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mastin2 -> Gem of Hope (7/10/2008 4:08:11)
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Note that this story was started quite some time ago. It started when I wished to see through the eyes of a villain, and decided to set it in a world similar to that of Lore...
Comment Thread Here...please leave opinions on my errors, as this story is older than most of mine, and contains many flaws!
Gem of Hope
By Mastin
Based Slightly on Adventure Quest
Most people think that all evil is bad. They can never be heroes. But this is slander! An unfortunate misunderstanding, created by ‘heroes’ hate towards them! Now how would I know? As the old saying goes, it takes one to know one! I am pure evil, yet I have been sent on the ultimate quest of hope. “Why?” you might ask. The reason is because there is two types of evil…One is my type. The type that wants to rule over the world/galaxy/universe, killing those who disobey them, seeking ultimate power stronger than anyone else can muster, betraying their closest ‘friends’, and generally just wanting to have fun! It’s the ultimate style of living, so who wouldn’t at least be tempted? That is basically all there is to type one…but type two is far worse. Type two wants only to destroy everything! Devouring everything as it goes along, killing all who they feel like. There is one person who is the ultimate type two. Galim the Orc. The destroyer of hope. He has come to completely obliterate our world. “Why don’t you help him then? You’re both evil!” could be the thoughts of everyone out there. For starters, he kills everyone! That includes ME! And even, for any reason, he didn’t kill me, he is type two, and would leave no one to rule over! What good is a tyrant of a land with no life! And on top of those two, there’s the final reason. Evil people never work together to destroy heroes! It’s just not our style! Every attempt to do so always failed miserably, so why bother trying? It is for those reasons that I find myself…here, in this lousy refuge about to set out across the land of Mythe.
I came here after hearing of his return. “It can’t be! He was defeated 300 years ago by a great hero!” I had thought. I knew I must check it out, so I decided to disguise myself as a hero, and enter a gathering in the refuge of Warton. Every type of hero had been gathered into this place, and when I had arrived, almost everyone was taking a seat. The meeting had begun. “My fellow thrill-seekers, defenders, and generally heroes, we are in a desperate time…Galim…has returned. And this time, he is much stronger, since he found the jewel of discord.” This revelation shocked everyone in the room, but none more than me! The gem of discord is the item that allows a wielder of evil to greatly increase his or her power. Villains (like me) know this better than anyone else. Every villain in existence, past or present, had at least once tried to find it, me being no exception. Many heroes had also tried, and failed, before, but they did not know what they were doing. Galim had succeeded where all before had failed. I had doubted anyone could wield such power, yet he did! “We have only two options remaining…we must destroy the Jewel…” “But that’s impossible!” A voice from the back had cried “Or we must seek the opposite that will allow us to stand a chance…The Gem of Hope. It is a dangerous quest, and we need volunteers from each area. Every class, and every race, shall be chosen for this mission, while we back here fight Galim’s forces, and try to find a way to destroy, or disable, the jewel. When accepting this mission, you will go through this scanner that confirms your heart’s desire for this quest.
And that was it. I went fourth with many others, seeing as there were many races and classes attending, and got accepted as a nice powerful hybrid, wielding powerful magic and devastating strength. The scanner detected that I did truly want to seek the gem to destroy Galim…What it couldn’t detect was the fact that after Galim was dead, I’d use it to rule the world, since it contains the biggest power amplifier known to Mythe. Which brings us to now, about to set off on this quest. I suppose that it would be nice to get to know my companions, but I would rather not. Despite that, it will look more convincing if I at least know what they are, and what class they are, so I guess I have no choice. A few names are exchanged, and I lean some of the primary members of this expedition.
