LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DARKSTALKERS OR ANY TRADEMARKS THEREOF.
[]- Indicates thought.
* *- Indicates italics/emphasis/telepathy (hey, you never know when you need an asterik).
And yet again, Silverlocke980 leaves his fans in the cold... I'm sorry people. This story is getting harder and harder to write. I didn't have a really good idea before I started writing it, and as I go on I want to go back... to fix what I've screwed up... to remake the world with the knowledge I have gained hence. I started this on the basis of one image- Dimitri pulling the Ebonrule out of a picture frame. That's it. In reality, the most solid thing in my story is the Ebonrule... a spear of redemption that strikes a chord in my heart. I find the very idea beautiful. So I've written this story mostly to explain and venerate this center object. Though I have gotten some useful writing experience from it...
The main problem with doing such a thing in a story is coherency issues. I've been flipping through my works, and many of them lack basic coherency, though in a chapter situation like this, that doesn't matter so much. Still, it would be better if my works completely fit together, and there weren't any puzzle pieces by the sidelines...
This is a screwed up jigsaw puzzle, but it paints something of a picture. So, I'll quit jawing.
Big shout out to my reviewers! Galandria, Tiger5913 (one note to you: No Ryu glomping!), Johnathan Tailban, and all my other fans. Thank you all for reviewing my stuff.
And now....
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 24
Beginning of Ends
Plains of Aensland Territory. Night.
The four trudged on, getting closer and closer to the rocky shore that marks Makai's eastern boundary, to the land of the Mermen, the Sasquatch, and various Incubi tribes. The plains slowly gave way to rocky, almost desert-like land, though it wasn't a desert- Makai is a planet strangely blessed in that regard, posessing no deserts of either sand or ice- but what we would call "steppes". This place, called Shadowbare by the Incubi of Aensland, marked the end of Aensland territory. The four had finally crossed the endless plains and reached the start of the eastern coastline.
As the group walked on, they eventually came to a small rocky place. Several of these rocks made good seats, and the party took advantage of this natural formation to take a breather.
" So," Dimitri said, as they sat down, " where are we headed now? Can you sniff it out, Jon?"
" I'm trying," the werewolf replied. Stepping out from his friend aways, Jon lifted his nose and took a few deep breaths of the upper air. Letting out a loud snort, he returned to the little circle of rocks.
" Well," he said, absently scratching his right ear, " it's faint, but I smell their trail. We're close to it; maybe a little too far north or south, but definitely close."
" Good," Dimitri said, then sighed. " We'll catch up to them soon. And then it will be over."
Nobody stated what this implied: that death was the end of this quest. They all sat silent for a moment, then Felicia said, " What are we going to do when we get there? Any ideas?"
Dimitri shrugged. " Try to sneak into Pyron's tent or whatever the demon's using, stab him to death with Ebonrule, try to sneak out."
Again, nobody mentioned how hopelessly optimistic that statement was.
" What will the camp look like?" Jon said, scratching his ear with more gusto as his nervousness increased; the air about the small campsite was moody tonight. " I've never seen their warriors, but you've described them as being made of metal and claws. What kind of homes will such creatures use, if they use anything at all?"
" They're human," Dimitri said, casting his memory back to the day his castle was destroyed. " The metal is some form of body armor, I'm sure of it. Inside, they are human. They will need tents, they will need food, and they will need water. This area has very few places where an army can get all the water they'll need. Even if your nose can't direct us to their exact location, we should be able to follow a stream and reach them at a major river."
" I could fly," Morrigan broke in. " Try t' scout their location frum the heights."
Felicia looked at Morrigan. " Did you just gain an accent?"
Morrigan smiled self-consciously. " Well, I'v always had one... I just never allowed meself to use 't. Weren't considered proper at th' castle." Brushing her hair back over her right ear with one hand, she said, " I guess I just wanted t' be me true self for a while." She glanced at Dimitri, and a small smile flitted across her face. " Besides, it's not like it'll matter. I just got tired o' keeping me accent down."
Felicia nodded. " I think it's kind of cute."
Morrigan smiled and looked away. " Thanks. But let's get back to the main question, shall we? Should I fly up, or stay here on th' ground?"
Dimitri thought for a moment, then said, " Maybe later on. We're still too far from them for an aerial viewpoint to give us anything new to go on. Once we've reached the eastern coasts, or a big river, that might change, but for now, stay on the ground."
Morrigan nodded. " Yeah, I thought that too," she said.
Jon shook himself and rose up. " Well, let's get going then," he said, turning to sniff the air. " Don't want to lose the scent before the prey is in sight."
Dimitri arose as well. Morrigan stood and walked to Dimitri, putting her head on his shoulder and wrapping him in her arms as she did so.
" Don' leave me," she whispered to him.
" Morrigan, I can't...." Dimitri said, wanting to say he wouldn't and knowing he could not lie, not to her, not to this one who had suffered so much from lie.
" I'm not asking ye," Morrigan said, and Dimitri thought he felt her smile against his skin, a bittersweet smile of sadness, " I'm telling ye. Don' leave me."
" I'll try," Dimitri said, wrapping his free arm about her. " I'll try."
They held for a moment, and when they slipped out of their embrace, turned to follow their friends, who had respectfully went a few yards away, out of sight.
************************************************************************
Pyron's Encampment, Eastern Shore of Makai. Same time.
Pyron held his head in his right hand. Try as he might, he could not completely heal the damage the vampire had done. Everytime he healed it, it broke open again. When had he received this wound? It had been some time ago... weeks? Months? Time did not matter to a being like Pyron, born of nothing, damned to die and return to nothing.
Time was merely an annoying constraint.
A single knock, tentative and weak, rang out in the darkness of Pyron's room. He looked up, his eyes flaming essences of fire. The fire flickered for a second.
A door opened, in the room, a tall white portal of light. And yet the light didn't penetrate the room. In fact, the light seemed to recoil from it, as if finding the darkness of the room too abhorrent to pierce. As if afraid of what that darkness hid.
" Lord?" A human soldier called from that door. Pyron looked at the shadow, all he could see of the man. " we're ready to move out, as you ordered."
" Good. Move south, following the river. I shall meet you where we will rest for the night."
" Lord." The soldier bowed deeply before Pyron, in a worshipful way, and part of Pyron rejoiced at that... as it had rejoiced at all who called it master. A false god...
Pyron wondered how long it would be before they started worshipping him. Sacrificing their women and children to him.
Before they began to slaughter in his name.
Pyron smiled in the darkness. His former bad mood was completely replaced by dark contentment.
One goal down, two to go.
Now if only that pesky vampire and his enchanted spear would just go away...
Pyron didn't notice until later that his face had split open again where the Ebonrule had struck him.
************************************************************************
The Eastern Steppes of Makai. One hour later.
The party trudged on, walking through broken and tumbled land that would have made the most determined of travelers turn back to home in search of easier roads. Despite the harsh look of the land, Dimitri was cheered up simply knowing they were off the plains. The vampires had never, ever traveled very far in Makai, mostly staying in the cave-infested hills of their Outer Territory. It was one reason that vampires were somewhat mysterious even to their neighbors and allies in surrounding territories. Most races of Makai preferred the night, but what kind of creature had no choice in the matter? Humans thought they were demons (which struck Dimitri as ironically funny; vampires had saved everyone, more the act of an angel than a demon, and yet the humans hated them), while other races merely regarded them as strange and best left alone. Which suited vampires fine. They owned a small territory in the Darkstalker society, so being left alone was probably healthier in the long run for them. When no one notices you, no one kills you. Or tries to take your land. Or rape your women. Or a million other worse things.
Dimitri briefly wondered how the vampires of other worlds were doing. His mind, educated in a way not like that of a noble in our Middle Ages, readily accepted other worlds. It stated in the Bible that God had made one world; it never said that he hadn't created more. Dimitri had no idea how to reach other worlds, but he was perfectly able to believe in them.
[ Are they better off?] Dimitri wondered. [ Are they revered, venerated as the heroes they are? Or, are they like us, a minority, struggling to survive? Small and cast out into darkness...]
Dimitri mused quietly for a few seconds, then other thoughts entered his mind.
[ What are other worlds like?] Dimitri wondered. [ What are the people on them like? Do they dream like we do, hope as we hope, love and care for each other as we should? Are they hating creatures? Creatures of shame? Honor? Madness? What are they like?]
They say that the good are given few gifts in this world. Yet Dimitri was given one then. For a moment, Dimitri was allowed to *see*. In the blink of an eye, he saw other worlds. It was a stark image, one that burned his mind, that seared his very soul with it's imprint. He never had a moment like that again, but once was enough. It was sudden, quick, all consuming, like lightning that strikes on some fantastic and alien landscape and reveals all for a few precious seconds.
