RoyalGuard Manor

Status
Not open for further replies.

Rhysis

Well-Known Member
Staff member
The Crystal Valley had been abandonded for centuries. The palace, the lake, the mountains, and even the plains were seemingly barren of anything.

The Grey had managed to reach to the tops of the mountains, but seemed to be halted from any ability to actually penetrate into the bowl-like valley. Mighty beings of immense power had put remarkably complex protection wards around the entire valley.

His own home, a palace sized home by any human standard, sat atop a small cliff overlooking the palace. It had even more layers of protection around it than the valley itself. Fang had always been one to be cautious. It had been his job for thousands of years.

With Swish in one arm, he walked into the monsterous sized house, and laid her down on one of the few pieces of furniture in the building, which happened to be a soft couch as oversized as the rest of the building.

When he was sure she was comfortable, he went to the equally expansive kitchen. Another good thing about protective wards, is they could be used for everything, including food preservation. He hadn't set foot in this building in over a thousand years, and the food had been there a fair amount of time before that, but it would still taste as fresh as it had been when it was first brought here.

He prepared a simple meal of venison and bread to place to her side for when she awoke. Until that happened, he went to one of the many side rooms to connect with the Elder Council. They would want to know what was going on, and he had more than a few questions for them.
 
The small feline lightly purring slumbered on. While her body rested and drew in the energy need to restore, her mind was awake and traveling. She touched the wolf's mind briefly to insure her that Chesh was one to listen to, then she moved on, her life line drawing out like a golden cord as she moved through the Grey. She was trying to find the spots that the Grey could not seem to cover. She wished to find out why, why this power of darkness could not touch some places. Maybe the answer to that question would be the answer to another.
 
"Do you mean to tell me that you have no information for me at all!?" Fang's mind raged at the elder council. He was not one to show emotion. Anyone who knew him was well aware of that fact. But anger...anger was the one he had no issue with expressing on a very regular basis.

The council, in their infuriating manner, answered with a tone that sounded equally of ignorance and innocence. "We had no council representative to investigate this matter for us, Elder Fang. That is why we sent you."

Fang's brow narrowed as he communicated with the council. "Excuses! Nothing but excuses! You hide behind your titles and your diplomacy. Each of you is more than capable of investigating any matter that arises. Each of you has the ability to observe multiple worlds from your council seat. But instead of doing either of these you send out the only council member who has not grown lazy from his position!"

Fang was never one to hold back his feelings for the rest of the council. In his mind, individually they were fine. But as a group they were lazy procrastinating bureaucrats who enjoyed sending out the warrior to be the only one to do any actual work. The council did not enjoy being reminded of his opinion of them. "Use caution in your words, Fang. Your position can be taken from you quite easily."

They had played this game before. "Then so be it! Find another of my experience and alignment willing to go through these endless games. I will be more than happy to have my responsibility of guardianship reduced only to my home world, once more. Since we all know you cannot accomplish this task, I would suggest you be helpful to the cause you have assigned me. Find out something useful about this substance that has covered Ayenee."

With that, the elder broke his link with the rest of the council. They knew they would lag in the task he had given them. He also knew that, ultimately, they would remember that he was equally as much a member of the council as they were, and if they wanted this job done, they would be forced to do as he wanted.

Fang calmed himself and looked over to Swish. He could feel the tendrils of energy she used. He went and sat beside her, drawing SevenStars from the place on his belt and began to turn it slowly on the floor. "I certainly hope you are having better luck than I."
 
O but she was, just a little more luck though. She had so far found 3 places the Grey had not been able to touch, and all three places had one thing in common. The where old! They where the oldest buildings and places of gathering, they where the places where the magik of Ayenee first touched!....Ahh, another place, but o very small, her mind moved closer tell she could see the old weather beaten sign then hung from a bent pole....The Vampire Taver...The last letters where far to faded to see, but Swish remembered this place. So odd that the Grey had not been able to take the place where shadows always crept, where a thousand dark places in the endless beams use to hold so many a creatures of the realm....Swish twitched in her slumber, rolled to her back and murmured....

"The oldest of old, the beginning may hold the key..."
 
Fang raised a brow at the quiet words she spoke. "Beginning? You are not one to speak in riddles, Swish. At least not to one who knows how to interpret your mind."