First, there’s Ran. He’s a young caster. The casters are traitors amongst necromancers, and I hate them! Being a necromancer myself, I had to discard all of my undead (though it’s true not all necromancers are evil, generally it isn’t a good idea to reveal this fact!), since I wanted to hide the fact that I am one amplifies this hatred. They use their powers only to bring back those that wish to live on when mortally wounded, and the first one they bring back becomes their eternal friend, someone who can never leave them, else they would die. His friend is one of the most powerful fighters in existence, Thran. The two of them combined are super powerful, using Caster abilities, but even separated, they are a force not to be messed with! Ran has been called “the yellow wizard”, as he is very strong in the arts of magic, and he proudly shows his official wizard badge on the back of his custom caster armor. I hate how it resembles necromancers so much…It is basically a white necromancer robe, with a green tree on it instead of a red spider. That is standard…the thing that makes it custom is the badge on the back, and the fact that Ran added two yellow eyes on, along with other various accessories, to reflect his pure yellow eyes. His ears are always hidden, though he never says why. His buddy, Thran, is quite the opposite similar in every way possible! He wears black fighter armor, has pale skin and black hair, and you’d never know he is undead, if it weren’t for his left hand being skeletal, after running into a powerful necromancer, probably one of my former comrades. They seem to always stare at me a little, which worries me…Heroes are supposed to be trusting, no suspicious! Their personality and power make it so that it’s no wonder why their leaders, Shale and Dask, chose them for the assignment.
Then there’s Xivda. He was chosen from the Blood Masters, or “Red Mages”. They use their own life force, their blood, to create magic that no one can match, no matter how powerful. There are 7 types of Blood Masters, those who use the longsword, those that use the staff, those who use one type of custom weapon, those that bring another custom weapon, and then there are those who wield katanas and shields finally, and finally, there are those that use nothing but a simple prick of their finger to fight. The styles represent the council of 6. Xivda invented the final style, fighting with bare hands, but also comes with a shield from style 6, a staff from style 2, a katana and longsword from style 1 and 6, plus a bow. The katana is on his belt, but the rest is all miraculously on his back, and he can use it all! His shining red armor is forged from dragon’s blood, which means it is unequalled in hardness. His blood-red eyes and bright red hair further his status as one who is getting close to becoming a council member. He hopes to go on this quest to finally earn official recognization, though the fact that he has his own style means that he is already unofficially a member.
Plus, there’s the dragon of the group, Scorpius. He speaks many languages, luckily including plain Mythetounge, which is rare amongst dragons. His black scales reflect his dark power, as he once was on our side, as pure evil (that traitor!). His eyes, however, reflect his true power, and are as blue as the sea, revealing his control over water. His breath leaves me with heavy, damp clothes, and could kill anyone if he actually blew it out with any force! His tail is full of spikes, perhaps the reason he got his name, as they do contain some poison in them, though not enough to be lethal. The last think I notice about him is his spiked horns. They seem to make him look a little less…civilized, which I like better! Had he not once been evil and converted to the side of good, I’m sure I could get along better with him, but what he did I can’t forgive! (Switching from evil to good is the ultimate betrayal!)
These are not the oddest of the group either. A king of a small land decided to come with us, and his odd powers make me question weather he has any skill at all! He reluctantly reveals that he is Cyne, the great king who was too kind for his own good, as his kingdom nearly collapsed after he took charity to spies of Galim. It seems he has many ties with nature, and constantly changes parts of his body temporarily just for fun…I saw his hand as a snake just a few hours ago!
To add even more power (and humor) to the group, there are three more members, who are constantly fighting. The first is Kirair, he is the best ninja out there! He wears the famous black ninja armor, and wields some of the most powerful shurikens and katanas available! One of his two counterparts is Shiv. She is a deadly assassin, who uses a very similar style to Kirair. Her armor doesn’t represent the assassins, as it is just reinforced padded leather, but it is rumored the very sight of her dark blue eyes can kill a person. The last had hidden his name, but wishes us to call him Grim. The reason can only be guessed, as he is a “Grim Reaper”, who wields a black scythe, powerful darkness magic, a shield showing the sun eclipsed by the moon, and to finish, his armor is black robes that also cover his face. No one is quite sure what the “Grim Reaper” class is, except those that are members, but it is said they got that name from killing using pure darkness, and immense power. Since all three classes do basically the same thing(kill, kill, kill!), they are constantly competing, and have to have fights broken up between them.
To complete these main members, there’s the leader of the group. Mitson is the leader of the Creators, those who use their skill to create various objects, mostly weapons, occasionally pets and monsters. Quite useful, but even more annoying! He seems to have skills unmatched in magic, and yet, his body build is full of vengeance, showing scars, and a muscular body, obviously through many hours, day after day, of vicious training. I know, just by sight, he has seen too much pain for one man to bear, yet has continued on anyway! His sword has a little label saying “Orc slayer” his black coat has myst swirling around it, his left leg seems to glow brightly with unearthly light, and his left is grey with a powerful gust always swirling through it. His head seems to have some sort of locked in energy, which he is just bursting to let out, and he wears his hood up to hide his blue eyes. In his left hand, there’s a tan band of wrappings, forming a slight layer of protection. They have a small symbol resembling fire on them. On his right, there’s a black brace, perfectly suited for his fists of fury. To top it all off, he holds a shield on his back that is freezing the air behind him! This man worries me greatly, as he might be able to match my power alone! His slightly pointed ears make me wonder if he’s even remotely human.
That’s pretty much the main members of the group, though there several others. A dragonmaster, a beastmaster, a great scholar, a dragonslayer (which Scorpius, for obvious reasons, was not happy about), a nightslayer, a lycanthrope, a vampire, an elf, an Orc (Who Mitson almost killed on site) a berserker, a paladin, a healer, a priest, a crusader, and even more after that! When the grandmaster said “One from all groups”, he wasn’t kidding! Not a single build type left out! We are set to leave, and shall do so…tomorrow. Even evil geniuses and their pawns need rest! In the mean time, I’ll just have to live with the constant cold, windy rain, plus the feeling some of these people know something about me, causing some great hesitance before I actually got to sleep. I will be happy when this is all over, and I rule the world without fear of Galim!
Chapter One:
“The Departure”
We’re finally departing! Just after breakfast, we’ll set out for the Gem. The gem was deemed the more probable goal, though both seem pretty impossible to me! Ah, well… It is the Gem of Hope, so the least I can do is think it might be able to be done. I’m only doing it because I heard a rumor that only those most desperate can obtain it, if they maintain hope. But until that day, let’s eat! They sure must have been holding back, since we all got meals fit for a great powerful tyrant! I ate two steaks, but apparently, my appetite is small in comparison to others. Scorpius made a comment about no amount of steak could satisfy his hunger, so he went hunting, and should return soon. Our chef, the paladin named Avtir, was quite shocked when he saw how many steaks were gone. He had prepared more than enough for 30 people, yet they were all off the plate, or gone. He comments with “Okay, who pigged out?” “Not me, Avtir! I just had 5!” Ran happily replies, quickly finishing with “And I’m not even half full! I could have 11!” Xivda adds “When you have to keep up the amount of blood in my body, 6 steaks were just not enough.” Mitson laughs, and says “Big bodies require at least 5, yet leave you wanting more!” Avtir is awestruck with this, as he shouts “5 plus steaks each, and you’re still hungry?!?” he collapses after this, seeing as it would not be possible for normal humans. We conversed a little, waiting for that wimp that should be ashamed to be called paladin to wake up, and it occurred to Mitson that no one even knew my name, and he quickly popped the question I had been thinking of an answer for.
“By the way, hybrid, what’s your name?” I truthfully replied “Arthur.” I remembered a faithful day a long time ago when I loss someone close to me, and killed everyone, bravely (yet even more foolishly) saving all of my village (who, I later killed all of)…That had started me down my path, so I gave a name that I hadn’t been called for a long time (it wasn’t a lie!). “Arthur the Brave is what I’m called”. In truth, my real name would be closer to Arthur the Dark One, seeing as I am pure evil! When Avtir woke up, we set off. Our journey has begun! This three-front battle will rely on us to finish it up! We had no plan, other than to leave, and begin searching, hoping to avoid Galim’s forces. The war’s battlefronts had been found. The front lines, where poor fools fight, will be to defend every single town, village, outpost, and fortification for as long as possible. The second front would be trying to coordinate our efforts, via holograms. Mitson holds ours, since he’s the leader, and seems to know more than what he tells us about Galim. We are the third front. Galim will stop at nothing to stop us, seeing as we are the biggest threat. Not all of us might make it, or be useful, but try we must, as I, above all others, do not want this world to end!
