Metropolis - The Weight of the World (and Found Wanting)

[Fenris]

"I think that this evil is unlike anything that we may have encountered before, my knowledge is based on the mundane creatures, rather than foes of the spirit." Boar thought for a moment, "I have few enchantments to empower us as a group, but should we stay relatively close to one another I should be able to assist with an occassional spell should it be required."

Dragon shook his head, "Alas I wish my faith was stronger, for the prayers I know are weak sompare to the evil that threatens to consume us, I have but paltry enchantments. All I can suggest is that Boar and myself take secondary roles in the battle, we shall swing our swords, but I fear that should one of us fall our very souls may be in danger..."

Whale hefted his hammer, "Stag, we be with you on this one, it's your call."

"Since the evil eminates from the shaft, we must go down it to confront it. The question becomes how?" says Alexi. He steels his mind and heart before the task in front of him. While he harbours no doubt or fear, he still brings to mind that for which he is here. He bring to mind the lovely face of Gema, his betrothed. He relaxes and remembers what awaits him should he succeed. But before he can dismiss the vision from his mind, Gema's face cahnges into that of Stephanie, smiling and wishing him well. His relaxed manner is gone. But why, what emotions has this vision conjured within him. Alexi shakes his head agin both to dismissed the haunting visage of Stepanie but also to confront that which cannot be avoided.

"Let us have a look and see if there are stairs or a ladder by which we can decend my brothers. Otherwise Boar will have to created wings for us to fly down on" adds Alexi with a wry smile.

 

[Phoenix]

Once Jen is safely away from the well. Jazick casts a protective arm about her shoulders. "I can think of no reason to stay inside this place a moment longer."

Jazick watched the spirits begin to pour upwards out of the well as Jen made her way back across the archway, the sceptre cradled in her arms. For a moment it looked as if she may fall into the bottomless rift, but the chill wind lifted her off her feet and almost tossed her towards the edge of the pit, and into Jazick’s waiting arms.

There was a feeling of warmth as the two of them touched, a warmth that was sorely lacking in this place, but the moment was all too short. The great doors behind them ground shut as if two great spectral hands pulled at them, preventing the two from escaping.

The spirits began to circle in the domed ceiling above, moaning, screaming, occasionally darting down to make a passing grasp at Jen before fleeing in pain and anger. The chamber was filling fast with a geyser of souls, all of them crying out for help.

 

[Phoenix]

[sblock=Phoenix]Azot's eyes grew wide and he grasped his club, cursing as he took an involuntary step backwards from what was once Taran.

'What manner of creature has the Heart turned him into?'

As creation merged with history, Azot's eyes watched it pass and his mind struggled to comprehend what it was seeing. Historians searched for the secrets of the city's past for lifetimes and never discovered a tenth of what was on display for him.

'The arrival of the gods...the expansion..the darkness...'

As he saw the Void drawing the life energy of the city to destroy it, Azot knew that his wish for direction had been granted. His fate was now merged with stopping the Dark Tower and all those who aligned themselves with it.

'Zimmerman...wildlings...Leaguers...all doing their part to destroy the city.'

Seeing Twitchy watching him through those golden eyes, Azot approached the bubble carefully with his hand still wrapped around his club.

"You have showed me much Taran, more than I have any right to know. If this Dark Tower is what is killing the city, then I will find a way to bring it down. Even if it means leaving the city to do so..."[/sblock]

[sblock=Azot]Whispers of wind that dance through the chamber carry the haunting voice of Taran, “Then simply choose your destiny. The city is everywhere, her lifeblood pumps through the very streets, simply tell her where you wish to go and she will provide.”[/sblock]

 

[Tonks]

[sblock=Azot]Whispers of wind that dance through the chamber carry the haunting voice of Taran, “Then simply choose your destiny. The city is everywhere, her lifeblood pumps through the very streets, simply tell her where you wish to go and she will provide.”[/sblock]

[sblock=Phoenix]Steeling his resolve, Azot knew where his destination would be, and he felt that the enigmatic creature that was once Taran already knew it as well. If the heart of the problem was rooted in the Dark Tower then that was where Azot had to begin his journey. The path from the Tower might take him away from there, but he would go there first and see if the Leaguers were there as well.

"Send me to the Tower where the darkness dwells. I will go after the Leaguers and if they and Zimmerman lead me to the Outer lands, I will pursue them there as well."[/sblock]

 

[GlassEye]

Was it her eyes that fooled her, or her mind? Had Ari changed, or was something playing tricks on her? Ari's girth was larger all of a sudden, like it always had been. His face was larger, his fingers fatter, his face leered and hungered.

Was it Ari? Was her memory wrong? She had seen the face before, nestling children in his arms or on his lap. He was familiar to her. Looking at him caused her heart to sicken a little, it felt like old lamp oil settled in her stomach. Something was wrong, but no-one else could see it...

Something was wrong. Ymris inhales deeply expecting Ari's scent of wax and flowers but instead smells something rancid and full of rot. Ymris knows it is wrong even if no one else would see it. She refuses to doubt herself because her baby, her beautiful, helpless baby, relies on Ymris to be strong and protect her. She turns, shielding little Jasmine from the man. She hates to call him Ari because it wasn't the Ari she remembers. "Go away...Ari. And take the package with you."

 

[Phoenix]

"Since the evil eminates from the shaft, we must go down it to confront it. The question becomes how?" says Alexi. He steels his mind and heart before the task in front of him. While he harbours no doubt or fear, he still brings to mind that for which he is here. He bring to mind the lovely face of Gema, his betrothed. He relaxes and remembers what awaits him should he succeed. But before he can dismiss the vision from his mind, Gema's face cahnges into that of Stephanie, smiling and wishing him well. His relaxed manner is gone. But why, what emotions has this vision conjured within him. Alexi shakes his head agin both to dismissed the haunting visage of Stepanie but also to confront that which cannot be avoided.

"Let us have a look and see if there are stairs or a ladder by which we can decend my brothers. Otherwise Boar will have to created wings for us to fly down on" adds Alexi with a wry smile.

Within the shaft a great (but flimsy) construction of scaffolding spiralled down into the depths, allowing the knights careful egress into the heart of evil. The shaft itself delved deep into the earth, forcing the knights to stop after hours of careful climbing to rest and eat. As they continued onwards, the evil grew more powerful, so much so that Alexi could taste its foul presence, evil see the corruption it brought in the dark stains on the walls.

The iron pole continued the entire distance downwards, and even Whale was forced to comment on its impossible exsitance, for even if someone could forge it, none would be able to get it into this shaft in one piece.

Each of the knights rested at one point, sleeping uncomfortably in the wake of evil. Alexi woke several times to unnamable horrors that haunted his nightmares, and even the hardened Boar looked rattled as he rose from his slumber.

It was over ten hours before the knights entered the pitch darkness that signalled the lair that they sought. As each entered the darkness avoided them, or did they glow? But the chamber opened about them in their presence, and the lair was something less than what was expected.

The chamber had been excavated by the six men that now lay dead on the floor, each of their bodies corrupted so that their flesh had melted into crimson pools and their organs cooked and popped in their bodies. Ocassionally something would burst and spray one of the knights with its fluids.

On the far side of the chamber was the beginning of a bridge, built of the darkest purple marble it looked as if master craftsmen had spent their lives trying to build something of pure beauty. It was decorated with carvings of fantastic beasts that none recognised, be they tentacled faced abominations or angelic beauties with feathered wings. The bridge ended against a rock wall where a pulsating metal door was chained and locked by dozens of crude naval locks.

Off to one side a small halfling slumped against a wall where he had been studying ancient runes, one of many sections of the chamber that sported them. He had dozens of tablets to one side of him and looked like he had been taking notes.

 

[Bront]

Jazick watched the spirits begin to pour upwards out of the well as Jen made her way back across the archway, the sceptre cradled in her arms. For a moment it looked as if she may fall into the bottomless rift, but the chill wind lifted her off her feet and almost tossed her towards the edge of the pit, and into Jazick’s waiting arms.

There was a feeling of warmth as the two of them touched, a warmth that was sorely lacking in this place, but the moment was all too short. The great doors behind them ground shut as if two great spectral hands pulled at them, preventing the two from escaping.

The spirits began to circle in the domed ceiling above, moaning, screaming, occasionally darting down to make a passing grasp at Jen before fleeing in pain and anger. The chamber was filling fast with a geyser of souls, all of them crying out for help.

Jen turned and called out, "I'm not here for you souls! Return to where you came from!"

 

[Fenris]

On the far side of the chamber was the beginning of a bridge, built of the darkest purple marble it looked as if master craftsmen had spent their lives trying to build something of pure beauty. It was decorated with carvings of fantastic beasts that none recognised, be they tentacled faced abominations or angelic beauties with feathered wings. The bridge ended against a rock wall where a pulsating metal door was chained and locked by dozens of crude naval locks.

Off to one side a small halfling slumped against a wall where he had been studying ancient runes, one of many sections of the chamber that sported them. He had dozens of tablets to one side of him and looked like he had been taking notes.

Alexi struggled through the rank, vile corruption of this place. Choking on it's venom that threatened to overwhem them. But still they trudged downward into that improbable pit.

Were it not for the other beacons of light around him, Alexi may have lost his senses, such was the oppressive evil of the Pit. but together they trudged along to the bottom, to the scenes of carnage that awaited them.

As they gazed out over the bridge, Alexi was filled with a sense of dread and wonder. How did such a work of artistry come to be constructed down here when the cavern was so new?

Finally he spoke. "Brothers, we are come to our reckoning. I greatly dread what lays beyond that door. If it has not been opened in ages, what may we let lose upon Metropolis by opening it. But if that is where the evil arises, then just as surely that is where we must go to face it. But first, I think Brother Dragon and Brother Boar would do well to examine the tablets and runes of the halfling and upon the wall to divine what we can about the door first. But let us be cautious. I believe only our own grace and purity ae preventing us from boiling from within."

 

[Phoenix]

The spirits wailed and moaned, heedless of Jen’s demands. It only took seconds for the spirits to flood the chamber riding a tornado of icy wind, screaming and uncontrollably flying through the air. Though the temperature had dropped dramatically in the chamber, neither Jen nor Jazick felt the same numb soul draining effects as before, for a warmth emitted from the Sceptre that seemed to comfort and protect them, at least from that danger.

Jen could feel her feet grow light, then her body began to lift into the air slowly. Though Jazick still held onto her, the wind seemed to be pulling only her into the air, slowly dragging her into the eye of the storm. Jazick was strong enough to resist the supernatural test of strength, for a while, but soon the pull grew to the point where he was bracing himself and doing all he could not to let her go.

The great doors of the chamber burst open once more, and standing in the archway was a short lean man, his hair and beard wild and unkempt, garbed in strange skins and bones, probably reptilian, and saturated with grime that coated his body like a second skin. Bright emerald eyes peered into the chamber past shaggy brows, as if assessing the situation with a practised mind.

 

[Phoenix]

Dragon and Boar nodded and moved over to the shattered halfling and began to carefully study his notes as well as the runes, keeping one careful eye on the bridge as well as their companion knights. Whale furrowed his brow and stepped to the foot of the bridge, looking up at the great doors that barely seemed to contain the evil that lied beyond it. “C’mon boy, let’s wait at the foot of this beasty fer it to come at us, no sense in us wastin’ our time in affairs that we can’t assist.”

Agonizing minutes drew out before Boar and Dragon walked across with their findings. Each had a strange expression on their faces as they decrypted the ancient texts.

“It talks about an exodus of some kind, a leaving,” Boar began. “It speaks of another place, perhaps another city, called Solaris:

The world was dry, freezing, lifeless to us all. The city could not sustain us as a people, for the Heart had died, we had snuffed the life from that which had sustained us. We could not leave our Solaris, but it had already left us. The secrets of the City were lost to us, for no key existed that could unlock the secrets of the bridge.

We used our most powerful S’lisars to pray to Solaris, bending powerful magics to open the way, but it was not enough. Magic that could destroy and army could not force the bridge to bend to our will. Our people died by the thousands, there was no longer anything left to eat but each other, and we gained nothing from devouring our children but a taste of the Void that awaited us.

In the last days the Zy’mar marched upon our encampment, signalling the final wars that would devastate both our people before Solaris was consumed. The Kal-Zy’mar raised his mighty staff of ice and called down the infernal magics of the Void upon us, but we did not die, or suffer, or be devoured alive by demonic shades.

His magic fused with ours, opening the way for us to leave our dying world, but only for a short time. We sent our children, guided by two chosen leaders, one from each army, one of the shade and cold, one of the sun and warmth. I was one, and when we came to this place, the bridge gave us no more of our people past that which we led.

For a new world, we took new names, and left the folly of the old world behind. I eventually came to love the man I now know as Jazick, and he loves me. I have chosen the name Jasmine, for it was my mother’s favourite flora, may we live forever in this peaceful place.”