wardenraime

1027 - Devilish Threat

When Leon opened his eyes in his soul realm, he found the Thunderbird and Xaphan both waiting by his throne.

“So,” he said as he rose, “Primal Devils. How bad is it that one is now loose on the universe?”

“Spectacularly,” Xaphan immediately answered. “The Primal Devils were always crueler than the Primal Gods.”

“They created demons; that’s all the proof any...

1026 - Growth of the Pride

“That’s quite the story,” the Grave Warden stated as Leon finished filling him in on all the delightful and light-hearted adventures he’d had on Arkhnavi. “I apologize again for all that you had to go through. I… should’ve given you contingencies for if my method of escape failed you. Apologies. Apologies.”

“No need for that,” Leon said with a dismissive wave of his ha...

1025 - Dragon's Offer

Red.

On the whole, Leon didn’t think he liked the color that much. He never had much of a favorite color, but after the past few weeks, red was certainly his least favorite.

So, as he slowly returned to consciousness, he was more than grateful to see above him trees, leaves, and a cloudy sky.

Or rather, as he realized a moment later, not the sky, but the Mists of Chaos. He w...

1024 - World in Red

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For long minutes, the only sound that could be heard th...

1023 - World in Black

Through shuddering tunnels and black stairways, Leon and Xaphan raced, Leon still carrying Nara and Serena over his shoulders. The passages below Tell Kirin shook from regular quakes originating far below the surface, kicked off by whatever had happened in the deepest chamber.

The Primal Devil was coming. It was now beyond Leon’s ability to stop. His only option was to reach the ark cha...

1022 - Abyss II

The question of how to open the great stone doors loomed large in Leon’s mind. They were truly immense, heavy, and looked sturdy enough that blasting through would be a time-consuming process. However, as he and Xaphan crossed the antechamber, his boots sticking slightly to the bloody floors, avoiding the bones as best they could, the door groaned and creaked and began to swing inward.

...

1021 - Abyss I

The intensity of the darkness magic in the lift shaft was intense; so much so that Leon almost changed his mind and turned back before he’d even reached the bottom. He knew from Mbana’s map that the shaft was relatively narrow, but the darkness around him was so complete that he felt like he’d jumped through a portal to some world of darkness rather than simply leaped down a lift shaft. 2024-01-26 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post

1020 - Cautious Risk

The ark chamber was silent, all sound seeming completely muffled in the wake of Mbana’s reappearance and subsequent suicide. Leon still kneeled by the man’s body, staring at him, wondering just what in the hells he was supposed to do with the information Mbana had imparted in his last moments.

“…  May the Red-Eyed one speed his journey, and Just Helior show mercy for any flaw...

1019 - One Hope

Three days. That’s how long they had.

‘Or, three days at the most,’ Leon thought. Fortunately, the darkness infesting Qo Weylekh’s tower was thorough enough that they never ran into any problems carving their way through in their quest to find any kind of escape. At their level of power, it didn’t take long to reach their destination.

They barreled up a l...

1018 - Three Days

Darkness and frigid cold; Leon and his team found themselves immersed in both for a brief moment as they were teleported away from the hill they had stood upon.  The tunnel was short, and a light shining in the darkness showed them which direction to move. Leon, Mbana, and Serena all began moving almost at the same time, while Leon called out over his shoulder to the other three, “Follow...

1017 - New Friends?

“So… how much longer do we have’ta wait?” Mari asked.

[Xaphan?] Leon internally inquired.

[Have some fucking patience, human,] the demon testily replied.

[Patience is a virtue we can’t afford,] Leon shot back.

[Learn from your monk friend, then, and be more virtuous. You can afford it, I’m sure.]

Leon scowled. “He’s being a little bitch. One who can...

1016 - Sea of Dust

Reach Tell Kirin. No longer a vague hope, Leon and his team now knew that that was where they needed to go. With that information, the team made quick progress after leaving Naxor Amis. As with the approach to Naxor Amis, they maneuvered around the desolate remains of larger population centers and constantly stayed on the move, save for the rare moments when rest was truly needed—Mar...

1015 - Direction

The inspection of the dais was fascinating and altogether far beyond Leon. This was where the first ritual that started the calamity that now gripped Arkhnavi had been performed. It may have been shattered in his wrathful fight with Khaji’Yun, but even the remaining fragments were enough to show him the sheer mind-bending complexity of the thing was at least on par with his transformation enc...

1014 - Virtue

The team awoke fairly quickly after Leon’s lightning cleared the darkness from their minds. Nara rose quickest of them all, which surprised Leon not at all since he was the strongest. The Prince, after opening his eyes and looking about in confusion, sprang to his feet with Cloud Piercer drawn, though he stumbled a bit, his legs appearing still a bit weak.

“What happened?” he demand...

1013 - Old Trick

With the force of a hundred bolts of lightning, Leon surged toward the dais. Iron Pride blazed with power as lightning arced between the tips of the guard and the blade. Leon’s golden eyes were narrowed in anger and determination as the shadows around the park darkened.

Atop the dais, Khaji’Yun simply smiled as a curtain of darkness descended over the dais, obscuring him from view so ...

