Subj: [ffml] [HD] Onward through the Rain Date: 01-02-06 06:50:30 EST From: dshumate@bbtel.com (Shumate) Reply-to: ffml@yahoogroups.com To: ffml@yahoogroups.com (Final Fantasy Mailing List), HillionDynasty@egroups.com (Hillion Dynasty Mailing List) * This is, in my opinion(which isn't exactly very impressive), the best chapter I've done for HD. It's probably the longest as well. I just hope I didn't mess up either of DLE's characters, Kefka or Ladaku :-) ------------------------------------------------------ Arcanis struggled, for the third time in five minutes, to stay balanced on his mount as he pulled his cloak closer against the moisture in the air. Water slid down the raincloak and coated the feathers of his white chocobo, caused by the light drizzle that had begun ever since the large party consisting of Arcanis, Ladaku, Burdock, the young Gage, a strange man calling himself the Northern Paladin, Lia, Celeste, and the Night Horror, Saaldor, had begun their slow chase after Kefka. Arcanis glanced sidelong at Saaldor and Ladaku, the two strange, lizard-like creatures, riding at the other side of the mounted column the party had formed to traverse the wide, muddy road. Arcanis could tell that Saaldor was powerful, that was obvious even to someone who wasn't even attuned to mana, since the Night Horror, while invisible in the light, had a shadowy, quasi-corporeal form in the dim light of the gradually-worsening rain. But Arcanis was confounded by Ladaku. He knew the Lizar was far more powerful than he was letting on, especially since it took archmage-level skill to conceal one's aura from even the least powerful esper. Arcanis quirked a small smile as he saw Gage pass him. The young boy ran circles around the trudging group with his own yellow chocobo, overjoyed that he had been given the mount rather than made to ride on one of the large chocobos carrying supplies. Gage passed Lia who had a cloak draped vainly over her to try to protect her wings from the cold drizzle. Arcanis paused on his apprentice for a moment. He had noticed that, while avariel did tend to have excellent magical abilities, Lia was learning at an amazing rate. She had soaked up the few lessons he had managed to spare thus far, and he had even seen her begin to craft her own spells out of will. Weaving together threads of mana into a spell not practiced beforehand was a very rare talent among mortals, and Arcanis sensed great potential in Lia. Turning his thoughts to other matters, Arcanis reached into his belt pouch and drew out a circle of carved glass, a scrying crystal, to try to find Kefka again. Arcanis focused a stream of mana into the artifact. It shone dully, and transparent picture flickered inside the confines of the crystal. Arcanis blinked in surprise; up until know, the scrying crystal hadn't shown any pictures, since that usually only worked within about ten miles of the target. Instead it had only flickered a few colors that indicated the general direction the party's quarry were in. Now, the picture showed a dim image of two men riding a chocobo. Arcanis struggled not to snarl primitively as he recognized the one dressed in fruity clown clothes as Kefka. Arcanis studied the thick forest surrounding the pair, with a mountain rising in the distance that resembled Pat Buchanan. Pat Buchanan...? "This rain is getting pretty bad," Ladaku spoke suddenly, interrupting Arcanis' thoughts. Indeed, it had begun to rain heavily, even through the sheltering canopy of trees. "We should find a cave to wait it out in, or someone's going to end up with a broken neck," the Lizar said, motioning towards the slick, muddy road. "Who died and made him the leader...?" Arcanis muttered under his breath, tucking away the scrying crystal. "What was that?" Ladaku asked, glancing at Arcanis. "Er, I said, you're absolutely right!" Arcanis said sheepishly, speaking louder. Ladaku hmmmed before turning back around. Gage trotted up out of the forest and Arcanis blinked; he hadn't even seen the boy run off. "Guess what!" the enthusiastic boy cried. "I found a cave!" "How... convenient..." Arcanis said slowly, incredulous. "Excellent work, Gage. Perhaps you could hand me back that wand?" Gage sheepishly handed Arcanis back the Wand of Wonder he had swiped, and Arcanis sighed in relief. If had stayed in Gage's hands, Arcanis doubted that the world would survive whether they killed Kefka or not. The party turned and followed Gage back to a large, shallow cave he had found, not far off the road. Everyone unsaddled their chocobos at the entrance of the cave, and set up their sleeping bags. It was getting late, after all. Lightning began to flash outside as the rain picked up, and Arcanis was suddenly glad that the cave entrance wasn't facing against the beating wind. Doubting that much dry firewood would be found in the worsening storm, Arcanis made a simple arcane gesture, and a moderately-sized fire flared up in