Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?
Just a quick note to say that chapter 6 has been reuploaded along with this chapter. Also, I've re-read this several times to check for typos, but some may still remain. If you spot any, please tell me about them so I can fix them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jagex, RuneScape, or any of the RuneScape characters. All I own is the plot of this fanfiction and some of the characters in the story. I am not making a financial profit from this story.
Anyway, enjoy yourselves!
Chapter 79: The Sea of Sorrow
The footsteps were approaching, slow, heavy, and rhythmic. They sounded like claps of thunder. Ilookgood99's words echoed in my head. A storm is coming. I finally understood some of the meaning behind his words.
There was a moment's silence, and suddenly the whole Falador wall collapsed. Bricks, dust and debris rained down on the city. A massive army stood behind what remained of the wall. The army mainly consisted of black knights, dark wizards, and possessed creatures (rats, skeletons, zombies, ghosts). The very front of the army consisted of the Black Guard. The air was filled with roaring, shouting, chanting, screeching, and moaning. It was a terrible orchestra of death and despair.
At the very front, the four black knight lords stood, leering at us. Master Samuel stood in front of them. He muttered a spell, and floated above all of the warriors.
"SILENCE!" Master Samuel bellowed. The whole army fell silent instantly. "I speak now to all of those who go against me. I believe, before I completely destroy your city, you need to know the reasons for me doing so.
"Many, many years ago, I was nothing but a chaos monk living deep in the wilderness in the chaos temple. I grew to become the leader of the chaos temple, but I wanted more. I was a power-hungry person, and I wanted more, more and more.
"Then one day, Zamorak granted my request. He spoke to me. He informed me of a particular potion that would achieve more than anybody could even dream about. I shall not tell you what the potion's final effect is, but I tell you this. It was quite a menacing potion, and my monks were reluctant at first to help me make it. After a little bit of…convincing, they agreed to help me. That was how the Jury of Death was formed. But now I don't need the Jury of Death. I still contact them when I need help making a decision, but altogether I don't really need them any more.
"Zamorak blessed me with an ancient book which contains many horrible potion recipes and many evil spells, including the recipe to this potion. That recipe alone takes up a quarter of the book, and I can assure you it is quite a thick book. I learnt all of the recipes and potions by heart, and I even shared one of them with all of my supporters. That spell is now known as the bind of pain. I also learned how to possess animals through this book. As the years passed, I gained the support of the dark wizards, all of the chaos monks worldwide, and more.
"One side-effect of the potion being brewed was the change in weather. This began making people suspicious. I decided to begin scaring people and creating suspicion to foreshadow the awesome effects of the potion, so I began possessing creatures at a massive scale. Besides, it's all a part of my massive plan. To combat the amount of odd events and possessed creatures, the Glory Troopers were formed.
"But today, I shall collapse the organisation that was created to stop me. I have many enemies here that will die today. With the amount of power I've gained from the God Rune, I will collapse Falador and then I shall move on to other main cities that could be a threat to me and my plans." Master Samuel muttered a spell, and a white knight flew towards him. He grabbed the knight by the neck and crushed it in his vice-like grasp. The knight fell by his feet, dead.
"A storm has been approaching for a while, and we've barely scratched the surface! I shall crush you all, in the name of power, darkness and Zamorak himself!" Master Samuel yelled. His army let off an ear-splitting roar that shook the ground below me.
I didn't feel naïve bravery and the need to fight any more. I felt like running, and hiding, and crying. In the words of Master Samuel himself, I felt like 'hiding behind the skirts of greater men'. But I remembered my promise to Dream that I would make Master Samuel pay for his crimes, and my fear evaporated into thin air.
Everyone ran forward, and the two armies collided. The first few dying screams could be heard. A black knight ran towards me, his sword held in front of him. I swung around, and I elbowed him in the face. He fell backwards, and I sent Silverlight through his chest. He crumpled on the floor, and if that didn't kill him, he got trampled to death by a crowd of charging knights.
The true gore began then. All that could be heard was screaming, roaring, crying, slicing, and the clanging of swords. I bounced around, avoiding blows, and slashing people with Silverlight. The battle seemed to spin around me with a mixture of red, white, black and blue colours. I began feeling disoriented as I tried to swim through the sea of hate, bloodshed and battle. I decided that the battle would be described as the Sea of Sorrow, because that's what it felt like. The whole place now smelt like blood and metal. It made me sick to the bone. This was the biggest battle I'd ever encountered. Even the battles described in the epics and books I'd read couldn't compare to this.
I heard the terrible sound of a motorbike. I turned around, and I saw the Black Fly, the Pink Butterfly, the Brown Beetle and the Silver Wasp driving around on their motorbikes, crushing random warriors from both sides. They must have managed to escape their prison in the confusion of the battle.
They seemed to be relishing in the bloodshed. They didn't seem to care who they killed, as long as they contributed in some way. I ducked as they flew over my head, breaking the skulls of several warriors on the way.
