as written by Script, Dashmiel, Lobos, and Tiko
Another time and place...
The sound of battle filled the air, rebounding through the vaulted halls of the temple around the bloodied and battle-worn wardens as they ran. The vestibule was a scene of destruction; broken shards of statue were scattered across the floor, and the front entrance had been reduced to rubble where the enemy had broken through their defences. Now, the fighting had spread like a wildfire through the inner areas of the temple, no longer a single focused front but instead individual pockets of resistance. The barracks still held, as did the suhn’ra, but they’d suffered heavy casualties in the initial shock of the attack, and their assailants showed no signs of relenting.
Arrow wiped a smear of blood from his forehead before it could run into his eyes. His ears were still ringing from the impact, but there was no time to stop and examine the wound. They had to reach the Well of Souls before any more lives were lost.
An ear-splitting howl to their left drew his attention towards a section of wall that had been knocked through into the adjacent hall in time to see a towering shape being wreathed in an explosion of celestial fire from somewhere out of his vision. In the next moment, a figure swathed in gold barreled into it with a crash, a yell of ”Fuck you!” echoing back as they both tumbled out of vision. Arrow almost smiled despite himself; it was good to see that Aeryn was still alive and kicking. The fire, no doubt, came from Elante.
The distraction was all the more appreciated as they reached the sealed door to the inner sanctum. “Aeldric, get that door open!” he called, wheeling around to face their rear. He extended his hand to recall his bow and nocked it ready. They’d escaped pursuit for the time being, but it would only be a matter of time before they were found. “Everyone else, weapons ready to buy time if we need it!”
“Like you had to say that, Arrow,” Asher muttered, spinning on heel around to face the way they’d come. Raising his unique armament, a pair of unusually cast blades connected by a chain, one held in a middle guard, the other slowing hissing through the air in lazy circles. Glancing at his companions, the dark skinned native of Hafirjan caught his breath, trying to recompose himself after the carnage of the first wave.
"One does not simply buy time," Rolando added. "They take it - at the point of a sword," he finished as he slipped into a guarded combat stance with his rapier held at ready. His attire was tattered and blood spattered, but his face was calm and resolute.
"Do you ever contemplate your own mortality," Janina remarked dryly at their side. The young woman bore the regalia of a cleric of the Light, and she held a glowing pendant in one hand while her other was outstretched. From around it pulsed a faint rippling shield ready to be expanded to protect the group of five defenders.
A weary Aeldric stumbled his way away from the group, resignation clear in his face. He wanted to be above, giving his life for his companions if need be, but as always, the pull of the Light and the burden that often accompanied it were not something he could shrug off.
Aeldric approached the impressive door warily, his eyes scanning the myriad of runes and draconic symbology that were beyond his understanding. He did not try to consciously decipher their placement and how they might be tied to the wards upon the portal; that had never been his expertise. Instead, he whispered a short prayer to the light and wrapped his holy pendant around one hand.
Immediately it flared in an explosion of light, but rather than blind it shadowed. Wherever it’s light touched one of the wards, it dimmed. Quickly and without thinking about what could go wrong if he erred, Aeldric let his Light guided instinct lead his hand and as his hands flew before the door in a rhythmic pattern, the light from his pendant slowly waned until all wards had been deactivated.
“It is done,” he proclaimed before opening the doors and gesturing for the others to follow.
Before they could, another crash sounded at the far end of the vestibule. Another section of wall gave way, and Aeryn came flying through in a shower of stone dust. The golden light surrounding him faded as he arced through the air, and he hit the ground limply, one of the elemental bracers flung from his arm to clatter across the floor. In the hall from which he’d been thrown, a woman screamed his name. He wasn’t moving.
Arrow had taken a half-step forwards to go to his friend’s aid, but forced himself to stop. He clenced his fists, steeling his resolve, and though it rent his heart to do so, he turned away. “Come on,” he instructed as he advanced through the doorway, snapping the others out of any intent they might have had to go to Aeryn’s side. “We have to move.”
“But Aery-” Janina balked before seeing the look in Arrow’s eyes.
