looked devastated and torn. How could Lian lie directly to her? Perhaps whatever he was doing was so important, he couldn't blow his cover. But then why wouldn't he want to join them? Was this task still ongoing? Did he just not care?
Tugging onto her backpack strings, she looked up at the fog covering the sky.
"No. If Lian doesn't want to come, the journey is pointless. Separate, the Virtues are powerful, but it's only together that we can bring this world to peace."
It was a rather bleak statement but M firmly believed it. Nothing could convince her otherwise, but she wasn't about to force Lian to come with them if he didn't want to. To her, they all had to be working together willingly.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Dec 10, 2013 15:14:55 GMT -5
Arx nodded at M. What she spoke was the truth. They had to come together as one to combat the Holy Knights and save the Kingdom. Arx could only imagine a world corrupted and filled with terrible demons if they did not all come together. A world filled with suffering where people were hunted down daily. A world even the Holy Knights could not predict.
Arx sat down, now that quite some time had passed. He crossed his arms and watched the town.
"Where are you, Lian?"
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Post by Mise™ on Dec 10, 2013 15:35:40 GMT -5
Like he had said Lian had been waiting for Arx outside the crater, patiently, as always. In truth it did not take Arx that long to return, but during that time Lian had already prevented one disaster, caused by his former comrades. Outside the crater the mist was barely noticeable and wouldn't hinder anyone's sight a whole lot. Only down there it got so thick. "Well met." Lian greeted his two fellow Virtues as he approached them. Since they last saw him Lian had changed his clothes, no longer was he wearing priest's garbs, but instead was dressed very fancily in a green robe and bunch of jewelry, such as wearing a ring on each of his fingers, but one. He had also got rid of the back bag he previously had with him. That was more like his style. Even back when he was serving as a Holy Knight over ten years ago he was famous for wearing a golden suit of armor, despite the fact that it offered very little protection. "Well then. For what purpose hath thou come to see me?"
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Post by CJ on Dec 10, 2013 17:09:02 GMT -5
M's eyes lit up as Lian walked to them from the fog.
"Lian!" she cheered, running up to him. She skidded against the ground, trying not to run into him. She clasped her hands and then unclasped them and then clasped them again. Her excitement was driving her crazy.
But then she remembered why they were there in the first place. Her demeanor fell back to empty sadness.
"Why didn't you say you were Lian before?" she asked. "There was no need to hide your identity when you were out of the Church. Lian, the Virtues are getting back together again. Since you're leaving the town anyway, won't you come back?"
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Post by Mise™ on Dec 11, 2013 14:53:06 GMT -5
"I spoke no lies, as for until today my name hath been Ylin and I hath been a young priest. I hath to do it so that I may succeed in the ordeal o' mine and then I could reap my reward." Lian reached for something within his robes and then showed it to M and Arx. It was a small piece of the heavenly rock. "Only men o' God may passeth through the gates to gaze upon the rock, and I art nae such a man. So I trained myself so that I couldth get closer to God so that they wouldth let me pass. When the mist engulfeth the town o' Stardust this morrow I cut a tiny piece of the fallen rock... Rubies and diamonds, everyone posesseth those, but this is only for me. I shall use this rock as a jewel for a ring. That's why I desireth it so."
A moment of silence followed as Lian hid the valuable moon rock inside his robes again and then he spoke again: "But for what purpose dost thou seek to unite us once again? Thou must have a reason."
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