Palis, Chapter one. Allience!

[Drazniich]

Belial sat there, staring at the water glass full of whiskey. He idly rotated the glass on the bar. "Pious energies make me feel all tingly."

He reflected on the latest turn of events. It was a neat trick, createing a sort of kitsune body out of a fox. Belial would love to be able to alter others with a simple sacrifice. Instead, his always required a sort of... more mundane touch...

He sat, wondering to himself. COuld he? Without matierals? It was always worth a shot... he'd screwed up and undone worse.

He stepped out into the street. He drew a circle on the ground, and an eight pointed star. "Hmm... concentrate on form..."

He began to dream... what had he looked like back then? Who had he been? It was so long ago he had that body. A very long time... had he changed after, or was that his last one? He wasn't very fond of the warlock look he had going...

Wait, hadn't he tried a female form then? Was it that time he had one? It was confusing... his mind was fading from the recent unmaking, and he was very tired... but the ritual had begun. Crap... he was mixing images.

Anyone else saw a pillar of black flames, shifting and forming.

He thought he had it. It was bound to work. Besides, now the twins wouldn't recognize him.

He dismissed the ritual. His clothes were the same, and very much no longer fitting. He had lost mass in the change, going down to about 5'9". His hair was no longer a cursed metal, but a nice electric blue. His eyes had changed, looking more mortal, matching his hair. His ears came to points, something he hadn't counted on. Apperantly, he'd been some sort of elven like creature, most likely, that was the female form he'd been thinking of.

His hair was a little shorter than he preferred. It simply came down past his chin in front and got shorter goin' back. The hardened leather clothes were far too large, as he was now gaunt thin. He held out his arms, admiring the blue tattoo work he'd done. The left arm had Reckoning written on it, the right Staysane. He didn't need to see his back to know that the image he'd wanted was there. [Post later] Now, it was just a matter of conjuring clothing, something he could do easily.

He couldn't really come up with something interesting, so, for the time being, a long black skirt bedecked in silver chains, and a holder on his back for his chain. He pointed, incinerating his old clothes. In the heat, he saw himself, and realized he'd made another sort of mistake...

There was a blue eightpointed star surrounding his left eye. "Uhoh..."

The particualar runes involved marked it as his star. Now, any rudimentary knowledge of him would identifiy him as Belial. "Ah well... time to bug Nichi."

 

[FFnut]

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Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Adinem

Magus looked out onto the horizon. He felt apprehension of some kind. He slowly walked out past the edge of town, scanning the ground for a clue. He found it.

Bending down, he picked up a small red rock nearly identical to the one he'd found earlier. He closed his eyes and concentrated on it.

*******************************
Palis, The Year 698 Ishia, Outside Adinem

"Shut it, you stupid girl!" grunted the man.

Schala groaned. "Janus... Janus..."

"I said SHUT UP!" he shouted, slapping the girl. "Whoever this 'Janus' is, if he even exists, he'd do well to know not to try and fight against Lord Kain."

Schala sat up groggily as the man and his dragon continued on, Schala being strapped to the dragon's back. She broke off a piece of her pendant and looked into it. "Janus," she whispered, "if you do come here, help me. Please. Help me. Please. Help me... Janus..."

*******************************
Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Outside Adinem

The image faded from Magus's mind, and he gasped. Schala... I'm here... Janus is here for you. Please, Schala, where have you gone? Where? I miss you... I've missed you for the past... he suddenly stopped the train of thought. How long ago was the last I saw of Schala? It depends on how you look at it. It could be roughly ten years, from when I last saw her as Janus, in terms of my physical age. It could be roughly fourteen thousand, from the time between her coming to Palis and me coming to Palis, earth time. It could be a week, the same way in Palis-time, or only a few days, physically from when I was the Prophet... He shook all thoughts from his head and went back to Adinem to get some sleep.

 

[~Hidan~]

Nichi looked up into the leaves of the tree he sat under and though about how it was to be so light as to fall to the wind and ride on its current. Is this what it was like to be alive again? He looked at his hands and still could not believe that he was back in the same old body that he had before. Only a little was different. Lucky for him his bracelets were never removed in the whole ordeal. He still had his ace hidden from the rest of them. He had replaced his training weights now that Zera-Shaal was dead he didn’t need to be on high alert. He thought about what it was like in his home world these days. He had met one other from his world that came almost a thousand years after him, the world had changed much, they no longer controlled the elements, and they were the elements.

