A Regnum Tale: Exiles

[Dohni]

still reading and still loveing the story!

I look forward to each new chapter. Whish I could help you with names but I suck at it. I keep thinking I have a good name for you and then realize that the reason i thought of it is I remember seeing them in game. LOL

[Immune]

A Destiny Revealed

Ahno came out of the portal first. He looked behind him to see if the others were following. To his surprise however, he saw only a solid wall. Curious as to how that was possible, he touched the wall, expecting his hand to go through it. It did no such thing though, it was just a regular solid wall.
'Ancient magics are at work here it seems.'

A moment later Iris came through the wall. Ahno tried touching it again, but nothing had changed. Iris seemed just as surprised as him, though not so curious as to how it was possible. It wasn't really important. She was already becoming accustomed to strange things happening.

Finally Remus appeared from the wall. Just like the others, this surprised him. Though he decided it wasn't even worth thinking about. It seemed that confusion was going to be a frequent experience for him for a while.

Together they began walking forward. This was the room they'd seen in their dream the night before. Unlike before, they could see the outer edge of the room. The walls were curved, giving the room the appearance of a silo. They were a shade of royal blue, with intricate emerald green designs covering them from top to bottom. Bright red spots were placed among the design at seemingly random intervals.

On the opposite wall was what appeared to be a giant doorway. Giant statues stood on either side of it. Six small holes in the wall ran horizontally parallel with the floor, three on either side of the door.

As they approached the center of the room with the ring and altar, a bright blue light flashed, filling the entire room. The three of them shielded their eyes, and when the light was gone, a woman stood before them. This was the figure from their dream. She wore an elegant white robe, with gold trimming. The back of the robe featured a radiant blue crescent on its center. Her eyes were the same shining blue color. A white hood concealed long amber locks of hair. A soft light seemed to emanate from her.

When she spoke to them, her voice resonated throughout the room. She sounded as wise as any mage, her tone seemed sad, but strong.
"Welcome, chosen ones, to the Chamber of Revelation. You have done well to make it here, though the prophecy said it would be so."

The three looked at her in awe. What were they supposed to say? Ahno recovered from the lack of speech first.
"Who are you? Are you the person from our dream?"
"I am. You may call me Nadia, spirit of hope." She didn't speak further until Iris decided it was her turn to say something.

"So? Why did you bring us here? What were we chosen for? Who chose us? Why us? When were we chosen?" Questions spilled from her unexpectedly, and Nadia held a hand up gently so she would stop.
"You have been chosen by destiny to fulfill the prophecy told by an ancient seer long ago."
"Prophecy?" Remus repeated questioningly.
"Yes. Before the war ever began, your involvement in its resolution was foretold."
"Resolution??" Ahno echoed in disbelief.

"Yes. You three have been chosen to end this eternal conflict. You are each descendants of legends of old. They too tried to end this war, but in the wrong manner; they joined the battles in hopes that their presence could force the others into submission." She shook her head sadly. "Only by uniting could they have succeeded. Which is what you have done." now she smiled at them in hope.

"We're supposed to end this war alone? How can that be possible?" Iris said incredulously.
"You may not know it, or believe it, but you three are to be among the greatest warriors in the history of this land. Each of you have the potential to change the world. The crescent which marks each of you is the insignia of an ancient order of peace keepers, who fell shortly after the war began."

"Did this prophecy describe how we're to accomplish this feat?" asked Ahno.
"The prophecy says no such thing. I can, however, tell you how to continue the work of the Crescent Order, you must succeed where they tried and failed."
They listened intently now, wondering how they could possibly do anything to stop this war. Certainly it wouldn't be easy, as they were about to find out.

"You must gather the ancient gems of power which lie in each realm of this land, and bring them to this chamber. By the time you have successfully been able to do so, you will know what to do." This was beginning to sound more and more impossible.

"There is one complication, however. I must warn you, that, by some foul trickery played by the divine forces, there are three similarly powerful warriors with a similar goal, but an entirely different intention. They would end this war in a storm of destruction, obliterating everyone and everything. This cannot happen." Ahno remembered the warlock from the night before, and the symbol he'd seen on his hand.

"Do these three... have markings on their hands as we do?" he asked uncertainly. Nadia held her hands out, palms facing each other as if to hold a ball. Between them she created a floating symbol. Two triangles sat on top of one another, one pointing down and the other up, touching at the points, giving them the appearance of an empty hourglass.

