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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 17, 2009 20:49:46 GMT -5
Darkray had just finished regenerating his body from the blast he received earlier. He began to roam the forest for an old hiding spot that he used quite frequently when he was awake and terrorizeing the spirit channeller clan. He eventually found the cave's entrance and stopped to look into the distance.
"Curse that Shiryu and his woman. Where the hell did she get such a shot from? Oh well if I was able to fight at my full power I would have stopped that shot with ease. Either way their soulds will belong to me one day", he muttered to himself. "Anyways it's been a while since I've been to this old hideout. Still hides the presence of it's occupants decently after these thousand years. Time to go inside and see if anything is left from that time."
Darkray shuffled his way into the ancient cavern. As he went deeper he began to feel a presence which grew ever more apparent the deeper he went. He eventually came upon a large room inside where the presence flooded the area.
"Let's see what we have inside here now. Feels good to me but that only means I should watch my back more tightly."
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Post by Talon on Feb 17, 2009 21:38:35 GMT -5
"Talkin'... to... yourself...?" A voice wheezed from the dark confines of the room.
A feature new to Darkray made itself known in the room: A 10-15 foot diameter pool filled with a slightly-glowing, lime-green fluid was situated in the center of the room, its depth unknown. Around the pool's entire rim were dark-red stains, some of which all trailed off in a single direction. Was one to follow the trail, they would find a large humanoid form, laying slumped against the wall. While exact details could not be determined in the dim light, it was apparent it was broad-shouldered, had a slightly-jagged outline, and bore a pair of limp draconic wings upon its back.
It turned a pair of violet, slightly-glowing eyes upon Darkray as the form shuddered greatly once more, dark stains apparent around the form and on the wall. It wheezed, then asked,
"Who... are you...?" The entity wheezed.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 17, 2009 22:06:04 GMT -5
Darkray glared at the figure that had taken refuge in his ancient hideaway.
"The name's Darkray, I used to use this place for a hideout. Would seem that it has taken on a new owner since my awakening. So now I redirect your question back to you, who are YOU?", he shot back to new owner of his ancient dwelling.
He stood curious about the pool that had been formed in the middle of the room. It seemed to exude a sense of power to him but of what type he could not tell.
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Post by Talon on Feb 17, 2009 22:48:43 GMT -5
The figure gave a wet cough, something splashing onto the floor as he did so. Its eyes blinked weakly, then the figure replied,
"Heh... name's Daedalus..."
He glanced at the pool nearby, then muttered,
"Ah, don't mind that... I'm almost done with it... just need to do... one... more... summon..."
The dragonkin then staggered to his feet, rising to his full 9'4 height. His claws flexed weakly, and the flesh on his hands seemed to pulaste as he did so... the brother of Shive then staggered onto the edge of the pool, grumbling something as he produced several small, ruby-like gems, each glowing brightly with an unknown light. He muttered a series of unintelligible incantations, then tossed the last three gems into the pool, muttering,
"Bring... me... Ashardalon..."
The pool pulsed from a lime-green to the same shade of red as the gems, and vague images swirled within the pool's confines. A ripple shot through the pool as it darkened to a shimmering, swirling gray streaked with black. Outside, the weather worsened horrendously, turning from the usual light-gray overcast to a pitch-black shadow, unusual for winter. The carven rumbled with a unknown power, something that was beyond even Darkray's comprehension. Out of the middle of the pool, something slowly began to rise as the liquid's coloration returned to a lime-green, then dulled to a murky clear-gray.
Daedalus smirked in the lack of light, then extended his hand and grabbed the handle, drawing forth what appeared to be a large broadsword. Due to the fact both could see in the darkness, Darkray could tell the sword was... odd, in quite a few respects. It seemed to have been crafted almost entirely from bone and scaled flesh, with a single reptillian eye positioned in the center-side of the jagged, bow-like guard.
The dragonkin panted, leaning on the blade as he muttered,
"Well... that was... taxing..."
He turned his burning eyes toward Darkray, and wheezed,
"So... what's your story?"
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 17, 2009 23:25:04 GMT -5
Darkray took notice of what happened inside and outside the cavern as Daedalus performed this deep magic. Darkray was intrigued by the newly formed blade noticing how it was made of bone and pondered curiously as he looked at it.
