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tmac attack

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He said we would thank him later for it when the time was right. We all doubt that.
I’m lucky to know this. Most lads who are fifteen are uneducated and know nothing but work and chem’ addiction. Takkor and I used to sneak into the library at the Institutions, since poor people and Val-dar weren’t allowed to be educated anymore. While the book master was busy fu----g a harlet in his office, we’d scavenge through the old books and read everything we could. We taught ourselves what all the crazy symbols and words meant by comparing them to signs in the city that we knew. Soon enough, we were both bloody scholars.

It’s storming very hard and it is very cold tonight, but a thousand proud Ravens stand together to demand the tyrant’s removal. This all began when a former general of the Greyholm military, Javok Hermann. He has gathered momentum and support--preaching ideas of wealth distribution and reimbursing the mining towns. He spoke of true “Greyholmes" as being the superior race. Javok was kind though, and charismatic—he said the Val-dar shared our struggle, and that they too could help reclaim. Sadly, he said they couldn’t be Ravens—I don’t know why, I think Takkor could be a great Raven. The people loved him though, and I loved him too. He was honest, and looked at things practically. Power flowed through his words, and soon enough, he had a whole party rallied behind him. The Daunmach Party, it was called—it means "Party of Truth”.

~`~`~`~`~`~

Chapter 3: “Party of Truth”

Three years fluttered away. We were older now, more mature and intelligent, more fit and driven by principle. Takkor looked over at me. He looked odd and out of place as he always does, standing in the crowd of mostly Greyholmes. There was a time when we were both roughly the same height—he had far more mass than I did, of course, with hulking arms and a pronounced chest. Several years have passed though, and now he was mighty.

22-Jul-2015 07:57:26 - Last edited on 19-Aug-2015 20:06:55 by tmac attack

tmac attack

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He stood much taller than me at my full height, and he would continue to grow for another fifteen years until he was a little over seven feet tall. He wore a slightly unkempt jacket, charcoal in color, the hood drawn back. His gloves were torn at the fingers, and his belted pants were soot colored and torn at the knees.

I glanced over, feeling his rigid stare. His eyes had a specific beam to them though, one that forms whenever something is on him mind.

“There is,” he began, “a shadowy figure, a shade of some sort.” he was still looking forward, speaking but not directing it towards any particular person, not even me.

“A what?” I asked of him.

“It’s happening now, Frederick, as I have feared.”

I chuckled to myself, my hand patting his back in a friendly manner. “Of course something is going to happen—the tyrant a--hole is to be thrown from his throne room. The whole city is here demanding it. Even if,--“

A shot pierced the air, louder than the roar of the thunder strikes. It happened so fast. A man in the crowd was hit in the throat, and fell back onto his comrades behind him, clenching to their arms desperately. I could see him trying to gasp for air, I could hear it even, but every attempt was met with an unpleasant gurgle of blood. That was followed by perhaps the most uneasy silence I’ve ever experienced. It is the type of silence that you do not find in a library, which is modest and sustained. No, it was the type of silence you hear moments before something brutal is about to occur, something chaotic and violent. That uncomfortable, choking silence, where it is so profuse that you can hear your own heart skip a beat in anticipation for what is about to happen next.

And then it did transpire—one simultaneous reverberation of anger. The whole city was screaming blood, and I felt myself doing it as well, but I did it out of fear. Others sounded like vengeance. The guards began to fire into the crowd.

22-Jul-2015 07:57:40 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:06:56 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I could hear flesh tearing as the men at the front were sprayed by automatic fire. Takkor and I fell the ground, covering our heads. The air bent as bullets wisped above us. We both ran to the left, where we kneeled behind a set of crates. I was constantly wincing, because that sensation of preparing to feel pain or to be hit by something was rushing through my body. I found a moment to look forward, and could see guards falling to the ground as men tore through their shields and tackled them. They took pikes and shovels and practically butchered them. A man took a construction pipe and smashed it across a soldier’s head—he fell to the ground and was swarmed the same way the hounds would swarm a chunk of meat. A guard was firing into the crowd until his arms were grabbed and pushed upward. His finger was still firing the trigger, and bullets were spraying vertically into the sky, right before three men stabbed in him in the stomach, neck and hip.

