RuneScape Forum Archive | The Weapons of Destiny

Dantalian

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Ruko stared at the bowl for a few seconds, then dropped to his knees before it. “I-I don’t believe it!” he exclaimed, “A bowl; it can hold soup, curry, milk, and all other sorts of liquids without spilling! You can put raw eggs in it, or sliced onions, and it allows you to mix things together without making a mess! All this time, how could I not realize it?! Oh, great and mighty bowl, please accept one as useless as me into thy sacred presence!” At this, Ruko begin to prostrate himself before the bowl and shout praises to it.

Having watched all this, the young man turned to the cult members who were still standing around and questioned, “And what are all you slackers doing right now?”

As he said this, the cult members quickly gathered up their things and hurried back to their duties. Seeing this the young man turned to Orcris and said, “So, I happened to notice that you didn't join in with this bowl-worshipper’s insults."

“Of course not,* said Orcris, “Unlike him, I notice when someone is important, and try not to provoke their wrath.”

“Wise decision,” commented the young man, “I’m Ayumu Maki, one of the people trying to control this cult.”

“Wait,” said Orcris, “Did you just state your intentions to overthrow Liam, out loud, in the cult's headquarters?”

Hearing Orcris’ question, Ayumu laughed. “You don’t know much about Liam do you?” he asked Orcris.

“No, why?” replied the Zarosian.

“Liam, is extremely malleable; he is easily controlled and rarely objects to being controlled,” replied Ayumu, “There are a handful of us in the cult who exert varying influence over him; Usha and I are two of these. Until recently, I exerted the most control over Liam, then Usha found a way to increase her control, and I fell to second.”

“And that way was?” asked Orcris.

“Having Liam get engaged to her,” replied Ayumu.

“Explain,” said Orcris. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:00:01 - Last edited on 11-Sep-2010 05:14:01 by Dantalian

Dantalian

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“Who do you think asked whom to marry her?” asked Ayumu, “Liam who is terrified of the thought of being deflowered, but believes that it is a duty of a married couples to mate? Or Usha, who wants to have kids, and wants them to be Liam’s?”

“I’m going to assume that was a rhetorical question and thus not answer,” said Orcris, “But I will point out Liam could have said no, and that he does seem to love Usha.”

“Of course he loves Usha,” commented Ayumu, “But do you think that she's the only person he loves? And as for saying no, did*‘t I just tell you that Liam is malleable? Besides that, in Mazoku culture it is nigh unheard of for a guy to turn down a girl‘s proposal, as such I doubt Liam could have said no.

You should have heard the fight when Sophia Nychta found out that Usha had proposed; she practically threatened to move the Triad against us!”

“Who?” asked Orcris.

“You don’t know of the Triad?” questioned Ayumu, “Seems Zarosians are not well informed at all these days.*

*That’s why they’ve come to us for intelligence gathering,” said Liam, as he walked into the room.

“Oh hello, Liam!” exclaimed Ayumu. Orcris noted that the young man’s voice had shifted from an arrogant tone to one that seemed almost playful.

“Hi Ayumu,” replied Liam, seeing Ruko he added, “Your doing I guess?”

“He was being arrogant,” commented Ayumu, “More importantly, are you feeling alright, Liam? You’ve been overworking yourself so much the last few days that you‘ve barely taken time to eat, and I don’t want you to get sick like last time.”

“If that happens,” replied Liam, “Please take care of me as always, Ayumu.”

“Of course,” said Ayumu, “Ah, but we’re forgetting our guest, this is one of Zaros’ esteemed envoys. Unlike the other one, this one actually seems to have a brain.”

At this moment, Liam noticed Orcris, and a troubled look crossed his face. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:02:38

Dantalian

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“Lord Orcris,” he said, bowing slightly, “My apologies, Ayumu should have all the information Parsis will want, um… I’ll excuse myself now.*

Orcris sighed, apparently what Azzanadra had said about Mazoku guys being overly sensitive was true; Liam still hadn’t forgotten about the incident in Lucien’s fortress, and to make it worse, it seemed the incubus thought that just being around Orcris would make the half-elf uncomfortable.