"Yes. This is their symbol. You may recognize it as an hourglass with no sand... a dark representation of their intentions. The end of time."
"So let me get this straight," Iris began, "the three of us are supposed to get into every realm on our own, find and steal their gems, and bring them all back here, while three other 'evil' chosen ones, are doing the same thing?"
"You can, and you must. Else the world as all of us know it will be forever changed for the worse."

The three of them stood there, thinking, wondering. None of them felt up to the enormous task suddenly thrust upon them. Nadia knew they would feel this way at first. They would have to adapt though. Then she remembered one last thing.
"I can still help you in your quest, by giving you something you can use."

She stepped back and a flash of light came out of nowhere. There were now three golden chests before them.
"Each of you open the chest which lies before you. Their contents will aid you greatly in your journey."

Ahno went first. He opened the chest in front of him and took out a magnificent staff, along with an amazing amulet. The wood making the staff had a purple color to it, and twisted to a point at the foot. Silver runes ran all along its length and seemed to radiate light. The amulet was a blue sphere with silver wisps swirling around the inside, hanging from a silver chain. Nadia explained what they were.

"That, is the Staff of Tranquility. As long as you carry this, Ahno, you will never know fear, and calmness will never leave you. It will nullify any mind altering magics which may be used against you. The sphere, is the Amulet of Perception. Never will an answer elude you as long as you wear it. Use them wisely." Ahno gladly put his old staff in the chest, it was of little worth to him.

Iris opened the chest in front of her next. She took two items from within. A white leather quiver with gold trimming she took in one hand, and a blue tinted short bow in the other. The bow had golden symbols engraved in the fine ancient wood, known as xymerald. She gaped at it, these types of bows were said to have been extinct.

"Iris, this is the Bow of True Sight. Seldom will your attacks miss when you use this, and rarely will an enemy be able to trick you in battle. And that, is the Everlasting Quiver. You will never run out of arrows as long as you carry it. May they bring you many victories in battles yet to come." She eagerly replaced the new items with her old ones in the chest, they brought her no kind memories.

Finally it was Remus' turn to open his chest. He did so, and produced from it a sword made of pure gleaming silver, with shining blue runes running down it's blade. The hilt was golden with silver inlays. He also took out a shield, made of silver just as the sword. A sophisticated golden design covered its face, with a blue crescent in the center.

"These, Remus, are the Sword of Purity, and the Shield of Tenacity. This blade will cleave easily through all but the most corrupted of evils. It will never break and will always remain sharp. This shield will aid you when you may otherwise fall. Never shall it wear, you may always rely on it. May you strike down all that is tainted with darkness which stands in your path." Remus calmly laid his old gear in the chest as the others had done. He was never really the sentimental type.

Nadia closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly.
"These are my gifts to you, in hopes that with them you will undoubtedly prevail. Your journey is far from over, and there is much yet for you to overcome. There is nothing else of usefulness for me left to tell you. I have faith in your abilities, all that remains is for you to have faith in yourselves. I wish you luck, chosen ones."

And with that, the room seemed to disappear before their eyes, and they were suddenly standing at the Alsian docks near Aggersborg Fort. The sky was darkening as dusk slowly extinguished the light of day. They could, however, see black smoke billowing to the north, and an unnatural orange light could be seen glowing in the distance through the multitudes of pine trees, suggesting something was burning.

The sounds of battle rang out in the distance, the clashing of metal and the cries of courage and pain.

Through it all, a gentle breeze carried the whispers of an unfulfilled destiny past the ears of the chosen ones.

[Mbwana]

wow, very very nice immune!

[Altara]

Heh, I love it :]
I'm just sorry I haven't read it sooner

[Leadoffhitter]

[w_larsen]

while general advice is to let the piece rest for some time before editing it, i'll point one sentence i did not like.

She touched her head where she had hit her head, where she found no sign of the injury. (awakening)

she...head where she... head, where she....


hopefully more of the story coming soon

[Immune]

A Walk in the Dark

The three of them were growing weary from the day's events. They decided, however, that this would likely be their best chance at getting into Alsius. Before they began moving again, Ahno fed artificial energy into each of them. It was no replacement for sleep, but it would help them to overcome fatigue in the coming hours.

They began making their way north, towards Aggersborg. As they came to the tree line they stopped and looked. The fighting in the immediate area had all but ended, but the carnage left behind was enough to know it was more than a skirmish. It looked like Alsius was being invaded by the other two realms simultaneously.

