Terminus Ludus (Roleplaying Thread)

[Watson]

I walk along the road, chatting with Michael. "So, I tell the guy, go to hell!" Michael says, and continues. "And then he punches me in the face and breaks my nose! So I say to him, dude! What the hell!?" I look at Michael, annoyed. "You know, I don't really care." I say, as Michael gets angry. "I fought the guy to get back your money! You should be grateful!" Michael says, and I look at him, still annoyed. "And did you get back the money? No." I sigh. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter, it was only Twenty bucks." I say. "Twenty bucks is a lot of money!" Michael retorts. "Do you want me to be mad at you or something? I ask. "No. But it's just---" Michael begins to say but I cut him off. "Whatever the case, it's okay. And besides, no matter what happens, we'll always have friends. So it's not a good idea to get into arguements." I say. "Yeah, I guess you're right. And in the grand scheme of things, Twenty dollars really isn't that much." Michael says. "But you could still buy something with it. You know what, seeing as I didn't get back that money, I'll give you some of mine." Michael takes out his wallet and hands a twenty dollar bill to me. "No way, I couldn't possibly accept this! It's your money, and besides, you only fought that guy as a favor! I have no right to your money!" I say, bewildered. "And this is a favor, I'm giving you twenty dollars as a favor! Now take the money already!" He smiles, and I reluctantly take the money. "Thanks." I say. "It's good to know I'll always have a pal like you." I say, and then, it all falls apart.

The sky turns dark, explosions everywhere, and when I wake up, Michael's gone and I have pointy ears. I stand up and look around, there's no one near me. I run back to my house, and it's completely destroyed. I fall on the ground, crying. And then I wake up. I'm lying in my bed in Alamatia, and I wake up with a jolt. "I had that dream again..." I say, remembering how everything in that dream actually happened. It was exactly the same in the dream as it was in reality. I stand up and turn on my light. I walk over to the mirror and look at it, my ears are still the same. I'm still the monster the shadows turned me into. My name is Ryan Delacroix, and I used to be human.

(OOC: Here's the introduction, this is the only first-person post I'll be doing, and I only did it that way to make an epic beggining scene... which may have failed, but oh well. Enjoy roleplaying here.)

[Azrael]

Often nicknamed as the Rome of the Eastern Mediterrean, Constantinople had been the capital of the Imperium Romanum Orientalis, often popularly named as the Greek empire of Byzantium by Western historical revisionists who tried to paint the long-fallen Holy Roman Empire based in Germany. Not only had been the capital of Imperium Romanum Orientalis, an economic, military, and political juggernaut that during its height in the tenth century under the domination of the Macedonian Dynasty, especially during the reign of its greatest emperor Basil the Porphyrogenitus, monopolized their dominance over the Mediterrean-based exchange of trade goods and ideas between western and eastern Europe, the Near East, and north Africa. Even after its subsequent decline in overall power projection under Basil's successors who neglected to stabilize and assimilate the territories that Basil spent all his life conquering and the invasion of the ethnic Turkic tribes into Asia Minor and the Normans in southern Italy and the island of Sicily, Constantinople remained to be the center of the eastern Orthodox branch of the Christian faith and only began to decline substantially during the Fourth Crusade when the Crusader armies invaded the Byzantine Empire and captured the Rome of the East establishing the Latin Empire in its place. Even when the Greek successor state of Nicaea re-conquered Constantinople and re-established the Imperium Romanum, the empire was doomed to live as the sick man of Europe, co-existing and being over-shadowed by more powerful nations of Bulgaria, Serbia, Genoa, Venice and the rising dynasty of the Osmanli empire based in central Anatolia, founded under the Turkish general Osman. Its ultimate fate was sealed when the Osmanli sultan Mehmed the Conquerer in the year of 1453, after engaged in an embittered, bloody battle with the remaining Eastern Romans and what little mercernary forces they could gather under their ruler Constantine, took the city of Constantinople and proclaimed it the new capital of the Osmanli empire.