He removed the single gauntlet from his right hand, uncovering the scars from thousands of years before, invoking a memory he couldn't bare to recall. He motioned toward the windows, utilizing a control over the elements he rarely took advantage of outside of combat. Then again, most of his abilities that weren't mentally based were ones he only used in a combat situation. The windows all softly closed and latched, activating an additional charm on the manor.

Once that was done, he turned his attention to Swish. "Please forgive the intrusion. Time could be crucial." He let his mind meet with hers, and made sure she knew what he was doing in the process. He reviewed what she had already seen, and followed her "movements" as she continued on.


"The beginning indeed. I will have questions for you when you are done with this journey, Swish." With that, he separated himself from her mind, and waited for her to awaken.
 
She heard him first, then felt his life force travel with her for a few blinks of time then fade back. Her mind moved through the forest, thick with the Grey and getting thicker. Abruptly she stopped going forward. Swish felt the energy vibe of one of her own kind, more then that, a litter mate, she also knew it was not Chesh. This was not good, no, not good at all! Swish beat a hasty retreat bringing her mind back to her body with such a swiftness that she jerked awake, started to tumble from the cushion, vanished, then reappeared sitting where she had once laid. She blinked her eyes slowly, tell the focused on his face. Giving a faint grin before speaking...

" I happen to like most riddles...This one however is not so much a riddle, more like Who and Why kind of thing..."
 
"Well then at least we have somewhere to start. This valley certainly holds true to the pattern of the other places you found. The powers we used in creating the wards and webs that protect this valley were as old as any of us. Now..." He stopped for just a brief moment while he reflected. The event of which he spoke had drawn together some of his oldest and dearest friends. He was the oldest of the clansmen present, and the second oldest of all those who had participated. He had a very large part in the guidance of the process, but never anticipated that so much time later, he would be the only one of them left. He shook off the feeling and continued. "...I am the only one left who understands what was involved in creating them."

He looked out toward the horizon, the direction of the old Vampire Tavern. "And to be honest, I would genuinely doubt if any others are around who had a hand in the creation of these places that are so well protected from this plague."

He motioned toward the windows, and the elemental force released them, again. Then he moved over to one and gazed out over the valley where he'd lived fo such a large portion of his life. "The rest of the Elder Council knows nothing. They have yet to even bother investigating it themselves. Until they learn something and figure out what they would like me to do, I am at a loss. So the choice is yours, Swish. What course of action would you like to take?"
 
With a sigh Swish leaped to the floor and padded over to the window, vanished and reappeared sitting in the windows frame.

"I think it best we head for The Tower...Chesh is there, so is Lady Light, maybe they know more about what will and wont work to push the Gray back...And since in my mind travel I felt another of my litter mates, one I can only assume is...Maul *This name flowed from her mouth like a disgusted growl*...We need to make sure that the entrapment sleep Lady Dark is in, is still going strong...The last thing we need is for that one to wake up!"
 
"As I said. The choice is yours. Since this valley..." He paused for only a moment, fighting off the flood of memories that would come with anything having to do with his old clan. "...was left void, I have become almost fully dedicated to my duties as an elder. That being the case, it is the guidelines of the Council that I will be following. Therefore, until they come up with some course of action they want me to take, or at least something they want me to figure out, I am merely visiting my old home."

The ancient warrior nudged the plate of food toward her. "Feel free to eat if you wish. Or take it with you, or whatever else you choose to do with it." He looked back out over the valley for a moment before turning back to Swish.

"If you have no objections, it has been a very long time since I was here. There is one thing I would like to do before we leave."
 
She could sense his sadness and it hurt her to se such a friend in pain. She leaned over and nudged his arm with her tiny cold nose, then peered up at him.

"Do what you feel you must do, and do not hurry on my account. The Gray has been here for many a years, I don't think anything drastic will happen should you take your time."


She turned and nibbled at the food, giving him the chance to think with out her prying him with questions about what he needed to do...He knew she would aid him any way possible, and it seemed the best way to do that right now was to just be here..
 
"Thank you, my friend. I appreciate your understanding. Still, I should not be gone all that long." With that, he jumped through one of the open windows. In a moment, a flash of light that Swish had seen many times before came from the elder as he changed.

Crossing the valley quickly, he first went to the lake that was situated next to the palace, and dove to the bottom for the first part of his task. He was there only briefly then returned to the surface, his eyes shining blue instead of red.