More would fall if they didn’t reach the Well of Souls.
“Well, I’ll take point. At least I know if something sends my corpse flying back, Aeldric’s big ass shield will stop it.” Asher jibed, moving forward to keep the others from seeing his own rage and anguish. But his strides were hard and jolting, the hiss of the spinning sword becoming a dull whine as it whirled faster.The man was obviously upset, but there was nothing more to do than press forward to the one thing that they all thought could stop it.
Straight across the sanctum’s interior they moved, none sparing much attention to the room that always had awed initiates. Down the stairs, into the networks of staircases and tunnels. Asher led the grim group through the paths almost by instinct, less of his focus on the paths he’d learned and more on keeping a wary eye out for more of the things that had struck the temple. After a few minutes at their swift pace, they were there.
“Now what?”
“Now, we pray to the Light that this is enough,” Arrow replied, dismissing his bow with a flash as he walked to the water’s edge. “Whatever you do, let nothing reach the well. I’m not sure how long this will take.”
He stepped forwards, the shimmering water rippling around him as he waded in a few paces before lowering himself to one knee. “Heroes of times past, we call upon you in our hour of need. The temple is breached, and our numbers thin. We need aid. I implore you, lend us your strength…”
Janina hung back near the entrance as the rest of the group began to fan out to get into position to defend Arrow. She had never laid her eyes upon the Well of Souls, and while it was simplistic in design - nothing more than a simple ring of polished stone encircling a small pool of azure blue water - she could feel the power resonating from within it. The salvation of the temple lay within those waters...
"It's marvelous..." Janina murmured.
The momentary distraction proved a fatal one though. As Arrow began his communion with the well, Janina stiffened and her eyes flew wide. A sputtering cough left blood dribbling down her chin as a clawed hand protruded forth from her abdomen.
The shadowed creature that stood at her back was a monstrous beast that towered over those present with its hulking form and gangly limbs. Its bony skeletal structure jutted out from beneath lean and wiry muscles, and thick patches of white fur grew haphazardly along its body. The amber glow of its eyes were filled with malice and scorn as it viciously flung Janina to one side where she struck the wall with the resounding crack of bone. An arc of blood flew through the air in the same moment - blossoming from the creatures forearm - and the form of Rolando now stood at the back of the looming creature, several paces from where he had stood moments earlier. The blade of his rapier glistened red but even his incredible speed had proven too slow.
"You will regret that," Rolando promised darkly.
Focused on immediate threats to Arrow left Asher’s attention elsewhere when the beast struck down Janina, though the sound of bone breaking drew his gaze swiftly. His mind didn’t need to process the scene, it just recognized a threat, his body drawing on muscle memory. His readied arm twisted and released, the blade at its end sailing like a ballista bolt that carved through the air for the center of the creature face while blood still fell from Rolando’s wounding.
Simultaneous to the throw, Rolando disappeared from his position as the creature twisted and swung a clawed hand for him, only to reappear in front of the beast. He smoothly twisted to the side as Asher's lighter blade glanced off the heavy bone, ripping a furrow along the side of the monster’s head before the Grandmaster jerked back with its twin in hand. Whirling on its tether to Asher, the cast of his red eyes echoed his fellow’s words silently.
“NO,” Aeldric’s roar of denial echoed amidst the surrounding stone as his divine suit of armor sprung into existence around him. He could only spare a short look of anguish towards his fallen charge, for despite his desire to aid his fallen student, the Light had other demands.
Grimly he hefted up his shield on his arm, and his will which was the same as that of the Light flared into position. The simple banded wood and rings of iron became infused with holy light, and outwards from them radiated bright lances of pure divine reckoning. He briefly raised his sword, intending to rush the monster and have his vengeance, but quickly altered his course.
To his intentions of revenge his blade gave no weight. It was not Light’s will for him to strike the monster down.
“How much longer, Arrow?” he roared as Asher and Rolando struck at the beast. He would have to content himself with holding it off from the well. Before the Light, his personal feelings came a distant second. Grimly, he moved to stand between Arrow and the beast, his shield radiating out the power of Light’s aegis around them.
