Altered Perception
Story idea by Sir Viper, do me a favor and check him out. He'll have his own story coming out soon. Enjoy and review!
"So you say The Monster Lord sent you?" Sanguinis asked
"Yes, if you don't believe me then ask Richard."
"I believe you, you seem to be someone with some skill in battle" Sanguinis said
"Alright, well do you need me for anything else?" Lancer asked
"Actually, yes. Do you think you could search for any survivors? If they are enemy then kill them" he said blandly
"Uh… yeah sure. I'll get on it, c'mon Allison we have another job to do" Lancer said while leaving the tent.
"Alright where are we going?" Allison asked
"Into the city, we need to make sure there are no… enemy s-survivors" Lancer said grimacing
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just don't like the prospect of killing defenseless people, after all they thought that their side was doing good for their people. They were just told wrong."
"I'm sorry, if I can do anything to help…"
"Don't worry about it" Lancer said as they entered the city
They wandered around the city checking buildings for survivors, finding none. They continued searching through what was now a wreck of a city, until they found one. Thy walked over it was an angel, its wings were bloodied and cut, and the angel itself didn't look to be in very good shape. "Het Allison!" he called over to her, "found one" Lancer said looking at the sorry sight of the angel. It looked up at him with horror is its eyes. Lancer looked at it with pity, and started questioning why he was even doing this.
"Please don't hurt me!" it cried out at him
"I-I won't" Lancer said sighing
(Sir Vipers Idea)
"Hello who, may I ask, are you?" a voice said.
Lancer spun around to face whoever was talking to him. There were two men one in long robes with an interesting stave, and another in White armor with gold filigree, he had a very large hammer which looked like it was laced with steel. "It depends, who's asking?" Lancer questioned
"We were sent by the Scions of Destiny to recruit, angels and monsters alike, for our cause." The robed man said
"What is this "Scions of Destiny?"
"A group, which soon strike fear into the hearts of you and your comrades."
"Now join us angel and we will restore the light, and cast out the darkness" the armored man said
"I-I accept I will help you, but before-"the angel was interrupted by the robed man saying something, which appeared to cause the angel to disappear.
"What did you do to her!?" Lancer asked readying his weapon
"Oh, we just sent her to our base to be turned into a killing machine" the robed man said smirking.
"Shall we take care of those two?" the armored man said
"Yes, I think we shall" the robed man responded as if Lancer wasn't there.
"Hey Allison, be ready, we have a fight coming…" Lancer said. The armored man charged at Allison and the robed one started casting spells to throw at Lancer. Lancer ducked under a blast of lightning that was launched at him by the robed man. He had to take care of the armored man before Allison was seriously injured. Lancer ran over to help Allison, when he was stopped by a large ball of fire that landed less than two feet I front of him.
"Where do you think you're going?" the robed man asked, launching another ball of fire. Lancer dodged and changed his course towards the man.
"I'm going to get nowhere if I don't take this guy out. He looked back at Allison, she wasn't damaged, yet. Lancer jumped over several shards of ice and continued. He reached the man and struck at him. The man dodged and countered with a ball of fire straight to Lancers chest sending him sprawling. He looked over at Allison, she wasn't doing so hot either. Lancer stood back up and charged again this time with a plan. He performed a feint to the right and attacked to the left catching the man off guard. Then man was cut in the side, but instantly healed and struck back with a sweep of his stave. (Staves are basically large cudgels). Lancer countered and struck back again, but the man just instantly healed again. Lancer dodged a wing, but was hit in the back by a large hammer. He looked over at where Allison was fighting, but she was unconscious.
"Damn, I can't take both…" Lancer thought while standing back up.
He charged at the armored man, while dodging several blasts of fire, ice, and lightning. He ducked under a swing of the hammer, and body slammed the man knocking him over. Lancer heard his shoulder pop from the pressure and force of basically body slamming a brick wall.
"Oww, right I'll remember to get shoulder pads." He thought. Lancer then started swinging quickly at the man, but was countered and disarmed. "Damn it, this'll end badly…" he thought while pulling out his dagger. Lancer ran forwards dodged another swing and jumped on the armored man. He stuck his dagger into the mans' neck, but it didn't go through. "Sigh, this is why I hate daggers" he thought aloud. The man grabbed Lancer picked him up and swung him over his shoulder, right towards the robed man. The mage casted a spell, and a large explosion launched Lancer towards a wall in midair. Lancer landed harshly his back hurt, his ribs were broken, and his shoulder felt dislocated. Lancer stood, wobbled a little bit and sighed. The mage had already launched a ball of fire, but right before it hit him, a sword came out of nowhere and blocked it causing it to dissipate. It was Granberia.
"Good timing" Lancer said
"You're welcome" she responded
The two men, surprised at the fact that they had to deal with another, readied themselves.
