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Chaosweaver Amon -> RE: =DF= Friday the 13th - Full Moon War Stories and Poetry (6/14/2014 0:31:01)
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The Wrath of the Moon
Prologue
Whispers. As my spirit roamed through the endless void of his mind, I heard something. Whispers. There was never any sound here, I don't allow it. It wasn't supposed to work here, physics. Here, in the MindVoid, as I call it, everything was supposed to be irrelevant that wasn't me or my thoughts. Yet still, I heard whispers. They didn't say anything that I could understand, just hissed and muttered and pervaded my mind like parasites. I floated around amidst the multicolored islands of energy, black, red, and silver stars flickering everywhere. The whispers surrounded me, they were everywhere and nowhere, all invading the private corners of my brain. I noticed the whispers growing steadily louder, and it felt as if they were closing in on me until they were all I could hear, like roaring of the wind. Yet I saw nothing. I lit everything up in silver fire, snapping out of my trance immediately, escaping the horrific whispers.
As I rose to my feet, I felt the ground shaking. I heard howls ripping through the night sky in the distance. Readying my dagger, I crept outside of my tent, and looked down onto the dirt path, only to see hundreds of thousands of werewolves charging south. My wards prevented them from seeing or smelling me, and yet I was still unnerved. I didn't know so many werewolves even existed, let alone could be united in an army. Then I saw that they weren't all werewolves. I spotted many Werelions running along the sides of them, keeping them all in formation, as well as hideous Werebats flying overhead. Following the direction they ran with my eyes, I saw that they were headed to Amityvale, my destination as well. Swearing out loud, I bolted back inside my tent, tugged on my heavy leather coat, and strapped on my Soul Looms. Buckling my sword sheath around my back, I kept my sword drawn at the ready, knowing I would need to use it soon.
I put up an extra ward to keep my tent hidden and protected, took a swig of Moglinberry from my old leather skin, and sped off towards Amityvale.
The Wrath of the Moon
Part 1
I slowed to a stop as the high stone walls started to recede down into the path. Taking advantage of my altitude, I leapt onto a nearby pine tree, taking a moment to catch my balance. Creeping quickly along one of the thick branches, I caught onto the branch of the tree neighboring it, so now had a full view of the werewolf army, and the town they were attacking. They spread out in a semi-circular fashion around the front square of the town, and a few in the front made way for a massive Alpha Werewolf, covered in shaggy brown fur, who stepped up to the front. He stretched his muscular arms, hunched his back, then howled savagely at the moon. The rest of the army followed suit; the noise was so loud, it was nearly deafening. As the Warmongers began to empty out of the forest, alongside the Moonridge knights, the army growled in unison, then charged.
It was a horrific sight to behold; swords and daggers met claws and teeth, steel and flesh torn apart alike. Suddenly, Dusk appeared from the shadows, floating beside me calmly.
"Shall we?" he asked smoothly, his deep voice rolling like thunder. I responded with a curt nod, then leaped down onto the battlefield.
I landed feet-first on a Wereliger, who collapsed with a snarl. Rolling off him, I lunged, my blade plunging through his chest, and out through his back. I felt thick, heavy claws snag my coat, but they failed to tear through the heavy leather as I spun, blade flashing, beheading the beast with a single stroke. I saw Dusk hovering above, sending spikes of shadow down from above, defending me from those I couldn't focus on as I fought.
For hours I struck down wolves, spinning, slashing, and stabbing at every beast I saw. Despite my efforts, however, it seemed that five more took the place of every one I killed. Is this army endless? I thought sullenly to myself. It seems to be infinite in numbers. My thoughts were interrupted, however, by claws raking my back, and tightening around my upper arm. I barked a sharp roar of pain as I was flung backwards through the air, and smashed through the window of one of the dark houses along the main road. Dazed, I searched for my sword, realizing I had dropped it when I was thrown. I began to push myself to my feet, only to experience agonizing pain from the deep gashes along my back and shoulder. I swore to myself as I propped my body up against a table I had knocked over, cradling my arm. Cold, black blood flowed down my arm as the cuts healed over slowly, knitting the flesh back together without any trace of damage.