Grimacing, Arrow shook his head. “I don’t know, I’ve not done this before,” he responded, doing his best to remain focused despite the fighting at his back. As he spoke, though, the water began to react to his plea. Its shimmering grew brighter, and a spectral mist began to rise around him.
Meanwhile Rolando followed up Asher’s attack with a second of his own. The jerk of Asher’s blade drew the beast’s face back to look at him with those burning scornful eyes as Rolando thrust his rapier up into the creature’s lower jaw, driving it up through the beast’s brain to protrude from the top of its cranium. The creatures toothy jaws split into a wide grin as Rolando swiftly jerked his blade free and skipped back several paces - too swift for the eye to follow - and fell back into a guarded stance. Laughter was not the response he had anticipated from a seemingly fatal blow.
Not willing to risk chance, Asher struck again, sliding his hand along the chain and whipping both blades in concert around him, pirouetting with the blades before lashing them both forward, channeling the powers of wind and fire into them to form a small vortex of hot, whirling steel. Lashing across the chamber, the weapons scored solidly on the beast’s upper torso, slashing into, and then through, bone, ripping meat apart where he expected a heart to be, before bursting through its back. Roughly yanking on the chain, the blade ripped back through the hole violently, tearing yet more damage into the beast before sparking across the floor to either side of the man.
“Walk that off.”
The creature took a staggering step forward before stumbling and staggering to the side and collapsing on the ground, its clawed hands twitching and spasming as the pool of blood beneath it began to spread.
Surely there would be more on the heels of this one though, and Rolando’s expression remained one of hardened resolve.
“Let us hope the spirits of the well aren’t deep sleepers,” he offered in grim jest.
It seemed as though their comrades’ sacrifices would not have been in vain, as the spectral mist continued to rise. It began to coalesce before where Arrow knelt into a humanoid form, taking on familiar features.
But just as the young knight smiled in recognition of Sylvire, a trickle of the creature’s blighted blood began to flow into the well. The effect was immediate. Darkness burst from the point of contact in a black flood, turning the shimmering light to a sickly, ominous aura. The rising mist warped, darkening, and Sylvire’s features twisted, becoming again unrecognisable.
The light fought back, a crackling power coursing across the darkened water, rapidly growing in intensity until the very air began to split. Arrow’s eyes widened, and he started to rise and back away from the centre of the pool, but before he could take more than a single step, the well exploded.
An unholy melding of dark and light magics burst out from the pool in a mighty nova. The explosion swallowed Arrow entirely, and slammed into Aeldric’s shield with all the force of the well’s magic destabilised and turned outward.
Aeldric had a split second in which to be confused in, as his pendant flared into a blinding point of light the moment the creature’s blood splashed into the well.
In the brief instant before chaos ensued, he got the strange but distinct impression that Light’s will had somehow been fulfilled. He could do no more but half turn towards Arrow before events quickly ran their course.
He saw his comrade be torn in a maelstrom of rampaging energy before the thought registered and he could take a single pointless step. The force of the warring energies against his shield of Light nearly caused him to lose his step and despite his bracing against them still pushed him several yards away before exploding through his shield.
The Light however, would not forsake its champions.
The force of the blast sent Aeldric flying a short distance through the air, but before he could crash to a stop against the wall his body simply stopped in midair as his armor dissipated away and his pendant somehow flared even brighter.
The holy Light of that conduit bathed over all that was left in the room as both the corrupting void and the ancient magic of the Well of Souls battled for dominance. Shimmering veils of rainbow hues surrounded the party of living companions and the corpses outside of the influence of the Well, and yet still the light became brighter about the chamber.
There was simply too much fundamental power unleashed, too much primordial essence in so little a space. Alone, the Light could easily counteract the powers of Void, but the energies of the Well of Souls, which were more pure in their intent and were of neither side twisted the natural course of events between the two.
The resulting explosion of power rippled not through the stones of the chamber but across all of reality itself, blasting those gathered through the folds of creation.