He saw a world riddled with tunnels, full of darkness dispelled by no sunlight. He saw three people, one carrying a sword and pained look on his face, a second holding a small staff while red wings emitted black specks of dust, the last carrying a weapon Dimitri had never seen before, a brown tail trailing behind her. They were running from a group of men, who wore strange headgear that made their eyes glow. Some were carrying the same strange weapon the woman was, and they pointed them at the runners. Fire flared from their barrels, and little zips of metal hit the ground behind the trio. The woman turned and struck back, still running, her gun lighting up the darkness. One of the pursuers fell, his throat torn by some unseen force.
Another world. Here the sun had set on a great city of glass and steel, a city full of strange moving creatures and noise... wheeled monsters piled on black roads, screeching at each other in honking voices unlike anything Dimitri had ever heard. A strange, airy thing of some clear material (glass? or something else?) spanned part of the great black road. A young man was walking through it, along with a crowd, and he turned and looked at Dimitri, as if seeing him somehow. He had two scars crossing his face between the eyes, and as the human looked at him, Dimitri saw the sudden imprint of a wolf's face over the man's.
Rushing. Another world. Where a man with body torn and heart bleeding fought on a sunlit battlefield, as the wind blew long grass in waves after waves, as the man's long blond hair blew in the breeze. The man wore no shirt, and Dimitri saw that his right arm was not human, but monstrous. Red eyes blinked and covered the man's right chest, and his hand was a claw. Yet, despite this, Dimitri felt sadness and honor radiate outwards from this man... as he fought and fought, against nigh impossible odds, to save a woman with purple hair who lay at his feet, unconscious, ignorant of the battle the mutated man was waging with strange warriors whose bodies seemed to blink in the sunlight.
Dimitri shook his head, and the images vanished.
" Dimitri?" Morrigan said. " Are you alright?"
" Fine," Dimitri said slowly, as if he'd just awakened from a dream.
[ And in a way, I have, haven't I?] he thought, then smiled. He looked up into the sky and laughed aloud.
" There isn't much given to the good in this world," Dimitri said, stunning his companions, "but what little we are given means everything." Still smiling and chuckling, Dimitri hoisted his spear to his shoulder. " Let's get going. I've seen the heroes of other worlds; it's time to make one for my own."
Walking in front of his dumbstruck companions, Dimitri's laughter rang out in the steppes like the ringing of clear, silver bells.
-There you go, people. Guess who the cameos are from... (ducks as Tiger flies out of nowhere to glomp Ryu)
[]- Indicates thought.
* *- Indicates italics/emphasis/telepathy (hey, you never know when you need an asterik).
And yet again, Silverlocke980 leaves his fans in the cold... I'm sorry people. This story is getting harder and harder to write. I didn't have a really good idea before I started writing it, and as I go on I want to go back... to fix what I've screwed up... to remake the world with the knowledge I have gained hence. I started this on the basis of one image- Dimitri pulling the Ebonrule out of a picture frame. That's it. In reality, the most solid thing in my story is the Ebonrule... a spear of redemption that strikes a chord in my heart. I find the very idea beautiful. So I've written this story mostly to explain and venerate this center object. Though I have gotten some useful writing experience from it...
The main problem with doing such a thing in a story is coherency issues. I've been flipping through my works, and many of them lack basic coherency, though in a chapter situation like this, that doesn't matter so much. Still, it would be better if my works completely fit together, and there weren't any puzzle pieces by the sidelines...
This is a screwed up jigsaw puzzle, but it paints something of a picture. So, I'll quit jawing.
Big shout out to my reviewers! Galandria, Tiger5913 (one note to you: No Ryu glomping!), Johnathan Tailban, and all my other fans. Thank you all for reviewing my stuff.
And now....
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 24
Beginning of Ends
Plains of Aensland Territory. Night.
The four trudged on, getting closer and closer to the rocky shore that marks Makai's eastern boundary, to the land of the Mermen, the Sasquatch, and various Incubi tribes. The plains slowly gave way to rocky, almost desert-like land, though it wasn't a desert- Makai is a planet strangely blessed in that regard, posessing no deserts of either sand or ice- but what we would call "steppes". This place, called Shadowbare by the Incubi of Aensland, marked the end of Aensland territory. The four had finally crossed the endless plains and reached the start of the eastern coastline.
As the group walked on, they eventually came to a small rocky place. Several of these rocks made good seats, and the party took advantage of this natural formation to take a breather.
" So," Dimitri said, as they sat down, " where are we headed now? Can you sniff it out, Jon?"
" I'm trying," the werewolf replied. Stepping out from his friend aways, Jon lifted his nose and took a few deep breaths of the upper air. Letting out a loud snort, he returned to the little circle of rocks.
