RuneScape Forum Archive | Fall From Grace

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2020

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All of the Loyal Knights and Gallows stood up straight, clenching their left hands into a fist and putting it to the right side of their chests. "Yes, my lady!" they all saluted together, understanding her desire to be left alone. They dispersed all around the castle, doing as told. They disappeared from their sight, departing from their presence.

She waited a while, waiting until she knew without a doubt that they were far away enough that they could not hear this conversation with their Solasúian hearing. Balor seemed both curious and worried, unable to figure out what exactly what it was that his sister wished to speak to him about. But Raphael... Yes, Raphael knew exactly what it was that was about to come out from her lips.

She had the key to open the floodgates, to destroy, to alter everything. And she intended to unlock it, to let go the tons of words that she and Raphael only knew. "Balor," Lucia then spoke earnestly to her brother, who gave her his undivided attention. "Raphael is our brother."

Balor's face then tightened, being caught off-guard by this completely unexpected bit of news. The words she spoke to him, he couldn't quite place them. "What?" he mumbled in his confusion.

"Telvern told me this," she explained. "Father and Astrid... They were... together, seeing each other. That day nineteen years ago, Astrid didn't flee Governanti because of her duties as a servant of Governanti, she fled because father forced her to, because she and father broke Solasúian laws, because she gave birth to his son, Raphael."

Balor then turned to Raphael, really now starting to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. His eyes alone should have been a dead giveaway, they looked now just like Divus' eyes had been ripped out from his head and put into Raphael's skull. Just like Lucia had believed, now that he was looking at the silver-haired young man in that light, he truly did look like a younger version of his father.
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13-Aug-2014 23:43:59 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2014 00:10:25 by Serene End

Jul

2020

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Balor clenched his forehead with his right hand, a spasm of laughter then quietly erupted from his lips. "So, that's what you meant by you being an "heir to the throne,"" Balor then confirmed, smirking rather joyously as pops of laughter interrupted his voice. The sudden outburst of laughter then exploded from the king, finding the whole situation to be quite amusing.

Raphael, however, was unamused by Balor finding the whole situation as a joke, something to laugh at. He appeared silently anger, it simmered down below. After a moment of laughing the whole thing off, Balor then gazed down at his now brother, letting go of his forehead. "How completely unexpected," the king continued. "Stranger yet, at the same time, I'm not at all surprised. How funny... A byproduct of dear Astrid and father! Ha! You're a mongrel, a crossbreed, even more so than Telvern and your mother!"

The very second he uttered those words, Raphael wanted to send them back down Balor's throat and make him choke on them. He jolted, soaring off of his blood-soaked knees. Rising to his feet, clenching his fist in ire, he darted for the king. The amused man expected as much, knowing full-well that this would have angered Raphael into attacking.

Balor furiously shot his right foot forward, it launched with the speed of a torpedo, aiming for Raphael's left leg. The king's armoured boot battered against Raphael's left knee, ramming it inward in a nauseating, thunderous crack. Raphael's face contorted to accommodate his new injury, toppling down onto the ground and clenching onto his knee.
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13-Aug-2014 23:45:18 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2014 00:12:34 by Serene End

Jul

2020

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He had fallen on his front, rolling over to his left side. He gasped with pain, wallowing in absolute agony. He screamed, his wail echoed along with all others upon this night, ringing out all throughout this castle. Even Telvern downstairs could hear it, causing him to turn his head away with grief.

Lucia appeared quite sorrowful, emotionally aching. Inside her heart, she wished she could just ripped off her own ears so she didn't have to hear this anymore, to end this madness. Balor was completely unfazed, he lacked compassion, he simply just didn't care. Though, he was no longer smiling, he appeared like he were glaring, stolidly peering down upon his brother.

He then slowly walked over to Raphael's side, continuing to stare over him. The only thing his ears continued to hear was Raphael's painful screams, which had begun to quiet down. Balor then sluggishly dropped down to one knee, his body finally being beside Raphael. Raphael's purple eyes clawing into Balor's face, his teeth fastened tightly together.

Balor folded his hands together, they hung upside down beside his calf. "I know how my sister feels about you," the king spoke quietly to the young leader. "She needn't even tell me, I can see it just by the look in her eyes everytime she speaks about you. So, that is why I'm going to let her decide your fate, because I trust she will make the right decision. And even if I disagree with it, if she thought it right, then it is. I only want her to be happy, and if letting you live makes her so, then I will be satisfied."

Raphael then watched as Balor rose up from the ground, gazing down at the young leader. His sapphire eyes found his sister, the suffering and melancholy towards Raphael's pain and agony was written all over her face. Balor sighed, letting out his sadness of seeing his sister in such pain. "Lucia," Balor named, taking her attention. "I leave Raphael to you. Do with him as you wish, all right?"
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13-Aug-2014 23:47:13

Jul

2020

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She shook her head. "Thank you," she softly thanked.

Balor then stepped away from the two, but he turned to his sister once more. "To where would they keep Telvern?" he asked.

"Prison room," she informed him. "it's in the western wing."

