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kors -> RE: =DF= Serenity Before The Storm War Stories (3/15/2015 23:58:07)
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Over the Hill and Through the Woods
Part 1: Need to be There
The castle still seemed so far away. Monsters just kept on coming, either trailing him and Chronus, the Guardians, Ash and Symone or attempting to cut them off. They could not let a figure that almost all of them had grown to know so well in the past few years fall into the hands of someone like the Baron. Serenity was a pillar of normalcy and peace in the sea of chaos and war that seemed to be so unnaturally attracted to Falconreach. What ever would happen to the town, and more importantly their innkeeper, if Valtrith’s plan is seen through to it’s completion was not something the defenders of Falconreach could even bear thinking about.
Kor darted through the crowds of monsters, cutting them down as he sped towards the castle. He was already well ahead of most of the army, they were just slowing him and Chronus down. It was his fault that he wasn’t there to help. It was his fault that the Cultists had got exactly what they wanted, that Valtrith had got exactly what he wanted. If he had been more prepared a month before, and had taken the Voidwalker’s warning more seriously, than this would never have happened.
That was always an issue with being around. Events deviated too far to even have fully comparable events too long ago to even hope that he could glean as much information as Ashendal had about the future. Despite his chronomancy he was absolutely hopeless in regards to the future of the world he had gotten too involved in. But he could keep the present from becoming bleak and hopeless. That was all that mattered.
A Heartseeker burst apart as one of Kor’s twin blades, Hours Past, tore through it. The creature was almost as thick as the miasmic mist that impeded their progress almost as much as the monsters that lurked in this section of Doomwood. Hiding monsters until they were close enough to pounce, making the path ahead unclear and leaving an uneasy feeling that only got worse when the mist was thicker.
More and more monsters came, more and more slashes kept them at bay. Chronus roared somewhere to his left, followed by an intense flash of light and the sounds of several Deadwoods falling down. Kor couldn’t help but smirk. The dragon probably knew Serenity better than him at this point, the little guy refused to leave the timeline without him and so went to Serenity while the chaos left in the wake of Wargoth and Jaania made travel difficult alone. Both of them had a dear and constant friend in danger, and both of them were throwing themselves in harms way to reach her. Already these last few months were hard, finding the people they knew so well so changed by the Rose’s existence and his disappearance rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn’t there when so many needed him, and he had no way to be there, that he needed to be there for everyone now.
The sounds of war cries and monsters falling began to catch up to the pair, signaling they need to pick up the pace and make the advancing army’s job a little easier. That was what they needed to do. They both were going to be there when someone needs him for once, before it takes a turn for the worse.
Part 2: If Only
Every moment started to blur together. It no longer was a conscious decision where he struck. Kor devoted every last ounce of energy he had to carving a path through the woods. They wasted too much time on the weapons cache, even if the Baron’s monsters were less thick in this neck of the woods.
He did not notice too much of a difference though. It was all the same, for every skeleton or Bloodgem he killed an eyeball or Tremor leaped from the shadowy mist. The sound of battle raging on behind him, slowly catching up to him. The gates were in sight, the end just beyond them.
From deep inside the castle the sounds of cultists chanting echoed threateningly. It would be close, far to close to be acceptable. With each passing moment the chant grew louder and louder. Kor knew they were getting close to the end, for both sides. If only they could have carved a path straight through. If only they had enough strength left to make that one last push to the gates. If only, if only, if only.
That was the most frustrating part to Kor. A Chronomancer could change things, and that was what he done hundreds of times. But all of those things just kept adding up, and he had been present in the timeline at all those key moments as well. There was no way to prevent it now, only to change the outcome.
“Hold on for just a little longer Serenity, Falchonreach still needs you!” he shouted at the top of his lungs towards the castle. The roars of agreement behind him briefly drowning out the chanting for a brief moment. They were so close, it was almost certain they could reach her and Valtrith. He would not win, he would not have his way, he would not make it through the day.
And then it felt like he hit a wall. The gates of Castle Valtrith were an arms reach away, but unreachable nonetheless. “No. No, not now! We are so close...” He did not have the strength left in him to force time to a standstill for even himself nor enough to open a hole in the barrier by himself. Just past the gate were multiple cultists, backs turned towards the castle and producing that horrible chant.