Aikia walked out of the Inn in clean cloths that she had conjured. Wearing white pants and a blue blouse her already strange elegance was even more amplified. She noticed a strange boy walking her way. He gave of a strong demon aura. “Belial?”

Belial looked up at her; his head had been sunk in shame due to his strange appearance now. “Yes?”

“What exactly happened to you? You look well um younger, and well different.” Aikia said pointing at his eye.

Belial shook his head. “I attempted to copy your powers, and remake a body. As you can see it might not have worked as well as I’d have liked it to.” He sighed.

Aikia started laughing uncontrollably. “You’re so cute; just wait till Nichi sees you.”

Belial went red in the face for the first time he could remember. Just what he needed was the other to laugh at him.

Nichi could see Aikia coming his way. He could tell it was Belial near her. “Um Belial what are you doing?”

Both Aikia and Belial looked a little shocked that Nichi wasn’t laughing at him.

“I got bored.” Belial said giving out a sigh of relief.

Nichi shook his head. Nothing could surprise him with what had been going on recently, until he saw from the corner of his eye Malice.

Malice was smiling widely and looked too happy to be human. Titania in arm with him was riding the wind through town. They stopped at the inn and Titania went in, she looked like she had yet to take a shower. Malice left her and came over to join the others.

“How’s it going guys?” He then noticed the odd looking elf boy. “Who is that?”

Aikia started laughing again.

Belial sat down and shook his head. “It’s me Belial; you could say I had a mishap with some magic.”

Malice looked at him and smiled. “I like that form more. You look more trustworthy as a kid.” He laughed.

Nichi looked at Malice and smiled. Nichi was really glad that he had loosened back up since Nichi had gotten back his body. “So lover boy how’s our new comrade?”

Malice shook his head quickly. “It’s not what you think! I’m just going to teach her how to use magic.”

“I didn’t ask for excuses I wanted to know how she is. Knowing there is little or no hope of going back to her world.” Nichi said amused by Malice’s reaction.

Malice shook his head some more. “Umm I think she is ok. I haven’t the heart to tell her no person has ever left this world.”

Nichi stood up and started to stretch. “Well that’s not true. There is a way to leave, isn’t that right Aikia?”

Aikia nodded. “The only problem is it’s in the center of the Black Spire.”

Belial looked interested. “What is in the middle of the Black Spire?”

“There is a portal that can send you wherever you wish to go.” She said.

Malice looked at Aikia oddly. “Then why would those demons care to destroy the world over not being able to return to their own worlds?”

“That’s because demons can’t use it.” Nichi said. “You can’t be a full demon to use it.”

Malice scratched his chin in thought.

Magus walked in on the group talking, having heard about the portal. “That great news, I wont have to stay here forever.” He gave out a sigh of relief.

Nichi looked into the sky. He wondered if he too should return to his world.

Titania came out shortly after and sat with them as they all talked of the adventure so far. They sat there until the sun set and then went to turn in for the night.

The next morning Nichi was again under the tree only this time he was practicing his fighting. Only he and Belial were awake at his hour. Nichi unleashed some of his best moves over and over again on different minor demons that Belial summoned.

Meanwhile two weeks riding distance from them.

The front gate had been shattered by the force of the bettering rams that hailed the doors. The army of Gracia stood fast against the legions left by none other then Valmarus. Ishia and her army of Angelitus tore through the enemy forces with ease. Lucky for Gracia Valmarus was only there to test the forces of Gracia and did not stay long enough to loose all of his troops and have to take the city himself. The battle lasted two weeks, but Gracia was well prepared and casualties were minimal.

Ishia sat in court for the first time since her 699th anniversary. “We have just seen the beginning of the movement that will determine if the world as a whole will live of fall. Have he heard anything of were Nichi and his companions are?”

“We have, they recently took the second city and should be done with the third.” A member of the council said.

“Good someone send an envoy to tell them of the attack and to come as soon as they can to help with re-securing the city.”

“Right away madam, just one thing, we heard rumors of the silver knight being in the same area as them.” The man reported.

Ishia looked at him in horror. ‘Dacono lived!’ “Send warning of this to Nichi as well.”

Dacono was Nichi’s older brother from the same world as him. Dacono’s mind was torn apart when he entered this Palis and had made him into a madman, a madman with insane power.

(Remember its going to take a while for the messenger to come so don’t post anything about it getting there, I’ll take care of that.)

