RuneScape Forum Archive | Fall From Grace

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2020

Serene End

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But she looked, there was nobody there. The frigid shiver quickening, rushing down Lucia's spine. The queen shuffled her head in a swift pace, wrapping her right hand around the handle of Eshenel. This fury, this deep, radiating malice could only belong to one person and one person alone. Feeling that presence all around her, yet at the same time... It felt just like it was right in front of her, staring at her right in the face.

Lucia eased up on her tension, her right hand dropping from the handle of her sword. Her eyes that had been pulled to the left now recoil back to the center, looking now at what -- or who -- was in front of her. A silent confrontation, though to anyone else, it looked as though the queen were just looking intensely into open space.

Lucia could only utter one name, one name that she knew was absolutely correct. "Lamia," the ebony queen calmly called out, undaunted by the phantom appearance. "That's you, isn't it?"

A moment of silence passed, it felt as though she truly were speaking to the air. But Lucia would finally get her answer, her patience rewarded. "Igja, ra'mad Ist," spoke a strange voice of a woman from nothingness, speaking a foreign response. "Yes, 'tis I."

"Grow tired of hiding?" Lucia boldly questioned. "Don't think I haven't noticed your clinging to me this past year."

"Oh, I am aware," Lamia responded, her presence shifting more to Lucia's left. "But think not its knowledge gained by you, Sólszemek. Even at its inception, 'twas not yours, never yours. Just as a child brought into this life, it was bestowed, borrowed, before one day being returned."

"So, you gave it to me," the queen figured. "For what purpose then?"

"Manipulation," the Neheztelian honestly answered, giving the onyx-haired queen a one-word reply, causing the queen's face to tighten with anger. She knew well what the purpose of her puppetry was, infuriating her. "Ah, did I instill resentment in you, Sólszemek? I sense you grow inflamed, ireful."
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09-Oct-2014 00:56:39 - Last edited on 03-Jan-2015 23:56:59 by Serene End

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Lucia's ears then heard a heavy sigh run down the air, feeling the presence step off to the right. "Yours was not the only part to play," Lamia then told the queen. "Igja... Ihr Yulodimri -- your elder brother -- too was as important to it as you."

"Your "manipulation" surely has gotten you far, hasn't it?" she angrily snarked. "Where has it gotten you, by the way? Your only chance of seeing both me and my brother dead has disappeared with the Resistance. The Desert Assassins couldn't possibly oppose us, and the slaves wouldn't dare pick up a sword if they haven't already. What route have you left to go?"

"I begin to suspect you've already forgotten," the goddess truly believed, her presence then faded away. Lucia shuffled her head in a haste, attempting to find the suddenly disappeared. The queen desired to grab onto her sword, the thought of it in her head. But a very familiar feeling appeared then, a serious case of déjà vu.

Her right arm was completely frozen, stuck to her side, fighting her every command. Pull open, come over to the left, to the right... It was just like back at Lumbridge, just after Daevarro denied the deal she had proposed to him, just as she thought about killing him. Nothing worked, her arm was in the possession of another.

Like a doll with a partially ripped off arm, her arm just hung there limp and dangling. Her right hand quivered to show this conflict, her teeth fastened together, left utterly bitter and frustrated. Her right hand then reached quickly for her sword, ripping it out from its scabbard. The sword was held out in front of her, its tip lashed forward.

Lucia remembered this feeling, truly. Back in Lumbridge, when she intended to kill Daevaro. But her hand stood still, did not response to the impulses and commands of her brain. "So, it was you..." the queen growled, her voice shook with frustration.
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09-Oct-2014 00:57:56

Jul

2020

Serene End

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"Álmudo degon Ihroltem hyma phorsé, Sólszemek," Lamia's voice warned in her tongue, only instead of hearing it all around her like she were talking to a person, Lucia heard it ring in her skull. Her right hand then pushed upwards, Eshenel's blade pressed tightly up against the ebony queen's throat. "Think not yourself so high, Solasúian. If I so desired it, the floor of this castle would run red with your blood, with your brother's blood. You hold nothing over me, but I do over you."

"You can't kill me," Lucia aggressively asserted, her voice agitated. "or have you already forgotten?"