The battle wore on for at least an hour. I had a particularly nasty encounter with a zombie. Moaning, with filthy, ragged clothes, and pale, bloodless skin, zombies were living nightmares. This zombie managed to get a hold of my arm and tear strips of flesh off it. I managed to send it flying backwards into the Sea of Sorrow before anything worse could happen to me.
After many other similar encounters with an array of creatures, the dark wizards began targeting me. I was hit by a massive array of painful spells. I just barely managed to avoid getting hit by a bind of pain. Just as a dark wizard grabbed hold of my neck and began muttering a deadly curse, Creator came from behind and kicked the dark wizard in the stomach. He keeled over, gasping for breath. This gave me enough time to kill him. I thanked Creator.
I had no choice but to fight and kill. If I didn't, I would lose my life. I didn't really want to die at the moment. I wanted to avenge Dream Decay's death before then. There was no option but to slice, dice and maim my way through the battle, otherwise I'd get sucked down under. It was a simple choice: kill or be killed. War was truly the worst thing a person could go through. I was injured beyond description already.
If there was anything that was difficult to fight, that was the Black Guard. Nothing could stand in their way. I hadn't battled a member of the Black Guard for a while, but the memory of them stuck in my head like glue. I had a flashback of the first time I saw them.
"The Black Guards wore shiny black armour. Black plate legs, black plate bodies, black medium helmets were only some of the armour they wore. The skin that was visible was a charred, fleshy colour, and their eyes were completely red. They held long black sticks with a hole in the end, with a pipe that connected to a shiny metal bag on their back. In shiny leather black belts they had black swords, black clubs and a black, cracked stone rune with a large red button on it."
Nothing could combat them. If anybody even tried, they'd be doused with flames and would be roasted alive. I was attacked by a member of the Black Guard at one point. I escaped, barely alive.
I was surprised to be alive at that moment. I'd evaded death so many times since the war started that me being alive was a miracle. I turned around and saw that our defences had been breached. The White Knight Castle was under attack!
I bumped into the last person I wanted to see at that moment: Madrey1. He curled his lip down at me.
"Well, isn't it nice to see you today, young noob?" he growled. "In the confusion of the castle being attacked, I managed to slip out of my prison cell. The other two are currently taking advantage of the war by looting the shops. I thought I'd come now and get my revenge."
"Now is not the time or the place," I yelled. "My friends are all in danger, and I need to end the mess I started. Get out of my way now. I haven't got the time to be dealing with people like you."
"What are you going to do about it?" Madrey1 taunted. "There's nothing you can do about your situation. I'm not budging."
"Fine," I sighed. I knew I couldn't beat him, but I could try, couldn't I?
Madrey1 punched me repeatedly in the stomach. I was in a horrible amount of pain, but I couldn't show it. My arm was almost cut off as he swung his sword downward. Instead, it left a large red mark. I hissed in pain, tears dripping down my cheeks. I really felt like collapsing and weeping, but I couldn't show weakness. Serenity was the key to true strength.
"Why aren't you hurt?" Madrey1 demanded. He punched me twice on the face, and I felt a black eye form. That was the last straw.
I murmured a fire spell under my breath, and before Madrey1 could do anything else, a handful of fire went in his face. He stumbled, screaming as his eyes were scorched. I kicked him in the crotch, and he fell backwards, sobbing.
"Ever heard of something called a cup?" I smirked. Madrey1 moaned. I whacked him repeatedly in the face until his nose had been reduced to a bloody pulp. I grabbed his helmet, and I threw it in the Sea of Sorrow.
"NO! NO! NOT AGAIN!" Madrey1 screamed, and he pounced after it. He was swept away by the battle. I was dumbstruck. I'd managed to defeat Madrey1 without getting harmed myself! But I couldn't ponder on my victory. I had to go.
I was scanning the Sea of Sorrow for any sign of Master Samuel, but I saw nothing. This surprised me. I was expecting Master Samuel to be in the thick of battle, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I realised he was probably at the castle, trying to find Sir Amik Varze. I managed to get to the bridge with nothing more than a few scratches. I sprinted across the bridge and ran through the door to be greeted by a terrible sight.
A smaller war was happening in the courtyard. Jamie, Capablanca, Slinky, Osrie1, and Amy11 were fighting off the four black knight lords, James, and some other dark wizards. There were two Mysterious Cloaked Men! My jaw almost dropped at the sight. They both approached me, laughing. They both grabbed my arms, and dragged me towards James.
"Hello there," James tormented. "As you may be able to see, I've used my cloning potion on our friend here. I had to tweak it slightly, otherwise the clone would be a complete opposite, but now Master Samuel has two powerhouses. I'm considering making more so we have a personal army of our own.
"I don't know why your army are trying. They have no hope against us, not while we have Master Samuel as a leader. He has many, many plans. I'm so tempted to kill you at the moment, but I honestly can't. If I did, Master Samuel would be furious. I'll leave you go now. You can run, you can hide, you can cower, you can cry, but when Master Samuel finds you, you are dead."