Now five hundred and fifty-six years later today, the people of Constantinople had been under the imperial banner of the Grecian Empire for more than several generations, captured sometime during the 1920's when my ancestor Lord Demetrikos zi Romana of Korinth led the royal Grecian armies to besiege the city and capture it from the occupying Osmanli garrison. United under the benevolent rule of my family, the House of Paleologos il Athenai, the people looked forward to the personal union between the Christian Greeks and the Muslim Turks, two distinct nations that once warred with one another and worked to attempt to eliminate the other nation, who wished to bring unity to the Balkans, a region made infamous for the constant ethnic and religious-based warfare and political instability and whose people had been tired of fighting one another and try to work amongst each other to bring peace. The date was May 29, 2009 and it had been a rare sight in the world, not having been en-gulfed in any major military confrontation since the Second World War. It seemed for many, including myself, that they were going to go under a new international Golden Age, a time of peace and prosperity for the grand majority of the world's population.

My name is Demetria Paleologa il Athenai, the current ruling prime minister of the Grecian imperial government and the first Princess in line for the royal purple of the Grecian imperial throne. Before the shadows had arrived onto the golden gates outside the Eternal City, I had been engaging with a conversation with my mother High Queen Mother Sistine Paleologa il Athenai, once known as Sistine Milosevic, a princess of the former Slavic principality of Serbia-Montenegro, now long incorporated into the Grecian empire as a constituent autonomous province, concerning the mundane affair of the possibility that in my eighteenth birthday in several weeks that I may be bethrothed to the son of the Osmanli sultan of Turkey, Ali Osmanli. The international media was making a frenzy over the marriage between the two former warring nations.

"Have you made your decision on the matter of marrying Ali's son, Pasha Mohammed Osmanli of Caesarea Mazaka?" My mother said to me, staring at me with an inquisitive, curious stare that could be left open to various interpetations, "I had been annoyed constantly by the international press, especially that strangely attractive American newsreporter who works for CNN, who's name I can not seem to remember." Rolling my eyes, I continued my walk around the central courtyard of the Imperial Palace, hoping to get away from my mother and return to my own official duties. As the ruling prime minister of the Grecian empire, it was my duty to dwell on such "Oh yes, I remember now! His name is Anderson Cooper and he's quite the dashing young man! Makes me regret having married that boring old father of yours!"

Wanting to return to my official obligations as imperial prime minister of Grecia, I simply answered, "That's such an interesting viewpoint you got there of what is supposed to be some sacred life-long obligation between a man and woman but I have important things to discuss with the Grand Council of Lords." As much as both the international and national Grecian media were busy discussing the trivial controversies of merging the seperate Grecian and Osmanli empires into one combined crown, there was trouble going down in the poor, war-stricken neighbor in our northern border, the Russian Federation, currently under the rule of facist demagogue Vladmir Putin and his Russian Nationalist People's Movement, concerning the movement of refugees escaping the violence occuring in the nation. "If you please move out of my way, I need to address the Lords and the chief foreign minister. my younger brother Pericles, in the Advisory Council about the situation that is occuring in Russia. Several thousand Grecian citzens that are visiting the country as tourists that are in the chance of being involved in the war between Russian government forces and the rebel Communist rebels, and I must get the Lords to vote on this matter. We need to have sixty out of one hundred votes before we can declare a resolution to send in several thousand ground troops to force our fellow Grecians to be moved back to the country."

From what I had remembered after that moment in the minutes prior to my city falling to the darkness, the clear blue, cloud-free sky suddenly within a matter of several milliseconds turned pitch black and purple. Wondering what had occured, I left my mother behind in the middle of our conservation and saw from the safety of the imperial palace's balcony across the Dardanelles Strait, I was completely shocked as I saw the people running through my Constantinople's busy streets running away in droves screaming, by which the explosive sounds echoed and re-verbated across the cosmopolitian metropolis. These animated and living shadows, who formed out of the dark pools that were materializing all over the imperial capital city, took the shape of the same form as those damned medieval Catholic crusading knights that ravaged my ancestor's homes and lives eight hundred and five years ago during the time of the Fourth Crusade. Before I could do anything to amend the situation, I heard a loud scream and turned to my mother, Sistine, die before my very eyes as a Shadow Knight pushed her down and decapitated the poor, old woman. "Mother, no!" I screamed and tried to run after the Knight only to be pushed down by another shadow creature, this time in the form of a slim silver-haired guy wearing a plain white labcoat and glasses wielding some form of sword.

"Pathetic Grecian princess, there is nothing that you can do!" The man laughed at my pain, placing his boots on me as I laid on the floor and pointing that sharp sword of his on my back, "Your mother is dead and can not ever be re-born."

"Who are you?" I remember asking the silver-haired swordsman, "What is your name? Are you with the creatures that murdered my mother!"