"I'm running out of energy to cast spells" the mage whispered
"I'm fine" the knight said, charging
Granberia launched a fireball at the mage causing him to scramble away, while casting his own. Granberia countered the knights' hammer and punched him in the face, she then imbued her blade with fire and struck at the fire ball that was launched by the mage. The fire ball seemed to be absorbed by the sword, Granberia used that to her advantage and struck at the knight, melting his armor from the fire. She struck again, but was countered and hit by the hammer sending her to the ground. Lancer stood up slowly, limping. He had to do something, Granberia would also lose at this rate. He relocated his arm, causing extreme amounts of pain, made sure his ribs weren't going to kill him, and then ran over to his sword. He had to fight with only one arm this time, seeing as his right arm was too sore to move well. He ran over at the knight from behind and jumped launching off of him, and then struck downwards hitting him in the helmet, giving Granberia enough time to stand up and knee the knight in the head. Lancer landed and watched the knight retreat, face bleeding. Lancer coughed up blood and fell to his knees. He shrugged off the pain and started going towards where the mage and Granberia were fighting. Granberia managed to cut the mages leg, sending him into retreat along with the knight.
"Enjoy the time you have left. Fools! The darkness will be purged, and you with it!" the mage said as they disappeared in a flash of light. Lancer coughed u more blood and collapsed.
(End of Sir Vipers Idea)
"Lancer!" Granberia exclaimed running over to him. "Are you okay?"
"I-I" Lancer tried to say, but failed fainting from blood loss.
Lancer woke up in a tent people around him talking about things his barely awake mind couldn't understand. "Wh-what's going on? Lancer stuttered
"Lancer, your awake!" he rolled his head to see Granberia, Tamamo, Alma Elma, Erubetie (surprisingly), Allison, Luka, and Alice all there.
"Uh…Hi?" he said weakly, "What happened?"
"Well, from what I heard by Granberia you were fighting some strange men, and they almost killed all of you." Alice said, "Knowing you, you probably almost killed yourself instead."
"Well, now that I remember, that's exactly what happened" Lancer said sitting up
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, lay back down. You were just bleeding out, your ribs pierced your lungs, your spine was, umm… let's say in not too good of shape, and your right shoulder was fractured in several places. Alice said
"Wow, um well… I guess I'll be here for a week or so" Lancer said sighing, and lying down again.
"No, don't worry we gave you some fast healing medicine, so you should be out in a few days."
"That really didn't make me feel better at all…" Lancer muttered
"Well, that's about all we can do." Alice said
"At least you didn't lose any limbs" Tamamo stated giggling
"That's not funny, this is very serious stuff going on" Lancer said smiling
"What did the men want?" Alice said bringing them back onto subject
"They wanted to recruit the angels to help "purge the darkness". They said they were from some group called the Scions of Destiny." Lancer explained
"What do you think they meant by purge the darkness?" Allison asked Alice
"It's obvious isn't it? They wanted to either kill all the monsters, or kill both humans and monsters." Lancer muttered
"If that's true, then we need to keep an eye out for them."
"Yes, they are extremely dangerous. There were only two and yet they almost took down all three of us, I would've hated to imagine what would've happened if you didn't help me out there" Granberia said looking at Lancer
"Yeah, same here" Lancer responded
"We'll put up notices around the cities to warn the people" Tamamo and Alma Elma said teleporting away.
"What about me?" Lancer asked as the others were leaving.
"You, have to stay here and rest" Alice commanded
"Alright…fine" Lancer said quietly
"Good, now get some rest" she said leaving. Lancers eye lid were feeling heavy, so he let them close. He then fell asleep.
"Be careful, there is a darkness beyond imagining. You must slay this darkness for if you fail, everyone you know and love will surly perish before your eyes. So awake and save Terra!"
With that Lancers eyes shot open. He moved the covers off of his bed and stood up. He had to get stronger and defeat this darkness, even though his reason was a cheesy hero call story. Lancer walked out of the tent and teleported to the castle. He landed and tripped causing him to land on his fractured shoulder. "Oww" he grumbled.
"I thought I told you to stay in bed?" Alice said slithering over to him.
"You should know I don't listen to anyone" he said smirking.
Alice just laughed, "I figured so"
"I was told a cheesy hero calling story, by your ancestor. I figured I'd better listen, even though it sucked"
"Hah hah hah!" Alice said laughing
"Yeah, so any news?" Lancer asked
Alice stopped laughing, "Really Lancer? It's been a day, why would there be news?" Alice asked rhetorically.
"Well, it was worth asking" Lancer said shrugging
"Now go rest, I wasn't joking when I told you to" Alice commanded, causing Lancer to sigh.
"Fine, but if get in trouble with your ancestor, it'll be your fault" Lancer said grinning. He walked back to his room, finally remembering the way, and hopped in bed. The girls were constantly asking him questions, so Lancer answered a few, and ten went to bed.