" Well," he said, absently scratching his right ear, " it's faint, but I smell their trail. We're close to it; maybe a little too far north or south, but definitely close."
" Good," Dimitri said, then sighed. " We'll catch up to them soon. And then it will be over."
Nobody stated what this implied: that death was the end of this quest. They all sat silent for a moment, then Felicia said, " What are we going to do when we get there? Any ideas?"
Dimitri shrugged. " Try to sneak into Pyron's tent or whatever the demon's using, stab him to death with Ebonrule, try to sneak out."
Again, nobody mentioned how hopelessly optimistic that statement was.
" What will the camp look like?" Jon said, scratching his ear with more gusto as his nervousness increased; the air about the small campsite was moody tonight. " I've never seen their warriors, but you've described them as being made of metal and claws. What kind of homes will such creatures use, if they use anything at all?"
" They're human," Dimitri said, casting his memory back to the day his castle was destroyed. " The metal is some form of body armor, I'm sure of it. Inside, they are human. They will need tents, they will need food, and they will need water. This area has very few places where an army can get all the water they'll need. Even if your nose can't direct us to their exact location, we should be able to follow a stream and reach them at a major river."
" I could fly," Morrigan broke in. " Try t' scout their location frum the heights."
Felicia looked at Morrigan. " Did you just gain an accent?"
Morrigan smiled self-consciously. " Well, I'v always had one... I just never allowed meself to use 't. Weren't considered proper at th' castle." Brushing her hair back over her right ear with one hand, she said, " I guess I just wanted t' be me true self for a while." She glanced at Dimitri, and a small smile flitted across her face. " Besides, it's not like it'll matter. I just got tired o' keeping me accent down."
Felicia nodded. " I think it's kind of cute."
Morrigan smiled and looked away. " Thanks. But let's get back to the main question, shall we? Should I fly up, or stay here on th' ground?"
Dimitri thought for a moment, then said, " Maybe later on. We're still too far from them for an aerial viewpoint to give us anything new to go on. Once we've reached the eastern coasts, or a big river, that might change, but for now, stay on the ground."
Morrigan nodded. " Yeah, I thought that too," she said.
Jon shook himself and rose up. " Well, let's get going then," he said, turning to sniff the air. " Don't want to lose the scent before the prey is in sight."
Dimitri arose as well. Morrigan stood and walked to Dimitri, putting her head on his shoulder and wrapping him in her arms as she did so.
" Don' leave me," she whispered to him.
" Morrigan, I can't...." Dimitri said, wanting to say he wouldn't and knowing he could not lie, not to her, not to this one who had suffered so much from lie.
" I'm not asking ye," Morrigan said, and Dimitri thought he felt her smile against his skin, a bittersweet smile of sadness, " I'm telling ye. Don' leave me."
" I'll try," Dimitri said, wrapping his free arm about her. " I'll try."
They held for a moment, and when they slipped out of their embrace, turned to follow their friends, who had respectfully went a few yards away, out of sight.
************************************************************************
Pyron's Encampment, Eastern Shore of Makai. Same time.
Pyron held his head in his right hand. Try as he might, he could not completely heal the damage the vampire had done. Everytime he healed it, it broke open again. When had he received this wound? It had been some time ago... weeks? Months? Time did not matter to a being like Pyron, born of nothing, damned to die and return to nothing.
Time was merely an annoying constraint.
A single knock, tentative and weak, rang out in the darkness of Pyron's room. He looked up, his eyes flaming essences of fire. The fire flickered for a second.
A door opened, in the room, a tall white portal of light. And yet the light didn't penetrate the room. In fact, the light seemed to recoil from it, as if finding the darkness of the room too abhorrent to pierce. As if afraid of what that darkness hid.
" Lord?" A human soldier called from that door. Pyron looked at the shadow, all he could see of the man. " we're ready to move out, as you ordered."
" Good. Move south, following the river. I shall meet you where we will rest for the night."
" Lord." The soldier bowed deeply before Pyron, in a worshipful way, and part of Pyron rejoiced at that... as it had rejoiced at all who called it master. A false god...
Pyron wondered how long it would be before they started worshipping him. Sacrificing their women and children to him.
Before they began to slaughter in his name.
Pyron smiled in the darkness. His former bad mood was completely replaced by dark contentment.
One goal down, two to go.
Now if only that pesky vampire and his enchanted spear would just go away...
Pyron didn't notice until later that his face had split open again where the Ebonrule had struck him.
************************************************************************
The Eastern Steppes of Makai. One hour later.