the center of the cave. Arcanis fixed the stream of fire mana in place, giving it nine hours before the spell wore off. "I'll take first watch," Arcanis, Ladaku, and Burdock all said in unison, before glaring darkly at each other. * * * Several games of paper, rock, and scissors later, Arcanis was exultant as he stood first watch. It made things much easier, as he hadn't planned on sleeping anyway. Glancing back into the dim cave, illuminated by the fuel-less campfire, Arcanis listened carefully for the deep, measured sounds of sleeping. Of course, with rain and lightning outside, listening for breathing was rather difficult, so Arcanis sent a wave of a mild Sleep-spell through the cave, enough to make anyone on the verge of sleep drop off. Arcanis cast a complex warding spell around the entrance cave. In the unlikely event that someone entered the cave, a blaring sound would echo throughout the cave, loud enough to cut through even Burdock's heavy dwarven snoring. "Good luck, Arcanis," the gravelly voice of a Lizar spoke quietly from within the depths of the cave. Pulling the cowl of his raincloak up, Arcanis ducked out into the storm. Traversing the storm, though the canopy of the forest provided some cover, was a bit more difficult than Arcanis had anticipated. He had to catch himself from three falls before reaching the main road. Checking the scrying crystal, Arcanis used levitation spell to rise a few inches above the ground, then pushed himself along with telekinesis. Real flying would take more power, power he didn't want detected, and this was just as fast anyway. The mortals wouldn't have to be dragged into this... it was his mission, and he would finish it tonight. Arcanis glided along the muddy path for roughly three miles before he deemed himself too close to Kefka's position to risk detection. Dispelling the levitation, Arcanis shut the magical shield on his aura as strongly as possible. Even Bahamut wouldn't have been able to detect him. Arcanis walked warily into a large, rocky clearing, which ended at a sheer cliff edge. Kefka and his henchman were probably camped in a cave at the bottom of the cliff, but... "Hello, esper," A voice said quietly behind Arcanis. Arcanis whirled as he felt an aura unmask at the edge of the trees, where he had just passed. The rain slid around the air of the man who stood there, off an invisible shield. The man was dressed in colorful, jester-like clothing... "Kefka," Arcanis hissed between his teeth. "Oh, how nice, you remember me," Kefka said mockingly, walking casually around the edge of the clearing. "Let's see... Aranus, was it? Arcticus?" "Arcanis," the esper seethed, clenching his fists and going over a number of preparatory mental exercises as he unshielded his aura. "Ah yes. I believe I drew quite a few impressive spells from you, didn't I? My, you seem a bit more skillful than when I crystallized you. But what makes you think I can't do again, like this, hm?" Kefka said snidely, abruptly firing a bolt of energy from his outstretched hand at Arcanis. That same spell had crystallized, turned to magicite, hundreds of espers, almost all of them, long ago. "This!" Arcanis shouted triumphantly, weaving together an extremely complex shield of psinetic mana, a spell he had been perfecting ever since he had regained his corporeal form, millennia ago. Kefka's eyes widened in shock as he spell impacted the shield, and both spells dissolved. "I-impossible! You little bastard!" Kefka shouted. Arcanis snarled wordlessly and drew as mana into his being as he could, then letting loose a flurry of destructive energy at Kefka. The spell struck Kefka squarely, and Arcanis continued firing spell after spell, fire, water, ice, wind, all the most focused destructive spells he knew, in rapid succession. The heat from the violent explosions of the spells instantly dried the ground and flash-evaporated the rain around the area, causing a large cloud of dust to blossom from where the spells were striking. After several minutes, Arcanis released on final spell, a fireball, and shifted back on his heels and prepared to sigh in relief. Unfortunately, the rain immediately dissipated the cloud of dust, and Kefka's grinning, unscratched form was revealed, hovering in place above a large blackened crater. "Oh fu--" Arcanis muttered as a compact orb of energy impacted him. Arcanis felt the powerful concussive blast carry him careening off the cliff, and launching him down a steep slope. Arcanis rolled to absorb some of the shock of the land, simultaneous casting a potent healing spell that instantly reknit his torn, burned flesh and broken bones. Arcanis stood of shakily as he felt another spell being cast from the edge of the cliff. He quickly formed a shield that the second orb of energy impacted, but still was driven back several feet from the sheer force of the spell, his shield shattering into shards of mana. Without even the time to