Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
10-05-2011, 03:09 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
The moment the knight drew his sword, Nalzaki's deadliest-looking head, the jet black one with glowing red eyes, reared back before spewing a massive gout of flames at its foe. The flames burned hot enough to fuse any knight's armor into a single piece and incinerate them within, brightly enough to temporarily blind any who looked directly into them. As the smoke cleared, however, Nalzaki realized that the knight and its horse, rather than becoming its next meal, had vanished entirely. That is, until they decided to announce their presence with a leap and a slash across the dark head's neck. Blue-black blood dripped to the roof far below as the head roared in pain, although unable to clutch the wound due to a lack of arms.
Furiously, the hydra turned to see its attacker land almost gracefully upon the ground, blood dripping from his sword. It attempted to kick the knight away with its massive talons, but he was too quick to dodge while perched upon his steed. Infuriated, Nalzaki descended and landed on the rooftops, the trio roaring simultaneously in a twisted harmony. The knight relentlessly charged toward his now-reachable foe, sword ready to tear into the beast's leg.
But despite the ferocity of Sir Cedric's blow, he hadn't expected the hydra to be so heavily armored. It was fairly obvious that the Archwizard hadn't stopped with the control collars. Nalzaki was Matic's last line of defense, so, naturally, it wasn't going to go down that easily. Nonetheless, it was not so well-defended as to be indestructable, as the navy stains on Sigrar's edge plainly showed. Momentarily stunned, Cedric was unable to avoid a powerful strike from the hydra, and was knocked a good ten feet back. Though sent sprawling, the knight's grip remained steadfast, and Sigrar remained in his hands. As he dashed for his steed, Nalzaki's central head, a lighter gray with deep orange eyes, opened its mouth and fired a bolt of lightning directly at him. A very near miss, Cedric could feel his hair stand on end from the powerful charge of electricity.
Cedric leaped onto Horsegark's back and charged parallel to the hydra, deftly avoiding bolt after bolt from an increasingly-agitated dragon head. Making a wide circle around the hydra, Cedric skillfully maneuvered his way back to Matic's tower, once more charging up the staircase. Angrily, the dark head attempted to ram its head into the knight, nearly impaling him on its horns but coming up short. Simultaneous bursts of fire and electricity slammed against the tower, but the heavily-defended structure proved enough to protect Cedric from both. He quickly made his final charge up the platform, and made a second leap toward the darkest head, intent on fully severing it.
Nalzaki was prepared this time. They quickly leaped backwards and, flapping their mighty wings, took to the skies. Cedric nonetheless made a clean landing below (largely in part to heat-induced columns of rising air), and, his voice thundering boldly, turned to the heavens.
"Have you no fight left, hydra? I have not yet warmed up! Do you think you can simply fly away?" In fairness, they could simply fly away, but with Matic controlling them it was doubtful they would.
The sky blue head, its blue eyes glowing, had so far remained inactive, simply an observer. Were it not attached to the deadly whole, one might be led to believe that it wasn't even all that hostile. This person would, however, be very wrong. Noting the uselessness of its brethren, the light head decided to take matters into its own figurative hands.
As Cedric attentively gazed at the triple dragon quickly disappearing into the sky, he did not fail to notice a burst of blue traveling at meteoric speeds toward the rain-dampened rooftop. He began gathering fire into his sword in advance, watching very intently as the ball impacted a number of feet away. Ice crystals spread rapidly from the projectile's epicenter, the rainwater coating the rooftop quickly freezing solid. Sigrar radiated enough heat to keep Cedric and his horse from freezing solid, but certainly not enough to prevent the battlefield from becoming coated in a thick sheet of ice.
Nalzaki quickly descended, heads roaring, tail swinging slowly with Princess Melissa still firmly in its grasp. Despite its seemingly unquenchable rage, it seemed to be very adamant about protecting the princess from harm. The dark head, seemingly ignoring the efforts of its light counterpart, immediately breathed another burst of flame, which was fully absorbed into Sigrar by the all-too-prepared knight. The central head quickly tried to counteract this with an opportune bolt of lightning, but, much to its shock and chagrin, the knight managed to deflect this attack with his sword as well. He immediately discharged the pent-up fire into the left eye of the light head, causing it to roar in agony and bringing the whole of Nalzaki to stumble backwards.