Dozens, possibly hundreds of corpses littered much of the ground within several meters of the fort, the door of which had been obliterated. The top half of the tower had also been blown off somehow, and flames were spilling out its top. A section of wall had been destroyed on the western side as well. Some of the trees in the surrounding area were knocked over, some charred black and others still burning.

Remus suddenly felt relieved, if not a little guilty, that he hadn't been there defending. There were dead troops from every realm, but most of them were Alsian defenders. The air smelled thickly of blood and burning flesh, the flickering firelight only seemed to make the scene even eerier. After a minute of disturbed observation, they remembered what they were here for. Silently, they started moving west-northwest, towards the gate of the Great Wall of Alsius.

Two hours of walking through the pale light of a full moon, while dodging groups of every realm, eventually brought them near the gate. A huge battle must have taken place here. The scene left behind was even worse than that at Aggersborg. What was important, however, was that the wooden gate had burned away, and the metal one had been forced open. This might be easier than they'd expected.

Iris used a wide range version of her invisibility power, giving all three of them the illusion of invisibility. They had to move slowly so as not to break the effect, but it worked. There were few people left in this area to worry about anyways, but it was better to attract the least amount of attention as possible.

When they were well into the Frozen Wind Forest Iris released the power. For the first time since they left the chamber they spoke.
"So do either of you know where these gems even are? Because I know that I don't." Iris asked. Remus nodded.
"I do, I know this realm like the back of my hand."
"Is that good?" Ahno asked jokingly. Why not try to lighten the mood after all?
"Of course, didn't you know I inspect my hand daily?"

With that, Remus led them to the north, towards Kheled's Slope. That's where they would find their first gem. It was a short ten minute walk to find the right area. The gem wasn't in its holder, though they hadn't exactly expected it to be. They did, however, see a large battle going on not far to the west.
"Someone in that mess must have it." Remus stated.

With all due haste they made their way closer to the combat. It looked like a small group of Syrtians had taken the gem, and the Alsians were desperately trying to block their way out. Ahno had already worked out a plan to get it away from both groups. With Iris' invisibility, they got right up near the fighting. Ahno was ready.
"Both of you, grab my shoulders." he whispered, though the combatants probably wouldn't have heard him even if he had been yelling at the top of his lungs, since pretty much everyone was already doing that. Iris and Remus obeyed, and Ahno lifted his staff, which began glowing.

The movements of everyone except themselves were becoming sluggish. Little by little the people all around seemed to stop moving completely, frozen in time. Remus realized what had happened and clapped Ahno on the shoulder.
"Nice one."
"Quickly, I can't hold this for long; we have twenty, maybe thirty seconds at most. Grab the gem and run." Ahno explained hastily. Remus nodded, he'd already picked out the carrier of the gem. He sprinted over and hefted it out of the statue-like man's arms.

When the affect wore off the three of them had run west and taken cover behind some large white rocks. The battle continued to their east, and Remus chuckled as he saw the previous gem carrier crawling around on the ground looking for the precious stone he believed he'd dropped without noticing. No one else seemed to notice that there was no longer a gem to be fighting over, not that they really needed such a reason to be killing one another.

After taking a moment to catch their breath, they remembered there was still another gem for them to capture. Ahno used a strong weight altering power on the gem to make it lighter. It wasn't permanent, but it would allow them to keep moving swiftly for long enough. They put the stone into a sack to carry it in. Remus took the lead again and they began moving to the southwest.

The journey to the next gem location was a long one. Over two hours passed them by as they climbed through the Alsian mountains given the name Withering Heights. They could see the city of Birka down below them at one point, the denizens hectic over the presence of invaders in their land.

The land grew quiet as they left Birka behind them, not many of the attackers must have come this way yet. Everyone was after the closer gem first it seemed. There was one small group of Igneans however, on the trail running between Birka and Gokstad. As the three of them passed over the last mountain, they saw a small detachment of Alsians surrounding the second gem. Not that this surprised any of them.

Before they had time to come up with a plan to get the gem away from them, the Ignean group they'd seen on the trail arrived on the scene. Without warning they attacked the troops defending the gem. A short ten minute battle left the gem in the hands of the Igneans, though not without considerable losses. In fact, only three of the ten original members of the group survived.

Luckily, none of them were conjurers. Two warriors and an archer remained. They each knew they could kill the remaining Igneans with ease, but Iris and Remus knew Ahno might not feel up to attacking people he used to live with. They looked at him as if to ask him, Ahno understood and nodded with a sigh. He'd have to learn to live with such choices. These were no longer his people, and he knew they'd attack him on sight regardless. It would be easier to just kill them.