Another time and place...
The sound of battle filled the air, rebounding through the vaulted halls of the temple around the bloodied and battle-worn wardens as they ran. The vestibule was a scene of destruction; broken shards of statue were scattered across the floor, and the front entrance had been reduced to rubble where the enemy had broken through their defences. Now, the fighting had spread like a wildfire through the inner areas of the temple, no longer a single focused front but instead individual pockets of resistance. The barracks still held, as did the suhn’ra, but they’d suffered heavy casualties in the initial shock of the attack, and their assailants showed no signs of relenting.
Arrow wiped a smear of blood from his forehead before it could run into his eyes. His ears were still ringing from the impact, but there was no time to stop and examine the wound. They had to reach the Well of Souls before any more lives were lost.
An ear-splitting howl to their left drew his attention towards a section of wall that had been knocked through into the adjacent hall in time to see a towering shape being wreathed in an explosion of celestial fire from somewhere out of his vision. In the next moment, a figure swathed in gold barreled into it with a crash, a yell of ”Fuck you!” echoing back as they both tumbled out of vision. Arrow almost smiled despite himself; it was good to see that Aeryn was still alive and kicking. The fire, no doubt, came from Elante.
The distraction was all the more appreciated as they reached the sealed door to the inner sanctum. “Aeldric, get that door open!” he called, wheeling around to face their rear. He extended his hand to recall his bow and nocked it ready. They’d escaped pursuit for the time being, but it would only be a matter of time before they were found. “Everyone else, weapons ready to buy time if we need it!”
“Like you had to say that, Arrow,” Asher muttered, spinning on heel around to face the way they’d come. Raising his unique armament, a pair of unusually cast blades connected by a chain, one held in a middle guard, the other slowing hissing through the air in lazy circles. Glancing at his companions, the dark skinned native of Hafirjan caught his breath, trying to recompose himself after the carnage of the first wave.
"One does not simply buy time," Rolando added. "They take it - at the point of a sword," he finished as he slipped into a guarded combat stance with his rapier held at ready. His attire was tattered and blood spattered, but his face was calm and resolute.
"Do you ever contemplate your own mortality," Janina remarked dryly at their side. The young woman bore the regalia of a cleric of the Light, and she held a glowing pendant in one hand while her other was outstretched. From around it pulsed a faint rippling shield ready to be expanded to protect the group of five defenders.
A weary Aeldric stumbled his way away from the group, resignation clear in his face. He wanted to be above, giving his life for his companions if need be, but as always, the pull of the Light and the burden that often accompanied it were not something he could shrug off.
Aeldric approached the impressive door warily, his eyes scanning the myriad of runes and draconic symbology that were beyond his understanding. He did not try to consciously decipher their placement and how they might be tied to the wards upon the portal; that had never been his expertise. Instead, he whispered a short prayer to the light and wrapped his holy pendant around one hand.
Immediately it flared in an explosion of light, but rather than blind it shadowed. Wherever it’s light touched one of the wards, it dimmed. Quickly and without thinking about what could go wrong if he erred, Aeldric let his Light guided instinct lead his hand and as his hands flew before the door in a rhythmic pattern, the light from his pendant slowly waned until all wards had been deactivated.
“It is done,” he proclaimed before opening the doors and gesturing for the others to follow.
Before they could, another crash sounded at the far end of the vestibule. Another section of wall gave way, and Aeryn came flying through in a shower of stone dust. The golden light surrounding him faded as he arced through the air, and he hit the ground limply, one of the elemental bracers flung from his arm to clatter across the floor. In the hall from which he’d been thrown, a woman screamed his name. He wasn’t moving.
Arrow had taken a half-step forwards to go to his friend’s aid, but forced himself to stop. He clenced his fists, steeling his resolve, and though it rent his heart to do so, he turned away. “Come on,” he instructed as he advanced through the doorway, snapping the others out of any intent they might have had to go to Aeryn’s side. “We have to move.”
“But Aery-” Janina balked before seeing the look in Arrow’s eyes.
More would fall if they didn’t reach the Well of Souls.
“Well, I’ll take point. At least I know if something sends my corpse flying back, Aeldric’s big ass shield will stop it.” Asher jibed, moving forward to keep the others from seeing his own rage and anguish. But his strides were hard and jolting, the hiss of the spinning sword becoming a dull whine as it whirled faster.The man was obviously upset, but there was nothing more to do than press forward to the one thing that they all thought could stop it.
Straight across the sanctum’s interior they moved, none sparing much attention to the room that always had awed initiates. Down the stairs, into the networks of staircases and tunnels. Asher led the grim group through the paths almost by instinct, less of his focus on the paths he’d learned and more on keeping a wary eye out for more of the things that had struck the temple. After a few minutes at their swift pace, they were there.
“Now what?”
“Now, we pray to the Light that this is enough,” Arrow replied, dismissing his bow with a flash as he walked to the water’s edge. “Whatever you do, let nothing reach the well. I’m not sure how long this will take.”
He stepped forwards, the shimmering water rippling around him as he waded in a few paces before lowering himself to one knee. “Heroes of times past, we call upon you in our hour of need. The temple is breached, and our numbers thin. We need aid. I implore you, lend us your strength…”
Janina hung back near the entrance as the rest of the group began to fan out to get into position to defend Arrow. She had never laid her eyes upon the Well of Souls, and while it was simplistic in design - nothing more than a simple ring of polished stone encircling a small pool of azure blue water - she could feel the power resonating from within it. The salvation of the temple lay within those waters...
"It's marvelous..." Janina murmured.
The momentary distraction proved a fatal one though. As Arrow began his communion with the well, Janina stiffened and her eyes flew wide. A sputtering cough left blood dribbling down her chin as a clawed hand protruded forth from her abdomen.
The shadowed creature that stood at her back was a monstrous beast that towered over those present with its hulking form and gangly limbs. Its bony skeletal structure jutted out from beneath lean and wiry muscles, and thick patches of white fur grew haphazardly along its body. The amber glow of its eyes were filled with malice and scorn as it viciously flung Janina to one side where she struck the wall with the resounding crack of bone. An arc of blood flew through the air in the same moment - blossoming from the creatures forearm - and the form of Rolando now stood at the back of the looming creature, several paces from where he had stood moments earlier. The blade of his rapier glistened red but even his incredible speed had proven too slow.
"You will regret that," Rolando promised darkly.
Focused on immediate threats to Arrow left Asher’s attention elsewhere when the beast struck down Janina, though the sound of bone breaking drew his gaze swiftly. His mind didn’t need to process the scene, it just recognized a threat, his body drawing on muscle memory. His readied arm twisted and released, the blade at its end sailing like a ballista bolt that carved through the air for the center of the creature face while blood still fell from Rolando’s wounding.
Simultaneous to the throw, Rolando disappeared from his position as the creature twisted and swung a clawed hand for him, only to reappear in front of the beast. He smoothly twisted to the side as Asher's lighter blade glanced off the heavy bone, ripping a furrow along the side of the monster’s head before the Grandmaster jerked back with its twin in hand. Whirling on its tether to Asher, the cast of his red eyes echoed his fellow’s words silently.
“NO,” Aeldric’s roar of denial echoed amidst the surrounding stone as his divine suit of armor sprung into existence around him. He could only spare a short look of anguish towards his fallen charge, for despite his desire to aid his fallen student, the Light had other demands.
Grimly he hefted up his shield on his arm, and his will which was the same as that of the Light flared into position. The simple banded wood and rings of iron became infused with holy light, and outwards from them radiated bright lances of pure divine reckoning. He briefly raised his sword, intending to rush the monster and have his vengeance, but quickly altered his course.
To his intentions of revenge his blade gave no weight. It was not Light’s will for him to strike the monster down.
“How much longer, Arrow?” he roared as Asher and Rolando struck at the beast. He would have to content himself with holding it off from the well. Before the Light, his personal feelings came a distant second. Grimly, he moved to stand between Arrow and the beast, his shield radiating out the power of Light’s aegis around them.