Archwizard... Screw it, he thought. Dr. Matic had been in control as long as he could remember. It was he who personally led his fledgling band of scientiflics against the might and power of Lord Horrorshow. It was he who personally slew Lord Penworthy and caused such anarchy to overtake the city. It was he who led his growing gang in battle against the Dungeon Crawlers, and took control of their "impenetrable" fortress. Sure, he had enemies. Sure, his health was already bad and getting worse. Sure, anyone in town would slit his throat at the nearest opportunity. It didn't matter. He ran this town.
And now it was all going to be destroyed.
Dr. Matic shut a final volume and tossed it aside. It was useless. Not even with the powers granted by the Fantasy genre could he muster up the ability to close the rift and restore order. The Tome was all that had held the city together. The Tome was the lifeblood of the city, without which the world was doomed. The Tome had held unspeakable powers over the minds and bodies of everyone, over the fabric of reality itself. Its destruction had rendered everything meaningless.
Dr. Matic stood up and walked across his chamber, hands folded. He was getting too old for this. What point was there in continuing to futiley struggle against fate? The Tome was in its final pages before it had been destroyed. It was the only end possible. The end of the world had always been set in stone. It was foolish of him to think himself a god among men. In the end, what would it matter? Everyone was going to die, and the history of the world, the struggles of the eternally divided city, would be forgotten in the face of an uncaring universe.
But Dr. Matic wouldn't be there to watch it happen. He couldn't bear it. Sure, maybe he was a moralless bastard. Maybe he didn't have any regard for anyone or anything. Maybe he was the greatest evil in a city of villains. But he had never wanted total destruction. The business had finally gone too far. This was the end.
Dr. Matic slowly walked to the chamber's exit, ignoring the shocked protests of his now-awake "apprentice". His feet echoed deeply on the cobblestone platform outside as he unflinchingly advanced forward. In front of him, the fight between the hydra and the knight continued. Both would perish in the rift, their struggle was for nothing. Less than an hour remained for the city. The end had come.
Taking a final gaze at the city he had so long called his domain, Matic stepped from the platform, arms spread wide.
It was then that the doctor-turned-archwizard hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
In an instant, the bright runes adorning the collars upon the hydra's necks faded away to nothing. Their brightly glowing eyes faded out as well, returning to a more natural coloration. Slowly, minute cracks spread across the surfaces of the collars, until they finally broke apart and clattered to the ground. Nalzaki immediately began flying more erratically, each of its heads looking around rapidly in a daze. Though they at first appeared to be dropping, they managed to restabilize themselves and hover in the air.
What the hell just happened? What are we doing here? We were just sending that Ivan guy to get that bookmark, weren't we? Was I unconscious? Razaran sounded rather agitated, though still collected enough to not panic outright.
If you were unconscious, we wouldn't be flying right now. Something must have happened that took control of our minds entirely. Probably the Tome, although it didn't seem to do that last time. Nalyg, though sounding reasonable as always, was slightly worried.
Who cares why it happened when it happened? We hardly even look like ourselves anymore, Nalyg. And Kanpeki, why aren't you saying anything? The Kryesan's male elements turned their necks simultaneously to gaze at Kanpeki, who was facing away, seemingly gazing into the distance.
Is something wrong, Kanpeki? Nalyg asked.
...Yes. Yes, something's wrong, Nalyg. Kanpeki turned to face the other heads, revealing a huge burn running down the side of her face, at the center of which had once been her eye. Nalyg and Razaran briefly gazed in horror. Kanpeki sounded and looked outright traumatized, for the first time since the three had been joined.
After a short time, however, Nalyg finally took notice of a weight on his tail, and immediately hoisted it in front of his face to find a very annoyed-looking Melissa Harmon staring him in the face.
"...Dr. Harmon?" Nalyg questioned, incredulous. How had she gotten there?
"Oh, now you decide to talk? Couldn't have done that before you dragged me around as bait for Cedric? One moment you're some asshole's minion and the next you act like none of it even fucking happened?"
