| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
[SoT] Caspion vs The_Dark_Lord
02.09.04, 13:35:33
|
|
|
|
Post #1 (permalink) |
|
|
| |
|
|
The first person to post can choose the setting.
Good luck to both of you.
May the battle begin |
______________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
A small draft of air fell across Dao's feet, the stagnant air of Salem's bar crossing him alike a depressing reminder of home. Dao quickly shook his head to save himself from the sorrows that were consuming him; after all as an assassin he should always be ready for a fight shouldn’t he? Dao threw the bottle to the ground, though it wasn’t with enough force to break, and instead it merely rolled into the sidewall, dropping slightly into a gutter around the room, and wedging itself, drearily bobbing back and forth. Dao's attention drifted back away from the bottle, and towards the band ahead, with the irritating sound they were creating, drumming throughout the area.
Dao sat for several hours, paying only minimal attention to the sound and concentrating instead on an invisible spot ahead of him, not moving throughout, just staring blankly at this imaginary spot, as if something was about to happen, though Dao was still unaware what. By now the constant drumming had really got into Dao's head and the urge to destroy it was by now an uncontrollable wish. Dao rose sharply to his feet, the bar stool being knocked backwards to the ground, with a heavy "THUNK" as it hit, and a scraping noise as it rolled round on its axis, followed by a smaller bang as it hit the table. Suddenly Dao was aware that Darkness was with him, as he jumped from his sleep with the shadows under the table, disturbed the stool hitting the table leg.
"Sorry...” Dao spoke quietly to his companion.
Darkness looked up at Dao and realising that he may be noticed fell back to the ground and picked the stool up. Dao sank back into the floor. As Dao was returning to his invisible spot, a sudden awareness shot over him as Darkness "spoke" to him through thoughts, informing him of possible danger. Dao turned around, and for the first time since he had arrived, truly took note of what was around him. He was at the right edge of a group of tables, which funnelled by the walls (enclosing the rectangle area he was in off), sat at the front of the bar, closest to the stage. The stage was a simple wooden platform, which was currently occupied by various instruments, and drunks. The lead up to the stage was a few steps, either side, not very high, but occupied, on the right side at least, by 3 unconscious drunks, one with a mug in hand, which was leaking over a second, dripping onto his chest. The tables around Dao were all round, old wooden things; with various graffiti marks ingrained into them, and surrounded by three to four steady looking wooden circle bar stools.
As the room widened beyond the area singled out where Dao had sat, a dance floor was open in the centre, with more tables and stools. The dance floor itself was frequented by various drunks, most of them in some sort of consciousness, though most littering the floor. Beyond that again a long bar stand covered the back wall, with a door at the far left serving as the only way in or out of the bar. The bar stand was inhabited with many bottles, with varying amounts of various liquids (and some with unidentifiable solids) within them. The bar stand itself was solid oak, old and mouldy, yet with no signs of breaking in the foreseeable future.
A dank atmosphere filled the room, and the air stagnant, was illuminated by candles around the walls, and an oil lamp on each table, entrapped within a circle glass tomb, with a small hole for air at the top. The air smelt of age-old alchohol and fumes of a thousand unidentifiable origins. Thus was the state of Salem’s bar for as long as anyone could remember, and unless the place was knocked down, it would remain like that forever.
Dao’s attention swiftly returned to the large man approaching him. His air of authority made clear who the hulk was. This was Salem, and he didn’t seem to impress with Dao’s recent show of hostility, and he was about to make it clear. Dao rose to meet Salem. Before Dao spoke though he took note of Salem’s features and quickly analysed him, as he did with all others, more through assassin’s instinct for protection, than for the hope of picking a fight. Salem’s head was seemingly perfectly round; disturbed only by two stumpy ears protruding from either side of his head, the left pierced by a golden ring, of no particular note and some small tufts of white wispy hair, floating airily from the back of his head, with the front being bold, and adding to the circular look. Salem’s body followed much of the same pattern as his head, round, with two protrusions poking from high on the sides of his torso, his arms, which if followed down quickly led to strong looking biceps, and dangerous looking hands. He obviously wasn’t new to the world of bars, the scars of a hundred bar fights evident on this hands and arms. Salem’s short stumpy legs completed the look, making him look sturdy as an oak, and a formidable foe. Dao’s quickly looked back to the face, and noted that Salem, seemed also to be checking him out, trying to see what kind of a fight he could put up if it ever turned out that way. Before he learn anything Dao spoke out.