His next stop was the palace itself. Traversing the familiar passageways was something he could literally do without sight. In fact, he had done it many times. He made a stop in two different places while there. One was the inner most chamber, and his eyes shone a sparkling silver after leaving there. The other was at the very top of the palace itself, one of the many meeting places the clans had for countless discussions. Upon leaving there, his eyes shone green.

There was only one place left for Fang to go. It was a place he honestly thought he would never again see. Regardless, he was headed there now. The caves, where very few had ever stepped, held many memories for him. But it was not the memories that drew him to any of these places. He had a reason that had quite a bit to do with their current situation.

The caverns were expansive, and could go on for days of travel if one did not know exactly where they were intending to go, and how to get there. Thankfully, Fang had helped create the labyrinth of circular tunnels, dead ends, hidden passages, and connecting chambers. There was nowhere within them he could not get to, and nowhere he couldn't get out of. Still, he had but one destination in mind, and it took him very little time to arrive there.

He did what he'd come there to do, and then left. Again, his eyes glimmered a different hue than they typically did. This time, a deep purple light came from them. He quickly traveled back to the manor and changed back before opening the doors and motioning to the outside while looking over at Swish. "If you are ready, then we may go."
 
Last edited:
Swish ate the remainder of the food, then stretched her tired body out, tail tip twitching as nails dug into the window frames stone. With a soft sigh she curled up to bask in the suns rays tell her friends return.
Once again he was before her and ready to go. With a nod of her head she leaped from the window and spoke.

"Lead onward then my friend...."
 
Fang turned and began to move away from the manor. Once Swish was out, he let the door close behind him, then moved over to a small rock formation next to the large building. The rocks had inscriptions written all over them, carved at various times and for various reasons, but all with very specific purposes. He turned and looked at Swish.

"I had planned to simply travel by foot. But I discovered something while I was out. Speed is now of the essence." With that, Fang drew SevenStars from his side. The sword shimmered as it always did. Out of curiosity, Fang looked toward the nearest edge of the valley, where The Gray sat and seemed to wait. To his near delight, the corrupted mist retreated ever so slightly when the holy weapon was drawn. It wasn't much, and only because of his unique abilities was he able to even see it, but it happened.

Fang proceeded to draw a circle in the air above the rocks. The light trailing from the weapon stayed and the air within the shape crackled and flashed. In a moment, a portal opened, and the valley near to where the tower sat appeared at the other side. Along with the valley was the alicorn, flying in mid-air, seemingly waiting for something. The elder looked back to Swish once more. "We can get to the tower quickly from here, but I am needed in this place first. The portal opened in the air, I would suggest landing on the alicorn's back. You should go through first. As soon as I am through, the doorway will close. I do not believe even you could find your way out of the place between worlds without a great amount of assistance. That is precisely where you will end up if you are not through before it closes."
 
Swish made a mock look of irritation form upon her feline facial features, trying to keep her tone and the moment light.

"Portals are such hell on ones fur! And once again To the sky we will fly...Like a damned bird!...After all this travel I will need a damn good brushing! Chesh will laugh his tail off when he sees me all fluffed, tangled and wind blown!!"

She stuck her tongue out at him, then grinned the famous grin before leaping gracefully into the open portal to land with a small huff on the back of the alicorn.

"No offense meant O great flying one, but if cat's where meant to fly, we would have grown wings!"
 
The alicorn waited patiently in the spot wher eh eknew the open portal sat, though it could not be seen from this side. When the cat landed on his back, he turned his head. At her words, he huffed in amusement. "Then I believe you need to have a discussion with the one who opened it. Though I'm sure you well know, he has his reasons, whether he shares them or not."

Fang allowed his friend to jest. It was in her nature. Truthfully, it actually would have been somewhat amusing, were it not for the reason he chose to open the portal where he did. He was glad to know he wouldn't have to explain his lack of response to her.

After Swish went through, Fang wasted no time in joining her. He was soon aback of the alicorn, as well. The portal closed and he immediately pointed to a small group of travelers a good distance down in the midst of The Gray. "There, old friend. That is where we need to go."

The alicorn nodded and immediately started a controlled descent. Fang spoke to Swish as they moved. "I need to go into The Gray. Feel free to stay on the alicorn. He can hover above if you don not want to go in."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom