Fantasy Natural Selection (Fantasy)[New Members Welcome]

[Javax]

The shadowy figure left without a trace, which made the wolf grateful. That was one less stranger staying within the vicinity. She hadn't gone far when she heard rustling of the vegetation nearby. When the hybrid saw the animalistic human in the bushes, she simply walked past without any acknowledgement towards him. The assassin had had enough tonight.


Once she arrived to the camp once again, she stayed on the outskirts, staying just along the boundary of the border that Ether created and where the firelight began dissipating. Sitting down, Roxii shouldered off her bow and laid it in her lap as she leaned her back against the trunk of a tree. As the others began drifting off into unconsciousness, the wolf stayed awake, unable to sleep. She couldn't risk falling asleep so close to some people that she hardly knew. So she stayed alert through the night...

 

[Morgrim]

Shall we continue or wait for a few more responses?)

 

[AnimusLight]

(Here's a shitload of backstory for Jass the young-ass-noob knight. @Morgrim Made you the city name for where the Verdant Knight's Headquarters is, if that's fine - I can still change it though if you want. Location is close to Dunheim with a couple of towns in between the two cities.)


A dream huh?


The city of Doncaster is bursting with life. The sun's rays shines through the open windows of the tavern. Laughter roars from the tavern; a sign swinging above the door says, "Swords & Shields," in terrible handwriting. Inside the friendly tavern, is full of people, both adventurers and residents of Doncaster. A party of eight knights sit around a large wooden table with ale and food on plates scattered around its worn-out surface. A young Jass, age 18, sits on top of the table; he was telling a story about his small squad's victorious quest to get rid of a hoard of minor demons from terrorizing a mining town. At his side were two of his closest friends and the rest were fellow rookie knights. The eight of them all went through training together to become a knight and graduated at the same time; that was only a few months ago. They were already put into groups with other knights to do request sent by people in higher position. The eight naive knights thought they were doing great things for Landfill. The Jass here wouldn't even imagine the trouble he would be forced in a couple of experienced years from now and how him


"You know what one of the miners said when Gavin fell in a pile of coal?" Jass imitates a gruff old man voice, "Sonny, you look like the night."


"Ew Jass, that was a terrible joke," complains his female friend. Elizabeth was his friend when he first joined as a kid. She was skilled with a rapier and would poke multiple holes in her enemies before they could even lay a hand on her. The female knight scrunched up her face with joking disgust. Jass bats her playfully on the side of her arm. His best friend, Gavin, groans loudly, "Jassur Batal, you evil man. You said you would never mention about me falling in that pile of coal. Evil I tell yah. Evil." He chugs the last bit of his ale.


"So sorry you can't see in your new expensive armor, Sir Gavin," mocks Jass in a voice that they knew sounded like their past instructor. His friend growls with a grin, "You bastard." Gavin grabs Elizabeth's drink and flings whatever leftover liquid was in it.


"Hey!" Gavin dashes away from the table but Jass is already behind him. The two try to pull at each other's faces. The other knights laugh at the two jokers. Elizabeth clears her throat and shakes her head, "You boys are like children. Knights? I say little boys playing with sticks and pretending to be hero."


Gavin clutches his heart, "You wound me, my love." She laughs coming to him as she pulls her into a kiss.


Jass makes a disgusted grunt, "Get a room you two." Elizabeth only winks at him in response. His friends have been dating each other for a year now. He swears he can see marriage in a few years.


The young knight remembered he has a task to do. He doesn't know that this task will earn him and Gavin consideration to become elite knights in a few years. Jass heads to the door. "Hey, Jass, you going off to get a partner of your own. I've seen you fool around with those maids that work in the Hall. Come on and tell meeee," says Gavin, still clinging onto his girlfriend. The young knight laughs, "Shush, man. Don't tell the others," motioning to the other knights bantering at the table. "See you around okay?" "See you, Jass!"


The knight opens the tavern door. Man, did he missed them... Don't get sentimental. The sky was filled with clouds pouring rain onto the cobblestone street. People were heading towards the square. Loud voices were being shouted. Hateful. Angry. Shouts. "You murdering monster!"


"Kill her!" "Where are the others?" Jass looks down at his hands, now rough from fighting and training for days and nights. Why must the nightmare jump here?