The sounds of battle thinned as monsters withdrew from the battlefield. Only the chanting of Valtrith’s cult and the ragged breath of the Guardians and heroes remained after several minutes. The mages still left in any condition to cast spells quickly went to work on the barrier. No one said a thing as they worked. They were cutting it close, everyone could tell that.
“Are you going to be up for this Kor?” a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. A bit of healing magic flowed from the hand into his body, “You look terrible. Once we have Serenity back, safe and sound, you promise me to rest up for a week, you and Serenity both need it. No exceptions. Got it?” It certainly was a neat trick that Ash had learned while he was away for so long.
A nod was all he could manage, even with his energy partly restored. The goal was just ahead, the war was over. So why did something feel so wrong? Every hair on the Chronomancer’s body stood on end, an uneasy feeling permeated every cell in his body. They had to end it quick. They had to end the Baron quickly.
It seemed like forever, but the barrier fell and Kor immediately rushed past the mages blades at the ready. There was no turning back now. Other footsteps followed soon after. He would not be alone, and he would be there in Serenity’s time of need. However he did not hear the wingbeat of Chronus as he flew to be by his partner’s side. Part of it made Kor glad, the dragon had fought almost as hard as he did. The dragon needed rest just as bad as he did.
***
They put up no resistance as he neared. The cultists simply gave way as Kor, Ash, and Symone all made their way towards the bonfire burning on the bridge in the middle of the castle’s courtyard. Their chant never ceased or quieted, the strange and horrible words repeating endlessly. Whatever meaning they had was lost on Kor, but their intent was all to clear.
A pale man stood just in front of the burning bonfire, the lone figure in the crowd whose face was visible. The man that bore what was left of Baron Valtrith, his face contorted in a way that made him appear to constantly have his head tilted to the left. In front of him was the person they had both been fighting over, Serenity, the innkeeper. She lay sleeping on an altar as Valtrith loomed over her, a hungry look in the pair of eyes that belonged to him.
“Stop! Serenity!” Kor shouted. The words brought the Baron’s eyes off of her. Kor prepared to charge his way through the few cultists at the Baron’s side. A smile crept up the face of the monster’s vessel as they neared. He stopped a few inches from the bridge, the garden still fairly close by.
Valtrith’s laugh sent a shiver down his spine and then he spoke, “Why would I stop now? After waiting so long for you? I planned all this, and then you arrive late. Tsk tsk.” His vessel fell to his knees as his skin bubbled and Valtrith smiled.
Anger started to swell up inside Kor, why drag innocent people into this if all he wanted was for him to come here? Why send an army to stop him if he did not want to wait so long? “If you wanted for me to come, than all you need to do was ask,” he stated coldly, “I am not afraid to end you anytime you wish, Valtrith.”
“I only wanted you here on my schedule, Chronomancer, and only now is the time right,” the Baron retorted. His face contorting in anger as his body began to bubble once more, “Rushing leads to forgetfulness, is that not right?” His vessel whimpered in agreement and apology with his master, “I... am sorry...Mas... ter, you.... are right.”
This sickened Kor immensely. “I do not care for your schedule. Let Serenity go and we can get this over with, it is me you want after all,” he brought his blades up as he prepared to leap at the monster.
Again, the Baron laughed, chilling Kor to the bone, “You may have beaten me once, hero, but not this time. While you were busy fighting your way to me, I made sure that I had all the artifacts needed for my victory were here."
Symone stepped forward and retorted, “No matter the evils you add to yourself, monster, you will never be stronger than us. You have exhausted your supply of evil the first time, and Kor and I took care of the rest!” She pointed her gun at his head, waiting for the battle to start.
“There is evil you have not considered, hunter, as always your family knows so little,” he sneered. “Even a tiny fragment of the World Destroyer’s Egg is enough to grant me the power I need, and this here hero was so kind as to leave laying out for me!” A sphere rose up from behind the altar, a piece of a shell that Kor remembered quite well floating inside it.
The Baron and his vessel both sneered as Kor felt something move just behind him, “I would like to thank for one thing however, Kor. You seem to have brought me the one thing my cultists failed to recover.”
He felt Ash and Symone both turn towards him as a brief flash of light radiated from his backpack. “What does he mean?” Symone asked, glaring at him.
