Fantasy The Covenant

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith began to panic a little, but seeing how Halk was reacting she fought though it. "Halk what we need to do is warn the others and fortify our champ, we are not experienced or prepared enough to take on the necromancers who would happy kill us all in order to become more powerful!" She grasped one of Halk's charged daggers before heading out ahead of him, not desiring to risk anyone she cared about getting caught by them. "...remove the lights, lock the doors, set the charms...remove the lights, lock the doors, set the charms...remove the lights, lock the doors, set the CHA-"


A sudden grasp of a hand caught Faith by surprise as she was drug fifteen feet into the woods, her muffled cries and screams inaudible by anyone in the area.


Several moments went by before Faith would be tossed to the ground, surrounded by darkness and laughter. A familiar face walked forward and grasped Faith's chin, "Faith, oh how lovely it is to see my dearest healer..."


"N-Nikolai..." she said before crying out a little as her right arm was slashed, her blood being collected from the wound quickly by a necromancer she didn't know, "You promised me you would leave me too myself."


"Tsk Tsk, you believed a lot of things my dear," he told her as she collected a bit of her hair in his hands and took in its scent, "I created the spell to permanently keep you here until my escape for a reason. I need you, I want you at my side, and I want you following my orders; the reason why I give you the BELIEF of space is because I know a happy partner is much easier to control than a unhappy one."


"Rot in hell," she spat, finally managing to pull her arm away when the necromancer took enough blood from her, "Why are you taking my blood?"


"No reason, mostly to insure that charmer doesn't think he can get away with interacting with you,"


"Leave him alone, what do you want from me?!"


Nikolai circled her as he continued speaking, "What I want from you, is to continue on with your game of house like nothing happened, make your town as mighty as you can, enough to attract others too it. Then when it is finished and all kinds of people come in...we will claim our necromancers...and the tools we need for the blood ritual."


"Murderer," she spat, but he simply shrugged it off.


"We don't murder, we simply help with the next stage of passing of life. Anyway...see you around my dearest..." All of the necromancers will have disappeared, almost as if they had never existed as no trace of them would be found after all the torches went out.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk tried to stop Faith from going out the door but it was too late, she had gone. He checked his wrist mechanism, he'd taken to calling it the multi-stabber. Multi-stabber because each blade had different effects. The one he currently had out was one that froze the tareget. A scratch would send shards of ice into the victims bloodstream, ones that worked their way into the limbs of the poor soul, immobilizing them. When not in use, its camoflauge runes blended into his skin, making it look like nothing was there. Halk didn't charge out after Faith, but instead observed his sphere. It whirred as a blue streak crossed its surface, Halk recognized it as Vytalas, but for about five minutes or so, the purpley-blue clouded its glossy surface. 'Damn,' he thought, 'there must be alot of them.' In time though, the purpley-blue faded, and what was left was green (halk assumed Faith) blue (Halk assumed Vytalas) and the last bit of the purple skull. Halk slowly eased open the trap door, seeing Vytalas and the other one standing around looking at eachother. Halk flicked open his tonfa-like baton and crept up to stand by Vytalas. The necromancer saw Halk, but Halk couldn't see Faith anywhere. He cursed under his breath. "Bruh... What the actual fuck is going on? Who the hell is this? Where the hell are the others? Goddammit..." Halk unsheathed his two daggers and threw them into the ground in front of him. The runed handles glowed, and the air between them shimmered. Halk hid behind the translucent barrier of magic, still glancing around nervously.

 

[minismurf]

Solomon noticed the new man and Zzrot once again went on the offensive but Solomon calmed him down as best he could. Judging by the mans actions and rued daggers, he assumed he was the charmer that had made the excellent house. He wasn't sure of the new mans intentions, Vytalas he trusted not to stab him in the back, even though that was a very big leap of faith, however this new man he didn't trust as much. He waited to see how Vytalas would respond, staying on the alert.

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Slowly Faith walked out of the shadows, her arm still bleeding from the Necromancer taking away her blood...but the blood instead of falling to the ground was moving along her arm and remaining against it, like the essence of Faith's existence still resided within it. Still the scent she knew would arose demons to visit their area, only time would tell when they would end up arriving. "Halk we need to get inside..." she said quietly when she finally saw him, her voice labored with exhaustion from her bloodloss, "The necromancers cornered me and took some of my blood...I'm working on healing the wound but right now demons will scent and eventually arrive here if we don't hurry."