"What are you talking about?" Razaran asked. "We did none of that. We weren't even in control of our own bodies!"
"You weren't, huh? Sure. Why not? How about you prove it by setting me down?"
Far below, Cedric angrily shouted at the hydra. "If you harm her, hydra, I will personally see to it that you are dead by the end of the hour! Descend, cowardly beast!" Taking very careful aim, the knight launched a fireball at his foe - not meant to collide, of course, as that would risk them dropping the princess to her death. The fireball simply blazed by, dangerously close, as a warning shot more than anything.
The three heads and the doctor-turned-princess watched in unison as the fireball shot by, narrowly missing the Kryesan. "Set you down? Do you really think that's a good idea now, doctor?" A second near-miss shot by. "We'll get you to safety. Hold on tight, doctor." Nalyg carefully lifted the "princess" above his back, releasing as she gained a decent grasp of his neck. Conferring with Razaran and the still-shaken Kanpeki, Nalyg issued forth into a downward spiral, keeping a good distance from their attacker. They carefully landed on the stairs on the opposite side of the tower, temporarily safe from Cedric.
Without pause, the sound of galloping hooves rapidly grew closer. "We don't want to fight you, Cedric," Nalyg quickly shouted, slowly climbing the stairs. "Put your sword down! You've done enough damage as it is!"
"I'll not fall for your trickery, hydra! Put the princess down, or you die!" Cedric led Horsegark up the stairs, leveling SIgrar at the retreating hydra. All around them, the castle that had been the home of the late Archwizard began to crumble under the ever-darkening sky. The city was on the brink of annihilation.
The moment the knight drew his sword, Nalzaki's deadliest-looking head, the jet black one with glowing red eyes, reared back before spewing a massive gout of flames at its foe. The flames burned hot enough to fuse any knight's armor into a single piece and incinerate them within, brightly enough to temporarily blind any who looked directly into them. As the smoke cleared, however, Nalzaki realized that the knight and its horse, rather than becoming its next meal, had vanished entirely. That is, until they decided to announce their presence with a leap and a slash across the dark head's neck. Blue-black blood dripped to the roof far below as the head roared in pain, although unable to clutch the wound due to a lack of arms.
Furiously, the hydra turned to see its attacker land almost gracefully upon the ground, blood dripping from his sword. It attempted to kick the knight away with its massive talons, but he was too quick to dodge while perched upon his steed. Infuriated, Nalzaki descended and landed on the rooftops, the trio roaring simultaneously in a twisted harmony. The knight relentlessly charged toward his now-reachable foe, sword ready to tear into the beast's leg.
But despite the ferocity of Sir Cedric's blow, he hadn't expected the hydra to be so heavily armored. It was fairly obvious that the Archwizard hadn't stopped with the control collars. Nalzaki was Matic's last line of defense, so, naturally, it wasn't going to go down that easily. Nonetheless, it was not so well-defended as to be indestructable, as the navy stains on Sigrar's edge plainly showed. Momentarily stunned, Cedric was unable to avoid a powerful strike from the hydra, and was knocked a good ten feet back. Though sent sprawling, the knight's grip remained steadfast, and Sigrar remained in his hands. As he dashed for his steed, Nalzaki's central head, a lighter gray with deep orange eyes, opened its mouth and fired a bolt of lightning directly at him. A very near miss, Cedric could feel his hair stand on end from the powerful charge of electricity.
Cedric leaped onto Horsegark's back and charged parallel to the hydra, deftly avoiding bolt after bolt from an increasingly-agitated dragon head. Making a wide circle around the hydra, Cedric skillfully maneuvered his way back to Matic's tower, once more charging up the staircase. Angrily, the dark head attempted to ram its head into the knight, nearly impaling him on its horns but coming up short. Simultaneous bursts of fire and electricity slammed against the tower, but the heavily-defended structure proved enough to protect Cedric from both. He quickly made his final charge up the platform, and made a second leap toward the darkest head, intent on fully severing it.
Nalzaki was prepared this time. They quickly leaped backwards and, flapping their mighty wings, took to the skies. Cedric nonetheless made a clean landing below (largely in part to heat-induced columns of rising air), and, his voice thundering boldly, turned to the heavens.