counterattack, Arcanis was forced to quickly dodge to the side of a lightning bolt; from Kefka's hand, not the clouds. The intense heat of the electricity seared the flesh from Arcanis side and he cried out as several more struck near him, sending him rolling roughly across the ground from the force of the spells. Arcanis thought he might scream in frustration as he blocked several more spells with another mana shield, barely keeping the invisible barrier from shattering under Kefka's onslaught. Didn't this guy ever take time to recharge? Arcanis' concentration broke as Kefka changed tactics. The ground beneath his feet erupted in a powerful explosion, sending him flying against a tree, which a well placed icicle pinned him to. Arcanis hazily thought that it was a damn good thing he was immortal as he blearily eyed the thick spike of ice driven through his chest and into the tree, blood pouring around it. A damn good thing. "Well, well..." Kefka said snidely, walking casually closer to Arcanis' pinned form. Arcanis struggled vainly to melt the icicle with fire magic, but in his weakened state, Kefka easily held an aura of anti-magic around him, neutralizing any scrap of ability he had left. "Impressive. Despite how simple this spell may be," Kefka sneered, flourishing the complex psinetic spell that would instantly kill any esper it contacted, holding the orb of mana casually in his hand. "I didn't think any of you stupid espers would figure out the counterspell. Ah well, it should be a simple matter to figure out how to break it, as soon as I extract it from you..." Kefka grinned evilly, stretching the hand he held the pulsating orb of dark energy in. *It can't happen like this!* Arcanis screamed mentally as the killing blow shot towards him, seemingly in slow motion. *I... won't... let it!!* Arcanis reached as far into himself as far as he could, stretching farther than he knew he could. With sheer force of will, he reached towards the mana that coursed through his being, his very most inner essence, his soul. Through sheer force of will, he grasped that power, and hung on with a death grip, focusing it outwards. Kefka stopped his maniacal laughing as he noticed his spell had dissipated before reaching the target. He looked back up at Arcanis just in time to see a wave of energy surged out from the pinned esper. The blast of mana smashed through Kefka's mental shield, slamming into his body and lifting him off the ground. When he looked back up at where the esper had been pinned, only a bloody, slowly-melting icicle was there, surrounded by the residue of a random teleportation spell. Kefka snarled angrily, clawing mentally at the magical residue for a hint of where the esper had gone, but the spell was too chaotic to detect such a thing. * * * Arcanis stumbled yet again on the slick, muddy slopes, nearly sliding back down to the road. He spotted the cave, and even with his hazy thought processes, he was able to carefully unravel the ward. He stumbled inside out of the rain, his clothing soaked, torn, muddy, burnt, and bloody, clutching at the throbbing wound in his chest he had not had enough energy to heal fully. Luckily, it seemed, he had managed to heal himself enough so that he would not die of his wounds, hopefully. "Ladaku," Arcanis mumbled, kicking the Lizar. Ladaku grunted, reluctantly releasing his hold on sleep. "Your turn at watch." Arcanis mumbled, before collapsing onto his own sleeping pallet, slipping into welcome unconsciousness. -Arcanis Subj: [ffml] [HD] Reptile talk. Date: 01-02-07 22:40:17 EST From: darklord@compusmart.ab.ca (His Dark Lordship) Reply-to: ffml@yahoogroups.com To: ffml@yahoogroups.com (ffml), hilliondynasty@egroups.com (Hillion Dynasty) Ladaku strolled over to the shadows where Saaldor was resting. "Tell me..." he grumbled. "What has happened to the others?" Saaldor looked up. "Our numbers have dwindled. Since his eternal majesty of darkness departed twelve hundred years ago, I have confirmed the demise of fifteen of my brothers." "Fifteen..." Ladaku sighed. "What had occured?" "If I were to blame anyone, it would be Surlak. IT was his ambission that spelt our demise. He gathered many of us together to forge an empire and become the next Lord of Darkness." "Who all went with him?" "I don't remember them all. All are dead, save for Nightmare." "How did they fall?" "Nightmare was lured away by a bait of some sort. Prior to this, Niles was slain by a group attempting to figure out our weakness. It was learned and the exploitation of this spelt doom for the rest." Ladaku sighed. "So much for Thanatos' legacy." -- The eternal lord of darkness... "And if our dreams sometimes come true, then what of our nightmares?" -The undisputed Master of Final Fantasy 2 -GM of FF2c -Lord of the FFML ICQ UIN# 23424269 IRC Nicks: TheDarkLord, GannondorfDragmire, occasionally Blackthorne System: Amiga 4000/040 Cybervision64 & Opalvision ---INTEL/MICROSOFT FREE---