《Beyond The Game (Abandoned)》Ch 26.5 - The Halls of Darkness
Advertisement
{Quest Log} {New Objective!} [Dark Origins] {Objective}: Survive the onslaught
Kaine’s eyes widened at the words.
Onslaught.
He thought, as the corridor before him now lit up with dark blues.
Blazing alive like a lazy flame, the walls then suddenly rose aflame with blue, rushing down the corridor’s vast length.
Revealing what lay within the emptiness that stood before.
As Kaine took cautious steps forward, he watched the images go by as he walked.
Aflame one and all, the images told a story.
A story of tranquillity, suddenly falling into tragedy. A story of loss, turning into despair, then hate.
A story of hate turned into war.
The walls as he walked the corridor told Kaine a story of war, of many battles, fought with all too much blood spilt.
Of reasons now long forgotten, a betrayal nobody knows yet still cling to.
And as the flames danced before him, giving out no heat at all, bringing forth only a cold chill to his skin. Kaine suddenly and without realising at first, found himself at the end of the corridor.
Entering the small room, Kaine glanced from figure to figure, as carved into the walls whilst strange liquids flowed through said carvings, were the humanoid forms of many different individuals.
Each one suddenly lighting up aflame as the blue blaze reached them through the canals in between each carving.
Kaine gazed at the portraits of these people, their poses and demeanour, depicted as if beyond mortal…
But far from gods, as many bled, some even standing with missing limbs.
Further they were though, from being heroes.
As around each being Kaine recognised as Dark Elves, lay massacres and bloodbaths beyond his capability to imagine. Bright red stone being used to depict the blood as white and light brown paint was used to add in the bones and mangled remains that filled it.
All lit up by this eerie dark blue flame.
Kaine gazed at these artworks of both might and horror, awestruck by the powerful use of carving and ink to form these majestic yet also chilling portrayals.
Almost forgetting to breath as he stared, he then noticed what lay at the centre of the room.
Laying down with legs crossed and arms holding onto their thighs whilst its back stood straight, it was a skeleton. The corpse having long past its expiration date, nothing but bone, blackish vines and dust now made it up.
As its head lay facing towards Kaine, towards where he had come from.
Taking in a deep breath at first, Kaine approached the skeleton.
Kneeling down before it, he inspected it more closely now and a notification popped up into view.
[Deceased] {Menuasa Vavalnim} Dark Elf Deathlord [Level 71]
Seeing the name, seeing the title and then gasping at the level.
Kaine immediately stepped away, his eyes wide as suddenly the skull moved with him, staring directly at where he now stood.
Advertisement
As it breathed out, a dreadful sound, less so a breath of something alive and more akin a dying gasp.
“Arrived finally has an awakened.” Words left the skeleton’s lipless mouth, a hoarse voice spoke out. “Home enters the dark child.”
“W-Who are you!?” Kaine exclaimed, stepping away several more steps, only to find himself backed to a solid wall. Glancing back behind himself, the corridor was suddenly gone, leaving him with nothing more than a chilling breeze soaring through the room.
“Watcher I am, guard and await your arrival I was proclaimed to do.” Menuasa said, “Long have I awaited this moment, long have we awaited this era to return.”
“Awaited? Who’s we?” Kaine asked, slowly reaching for his swords as he did.
“We…” Menuasa gasped out, “Are the darkness which unfolds upon the light of life and day. The darkness which stalks under the shadows and reflections of the moon. We are simply darkness. But if a name this child wishes, then a name I shall give. For we are what was once bellowed with might to be, The Revenants of Darkness.” Menuasa exclaimed with a horrid shout, their body creaking and dropping dust as it tried to lean in closer.
Its empty eye-sockets still staring dead at Kaine. “And we, have awaited our kind to return…For one such as yourself, to take on the burden of many millions of fallen brethren.”
“What…burden?” Kaine dared ask.
As suddenly the skeleton stood up, hovering in mid air as tendrils of black held it up, the blue flames also burst out to intertwine with them.
Forming long robes and a hood of the darkest black as dark blue flames burned coldly along the hood’s maw, sleeves and bottom.
More flames then burst alive along the walls, catching Kaine’s eye, he noticed that the scenery depicted within had completely changed.
“For we who once summoned forth the darkest of gods upon this world, to befall the worst of endings onto our fated foes.” Menuasa continued on, taking a step towards Kaine. “Your burden now, as a Drow, as a Dark Elf…As Dal Fae!” The skeleton spoke out now with new life in his voice, a resounding boom of power exiting with his words.
Dark blue globes of flame filled the skeleton’s eyes-sockets then, staring deep into Kaine’s as it continued to speak. “Dark Born, will you continue…The End?”
Menuasa asked, “Dark Born, will you revive the legions? Play the battle drums and sound the war horns!?” Coming to stand mere inches from Kaine’s face, the skeleton now whispered eerily into his ears. “Is Darkness, your path?” Menuasa asked.
Kaine felt trapped, cornered by the immense pressure this being before him oozed, a horrid feeling of terror filling his gut at the mere sound of their words.
{Quest Log} {Choose Your Path} [Dark Origins] {Objective}: Are you, Jor Mungandr, a Legionnaire to the Revenants of Darkness?
Advertisement
The choice was laid before him, and the skeletal being backed away, falling silent it watched him keenly.
As Kaine’s wide eyes watched it back, anxiety filling him, still he dared look away from the dark creature and at the window hovering before him.
The Revenants of Darkness…It…It really is Aether Rifts Online!
He breathed out, that one thought filling him with relief as he now at least had something to go on.
The legions…They were destroyed during the first game, completely defeated by the joint armies we as players were ‘summoned’ to assist. They lost so…This…is what remains?
Kaine thought long and hard, glancing about the room and at the new depictions which filled it.
One word encompassed the entirety of what lay around him now, spoken of by Menuasa himself, Kaine saw the apocalypse.
Death and destruction, followed by the aftermath of decay and emptiness, the vivid sights of agonized screaming faces were enough to make Kaine’s stomach roll about.
As he forced himself to turn and face the skeleton once again.
“And what will happen…if I accept?” Kaine asked tentatively, to which the skeleton’s eyes burned more fiercely.
“You will be tested through the Legionnaire’s Onslaught.” Menuasa explained, “If you pass, and only if. The very legions themselves will be displayed before your feet. All the collected power, resources, information and weapons of mass destruction we Revenants have collected through our time of exile after the great defeat…Will be at your immediate disposal.” The skeleton whispered out, seemingly trying to smile but failing.
“And with my guidance, we shall lay waste to what remains of this shattered and divided world. All who would stand in our way, will either bend the knee, or be devoured by the Darkfire!” Menuasa exclaimed proudly, “And finally…Finally this world will be Dal Fae.”
“Dal…Fae?” Kaine repeated, knowing it was another name for his race but not the actual meaning.
“Dal Fae,” Menuasa repeated, “Dark to the core.” The skeleton translated.
Words which, alongside the manifestations of nightmares that painted the room’s walls, made Kaine’s gut wrench and bones feel cold.
A villainous path?
Kaine thought, as his hands clenched into fists.
As he met the skeleton’s gaze.
Narrowing his eyes, Kaine opened his mouth to speak, breathing out his contained breath instead.
For several long moments Kaine stood there, eyes wide and baffled, had the game really presented him with this?
A Deus Ex Machina?...An easy way out…
He thought, his mouth closing back up as he still continued to just think.
Yet, when Kaine then responded, he did so with utmost surety.
“No,” he said, having fallen for not the slightest bit of temptation, although even now his mind raced.
“I do not accept this path.” Kaine answered, pondering circles around himself within his mind, as to why this was even presented to him.
“As you wish, if your choice is made…” Menuasa sighed, as a blade of the darkest black then suddenly pierce out of his palm. “Then all there is left, is for you to die.” The skeleton said, its eyes dimming back to pitch black as the robes dissipated from around its body.
Menuasa stepped forth, blade rising high above before descending down upon Kaine.
Immediately unsheathing his two swords, Kaine tried to deflect the attack.
Feeling the blade meet his, he watched awestruck as it shattered through them like nothing, pushing him into the wall and sending dozens of metal shards raining onto his body.
{ [Life]: 3/22 }
Horror filled both his heart and mind as he watched the simple damage from blocking the attack touch his life bar, even then leaving him with barely any life points at all.
In those brief moments, Kaine’s heart sank into the deepest depths of despair, as Deathlord Menuasa raised his blade up once more.
Not even given the time to think, as the blade began to descend down upon him.
Kaine could only watch, hopeless where he lay, as death once more knocked at his door.
As the sound of the dark edge cleaving through the air whispered closer.
So did the sound of hissing suddenly fill the room.
As a black-green mist exploded out of the walls, taking the form of hundreds of serpents, the mist encompassed the Deathlord before suddenly sending him flying into the other end.
Forming and rising tall before Kaine, a familiar sight took shape before him.
As the head of a massive serpent hissed out at the recuperating skeleton, a voice thundered through.
“Thisss child belongsss to me.” The demon proclaimed, as its emerald eyes flashed out blindingly bright.
Meeting the skeleton’s dark gaze as it rose.
As suddenly its bones began to turn to stone.
Starting from its eye-sockets, then moving onto the rest of its body, the skeleton was petrified where it stood.
Remaining on the floor where he had fallen, Kaine stared up at the serpent head’s form which hovered protectively over him.
“Why?” Kaine asked, as the mist deformed before retaking shape, the demon now facing him.
Eyes flashing briefly before turning into a dim emerald hue, the demon chuckled coldly at his words.
“Becaussse, you are my only ticket out of thisss hell.” The demon mused, “A deal onccce sssealed, isss a deal I keep. For my word, isss the only property, I own.” It said, as slowly its form dissipated out into nothingness.
Leaving Kaine alone in a dark destroyed room with a petrified skeleton standing on the opposite wall.
Glancing about, he noticed that the corridor he had come from had also reappeared.
{Quest Log} {New Objective!} [Dark Origins] {Objective}: Find your path
Hah…well way to be fucking cryptic about it!