He follows the people towards the square, pulling the cowl over his head to shield himself from being known. Wooden scaffolds sit in the center. There, on the top, is Elizabeth - more mature and fully grown into a woman - on a chopping block. Her eyes were emotionless, not even looking at the crowd throwing insults at her. The man behind her yells, "Now, where are the others, bitch?" He pulls her hair up, "You and your squad have been deemed criminals against Landfill. You have mercilessly butchered a whole town of innocent people. What do you have to say in your defense?"


Her eyes come back to life with rage. She spits, then grinding her teeth at the man, "You are no heroes! Landfill has no heroes! No saviors! Nothing! People like you are false protectors of the people!" She scans the crowd, "Boys, if you are there! I have no time left but you can make things right! Remeber-" Her face is pushed down, revealing her neck to the executioner. The guy spares no time to swing down the blade, decaptiating the head cleanly off the body. The man pushes her off the chopping block and the crowd cheers. "Justice has been done!" "Bring more of the monsters!"


This city was full of monsters. Those people asking for bloodshed. They were no better than them. Jass holds back his want to scream and fight everyone in the crowd including the guards on the scaffold. He doesn't even know where Gavin is and here he is watching their one mutual beloved friend say her last words. Fuck them - those who believe they have the power to throw their faults onto others.





Jass jolts out of his sleep when morning comes.

 

[NoLongerExistsHere]

Dream begins:


Ryu, a currently ten year old neko, looked at his burning home. Who could have done this?


"Mommy?! Daddy?!" He shouted, looking for them, bodies littered the street there wasn't a soul left alive. He came upon the bodies of his parents and felt like throwing up, there they were dead and looked to have been tortured.


"Do you like it?" A femine sounding voice said, Ryu turned around to see his demon friend, Lillif standing there. Lillif was a blonde male with a surprisingly girly look to him.


"You did this?" Ryu's voice cracked.


"Yes I did it for you! I heard you say you wish they died and I didn't know who you were talking about so I killed them all! I love you Ryu can't you see I did this to prove it to you!" Lillif's violet eyes shone as he spoke his undying passion for Ryu.


"No! I didn't want this!" Ryu cried.


"It's because of her isn't it?! Ryme, she's the reason you don't love me! She was always getting in our way of true love so I made sure to kill her!" Lillif growled, spitting Ryme's name like it was venom in his mouth.


"No! No! I'm going to kill you Lillif!" Ryu screamed, rushing towards him, fist cocked back. Only for Lillif to teleport behind him and twist his wrist behind his back.


"Tsk, tsk you shouldn't be doing that, my love. We'll meet again don't worry but for now, tah" Lillif stated and disappeared. Ryu fell to the ground and screamed in anger and sadness at losing everything.





Ryu jolted awake at the nightmare he's been having ever since that day. He's been having it every night. He hated that man for all the pain he caused.


"One day, one day I'll kill him" Ryu mumbled.

 

[shadowz1995]

"Hm....great. It would seem Jassur isn't the only one people want dead now. Just what I needed." Ether turns his back and gives Ana a comforting clasp on the shoulder and a nod to ensure her that everything was ok. He managed a tired smile into the gesture as well as he headed back to the camp in exhaustion. Ether enters his own barrier and props up against a tree some distance away from the fire. He wanted to be nowhere near all the new individuals who had joined as his patience had already taken a toll today. He settles in and rubs his arms for some warmth before slipping into a trance he liked to call Fool's Death. A half conscious state where he could technically get some sleep but still be alert of his surroundings, his thralls detections, and his barrier picking up any further intruders, Like the one who entered recently while the conversation with the shadow mage had been using. Ether had taken notice that Roxii did not appear to want to sleep but then again it was expected. He slips into a his dreamless Fool's Death until the events of the morning transpire

 

[Morgrim]

The two sun's rise over the horizon providing ample light for the party, and if that is not enough to wake the sleeping members, the sounds of birds would lure them out of their dreams. Morgrim wakes with a tangled mess of bed head, and his eyes look even more tired then normal. He yawns, and yawns some more, and then even a bit more. It's a long series of contagious sounds, but he stops to catch his breath and stretch out his sore muscles. "All right, time to get up everybody, we've got a bit of a ways to go now." He says and he pulls out some dried fruits and oats to munch on as a snack. "Same rules as last night, and same jobs too. Find some food, cook it up, and then pack up camp, then we head straight for Dunheim to take on the fat bastard." Morgrim announced to them all planning it out just as much for them as it was for himself.