“Wait a minute Liam,” said Orcris, “Could I talk to you, alone, for a few moments?”

Liam stopped, obviously confused by this request. “If you want to…” he said hesitantly, “Please follow me.”

Orcris did as he was told and was led to a balcony overlooking the mountainside the cult** base had been built into.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” questioned Liam, in a nervous voice.

“I wanted… to apologize,” said Orcris, “I know, strange, huh? I wait a whole year to apologize for treating you badly for something that wasn’t your fault. I would have done it earlier, but just saying sorry always seemed insincere to me. So I wanted to have a way to show I meant it when I apologized.

It took me a whole year, but here it is.” As he said this, the half elf removed a crystal from his pocket; it was a smoky mix of violets and black, unlike any gem Liam had seen before.

“I had Azzanadra confirm this was what I thought it was before coming here,” said Orcris, “Anyway, here you go.”

As Orcris handed Liam the crystal, it began to glow brilliantly, and suddenly the world vanished. A moment more and Liam and Orcris were standing in a meadow with a river running through it; oddly enough it was now night.

“Okay, I wasn’t sure what would happen when I gave you that,” said Orcris, “But I certainly did*’t expect something like this.”

“Orcris, what was that crystal?” asked Liam. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:05:12

Dantalian

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Before Orcris could reply, a Mazoku child ran past them; apparently oblivious to their presence. The child’s eyes were deep violet and his hair was a light silver color. Upon seeing him, Liam gasped in surprise.

“Could it be?” he muttered, “Orcris, was that crystal one of my… memories?*

*That’s what Azzanadra claimed,” said Orcris, *That it was one of your memories, magically given form as a crystal. Something‘s odd though, I feel like I‘ve seen that child before, and before you tell me, yes, I know it‘s you when you were younger… but, I think I‘ve seen him on Gielinor…” Orcris mused over this for a few seconds, then his eyes widened and he said, “By Zaros!*

*What is it?” asked Liam.

“Liam, I realized why it seemed like I’ve seen that child before…” said Orcris, “The hair and eye color are different, but… if the child you had white hair instead of silver, and red eyes instead of violet…”

It was Liam’s turn to be surprised, “I would’ve looked exactly like Aion le’Colombe…” he said, “The stature, the hair style and length, the posture and way of walking, they’re all the same.”

“But, what could that mean?” asked Orcris, “Surely it can’t be a coincidence that the child you and Aion look so similar… So what could-”

Orcris was interrupted as several winged figures appeared in the meadow; they looked human, but with white wings similar in shape to those of birds.

“Tenzoku,” said Liam.

“But I thought they lived in some other world; isn’t this Niflheim?” asked Orcris, “I’ve only been here once, and granted, even then I was in a desolated part of it; but this place has the same feel.”

“It is Niflheim,” said Liam, “Which means those Tenzoku can only be here for one reason.”

The child Liam had apparently noticed the Tenzoku and was trying to run toward the river, unfortunately, he was too slow, and was quickly grabbed by one of the Tenzoku. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:08:16

Dantalian

Posts: 3,434 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Well done,” said one of the Tenzoku, a man in his prime who was apparently the leader of the group, “You’ve snagged your first demon-child.”

When he said this, Orcris noticed that the Tenzoku holding the now struggling child Liam was apparently around Orcris’ age.

“Well, let’s see what you’ve got,” said the Tenzoku leader, looking over the child Liam. As he examined the child, a look of surprise crossed the Tenzoku’s face, and he looked over Liam again.

“While I’ll be,” he said, “Congrats, kid, you snagged an incubus on your first try.”

This was met with a number of low whistles from the other Tenzoku.

“And at this age,” commented the Tenzoku leader, “I doubt he’s been ‘used’ yet; heh, wow kid, you hit pay dirt.*

*I don’t understand, though,” said the young Tenzoku, “Why would a child like this be valuable?”

