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Sierra_Nocturne -> RE: (AQ) Erebus Wright (10/30/2011 2:04:24)
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Beta (Chapter Two)
Pontus had worried too soon, and too quickly. After the utter destruction of four clan bases, the remaining clans were scared and interested more in unifying to face a great danger than separating and falling one by one.
Basic plans were drawn up remarkably quickly. Aerodu was the first priority; rescue the airship, repair what could be repaired and use it to liberate the other bases. Aerodu had also lost the most people, and Aerodu himself was grievously wounded - the only clan leader to require intense medical treatment.
More and more clan members teleported, flew and fell in to the mass gathering on the plains as the hours passed. Eventually, when all eight clans and the vast majority of their available members had gathered, the eight clan leaders stood upon a hastily raised earthen stage and spoke to the gathered assemblage.
"Today, four of our number have been attacked. The Clans of Ice, Fire, Earth and Air have been attacked and thrown from their homes." Noctros spoke slowly, pausing here and there for effect. "But we shall, in the name of Unity and Lorithia, strike back. The Clan of Darkness pledges itself to the cause of Unity."
"The Clan of Light pledges itself as well." Lucian intoned.
"The Clan of Energy." Dynamo buzzed.
-The Clan of Nautica as well.- Nautica spoke telepathically.
"Then we are decided." Noctros said. "Glaciar, I believe one of yours organized a plan?"
"Pontus, Hero of the Fire War." The white bear murmured. The bloody flecks on his fur had still not been cleaned.
Pontus stepped up in front of the clan leaders. He was clean cut, his white armor gleaming like a torch as he stood in front of the gathered assemblage. His soft blue hair - dyed, of course - rustled gently in the breeze. Erebus shook his head in wonder. The man was practically a god, both in looks and presence.
The Glacian drew a long, thin curved blade from a sheath on his back and held it above his head. Everyone present - Erebus included - gasped. The Ice Katana - the blade forged from the remains of the Frost Claymore, the legendary sword that had slain Akriloth, the mightiest dragon to ever live.
Erebus grinned. His lips pulled back over his teeth and formed a strange, skeletal facial expression, a strange cross between pain, ecstasy and intense excitement. Hemera, beside him, edged away slightly.
"We are going to march on Aerodu." Pontus said. His voice was quiet, like snow falling on leaves. "You are to follow the commands on your clan leaders. We will attack in waves, breaking through their defenses. Lucian and Dynami, you are to be our first attackers. Nautica, and what remains of Aerodu, you shall be the second wave. Geoto and Igneus the third, Nocturu and Glacius the fourth. Spellcasters, you shall separate from the infantry. You will attack from the distance, hopefully decimating the front ranks and removing the defenses so the warriors can overwhelm any survivors."
"Furthermore, we have sent a Nocturan away to Battleon to call for aid from the Warmonger Clan, and with their aid Aerodu shall be taken within the week." Pontus paused. "One last thing. Aerodu, Geotal, Igneox and Glaciar have agreed that some kind of demonic general leads each of the armies that have taken over Paxia. To that end, we have organized a small task force to take down each general. The task force shall consist of myself, Hemera of Lucian, Erebus of Nocturu and Nyx of Aerodu. We shall be attacking with every wave. Are there any questions?"
The assembled clans were quiet for a moment, until Erebus stepped forward. As he stepped to the edge of the stage he willed his spiky, bulky guardian armor into being around himself, pulling with it his vicious spiked mace, taken from a long dead hero.
"For Aerodu! For Geoto! For Igneus! For Glacius! For Unity!" Erebus thundered. For effect, he transformed the mace into his magestaff, the Lightning Rod, and hurled sizzling bolts of electricity into the air.
"We shall take our lands back. We shall show them the meaning of fear, for we are Paxia. We are many and in the face of our wrath they shall become the few. Tell me, Paxians. Who are we?"
The entire assemblage raised weapons of all kinds to the sky, howling in one voice. "We are Paxia!"
"I don't know." Erebus paused, that frightening, animal smile on his face again. "Are you sure? You sound a little disorganized, a little disunited to me..."
"We are Paxia!" Came the roar.
Erebus half-turned to smile at Pontus. His eyes were completely black, and his teeth were subtly fanged. For a moment, he seemed entirely nonhuman.
Then he turned and continued to roar at the foaming masses.
Hemmer watched Erebus with wary eyes as he whipped the Paxians into a fury. While normally he seemed sullen, pale and unhealthy, he now seemed to glow with an inner heat, a kind of hideous passion that made one cringe away from the awful, nameless things it promised. He seemed so dreadfully alive now, so darkly enthusiastic. When Pontus stood before an audience and spoke, the universe bent around him. He had a kind of social gravity that drew people to him, wrapping themselves around him, doing what he wanted simply because he so utterly believed in what he did.
When the universe bent around Erebus, it was as if everything became a little more out of focus, a little darker and a little less good. Decency, mercy and kindness were things that happened to other people if you were around Erebus. Hemera saw Pontus as a totally moral being, a person so utterly wrapped up in ideals he could change the world through pure belief. She saw Erebus as the opposite, totally amoral, yet with so fervent a mind that its manic twitchings and sudden actions could bring about the galvanization of hundreds if not thousands of people.