 

[shadowz1995]

Ether's eyes slowly open as the chirps of birds accompanies the dawn. It seemed nothing further had happened during the night. Silently thanking whatever Gods may exist, Ether stands and stretches his limbs. He runs a hand through his messy black hair and lets out a sigh. As Morgrim awakes from his slumber and lets out a series of yawns, he gives the group guidelines as to how to move now in the morning and reminded them of their goal. Ether walks over to Ana and nudges her gently with a smirk upon his face. "Hey Ana. Kinda need my cloak back sweetheart."

 

[Anaxileah]

Ana smiled faintly when Ether clasped her on the shoulder, but her smile quickly faded as he walked back to the campsite. She sat down beside the tree she stood at and fell asleep quickly, extremely exhausted. In the morning, she heard Morgrim's command, but was still sleepy and didn't get up. Then she jolted awake when Ether was beside her asking for his cloak. She looked up at him questioningly. Cloak? I never took his cloak... She then looked at her shoulders and realized she was wearing it, then blushed a bright green. "Oh...Sorry." She took the cloak off and handed it to him with one hand, then tried concealing the blush with the other.

 

[AnimusLight]

(*cough* @Anaxileah

Ether watches Roxii leave the camp and sighs to himself. He quickly stands up and strips off the cloak he had always worn to conceal his identity. He carefully covers Ana with the cloak before walking off in the direction ...

*cough*)
Jass takes a deep breath, rubbing a hand over his face. It stays spread over his eyes and mouth before returning back to his side. He slowly breathes out, calming himself from the nightmare. He hasn't been getting them for a long time; why now? He gets up, putting his cloak on and sheathing his large weapon. He made up his mind to not dwell on the past and regret again. He's already done that and it didn't go well in the past. The former knight is stronger than he was when he was younger; not oblivious to the corrupted power of people from higher control.


When Morgrim mentions about cleaning up camp and getting food, Jass lets out a sigh of relief, noticing still some wood leftover from last night. He could clean up camp with the two guys. The mercenary stretches his sore limbs; let's hope today isn't eventful as yesterday.

 

[Anaxileah]

(whoops)

 

[Anaxileah]

(fixed it)

 

[shadowz1995]

"Well I imagine you didn't notice that I put it on you like a blanket while you were asleep then? You even walked up to Roxii and I wearing it hahaha. Just how sleepy are you?" Ether chuckles and offers the alchemist a hand. He notices Jassur stirring to consciousness as well and he would get to helping him as soon as he got Ana on her feet. He raises an amused eyebrow and his smirk becomes an amused grin as she quickly realizes she had been wearing and is seemingly embarrassed by it. She blushes green? How different haha "Hahaha no need to be embarrassed. Cute green blush though. Never seen that before."

 

[Anaxileah]

Ana's blush increased in intensity, since the weird color had been noticed. She wouldn't be able to tolerate people finding out about her lizard capabilities, so she just kept quiet and took Ether's offered hand, standing up beside him. She saw Jassur getting up out of the corner of her eye and gestured to him. "Go ahead and help Jassur out, he looks distressed." She tried changing the conversation and attempted smoothing down her wild mop of bright green hair.

 

[shadowz1995]

"Alright alright hahaha." As the necromancer pulls her to her feet he lightly pokes her forehead before turning to go help Jassur with the camp. "We are all weird in our own right Ana. You're hanging out with two necromancers, a banished knight, and a shady assassin. Believe me when I say, I think we would be the last people on earth to judge you for...whatever you got going on. It's why I decided to remove my cloak. I mean hell, if this strange band of people couldn't accept me then who could right?" Ether turns his back and goes over to Jassur, with his cloak folded over his shoulder. "Hey Jass. How can I help my fallen knight broth-" Ether's eyes widen in alarm as he hears the sound of thundering hooves approaching the camp. He didn't even need the barrier for that. He turns around and grabs Ana and pulls her behind Jass and himself. His thralls fill the forest with alarming screeches as they approach and Ether rallies them to his position. When the sound becomes a sight, Ether quickly realizes that this a small legion of men at the command of the one knight in front. Ether's hand quickly flies to his sword and he grips the handle tightly. Ether quickly dawns the cloak to hide his identity from being further seen by these men.