I groaned as I saw the wereliger who had thrown me climb through the ruined window. He was a big one, nearly eight feet tall, with dark grey fur, fangs bared savagely as I stood there, waiting for my arm to heal. It lunged, and I threw myself to one side, its claws tearing through my breeches and lightly scratching my leg. I landed on my hurt shoulder and howled in pain as something shifted the wrong way in my arm, sending another wave of pain shooting down through my back. I clumsily drew my dagger as it leaped again, and threw it, but the pommel it first and was knocked away. I sent threads of dark soul magic at the beast, attempting to bind him, but was too slow. He landed on top of me, entangled in soul threads, but I kicked him in the chest with both feet, and he was thrown into the wall. I prepared a spike of darkness, and sent it spinning rapidly at its chest...but a gleaming blue sword protruded through first. As the beast collapsed, I looked at the helmet covered face of Faerdin Eilrua, who offered his hand to me. I grunted in thanks as he pulled me up off the floor.
"I owe you one, Rune Knight." I muttered as my shoulder snapped back into place, the cuts fading.
He shook his head. "Think nothing of it. Anything for an ally. Oh, and I think you'll be needing this." He picked up my sword from outside the opening he had entered through. He looked up and down it admiringly. "It's an incredible blade..." he said in awe.
I nodded as I took it from him. "Perhaps one day I'll be able to test it against yours, eh?" He chuckled with me.
"Perhaps. But for now, let's focus on the task at hand. We'll talk later." And with that, he stepped back onto the field.
I picked up my dagger as I followed, sheathing it. Looking out across the dark forest, I knew that this was going to be a long night.
The Wrath of the Moon
Part 2
*Will be posted when we hit 25% on the war meter!*
By now the Werewolf numbers had decreased significantly, and the Warmongers had brought in the Nitroglycerin Sponge Catapults, but there were still millions of beasts left to be slain. I fingered the slashes in my coat, thinking of how I was going to repair it. My chainmail had been scraped a bit as well, but that would be easier to fix. I looked up and saw that a few Dragonlords were raining fire down on the wolves, who's fur caught alight instantly as they desperately tried to leap up and grab the dragons. One of them, however, got lucky as a Dragonlord swooped down low, in an attempt to scoop them up and drop them, but his dragon's wing was caught on the long, thick claws of a wereliger, who leaped up, snarling. The inexperienced rider swung his axe, but he rushed it and missed, giving the wereliger an opportunity to tackle him off the dragon and onto the ground. A few werewolves dove in on him as well, their viscous snarls drowning out his bloodcurdling screams.
Snapping out of it, I sent multiple threads of darkness weaving in and out amongst the crowd of furry giants, tightening them around their bodies and slicing through limbs, leaving deep, narrow slices in the flesh. I decided now to fight from a distance, so I sheathed my sword and climbed up on the roof of the blacksmith's shop, firing off balls of dark soul magic into the crowds. Dusk appeared beside me again, grinning savagely.
"You seem to be having a fun time." I said, without casting so much as a glance.
He smirked in response. "Indeed I am. But are you surprised?"
"Not really, no but-" I was interrupted my a body flying through one of the walls, shaking the roof. It took me a moment to regain my balance. "I need you to head over to the roof opposite me, I want to try something." Seconds later, I saw him appear across the road, sending knives of shadow raining down into the crowd.
Attempting to surprise him, I sent multiple thin threads of shadow at him, which he caught in a single tendril of his. I forced my magic downward into the crowd, pulling his down with it. Seeing what I intended, he intensified his magic, creating a large ball of shadows in the very center of the town. I sent a final burst of energy through the tendrils, then released. Dusk did the same. The darkness was sucked into the ball, which suddenly imploded, creating a shockwave through the army of wolves, taking at least another hundred out of action, as well as a few unfortunate soldiers on our side.