"Arrogance seems almost a virtue in this wretched bloodline," the Neheztelian growled, her voice boiling with rancor. "So earnest is your trust in that shield that you think it eternal, but you've yet realized that you are merely deluded. Think you I know not your weakness, your "Achilles' heel," I believe you call it? You'd play the jester even better than Dias himself if you think that absolute."

"So, what stays your hand?" the pale-eyed woman proceeded to question. "...Why do you hesitate?"

"You're still useful," Lamia answered, her presence reappearing back outside of Lucia's body. "You and your brother both."

The queen's hand dropped back down at her side, causing her eyes to dart to the front of her. Feeling the warm air make haste with a gelid jolt, patches of her skin bubbling up with goosebumps, her very breath appearing like a mist as she drew in and out with air. As rain attempted to barge into the blackened room, the uneasiness upon Lucia only grew.

She felt the cold air brush off just to her right, her glowing eyes carefully following. "Why even tell me any of this?" Lucia threw out a reasonable question. "Why even speak to me? What do you gain?"

"'Tis but Neheztelian nature to speak only in a truthful tongue," the Neheztelian answered candidly. "You asked politely enough, so I rewarded you with that which you sought."

"Is that really the truth?"
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09-Oct-2014 00:59:25 - Last edited on 04-Jan-2015 00:01:46 by Serene End

Jul

2020

Serene End

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A few seconds passed at her voice's end, Lucia's ears then caught the sound of a deeply iniquitous, sickening amused chuckle. Its tone brought a blow that destroyed the defenses of even the thickest wall, sending a deep freeze up and down Lucia's spine. The thick, crushing aura lifted in this moment, the warmth of the room returning, the lights of the candles restored.

Within the second she left the room, when the miasma she brought dissipated, there was a knock at the door. Pushing away the feelings and thoughts Lamia imparted, Lucia's vision was caught by the noise emitted from her door. "C-come in," she told the person behind the door, withdrawing her sword.

The door swung open, revealing Momus behind its wooden body. His lightly colored eyes peered upon his brother's daughter, lightly smiling at her. "Hello," he greeted, stepping into the room. But the moment he does, it felt a frigid feeling crawl up his back, a sickening feeling that sent him to shudder. He couldn't quite place it, but it was so deeply negative.

"Oh, hello uncle," Lucia welcomed.

"...I was on my way to speak with Ba—" However, it took just a moment of looking upon her, Momus could tell something was wrong. She appeared shaken up, he then closed the door behind him. His face grew disconcert, worried about the young queen. It wasn't just that either, Momus feeling that strange feeling linger in the air. "...Are you all right?"

She quickly shook her head, trying to recompose herself after that encounter with the Neheztelian goddess. "Y-yes," she confirmed, though her voice having a misstep. She then took a quick pause and breathed, snapping that foreboding snare that was like a bear trap. "Yes, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"As you wish," Momus acknowledged, stepping forward. "Who were you speaking to, if I may ask? I heard you talking as though you were speaking with another person."
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09-Oct-2014 01:00:29

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Lucia then just sighed, closing her eyes and going over the thought for a moment. Should she tell him the truth? She came to the conclusion that she couldn't, what if that was what Lamia wanted? For them all to panic at her presence, at her appearance? She merely shook her head, denying her uncle's ears. "I wasn't talking to anyone," she falsely stated, lying to Momus.

Momus knew it right from the start, detecting Lucia's attempt at deception the moment it came out from her lips. "Now, why would she lie to me?" was a question that plagued Momus' head, but he began to put the pieces together. This feeling in the air was haunting, so eerily familiar. He felt it before, he knew he did.

And Lucia, she seemed rattled, on-edge. The air was heated with anger and hatred, but then he knew... Oh yes, he knew... Momus did feel it before, far long ago when he was but a boy. He recalled it too as he kept on walking towards Lucia, the beginning days of the Solasúians' rule here. Momus, a mere child at the time, remembered that day always like it were just yesterday.

It was of the days when Lamia came to Governanti, after slaughtering so many Solasúians across the land. She arrived at Governanti, wielding a thin bladed, black metal sword with no cross-guard. But that black metal went red, red with the blood of the hundreds she murdered in cold blood. Momus stood in her presence once, during her attack upon Governanti, all in the forsaken name of vengeance.

