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+++ A Warrior's Ascension +++

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[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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He came up with his blade drawn. He sliced off the leg of the man holding him down, and he fell. Kagiso stood, and lashed out at another foe. A great rent appeared in his neck and he dropped to the ground. Kagiso spun under another blade, and stabbed forwards blindly. He was no duelist, so he was fighting blindly with little skill. However, in his trade, he’d learned to handle a sword in the most basic sense, and swung it wildly. He lacerated the foe who had held him with the blade, and blood spurted forwards. The opponent dropped to his knees, gurgling and spitting blood. Another stab ran him through, and he died. The fourth opponent came at him with the billhook, but it was a clumsy weapon and he died from a wound to the chest. The one-legged attacker crawled to Kagiso and grabbed his leg, but he finished him with a downwards stab. The other two opponents fell back and circled Kagiso carefully.

“I win, gentlemen. Now, if you would give me my money back, I’ll be on my way. Do what I want, and no-one gets hurt, eh?”

The mugger who had said that to him before snarled and leapt forward. Kagiso deftly parried the foolish attack, and gutted the man. The other turned tail and fled, unwilling to fight Kagiso alone. He stepped forward, and retrieved his money bag. He stepped over the corpses, and then heard the click of safety locks. He looked up, and saw the shutters of the surrounding buildings open. At each one stood a man or woman holding a flintlock pistol or a musket. They didn’t look skilled with the weapons, but Kagiso didn’t like his chances of escaping a dozen guns worth of buckshot.

The fearful attacker appeared at one of the windows holding a huge gun. He pulled away the bandana he had around his face, to reveal flowing grey hair. It wasn’t a he, it was Her. Kagiso gasped.

“Aris! You have to help me!”

“You come to me to find out what’s happening to our world, Kagiso Dunfar. You have no idea how much trouble you’ve found instead.”

Aris smiled.

14-Aug-2007 13:20:48 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:55:57 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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She gestured with her free hand, and the remaining masked fighters disappeared from the windows and came to Kagiso’s side, binding him tightly with ropes and applying a mask to hide him, and keep him from seeing the way they were taking him.

“You’re coming with us.”

14-Aug-2007 13:33:05 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:49:48 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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The Coming Storm


The street bandits dragged the Kagiso into one of the open alleyways, and after carrying him easily through a maze of twists and turns, the party descended into a small well. One by one, they climbed down, Gypsy Aris at the head of the group. They finally dropped Kagiso roughly into the well, and he landed in the rancid sewer water below with a splash. He was picked up again, and carried along with the smell of stagnant water and rot in his nostrils. He could hear rats scurrying along below him, and wondered whether the denizens of Varrock knew these sewers were so large.

It felt like he had been carried for hours, but eventually Kagiso heard the sound of voices and... Was it... Pumps? Surely, it would take some huge machine to make a sound that could permeate the thick walls of the storm reserve sewers – Or perhaps it was actually down here in them, and not on the surface? He dismissed the thought. It would have to have been built from scratch down here, because the passageways were thin and the parts probably too large to fit through them.

Finally, the group arrived in a busy-sounding area, and turned off into a place that had the echo of a small, enclosed building. Kagiso strained his ears to catch snippets of conversation, but could hear nothing intelligible over the sound of rushing sewer water and the assault on the ears that were the pumps.

He was dropped to the floor, and his blindfold removed. As the door of the room closed, Kagiso caught the sight of what looked like a huge underground refinery. There was a table and two seats. A hooded figure gestured to the seat, and he rested on it. The figure removed the headband and Kagiso properly saw Aris for the first time in years.
“Kagiso. What brings you to grand Varrock?”

14-Aug-2007 13:33:06 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:56:12 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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He could detect a hint of malice and irony in her tone at the last two words, but ignored them. He easily slipped into his usual fast-talking, smooth tone of voice that was the mark of a master conman. He was used to getting others to react in certain ways, and could adapt to any situation. Talking, and, of course, the acquisition and later palming-off of fake goods, and his skills with forging cheques and notes.

“You know, Aris.”

The gypsy smiled, but there was no humour.

“I am not the woman you knew back when you were a child, Kagiso. I’ve changed, and, by the looks of it, so have you. What do you do these days, boy?”

Kagiso returned the smile, but his was a winning and dazzling one; another mark of the salesman.

“I make my way with... Illicit activities, yet nothing that as yet is noted as a major crime in Asgarnia, Aris.”

Aris chuckled mirthlessly.

“You’re a conman now then?” A look of surprise flitted across Kagiso’s face, and Aris noticed. “Don’t fool around, Kagiso. You think I am some daft old woman? I’m nearly five hundred, you know!”

Kagiso looked down.

“You were a bad influence.”

Aris pushed her chair back and stalked round the table to Kagiso’s seat.

“I was not. It was for your own good. No-one can earn an honest living nowadays.”

“You seemed to manage fine, Aris.”

She looked away.

“I did, for a time. But after you left, the Orb started showing signs of doom, every day, for every person. People wouldn’t accept it, and scoffed at my seeing.

I took to entertaining on the streets, and made my tent into a stall. It turned to trickery, as such things always do.”

Kagiso could relate to that. He remembered plying his trade on the streets of Ardougne, and in its grand market he had built a coconut shy. Aris noticed his glazed look, and snapped him from his reverie.

14-Aug-2007 13:33:13 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:50:50 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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“You too, must have gone down this path, Kagiso. Of course, I used my farsight as a mere party trick, telling people which card they held and where the silver ball was hidden in my various games, for example.”

Kagiso laughed quietly.

“I tended more towards the fine and noble art of selling fake diamonds, forging cheques and hammering coconuts into plungers so hard that not even a rampaging daemon could knock them off.”

Aris continued her reminiscing monologue.

“The authorities soon worked out that I was tricking the people. I was forcibly removed from the rich area, and cast into the poor and dangerous districts. I tried to work there, but the citizens were a more immoral sort, and would draw knives if they believed themselves to have lost. Either way, they didn’t have enough money to play the games, and were desperate for more. I ran the risk of being robbed, so I packed up and went to the Temple of Mercy.

I stayed there with the old nuns, and they kept me safe and treated me well. There wasn’t much food, but I managed. It was there that I had the vision.”

Kagiso had been taught from birth the importance of the occult, and the significance of a vision. A glimpse of the far future, or a turning point in a Seer's life, these visions were always of great import.

“I could see dark shadows, which coalesced to form the shapes of hooded bandits. I saw them fighting amongst themselves, and I was informed of my mission by a spirit. The spirit had foreseen my downfall, but said I could prevent it if I united these rouges and took control of them. I was told to make my base of operations in the old catacombs and sewers beneath our great city.”

Kagiso suddenly looked angry.

14-Aug-2007 14:09:14 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:56:30 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

Doomd Ghost

Doomd Ghost

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Demon this story is awsome... Its the best story in english I have ever read.

I feel like writing a story to, altough it wouldn't be half as good as yours.

Its great.

And just to let you know this one was much easier to read for me :)

~doomd~

14-Aug-2007 14:20:08

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

Posts: 6,820 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“I supposed you succeeded then. And now you attack me and bring me to your lair when I came in search of your counsel!”

Aris shook her head.

“It had to be this way. I think you may be of importance to fate’s plans, and our paths have intertwined again for a reason. It may be that I must kill you, to continue with the great vision; or you may become my ally. Hope, Kagiso, that it is the latter.

I was actually beaten and thrown in a cell by the first outlaws I encountered and tried to join with, and my first thought was that I had been led astray, into a trap set by some ruinous daemon. But it was not so – I told them that I was an unregistered mage.”

Kagiso knew the power of the Free Mages. Without the bindings of the laws of the College of Magic and The Guild, these practitioners of the magical arts would often turn to the Abyss for greater power to fuel their outlawed experiments. They would be turned mad with the strength and dark knowledge, explode with evil potency or ascend to daemonhood, and destroy entire towns and sometimes cities. They were outcasts, alone from herd, and since the Guild of Mages could not track their use of magic, save for following the plumes of smoke conjured in their wake, they were incredibly dangerous, to both themselves and their potential enemies.

Aris continued after the shock of the revelation had sunk in.

“They were afraid of me, but welcomed me into their ranks. I have so far managed to not go mad, but I still wield terrible power. Where I was once a mere seer, now I am a spellwarrior more powerful than the Archmage. They kept me quiet, for fear of the witch hunters who would come after me, but I proved useful in their conquests and soon ascended to leadership. From there, I united the petty street clans, gained shipments of arms, and just as I collect the last of the groups together I hear that you have arrived in the city. What brings you here?”

Kagiso smiled bitterly.

14-Aug-2007 14:22:08 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:51:51 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

[#CHDFOMJYA]

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“It certainly wasn’t the lure of the sewers, Aris. Nor was it the prospect of being thrown in a cell and questioned. But it was that I... I had noticed tremors in the Warp. You must know now that you passed some of those seeing powers on to me.”

The old woman looked mildly surprised, but more intrigued than anything else.

“I knew that I had to come and see you. You’d know what to do about these waves I was feeling. Waves of emotion, of thoughts that weren’t my own. Plans and secrets, garbled messages and orders flitted through my mind day and night. I fear something is happening, that someone, or something, is planning something.”

“You are right, young Kagiso. I feel these tremors too. A great summoning of daemons, borne from another plane of reality, descends upon us. I know this, and intend not to stop it, but to survive it. It is too late to stop them now, they are coming in numbers far greater than any of our defences could stop.”

Kagiso leapt to his feet.

“We must flee then! If Varrock’s defences can’t repel the daemons, they will kill us all!”

Aris sighed.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Kagiso. You see... They’re already coming.”

She swept past him, and unbolted the iron door. Before she slipped outside to leave Kagiso alone, she looked back, just for a moment.

“You may die, Kagiso. There are those that are already working to stop this invasion. If they succeed, we will all die. But you may die sooner, if I find you are a spy. Your newfound abilities may prevent me from probing your mind to find out, but there are other methods...”

Kagiso looked shocked, but Aris ignored him.

“Kagiso... If you ARE a spy, I will give you no quarter. You will be put to death... Goodbye, son.”

She closed the door.

14-Aug-2007 14:39:29 - Last edited on 02-Sep-2007 11:56:55 by [#CHDFOMJYA]

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