 

[FFnut]

*************************
Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Adinem

Magus walked out of the inn, noticing Nichi and Malice practicing their fighting techniques. He took a deep breath of the clean air and smiled. As he started walking towards them, he remembered something and started gliding quickly.

Belial looked up from the minor demon summoning and noticed Magus floating a few inches above the ground towards them. He grinned. "Now this one's here. What does he want?"

Nichi turned towards Magus. "What's up?"

Magus stopped abruptly and lowered himself to the solid ground. "Nichi... who's Kain?"

Nichi and Belial looked like they had just been hit by bricks. "How do you know about Kain?" Belial's voice was a low whisper. "Who told you about..."

Magus was surprised. Is this Kain person really that bad? he wondered.

Nichi whispered as well. "Kain is... well... how do you know about him?"

Magus took the second piece of Dreamstone from his pocket. "The Dreamstone. I found another piece outside the town. I got a memory hidden within it transported into my brain, or something. That's why I wanted to know when it had last rained when I found the other one - the memory was of a rainy day. Now the person in this memory mentioned Kain. Who is it?"

Nichi nodded to Belial, who looked around to make sure nobody could hear before continuing. "One of the demons of the Spire of Khan. They're the rulers of Drasonia - the entire area outside of Gracia's jurisdiction."

Magus gasped. Schala... dammit... "So when are we going to this spire and killing these demons?"

Belial let out a cross between a cough and a laugh. "Killing these demons? You really think we can deal with these demons ourselves?"

Magus shook his head. "We have Titania. She took out your sleeper, didn't she? She should be able to take out these damned demons. I think we can- GAH!" He fell to the ground, looking as if a hurricane had just hit him. He was clutching his ears and rolling around on the ground.

The sound assaulting Magus's ears was deafening. He could feel it all around him, even if nobody else could. The sound grew ever louder...

****************************
Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Somewhere

Schala screamed. She heard the same horrifying sound that Magus heard so far away. She held the sides of her head, trying to block it out. She felt the amazing force grow around her. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

*************************
Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Adinem

The sound subsided. The feeling vanished. Magus stood up, looking as if he'd gotten a little drunk. He looked over at Nichi and Belial. "That was... the black wind..." he rasped. "It... travels through time and space... and worlds, as well... whenever some powerful evil occurs, it blows. It blew many times back on Earth... but never... it was never that strong..." He regained his composure. "Some sort of unbelievably terrible thing must be happening now. I mean, things that threatened the world itself never caused more than a slight breeze. That felt like a tornado. Only I can feel it... at least, back on Earth only three of us could. Myself, my mother and..." he trailed off. He closed his eyes. After a few breaths, he opened them again. "Well, guys, care to invite me to your little practice session?"

 

[Zerlina]

Titania quietly returned to the room, closing and locking the door behind her for fear of what murderous demons might emerge after dawn to hunt. As it stood, her thoughts did not travel far enough in the future to wonder whether going to sleep with a locked door would be good for the poor unfortunate who was supposed to share her room.

With a sigh, she sealed the windows and closed the drapes as well. For one so unfamiliar with the world it is hard to imagine what horrors the outside might hold, and so it is often found best to merely shut it out.

Her room a little safer, she sat on her bed and stared down at her dirty feet, wishing that her flight to the eidolon wall had taken place when she was wearing shoes.

Who could imagine that a hurricane had sent her so far away from home! Letting herself fall backward onto her uncomfortable mattress, she thought of everything she’d left behind, and soon realized that it would be a long time before she ever saw it again.

This new world was sickening. It was full of confusing cities, demons, darkness, and air so thick it stole your breath. The ground was rocky, foxes came to life as human spirits, and men went mad with hallucinations. The group was already established and she felt like an outsider, finding the only person she could really talk to so far was Malice. The entire journey to the town had made her aware of how much she was only watching the group- she was not yet part of them. So where in all of this chaos did she fit in? Why had she come here? Was Phoenix punishing her for some deed she never knew had been committed? …Perhaps then there was a way to return... maybe if the eidolons were appeased! But what would they want?

She thought for some time, letting the minutes pass arbitrarily.
Goodness perhaps? Or strength? Maybe devotion to the traditions of Madain Sari as some kind of proof of trust in the eidolons?
Crawling beneath the covers, she considered a hundred possibilities, the several voices of reason chattering on in her head like hungry vultures ready for a kill. Unable to think, unable to sleep, the Madain Sari girl climbed out of her bed, and took up a quill. People here seemed to speak the same language, so why shouldn’t they be able to read it?

Gone out. Don’t worry. Will be back before sunrise.

-Titania

​

Tying up her once-white robe, she stepped outside, placed the note in a crack in the door and took off for town.

Some time later, she arrived and waited on the ledge of the fountain, digging through her pockets for a small chisel that was once used to carve on the eidolon wall. Picking up a stone, she began to shape the crude figure of a bird, skilfully avoiding her fingers with the sharp edge. When at last her job was finished, she removed from her pocket a small jewel that had been given to her.

Oh well she thought, and cut off a piece, pressing it against the petrified bird to make a makeshift eye.

Suddenly something did not feel right.

Before she could ponder longer, she saw a shadow moving near an alley, and made for its direction

“Excuse me!” she called and ran barefoot in its direction, obviously having grown up in a fairly small community “Do you know whom I could trade for a pair of shoes? I have this...”

She produced the bird from her pocket and tried to get a better look at whoever it was she was conversing with, his momentary silence making her uneasy. With her free hand, she laid her fingers on her flute, just in case.

 

[Drazniich]

Belial stood, summoning his nightmare mount. "May as well train him to recognize me..." he muttered. The horse that devoured and slaughtered the hopes and dreams of others matierialized, rearing to strike Belial down. He bicycle kicked the horse on the jaw.

"Now that that's out of the way..." he smiled. There was something to be said for Belial's new form. It really made him seem incredibly less sinister, especially in the sunlight, where as his old form seemed to dampen light around it. He drew his cane, now a bit longer, almost like a miniture staff to his new form, and began to practice.

"Being a demon, kids" Belial orated while he spun the cane around. "Isn't all about taking souls and destroying things. Actually, its more your job to simply change the world. You're the force of rebellion. Without you, there is nothing but calcification."

Nichi shook his head. "So at what point did mutating others come along?"

Belial paused. "Mistakes have been made. Others shall be blamed."

 

[~Hidan~]

Nichi was amused in how Belial made friends with his horse. Nichi sat under his tree all day reading comic books. He thought about what Magus had said about feeling the Black Wind. What could have happened that was so bad that he would feel like that. Aikia sat down next to Nichi; she picked up one of the comic books and tried to read it.

“What the hell? What language is this?” She flipped through the pages of the book. “Why are you reading this?”

“I read it because I like it. It’s written in English, it’s from earth. A crate of these book manages to get here every once and a while.” Nichi continued to read.

Aikia looked at the comic book. “How did you learn English? Not many people from earth come here.”

Nichi changed pages. “I taught myself.”

She looked at the cover of the book, a half dressed elf girl sat on the cover. “Umm what is this called? Why is there a half naked girl on the cover?”

Looking at the book she held. “That’s Ragnarok.” He held up the book he was reading. “This is King of Hell.”

Belial had un-summoned his horse and came back to see if Nichi wanted to train more when a man in a silver cloak passed him. Belial turned his head and watched him disappear into the supply shop. A powerful evil came from this man. It made him shiver in fear. ‘Wait a sec, me a demon shake in fear to a mere mortal.’

Nichi watched as Belial walked towards him. Belial’s face was pale with fear. “Hey man you ok? What’s got you freaked out?”

Belial snapped out of it. “There is a very powerful mortal here, he is wearing all silver and well I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

Nichi smiled, ‘Brother!’ “Which way did he go?!” Nichi stood up and pulled off his training weights and his power restrainers.

“You might want to get back before he removes all of them Aikia.” Belial said as he jumped back. Aikia also jumped back.

The last restrainer dropped to the ground. Waves of energy pushed back and down the grass. Then in a burst of white, almost like fire formed around him bending back the tree itself from him. “Were did you see him?”

Belial wasn’t sure just who this person was but Nichi seemed determined to destroy but he was scared to feel two powers of such magnitude in one day. “He was in town near the supply shop.”

Like a bolt of lightning Nichi ran into two leaving behind a trail of frost. He passed Titania who was standing near an all close to the fountain. “Run to the others as fast as you can.” He yelled as he passed.

Barefoot and confused she took off without a second thought towards the tree where Nichi and the others had been training. “What on earth is Nichi freaking out about?”

Malice had just come out of the hotel after feeling the power unleashed from Nichi. “I have no idea, Belial you know?”

Belial shook his head. “Well sort of. He took off after I told him about a man in silver armor.”

Nichi hunted through the town yelling for people to get as far from his as possible. Finally he saw the man he was looking for. “BROTHER!”

Dacono turned his head and smiles wildly. “Oh your still alive, I thought last time I threw you off a cliff you might have been blessed with death.” He pulled out his sword and swung it around wildly to try to show off.

Nichi pulled his sword of his back and swung it towards the ground with such force that wind cut the ground all the way to Dacono’s feet. “Yeh thanks for that, if you hadn’t thrown me off that cliff I’d have never met Ishia and become who I am today.”

“Well enough chat lets see if you can stand up to your big brother.” Taking a fighting stance Dacono looked towards Nichi ready for the fight.

Nichi’s eyes turned the usual yellow that came with his copy ability. He gripped his sword in one hand and charged forwards ready to strike. He formed Spiral in his left hand ready to punch. Nichi’s first swing game down in a way to make Dacono dodge to the left, Nichi hit Dacono in the gut at full force. Dacono went flying into a building destroying it as his body slammed through it.

Dacono burst out of the rubble at full speed slashing at Nichi with insane speed. Nichi was able to doge most of them and the ones he couldn’t dodge he put up ice barriers to take the blow instead. Dacono tried to freeze Nichi to the ground but as the ice came up from the ground Nichi jumped into the air using blocks of ice as footings to jump higher and higher into the air. Dacono tried swing at him, but he couldn’t jump with all the armor he was wearing. Nichi was now almost two hundred feet in the air when he grabbed hold of the handle of the sword and fell holding the sword as though like a pogo stick.

Falling at incredible speed he started to spin and cause a tornado of ice. Dacono tried to get out of the way but his armor made it too hard to get out of the way. Nichi’s attack his with full strength. It knocked him into the ground several feet. Dacono spat up blood and screamed in pain.

Dacono coughed up blood and looked at Nichi. “So you’ve done it you’ve gotten stronger then me by far.”

Nichi smiled and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Yes brother and your betrayal on our clan has finally been avenged.”

Dacono pulled a talisman from under his jacket and held it out for Nichi to take. “Take this, it was fathers. It should be the only living member of out clans to keep.”

Nichi picked up the talisman. It was the key to unlocking the true power he was to have. “Why did you kill them all? Why did you lead them to our village, how could you kill our own people?!” He looked down on his bother for the last time before casting Exidos on him.

Dacono’s body disappeared into the vastness known as nothingness. Nichi returned to the others, saying nothing as he passed by the others picking up his power restrainers and his weights and clasping them back on. He sat down and sighed looking at his father’s talisman.

Belial looked strangely at him and then at the talisman. “Umm Nichi?”

“What? I killed him ok, I killed my brother, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?” Nichi said as he burst into tears. Why was he sad for killing his brother that had lead to the utter destruction of his clan?

Aikia and Belial stood back. Neither of them had been very good at dealing with issues of this nature.

Malice sat down next to him along with Magus and Titania.

“You had a good reason for doing that didn’t you?” Titania said trying to comfort him.

“Did I? Was avenging my village worth killing my brother for? I don’t know, but he killed so many of my family and friends, he’s the reason I’m here. I don’t know I just don’t know.” Nichi said sobbing.

Malice thought about his last battle. “I know what that is like, you’ve done what your heart thought was right. Don’t blame yourself for doing what you think is right.”

Magus nodded in concurrence to what Malice had said.

A man on a gryphon landed a couple of feet from where they were. “Master Nichi!”

Nichi raised his head to see one of Garcia’s knights sitting there. “What is it?”

“Master Nichi Gracia came under attack, Queen Ishia asks for your presence at the castle as soon as you can make your way there. There is also word of your brother being in these parts so please be careful.” The soldier said looking oddly at Nichi whose face was sill red from crying.

Nichi looked at the talisman and shook his head to clear his mind. “Well Dacono is dead, and we’ll be there as fast as we can.” Nichi looked at the others. “Please take the others into town and get them what they need to travel, the young lady is in need of shoes. I’ll be writing up a message for you to present to Ishia since it will take you a lot less time then it will for us to get back.”

The Soldier went with Malice, Magus and Titania into to get them what they needed to be comfortable for the travel to come. Everyone returned within the hour ready for the long journey ahead. Horses were provided to ride back; the carnasors that they had come here on had worn themselves off on the journey here.

12 days later they arrived in the gates of Gracia. So end Chapter one.