"Me, you ask of my identity? I am just someone who wishes to stop the traitors that make up the descendants of mines in the Osmanli ruling house of Turkey and prevent the re-unification with people I consider infidels," answered the man, confidently smirking at me, "Since you are about to be given a quick and merciful death, I guess I can reveal my identity. I am Servant #4 but you can call me Osmanli Bayezid, former prince of the Osmanli empire during the Medieval Ages. Now enough of this, what are your last words?"

"Go back to Allah, you fucking Turk psychopath!" I spat out.

Before he could finish me off, I was quickly knocked out by the blast of a nearby explosion.

[Zephyr]

I trudged through the streets of El Dorado, my stomach empty and growling loudly to the point where I was sure other people could hear. If they did though, no one gave any indication of it, and I continued on through the crowded streets. The area I was in was known for it's food vendors, but I wasn't interested in the various foods sold in the various carts - well, I wasn't completely uninterested. Approaching a cart that was selling fried apples, I went to chat with the vendor. He didn't seem like the brightest guy, so I figured this would be a piece of cake. "Hey so, are these things any good?" I knew very well that these particular fried apples were famed throughout this section of the city, and I knew they lived up to that fame as well - just last week I had lifted a few from under the vendor's nose when he turned his back. Hopefully, he hadn't caught on.

"Oh, these are only the best fried apples you'll find anywhere in El Dorado! Just ask anyone." The man rubbed his chin and looked me over carefully. Shit… "Say, haven't I seen you around here before?"

"Well, I come by here every so often to see what all's being sold. It wouldn't be unusual if you've seen me before." Being able to lie, and lie well was one of the skills I have had to master in order to make it on my own. But it looked like this guy wasn't as dull-witted as I had initially thought, because he was still giving me the eye.

"You don't say… you know, some of my apples came up missing last week. But I suppose it would be too much for even a half-blood Dragonfolk boy to show up at the scene of the crime just one week afterwards, wouldn't it?" The old codgers eyes narrowed and he leaned forward so that I could smell his disgusting breath on my face.

"Yes, I suppose so…" Gig's up! "See ya!" I shouted, laughing as I grabbed two of the fried apples directly off of the oven-top, and running into the crowd. The apples were scalding my hands, but I kept running even as I heard the angry shouts fade into the distance. There wouldn't be any pursuit. Ducking into a noodle shop, I sank down in a booth in the back of the store and bit into one of the now-cool fried apples. One of the waitress girls came over and asked for an order, so I ordered a bowl of fried noodles and finished off the apples while I waited for my order to arrive.

And, just in case you're wondering, yes, I do eat a lot of fried foods. Who gives a damn if they're 'not healthy'? I practically inhaled the noodles when they arrived. Though they were hot, something about the half crispy noodles soaked in whatever sauce it was, was irresistible.

After I finished my delicious fried noodles, I paid (surprise, surprise) and made my way home. After getting home I pulled my shoes off - followed by my shirt - and lay down in bed. The day was over, and I was free to rest. I usually spent my down-time thinking. About what, you ask? I think about a lot of things. For instance: that elfin girl at the noodle shop earlier was cute; and that old man with the fried apples was sharper than he looked - I'd have to wait a while before going back, a shame, because I really like those fried apples; and finally, things were a lot different since mom left. Not that I was upset over her leaving anymore, I had gotten over that a long time ago. But still, things hadn't been this way before she left. It was a lot harder to make it as someone who was half Dragonfolk, because when you're half Dragonfolk, you're considered such a freak that even the Dragonfolk shun you.

[The Future]

Jacob walked down a road in the underground city of Xanadu, it was cold and dark, the street lights were flashing off and on. Jacob stopped and stood on the street corner, he looked around in fear of someone jumping out and kidnapping him. But why was he thinking that, he was the only one there on that street, or was he? Jacob started running down the road as fast as he could still frightened by the thought of someone being there.

He ran until he found an alley to hide in, but Jacob was still thinking about why he was so frightened. "What the hell is going on with me!? Why do I think there's someone here!?'' he asked as he put his hands over his face. Jacob took his hands off of his face to see a shadow. At first he thought it was his until it started moving on it's own. "What is that!?" he yelled as he ran out of the alleynow completely scared. Jacob stopped and looked back, the shadow wasn't gone. "Wait, isn't that one of those shadows who killed my parents?" he asked as he looked back now starting to run back towards the alley. He looked all over for the shadow but it was gone, it had completely dissapeared. "Hm... maybe it was just my imagination" said Jacob as he rested his right hand on his chin.