Walking among the massacre, her red dress tattered and stained with the blood of her enemies. But a young boy who defiantly broke out from his brother's sight to help defend the homeland stood in her way, causing her to stop in her tracks. Wildly swinging his blade around, she simply dodged. Then Momus remembered his sword being flung out of his hand, being stripped of it.
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09-Oct-2014 01:01:16

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Dropped onto his back, looking up and crying as he felt his life about to end. His light blue glowing eyes upon the Neheztelian's deathly pale skin, her stern, hateful, piercing red eyes punching a hole through his soul. The noble recollected in her perfect detail her words, so acutely did they appear in his head. ""Wudha za usyal ma tù omigla Cazitem, usyal ma tù emigla Som,"" he recalled her say, talking in her language. ""Just as there is an ensured beginning, there is an assured end." 'Twas a saying among my children, a reminder of sorts. I shan't have you end here, but begin anew and ensured. Guard well that which you love, just as you've today, little one. And surely shall this world grow in your shadow, that all of your kind might follow in your stead."

The noble reminisced upon the feeling he felt afterwards, so strangely was he forever altered. Even as a boy, he was utterly spellbound by just a simple touch from her, just a single word. Even as she killed thousands of his kind, her presence was truly incapable of describing. She was an absolute and magnificent enigma to words, unfathomable, incomprehensible to any. He didn't even try, not once, not even to his brother.

Although she had left nothing but the carnage of his fellow kinsmen in her wake, when he actually found the truth, he knew that she and her children were the true victims in all this, not them. That was when he discovered his belief in something above himself, above all else. His belief, devotion, and loyalty in one, and one alone...

Getting his head out of the sand that buried him with his thoughts, the noble simply sighed. "Perhaps I was just hearing things," he thought, laughing lightly to himself. "Must be my age finally getting to me."

"So, uncle, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Nothing at all," the member of the Ruler's Counsel replied. "Your brother has requested my appearance in the king's room."
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09-Oct-2014 01:03:04

Jul

2020

Serene End

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"That's strange," Lucia commented, her eyebrows tightening. "He hasn't told me anything about this. Hmm, I wonder what this could be about..."

"I was just on my way there to find out," Momus went on with his explanation. "But your room was on the way, so I wanted to check on you, make sure you were all right."

Her uncle's words brought a gentle smile to her face, made happy by his concern. "...Well, I am," she told him. "Thank you, uncle, but you needn't worry yourself over me. So long as I have you, brother, and our people by my side... I will always be fine."

Though strong with conviction as those words were, they were not unwavering. Her crystal-clear eyes pulled off to the left, left astray by both the words and situation of it all. She tried to conceal it as best as she could, but an uncle knows best. Seeing his brother's daughter caught between two sides, Momus proceeded forward.

He stood just in front of her, spanning his arms out. "Come here," he said to her. She drew in, stepping close to her uncle. She wrapped in her arms around him, as did he. Embraced now by her loving uncle, Lucia could feel a care and concern, such that was almost of that of a father. The tender feeling did not judge, did not laugh, and listened and acted intently.

The queen had her head turned, its left side pressing against the noble's chest. Her lungs ushered in a hard sigh, her eyes down and sorrowful. "I don't know, uncle..." Lucia mumbled.

Momus could only hope that he could bring comfort, the right side of her head pressed against his chest. He looked down at his niece, his light blue eyes cast light down upon the crown of her black-haired head. "Everything will be fine," he assured her, attempt to ease her agony. "You're going to be fine."

"I know," she uttered softly, sounding almost defeated. "...It's just so hard."
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09-Oct-2014 01:03:42

Jul

2020

Serene End

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"I know it is," the noble returned. "but you don't have to face it on your own, Lucia. You have us at your side to support you, even if we must act as the stones paved upon your path forward for the rest of our lives."

Lucia closed her eyes, finding respite from her thoughts in her uncle's arms, wrapping in the blanket of his constant support and care. Momus sighed then, looking down at his niece who mourned even still over that which she should despise. Raphael was the one to kill her father, wasn't he? The Resistance were the ones who assassinated her oldest brother and mother, weren't they? He knew the truth, the real truth.

"Don't worry," Momus told her. "you're going to get through this. You're going to get through this, you're going to thrive, and you're going to be a wonderful queen."

