Before anything else...
I dedicate this entire fic to parents all over the world. For without them, there can be no angst, and without angst, I can never write my fight scenes.
My thanks to Tom Valor for being such a loyal reader... sorry for forgetting to mention you in the last chapter. Guess I freaked out when I had that sinking feeling that my story was losing that certain... "umph!" factor.
Anyway, to clarify a few things, Meshido has the ability to see a dead person's last moments and/or memories. Sorry for making that last chapter a bit confusing, I got frustrated trying to keep the chapter's fluidity in a way, hehe.
And as for Leish... well, the resemblance to WC 3's Lich, believe it or not, is just a coincidence [yes, that includes the name]. The thought just occurred to me when I played the game again.
By the way... can anyone tell me what "noda" means? Byakko's been calling me that all week and I still don't get what he's trying to say...
Also, I rewrote chapter 19 to eliminate some of the confusion with the Azarel vs. Marus flashback [and Meshido's wardrobe... /thx to Seth/Myashka!]. Too bad I can't do much for the other parts because it would affect some of the chapter's contribution to the story [actually, it would just end up too short, besides, I like Marus' dream sequences... sue me if you don't /heh].
RAGNAROK ONLINE FANFIC
TRANSGRESSIONS OF FATEBy: RAGNAR (that really is my name)
Chapter 20: AttemptsJarade and Michelle began making plans for their escape. They both agreed that they should do it before the enemy could gather their forces in Morroc.
Jarade was amazed at the girl's amplitude in military tactics. Somehow, he had a feeling that the young Acolyte had some battle experience.
Looking at the map spread out before them on the floor – something they got from another raid for supplies, they tried to find a gap in the enemy's security that was scattered all over the city. It was a pity that they couldn't sneak out with Wizard's carriage – the Nightmares would have torn the two of them apart anyway if they tried.
The candlelight flickered as the two of them paced in the tiny room.
This was becoming, more or less, routine for them. Sneak around at night while trying to stay hidden in the Castle vents in the day. Come to think of it, he never saw a glimpse of sunlight ever since he got here.
"What if we try the city culverts?" Jarade asked.
Michelle flopped down on the makeshift bed, "I tried that already, every exit is blocked by steel bars. I doubt that I can cast a Holy Light spell that can blow those things apart. Besides, the enemy might sense it and they would be on me before I could even try to hide."
Steel bars...
Suddenly, Jarade had an idea, "That's it!"
Michelle blinked at him, "What is it?"
Jarade could hardly contain his excitement, "We can go through the culverts! I know a store that has a good supply of red gems. With those rocks and a few herbs, I can make a kind of venom that can eat through steel! Not just that, there's also a sewer access at the back of the building. I already have a pouch of those herbs. All we need to do is sneak around like we always do and grab a few gems!"
Jarade held her on the shoulders and looked at her face to face, "Michelle, we can finally get out of here."
Before he knew it, Michelle was hugging him tightly. Tears were forming at her eyes as she lay her head on his chest. The girl was sobbing uncontrollably in his arms. "Thank you, Jarade! Thank you!"
Jarade stroked her hair as he tried to calm her down. He couldn't blame her for being like this most of the time. He supposed that it could happen to anyone under these same conditions. It was probably worse for this thirteen-year-old girl.
The candlelight flickered off as the two of them went to sleep.
That night, they sneaked around the city for what could be the last time. Jarade found the shop as they rounded out the next corner.
The place was not exactly in the best condition when he saw it. The windows were broken into. The door was rammed open and some of the shop's goods were piled outside, rotting and useless.
Scanning the area and seeing that there was nothing going and looking at their direction, Jarade grabbed Michelle and dashed towards the building.
Inside the ransacked shop, goods of every kind were scattered all over the place. Dried and now worthless herbs was strewn across the room while containers that once held some magical artifacts lay empty on the ground. The floor was somewhat sticky from all the potions and liquids that were probably spilled on purpose.