[Ordeith]

(OOC: I'm more than disappointed with this post, to be honest, but at least I was able to fit something in...)

An unusually cold bite noticeably tinged the late summer breeze as it whistled about emptily through the hollowed skeleton of what remained of the Empire City. Through the sprawling ruins of the former Rockerfeller Center its doleful melody whistled, and through the steel skeleton famed toy shop, F.A.O. Schwartz as well. The looming marble pillars of the Museum of Natural History had long since given way to the eroding and corroding touch of time, forever entombing its precious collections underneath the earth which first spawned them. Ground Zero was now literally at zero. Yet as one drew nearer and nearer towards the heart of the city, visible signs of recent civilization began to take shape: Ancient, fractured asfault gradually began to give way to a straightened, freshly-paved path, and the looming skeletons of burned-out skyscrapers were soon replaced by smog-belching factories and massive black windmills, constantly and consistantly churning forth their various goods at a quick, steady pace. Within, flitting past the cold glow of artificial light, black amorphic creatures could be spotted working diligently at their respective tasks, never ceasing nor tiring.

Yet even the tallest, blackest chimney or smokestack was pitifully dwarfed under the broad, encompassing shadow of what lay at the heart of the city: The Empire Tower, and imposing onyx monolith of sheer black elephantine mass, a massive cloven mountain jutting forth from the earth as if in sheer defiance of nature itself. Utilizing the ingenious triple-buttress construction method of the Burj Dubai, previously the largest structure on the planet, the Empire Tower was, in essence, a living, breathing construct, always growing and expanding in new twisting paths and directions about itself in a chaotic, yet awe-inspiring masterpiece, its upper half perpetually surrounded by scaffolding. Not a single creation of man's, nay, a single creation of God could possibly rival or contend with the sheer awesomeness of the massive black cloven horn stabbing into the heavens above and wreathed in a shroud of choking black smog. From the perch of his lofty observatory, the master of the tower drummed his gauntleted fingers upon the clean-cut stone table, a vast assortment of maps and charts spread about its practically invisible surface. A slight scowl came over his ash-colored features as he regarded with disgust the latest figures of the El Dorado garrison list, in spite of the expendability of his inhuman, non-sentient soldiers; a loss was a loss, plainly and simply. He had managed several successful supply raids upon the City of Gold, yet his numbers continued to spiral downwards in that region. No matter; in time, the Shadow shall grow so broad that even great beacons of luminous civilization shall become no more than dimunitive matchsticks. Just as with time, this tower shall grow to encompass the entirety of this island if allowed to grow unrestrained. And just as, with time, my victories shall compile higher than any nation's accumulated victories. With each triumph, I grow wiser, and with added wisdom, I grow stronger. And with added strength and time, every knee on this pitiful sphere of dirt shall either be bent or maimed at my command. Essaulder's scowl quickly turned itself into a smirk. With time, nothing shall be beyond my grasp.

[Watson]

The wyrm stood before me, his black scales challenging to see in the eternal night that encompassed this cold, nearly destroyed world. For although the sunlight, and thus the warmth reached the planet's atmosphere, it reached not the surface due to the shadow that encompassed this place. For five hundred years now, it has been this way. And although I find it a pity that this world must suffer so greatly, such is the cost of my greatest desires being granted. Now then, back to the dragon that stood before me. His name was Damien Belmont, originally. He was one of the few dragons who actually used to be human. Most had been reptiles of sorts, simply having their evolution sped by the weapon launched when the shadow came, but in an extremely rare occasion, a dragon would be formed out of a human, with very few physical differences from the true dragons. I had wished to study one of these dragons, to see how they could possibly have become the same beings as their completely reptilian counterparts. So I traveled to some of the greatest mountains on Earth, and eventually, at one, I found myself face to face with a dragon who was descended from humans.

His scales were sharp, and as black as night. His eyes slits, their pupils darting about, constantly looking for information on the world around them. His tail covered in spikes, his hide extremely thick. And so it was that one of my greates weapons came into my possesion at this mountain who, for privacy's sake, I will not divulge the name of. I stood before him, and spoke these words. "Great Wyrm of the mountain, I come wishing to know more of you and your kind." And he spoke these unto me, taking an instant dislike in me. "You reek of the shadows, more than any other being I have met in my many years on this world. You are one of those who serve it, gaining great power in exchange for all their morals, correct?" And I said to him, "Morals? I have many morals. I just choose to ignore them. Is that so wrong?" I took out my rifle and pointed it at him. "I hope you do not intend to try and shoot me with that?" He asked me. "Indeed I do, my good dragon. Then, while you are weak and nearly dead, I shall take you back to my abode and perform some experiments, as I am quite curious as to why you became a dragon when the world met its end." He laughed. "I became a dragon for one reason alone, and I will not divulge it to you as I do not know it." He laughed even harder, and I pulled the trigger.

The bullet bounced off his hide, and he let out a mighty roar, slamming me into the face of the cliff we stood beneath. "I will not hesitate to kill you if you continue to threaten this mountain, for I am its Guardian, Damien Blackscale!" He yelled, and I laughed. "I had thought your name was Belmont." I said as I stood up, ignoring the wounds he had inflicted. "Indeed, that once was my name, but no longer. I have forsaken my humanity, as your people are imbeciles." He said, in the slightly rasping voice of a young human turned dragon. "Is that any way to talk about your own species?" I shot at him again, and he charged towards me, knocked the gun out of my hands, and flapped his great wings, lifting himself into the air. "Well, I suppose an aerial battle would be acceptable. And to make things a bit more... fair. I will not even use your body, I will make use with a dragonfolk appearance."

My body started to alter, wings grew from my back, tearing at the cloth of my suit. My body grew scales, and I could feel my body altering on the inside. I grew small breasts, and my hair lengthened. I had taken the appearance of a dragonfolk girl I had once met, she was strong physically, so she seemed like the best candidate for aerial combat, well, other than Damien. I flapped my own wings, and lifted off, drawing my blade. "So... you have another body then? Well, which is it? Your true form?" Damien asked. "Wouldn't you like to know?" I said to him, flying up closer to him. He clawed at me, and breathed white hot flames, but I managed to dodge most of his assaults. Eventually, I struck him with my blade, but it did not even pierce the skin. I then remembered the one place a dragon could be easily harmed, as it was always the same in the stories I heard as a child. The underbelly of the dragon was always the weak spot. He clawed at me, and tried to bite me with his razor sharp teeth, but I dodged his every attack in a masterful display of aerial manuevers, and positioned myself beneath him, plunging my Flamberge into his soft skin. He howled in pain, and screamed, "How could I let this happen!?" As he fell to the ground. I landed, and pulled my wings back towards my body. I sheathed my sword and walked toward him, looking at my fallen enemy. "If you wish to end my life, at least make it quick." He said to me. "End your life? No... I did say I wished to learn more about you didn't I? Well, I wasn't lying. You're coming with me. But first..." I felt my entire body become larger, and my face began to lengthen, horns grew on my head, and I felt my female organs become male once again. My majestic black form lifted off, and streaked through the night sky, this was truly a mgnificent body I had aquired. I landed yet again, and realised that my clothing had all torn to shreds in the transformation. "Oh well." I said to myself as I picked up the unconscious dragon in my talons, and lifted off yet again. And thus is the story of how my greatest asset was aquired.

-From the journal of Richard Huntley-Newman.

The man closed the book, and set it on his lap. "He truly was my greatest asset you know, Liam." He said to another man in the room. "Fetch me a glass of our finest chanpagne." He said to the man. "Yes, my lord." Said the man as he ran off. "Thank the shadow we've been able to grow grapes in artificial light." He muttered to himself. "Oh yes, and Edward." He said to the other being in the room, this one with tusks and green skin. His body rippling with muscles. "Yes my lord?" Edward asked. "Tell Liam, not to get me white wine, whatever he may do. I'm no in the mood for it." He said to the green skinned being. "Yes my lord, I shall tell him immediately." Said Edward. "You know Edward, you really do prove that Orcs are likeable, unlike that stuck up elf Liam. But you two are my finest servants, and I wouldn't have another serve me champagne... unless you can find someone better?" The man asked. "I'll be on my way immediately!" He said as he ran from the room. "Ha ha ha..." The man laughed as he looked upon the book yet again. "It truly is a treat to mess with their heads..." He laughed to himself. "Well, I'd best be reading up on some military tactics at least." He said to himself as he picked up a copy of The art of war. It would no doubt be beneficial to the cause, of Richard Huntley-Newman.

[Xeon{Myroku}]

"Xane, wake up Xane." a voice rang out. Xane got up from his sleep and looked around in his room. "Ugh, coming mom!" he called out. Xane got out of bed and put on his clothes and open toed sandals for his dragon like feet. Xane is a Dragonfolk who lives with his family and the villagers in the Applachain Mountains. There weren't any other humans to come up here to bother them or anything threating to come by.