The party trudged on, walking through broken and tumbled land that would have made the most determined of travelers turn back to home in search of easier roads. Despite the harsh look of the land, Dimitri was cheered up simply knowing they were off the plains. The vampires had never, ever traveled very far in Makai, mostly staying in the cave-infested hills of their Outer Territory. It was one reason that vampires were somewhat mysterious even to their neighbors and allies in surrounding territories. Most races of Makai preferred the night, but what kind of creature had no choice in the matter? Humans thought they were demons (which struck Dimitri as ironically funny; vampires had saved everyone, more the act of an angel than a demon, and yet the humans hated them), while other races merely regarded them as strange and best left alone. Which suited vampires fine. They owned a small territory in the Darkstalker society, so being left alone was probably healthier in the long run for them. When no one notices you, no one kills you. Or tries to take your land. Or rape your women. Or a million other worse things.
Dimitri briefly wondered how the vampires of other worlds were doing. His mind, educated in a way not like that of a noble in our Middle Ages, readily accepted other worlds. It stated in the Bible that God had made one world; it never said that he hadn't created more. Dimitri had no idea how to reach other worlds, but he was perfectly able to believe in them.
[ Are they better off?] Dimitri wondered. [ Are they revered, venerated as the heroes they are? Or, are they like us, a minority, struggling to survive? Small and cast out into darkness...]
Dimitri mused quietly for a few seconds, then other thoughts entered his mind.
[ What are other worlds like?] Dimitri wondered. [ What are the people on them like? Do they dream like we do, hope as we hope, love and care for each other as we should? Are they hating creatures? Creatures of shame? Honor? Madness? What are they like?]
They say that the good are given few gifts in this world. Yet Dimitri was given one then. For a moment, Dimitri was allowed to *see*. In the blink of an eye, he saw other worlds. It was a stark image, one that burned his mind, that seared his very soul with it's imprint. He never had a moment like that again, but once was enough. It was sudden, quick, all consuming, like lightning that strikes on some fantastic and alien landscape and reveals all for a few precious seconds.
He saw a world riddled with tunnels, full of darkness dispelled by no sunlight. He saw three people, one carrying a sword and pained look on his face, a second holding a small staff while red wings emitted black specks of dust, the last carrying a weapon Dimitri had never seen before, a brown tail trailing behind her. They were running from a group of men, who wore strange headgear that made their eyes glow. Some were carrying the same strange weapon the woman was, and they pointed them at the runners. Fire flared from their barrels, and little zips of metal hit the ground behind the trio. The woman turned and struck back, still running, her gun lighting up the darkness. One of the pursuers fell, his throat torn by some unseen force.
Another world. Here the sun had set on a great city of glass and steel, a city full of strange moving creatures and noise... wheeled monsters piled on black roads, screeching at each other in honking voices unlike anything Dimitri had ever heard. A strange, airy thing of some clear material (glass? or something else?) spanned part of the great black road. A young man was walking through it, along with a crowd, and he turned and looked at Dimitri, as if seeing him somehow. He had two scars crossing his face between the eyes, and as the human looked at him, Dimitri saw the sudden imprint of a wolf's face over the man's.
Rushing. Another world. Where a man with body torn and heart bleeding fought on a sunlit battlefield, as the wind blew long grass in waves after waves, as the man's long blond hair blew in the breeze. The man wore no shirt, and Dimitri saw that his right arm was not human, but monstrous. Red eyes blinked and covered the man's right chest, and his hand was a claw. Yet, despite this, Dimitri felt sadness and honor radiate outwards from this man... as he fought and fought, against nigh impossible odds, to save a woman with purple hair who lay at his feet, unconscious, ignorant of the battle the mutated man was waging with strange warriors whose bodies seemed to blink in the sunlight.
Dimitri shook his head, and the images vanished.
" Dimitri?" Morrigan said. " Are you alright?"
" Fine," Dimitri said slowly, as if he'd just awakened from a dream.
[ And in a way, I have, haven't I?] he thought, then smiled. He looked up into the sky and laughed aloud.
" There isn't much given to the good in this world," Dimitri said, stunning his companions, "but what little we are given means everything." Still smiling and chuckling, Dimitri hoisted his spear to his shoulder. " Let's get going. I've seen the heroes of other worlds; it's time to make one for my own."
Walking in front of his dumbstruck companions, Dimitri's laughter rang out in the steppes like the ringing of clear, silver bells.
-There you go, people. Guess who the cameos are from... (ducks as Tiger flies out of nowhere to glomp Ryu)