"And how do you know that?" she asked curiously, causing her to look up at him.

"Because you already are," he told her with a smile, then pressing his lips to the front-top of her head. He kissed her just above her forehead, showing her the indisputable love of a uncle watching over his brother's children as though they were his own.

She smiled, breaking free from the entanglement, from the shackles of melancholy and remorse. "Thank you, uncle," she kindly thanked. "Don't worry about me anymore, I'll be fine."

Hearing her speak, he knew the statue of her confidence and assurance had been restored back to its pristine, glory days. Momus let go of her, knowing well that she had returned back to him. The two being a literal arm's length from each other, Momus' eyes shifted over to the door leading out of the room. "Well, I best head out," he said. "I think it best not to hold your brother up anymore than I have."

Lucia giggled. "Yes, that is true," she agreed under her light laughter. "Thanks again, uncle."

"But of course," he returned, brushing off her thanks. "Such as my cause and purpose as your uncle."

"I'll see you later, then,"
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09-Oct-2014 01:05:28 - Last edited on 09-Oct-2014 19:06:50 by Serene End

Jul

2020

Serene End

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"Indeed," Momus said, turning his body as it began walking towards the door.

A question came to the onyx-haired woman's head, one she had always wondered. "Hey," her voice proceeded.

"Hmm?" Momus' voice went as his body paused half way from the door.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"You needn't ask my permission," Momus informed her. "just ask."

"Feel free to not answer this, but..." she went on. "...How did you feel when father died?"

"Outraged," he responded without hesitation. "For him to be murdered, and by someone he never suspected would do such an atrocious thing. I was angry, yet I felt as though my eyes had opened truly for the first time."

"What do you mean?"

"I was just able to see things in a new light," he quickly explained to her, but then a rather questionable look rose on Momus' face. "Now that it is brought to my mind, Balor was speaking rather oddly at the Ringing in Utopia ceremony in regards to this subject."

"Well, I'm sure brother misses father," she expressed.

"...Yes, perhaps," Momus concurred with a pause in his voice, seeming as though he believed something very different. "Anyway, I'll be seeing you."

Lucia shook her head. "Yes," she replied, her body then turning around and facing the window that she was looking out from before she had an... unexpected visitor. Momus' body began walking forward, going towards the door. But his glowing eyes darted for something else, his mind swirled with sinister thoughts.

He was staring at the back of Lucia's neck, the very top of it. He knew it to be the weakness of her Solasúian powers, perhaps the only way of truly bring her down. To simply sever the top of her spinal cord, thus cutting off all basic function to the rest of her body. That would debilitate, incapacitate the seemingly imperishable.
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09-Oct-2014 01:06:31

Jul

2020

Serene End

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He thought about it for a half second, his hand wanting to reach for his gladius-like sword off to his left. But above all others, he truly did not wish to hurt Lucia. She was still capable of being 'saved,' there was still time to rescue her out from under the debris of the destructive foolishness of her race's authority and pride.

But the hourglass was nearly half empty, its sand almost all but defected to one side. He knew that with the Resistance's defeat, the bottom of the hourglass was smashed and the sands of time were rushing through his fingers faster than he could breathe. His hand clenching onto the sword, his cloth exposing its scabbard just barely.

But it was more than enough for Lucia's Solasúian sense to pick up, a sense much like a radar that picked up danger when it made itself present. She felt it then, her senses telling her of the danger, feeling a heavy anxiety and pressure bearing down on her. The queen knew no one else had a hand in this, not even Lamia. She just simply kept on looking out, waiting for Momus to make his move.

Momus couldn't do it, not even for a moment he did think he could. His hand letting go of his blade, flipping his head from his right to his left. His body turned, facing the door as his hand reached out and grasped the doorknob. But the flicker of a flame caught his attention, dancing at the corner of his eye. His light blue eyes gazed at a candle that was sitting upon a window-cill beside the door, watching its flame gradually weaken.

But when the strain was too much, the flame simply died out. Passing away almost at the moment Momus' eyes gazed upon it as though his vision were Death's finger, it poured out smoke like an desperate S.O.S, like a final gasp of life. The smoke floated up towards Momus, reaching for him and begged him to be its savior. But it was just a sign of something that was once there, it had vanished from this world.
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09-Oct-2014 01:07:35

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