"Have you no fight left, hydra? I have not yet warmed up! Do you think you can simply fly away?" In fairness, they could simply fly away, but with Matic controlling them it was doubtful they would.
The sky blue head, its blue eyes glowing, had so far remained inactive, simply an observer. Were it not attached to the deadly whole, one might be led to believe that it wasn't even all that hostile. This person would, however, be very wrong. Noting the uselessness of its brethren, the light head decided to take matters into its own figurative hands.
As Cedric attentively gazed at the triple dragon quickly disappearing into the sky, he did not fail to notice a burst of blue traveling at meteoric speeds toward the rain-dampened rooftop. He began gathering fire into his sword in advance, watching very intently as the ball impacted a number of feet away. Ice crystals spread rapidly from the projectile's epicenter, the rainwater coating the rooftop quickly freezing solid. Sigrar radiated enough heat to keep Cedric and his horse from freezing solid, but certainly not enough to prevent the battlefield from becoming coated in a thick sheet of ice.
Nalzaki quickly descended, heads roaring, tail swinging slowly with Princess Melissa still firmly in its grasp. Despite its seemingly unquenchable rage, it seemed to be very adamant about protecting the princess from harm. The dark head, seemingly ignoring the efforts of its light counterpart, immediately breathed another burst of flame, which was fully absorbed into Sigrar by the all-too-prepared knight. The central head quickly tried to counteract this with an opportune bolt of lightning, but, much to its shock and chagrin, the knight managed to deflect this attack with his sword as well. He immediately discharged the pent-up fire into the left eye of the light head, causing it to roar in agony and bringing the whole of Nalzaki to stumble backwards.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
With a sigh, Archwizard Matic closed yet another dusty tome, and shoved several stacks of paper aside. Nothing. Despite his efforts, he could find nothing to reverse the destruction caused by the Tome. He rifled through yet another bunch of papers, then tossed them to the ground, dissatisfied. He dug through bookshelf after bookshelf, unable to find anything, anything at all, that could save him - and everything else - from the opening of the rift. Potions, spells, enchantments... all of them were useless. He couldn't even teleport himself away from the destruction, not to another plane, not to anywhere at all. There was too much interference from the rift he was powerless to close.Archwizard... Screw it, he thought. Dr. Matic had been in control as long as he could remember. It was he who personally led his fledgling band of scientiflics against the might and power of Lord Horrorshow. It was he who personally slew Lord Penworthy and caused such anarchy to overtake the city. It was he who led his growing gang in battle against the Dungeon Crawlers, and took control of their "impenetrable" fortress. Sure, he had enemies. Sure, his health was already bad and getting worse. Sure, anyone in town would slit his throat at the nearest opportunity. It didn't matter. He ran this town.
And now it was all going to be destroyed.
Dr. Matic shut a final volume and tossed it aside. It was useless. Not even with the powers granted by the Fantasy genre could he muster up the ability to close the rift and restore order. The Tome was all that had held the city together. The Tome was the lifeblood of the city, without which the world was doomed. The Tome had held unspeakable powers over the minds and bodies of everyone, over the fabric of reality itself. Its destruction had rendered everything meaningless.
Dr. Matic stood up and walked across his chamber, hands folded. He was getting too old for this. What point was there in continuing to futiley struggle against fate? The Tome was in its final pages before it had been destroyed. It was the only end possible. The end of the world had always been set in stone. It was foolish of him to think himself a god among men. In the end, what would it matter? Everyone was going to die, and the history of the world, the struggles of the eternally divided city, would be forgotten in the face of an uncaring universe.
But Dr. Matic wouldn't be there to watch it happen. He couldn't bear it. Sure, maybe he was a moralless bastard. Maybe he didn't have any regard for anyone or anything. Maybe he was the greatest evil in a city of villains. But he had never wanted total destruction. The business had finally gone too far. This was the end.
Dr. Matic slowly walked to the chamber's exit, ignoring the shocked protests of his now-awake "apprentice". His feet echoed deeply on the cobblestone platform outside as he unflinchingly advanced forward. In front of him, the fight between the hydra and the knight continued. Both would perish in the rift, their struggle was for nothing. Less than an hour remained for the city. The end had come.
