RuneScape Forum Archive | Fall From Grace

Jul

2020

Serene End

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o_o... Wait, wait, wait, wait ... We can do GIFs now? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!?

IT'S JUST LIKE MAGIC!

It has been quite a while, hasn't it? Five years, that's pretty intense. What's sad is that I can still remember the day I released FFG upon the forums, a rather nervous time (making a new thread was always so nerve-racking to me!) But rest assured, the story shall go on! I'm working on it almost every single day, it's just taking its time. However, the next chapter's conclusion is nigh, so expect something -- anything -- real soon. Hopefully before the 5th year anniversary!
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25-Jul-2016 16:20:29 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2016 16:23:41 by Serene End

Azi Demonica

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Nice to hear of your progress, Serene! Oh, and this is Azigarath, using a different account. I am currently busy reviewing an ebook published by a close friend, so that'll keep me busy for about a month. I am still hoping I can continue reading this story eventually, but I am very busy in Wattpad and FanFiction as well.

25-Jul-2016 23:59:12

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Chapter 29: Death Mountain

Rain fell like a lamenter's tears, the sky wept without relent. It took on a darker appearance truly as though mourning, drenching everything and everyone in its endless sorrow. It reached out to a king, tapping at his window as desperately as a child yearning for affection. But all he did was stare, stare without life out into his ashen city. His eyes deprived of all meaning, of all care.

Balor stood there without an ear to hear his voice silently cry, without a soul to comfort him. He was all alone again, standing before a window as he fought back his darker thoughts. Having severed the connection between him and the only thing to ever truly matter to him, it wasn't the first time he was without her. Yet... it felt far more difficult to bear than ever before.

There was no one left to support him, for in his paranoia he had driven them all away. No, not even his most dependable general was loyal to him anymore... He had sacrificed everything to bring his utopia into fruition, yet it seemed this apple was rotten from the very beginning. The truth of it all was that it was he who poisoned this fruit, he was his own greatest enemy.

Balor felt neither sorrow nor rage in his painful recollections, not a thought occupied his mind. His sense of self mislaid, his heart misplaced. He had lost his foundation, its loss sending him spiraling downward. Casting himself off this mountain of self-glory, falling through the cracks, lost now in this vacant abyss. Balor had no one else to turn to, nowhere left to go...

It was then that there was a knock upon the door, tapping just twice. But this was unbeknownst to Balor, for he had become absent to the world. He had locked himself away in his place, just as he promised his sister. But this space served more as a prison, shackling the king to a grief most excruciating.
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23-Aug-2016 17:13:14 - Last edited on 23-Aug-2016 18:32:07 by Serene End

Jul

2020

Serene End

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But the knock was persistent, emitting once again from the door. His deaf ears miraculously regained their hearing, feeling himself return into this wretched shell. "Enter..." his voice weakly allowed, far too empty to be commanding.

The door gently swung inside, revealing the servant Ulyssa. She came bearing a few small vases, vases which contained a very peculiar flower. The servant closed the door behind her, then straightening her back up for her lord. She received no response, no acknowledgement, he didn't even bother to look back to check who it was that entered.

No, his weary, emotional eyes cast out his window, void of any and all interest, of all desire to do anything. How disheartening, to see her lord in such a state of disrepair. So lost in thought, deep and drowning in this despair. Regardless, Ulyssa went on about her duty, bowing to her king. "Please forgive my intrusion, my lord," she humbly pleaded. "I've come to replace the flowers. I shall be out posthaste."

Still a lack of reaction, it was almost reasonable to believe Balor couldn't hear or see her there at all. Ulyssa simply put on a brave face, not permitting any emotion to bleed through. She held herself up, attending to her duties. Taking her eyes and her mind off of her lord, she proceeded towards the table in the heart of this glorious room-turned-jail-cell.

She was as quiet as a mouse, treading along with consideration of Balor's thoughts. She did not wish to disrupt her lord, disturb this heavy, sorrowful space which his mind had created. Having walked halfway across the room, she reached her destination. She stood now over a new yet familiar table of beautiful mahogany; round, brilliantly polished, masterfully carved with imagery. It was an exact match to the previous, minus the brutal damage Balor's wrath had inflicted upon it.
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23-Aug-2016 17:13:43

Jul

2020

Serene End

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She removed an old flower beginning to show its age, growing withered and frail. And with great care of position and correctness, she set the new flower down upon the table. It stood there in a fantastically crafted vase of adamas, perched atop a seamless, decorated cloth of deep blue. Having placed the flower perfectly in the center, Ulyssa went on to the next location.

But something held her back, forced her in place. She couldn't quite understand it, but she looked off to her lord. Her rusty brown eyes finding him in the exact same place, his stolid eyes gazing off into the city which resented him out of fear. This absolute lack of vitality, a bleak, dreary appearance of the world, almost like he were outside looking inside himself.