We leave at exactly noon, heading east, towards the ruins of Eagle’s Talon, one of the glories of the olden days long gone. It feels so good to finally be away from that place, which has miraculously survived this long. I want to ask why we’re searching that area first, but I doubt Mitson will talk. The closer I get to these people, the worse I will feel when I kill them all, so I must hurry and find that Gem. With the way some are so trusting (which makes me sick! No one can ever truly be an ally, so you should always treat them with suspicion!), yet others seem to glare at me with great hatred and caution. While the ladder is the kind of person I am, it makes me…uneasy to see them stare at me like that!
At last, when we stop to rest at night, Kirair, Shiv, and Grim get at it once again. “I’m the best killer! We got the name Grim Reapers from being able to send thousands of souls to death in one attack! Nothing can beat our powers, especially not some lowly assassin, or ninja!” “Only a few thousand per attack? Ha! That’s nothing! A true assassin can take out a whole army without breaking a sweat!” “Only ONE army? A good ninja like me can kill every single enemy, no matter how many the amount, in a single death strike!”
And so on…They’d keep on arguing until Mitson stops them! If it’s a minor fight, I throw in a couple of words to make it worse, but sometimes, I’m the one who calls Mitson because it gets so Mithraking annoying! And for me to be the one doing it, you know it is really bad! Scorpius had gone away 5 minutes ago, supposedly to eat (though it is far more likely it was to escape their never-ceasing fight), but flaps his wings ferociously as he returns too early. Though he’s a dragon and it’s a little hard to tell, he is clearly worried, and he shouts “There’s a whole army of Draco-lycanpires coming this way!” Draco-lycanpires are either vampires or lycanthropes under the service of ThinBane, a great vampire/lycanthrope hybrid who sold his soul for the power of dragons. He used this ability to create more of his kind after many years of searching how to do it, and gave this ‘gift’ to vampires or lycans seeking greater power. He had once been type one, like me, and I admired his power. Now he sides with Galim, as one of his generals, commanding his great army. That kind of change makes me sick!
“Hey, you three…You’ve all claimed you can kill thousands of men with one blow, let’s test those claims!” Mitson shouts to Kirair, Shiv, and Grim. They had probably been bragging, but some of their claims must have been true! Everyone is preparing for our first battle at the ruins of Eagletalon. We get over the hill, to observe the army rapidly approaching, but I notice something odd…A tremor in the ground, as suddenly, a great earth Xyrm pops out of the ground, eating at least a hundred in only two gulps. “I thought those great worms were extinct!” Mitson exclaims, which surprises everyone, including me, since I thought he knew everything (that know-it-all!). But even more surprising is the fact that there is someone riding that thing! He is wearing a strange brown armor with a yellow hood, green trim, and strange spikes coming from the shoulders, knees, and elbows. He seems to be wielding a strange green longsword, which looks like it is more of a drill! On top of all of that, his wooden round shield is emitting an aura constantly shifting between green, yellow and black! I can also observe from here that he has two other swords on his back! One is red, though I can’t seem to make it out well, and the other black.
Shocking everyone further, he then shoots a massive darkness wave, which confuses them, but heals their injuries…Everyone knows not to use darkness against those who are made from darkness! But he suddenly changes tactics, with a single bright light, blinding every one of them! It even hurt our eyes, from this long distance away! To finish those not dead, we felt a violent tremor, before all of those things suddenly died! The cause of death appears to vary, but mostly it seems like the earth killed them! Whoever he is, he is strong! The Xyrm disappeared with him afterwards, leaving us with a mystery. “Why had he helped us?” is probably what’s going through everyone’s mind. We all feel another tremor coming, and he pops up yet again, this time without the Xyrm. “Who are you?” Mitson quickly asks, though he stumbles when saying it, as we are all still in shock. “Dearlinath. I am Dearlinath. I’m a powerful member of a secret class that has invited itself on this quest…That was just a little gesture of our power, but we’re capable of a lot more. May I join your quest?” “Anytime!” every member replies, except for me, since he has yet to prove himself truly loyal, though for now, I’ll let him think we’re all trusting him.