“Can I help you?”
Salem’s eyes shot up and met Dao’s. His concentration broke he responded to the question.
“I understand you got a problem with the music I got playing in the bar?”
Dao smiled and looked back to the invisible spot and considered his response, then quickly returned Salem’s gaze.
“Yeah I have, but I don’t want to bother you. Thank you”
Dao turned to sit but was interrupted and turned back to Salem
“Well you have already intimidated the band, and when you intimidate entertainment at my bar you are trying to intimidate me, and I’m not so easily scared. Are you trying to intimidate me?”
Dao was growing impatient with Salem by now, the irritation becoming clearly visible both in the way he spoke, which was by now a hiss through his teeth with a forced politeness, and his eyes also spelled out his agitation.
“NO I just want to sit here? OK?”
Salem by now seemed to Dao to be looking for a fight, and at the way things were going he was going to get one. Dao’s hopes that this would not be the case though, seemed bleaker every second. Salem’s face twisted in visible agony at the question, one Dao thought, he was probably asked quite often, especially from the expression evident on his face.
“Just get out of my bar”
Dao smiled for a moment the scorned, taking a step towards Salem, and putting his face within inches of the barkeepers, Dao’s voice became a whisper and he spoke one word.
“No”
At this, clear rage shot across Salem’s face and his hands flew through the air, forming fist as they moved. These quickly changed as a shot of shadow flew through Dao, and smashed into the barkeeper. Salem let out a small yelp as he shot backwards. Smashing into a wall, he neglected to fall, instead being held up by a shadow harness, with two eyes glaring out from its peak. Darkness glared down at his quarry and strictly resumed the form of a snake like harness holding Salem in place. At the sight of this the nearest drunk fell to the ground through shock, or alcohol poison, either way it wasn’t important. Very little of the rest of the bar seemed to notice, care, or want to get involved. Either, all or other reasons left Dao, Darkness and Salem alone. Dao walked towards Salem and spoke to the man, who merely moments ago had seemed so strong and in control, now seemed terrified and weak.
“You had to try and fight didn’t you?”
Dao would have waited for a response, but in following a sweat bead sliding down Salem’s face, he quickly noticed Darkness had his mouth covered, so he resumed.
“Well first I think it’s time to change the music”
With that Dao turned away from the ensnared barkeep and up to the table nearest to the stage, which was at the centre, but still kept a good three metres between Dao and the rise onto the stage. Suddenly the sound of the band halted, though they were still playing, no sound came from the instruments, and the singers voice seemed dead. A resonance of melancholy covered the bar and the barkeeper burst out into tears, and began shaking violently to escape Darkness. His attempts however, were in vain. The band stepped away from the various contraptions they had been playing their music on. As they did so the wall behind them grew arms and faces, sculpted out of solid wood, yet moving through it like a boat through water, with gaping maws of oak leading into a black abyss of nothingness. The reached out, grabbing the member of the band, and sucking the partially into the wall. Dao smiled and a feel of great satisfaction emanated from deep within Darkness. The singer of the band broke free and jumped forwards, turning to face the monstrosity that had nearly taken him. He watched in horror as his other band member were pulled further into the wall, until eventually the wall grew still and all that remained of his friends were frozen pictures of a fear, of a known terror of unimaginable scale, forever tainting the area around them. The singer broke down into tears, and fell to his knees. Dao wasn’t finished with him yet though. The singer yet out a small cry of help, as a new awful realisation dawned upon him. The tears he cried were blood and as he looked back up to his colleagues they cried the same tears, with the droplets piercing through the wall, and dripping down the impressions of the bodies. A new understanding entered the singer’s thoughts, and his tears stopped. As his tears dried, the tears of his former band also stopped though the small lining of blood that had emerged at the foot of the wall around them hadn’t. The singer stumbled back to his feet, his hands waving desperately in the air to aid his balance, though eventually he did succeed. By now much of the bar had sobered through shock. No one spoke a word they seemed not to have the ability to, as if some unseen force compelled them to watch the drama unfolding before their eyes.
Dao turned back to Darkness, who by now was more than satisfied with the events, and had been watching so intensively he had neglected to notice that Salem had fallen unconscious. Upon Dao noticing this Darkness dropped the barkeep, and his limp, lifeless body fell into the gutter at the side of the room, smashing the bottle Dao had just recently dropped. The smashing of the bottle sounded a lot louder than it was, destroying the silence for but a second, before silence returned to the bar. A thin liquid seeped down the gutter, trickling over the traverse as it followed the pipe, and one Dao was happy that the affair with Salem was over he turned his attention back to the singer, who by now had made a couple of steps, on his march towards the wall spot, which he had only just escaped a few moments before. As he neared the wall the gliding force of the wall returned and he simply moved in. The ominous scenes that greeted onlookers were complete, the final piece in place. The story of entwined fate, and slow realisation that a terror indescribable by any method, was all that awaited him, thusly ending the list of fear, pain, helplessness, and now understanding that scarred the wall. Darkness disappeared into the ground and spilled across the floor, a puddle of shadow flowing up to the stage, and across to where Dao was standing. Dao turned to face his audience, with a realisation of his own emerging in his thoughts. Darkness arrived and once again took a three dimensional shape, resulting in the general wolf form of Darkness appearing at Dao’s side.
The thought, which had entered Dao’s mind, was that many of the patrons here would now gladly die for their barkeeper, and although Dao could easily facilitate that will, too many experiences at one is bad even for Dao’s mind and the local authorities probably wouldn’t take to kindly to him killing everyone, and so on, until eventually Dao hit a problem and would be in trouble. The silence still plagued the area, and whilst Dao thought of a way to leave, without prematurely heading back to the plane of shadows, the path was made clear to him. The door creaked and one of the larger customers shouted in a deep voice, “GET BACK IN HERE!” The door shut and a huge roar of whether to leave or not burst out. It took only a matter of seconds before the first punch was thrown, and shortly thereafter the whole bar erupted into combat. The fighting however was at the other side of the room, and Dao had no intention of participating unless it was needed that he intervened. Dao’s inadvertent success made him smile and he took a step towards the door, however the smile quickly vanished. Darkness has sensed something.
There was another one in here, who was not alike the others, and Darkness sensed a battle would likely result. Dao felt the thoughts of Darkness and understood exactly. He jumped back to the front of the air, slicing through the air with precision, landing crouched before jumping to a ready position, dagger drawn. Dao looked around the bar for his expected opponent; his eyes though only fell on the warring patrons of the bar, in their meaningless struggle. A scary thought shot through Dao, and his sight shot up to the criss-cross of supports, which held the roof a top the bar, many shadows and area’s that were hidden from Dao, were not only here, but all around the bar. Behind where the wall stretched out? Hiding behind the thick oak bar? Could it be one of the fighting patrons? Or worse yet, could it be a match Dao couldn’t beat, whom hadn’t arrived yet, with Dao having foolishly squandered his chances to escape? Dao’s body visibly stiffened, ready for whatever this presence was, even though Dao didn’t like not knowing where his opponent was; after all through most of his life, he had picked the targets and the time, he was willing to take on a challenge. Now all Dao could do was wait. His dagger shook in his hand, ready with expectancy, and Dao’s vision shot around the room. A new sound broke the fight, a growl. Darkness was ready, and Dao waited in anticipation. |
______________________________________
From Childhood's hour i have not been
As others were - I have not seen
As others saw - I could not bring
My passions from a common spring-
The Dark Lord has arrived....
The spawn of Dammo and Lennon....you know it's gonna be bad.
200 posts - Valentines day 04, 16:27 gmt
400 posts - 02/03/04 19:32 gmt
|
|
|
|
|
|
They call it the "Thief's Highway" because it was high above the ground and almost exclusively used by the less desirable members of Malor City's society. The network of bolt-holes, hide-aways, and escape routes crossed the entire city and gave those who knew the way easy access to all but the most isolated buildings in the city without the bother of getting caught in the human traffic below.
It was along one of these rooftop roads that Caspion and Tricky slept or, to be more precise, Tricky slept while Caspion had his shoulder utilised as a pillow as he stared at the stars. He couldn’t actually see the night sky or even Tricky, the young thief he had become quite attached to. Caspion was blind, his eyes were torn from him many years ago, yet the wounds still remained open and occasionally bled when he was particularly angry. This blindness didn’t really hinder Caspion in any way; the demonic blood in his veins had given him extraordinary hearing and a sense of smell that could track a fart through a skunks’ bean-feast.
Caspion had been focusing on the pub for the past few minutes; it was a real dive and not the sort of place he’d usually frequent. It had only just passed midnight yet the stench of stale beer, vomit and urine already hung over the place like a huge cloud. There was something else, just on the edge of even his spectacular senses. If smells were colours and sounds then the scent of the pub would be a soft greenish-yellow and would sound like a cat trying to relieve itself through a sewn-up backside, this new scent, however, would be a sharp blue or red and it would sound like things early man built statues and sacrificed their first-born to. Suddenly a scream erupted from inside the bar. One of the lesser-known skills shared by both thieves and policemen is the ability to identify different screams, there was a difference between “Help! I‘m drunk and I’ve trodden on my fingers and now I can’t get up!” and “Look out! He’s got a knife!” This scream was currently occupying the same wavelength of “Oh****oh****oh****! I’m going to die!” and was rising in urgency.
Caspion sat up, instantly alert, he was suddenly aware that the pub’s music, a rythmless affair that sounded just like the how the pub smelled and put Caspion in mind of Metallica back home, had stopped. While this was by all means a good thing it was also worrying, the band had been playing the same rubbish for hours, anyone willing to play the same tune for hours would probably happily carry on for the rest of the night. Now the whole street was engulfed in an eerie silence, a normal person wouldn’t find this unusual – it was past midnight after all. But to Caspion, a man with hearing so good he could identify a playing card by sound, this was possibly the most terrifying feature of the night so far. Nowhere is ever totally silent, even the Silent Hells themselves have the slight noise of the universe going about its business.
Down by his side, Tricky sighed in her sleep; she hadn’t even awakened when she slipped off of Caspion’s shoulder, whatever she was dreaming of, it was almost definitely better than the nightmare Caspion’s imagination had cooked up in the pub. Tricky, she was a blessing in Caspion’s seemingly cursed life, she was a skilled stealthier and a damn fine thief, she was the only person Caspion would ever trust to watch his back. Her face was the last thing Caspion ever saw before ‘The Incident’, that fateful event that cost Caspion his eyes and awakened his demonic aspect.
After a few more minutes of silence, Caspion caved in to the curiosity that drove him through life, after all, he reasoned, there couldn’t be anything worse in that pub than what his irritatingly graphic imagination had already dreamt up. He stood up slowly, trying to keep his balance on the damp slates of the actor’s guild roof – his and Tricky’s chosen roost for the night. He unbuckled the brooch holding his dark green cloak in place and, with slightly too much reverence, adjusted his fedora. With all the grace of a cat he dropped the three stories between the roof and the ground and landed with barely a sound.
As soon as Caspion hit the ground he was moving towards the dimly lit doorway of Salem’s Bar. There were no windows to see inside the bar, that gave whoever was inside a slight advantage, Caspion wouldn’t be able to see what he was up against and he was restricted to one entrance, an entrance that would leave him silhouetted against the lamplight of a window across the street. Caspion was considering his dilemma when the door burst open and three men, reeking of alcohol, vomit and large amounts of abject terror ran screaming into the nighttime streets as if the hounds of hell were hunting them down. Caspion seized the moment of confusion and dashed through the door with a speed that could put a cheetah to shame and took to the safety of a handy shadow before even considering examining the room he had blindly entered.
The interior of the bar was everything Caspion was expecting, a dank hole that look as if it was dreamt up by a someone who had never been inside a bar in his life, it could barely be considered a bar – it was just a place where men could attempt to drink himself to oblivion on beer that had the same appearance, taste and smell as rat’s urine, it certainly brought a new meaning to ‘rat arsed’ or even ‘pissed’.
There was a fight going on inside, it wasn’t really unusual for this sort of dive, everyone seemed to be desperate to get away from a wall behind the stage, the stench of beer fuelled terror filled the room like a small puff of methane in a crowded elevator, taking up all the free space available. The source of the terror was the wall, when Caspion focused his mind towards it he was almost overcome by the same terror that filled the room. For once Caspion was happy to be blind, there are some things that not even his aforesaid imagination couldn’t prepare him for.
In the centre of a widening circle in the crowd of brawling former drinkers, stood a young man and a … creature, he was searching the rafters with a worried look on his face. Caspion now had an idea of what happened here, he drew his sword and crept, silent as a shadow towards the young man. Once he was close enough he laid the sword lightly on the boy’s shoulder and spoke in a voice employed by salesmen everywhere.
“Hi, I’m selling these fine, leather jackets.” |
______________________________________
[center] 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Darkness stretched out, his body tensing, and he growled. He picked up on something, and became clearly agitated. This was clearly conveyed into Dao’s mind and he quickly began to wonder what would happen next. Dao grew jumpy, watching and waiting, trying to find this “threat”. It suddenly dawned on him that he was easily identifiable, and if any threat did come, he had made himself openly apparent. Just as this thought crossed Dao’s mind, a weight landed on his shoulder. Dao clasped his eyes shut, cursing his stupidity. Dao turned his head slightly. Time seemed to have stopped, and for the first time, in a very long time Dao had been caught off guard. A glint caught Dao’s eye as a beam of light fell clumsily onto the blade, from a flickering candle. Dao’s mind was put slightly at ease, with the realisation, that if his opponent were intent on killing him there, Dao wouldn’t still be thinking right now. Suddenly a few words crawled into Dao’s ears.
“Hi, I’m selling these fine, leather jackets”
Dao almost smiled. That was strange in itself, but whilst contemplating his own stupidity? That was definitely strange. Dao finally decided he was going to get a leather jacket, by the end of the night even. However there was more at hand then that now. Dao’s mind quickly lapsed from his imprudence again, to the current situation. Just because his opponent had wanted to make an opening speech, didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kill him now. From a moment of nothing, Dao shot into motion, Darkness quickly followed, tracing his movements, almost to the point of perfection. He rolled forward, as to avoid the blade, which was until then still resting on his shoulder. Darkness left behind a mist of shadow, that by now seemed to be emanating from Dao, due to the utter perfection of which Darkness was following. As Dao first hit the floor, a cold shiver shot through him. The stone sent another scolding reminder of home through his body. Dao continued his role, trying to think of home as little as possible, it was a depressing place, and that was something this bar already had enough of. Or would have very shortly. Dao’s amethyst began to glow intensely, and with that a deep roar came from the ceiling, above Dao, who by now was still mostly beneath the sword. As the world began turning around Dao, even the stagnant air of the bar, seemed to rush out of the way of the terrible sound. Darkness stopped his pursuit of Dao and reformed from the mist that had been following Dao, in a majestic, yet questionable movement. Darkness lowered himself, ready for an attack; this was signified by the brooding growl that made its home in the bowls of the shadow creature. Dao caught a glimpse of the effect of the beam he had brought into to be his diversion. A face stretched out of the support beam from the ceiling, and pulled it down at impossible angles, with a speed unfitting to the newly animated creature, which seemed to be fighting to get to the ground as fast as possible, forcing its way through invisible walls. The roll Dao was in, made it impossible for his to see the effect of the beam upon his opponent, or his weapon. Now however Dao felt his feet hit the floor, and he took the first opportunity to leap from the ground.
Dao shot up from the floor, like an arrow from a long bow, deadly straight, and strong. As he flew through the air however he composed himself, and the amulet around Dao’s neck began to glow brightly again, and Dao focused his energy to launch an attack from within it, to a target he wasn’t sure the location of. The world slowed down as Dao struggled to conjure up three souls that had been callously collected for future use. Dao’s amulet was the source of his power, and contained the souls of recently departed victims, and it was some of these he was trying to conjure to his fight. Different things affect people sanity, and Dao understood this. So he was going to bring in as many different effects as he could. Suddenly the strain on Dao vanished, and the sound Dao longed to hear pushed through the air, and was picked up by his ears.
“Hello mister”, came a small voice from across the room. In Dao’s last fight his opponent had killed several children at a park, however his need was not of the souls. Dao had collected them, and now they were summoned to the battle. These served two purposes, the first being an attempt to scare his opponent, and the second, and more importantly, that Dao could aim his next attack, from the place the sound came from. Dao twisted in the air, and was by now getting tired of the spinning, and an ill feeling gripped Dao for a few seconds. Dao ignored this for now though, and pulled three small-pronged pieces of metal from his cloak, and the almost seeming less depth of the pockets. As Dao looked up his faced vanished into the shadows, as his cloak emulated the shadow that he had entered high above the ground. The light quickly returned, as the wood that had blocked the light ended. Dao homed in on the area the sound had come from, and with a slight flick of his hand, the stars shot forth, and towards where Dao’s opponent was. Darkness lay in wait for his friend’s next request, as Dao softly landed on a table, and stood up to face his opponent. His eyes fell on the three girls he had summoned. The girls were small and timid looking, yet showing no signs of this in their current boldness towards an armed man. All three had blonde, shoulder length hair, and flowing dresses that reached the floor. However their movements left an echo, and this led to an unnatural feel, which came from deep within understanding of humanity. Dao waited for his opponent’s response. |
Last edited by Sorrow : 02.10.04 at 13:46:53.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Caspion swore under his breath, it was obviously too much to hope the mystery youth would just surrender. The lad had slipped away from him with a speed that even a viper would be impressed with. Caspion was just about to pursue the kid when he felt a sudden change in the air above him, before he had time to think, his legs, which, at times, have a far better sense of self-preservation, kicked backwards. Merely a fraction of a second later the thing above him caught his flailing hand and sent his sword flying across the room.
It may be worth noting that about this time Salem, the bars owner who had been rendered unconscious about five minutes ago, had just woken up. He going through the usual motions called for in such situations such as groaning, moaning and attempting to reassemble the events that knocked him out, when an erratically airborne short-sword came spinning out of the shadows around the rafters and met his forehead with a meaty crunch. Luckily for Salem, the short was poorly balanced and it was only the swords hilt that hit him. As the welcoming arms of unconsciousness once again wrapped their arms around Salem he decided that tomorrow, if he ever saw tomorrow, he would buy that chicken farm he had always wanted and retire to the country. This has absolutely no bearing on future events but it’s nice to know anyway.
Caspion had successfully dodged his assailant from above but his backward leap to safety was a clumsy one, as he landed he fought with forces such as gravity, an unforgiving mistress, to keep his balance and stay on his feet. As he struggled to stay upright a young, feminine voice issued apparently from nowhere. The voice had come from nearby but Caspion couldn’t smell or sense anybody.
“Hello mister”
The shock of hearing the disembodied voice caused Caspion to lose his battle with gravity and fall backwards. Just as he hit the floor Caspion felt something moving at great speed pass over his head, obviously a throwing star, if he had not fallen over it would have given him a stomachache that not even Milk of Magnesia could relieve.