 

[catspit]

((Are we already on the move?))

 

[Anaxileah]

(No it's morning and we're getting ready to go)

 

[Morgrim]

Yep, we are on the move, though with a little bump in the road.))


Morgrim was in no mood for new arrivals at this time, and certainly not these racist bastards. He recognized the sigil and a sub-division of the Silver Legion. Being what Morgrim is he had more than a few tangles with them in the past. But Morgrim was still alive, and his laboratory always had a fresh brood of new experiments at his disposal. "Don't try talking to me like I don't know what you are. Between you and me you are the real monster between the two of us." Morgrim had secretly been activating a trap. One wrong move of those knights part and they would be easy pickings. He grabbed his staff, though let the magic in it remain dormant. "now should I even bother asking what you want, because I believe it wouldn't be hard to guess." His voice dripping with venom.


It was then Innocence came up the the front of the party, he wasn't sure what to say, just watching to see if anything bad would happen. He didn't wanted there to be bloodshed, he was innocent and hated seeing such things, though with a group of people like this it could hardly be avoided. "Jass,... Jass what's going on.....?" Why does everyone look so angry....?"

 

[catspit]

Nitiri woke to the sounds of loud-ass birds and people getting ready to leave. Slightly pissed that she wasn't able to sleep in (cats love to sleep) and that no one had woken her up to tell her they were leaving, the Khajiit stood and stretched her arms far above her head. Curling her tail and letting out a large yawn, Nitiri untied her horse and mounted him.


She followed the rest of the group with her ears laid back against her head. These people had taken her money and now the Khajiit had Roxxi 'looking after her.' Bristling in annoyance, she nudged her horse slightly with her foot. That reminded her, the horse she had paid for needed a name. Nitiri had never been fond of animals, she thought they were smelly and useless. But nonetheless, the stallion needed a name.


Nitiri decided it would be Annoyance.


((Has a nice ring to it, dontcha think?))

 

[NoLongerExistsHere]

Ryu saw the group of soldiers and smirked. Perfect. Their target was suppose to be among those men. Now to find a one named Callous, he was said to be dangerous and always travel with the soldier. Ryu and some of his guild members had been tracking them for sometime to find that they had set up camp not to far from this camp of misfits. He quickly jumped down from the tree he was on and moved the branch higher, that was the signal for his archers in hiding to get ready. He had many of his guild hiding among the forest and just outside the barrier as to not be detected.


"You have a man named Callous among your midst do you not?" Ryu asked Wilhelm, walking up to him.


"Because we have need of him, oh and I don't mean these people have need of him, I'm from a different group entirely. I just need to know if Callous is in your troop" Ryu stated.


(callous is a random name of a throw away oc I can kill off and if this isn't okay to go ahead and do something with my guild I am truly sorry, I just couldn't wait and I will delete this right away if it's not okay)

 

[Anaxileah]

Ana made a squeak noise as Ether pulled her behind him, and then observed what had been going on. All of Ether's thralls had become their defense towards a group of knights in armor. The main knight requested that they accompany him to the King and that they wouldn't be harmed if they complied. She stood behind Ether, her hands on her throwing knives, prepared to take out as many as necessary. "Morgrim? What do we do?" She called out to him, flicking her gaze between him and the night, her piercing green eyes glaring at the knights.

 

[AnimusLight]

(*tears* Innocence, you small thing)


Ether approaches Jass while he was rolling up the bedroll. He stands up straight, a bit ticked about being called 'fallen knight' but he liked Ether so he won't bother. The noise of hooves reaching the camp tenses Jass. He unsheathes his weapon, dropping the rolled up bedroll close to extinguished campfire. If they are on horses, then they are an organized group. The mercenary prepares himself for whatever is beginning to close in on them. Ether pulls Ana and the two stand by him.