Ash grimaced and turned back towards the Baron, “Liar! I know Kor would never help someone like you!”
Something leapt from one of the trees behind the group, launching itself at Kor. It managed to reach inside his bag before Kor could throw the thing off, a squirrel wearing one of Valtrith’s masks. He sent it flying, a strange piece of cloth in it’s paws.
Symone and Ash both gasped in horror as they realized just what it was. “You... should have destroyed that,” the Shadow hunter whispered still reeling from the realization.
“Even the tiniest scraps of an object so thoroughly infused with evil are enough to fuel me. And it is all thanks to you,” the looks both pairs of eyes had was one of pure hunger. They both lusted for the power that was left in the tiny piece of the Stranger’s cloak. And Kor had given them exactly what they wanted, needed to win. He placed it in a similar orb and set it on the altar as the chanting reached a crescendo. “This time, I have left nothing to chance. Every piece put forth for my recreation belonged to a villain who rocked this world. One who brought this world to it’s knees, causing death and destruction and nearly drowned the world into true Darkness!”
Valtrith grinned as once more, his body began to bubble, his vessel blubbering incoherently, “This time, I will create my own artifact to aid my completion.” He ran a hand through Serenity’s hair as energy began to swirl around them both.
They had waited too long to bring him down. All three of them rushed forward intent on killing him once and for all. As they sped towards the altar, the Baron waved his hand and ignited the edge of the bridge in black fire. The fire burned too strong for them to risk going through. They could only watch as the Baron got what he wanted.
His vessel began to bubble even more fiercely, and then the skin popped open. A cloud of inky black matter poured up into the air as a projection of Serenity rose from her body, and opened her eyes, “Oh! I finally fell asleep! It feels like it has been so long...”
“Serenity!” Kor and Ash shouted together. The sound of the Guardians making their way to them gave them a bit of hope that she would make it out alive.
Her body stirred briefly, “Huh? What is going on? Ash? Kor?” Both her spirit and the Baron’s vessel became raw magical energy before merging together with the artifacts. A small burst of dark magic caused the flames to dissipate, allowing them through. From the swirling mass of dark magic, a body began to form. Silence now filled the woods.
A clawed hand was the first thing to become discernible in the mass floating over Serenity. Then came the mask, appearing from seemingly nothing. More and more of the Baron’s form became clear as the mass of magic became solid. His laughter broke through the silence and filled Kor with rage and dread.
It should not be this way, could not be this way, “No! No! Give her back you monster! Or... Or I will destroy you and pull her soul back from wherever you have banished her! Give her back!” He was not there in time for her, but he could at least save her here. That was what he needed to do.
Valtrith lowered himself back to the ground behind the altar as an axe, one he recognized as an accursed weapon that had been sold by the Mysterious Stranger all those years ago, rose up just in front of the Baron. “Her soul wasn’t merely banished, Kor,” he grabbed the axe waving it about with an oddly eager look in his eyes, “I have consumed every single bit of her. From that moment I absorbed her, she no longer exists. You have no way changing this, Chronomancer. I pulled her very essence from her, from time, and made it mine. She is nothing but a soulless husk. There is nothing left to save. Not here, or in any other time.”
The axe stabbed Serenity’s husk with the Doom Weapon, taking everyone a back. A sickening crunch was followed by something even more horrible, it began to sink into her body, causing it to twitch and shift. Color drained from her body as black, gray, and red plates grew from her skin tearing the clothing from her body, her eyes glazed over and seemed to partially rot inside her skull, an axe like structure growing from her chest, the skull at the axe’s center hissing as it emerged. Every last bit of Serenity was gone, replaced by the spirit inside the Axe. “Thank you Master. For Freeing me,” Serenity’s head hung limp as the skull spoke, “You have the power of the Elder one... Caitiff will serve you, master.”
A brief flash of confusion appeared on Valtrith’s face, before returning to the look of hunger and triumph, “Welcome to the world you shall help me destroy, Caitiff.” The cultists began to praise their master and his newest servant, bowing down in reverence to them. Confusion spread among the Guardians as they joined the trio. No words of encouragement, no words at all, came from Kor as he stared at the abomination the Baron created.
“What...,” Symone said, her voice barely a whisper, “What have you created?”