I sprinted along the rooftops, using soul magic to latch onto buildings and spear the werewolves below. Dusk flew amongst the dragons above, still raining down blades of darkness, teasing the wolves with an evil laugh as he swooped right up close to them. After a while, the monsters learned of what I was doing, and stayed just out of range of my magic from the rooftops. It was fun while it lasted. I thought darkly to myself as I drew my sword, which now glowed in the bright silver moonlight. Stabbing several tendrils of darkness into the ground, I pull myself downwards, sword flashing, ready to continue to the fight on foot.
The Wrath of the Moon
Part 3
*Unlocked when we hit 50% on the war meter!*
As I landed hard, I rolled, sword at the ready. I focused on a tight pack of Warmongers who were in a circle, surrounded by werewolves, many of whom lay dead at their feet. I ran over, cutting down those who crossed my path, and once again thanked the avatars for these beasts' weakness to silver. Slowly, I backed my way into the circle, and came back to back with my old friends. We had to yell to eachother to be heard over the din of the battle, although for the most part we remained silent, struggling to keep our concentration.
"Amon!" A voice I recognized as Salene's rang out next to me. "Glad you could join us!" She called, as she cut down a wereliger with one of her daggers.
"Aye, me as well! We could use a bit of help!" Called Dragonjax, his deep voice booming behind me. I heard one of his massive swords cleave one of the wolves completely in half as he called.
"Really now? I have to admit I'm surprised, considering all of that big talk you were spitting out earlier! Something along the lines of 'I won't let them get a scratch on me' seems to bring back memories!" I heard Deatharrows reply darkly, arrows zipping everywhere, not one of them missing their mark.
"Oh do shut up will you? We've got a war to win here!" I called to them all, making a barrier of soul magic around us.
For hours we fought, bloodying our hands with the slaying of hundreds of thousands of beasts, never stopping, never faltering, only occasionally yelling out encouragement to eachother. I heard Dragonjax's roars of delight, Salene's cat like growls, and only the twang of Deatharrows' bow as we cut down wolf after wolf, still confined to our small circle. After a while I realized this was not going to work; it was only a matter of time before we would be overwhelmed. We all took more injuries, our weapons just rose a little bit lower, our arms swung just a little bit slower, and I could feel the tension rising. I had to think of a plan to get us out of this, if the others hadn't done so already. I called Dusk with my mind, and communicated with him telepathically.
"I need a barrier." I said, struggling to focus.
Without response, Dusk appeared from the shadows above us, and enclosed us in a ball of darkness.
"Make it quick." He said, his voice strained.
As I told the others of my plan, the barrier shuddered. I glanced at Dusk, who nodded, snarling at the wolves, who thrashed violently against the barrier. When I finished, Jax got right to the edge of the barrier, kneeling, with Deatharrows and I flanking him, and Salene put one foot in his large hands, with her whip drawn.
"NOW!" I barked, and Dusk released the barrier. Jax threw Salene with all his might, Deatharrows and I guarding him from the werewolves as he was stunned, and Salene went sailing through the air gracefully. She lashed her whip out, and caught the steeple of the town hall, pulling herself onto the roof. Jax, Deatharrows, and I fought our way together, until we eventually were split up by the wolves. I continued cutting through the crowd, Dusk flying above me, protecting my like a terrifyingly dark Guardian Angel, raining hell upon those I wasn't quick enough to get myself. Everything was a blur; my sword flashing, werewolf blood spraying, my fellow Warmongers dying around me, and yet I kept going, determined to win this. We'd taken out half of their army, we could take out another half, no matter what happened.