Advertisement
Child of the Ancients: An Apocalypse LitRPG
It all started in the middle of Dante's nap. He wanted to sleep his life away, but the system denied his request. Instead, it began to transform the Earth, integrating it into the multiverse by granting everyone stats and skills. He was talented, or so the system thought. And that meant he needed to be challenged. After being sent into a deadly cavern, Dante strives for the future he's always desired. But when he learns about the secrets hidden within him, he's shaken to his very core. He wishes for the nightmare to end until something goes wrong. [The world will end in one year.] Instead of everyone receiving a relatively gentle tutorial, the people of Earth are deemed redundant. Dante makes it his goal to save as many people as he can before the world ends, but with billions of lives at stake, he might have to turn into a monster before he can become a hero. Planned updates (2500+ words): M/W/F. 12pm AEST/ 9am EST. M-F during Writeathon. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] Author's Note: All system apocalypse novels seem to jump straight over the apocalypse itself, which I find very sad. I don't want this to turn into a typical fantasy novel in about ten chapters. Instead, I hope to explore the destruction of society and how things would look if superpowers suddenly appeared in the real world. Before the real apocalypse happens, of course. There will be base building, and likely romance once things settle down. Also dragons, because they are awesome :)
8 197Genius has an Infinite Capacity
Alevier is a student of Magic, aspiring to become an Archmage: someone who is able to summon powers untold - split the mountains and shake the earth. But, one problem stood in his way: his utter lack of talent. And no matter how hard he worked, he could never fill the gap between him and his peers. But could that really stop someone in a world where wonders could come true, and magic was omnipresent?After a particularly traumatic incident, he finally obtained the magical powers he had yearned for, along with a strange grimoire from an ancient being. It seemed that fate had great things in store for him. That or an irresponsible creditor had dumped his responsibilities onto him. Perhaps it was preordained that one must pay a price to gain something. Geniuses have infinite potential, and Alevier has just stepped into the realm of geniuses. But he is yet to discover what pains he must bear, for creatures so terrifying that they could kill him with a single glance are now out for him. But the game is not over, yet. Cover by ValetheHowl, he is an awesome person. Discord Link
8 157The Queen's Guard
Friedrich Schreiner is a proud gefreiter of the Queen's Guard, 2nd Company: the finest fighting infantry on the continent (barring the Temple Guard; but please don't bring that up). Service is honourable but, with the Empire on a peacetime footing, terribly boring. Affairs take a dramatic turn for the worse when a mysterious invader uses a forgotten and taboo magical means to breach the capital, plunging the nation into chaos and endangering the royal family. With events spiraling out of control, Friedrich is entrusted with a critical mission. Will hot lead, cold steel, and his determination be enough to see him through? The Queen's Guard is what I'm calling a black powder fantasy story: it's set in a loose equivalent of the early 18th century (plus or minus a few pieces I decided I wanted or didn't want). Magic exists, but not in a spell-slinging sort of way: it's Earth-shaking undertakings or minor enchantments forged in by master craftsmen, the grand working of a secretive cabal or a slight nudge to the course of a blow. I, the eternal optimist, have a full trilogy in mind. The first book is The Prince's Arquebusier, hence the cover and the title disagreeing! This is my shot at 2021's NaNoWriMo and RR Writathon! I've hitherto been terrible at writing long-form fiction, so this is an effort to break out of that by having some accountability in being supposed to post chapters regularly. Here's hoping it works! I have an outline, but not too much detail. I'll do my best to avoid continuity errors, doing anything glaringly stupid, or otherwise fluffing my lines, but I can't make any promises on that. Please do let me know any feedback! Always happy to improve. [participant in the Nov 2021 Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 91Handcuffed
(Book 1) Albany is a 17 year old 'crazy' runaway. Her mother branded her to be insane, so she could get away with abusing her daughter. A year on the run ends though when Albany gets arrested by Luke, an attractive cop - and her new stepfather! Luke has no clue his new wife is the crazy one. Now, it's up to Albany to convince her stepfather that he married a psychopath - and try not to fall for him along the way.
8 103A perfect love story {Completed}
Vanessa is 15 year old girl who's life story is pretty simple. She has a twin sister Lori that's a life guard. She has a major crush on Adam baker. One problem Adam likes Lori her sister. But when adam clones himself accidentally he might but the world in danger
8 62Can Hurt Heal
LaNyiah 20 about to be 21 aka Nae, Just wanted her life back to normal. Well it was never normal once she hit her freshman year of college. Major pieces of her were already broken and then a part of herself was shattered and stolen along with the murder of her parents. She has a sister 19 about to be 20 that is all she has left. She shuts everyone else out but what happens when a gorgeous chocolate man tries to break her shell. Will the truths that come forth hurt her worse or help her heal.Tynia is 18 about to turn 19 and she has insecurities but will she face them or let them consume her and kill her will for life and love. She hides it well as she's lively and a social butterfly. She has an older sister whom is quiet and shut off but she notices it only happened once she went to college. Nia wants love but will her insecurities stop her or will she step out of her comfort zone. Her parents were murdered and it almost silently killed her but her sister was her life line that kept her pushing. Will she also heal?The only way to know the answers to those questions is to dive right in the story. . .
8 219