"Well I recently woke up from a thousand year slumber that was supposed to be my imprisonment. Before they sealed me I had taken control of the strongest member of an ancient clan and had him kill it off. Yet just before I could make him finish the job they sealed myself and him away for a thousand years and effectively severed my control of him." Darkray continued, "Recently I confronted him again and it would seem that I missed one part of the clan because he now has a girlfriend that hangs around him all the time. I was assigned to eliminate his clan entirely and I failed because of the clan's elders. So what exactly have you been using this pool for?"
Darkray mused what kind of magic he had just witnessed as it had never been used in his time and was quite fascinated by it's potential. He could only imagin how he could further his own strength with this ancient art.
"Seems like this has been the cause of your current state so just curious as to what it can do and what your motives are by risking this much."
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Post by Talon on Feb 17, 2009 23:44:49 GMT -5
Daedalus narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, then shrgged after several seconds.
"Eh, thing's used up; can't hurt to tell ya."
He sighed, blood dribbling down his chin as he muttered,
"That pool was a planar conduit. On its own, it would've been pretty worthless. However, using those little red crystals you saw, I could pull things out from any location I desired..."
He raised a burly arm and tightly clenched his hand, sending globs of.... 'something' flying off to the sides. His hand seemed to be melting as he rumbled,
"The first of which being a horde of demons. Of which I'm now wearing. But that's not the point."
He glanced to the side, then back at the pool and muttered,
"These items... that sword, and this... 'armor'... would never had been attainble with regular arcane or divine magic... no..."
He closed his eyes, threw back his head, and laughed,
"No... that was Deep Magic. I used Deep Magic to get these things, and have even gone so far as to infuse a bit of myself with it... dangerous as that may be."
His eyes opened, narrowed, and he growled,
"Why am I doing something so seemingly insane and pointless? You probably wouldn't understand... revenge, as I can tell, you would, so I'll leave it at that."
He gritted his teeth and grunted, then staggered against the wall.
"U-unfortuneatly... it's taking a bit longer than I.... e-expected for my body and... thi-this armor to accept one another..."
He abruplt choked, then let a torrent of blood escape his maw.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 18, 2009 19:13:07 GMT -5
"Revenge eh? That's a good motive. It must be a huge task, and plenty of people are bound to fall along that path may be worth my time to watch what you do and see if I can get a good sized bounty of souls from it", he mused. "Your body is in such terrible condition you're lucky to even be alive after such magic. Yomi No Kuni cost me about that much to bond with myself."
He stood watching the dark figure as he caughed up the blood.
'I might work with him and get a good boost in my soul count giving me a nice strength boost. Yes I could use this as a slightly symbiotic relationship. I'll wait a moment and see what he says before asking him about this mutual agreement.
Darkray stood watching as the creature before him called Daedalus heaved and wretched with each breath he took wondering if he could survive long enough to see his plan through.
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Post by Talon on Feb 18, 2009 21:39:58 GMT -5
As if Daedalus had heard Darkray's thoughts, the dragonkin rumbled,
"Oh, trust me, I'll survive this... as for your 'proposal'... not sure if it'd appeal to you... I'm not going after mortal souls."
The dragonkin shuddered, shaking his head. He righted himself onto his feet, muttering,
"A day, at most.... then the fusion should be complete... until then, I won't be in 'prime' condition..."
He grunted, then glanced back at Darkray, then at the sword he'd drawn from the pool. It seemed to hiss for a moment, the eye on its hilt now half-open, as if sleepy. Daedalus grumbled, the armor 'rippling'.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 19, 2009 23:15:22 GMT -5
Darkray stood watching the being wretch more and more. He finally got sick of the routine and decided to try and break it.
"Look even if you aren't going to be slaying any mortals I can still make a gain from a team up. After all who said it had to be a direct soul gain and not a power boost that lets me collect more than I can now", he claimed to Daedalus. "Shall I help you with this conquest and then we can be on our merry way as it may?"
He held out his hand making sure to shield it with souls of the dead as he awaited what could come from a handshake with this beast. He could not help but think that great things could happen or he could wind up all but dead from this partnership.
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Post by Talon on Feb 19, 2009 23:47:19 GMT -5
Panting, Daedalus glanced at the hand, then shrugged, enveloping Darkray's appendage with his own massive claw. The demonic dragonkin grinned as his eyes flashed, pupils dialating.
"I suppose it could work... I haven't had a subordinate in quite some time..."
He glanced down at the 'armor', then laughed.
"Of course, that'll change soon..."