The mess wasn't exactly the thing that interested Jarade, however, as his gaze fell on a loose brick on the wall. Careful not to crunch on the fallen herbs too much to avoid noise, he headed for the wall and pushed the brick.
As soon as he applied the right amount of pressure on the brick, it slid back and the wall beside him slowly grated open to reveal a flight of stairs that led down to a hidden basement.
"Wow! How did you know where to push?" Michelle's voice reminded Jarade of a child asking her dad why the sky was blue.
"Simple," Jarade answered with a smile "I own the place."
The stairs headed down on a steep spiral. As they both stepped inside, Jarade pulled a lever that closed the hidden entrance. Holding Michelle's hand to guide her on the way down, he let her Ruwach spell light the way.
When he built the shop, Jarade discovered a cave some thirty feet below the ground. It was rather deep but when he made the secret passage, he found that it made a remarkably large supply closet, eliminating the costs of having to rent a space in a private warehouse.
If he recalled correctly, the shop's manager sent him the inventory saying that they just had a fresh supply of a few hundred gems the other week. Morroc had a steady demand for red gems, therein lies the problem.
When they reached the last step, he asked Michelle to fasten the glowing orbs to the torch at the very center of the cave ceiling. The room brightened considerably when the light from the Ruwach spell reflected on the mirrors Jarade positioned around the torch and on parts of the walls. The cave flooded with enough light to make it bright as day – somewhat a little too bright for comfort though, he should have placed fewer mirrors.
Taking a quick look around, he saw a chest labeled "Red Gems".
It was time for the moment of truth, opening the chest's heavy lid, Jarade held his breath with hopes that there would be at least one red gem inside. As the light revealed the chest's interior, he felt his heart skip a beat when there were still at least ten gems remaining inside.
He let go of his breath in relief and flopped down on the floor. Michelle kneeled down next to him and asked, "Are you all right?"
"I've never been so relieved my entire life! Do you have any idea how nervous I was back there?" Jarade laughed in spite of himself. He supposed that it was quite silly to be so wound up for no apparent reason.
"Well, anyway, get me that mixing bowl over there." He said while pointing to a dust table covered by cobwebs.
Michelle quickly placed the bowl beside him while he picked up six gems from the chest. He then transferred the herbs from his pouch to the bowl. Taking the diamond crusted pestle; he proceeded to grinding the herbs to a sticky black substance.
Handing the mixing bowl to Michelle while asking her to keep grinding so that the mixture won't settle, he then took one of the gems and wrapped it in a piece of cloth. The gems were roughly half the size of the palm of his hand, small, but enough for one vial of his special mix.
Gems were hard to break, although red gems were the easiest to crack, it still took a notable amount of force to turn one into powder without some tool or with the aid of magic.
He was just glad that the ingredients didn't involve blue gems – they were a nightmare if you tried to crush them with your bare hands.
He felt the gem shatter into several shards when he applied enough pressure with both arms. He did the same with the next five gems.
Now that he was finished with the gems, he dumped shards into the mixture while Michelle kept on churning the black liquid. Then, carefully taking the bowl from the Acolyte, he started to grind the gem fragments under the pestle until he felt them turn to powder. He continued doing this until there was no longer a single red chunk in the mix.
He then poured the bowls contents into a glass cylinder that he asked Michelle to bring to him. Next, he lit a fire on the small burner that was set up on the same table where the mixing bowl was and positioned the container above the flame.
As the container heated up, Jarade can see the mixture slowly changing. What started out as a thick black substance slowly turned into a clear fragrant liquid with a slight pinkish mist.
The potion was finished.
Taking out a few vials, he slowly – and very carefully – poured the venomous substance into them. As soon as one vial was almost full, he plugged it shut with a cork. All in all, there were twenty vials of his special venom. Jarade hoped that it was enough to get them out.
He placed the vials in special boxes roughly the same size as a person's hand. Inside each box was a layer of sawdust locked in by a piece of cloth. Every container contained five vials. He gave two boxes to Michelle while he hooked the other two to his belt.