“Are you okay Frederick? Are you hurt?” Takkor had noticed I had badly scrapped my elbow when he hit the ground. There was quite a lot of blood coming out, but I did*’t feel a thing. I have never experienced such a rush of adrenaline in my entire life.

“I’m fine Takkor, I’m fine,” I could see he was worried—not scared, because I don’t think Takkor can be scared, but he was worried for my safety—he was worried that I was to take up arms with my brothers in this newly provided opportunity.

Once the mob had move forward over the guard’s bodies, I planned on grabbing one of their assault rifles, but I took notice of a strange orb that hovered right over the guard captain’s head some twenty yards forward from where we took over. He was screaming orders and firing his pistol into the crowd, and ignored what hung above him until the orb began to glow a wild green.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:27 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:08:07 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

There was a sudden flash light—an awkward, erroneous one. As if the physics of matter had been temporarily defied by some inexplicable phenomena. The orb did not blow up like a grenade would. It instead sort of expanded, then popped into this web like matter. The sound of it going off wasn’t a bang—it was a crackle, a loud, ear piercing crackle. I saw the captain’s entire body dissolve immediately—I saw his screaming face twist and bend until it was just a skull, except his skeleton was all glowing and plasma like, and not whole. The entire lot of guards within a ten yard radius literally turned into a mashed up goo of swampy green as the blast went off. It swallowed everything—wood, iron, steel, flesh. Some of the rioters even felt the blast—I could see them scrambling about as they lost an arm, or a leg, or half of a face, a neon green dripping off their wounds, smoke rising from their sizzling flesh.

Neither of us had very much time to react. That was because a very familiar horn emitted from behind us. The Ravens of War. The Daunmau** Liberty Fighters—uniformed foot soldiers of the Party—were blowing the party horn as a rally sign. They came up from behind, brave and willful expressions painted on their faces. Every soldier was equipped with a rifle, with the moonlight striking their distinctive Raven insignias on their outfits. Rioters were shoved by as the Party advanced forward, first by foot soldiers, then by armored vehicles and trucks with mounted machine guns. From the midst of the entourage, perched up the top of an armored Lancer, standing proudly as if he was an overlord, was Javok, the Master of Ravens. He carried a look of untampered duty, his eye patch, a black Raven military cap, and a slick, brown furnished uniform bedazzled in various medals and fancy buttons of his prior service—a testament to his ominous and unyielding reputation.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:27 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:09:38 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

He was a hero and a heretic, his presence, spellbinding. He looked over; I thought he was looking past me, but his eye greeted mine, telling me a story, inquiring of all the things I have done and will do. I felt the urge to look away almost.

But onward he went, his assault rifle held casually, down the street. The Party troops were not here to display some flowery parade. They were here to destroy their enemy—to liberate the city by any means necessary. Siege vehicles rolled up on all fronts, of them directly besides me and Takkor. It was one of those Zerstörer 44LSVs, a new grade of land based vehicular weaponry that the Party had most certainly developed in secrecy. We commoners had heard that such devices were being developed—but to see one, to observe the loud, churning pistons and gears and hot steam roll off of one of these iron giants, it was breathtaking. They came in on two giant wheels, with a large armored plate on the front. It was somewhat pyramid like in shape, except with an elongated top that stretched out instead of being pointed. The top was where the mounted barrel sat. The opening of the barrel was spinning rapidly, with red, flashing lights lining the edges.

desperately wanted to watch the battle, to watch the crafts of the Party in action as they decimated the enemy. Takkor, however, had different intentions for us, and he pulled me from behind through a door and into a pub that had taken severe damage from the engagement. Inside, there were no lights, only the flashing of war outside—and the place smelled of mold and p--s. “It my recommendation that we stay here for cover. The streets are not safe for us—the Party is bound to ravage the entire capitol.”