The MCM's let me go, and the four black knight lords saw me and surrounded me. I felt really intimidated.
"Let's get you ready for Samuel, shall we?" Roderick sneered. Hyperventilating, I ran inside the castle and up a flight of stairs. I heard Roderick, Katrina, Left and Right pursue me.
After practically flying through the castle, I found the longest flight of stairs in the castle that led to the tallest tower. My thoughts were clouded with fear and panic, and at the time I thought that if I ran up there I'd probably be able to flee from the bloodthirsty lords. So that's what I did. I began my climb to the top.
Gasping for air, I ran up the stairs two at a time. I couldn't stop, or the consequences would be dire. If I stopped, even for a moment, I would die. I'd come to terms with the fact that I would die at some point, but had that point arrived? I heard a taunting cackle from below. Panting, I forced myself to go up those stairs further.
I finally arrived at the top. I had an excellent view of the whole of Falador. But what I saw was not the beautiful marble construction I'd grown to love. Instead, I saw blood, gore, and fighting. I saw a lot of fighting. I could hear roars of rage, screams of pain, and the sound of death in general. The air was thick with the scent of blood.
I was distracted as I felt a heavy blow to my shoulder. I turned around, only to be faced with the evil grin of Roderick.
"Coming up here is probably the worst mistake you'll ever make," Roderick taunted. He was flanked by the other lords. He let of a loud, high-pitched whistle which filled my head with dread for some reason. The battle stopped for a split second as the ear-piercing whistle was heard across the city, before continuing.
I tried my best to fight off the lords, but it was hopeless. They avoided every single blow I had to offer. Fighting a cocky lump of muscle like Madrey1 was very different to fighting four very experienced people. My body was plastered with cuts, bruises and injuries in general. My bones felt rattled, my muscles felt stretched, and any resistance I had was about to crumble.
Just as I was about to give up and fall into their mercy, a shadow fell over us. The mouths of the four commanders fell open. I turned around, and I was faced with the massive white dragon that had saved my life countless times before. I felt like crying out with joy. We were safe. The man on the white dragon smiled kindly down at me, and his gaze hardened as he saw the four lords.
They howled with alarm, and tried going back down the stairs. Filled with a newfound strength, I pushed through them and blocked their path. I managed to delay them enough for the dragon to grab them with its claws. Roderick and Katrina managed to escape and push past me, but Left and Right weren't so lucky. With a single movement, they were thrown into the dragon's mouth. After some crunching and muffled screaming, the dragon gulped, and Left and Right were no more.
The man on the white dragon dismounted, and walked towards me. He wore his usual white robes, with the 'god sword' strapped to his back. He shook my hand warmly.
"Hello," he smiled. "My name is Ray, and my dragon here has been aptly named Hope. It's nice to finally meet you, Mainiac97."
"I can't thank you enough," I beamed, crushing Ray in a bear hug. "You've saved my life more times then I care to remember. You saved me on Tutorial Island. You saved me from the wrath of the three-headed dragon. Honestly, I can't express how grateful I am to you."
"I, nor my dragon, saved you," Ray admitted. "It was Saradomin working inside of me. I have been chosen by him. I can sense any danger, and I can rectify any problems. I was called to start the Glory Troopers because Saradomin told me it would save many, many lives. I was blessed with Hope here, as well as the god sword, so I may further my goal of making the world a more peaceful place."
"Are you able to defeat Master Samuel?" I enquired.
"I don't know," Ray said. "I can try my best. Master Samuel's weakness is his logic. When you put your heart and soul into supporting Zamorak, it clouds your logic. If you try and pinpoint Master Samuel's exact weak points, you could triumph over him."
"Is that so?" someone snarled from above us. We looked up, and we saw Master Samuel. He was flying in the air on some sort of terrible horse-like creature. It was a normal horse, except it had been mutated. It had red eyes, black fur, and had massive leathery wings. It was constantly making some type of wheezing sound that didn't sound natural.
"Master Samuel!" Ray bellowed. He mounted his dragon, which flew upwards with a roar. Master Samuel, with a single movement of his hand, let of a large red beam. This beam hit Hope the dragon, who was sent spiralling towards the ground. A thunderous crash could be heard as the dragon collided with a house in Falador.
Master Samuel, on his mutated horse, flew towards me. Any hope I had left had fallen to the ground along with Ray. I gulped. There was nobody else here except me and Master Samuel. I couldn't run, I couldn't hide, not any more. The final fight had arrived.
..and that concludes chapter 79! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you'll find the next chapter to be especially...epic. My question to you in this chapter is, simply, what's your opinion on the war, the MCM's cloning, Ray, and master Samuel himself? Please tell me your views!
In this chapter, you may have spotted the prologue I included in chapter 1. If you can specifically find it, you deserve a cyber-cookie with extra HTML sprinkles.
Next time: it is both the beginning and the end. It is the long-awaited final showdown. The final fight has arrived.
Until next time, toodles!