Something strange was happening to the souls Darkray had used to sheathe his hand.... they were dissapearing into the armor. The longer the hand was connected with Darkray's, and the more souls were absorbed, the 'dryer' the armor looked.
"Heh, sorry about that..." Daedalus rumbled, withdrawing his hand.
He glanced at the cave entrance, then at his armored hand, and muttered,
"So.... who's this... 'Shiryu' fella...?"
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 21, 2009 0:12:36 GMT -5
"Hmm so you want to know about Shiryu eh? Guess I could tell a bit." Darkray began to grudgingly relay what he knew of the reaper he had been a foe of for so long, "Well he may not seem like much on first appearances but he has an Armored state that is a truer representation of his strength and when pushed to the edge of rage he trnsforms almost completely into the Black Dragon Spirit he has been aligned with since birth. When he reaches this stage he is at his most powerful and can be quite deadly to anyone and everyone around him due to a small demon's aura I put within him. I used that Aura to control him long ago but he has grown resistant to it's control though I can still use it to supress his higher forms."
He looked at the hand that Daedalus had used to grasp his own and noticed it had taken a more solidified state from sucking down a few of the souls he had protected himself with.
"Heh seems you might actually have a use for the souls of the mortals after all. Don't worry about that I have plenty more from where those came from. So what's first on the list of things to do huh?", Darkray asked the dark being.
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Post by Talon on Feb 21, 2009 12:34:04 GMT -5
Daedalus was staring at the entrance of the cave as Darkray asked his question, and the demon-infused dragonkin slowly scowled.
"First to do...? Finish recovering, which, thanks to your 'protection', should be finished faster now."
His fist clenched, issuing an audible 'pop', and he smirked.
"After that... I test how strong I've become. After that.... I pick up a few 'trinkets' I'm in need of."
His pupils dialated, and he grumbled,
"Something tells me I'll be able to do both at the same time..."
He popped his neck, the armor now appearing more than 50% solid.
"So... you wouldn't mind if I were to... 'test' this Shiryu myself, would you?" He asked, drumming an armored claw on Ashardalon's handle.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 21, 2009 12:55:42 GMT -5
"You can test him alright just as long as he's left for me to kill. Have fun toying with him though he can rpovide a good challenge under the correct conditions", Darkray confirmed with Daedalus. "Though tell me this what might these trinkets you're looking for be?"
He looked at Daedalus's armor seeing that it had begun to solidify at faster pace now after their handshake. Darkray wondered how many artifacts were left that actually consumed the souls of the dead. After his time in the world Darkray had watched as the ancient council destroyed the weaker artifacts and sealed away those that could not be destroyed entirely. It had many decades since he saw any artifact of this type let alone of this caliber.
"Though you'll have to wait for your test Daedalus he would barely even be able to stand at this time after the way I dismantled him earlier. So you have plenty of time to test your strength and collect your trinkets before he's ready for another fight", Darkray said.
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Post by Talon on Feb 21, 2009 13:46:35 GMT -5
Daedalus shrugged and nodded, confirming Darkray's conditions.
"Alright... but I can't guarantee how much is left of him..."
A pair of thin tendrils composed of a multitutde of bony segments stretched forth from his back and swayed through the air for several moments before flopping back onto the ground. Daedalus's eyes looked distant as he muttered,
"As for these... 'trinkets'... they're six.... EXTREMELY potent items... known as the Demon Crests..."
His smirk deepened, eyes flashing malevolently.
"Six crests crafted in Nessus by unknown hands... capable of granting any demon complete mastery over an element or cosmic force, depending on the Crest, of course. Call me greedy, but I have eyes for all six of them... and in turn, the Crest of Infinity..."
His smirk turned into a hateful glare as he finished,
"With that power... I'll be able to get back at the ones who tormented me for an eternity..."
Ashardalon's eye opened as wide as it would go, and it too uttered a hateful hiss as Daedalus added,
"Such as the Baron of the Abyss...."
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Post by shdwdrgn on Feb 21, 2009 21:32:24 GMT -5
Darkray pondered about this Baron of the Abyss unsure of whether he knew him or not. He decided to let it pass since he would find out soon enough.
"Well Daedalus shall we begin our dark dealings within this world. I'm sure you'd love to get to work as soon as possible. This promises to work quite well for the both of us", Darkray grinned as he said this.
He stood back waiting for Daedalus to respond and move out. He leaned against the cavern wall awaiting the first task this partnership would bring to him.
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