Taking a final gaze at the city he had so long called his domain, Matic stepped from the platform, arms spread wide.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
With a beating of their mighty wings, Nalzaki managed to hold Sir Cedric and his horse at bay before again taking to the skies. The cracks in the sky grew larger and larger, as the wind picked up in intensity. The hydra found it increasingly hard to fly without being swept away by the mighty currents of wind. A heavy rain assailed the city, relentlessly pounding down upon rooftop and dragon alike. In a desperate bid to kill the knight in one blow, the hydra reared back, ready to divebomb.It was then that the doctor-turned-archwizard hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
In an instant, the bright runes adorning the collars upon the hydra's necks faded away to nothing. Their brightly glowing eyes faded out as well, returning to a more natural coloration. Slowly, minute cracks spread across the surfaces of the collars, until they finally broke apart and clattered to the ground. Nalzaki immediately began flying more erratically, each of its heads looking around rapidly in a daze. Though they at first appeared to be dropping, they managed to restabilize themselves and hover in the air.
What the hell just happened? What are we doing here? We were just sending that Ivan guy to get that bookmark, weren't we? Was I unconscious? Razaran sounded rather agitated, though still collected enough to not panic outright.
If you were unconscious, we wouldn't be flying right now. Something must have happened that took control of our minds entirely. Probably the Tome, although it didn't seem to do that last time. Nalyg, though sounding reasonable as always, was slightly worried.
Who cares why it happened when it happened? We hardly even look like ourselves anymore, Nalyg. And Kanpeki, why aren't you saying anything? The Kryesan's male elements turned their necks simultaneously to gaze at Kanpeki, who was facing away, seemingly gazing into the distance.
Is something wrong, Kanpeki? Nalyg asked.
...Yes. Yes, something's wrong, Nalyg. Kanpeki turned to face the other heads, revealing a huge burn running down the side of her face, at the center of which had once been her eye. Nalyg and Razaran briefly gazed in horror. Kanpeki sounded and looked outright traumatized, for the first time since the three had been joined.
After a short time, however, Nalyg finally took notice of a weight on his tail, and immediately hoisted it in front of his face to find a very annoyed-looking Melissa Harmon staring him in the face.
"...Dr. Harmon?" Nalyg questioned, incredulous. How had she gotten there?
"Oh, now you decide to talk? Couldn't have done that before you dragged me around as bait for Cedric? One moment you're some asshole's minion and the next you act like none of it even fucking happened?"
"What are you talking about?" Razaran asked. "We did none of that. We weren't even in control of our own bodies!"
"You weren't, huh? Sure. Why not? How about you prove it by setting me down?"
Far below, Cedric angrily shouted at the hydra. "If you harm her, hydra, I will personally see to it that you are dead by the end of the hour! Descend, cowardly beast!" Taking very careful aim, the knight launched a fireball at his foe - not meant to collide, of course, as that would risk them dropping the princess to her death. The fireball simply blazed by, dangerously close, as a warning shot more than anything.
The three heads and the doctor-turned-princess watched in unison as the fireball shot by, narrowly missing the Kryesan. "Set you down? Do you really think that's a good idea now, doctor?" A second near-miss shot by. "We'll get you to safety. Hold on tight, doctor." Nalyg carefully lifted the "princess" above his back, releasing as she gained a decent grasp of his neck. Conferring with Razaran and the still-shaken Kanpeki, Nalyg issued forth into a downward spiral, keeping a good distance from their attacker. They carefully landed on the stairs on the opposite side of the tower, temporarily safe from Cedric.
Without pause, the sound of galloping hooves rapidly grew closer. "We don't want to fight you, Cedric," Nalyg quickly shouted, slowly climbing the stairs. "Put your sword down! You've done enough damage as it is!"
"I'll not fall for your trickery, hydra! Put the princess down, or you die!" Cedric led Horsegark up the stairs, leveling SIgrar at the retreating hydra. All around them, the castle that had been the home of the late Archwizard began to crumble under the ever-darkening sky. The city was on the brink of annihilation.