After giving Michelle instructions on how to apply the venom, he then headed to the only corner in the cave that was not reached by light. It was more of a hole in the wall rather than a corner, though. It was a place where he stowed away his most prized possessions, a spot not even the manager knew of.
Feeling his way around the darkness, he found what he was looking for – a round shape with different sized notches. The shape was actually a special lock a friend made for him. Magically imbued, it would only open if the right hand – namely his – would touch it. Also, should his hand, for any reason, be cut off from his body, he would still need to twist and turn the knob in the proper sequence, not to mention he also had to grip it the right way.
Holding the knob with only his thumb, middle finger, and little finger, he twisted it twice to the right until he felt a click. He then changed his grip, this time holding the lock with the heel of his hand and with index finger, while turning it five times to the left.
After he felt the click on the last turn, he jumped back when the wall started to turn. The stone grated as the wall slowly revealed an assortment of weapons that would make any collector stare.
On the wall hung weapons his family collected throughout the years. It was more of a tradition that one member of one branch of the family tree – one branch would be his immediate family – should have found at least one rare artifact.
Of course, it was a tradition that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the family had a "gift" of "accidentally" running on items such as a claymore made purely of oridecon. The sword actually hung at the very top of the wall.
Sadly though, Jarade would have to leave family heirlooms here in the cave. Whispering a silent prayer for the clan of Noras, he took out Rage from the collection.
Rage was, by all appearances, a simple looking pair of wrist-blades. However, the weapon had three special cards attached to it, giving it more power than it was rightly meant for.
The first magical card gave Rage the ability to break through armor no matter how hard the metal was. Unless the obstacle was made to be indestructible, Rage would shatter anything the enemy would try to block it with.
The second card was created specifically to render any attempt to destroy pair... useless. Jarade's grandfather spent years of his youth trying to find a suitable golem to convert into the second card.
The third card though, was the pride and joy of the Noras clan. Legend had it that his great great great grandfather once fought a doppelganger and won. Although no person would be deemed sane to actually face that kind of demon on his own, Jarade's ancestor was not only able to defeat one, he also was able to turn the demon's essence into a card.
The doppelganger card, as tried and tested by the entire clan, would make Rage's wielder so fast moving, he would only be a blur in the air.
Offering another silent prayer for the clan, he strapped on Rage to his forearms and closed the wall. Jarade then snapped the katar's blades out, and with all his might, destroyed hole that hid the lock.
Then, using the shattered rocks for a foothold, he jumped up to the ceiling and slammed Rage hard on the stone above. There was crash like muffled thunder – and rocks overhead cracked and split before it all came down on the hidden portion of the cave.
Jarade tightened his lips in sadness as he watched a century of his family's treasure became buried under a ton of rock. Maybe he would come back for it someday, but for now, the entire collection must remain hidden. He could not bear the fact that the enemy might use his family heirlooms against anyone else... nor could he afford the consequences.
Retracting the katar's blades, Jarade motioned Michelle to come back with him to the surface.
The secret entrance closed behind them as they exited the cave.
He guided Michelle out the back door and into a darkened alley. There, they found a manhole that covered their only chance at getting out of the city.
He took out a vial from one of his boxes and slowly placed a few drops on one the bolts that held the manhole to the ground. As the venom slowly ebbed away at the metal, a sharp, rancid smell emanated from the spots where Jarade used the potion on.
Jarade sped up the corrosion by adding a few more drops on the center of the manhole. The steel cover started to hiss and bend as the venom ate it most of the metal away.
The manhole no longer had any hold on the ground and fell to the culvert below with a loud enough crash. Jarade's face paled when he heard the noise. The culverts echoed and there was no doubt in his mind that the enemy heard the noise.
No sooner had he realized this that he heard footsteps coming their way.
From a distance beyond the city, he heard the howling of a wolf.