(Sir Vipers Idea) Lancer dreamt of a man to toe in all white armor. He was walking up steps carved into a mountain. As he climbed upwards, countless eyes watched him. Humans in brightly covered armor. Large and strong looking orcs in dark, almost pitch black armor, with axes and swords of enormous proportions. Trolls in patchwork armor towering above the others. Ogres and Giants looking down upon the others. There were dragons flying high above in the sky. The man reached the top, and there was a very powerful looking orc with brutal spiked armor, and a club made out of skulls. A large ogre watched them from above, along with a fierce looking Black Dragon. The man looked down and yelled to the monsters below, "You will never be the slaves of the darkness, but conquerors and we will unite. We will purge the Darkness and bring forward the light, we will stand strong. If we fall we fall as WARRIORS!" The monsters let out a great cheer at the speech. The man turned around and the monsters nearby bowed and said "we will follow you wherever you want us to." The man said "good, prepare for war…" The monsters bowed and turned.
(End of Sir Vipers Idea)
Lancer woke up in a cold sweat, the dream he had just witnessed disturbed him beyond measure. He stood up out of bed and walked over to his window, it looked out onto the sea. Something that no one known has ever crossed. He watched the waves crash and dissipate against the rocky surface of the island. The moon was out sending beautiful, yet eerie colors through the ocean surface. He looked out into the distance and thought he saw something, "The hell was that?" He looked again, but found nothing. "It was nothing, I'm going insane, great" he muttered. Lancer threw his armor on and started wandering about the castle with no particular idea on where to go, when he heard a loud sound. It sounded like an explosion. He took off for the entrance to the castle, hearing the sound more often.
"We're under attack!" one of the monster guards said. Lancer started making a mad dash outside, there were ships. They had designs of nothing he had ever seen before. They were launching what looked like giant balls of exploding metal at the castle.
"Cannons…" Lancer said having learned the word recently. He found the nearest guard and asked "what defenses does this castle have!"
"We have traps, but that's about it, we never expected a seaborne battle!?" the monster cried out
"What?! We're on an island! Either way it's a good thing, because it looks to me that they have the idea of docking here. Find Alice!" Lancer said, "I have a plan"
Alice POV
Alice woke up with a start, she heard explosions and yelling. She looked over and saw that Luka was also awake, "What's going on?" she asked
"I don't know Luka said shrugging, I'm sure it'll be fine though. So let's go back to sleep" He said half awake and falling asleep.
"No! Something's going on, so c'mon get up!" she said shaking Luka.
"Wh-what?" he asked groggily
"We're under attack!" she heard a guard yell.
"That" she said getting up and running out into the hallway, Luka stumbling after her.
She saw a servant run up to them, "Ma'am! Sire! We're under attack!" the servant exclaimed frightened.
"I get that, where are the others?" Alice asked
"I don't know, but Lancer is up!"
"Take me to him" she commanded
"Okay Ma'am" the servant complied
Lancer POV
Lancer was setting up barriers to block them into going one way so that way they could ambush the invaders, when he saw Alice, Luka, and the servant running towards him.
"Good you're here"
"What's going on?!" Alice asked
"We're under attack, isn't that obvious?" Lancer said
"Yeah I get that, but by whom?"
"I'm guessing it's the umm…"
"The Scions of Destiny?" Luka said
"Yeah that, thanks" Lancer said
"So what's the plan?" Alice asked
"Well I'm going to funnel them into the hallway where they're going to get lost, then we'll ambush them." Lancer said smiling
"Lancer, no one has gotten lost in this castle, but you" Alice said sighing, "It's not going to work."
"Hey, Granberia has gotten lost too" Lancer said
"Heard my name?" Granberia said running out from the castle, "Sorry, I got lost"
"See?" Lancer said motioning to Granberia, proving his point.
"What?" Granberia asked
"Nothing" Alice said, "Fine we'll do it your way" Alice said defeated
"Well, it was the only way so…"
"Shut up" Alice said smiling. They continued setting up the barriers and drilling the guards on what to do.
"When they come down this hall you all will climb up the barricade and attack them from behind. Got it?" Lancer asked the guards
"Yes sir!" they said, then they all left to get into position
"Hey Alice"
"Yeah?"
"Where are the other heavenly knights?"
"They're looking for those two men" Alice responded
"Okay, well we need them here so… how do we-"
"We're here!" Some voices said. Lancer turned, it was the rest of the heavenly knights.
"Good, now if you didn't notice, we're being attacked currently, so we need you three with Granberia, she's down the hall to the left?" Lancer said trying to remember
"The left, then continue past three turns, and take a right" Alice finished for him.
"Thanks" Lancer muttered
"Okay, we'll be there" they said before leaving to find Granberia.