From outside, the Zerstörer fired. The entire frame of the building shook—glass bottles around us rattled, and dust propelled upward from the ground.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:28 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:12:46 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I took a moment to observe through a window in the bar, and could make out an incredible explosion at the rear gate of the capitol square. Party members were charging forward, ducking behind rubble and abandoned vehicles and scurrying into alleyways for cover. Soldiers still loyal to Gournhelm were filling the front gates, firing from their posts. A Javelin shot came in just outside of the bar, detonating a Party troop transporter. The eruption sent flesh and metal outward, and a blast of heat towards my window. I ducked immediately, partially engrossed with excitement and partially with utter dread.

“Sitting here like cowards means we are weak, Takkor, we have rise. Move forward—haunt the enemy, be the Raven. Do not forget why we took up this insignia. We cannot wait,” I wanted him to be sure of what I said, so I repeated it. “We cannot wait.”

“Frederick," he turned his slow, large head towards the window, and back at me, “the battle is meant for soldiers who live to fight. We are not soldiers. We are not generals or commanders. Do you expect to survive in that miserable fray?"

"No, we aren’t,” I erected both thumbs and twisted them together while both sets of my fingers outstretched horizontally. It vaguely formed the shape of a bird in flight. “Do not forget the meaning of this symbol, Takkor. What it entails. The weight of its message. Rise cunning or die falling.”

“They will not let me be a Raven. You know this as truth.”

I stuttered for a moment. I gazed towards the ground, then back at him. His big, oval eyes were looking back at me. “You are a Raven, Takkor. Forget labels, a Raven fights for freedom, and that is why you are here. Is it not? Now, we are wasting time; I’m going out there, and I wish for you to follow,” I walked to the backdoor of the bar and exited.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:29 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:14:21 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I found myself out in an alley, commoners of all ages rushing by me, frantic and fearful. Two Party soldiers shoved me aside as they sprinted through the alley and towards some rendezvous point of some type. From behind me, the door opened up. “I will be at your side," I heard his voice come about from behind, and he drew closer to me, glaring painfully into my expression, “but know this: I sense the path laid out for us is marked by death and despair. Yet my loyalty to you goes unmatched, as is the Val-dari way,” There was a faintly detectable layer of meaning beyond his words, but there existed no time to analyze it. I nodded, and we went forward through the alley, dodging the oncoming traffic of commoners and soldiers until we came up towards a new street that intersected with the main road.

Faunlord Street, only two blocks from the capitol walls, I thought to myself. We were close. Too close, in fact, because a Royal Goliath was marching down just to our left. These are machines that stand twenty feet high with a single man positioned in a secured, spherical chamber. The machine’s form represents a human—two arms and upright legs, except the left arm is a plated shield and the right arm is lined with a multitude of weapons. It hurled a wave of fire in our direction. I could feel the searing heat nearly burn my skin before I recovered behind the alley wall—the commoners in front of me were torched in seconds, panicking and screaming as the fire swallowed them. Takkor and I both looked at one another as we could make out the familiar voices of guards coming up from the same direction as the Goliath. There was a group of Party troopers sprinting in from the opposite side of the street. They engaged the unit from behind cover, and a crossfire began. The air twisted around me as bullets and fire fluttered in the air from all directions. A Party soldier was struck in the chest, and fell to the ground as two of his comrades advanced forward.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:29 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:17:55 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

A rocketeer emerged from the back and fired a propelled grenade past us. I did not see where it hit, but felt an incredible explosion followed by a brief moment of agonizing screams as bodies were flung forward.