The Tenzoku leader laughed, “Between you and me, there are a number of lords who have a thing for boys this age, and when it gets older, the lord can snip off it’s balls so it can’t have kids; then whenever the lord is traveling, he can leave it with his wife to use as a ‘toy’ until he gets back. Also, I assume you know how incubi have to ’feed’? Well, if you put a locked gag on one of them, or sow it’s mouth shut, the only way it can feed is by being used, meaning it can’t even try to turn down an order to let someone use it, well, not without starving anyway.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter what a client does to a slave he’s bought from us, at least not as long as he pays us good gold. Now, let’s get out of here, if this beast’s mother shows up… well, you’ve seen what bears do when you have your hands on their cubs, right?”

With this, the Tenzoku spread their wings and took off.

Orcris turned to Liam and found him staring at the Tenzoku with a grave look, “Um, do they really-?” "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:12:07

Dantalian

Posts: 3,434 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Yes,” replied Liam. Noting Orcris* expression he added, *Don’t worry, you can see my mouth’s not sown shut, right? And I can assure you that I am otherwise intact as well. It‘s quite possible that I escaped before being sold, or was sold to a kind master, of course, I‘ll need more of my memories to know exactly what happened… it seems that‘s the end of this one.”

Orcris had noticed as well, that the world was fading again, and that he could already catch glimpses of Gielinor. As soon as the world had returned to normal Liam said, “Do you mind if I go lie down? I have a lot to think through, and Ayumu can help you with the information about the Weapons.”

“Go ahead,” said Orcris.

Liam nodded, and called for a guard to lead Orcris to Ayumu before departing.

A few minutes later, Orcris found himself in a well furnished office, seated across from Ayumu.

“So you need the info we have on the weapons?” asked Ayumu as he paged through a stack of papers.

*That is correct,* said Orcris.

“Alright,” commented Ayumu, “May I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” replied Orcris.

“Which memory was it?”

Orcris nearly fell out of his chair, “What do you mean?”

“Which of Liam’s thirteen memory fragments did you bring to him?” asked Ayumu, as if this was a completely normal question, “I could begin to guess, but I don’t want to give them away.”

“You know about his past, don’t you?!” demanded Orcris.

“It’s not just me,” sighed Ayumu, “Usha knows at least as much as I do, only I don’t pretend I don’t know, I just haven’t told Liam that I do know.”

“Who else knows about it then?” questioned Orcris.

“Seth and Hekate for starters,” said Ayumu, “And Gessent, who you met last year, and then there are also some people you don’t know who have connections to the cult; Mykola, Sophia Nychta and Setkul, you might meet those soon enough.”

“Why don’t you tell him about this?!” questioned Orcris. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:14:27

Dantalian

Posts: 3,434 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Do you think there might be a reason his memories are scattered?” questioned Ayumu, “I will tell you this, though, if he gets all his memories, it is very likely Liam will die by his own choice.”

“What, why?” asked Orcris.

“I’ve answered enough questions,” said Ayumu, “Answer mine now: which memory was it that you both saw?”

“Liam being captured by slave drivers,” replied Orcris with a sigh.

“Ah, that one,” said Ayumu, “It will let the later ones make more sense.”

“If you know his memories,” ventured Orcris, “Maybe you can tell me; why does Aion le’Colombe look like an albino version of the child Liam?”

“Those two have a connection in Mephos Nidhogg,” replied Ayumu, “That’s all I’ll tell you, not that it really matters...*

*What do you mean?” said Orcris.

Ayumu stared at the half-elf and his eyes began to glow red. To his shock Orcris found his mind beginning to grow slow, as if he was drowsy, and had a feeling of euphoria.

“When you came in here to talk to me,” said Ayumu, “All that we discussed were the Weapons.”

Even though Orcris knew in some corner of his mind that this was a lie, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from believing Ayumu’s words entirely; after all, Ayumu was clearly trustworthy… he wouldn’t, couldn’t lie…

“You then got tired; understandable as you had been in someone else’s memories after trekking all the way out here,” Ayumu continued. Orcris felt that he remembered something different, but when he tried to pull up the conflicting memory, he found it was blank.

“So you decided to ask for a room to sleep in, and once there you fell to sleep,* said Ayumu.