We again begin making camp, but everyone wants to ask Dearlinath questions, so progress took some time, as we just now have made a fire…We don’t have a pyrotechnic or pyromancer with us, so it took quite some time, before Mitson finally lost his patience, and showed us that his tan wrappings are used to create fire, but it was without warning, so everyone has a slightly scorched face. That’s just one more reason to fear him, though it was rather humorous to see shock on their faces when he did it! Anyway, questions have finally begun, and I’m happy to see some are suspicious questions! “What is your class called?” “Well, that depends…Up until three years ago, our class was two separate clans, the Veridians, and the Viridians. When we combined into one, there was a rift on what to call us. One lieutenant sided with one, the other with the other. This only divided the men further, and instead of enraging half his men, our leader, Rav, stuck with both! I, too, prefer either, since it is said while two names are in existence, if you choose only one, your power is limited.”
“How did your clan come into existence?” “Thousands of years ago, our first members were undead that had gained freedom from their masters’, and fled away with unheard of mastery of darkness. We probably have our friend right here, Ran’s order, Casters, to thank for this.” At this, Avtir tightens his grip on his sword and light axe, plus Ran quickly argues, clearly in a shocked state “But our order is relatively new! It’s impossible!” “Your order as you know it may be new, but rumors are that your order is a reorganization of the old one, which had crumbled at the force of necromancers and paladins.” Ran still doesn’t believe it, but unfortunately is beginning to show further signs of trust. “What happened after that?” “We went underground…literally! Between the paladins hunting us for at the time being undead, and necromancer former masters trying to kill us, we had no choice. We learned the ways of the light down there from studying, and used it to help us live in the caves, but we were still miserable, until we found a way to actually bind us to the earth. Over the years, our order perfected the three elements, and used them to become even more powerful! The combination of being fused with earth, mastery of darkness on levels hard to achieve, and complete control over light, has allowed us to survive underground, and make friends much easier. Jyne here, a Xyrm, is my friend!” Everyone looks at where he points, and everyone notices two flowers arranged suspiciously like antennas. No one had cared enough to think the Xyrm could be there until he pointed it out…except for me, since I view it as a threat. But the more I listen, the more it seems like he is telling the truth. “Oh, and by the way…Do you have a shorter name?” I ask, and everyone laughs, though he replies with a grin “You can just call me Der, Linath, or just Lin…Whichever suits you!”
We again start work on camp, and with a new pair of hands, plus a new pair of…umm… whatever resembles arms on a Xyrm, to help us, we finish quickly, and now can finally rest. I think to myself “A good day. But Mitson knows this is just the beginning. They might know it as well. I might not be able to withstand all of this, with these people just built to fight each other, yet forced to work together, the threat of massively powerful monsters, the rain, and above all else, Avtir’s terrible cooking! What a wonderful world we live in!” I begin to rest, knowing gladly “We’ll be out of this Knelm-hole soon enough!” In the morning, after searching desperately, and finding only a green switch which Mitson pressed, we are already ready to leave! It appears I’m not the only one who hates it here, so we leave quickly. “We’re setting out for Nightorna.” Everyone knows what that means. The black forest. The home of three of our party members, our lycanthrope, vampire, and the nightslayer, who specializes in killing vampires and lycanthropes. It does not take a genius to realize why they do not get along well. “I assume I can rely on you three to guide us when we get there?” every one of them simply answers at the same time “I know the area inside out. It is my home, my back yard, so you can count on me.” “Now in the mean time, make sure you don’t kill each other.” “Yes, sir.” At this, they grumble, because they obviously want to kill each other.
I had been here many times as well. It is very near the place I was born. Yet, that would be a chapter in my history that I do not wish to reveal. I do wish we had some pyromancers or pyrotechnics with us here, but everyone knows why they could not come. The pyromancers were fine, and truly did wish to help; however, 90% of the pyrotechnics had other ideas, and started attacking everyone. They first killed the other ten percent, including to only person there who truly wished to come with us, and then massacred a good portion of the pyromancers before they fought back. The two eliminated each other, leaving none of either to come with us. It was a bloody mess, so we are all banned from talking about it.
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