A deep, pain filled moan came from the thing that used to be Serenity, “May I take that one apart, Master?” It leaned forward slightly, eager to destroy, to consume, using it’s new form.
Cultists fled the grounds, making way for whatever destruction would follow if their lord and master let his new weapon fight. Even behind the mask, it was clear he was excited to see his new toy destroy those who would now only be in his way, “Yes. Show me what you are capable of, Caitiff!”
The air began to hum with magic as the abomination drew in all the dark magic floating around it, gathering it all up for a single burst of power. It was over. The war was lost. Serenity was lost, replaced by a demon of immense power. The heroes were in the path of it’s destruction. If only they had gotten there sooner. If only.
Part 3: Not Here or in Any Other Time
He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the wall of the Inn. This was wrong. It had to be. This was the third time now, and it was always the same. Serenity lay there, dead. Patrons gathered around her, mourning the sudden death of their Innkeeper. And no one could find a reason, they all said one moment she was alive and well and being her usual, kind self, and the next she was dead. And she always died at the same moment. A week after the thirteenth, at seven in the afternoon.
It was more than coincidence. The Baron had managed to learn the extents of his power, and made the perfect countermeasure. Something had always seemed off about the Baron, but now Kor was certain that whatever Valtrith was, it was not completely mortal. Perhaps the cult had brought him up to an almost divine status, perhaps that was what drew the cult in the first place, but either option made that monster more than what he thought.
“I’m sorry, so, so, so very sorry. Serenity, I should have been there sooner,” his voice was lost among the surprise and panic of the other patrons as they tried in vain to save her. He left, and headed for an empty alley to go back and mourn Serenity with the one group that did not have a body to bury.
He was so exhausted. They had barely made it back to Falconreach before Kor was off again, to other versions of the town. The words of the Baron haunting them the entire way. The monsters left them alone, perhaps knowing that they were the victorious ones this time. Beaten and battered, the long and uneventful trip back home seemed so much more painful than cutting a path through a horde of monsters.
***
Kor could not keep the promise he made to Ash, sleep was the last thing on his mind. They may have confined him to a room to rest, but it was impossible. “...Not here or in any other time,” those words seemed metaphorical to everyone else, but he knew the full meaning of those words.
It seemed so impossible then, Ashendal’s warning that even he couldn’t save them from the events that transpired seemed more like him threatening that he would not help. What little he was able to ask the strange Voidwalker only broke him further. It drove him to go and see for himself. As he lay under the covers, Kor thought of just how he could make this up, how he could fix this. This was the one timeline he could change, his presence, his actions, had seen to that. And now they reached beyond affecting only one.
He had nott failed to save just one person. He failed to save an untold number of variations of a single person, changing the course for so many timelines. He let a monster create a weapon of amazing power, and gave him all the ingredients he needed to rise to power once more in this one. He was unable to stop the abomination that could have easily killed them all were it not for Ash. Was he still a hero after all of this? After everything that came before this recent failure?
It was too late to turn tail and run back to the ones who might have been able to help. His own timeline had it’s own problems now, who knows how much of their research had just been negated by Serenity’s death alone? They were still reeling from last month. “They wouldn’t have help anyway. How... no why, would they have helped? There are more important things to worry about, right?” his mind turned to things that went even further than just this world, to things he had trouble wrapping his head around. Why did everything have to become so complicated?
Something wiggled under his blanket, rubbing it’s scaly head on his chest. He hugged his dragon, Chronus briefly clawing him and his pajamas in protest before settling down. The dragon whimpered softly, he missed Serenity as much as his partner did. “I still don’t want to think she is gone. She was so nice to me when you were frozen,” the rumbling growl Chronus spoke in was oddly soothing, “She didn’t deserve to vanish like that. I am going to tear him to shreds next time! Serenity deserves that at least...”
The rest of the night was quite, the Inn void of the usual partying travelers and locals. Only the faint sounds of Spruce crying as the moglin did Serenity’s duties and of a few patrons who knew Serenity quite well mourning the loss of the innkeeper in the place they had gotten to know her so well in. The somber mood permeated the town, their heroes came back broken, with nothing to show for their efforts, and a figure almost all of them had know to some degree was irrevocably lost. The trust and faith in their protectors lost in the process.
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