"They're here!" Lancer heard one of the servants yell.
"Alright let's go." Lancer said before running down the hall.
Granberia POV
Granberia heard a noise, she looked behind and saw the other three heavenly knights racing down the hall. They ran up to her and took their positions. "I'm guessing you already know what's happening, right?"
"Yeah we know the just of it" they responded
"Okay good" Granberia responded
Granberia heard one of the servants yell "they're here!"
"Alright, ready?"
"Yeah"
They watched as a large amount humans poured through the entrance, they looked around and continued running through. After a small amount of time they heard yells of fright, and battle cries. Granberia and the rest hopped over the barricade and charged at the humans. The humans were completely surrounded. The trap had been successful, the humans had no idea what was going on. The only problem was that inside the castle was a tight space to fit everyone into. Granberia imbued her blade with fire and swung at one of the humans. The human dodged and countered, but failed resulting in its' death. Granberia continued to press the attack swinging quickly and obliterating the enemies' numbers. She watched the humans' numbers dwindle as they were cut down from the countless waves of monsters. The humans fought bravely, but their demise was inevitable. After the battle Granberia had the servants count the losses. They had lost quite a few, around an eighth of their guards.
Lancer POV
Lancer watched the battle, he had too many injuries to be fighting. Otherwise he would be helping, then he remembered something, "Where are the girls?" Then he realized his mistake, he didn't know where they were. He hobbled over to Alice who had just withdrawn from the battle. "Do you know where the girls are?" Lancer asked
"The girls? No sorry."
"Alright well I'm going to go look for them okay?"
"Alright, don't get yourself killed."
"No promises" Lancer said while hobbling off. He checked all of the rooms, but couldn't find them. Then he had an idea, he focused his mind on the four of them. Lancer teleported to their approximate location, "I should do that more often" he thought. He landed, looked around and realized he was at the top of the castle. "Hey, are you guys here?!" he yelled searching for them.
"Lancer?" a voice said. Lancer turned a saw Gob.
"Hey where are the others?"
"Oh, they're over there" Gob replied. Lancer limped over to where Gob pointed to.
"Hey you there?" Lancer asked
"Surprise!" Lancer turned and saw them. "Guys if you didn't notice we're under attack"
"Oh, we know"
"Then you should also know that this isn't the time for jokes, got it?"
"Okay, fine. So what's going on down there?"
"I don't know, I'll check" Lancer said before teleporting.
He landed and was surprised to see that the battle was already over, "Hey Alice, what happened?"
"Oh we won" she responded simply
"Right, how many deaths?"
"Well… we lost about an eighth of our forces" Alice said sadly. Lancer just sighed. They won, but suffered heavy losses. Lancer teleported again, grabbed the four girls and walked down to the first floor, and then dropped them off at his room. He went into his bathing room, locked the door, stripped and hopped into the "small pool" it was warm as usual. He had been worrying so much about the girls that he forgot to check upon Alice on what do next.
He very quickly washed grabbed his clothes, he'd have to wash them later, and then he dressed and ran out the door. Right before he left, he turned and said "stay" to the girls. He continued on his way to find Alice. He reached the throne room, but no one was there. He turned remembered something and then teleported to her. "Hey Alice, what next?"
"Well, we were going to get married in a few days, but it seems I'll have to put it off. The castle is in ruins, and there is blood everywhere."
"Here how about this, I'll take care of the castle, and you two can go get married"
"But then you won't be able to make it" Alice said
"Yeah, but your wedding is more important than me being there, so… go get married" Lancer said while wandering off to find the builders.
"Wasn't he supposed to be your best man?" Alice asked Luka
"Yeah, but he's right. Let's get married"
Lancer wandered the hallways asking for directions from time to time, from the servants who were cleaning up the castle. After what seemed like ages he finally found the builder, she was of course, furthest away from where Lancer was originally.
"Hey" Lancer said
"Yes? I assume you're here to get me to fix the castle?"
"Exactly right" Lancer responded
"Well first you'll need to buy the materials for me." The builder said
"Where do I need to go?" Lancer asked
"Grangold, Sabasa, you know the big cities"
"You need to find a man by the name of Zack Robinson"
"So basically you want me to go on a man hunt, but you have no idea where he is?" Lancer asked
"More or less, yeah. I'd start in Sabasa, maybe he'll be there"
"Alright well I'll find him, and tell him you need him"
"Good, now get on it" With that Lancer teleported to Sabasa. He landed and looked around, it looked slightly better than it was the previous few times he had been there. He walked around asking the civilians about the man known as Zack Robinson.
"He'll be at the bar"
"Thanks, finally someone knows something" Lancer thought. Lancer walked into the bar he was told about and then asked around again.
"I'm looking for Zack Robinson, do you know where he is?" Lancer asked
"Yeah, you're speaking to him" the man responded, "what do you need?"