As droplets of rain zoomed by so fast, pelting at his windows, he couldn't help but to contemplate the future. The dim light of candles breathed light so subtly, Balor able to see a reflection of himself in the window before him. He saw a man who had the world, yet had nothing, a vain, pathetic fool. A most empty image indeed, perhaps a sign of the times ahead. An emperor ruling over a hollowed-out shell of a city, vacant of all life to spare.

Ulyssa watched her lord, his thoughts plainly gorging him. Like he were ice dropped into warmer water, she saw him fading before her very eyes, steadily becoming nothing. His burdens weighing his mind down like an anchor hooked to a raft. His own hand holding him down, he's sure to suffocate beneath these thoughts.

She knew not what to make of this, but a heavy, painful feeling sunk deeply within her. A compulsion to speak to him, to reach out to him slowly overcame her, but she couldn't give in to it. After all, speaking or acting of her own mind was considered a most reprehensible sin, so she simply bottled up these feelings and carried on with her duties.
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23-Aug-2016 17:14:24

Jul

2020

Serene End

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She went from one place to another, replacing these dying flowers with a bright, refreshing ones. Yet still, this strange, unknown feeling constantly stood at her side like a companion, feeling it only grow with every heartbeat. She kept looking over at her lord with each stop, distracting her from her true purpose.

His face, so ready to run with tears, was agonizing to gaze upon. She didn't understand why, but it was like a spear to her chest. But Ulyssa had a job to perform, so she continued on. After having traversed the entire room, going from place-to-place, the final flower was to a table just beside her lord.

She stepped to that place, placing that unusual flower at his side. Having reached the end of her purpose here, she stood before him properly and respectfully. "I shall now take my leave," she informed him, taking a bow. "Have you any need of my services, my lord?"

A heartbreaking silence took to the air, Ulyssa not released from her bow. This empty air only hastened the development of these unfamiliar feelings in the young servant, urging her to make a move, to break code. She was embattled, forcing herself to ignore these defiant lashes. She looked up at her lord, her torso still hanging.

"My lord?" she called out to, trying to reach him.

Somehow, her voice did find his ear, making his statuesque stance loosen. Hearing as this voice spoke with concern, Balor thought it could only belong to his beloved sister. Desperately did he turn, hoping to see that bright, wondrous face of hers. So used was he to having his sister at his side now, his heart expecting her appearance there.

Yet, even as he knew it was an impossibility, he just wanted to believe in fantasy, if even for this moment ephemeral. Balor looked, finding the well-mannered, disciplined Ulyssa standing there. His heart did ache, having been fooled by this desperate, fleeting dream. He willed her away after all, there was no chance that she would be there.
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23-Aug-2016 17:15:08

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Ulyssa looked up upon his face, finding such a pair of empty, yet tear-soaked eyes like all the water had been drained from them. His gaze a blue void, even its luminous glow could not give it life. Balor mentally grieved with melancholy, having begun to give in. Ulyssa then stood up straight, this feeling she had never once experienced overwhelming her.

The two simply stared upon each other, the sorrowful, hollow air hung low and heavy like the king's face itself. A king who believed himself only to be remembered as an example of a ruler not to be, Balor questioned his very own sense of purpose. How strange, considering just yesterday he was vowing to destroy the Desert Assassins and birth this wicked world anew.

Ulyssa patiently awaited for Balor to speak, not allowing this all-consuming feeling to take control of her entirely. "Ulyssa," he finally muttered, calling her name.

"Yes, my lord?" she responded without hesitation.

"...Have you a purpose?" he questioned her, seeking an answer to himself. "...A meaning?"

Ulyssa stood there, petrified by Balor's rather startling question. A question fathoms deep, the young servant's mind had never fallen that far. No, she had never sunken that low, an abyss only few have discovered and even fewer have recovered from. But the young servant pulled herself together, trying her very best to give him a reply.

"I am your servant, my lord," she returned. "A servant's duty is to accommodate their lord's needs with the utmost respect and admiration."

Hearing her voice mixing with the battery of rain instilled dismay and dissatisfaction in Balor, believing these words from a script she was forced to recite countless times, truly riddled with falsehood. After all, the humans' suffering was well-documented, oppressed by the gods' beliefs. And Balor was the one who bred and encouraged their ruthless behavior, the living epitome of these delusions of supremacy and self-grandeur.
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23-Aug-2016 17:15:59

Jul

2020

Serene End

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He couldn't blame Ulyssa if she felt hatred, it would be understandable. Indeed, she had every right to loathe him. Anyone, either human or god, had the justification, really. Balor averted his gaze, removing his eyes from Ulyssa. He stared back out into the cold, gloomy city of Governanti, standing all alone.