He walked down stairs of his home and sat down to eat the meal that was on the table for him cooked by his mother. "Mmm, alpaca bacon, eagle eggs, and pancakes. Thanks mom." Xane said as he dugged into his dish. When he was done he went out to help his father with the yard work. But while they were working in the yard there was dark eirie cloud that lingered overhead. "Huh, I didn't know it was going to rain today." Xane said as he saw the cloud. Then an eirie chill came over him and then dark shadey creatures started to appear. They started to attack Xane's village as he stood there in fear watching it all happen. Then he saw his parents were killed by these creatures and came after him. "No, stay back! Stay back!" Xane shouted as he tried to sheild himself.

Xane woke up with cold sweat on his face and was laying in the forest. There was smoke coming from a fire pit that he made earlier. He camped out of here when his home was destroyed and was living out on his own ever since that dark day. "A dream. But I wish all that was a dream." Xane said sadly. A small lizard came and climb over his legs and looked up to him. "Hey Loox, I was just having a bad dream. No need to worry about me." Xane said as he petted the small lizard's head. "Come on let's go back to sleep." he said to the lizard softly, he layed his head down while the lizard curled up to him like a tiny dog. "Good night Loox." Xane quietly said and drifted back to sleep.

Mom, Dad, I promise that I'll kill those things that destroyed our home and that killed you two. I swear this on my life. Xane said in his mind.

[Azrael]

"I be damned if that loud explosion caused all this destruction to the place of my birth," From the safe distance of the ancient Turkish fortress of Anadoluhisari's north watch tower on the other side of the Bosphorus, the man known as Osmanli lowered his head and let loose a soft sigh, observing the devastation that was present in the charred, obliterated remnants of Constantinople. This was not what I expected when I planned in bringing the shadow army to the city and make it my personal dominion from which I can begin my conquest of the Balkans and create a new Osmanli empire with me as the Sultan of Sultans. Now I got nothing to work with. Instead of having the city of Constantine, the most beautiful, cosmopolitian metropolis in the eastern half of the Mediterrean Sea intact and ready for him and his army of shadows to simply take over the administrative and military functions of the municipial government, he had inherited nothing except millions of dead corpses and ruins of magnificent, ornate buildings to rule over. What am I supposed to do now with no subjects to rule over?

"This had been my only chance in more than five hundred years to gain control of Constantinople without overthrowing my father nor any of those undeserving misfits who I was forced to call my brothers. I expected to merely restore what had been the lost glory of the Turks but it appears that Allah decided tis not my fate but to re-build it." In my own shape and form, is that what the All Mighty, Merciful Allah had mandated for me to do? Not just inherit a Christian city but a destroyed Christian city, and fashion into a city worth of being deemed by its true name, Istanbul! Seeing through this estranged, eccentric logic that he had succeeded in winning over the ultimate prize, the ruins of Conantinope, he smiled confidently, raising his head and watching the sun rise again over the Hagia Sophia's minarets, "Perhaps this is just the beginning of a new start much like my ancestor Osmanli, who founded the first empire in the outskirts of ancient Byzantium's territories all those years before. So it is up to me to surpass my ancestor and bring order to this universe. But if I am supposed to become the ruler of Constantinople and bring forward a new, stronger Osmanli empire, there must be children that I may raise in case of my death or lack of wanting to rule the kingdom anymore, who would be my wife? Who?" I wonder if Demetria would be unsuitable...it's quite a misfortune to me that she escaped my wrath before I could tell her of my terms but that damn weapon had to drop in. She's probably still alive although I doubt it...I'll check later.

[Organization_42]

Underneath the ruins of Norway, in the bustling city of Forrige Slagmark, Erika Greystone was rushing home from work, as fast as her short legs could carry her. As much as she enjoyed hunting for raw materials in the mines, she had found something particularly interesting today and was eager to show it to her brother, Devon. Devon was fascinated with the way things worked and constantly coming up with new machines or weapons for the community to use. With him as the inventor and she as the supplier of materials, the two made quite the team.

When she entered the house, Erika stopped to salute her father and mother, as was custom among dwarf families, and then proceeded to head down one of the smaller tunnels that led to her brother's workhop. "Hello," he greeted her with a smile, "You're home early!"

"I ran," she replied with a shrug, "What are you working on now?"