Balor then shook his head, acknowledging his sister's directions. He began walking towards the entrance into the western wing, departing from their presence. That glistering set of armour disappeared from the room, leaving Raphael and Lucia to themselves. Lucia began walking over to Raphael, standing over his beaten, battered body.

She then knelt down beside him, pulling him into her arms. Pushing her right arm behind his knees and left arm behind his back, she held him in her arms. She began to rise, carrying him with her. Raphael's eyes gazed up at Lucia, seeing the grim, darkening expression on her face. "Elena..." he mumbled. "...Is this what you wanted? Is this your idea of a better world?"

"No, it isn't," she candidly replied. "But we can't always have what we desire, no matter how badly we want it, no matter how much we'd give to obtain it. We must bear the cross of our actions, even if we must sell our soul to carry its burden."

"Have you sold yours?"

"Maybe I have," she returned, then turning towards the wall which Raphael had pushed Balor into. That was the western wall, beginning to walk over towards it. "If I had it, I would not be standing at my brother's side, but rather at yours."

"So, you still disagree with Balor's ideals?" Raphael questioned.

"It doesn't even matter anymore if I disagree with them or not," Lucia responded. "I love my brother, I love him more than I care about my ideals. If my ideals conflict with my brother's, then I must trade them off to fight alongside him."

Raphael then clenched his face and hands, becoming angry with Lucia. "You're sacrificing too much of yourself!" he yelled. "You shouldn't have to do that just because I said such stupid, ridiculous things to you!"
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13-Aug-2014 23:48:17 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2014 00:15:32 by Serene End

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2020

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"But see, Raphael," she then said softly. The queen finally stood before the wall she was walking over to, taking a minute as she paused and reflected upon her past. She sat down beside it, placing Raphael up against the wall as though he were sitting against it. His back leaned on it, sitting straight up. She stood there in front of him, being on one knee.

Lucia's beautiful, glowing, pale blue eyes stared down Raphael's agonized, saddened face. They were the last of the living, sitting in the red water of the river of demise. Floating upon its surface, hundreds of lifeless corpses that wore such familiar faces, breathless and once full of pain. But they were elated now, travelling down a vanishing, beaten path that will lead them to the answer of the greatest, most elusive question known to mankind.

Lucia then shook her head. "It wasn't just you," the queen told him. "it was everyone. Everyone felt the same way that you did, that you do. They all blamed me, hated me, thought my presence a bother, that I didn't belong. And they were right, I was wrong to have joined with the Resistance, to have lied about myself to you all. Maybe if I had been honest with you all from the start, maybe things would have been different. Maybe if I searched for a different way to help the humans, like changing the system from within, maybe things would have been different. I don't know, and I never will."

"Elena..." Raphael mumbled her name once more.

"But right now, I had to do this," the onyx-haired queen went on, closing her eyes as tears had begun to fall down her eyes. "I had to help the Imperial Kingdom defeat the Lumbridge Resistance. It's-it's my duty... to oppose the enemies of Governanti, something I swore to when I was just a child, before I could understand what such words even meant. And now that I'm queen, such oaths are doubly so. The Resistance was a threat, so I... I... had to..."
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13-Aug-2014 23:48:56

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2020

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Raphael heard the agony and torment in her voice, the impossible task of finishing her sentence. Lucia then felt something upon her left cheek, it was warm and so very kind. She opened her eyes, seeing Raphael's arm held up to her head. It was his hand upon her face, caressing her cheek. She appeared surprised, expecting nothing more but bitterness from him.

He then smiled gently, shaking his head side-to-side. "You don't need to finish your sentence," Raphael said to her. "I understand what you're trying to say. We're just two people fighting for the same reason, I'm fighting for the humans, and you're fighting for the Solasúians. We're no different, so, please... don't think of yourself as some kind of evil."

Her left hand then reached up, grabbing onto Raphael's hand. Her face became disturbed with anguish, with utter dismay. Her eyes like jars of endless water, constantly depositing water down her face. "I'm so sorry..." Lucia then muttered those words, the young leader heard her voice shaking terribly. "...but I have to do this."

The queen put Eshenel to the right side of Raphael's throat, very quickly passing it through his flesh, cutting from ear to ear. It shredded across his skin, through all of his muscle, through the major structures in his neck. By the time her blade reached the other ear, it had carved a long, bloodied path across his throat.

Blood flowed like a waterfall, pouring out from his silt throat, staining his tunic and turning it crimson. His widened eyes, his hanging jaw, and breathless expression faced Lucia, who pulled her blade back to her side. "El... ena..." the young leader then slowly spoke, his left hand clenching onto his bleeding throat. The wine-red liquid then rolled down his hand, staining his pale skin red.
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13-Aug-2014 23:51:08

Jul

2020

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"Forgive me, Raphael..." she softly apologized to him through a broken voice. Her face then reached up towards Raphael's head, her lips pressing against his forehead. She had kissed him on the forehead, Raphael felt her tears drip down from her eyes and onto his cheeks, rolling down his face. She then pulled herself away after a while, placing Raphael's hand that he gave to her back down at his side. "...but this is goodbye."