The Wrath of the Moon
Part 4
*Get to 75% on the War Meter to get to the next chapter!*
The Wolf army was now entirely scattered. Some wolves had fled into the woods of Doomwood, some still fought until they were killed, and a few ended up just killing themselves, but none surrendered. Now, I was in the war tent, patching up the slashes in my coat with some Chaosweaver spiderweb. Later, I was going to be leading one of the hunting parties, who would track down the werewolves to see if they returned to any sort of leader. For now, however, I knew we could take our time and lick our wounds; I doubted they were smart enough to cover their tracks, and I was sure the trail wouldn't go cold for at least another day. My chainmail was a bit worse for wear, but it could wait; I doubt it would be too much trouble under my coat and breastplate.
When I'd finished, I tested the leather, to make sure it would hold, then headed off to the Amityvale armory, where I sharpened my sword to a fine point. I then headed back to the main tent, where the Warmongers were assembling the scouting teams. I saw Dragonjax, Faerdin, Deatharrows, and Arthur, along with a few dozen Moonridge knights. Faerdin was organizing everyone into groups.
"Ah, Amon." He said. "Glad you're here. You, along with Gregor, James, Marcus, Balthur, and Korrell will be scouting eastward. You'll head roughly fifteen or twenty miles out, and if you find anything, let us know. Move out in an hour, alright?"
I nodded. Taking my men, we went to the small war tent on the edges of the camp.
"So," I said firmly. "Are you all prepared already? I'd suggest you bring light food, and a skin of water. We want to as light as possible, so we get this done faster. The sooner we get back to the war camp, the better. Usually it's only a matter of time before their leader comes to crash the party." They all grunted in agreement. Clearly these weren't the most talkative men. I liked it that way; it was more likely they would do as I said. I now took the time to look over them. Gregor was a big man, nearly as tall as I was, but broader, with a tightly cropped beard, a shaved head, and droopy brown eyes. James and Marcus were both quite small and wiry, and clearly looked like the rogue type. Balthur was a heavyset man, with dark skin and curly short hair, but I mainly noticed the large, spiked mace he carried. He seemed the sort of man who knew how to use it. Korrell was the youngest of the group, hardly past twenty I guessed, with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and blue eyes that seemed as pale as ice. It was a fairly balanced team; Faerdin had picked them out well.
When the time came to go, I gave each of the men (aside from Korrell) a bow, along with two-dozen silver tipped arrows; it would be better to take out any wolves we saw from a distance, to reduce the risk of losing anybody. We each got our horses and headed out quickly; I wanted to get back quickly, and finish my original mission. The war had just gotten in the way. The state of the world now couldn't afford to have a werewolf attack. But it didn't matter now. The battle was over, and soon I could get back to my task. For now, I just had to focus on keeping Amityvale as safe as it could be for the time being.
After another hour, we didn't see anything, but we'd only gone ten miles. Eventually, we reached a steep, rocky hill that the horses wouldn't be able to climb, so we tied them to trees and continued on foot. By the time we reached the top, I spotted a ruined tower, and we headed in.
Korrell came in behind me, his staff casting a pale blue light all around the deserted bottom floor. Weapons drawn, we all spread out, searching each room, while I headed upstairs to see if there was any sign of something there. Suddenly I heard a cry of agony, along with a lot of crashing. I heard the men scream, I heard violent snarls, and the sound of metal and flesh being torn apart. Then it was silent. Totally and utterly silent, and in that moment, I knew my team was dead.
The Wrath of the Moon
Part 5
I froze, listening to the vicious snarls below me. I heard them feasting on my men, who they had just butchered in seconds. I hadn't a clue how many of them there were, or if they had been expecting us, but I did know that they would smell me very soon. I had to strike first. Sword in hand, I leaped over the banister, dropping down onto a massive wereliger. My feet smashed down on his face, driving him down to the floor. I didn't give him a chance to move as I drove my blade through the back of his head, causing him to go limp immediately. I immediately spun, stepping off of the corpse of Gregor, kicking a werewolf in the face, slashing upwards through its face, sending it stumbling back, howling in pain. I swung again, but my blade was knocked aside by the long claws of another, who came snarling at me. Leaping forwards, I surprised the beast by whipping my dagger across its midriff, inflicting an awkward, shallow cut, that I imagined was quite painful. I swung my sword down with all my might, attempting to cut him from shoulder to hip, but he danced back, so my blade lopped off half of his hand. He leaned back howling, and I stabbed him with all the force I could, pinning him to the wall.