1012 - Khaji'Yun

The city of Naxor Amis was silent; only the footsteps of Leon’s team could be heard. There was no wind blowing amongst the tall stone buildings, nor the sounds of any kind of wildlife in the area. Even the air felt thick and stifling. All was still; all was dead.

It was unnerving, to say the least. Leon’s eyes continued darting from shadow to shadow, searching for any sign that the fi...

1011 - Entering Naxor Amis

After the revelations about Tiraeses’ identity—or, Leon supposed, Tir’Anu’s identity—his team began moving in Naxor Amis’ direction. They didn’t move that quickly, though, as Tir’Anu was still recovering from Ard’Nara’s savage, if brief, beatdown.

As they moved across the blasted and barren plain with nothing but dirt and rocks to see—aside from the city rui...

1010 - Tir'Anu

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“We have matters to discuss, then,” Ard’Nara said. “Of those who came before you, and their fates…”

“Mari’Kha has already spoken to me...

1009 - Sweet Offers

Over the barren plains Leon’s team traveled, steering clear of the settlements all along the way. Now that they were in the urbanized Mandian Lands, that meant their path was quite meandering, but Leon still thought it was faster than trying to fight their way through each and every ruined city they came across.

Nearly all of these cities had been reduced to dusty rubble, barely recogni...

1008 - Altering Trajectory

The team didn’t wind up doing as Mari had suggested—that being ‘walk and talk’. Instead, they ran for miles in relative silence, the pervasive darkness around them only growing more stifling with every step. Leon could feel it pressing against his mind, now more obvious and more powerful than it had just outside the Black Veil separating them from the Mandian Lands.

So, he called ...

1007 - Breaking Through the Veil

A terrible screech filled the air, and Leon’s blood boiled in response. Pain wracked his body as his magic flew out of his control. The three giant banshees, their awful visages trained directly on him and his team, swiftly descended upon them from the black clouds above.

With gritted teeth, Leon raised his hand and summoned Iron Pride. The power of his sword and the Universe Fragment w...

1006 - Black Veil

It only took Leon and his team about a day to reach the end of the Rainbow Valley. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single hint remaining of the vibrant colors that had given the valley its name. Even after hearing Tiraeses’ story, Leon had quietly hoped that maybe a flower or two might’ve survived, but even in a place as magically strong as the Many-Flowered Hills wasn’t immune to the cor...

1005 - Paradise Lost

After the rain stopped, Leon and his ad hoc team didn’t linger in Yu Nok Tor. They avoided the black puddles of water left behind, the aura leaking from the dark water filling Leon with dread. On the brighter side, the darkness in the environment had lessened a bit. Leon and Tiraeses still couldn’t fly, but they were still able to move more quickly with the omnipresent pressure somewhat all...

1004 - Devilish Filter

“So,” Mari’Kha began as she scrunched up her face and conjured a few light projections depicting what she was talking about, starting with the wrinkled and charred husk that had formed the bulk of the horde that Leon and Tiraeses had been fighting in the city, “this one is a husk. They’re basically just the tattered remains of the people in the cities who were sacrificed to the devils...

1003 - Mari'Kha

The pressure and the constant sense of being watched at the edge of his awareness slowly dissipated, but it soon became clear to Leon that the darkness magic polluting the air wasn’t dissipating by any appreciable amount. Combined with the lingering sense of futility that the red eye had left him with, he just about collapsed in exhaustion right there in the center of Yu Nok Tor.

Tiraes...

1002 - Streets of Yu Nok Tor II

Leon brandished Iron Pride at the golem, silver-blue lightning racing along the blade, when the golem stood up straight and the ten-foot blades of blue light emanating from its wrists deactivated. Before the situation turned violent—or more violent than it already was—the golem straightened out, and a voice resounded from it. The voice sounded young and feminine, taking Leon somewhat by sur...

1001 - Streets of Yu Nok Tor I

“Tiraeses, how are you doing?” Leon asked, both men standing in the rune Leon had carved, their eyes wild and jumping from shadow to shadow. The horde may have pulled back, but that didn’t mean they were safe.

“The brothers of war, Valiant Ashatar and Strong Ashagon, strode with me this day,” Tiraeses replied, which Leon took to mean he was fine.

“If you don’t mind, as...

1000 - Mad Charge

With eyes narrowed with determination, Leon glared at Yu Nok Tor.

He was trapped on Arkhnavi. The darkness magic that inundated the plane interfered with the silver twig’s creation of a spatial portal. Without the twig, he couldn’t return home. The only hope he possibly had to survive Arkhnavi’s destruction if he wasn’t able to report back to Ambrose lay in Tell Kirin, the seat of...

999 - Trapped

Yu Nok Tor had seemed to come alive from the figure’s screech, and not in any way that Leon liked. He sprinted back the way he and Tiraeses had come, the monk following closely behind. There was no more arguing from him as the sheer scale of what they’d just kicked became apparent.

The buildings around them shook so hard that the mortar holding the bricks together began to crack, and ...

998 - Yu Nok Tor

Leon and Tiraeses’ departure from the monastery came without much ceremony. After they agreed upon their course to Tell Kirin, the seat of Qo Weylekh, Tiraeses set about facilitating their move with an efficiency that Leon greatly appreciated. The monastery was locked down, what little that lay within was brought into Tiraeses’ soul realm, and the two met near the monastery’s main gate, w...