She slowly rose up to her feet, her pale blue eyes unable to rip off of the regretful, unforgivable crime she committed. In the few seconds it took for her to get up, the tears filling up the windows into her soul, all of memories of the Resistance cluttered her mind. They all played in fast forward, all of the smiles she brought to the humans.

Lucia knew keeping him alive was not going to defeat the Resistance, stop the rebellion. Having him in prison would incite the humans, fill them with strength that they might yet rise. But killing him, a man who became an image of hope in all the eyes of the hopeless humans, will crush what little hope they had.

And if Raphael became a martyr, then she would quell any who would use him in such a way. She vowed to herself, "I will make this world a better place, the humans will not suffer anymore... I promise you..."

She stood over Raphael, watching as he bled out before her. Her blade dripped with his blood, looking like it was crying too. The two drowned in sorrow, wallowing in their own form of pain. Raphael could only stare, feeling his body grow cold, his breath growing haggard. His vision switched from black to blurry, he could barely hang on to his life.
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13-Aug-2014 23:51:41

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2020

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It was a struggle, perhaps the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she knew she had to leave this place. Even up to this point, she never truly left. Painfully, like being stabbed several times straight through her heart and into her soul, she managed to pull away. It required every fiber in her being to move, in great remorse over the course of her actions.

The last moments of Raphael's consciousness played out in front of him, watching as Lucia grew further and further away from him. He wanted to call out to her, reach out to her, tell her to stop crying, to not worry... but his body was too weak for even words. He was so very sorrowful, once more the two bodies parting way, but this time was the last time.

They both felt like a sheet of paper pulled in several different directions, utterly ripped apart. The ripped pieces of themselves then were just thrown in the wind, never to be made whole ever again. Suffering in the throes of an unfathomable despair, they could see only look to each other for comfort. The onyx-headed queen halted in her step, ceasing all motion.

She had to see him, even if only just one more time...

He had to look at her, just one more... That's all...

Raphael fought and struggled with all of his might against the darkness that wanted to claim him, to take him. She was turning around, to look back at him, just like he wanted. But the very second she turned to look at him, his vision blacked out... He could no longer see her face, could no longer see anything.

The only thing left he wanted to see before he had to go had been stolen from him, denied by a omnipotent power known in this world as 'fate.' Its cruel hand messed with them, the wheel that it spun, landing on a selection that forcing them apart. She stared back at him, but what she saw shook her to her core.
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13-Aug-2014 23:53:06

Jul

2020

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His consciousness had slipped away into the nothingness... His body was limp and grew still, his eyes had closed. His life had eroded, faded away like a footprint on sand. The tide upon as death came to washed it away, as though he were never there to begin with.

Her heart ached at this very moment, her mind could only wonder why she had done this. She turned away, having seen his final moments. She marched on, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. But the world was growing to be too much of a burden to bear, but still... She knew she had to walk along.

She traveled down the eastern hallway, throwing away her emotions, brushing aside her tears. Her footsteps clicking by her heels, pulsing through the castle of death. It was so eerily quiet, full of darkness and misery. Her face was deep in apathy, her eyes stolid and void of all life. Her left hand then slowly reached for a doorknob, twisting it.

She had entered a room, the medical room. A pair of eyes then slowly pulled to the source of the sound, her footsteps echoing throughout the room. Those frightened eyes belonged to Audley, who was looking out a window and saw the unimaginable nightmare outside. He stared upon her, the cold-blooded, crimson-washed queen.

"Looks like Falador, doesn't it?" the queen commented to him, which caused his breath to tremble. Quickly brought back up by anger, Audley maniacially charged towards Lucia. He lunged his fist forward, aiming for her head. She stepped off to her left, feeling the force of Audley's fist flying by her as it fiddled with her hair.

She then plunged her blade into him, a weeping gasp pushed out from his lungs. She threw her right foot forward, recoiling her blade back to her side. Audley fell down, hitting the floor. His blood draining out from his wound, pooling and surrounding him. He swiped his right hand slowly across the source of his pain, putting it up to his face.
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13-Aug-2014 23:54:12

Jul

2020

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And with his withdrawn irises, he saw the state of himself, the blood that stained his hand. His breaths became a tremor, breaking out as he panicked the moment he saw this. His horrified eyes then turned to her, she just stared... so cold were her eyes. "This is the fate of any who oppose Governanti," was something she kept telling herself.

Governanti's justice was swift and without mercy, and she must have been the deliverer. She had killed them all off, turning her head away from Audley. She stared out the window, seeing the judgment she and her people brought upon these humans. And now that they put them in the stranglehold, Governanti's justice was truly right... At least, that's what she could only tell herself.

Regardless, Resistance was at its end. There was no one left standing, it was all... over.

The End of Chapter 20,
Next Chapter:
Chapter 21: Enemy, Familiar Friend Part 2

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it. ^_^

~Serene End

Eh, I'm lazy! I'll get the next part up tomorrow!
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13-Aug-2014 23:55:38 - Last edited on 14-Aug-2014 00:10:04 by Serene End

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