She summoned a golden paladin's axe to her hand, its roaring lion motif reminding her of the courage she sought to embody at all times. The axe was meant to symbolize light, courage and virtue. It was meant to be a shining torch for others to follow.
She wasn't sure if it could stand up to the overwhelming darkness that was Erebus Wright.
***
Her first battle with Erebus, Pontus and Nyx was hard and furious. They'd joined up with Lucian and Dynamian forces but had gotten separated quickly and now the four of them faced almost a hundred monsters on their own.
Pontus waded into battle with his katana, a juggernaut of vengeance, slaw and utterly unstoppable as he cut down everything in his path. Enemies seemed to melt away from him as he struck at them with sword, a twisted, thorny shield on his other arm.
Erebus was worse. He had little regard for saving his magic, choosing instead of wrap himself in his guardian armor, wave his lightning rod and hurl spells at everything that approached. The animal grin on his face grew wider with every kill until it seemed it would split his face open. Hemera winced as a particularly vicious looking wind elemental hurled itself at him only to be utterly wrapped apart by spikes that burst from the ground, their tips so unbelievably sharp they punctured the magic holding it together and discorporated it entirely.
She fought with both sword and spear, slicing with her shimmering golden axe and hurling spells into earth, telling it to come alive and smite the foe. Her red hair was like a flaming halo in the light of the fading sun, her red and gold armor a brilliant beacon in the heat of a deadly battle. Her spell of choice summoned forth great fists of earth to pound her enemies into the ground, its earthen element a strong advantage against the windy, airy enemies they fought.
Nyx, however, was the most frightening fighter. Where Erebus was pure, wanton destruction, she was absolutely focused destruction. She took down enemies one at a time, one spell each. She stepped fearlessly into battle, quickly moving too far away from the group to come to her aid. Within moments the dark-haired, black-armored guardian was absolutely surrounded. She hurled a few spells, but even from a distance Hemera could feel her magic fading.
The Lucian would never be sure exactly what happened. Nyx struck the ground with the staff she was carrying - a dark copy of the Staff of Awe - and everything seemed to stop. A wave of mana in its purest form emanated from out of her. Her other spells had been gory, focused violence, yet this apparently simple spell felt even more destructive than those Erebus unleashed.
A wave of purple, blue and black energy washed out from the Aerodan. Everything it hit simply vanished, as if it had never existed.
Nyx stood unharmed in the center of it all. Hemera noticed for the first time that she seemed a female version of Erebus - pale, blue eyes that would make the coldest ice shiver, sallow skin a corpse would envy and the longest, darkest hair the Lucian had ever seen. Her hair was the stuff of legends - the sort of hair one would ask for as a gift from the ancient elven queen.
Hemera, for the first time in her life, felt very small.
She felt smaller when the Wind dragon rose in front of her. It was the largest one she'd ever seen - fully five or six men in height. It inhaled a breath and spat it out in one motion, its breath picking her up and throwing her against a spar of rock. She hit the rock with a sickening wet thump and collapsed.
Erebus was there in an instant. He'd already exhausted all his magic, but now he carried the same thorny black shield as Pontus and swung in his other hand a dark green spear that seemed to bubble with the worst kind of poison. The dragon reared back and slashed at him, but Erebus sliced at its claw. It screamed and backed away.
Pontus was running. His katana was gone, a golden Blade of Awe in his hands. He swung it at the creature, missed, and swung again. The dragon simply batted him away with a claw. Erebus stabbed at it but received a crushing blow to the chest in compensation.
Hemera rose, summoning her own weapon of awe - a spear. She hefted it and hurled it in one smooth motion. It punctured the dragon's flank with a wet tearing noise and returned to her hand with a soft murmuring sound. She advanced on the dragon, holding it at bay with the long weapon.
Erebus rose and Hemera, for a moment, feared him more the dragon. His eyes had gone completely black again and he was grinning widely - too widely. No human should have been able to grin like that, in fact, no human had that many teeth. What was happening?
The Nocturan warmage shed his armor as a caterpillar sheds its cocoon. For a moment he stood naked before fur, claws and wings burst out of his body in some squamous, sick parody of a butterfly's birth. Pontus roared in surprise as Erebus completed his dracopyre form, lifted his spear and shielded and waded into battle once more, a dark, perfect creature.
Hemera growled furiously at herself for fearing him. She hurled a ray of light from one of her hands - a scrambling spell, rearranging the elemental alignment of the creature it hit. If she got lucky...
The spell struck the dragon head on and Hemera saw a flash of color, the telltale sign of what element the dragon was now aligned to.
Erebus never had time to strike.
Hemera hurled her spell through the air. The original dracopyre sprang into being before her in human form, clothed only by a loincloth. Wings of pure light streamed from his back and he reached out and simply touched the dragon.
Never before had a creature gone so easily between life and death.
Hemera sat heavily on a rocky outcrop as Pontus and Nyx approached. Erebus shrugged his way into human form, simultaneously cloaking himself in armor. He grinned at the four of them.
"Good warm up."
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