Before I could free my sword, however, I was tackled my the first werewolf, whose face still bled profusely, causing werewolf blood to drip down on my face as I tried to hold its jaws away. I planted both feet on its chest and kicked as hard as I could, knocking him into another wereliger, who had been charging out from one of the rooms. I wrenched my sword from the wall, and the previously impaled wolf dropped to the ground as I held my sword in a defensive position. Now there were seven of the original ten that I could see, all closing in around me, snarling. I didn't have a chance of survival alone. I then realized I wasn't alone, and called Dusk, who appeared out of the shadows instantly, sending a massive beam of black and red energy through the wolves, cutting down three of those who weren't quick enough to move.
Dusk sent blades of shadow at the remaining four werewolves, impaling one through the head, and cutting a deep gash in another, laughing maniacally as he did so. He flew up through the roof as the other wolves stumbled forward, crashing into eachother as I beheaded one of them in a single swift stroke. The two that remained arched their backs, and the injured one shuddered with rage, drool dripping from its ragged jaws as it snarled, leaping towards me, landing perfectly on my blade as I stabbed out in front of me. Before the other could react, Dusk appeared behind it and tore it's head off with the ease of picking a grape from a vine. It collapsed to the floor without another sound, and I slumped back against the wall, wiping my blade on my coat. Dusk grinned at me, thoroughly pleased with the horrific violence that had just occurred. It used to disturb me, his love for death and violence, but I learned to accept it, just as he had accepted me.
"Thanks for that." I grunted, breathing heavily.
He chuckled darkly. "It was my pleasure. As always. Although in retrospect, it probably would have been a smarter idea to keep me with you when you left."
I shrugged. "I was...distracted." I looked around at the corpses. "What should we do with these?" I asked, already knowing what he'd say.
"Leave them. There's nothing we can do now...they'll just end up in the hands of some necromancer most likely."
I nodded in response. "Are the horses still outside?"
Dusk shook his head. "No, the wolves got to them first I would imagine. They got in quickly, it seemed. It's not like you to be taken by surprised." He added the last sentence in a mocking tone, and I responded with a glare. "Let's go back to the war camp. I need to tell the others about what happened here."
And so we headed off under the moonlight. Dusk rarely liked to travel in physical form; usually he would just travel through the spirit realm, as it was faster, but he felt his Soul-ally instincts kicking in to protect me, I could tell. We didn't bother tracing down the werewolves' location any further; we'd been gone for longer than expected, and I was sure that nobody would be too thrilled to see me returning without my men, or any information. I wondered if they had had any close family. I'd likely have to be the one to break the news to them; a job I was not looking forward to in the slightest.
Suddenly, I heard a high, shrill scream of terror, and Dusk and I perked our heads up simultaneously at the noise. "Look!" He barked, and I saw a werewolf dragging an unconscious Thursday through the forest. He looked at us and snarled, and I drew my sword as I saw the weaponsmith I recognized as Chaney come out from behind him.
"What are you doing?" I yelled at him, confused.
"We have to protect her." He growled viciously. His eyes suddenly glowed a bright blue, and he screamed as his limbs contorted into those of a werewolf, thick, shaggy hair sprouted from his back, and long, jagged claws tore through his fingernails. He howled at the moon, and the two wolves converged.
***
"You don't know the danger..." Chaney growled at me, picking up his unconscious brother over his shoulders.
"I don't know the danger!?" I shouted angrily. "You've been cursed just like your brother!"
He was panting heavily as he replied. "The curse will find her too."
And with that, he sprinted away into the dark forest.
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