"Oh, nothing important," he said, and for some reason, he hastily covered up his project with a nearby blanket, "I'll show it to you tomorrow."

"Why tomor..." Erika suddenly folded her arms. "Devon? That's my birthday present, isn't it?"

"Perhaps."

"It didn't look very impressive."

"You barely glanced at it before I covered it up! Besides, I haven't finished it yet. You know that my projects don't always look good until they are finished."

"Well, you'd better hurry," she teased, "You have less than twenty-four hours now!"

"I would, but I have a slight problem. The person that I want to surprise with it is currently standing in the room."

Erika rolled her eyes. She didn't want to leave Devon's workshop; it was her favorite place to go to after work. But she was curious to know what he was planning for her, and the only way to find out would be to leave him now, just like she did every year on the day before her birthday. For her, it was the dullest day of the year. "Very well," she said, not bothering to hide her irritation, "I will leave if you promise to actually work on it!"

"I will, don't worry!"

"But first, I want to show you something that I found today in the mines." She reached into the pocket of her loose red pants and pulled out what looked to her like a strange, twisted piece of metal cut into odd shapes. Devon leaned in to look at it more closely.

"Oh," he said finally, "I've seen one of those before in books. It's called a 'key'. In the days before the darkness came, humans used them to keep valuable items safe. They would put them in metal boxes and the key would be the only thing that could open it. I made one of my own, decades ago, it's called a safe. Maybe when I'm not busy, I could look for it and show you how it works."

"Yes, I would like that," replied Erika. She frowned and looked at the small metal key in her hand. "I wonder what this one was used for, or why it was underground? Do humans still use them?"

"I think they do," said Devon, "It's not like they can bind their belongings into rock the way we dwarves can!" he added with a smile. "But the one you found was probably made centuries ago and survived the destruction of the Old World, and that's why you found it underground."

"Interesting," said Erika, as she placed the key back in her pocket to keep as a souvenir. "I'll leave you to your work now. I want you to work extra hard on my birthday present this year!"

"Yes, your Majesty!" he replied, saluting her with a smirk.

[Xeon{Myroku}]

Xane woke up from his slumber and looked around sighing. "Only nightmares of that horrid day. I just wish they never happened." he said quietly to himself. His little lizard climbed on his knee and looked up at him with those amber eyes.

"Hey Loox, how about some dinner before we leave?" Xane asked it. The little lizard looked up at Xane and crawled up on his chest and sat on his shoulder. "Okay, here you go a nice juicy cricket." Xane handed the little lizard a nice fat cricket and watched it snap the cricket in his mouth and quickly ate it. "There you go. Huh, I wonder where Slim went?" Xane said as he looked around.

He heard a rustle of leaves behind him and saw a medium sized boa constrictor slither out of the bushes. "There you are Slim. Don't go slithering off like that, I don't want to lose another family member." Xane said as he picked up the snake and let it crawl into his bag that layed on the ground. "Okay time for me to eat. Now what should I have?" he said to himself. He heard another rustle of leaves and saw a deer out in a clearing of the forest not to far from him.

Xane crept up behind the deer and breathed out a jet of flame at the deer which startled it and he rapidily attacked it and slashed the deers head off with his sword. He breathed more flames on the deer's dead body to cook up the meat and dug into it, eating the pieces of cooked meat. He wiped his mouth off and left the dead body there for any other animal who wish to feed on it.

[Chromatic]

An obnoxiously loud and flaming voice rang through the depths of Caelum Ager. It's shrieks of anger and pain bonced off of the caverns around the city, and awoke many of the older Dragonfolk. Each elderly folk that peered out to witness this happening did so with a look of both pity, and disgust at the originator of the screams. All that went through their heads was: So Ayla is at it again. I hope, for her sake, she learns to just stay put.

Nearly the entire community of the Dragonfolk at Caelum Ager had come to know Ayla Morgenstern, in their opinion, a bit too well. They knew her personality was not one that was longed for a place such as the homes they lived in. She was curious, and adventureous, as all young ones, and most old ones were. To an adventerous soul such as Ayla's, Caelum Ager was but a large prison, that kept her from finding freedom. To her, being stuck underground while there was so much to see, and explore above was a fate worse than death. She had even once said that she'd rather be dead than live another day within the city's boundries.