Orcris agreed entirely, he had gone to bed already and was even now asleep. The fact that he was actually seated in Ayumu’s office seemed to only be a technicality and entirely irrelevant to him being asleep in a borrowed bedroom.

With a smile, Ayumu finished, “Sleep now; leave this world behind, and enter the world of your dreams.”

With these words Orcris fell into a deep sleep. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:17:44

Dantalian

Posts: 3,434 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Long add today, oh and a few other things:

Firstly, I believe I mentioned it before, but Tenzoku are a race that descended from a clan of humans blessed by Aither, god of light; their homeland is called Muspellheim.

You may have noticed that the Tenzoku refer to Mazoku using words like "demon-child" and "beast" and that they use the word "it" to describe someone who they can clearly tell is male. This is because most Tenzoku see Mazoku as nothing more than objects to be used at whim, and thus use degrading terms to refer to them.

Also the (thriving) Tenzoku slave trade is one of those things that everyone in Muspellheim knows about, but pretends not to. They even have a guild which lobbies court officials; they primarily target Mazoku males, as they are weaker and more effeminate than Mazoku females. Incubi are especially sought after due to their requirement to 'feed.'

And I imagine most of you may have figured this out, but when Ayumu's eyes glow red he is using an innate and powerful form of hypnosis that relies on him maintaining eye contact. The reason he has this ability is that, like Orcris only one of his parents is human; any of you that have read the series "Nightmare Inspector" probably recognized part of his last sentence to Orcris, and by extension know what species his other parent was.

P.S. As mentioned on the Monolith, there will be an extra add on Sunday, June 6, in commemoration of a certain reader's birthday.

Finally, comments are (as always) greatly appreciated. "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

03-Jun-2010 23:31:43 - Last edited on 03-Jun-2010 23:34:21 by Dantalian

[#3LTVRBHAJ]

Posts: 66 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Pretty good.....you lost me there for a second at the beginning.

Found my way when I remembered who Ruko was.

Fell down a hole during the memory part.

Got used to it afterwards.

And with your last post (the none story one), Cujo ravaged my mind with confusion, and a bit of bloody gore.

Can't wait for the next one.

(Oh and a pre-Happy Birthday to that special reader)

03-Jun-2010 23:39:16 - Last edited on 03-Jun-2010 23:40:41 by [#3LTVRBHAJ]

Dantalian

Posts: 3,434 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Dionysius sighed as he approached the Law Temple ruins. He was retired for the heaven's sake, and did*’t have a reason to parade around solving Saradomin’s problems. Without even bothering to look up, he placed his Law Talisman on the ruins and allowed himself to be teleported. He was unsurprised to find himself not in the Law Temple, but a well-lit opulent room filled to the brim with books. At the far end of this room, seated on a silver throne studded with sapphires, was an old bearded man, dressed in flowing blue and white robes.

Before Dionysius could do anything else, a portal opened and two people appeared; a young man and a young woman, both of whom had athletic builds and were now staring around the library in shock.

“Aren’t we supposed to be in the Law Temple?” questioned the young man, “What is this place?”

“Ah, Tony and Esther,” the old man called from his throne, “It is good to see you made it.”

Having gained the attention of the newcomers, the old man stood. Despite his apparent age, he moved with grace and agility that few warriors in their prime could match, and within a matter of seconds had closed the distance between himself and his three visitors.

Now that the old man was closer, it was apparent to the three Saradominist* that he seemed somehow… more real than his surroundings. It was almost as if the rest of the room, themselves included were made of mist and this old man was the only truly solid thing nearby. His very presence exuded a force on all that surrounded him, giving them a sense of awe and respect.

“Who are you sir?” gasped the girl.

“Ah, it seems that my children no longer recognize me,” sighed the old man, “I am the one who dwells in the light, and imparts wisdom. I am he who shaped this world as a craftsman shapes gold. I am he who-”

“Cutting through this litany of self-praise,” interrupted Dionysius, *This is Saradomin, god of light and honor, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." "He appears in the Form of a Man with many Countenances; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one."

06-Jun-2010 22:02:05

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The Weapons of Destiny