Those adamas streets hollow, without a life to call its own. They were now like aqueducts, its only purpose now to hold water. Balor could relate, feeling his purpose to be a shell meant only to hold blood and carry on a single heartbeat.

Gazing upon the back of her lord, Ulyssa felt herself... in pain. She knew not why, but her heart ached. Something took hold of her, commandeering this frail, battered body of hers. "My lord," she suddenly spoke out, her tone constantly on the change. "...May I have liberty to speak?"

Hearing her formally make a request, Balor offered his ears. Something buried within took her by the reins, tossing aside any and all thought of the consequences for her misbehavior. Ulyssa had spoken out, treading upon untried grounds now. She felt very awkward in this space, but it seemed her lord had permitted her request. With her lord's attention, she tossed aside all idea of self-preservation.

"My lord... I've yet to properly express my thanks," she explained, bowing her head. "You chose not to take my life, even as you had warrant to, but instead have welcomed me with open arms. You opened your doors to me, and you've shown me nothing but kindness and consideration."

Her voice reached deep into this meaningless existence, suddenly reawakening him. "You've shown me compassion unlike any I've ever known," her words continued. "My other masters saw me beneath them, labelled me "undesirable" and worthless to them. But you do not think me lowly and frail, you do not see me as a mere servant. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am... a person, a living being."
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23-Aug-2016 17:16:30

Jul

2020

Serene End

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Reinvigorating were Ulyssa's words, Balor felt his very own constitution resurrected from this grave dug out by his own hand. His watery eyes shot open as her voice rested, completely stunned by just how candidly she spoke. It was truly baffling, to think himself capable of making one feel as such. He had seen himself nothing more but as a liar, a guilt-ridden murderer, a thief...

He slowly turned to her, his eyelids held wide open, revealing the entirety of his lifeless eyes. He found her with her head down, humbled by her gracious, wonderful lord. Although her voice did speak in earnest, her presence itself was rather meek and timid. A misfire of signals, all due to her lack of familiarity with speaking freely.

Her head then began to raise, going without fear or fright, revealing her face to her lord. Her soft, tender eyes filled with kindness. A kindness that she was bestowed by two, two who had offered but simple acts of care and fairness. But for this young woman who had received nothing but reasonless spite for her ethnicity and a hand wrathful for daring to speak, small was far greater than what the word would imply.

Seeing her lord's face like igniting a fire, filling her with warmth, joy. Her straight, composed face lit up, greeting her lord with a gentle smile. Seeing that smiling face as it tried to brighten his mood, to instill hope, Balor was reminded of someone. Someone who thought and considered him, someone whose only desire was to simply cheer him up.

Having been kept upon this space by the chains of her discipline, something erased such a idea from her mind. She removed herself from the place, committing an act of her own mind. It was considered deplorable, a grave transgression among those who 'tutored' her. She took reluctant steps to him, feeling very awkward moving of her own accord.
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23-Aug-2016 17:16:49

Jul

2020

Serene End

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But with each step, she grew with comfort and assurance. She knew that this was the right thing to do, her courage drawing her closer to her lord. Before her sorrowfully immobilized lord, this impulse drove her ever onward. She then very slowly, hesitantly wrapped her arms around him, part of her absolutely terrified of retaliation.

But without thought did this commanding feeling proceed, throwing caution to the wind. She enshrouded her lord, holding him in a caring, tender embrace. "I am... grateful to you, my lord," Ulyssa told Balor in sincerity. "I am forever indebted to you, but I've nothing to offer aside from my loyalty. No matter the circumstance, no matter the situation, no matter my feelings, I will serve you. I will stand with you, defend you, protect you. No matter what, my lord, I shall never abandon you, because you... are my purpose, my meaning."

Hearing as she finally concluded, this life losing strength had begun to sprout with hope. Held in her arms so beautifully, Balor felt... inspired. His side had grown cold since Lucia's departure, and without a soul to stand with him, he was left all alone. But now, he felt the warmth of loyalty and company rekindle him. Air flowing back into his lungs again, life seeping back into him, Balor felt alive once more.

He appreciated just what Ulyssa was attempting to do, although it was a bit much. But he learned to let go of these crushing feelings, this shocked visage he bore. With tears falling from his eyes, he accepted her embrace, his new sense of sorrow injecting him with a bemusing sense of elation, of joy.

Just beyond the two laid one of the several flowers Ulyssa had installed in the room, sitting upon a table. It looked to have multiple stems, yet they were all twisted together to appear as one. Their appearance crystallized like encased in ice, leading into one large head, an alluring, vividly purple array of of petals. These petals were long and curled outwards, revealing its inside.
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23-Aug-2016 17:19:28

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