The elders also had some pity for her due to her family plight. Ayla had been left within Caelum Ager some time ago by her aged mother, who was searching for a human settlement of some sort to call home. Upon arriving in the city, the woman had left her daughter in the care of an older couple of Dragonfolk. The couple, acting as her parents, had eventually told her that they were not her birth parents. This information had triggered a frenzy in the girl, as she continuoulsy tried to leave the city to find her real parents. No one, however, had the heart to tell her that her mother was not alive, due to the short life spans of humans, and that due to his nature, her father would want nothing to do with her, even if she did somehow managed to find him.

Yet they still felt a hard sense of disgust in the girl. She knew as well as any of the others how dangerous it was outside of the city; Especially of the danger that resided above th caverns. It was hard for some to understand why she would out herself in such danger just to go on an adventure. Unfortunately, she was a victim of arrogance. She felt that whatever dangers were on the surface were nothing for her to fear.

"I don't care if there are monsters up there!" she shouted, as she was dragged back into the city boundries by a pair of Dragonfolk that outsized her by five times. "Monster can't stop me! I'll just beat the life out of 'em!"

Wriggling free from one of the two guards' grip, she repositioned her head, and bit into his hand. He let out a howl of pain, as he gripped his hand. The other guard let go of Ayla in shock, and she (Ayla), dashed away to leave again, running on all fours like a beast. She was almost to her goal when something large, and hard whipped her side, and knocked her back head first. In her blurring vision, she could make out another Dragonfolk's massive build approaching her, and then, she blacked out.

[Azrael]

Where am I? This is not my home... The Grecian princess Demetria awoke from her deep slumber caused by the nuclear bomb detonation over the imperial capital of Constantinople, not in her quarters in the ancient Grecian palace built by Constantine more than fifteen hundred years ago, but in the simple, quaint bedroom from what she judged by looked around. Doesn't have any royal embelm that hints to any suggestion that may imply that the person living here does not belong to anyone in the Grand Council of Lords and the lack of decorations suggests that the man or woman is certainly not wealthy... Shifting her eyes around the room from the point of her bed, "Wherever I am...this is not Constantinople."

[Xeon{Myroku}]

Xane walked along through the forest with only his pet lizard Looxio resting on his head. He looked around in his surroundings and sighed quietly to himself.

"I never knew how beautiful the world is. I've just lived up in the mountains for years and not once have I pictured the world like this." Xane said to himself.

He could hear a waterfall out in a clearing of the forest and stopped to the river bank to wash his scalely red face and take a drink of water. He pulled his sword out and washed the deer blood off of his sword that was on it in the river. Xane never liked to use swords or fight in any possible way but now that he's seen what those creatures that attacked his home had done he figured that he may need to have something to protect him. This sword once belong to his grandfather who was a skilled swordsman back then, he passed down to his father who only just put it away because he thought that there would be no use for a weapon like this.

But now there was, but it was for Xane's use now. He put the sword away and walked across the river to the other side. He continued to walk on until he came upon a small town. "Hmm, I think I can rest up here for a bit. I need to find some answers about what those things were that attacked my home and who might have sended them up there." Xane said. "What do you guys think?" he asked his two pets. Looxio crawled down his head and licked his neck while Slim just hissed in his bag.

"All right then. I just hope someone would be able to tell me something." Xane said as he walked into the town gates.

[Watson]

Ryan walked out of the building he lived in, his eyes their usual lifeless haze. "Nice to see ya Ryan!" One of his neighbors shouted, Johnny something. Mar... well, he couldn't quite remember his last name. Apparently he had seen some pretty bad things back when the world was normal, something about some kid named Seth... and even he agreed that the world was now worse off than it had been during the Vietnam war, which he participated in. "Nice to see you too Johnny." Ryan said, sighing. "You know anywhere good to get some food around here?" Ryan asked. "You've lived here for a few hundred years, how can you not know where to get some good food?" Johnny asked. "I just sort of forgot..." Ryan replied. "Short term memory loss? Might wanna get that checked out... well, I'm not in the mood to help, go find food on your own!" And with that, Johnny sat down and began strumming his guitar. Ryan walked off, and found what would be considered a classy restaurant. "Table for one." He said as he walked past the cashier and sat down at the nearest one seated table. He picked up the menu and looked over his choices. Money wasn't a problem, he had a ton of money given to him by what remained of the bank after his parents died. Thank god for life insurance. He thought to himself, as the waiter walked up to him. It all looked so good, maybe he'd just order it all...

[Xeon{Myroku}]

OCC: Bump. Just thought I'd bump up this RP.