Together the three of them charged down the side of the last hill towards the enemy, Iris firing an arrow straight into the neck of the warrior holding the gem in both hands. He dropped it instantly and fell on his side gagging. The two remaining looked down at him in surprise and looked for where the arrow came from. They spotted them with seconds left to react.

The archer, who was a Molok marksman, shot a flaming arrow towards Remus, who was charging the remaining warrior. It bounced off of his shield like any other arrow, and Remus continued his charge, running straight into the other warrior with his shield. His opponent was using a large two-handed hammer, indicating him to be a barbarian.

The Ignean warrior, a dark elf, grunted as he took a step back from the impact, but he held his ground. With a simple thought, Ahno caused the earth beneath the Igneans to tremble violently. Remus was affected by this as well, but his footing was far better than this barbarian's. With a sweep of his sword at his legs, Remus knocked him over with ease.

The marksman was about to put an arrow through Remus' knee to achieve the same effect when Iris shot one through his own heart. The man clutched wide eyed at the shaft uselessly, falling to his knees and dropping his bow. With an energy blast from Ahno he was finished and fell on his side.

As Remus went to drive his sword through the barbarian's heart, the warrior rolled to the side and the blade dug itself into the ground instead. Rather than try to pull it out, Remus turned and kicked the warrior hard in the side with his metal boot before he could get on his feet again.

The warrior dropped his hammer as he gasped for breath, which had been knocked out of him from the kick. Remus dropped his shield to the ground and picked up the hammer. He never realized just how heavy these things were. He could use it for a short time, but it certainly wasn't possible for him to carry this kind of thing with him everywhere he went. He brought it up over his head and brought it down into the dark elf's ribcage with a sickening series of cracks.

Remus dropped the hammer heavily. He walked over and picked up his shield and heaved his blade out of the ground with some effort. Iris went and recovered the gem, which had rolled downhill a bit when its carrier was killed. Ahno used the same feathering spell on this gem as he'd used on the other one. Their combined weight now added up to that of an average pebble.

They were astonished that they as a group had obtained both of these gems that were being fought over by nations. It seemed too easy. There had to be something else to come. Perhaps they were just lucky. Maybe fate really was on their side. Regardless, here they were with both of the gems.

Suddenly they heard voices in the distance, getting closer. A soft light was coming from around the hillside. People were coming, they had to leave now. With discretion and haste, they departed to the north. Using the gate as an exit was out of the question, it would be heavily guarded at this point. Remus knew of a teleporter seldom used however, which would take them outside the wall.

Another hour of walking and dodging Alsian patrols brought them to the Dvergardunn ruins at last. Remus looked around before pointing.
"The teleporter is just over that snowbank I believe." They were all relieved, the first part of this crazy quest of theirs was about to end. As they neared the snowbank however, Iris shrieked and fell onto her hands and knees

Ahno stopped and quickly knelt next to her.
"Are you okay? What's wrong? Hey, can you hear me?" She wasn't answering. She was just sitting there, shivering with... fear? Her breathing was spastic and uncontrollable. He looked to Remus. "Hey, can you carry her?" he asked him. Remus didn't answer either though.

Ahno got up and looked at him... his eyes were wide open, staring straight ahead at nothing. He was standing completely still, stiff like a statue. Ahno waved a hand in front of him, and got no reaction. His brow furrowed as he wondered what was going on. The answer presented itself.

"Hello again, my Dark Elf friend!" came a somewhat familiar voice. Ahno had heard it but once before, yet he could guess who it was. He turned with his staff at the ready to face the mysterious warlock from the swamp.
"You..."
"Yes, me! Aren't you glad?!" The hourglass mark on his hand faintly glowed red. He smiled wickedly, showing his crooked teeth.

"I don't know about you, but I just hate to leave business... unfinished."

[Immune]

Finally, didn't mean to delay this chapter so long. (Guess that really depends on what you call "long") But better to do it right than to rush it right? Anyways, hope everyone enjoys!

PS, could still use name ideas; Though I've got all that I need for the next few parts I believe.

[bois]

Names :Nimix ,Arestis, Solange, Bedamis, Diabolos, Xula.

Good story. I look forward to next instalment.

Art.

[Mbwana]

some names (I know I'm not good at this ):

Aran, Zeusius, Heranaas, Lo Manah, J'hor, Ube, Roth, Mournin, Praxix, Kufu, Domly