Two guardsmen that were advancing down the street made a quick turn into our alley for cover from the rocket fire. They took notice of us, and one of them began to strike me with the back of his weapon. I instinctively threw up my arms and managed to cushion sizeable amount of the blow, but was thrown off balance by his sheer strength. Stumbling several yards as I struggled to maintain my stance, I came across a short iron bar that had rusted and weathered. It became my weapon now, and I attempted to strike the guard across the head. He was quick to react, parrying me almost effortlessly with his armored forearm and swinging it against the momentum of my strike, sending the iron bar several yards away. I immediately felt his gloved hand wrap around my neck, crushing my airways and forcing my head back against the hard, brick wall. The guard was incredibly close to me now. His fumes reeked of dust, sweat, and blood. I could feel the rugged, coarse material scratch against the skin of my neck from his glove as his grip tightened. Both my hands were wrapped around his wrist, and I was as desperate as to much push off the ground with my feet in order to uproot his grip. He was too sturdy though—my strength was not enough to overpower him. The air in my lungs was growing thin—short, abrupt breaths with spit and blood accumulating in my mouth began to distract me. He drew his knife with his free hand, a cruel, jagged Weincaster Blade, and he stabbed at my abdomen. Enthralled with fear at the thought of that gutting my stomach, I managed to bring my right leg up with enough force to strike his solar plexus. He staggered for a moment, and released me from his choke.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:29 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:18:24 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I took the opportunity to play offensive once more, and lunged for his face
It was foolish to think I would manage such a punch without injury—his metal helmet and facemask absorbed a large portion of my attack, but I managed to crack his right eye glass wear. I felt a stringent pain shoot through my arm, and my knuckles felt nearly shattered. His motions were confused and drunken, but he was swinging his blade aggressively at me. I dodged to the left, and ducked immediately after, but was slow for his third strike—one directly at my ribcage.

It was bound to cut get me. I knew it. I could envision it ripping through my flesh before it even happened. The powerless fading away of life that I had watched many people experience was to conquer me here, and I realized there would be no escape.

He lunged the blade forward, but his strike cruised directly past my ribs and between my armpit. His entire arm now was locked between my body and my strong arm, and I constricted my entire body weight onto his now vulnerable limb. He struggled to release himself, tossing me around like a ragdoll. I fell to my knees, pulling my body weight downward in order to bend him into an awkward position. It wouldn’t matter though—a short burst of gunfire came from Takkor’s direction, ripping through the guard’s armor. I felt his once tense strength die off in his arm, and I released him. He fell the ground, a pool of red forming in his vicinity.

I turned to Takkor, my breaths still wheezing, but managed to crack a familiar smile. He was standing upright, his hulking, massive body like a towering giant, holding the guard’s assault rifle. His black pearls were not soft though as they usually are. They were more piercing, fiercer and full of intent. The guard that had attacked him was still staggering behind, wounded but not slain.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:29 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:20:13 by tmac attack

tmac attack

Posts: 444 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Takkor dropped the rifle, walked over to him, and took him by the neck with his large hands. They covered up so much surface area around the man’s neck that all I could make out was a portion of his helmet and his red eyed glass wear. Takkor had clearly given the man such a beating that his resistance was minimal—he hardly even lifted his arms to retaliate. With a sudden crack, Takkor twisted his neck, and dropped his body carelessly like one would drop a broken toy. I chuckled for a moment, staring up at my foreign comrade, his massive figure looming over me. The irony was how soft his personality is—I knew he could do this, but I had never seen him truly in action until now. It is a rare thing to see such a sudden shift in a person—but Takkor’s commitment to protecting me is unmatched. He would battle through fire just to keep me alive. He walked over, his hand outstretched, and helped me up to my feet.

“Are you injured?” he was patting dirt off my jacket, still showing his almost devoted care even in the middle of a bloody coup.

There was a sudden grinding of metal, the sound of steam billowing and wires and mechanical gears agitating and in motion. Behind us, the Goliath stood—its opened barrel machine gun pointed at us like the jaws of some horrifying animal. My eyes widened and the linings of hair on my neck prickled about. I began to retreat, but some brilliant projectile of mechanical fire came whizzing across the street. It emerged from the right side of the Goliath and struck it—a rocket. Takkor and I were immediately launched back. The pure force of the explosion had us rolling down the alley ground and into the garbage deposits—giant steel boxes that gathered the street wastes. There was a brief moment of distorted light, and coupled with the exasperating ringing in my ear that consumed my entire audible world, I became practically unconscious, certainly immobile, for some time.

22-Jul-2015 08:26:30 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2015 01:21:38 by tmac attack

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