Grimacing, Arrow shook his head. “I don’t know, I’ve not done this before,” he responded, doing his best to remain focused despite the fighting at his back. As he spoke, though, the water began to react to his plea. Its shimmering grew brighter, and a spectral mist began to rise around him.
Meanwhile Rolando followed up Asher’s attack with a second of his own. The jerk of Asher’s blade drew the beast’s face back to look at him with those burning scornful eyes as Rolando thrust his rapier up into the creature’s lower jaw, driving it up through the beast’s brain to protrude from the top of its cranium. The creatures toothy jaws split into a wide grin as Rolando swiftly jerked his blade free and skipped back several paces - too swift for the eye to follow - and fell back into a guarded stance. Laughter was not the response he had anticipated from a seemingly fatal blow.
Not willing to risk chance, Asher struck again, sliding his hand along the chain and whipping both blades in concert around him, pirouetting with the blades before lashing them both forward, channeling the powers of wind and fire into them to form a small vortex of hot, whirling steel. Lashing across the chamber, the weapons scored solidly on the beast’s upper torso, slashing into, and then through, bone, ripping meat apart where he expected a heart to be, before bursting through its back. Roughly yanking on the chain, the blade ripped back through the hole violently, tearing yet more damage into the beast before sparking across the floor to either side of the man.
“Walk that off.”
The creature took a staggering step forward before stumbling and staggering to the side and collapsing on the ground, its clawed hands twitching and spasming as the pool of blood beneath it began to spread.
Surely there would be more on the heels of this one though, and Rolando’s expression remained one of hardened resolve.
“Let us hope the spirits of the well aren’t deep sleepers,” he offered in grim jest.
It seemed as though their comrades’ sacrifices would not have been in vain, as the spectral mist continued to rise. It began to coalesce before where Arrow knelt into a humanoid form, taking on familiar features.
But just as the young knight smiled in recognition of Sylvire, a trickle of the creature’s blighted blood began to flow into the well. The effect was immediate. Darkness burst from the point of contact in a black flood, turning the shimmering light to a sickly, ominous aura. The rising mist warped, darkening, and Sylvire’s features twisted, becoming again unrecognisable.
The light fought back, a crackling power coursing across the darkened water, rapidly growing in intensity until the very air began to split. Arrow’s eyes widened, and he started to rise and back away from the centre of the pool, but before he could take more than a single step, the well exploded.
An unholy melding of dark and light magics burst out from the pool in a mighty nova. The explosion swallowed Arrow entirely, and slammed into Aeldric’s shield with all the force of the well’s magic destabilised and turned outward.
Aeldric had a split second in which to be confused in, as his pendant flared into a blinding point of light the moment the creature’s blood splashed into the well.
In the brief instant before chaos ensued, he got the strange but distinct impression that Light’s will had somehow been fulfilled. He could do no more but half turn towards Arrow before events quickly ran their course.
He saw his comrade be torn in a maelstrom of rampaging energy before the thought registered and he could take a single pointless step. The force of the warring energies against his shield of Light nearly caused him to lose his step and despite his bracing against them still pushed him several yards away before exploding through his shield.
The Light however, would not forsake its champions.
The force of the blast sent Aeldric flying a short distance through the air, but before he could crash to a stop against the wall his body simply stopped in midair as his armor dissipated away and his pendant somehow flared even brighter.
The holy Light of that conduit bathed over all that was left in the room as both the corrupting void and the ancient magic of the Well of Souls battled for dominance. Shimmering veils of rainbow hues surrounded the party of living companions and the corpses outside of the influence of the Well, and yet still the light became brighter about the chamber.
There was simply too much fundamental power unleashed, too much primordial essence in so little a space. Alone, the Light could easily counteract the powers of Void, but the energies of the Well of Souls, which were more pure in their intent and were of neither side twisted the natural course of events between the two.
The resulting explosion of power rippled not through the stones of the chamber but across all of reality itself, blasting those gathered through the folds of creation.