The sight of the man in full armor makes Jass grip the hilt of his blade while knights show up behind the leader. The Silver Legion, Morgrim mentioned; great. Even the Verdant Knights were wary of them. Morgrim questions them coldly and Innocence seems frightened. "Quiet, Innocence. Let Morgrim handle this," he tells the shadow calmly.


The invitation sounded so suspicious and Jass didn't want to trust a man who's associated with the Silver Legion.

 

[Javax]

(Don't leave me behiiiiinnd~)





The assassin had stayed conscious throughout the night, keeping her gaze on the camp's surroundings. Not much had happened while the others were asleep; just the flying creatures rustling through the tree, the howling of wolves and the like, and the scampering of creatures ranging from small rodents to large animals, such as elk and deer. Other than that, it was silent and peaceful.


As the fingers of dawn began to crawl up the horizon, the hybrid was still wide awake, though the same couldn't be said of her comrades. She couldn't blame them; they have all had a long day yesterday alone. Not to mention their individual issues the previous days. The wolf knew that the campers would need energy in this morning, so she elected herself to be the hunter again.


The wolf hybrid pushed herself up to her feet, grabbing an arrow and notching it into her bow. Sh began making her way into the forest, searching for any kind of life that would prove to be edible. Her ears were perked, and her nose was capturing every scent. There was a rabbit nearby. Two of them, actually. As a lone hunter, that would have to do. She followed the trail a ways until she saw them, just beyond the brush. The hybrid crouched down and grabbed another arrow, taking aim with both arrows to hopefully hit both rabbits with one shot, that way she wouldn't have to chase down the other.


Roxii breathed out slowly and just as she was about to let go, the roaring sound of hooves battering the ground was heard. They were heading too close to her and the rabbits. Once the horses were close enough, the rabbits scurried away. The hybrid cursed the horses, but when they began riding nearby, she noticed that men rode on them. They were heading straight for the camp. The assassin took note of the banner they carried: the Silver Legion. The elf cursed under her breath. Anything that had to do with the Silver Legion was not good, especially with them heading towards her comrades. She knew fairly well that she couldn't outrun horses, so she stuck to the shadows and followed silently, making her way back to the camp.


The knights made it to the camp before her, just as she expected. They circled the camp and Roxii knew she couldn't make her way to them undetected. She opted to stay on the outskirts, hiding amongst the shadows. The wolf elf would intervene when—or if—necessary. Fortunately, her comrades had already awoken, but dealing with knights first thing in the morning was never a pleasant surprise. Allowing a low, almost silent growl resonate in the back of her throat, she kept an arrow notched in her bow and waited for the opportunity to strike.


@Everyone around, I guess

 

[NoLongerExistsHere]

"I have nothing to do with this!" Callous shouted.


"Yes he is not with us, more like we have a contract out on him. You've heard of us yes? We're the Dark Souls" Ryu smirked, he found his target, suddenly an arrow coming from from the trees pierced Callous's head, killing him instantly.

 

[NoLongerExistsHere]

Ryu took his scythe from his back, preparing for a battle along side the rest of the assassins. Ryu was forced to dodge an attack while he himself attacked the soldiers, his men letting loose arrows and some coming out of hiding to attack the soldiers while he did the same. Ryu kept up the pressure, as did the others, killing quite a few of the men in the process. Some of his guild members hopped from tree to tree, letting arrows fly or just attacking from above then going back into the trees. It looked like a war zone was going on currently, people were getting killed left and right on both sides.

 

[Morgrim]

"Come on, let's use the confusion to our advantage and get the hell outta here!" He shouted to his comrades while grabbing only bare essentials: a little bit of food and water plus his sleeping roll, and then ran into the forest. The tree's would provide good cover, and make it difficult for their fat horses to move easily in the canopy and flora. Morgrim didn't bother looking back, he knew his group was smart, and that they would likely do the same thing so long as rage and stupidity doesn't get the better of them. A quick image of Ether and Roxii came to mind and he laughed a quick, loud shout of amusement. Just a little bit longer and they would be out of this. Innocence though, he just vanished, not willingly he did not possess the ability to turn invisible. The bloodshed and violence was too much for him to handle, and as a soul his life force is tied directly to his emotion. He would be gone, lost again for some time until he can feel the warm hands of peace embracing him again. Who knows how long before he returns.