Caspion stood up and tried to get his bearings, it proved harder than usual. Right now Caspion needed a map, not a geographical map but one that might show where his head was at. Strange things were happening inside the Salem’s Bar, the ceiling had been replaced with pink custard and the walls had adopted the appearance of a tropical beach. In the background the Venus de Milo was playing Stone, Paper, Scissors with Darth Vader, her lack of fingers or even arms was giving her trouble. On a table next to him a beer glass developed a scouse accent and slithered away. A large and thoroughly irritated Metaphor turned to look at him with its nostrils before roaring at him in a voice that was precisely on flat fifth higher than that of Simon Cowell.
Caspion was about to question this turn of events before reality snapped back with enough force to throw him across the room towards the bar. In most situations such as this the bar would collapse as the body hit it, but narrative causality wasn’t quite as strong in Malor as most people would believe. This is why, upon hitting the solid oak bar, Caspion bounced with a distressingly meaty sound and landed behind the bar.
There was someone else hiding behind the bar, but this time Caspion recognised the scent. He sat up. “You’re awake at last, then.”
“Yep,” said Tricky, she was crouching behind the bar next to Caspion with her dagger drawn. Caspion couldn’t help noticing that there was already blood on the blade, Tricky was from a realm much less peaceful than earth and held no regrets when it came to killing someone who wanted to kill you. “It makes you feel several corrupt politicians short of a government, doesn’t it?”
“It’s the guy I was holding up,” shouted Caspion “he’s getting into our heads somehow.” He shook his head in an attempt to fully establish contact with the real world. Something that smelled like coffee was pushed under his nose; the scent alone was enough to wake him up slightly.
“This coffee should help you think a little clearer.” Tricky gave the flask to him. Caspion nodded gratefully and took a swig, the effect was amazing, somehow Tricky had managed to concentrate an entire coffee plantation into one brew, donkeys and all. He could practically feel his mind unclouding, the pink fog of mild insanity gave way to the sharp, jagged edges of a mind on a serious coffee trip.
Tricky crept away, trying to stay away from the brawlers, and went to ‘minister’ to the fallen. In this context ‘ministering’ means to strip the incumbent of any expensive jewellery, rifle through their pockets and sometimes steal their boots. In several bar fights the last thing many a brawler saw before lapsing into unconsciousness was Tricky advancing on them with a knife, a sack and a calculating expression.
After Tricky had gone Caspion noticed a stack of plates under the bar, they were made of cheap pot metal and were so old and worn that the edges were razor sharp. Caspion smiled and remembered the throwing star, “well”, he thought, “if he plays ball with me, I’ll play ball with him”.
In one movement Caspion grabbed ten of the plates and rolled out from behind the bar. It took him the work of just a split second to find his opponent; it was the only male scent that didn’t reek of the rat’s piss everyone was drinking. With eye watering speed and surprising accuracy he frisbeed the plates directly at his target. Without even waiting for the plates to hit, Caspion charged at his opponent, his fists clenched and his adrenalin rising rapidly, he wasn’t going to let the little **** mess with his head any more. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dao watched as his opponent fell to the ground on hearing the girl’s voice, which under any other circumstance would have been a great opportunity to rush, but there were things in the way, and Dao still wasn’t sure of his opponents abilities in combat, there was a girl in the way, and what would normally be a major distraction from an oncoming ninja, had just flown over his head. These factors combined, all led to a very unsure Dao. However a final event held more sway over Dao’s mind. At this point it is customary for Darkness to lead the assault, however Darkness was slipping into the pillar that Dao had recently added to the room. Something was wrong that Dao wasn’t yet aware of. As darkness walked into the pillar, the only thing that made it apparent this had happened, was a small curling mist, which quickly vanished into the pillar.
Dao turned back to his opponent, and having been distracted, had lost sight of him. Dao’s body grew visible tense. The continual mad ramblings of the bar patrons were making it very difficult for Dao to listen for his opponent.
“Shut up you rambling idiots, or I’ll give you something to really cry about.”
With this the fight ceased, and Dao felt disheartened. However Dao hadn’t spent most of his life in a place, worse than the Earth description of hell, not to have a nasty, malicious streak. Dao’s amulet began to glow yet again, and a pillar rose up mid way between him and the bar. By now the screaming occupant, who had until seconds ago been standing on the floor, which was now rising for him, had realised his fate, and slumped in acceptance. However even Dao had not anticipated the next event, and a red circle shot through his neck, and several more followed, through the various parts of his body. The man slumped to the floor, and rolled down his stand. His limp and lifeless body captured a look of pure terror, the shock of an unexpected death, snatching him from the accepted. The corpse was spraying blood around the room. Dao raised an eyebrow, before a blood spray shot across his face. The warm blood dripped ran down his face, and pooled at the bottom, dripping off his chin. Dao wiped the blood from him and looked at the floor around him. Several blood-covered plate’s lay there.
“I must admit, that’s the most inventive plate use I’ve seen here”
However the sound of a man rushing towards Dao, removed the humour from the situation. The pillar in front of Dao, which until merely seconds ago had contained a screaming corpse-to-be, exploded with energy from the tormented souls contained within the amulet. Debris shot at amazing speed across room, with much of it seemingly diverted towards the sound of the running. None of the debris came Dao’s way, which under any other circumstance would be very unusual.
Whilst these events had been taking place Darkness had also been making his move. Darkness had sensed an accomplice and moved to engage them. As he shot up the pillar, the amulet, which although bound to Dao, had also been affecting Darkness, and the thick wood of the pillar, began changing into thousands of eyes, being held together in the same twisted formatted as the pillar by some unseen force. The thousand eyes began crying in unison, with blood dripping down from each of them, appearing as the deepest black shadow shot up it. These eyes however, all turned to face a young looking girl heading towards an unconscious man lying on the floor. Darkness vanished at the top of the newly formed twisting pillar of staring, crying eyes. As the eyes watched the girl heading got close to one of the bar patrons, Darkness shot out of it towards the woman. The scream that came from Darkness was truly amazing, filling the entire room with a sound, that may resemble the expected screams, of a thousand people, being slowly dipped into a lava stream, all in unison. Dao felt his ears ring, however at the time this was happening, Dao was watching the person exploding.
As Darkness leapt forth from the body towards the girl, screaming as aforementioned, he began to take the form of the shadow wolf he usually resembled, in his customary elegant manner. As Darkness was nearing the girl, Dao’s event had also just finished, and this was the apex of the two simultaneous attacks.
Darkness brandished his claws and stared intently at the little being, as he flew towards her, slashing and yelling as he approached. The crying eyes, lost their form and fell the ground, covering much of the surface of the bar in a sticky mucus, of blood and bodily fluids, with the eyes now spreading their gaze between Dao’s opponent and his friend. At this time Dao’s attack, was much more intent on stopping the oncoming assailant, in case the debris, or floor of eyes failed to. The young girl, whom Dao had summoned appeared in front of the charging man and smiled at him. Suddenly the wall of debris exploded through her, with blood, and body parts exploding forwards into the man.
The dust prevented Dao from seeing the result of the girl exploding over the man, and instead concentrated on taking back what was his. A dark spectre shot around the room, passing through man and objects a like. The spirit of the girl was free, and Dao called for her power to join back with his amulet. The spectre, having only recently been let out, was needless to say, reluctant to oblige. A shadow emerged from deep within the amulet around Dao’s neck, and latched itself onto the spirit. The spectre yelled out, in its former voice, pleading for forgiveness from an unknown god, which either had no willed, or no ability to help her. The spectre exploded into a cloud, resembling the appearance of Darkness with no form. The cloud rushed away from the amulet, and began to reach through one of the walls. Dao yelled out in pain from the concentration required to pull this wild spirit back. The girl’s strength failed her, and a shrill shriek was all the remained of her escape attempt, and she fell back to the torment of eternity trapped within the amulet. Dao looked up to his opponent. |
Last edited by Sorrow : 02.10.04 at 13:49:29.
|
|
|
|
| |