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk looked over his shoulder at Faith and let loose a slew of cusses. The phrase 'swear like a sailor' isn't entirely accurate, engineers were pretty high up on the vocabulary as well. He noticed there was blood on her arm and he only swore more. He turned to the necromancer, stepping through his barrier he had made. He came away with a glossy, spiderweb-like covering. Concern for Faith and fear twisted his face into a dark scowl and gave him confidence he didn't usualy have. "You fucking listen you goddamn death punk." Halk pulled out some shackles with strange curling lines across the chains and slashes across the cuffs he had made and tossed them on the ground in front of the shady character. The skeleton familiar clattered angrily at him, but Halk ignored it. "You're going to put those on. You've killed people. You have one of two options; stick the damn cuffs on, or wake up later covered in a sheet of motherfuckin' stahlrim." Halk clicked his milti-stabber dangerously. "You might not know what that is. Ignorant blood-child. Enchanted ice. Harder than steel, and unable to be broken by anything except possibly purified corridium." He backed up a bit, still facing the necromancer and stood beside faith. He stuck her hand through the barrier the daggers made, the strange magic covering her arm and stopping the bleeding, rolling over her wound like murcury in a test tube. "Better hurry up. There's time to explain yourself later."

 

[LeSoraAmari]

Viper, Vytalas' snake familiar continued to hiss at Solomon but then honed its gaze to the bone familiar. "Yes, I thought you would recognise me.. Although, just because we know each other doesn't mean I won't attack you if need be" Vytalas stood there, still with his sincere tone as The vine spear on Mileenas arm began to twirl liike a drill, but Vytalas calmed her. "Why are you hear? Have you come to chain me up and bring me back to that psychotic brother of yours? I left to get away from you guys you know... You know this." Before he could say anything more, Halk stood next to him with a mechanical device attached to his wrist asking questions. "This guy is called Solomon, a necromancer.. And Nikolai' brother... Let's just say we know each other.." After saying that. Faith came over and Halk went over to her, healing her. "They took your blood? Well that isnt good.. Now we will never be safe unless we get it back.. Well, at least you are alive and well." Vytalas then sighed again as he looked at Solomon, Viper slid down Vytalas' body and stood next to him but to his left, as Mileena was stood at his right. "Halk.. I assume you have some sort of plan? Faith, as I can only assume Nikolai was there. Did he tell you his goal?"

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith's eyes moved to Vytalas, her gaze grim, "His goal is to escape the limbo an conquer the outside world...the blood he stole from me is to keep Halk away from me." Her gaze moved to Halk, her face and hair lit up by the glow of the barrier, "You cannot be near me again, Nikolai has entrapped me here permenantly, I can never escape limbo. If you stay connected with me he will make sure he does the same to you."

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk realized the necromancer still didn't put the shackles on. "Sit." He growled, the shackles jumped up and bound themselves behind the necromancers back, and the chain buried itself in the ground. "Don't bother escaping, you can't unlock those." Halk turned his attention back to Faith. "What do you mean? Why does he want to keep me, specifically, away from you? Why not Vytalas?"

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith looked away, something about her expression telling anyone in the room she did not really want to answer that question.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk pulled his daggers out f the ground and wiped his face, the web-like magic dispersing. "Dammit. This guy's been a thorn in my side the whole goddamn time I've been here, killing people, sending necros, disrupting my tests, and NOW he's fucking with my friends." The sphere made a whirring noise, a little streak of white light running up the center. Halk stopped. He looked down at the sphere hanging from his belt, then back at the ground, rubbing his chin. Then back at the sphere. Halk's gears were turning rapidly. His mind was working madly, and he got the childish gleam in his eye he usually did when he was thinking. Except this time, the childish gleam was accompanied by the fires of anger. Halk tossed a small metallic cylinder at Vytalis. "That unlocks the shackles. Keep it, you be the judge of what to do with this bastard." Halk's runed jacket glowed yellow, billowing out behind him in the breeze of limbo. The sun was setting slowly on the horizon, and not a soul other than the four was to be seen. Halk turned on his heel and strode off towards his workshop. "I've got work to do."

 

[minismurf]

Solomon sat down, shackled, "come on Zzrot" his familiar sat down next to him. He looked at Vytalas and the girl who'd been ambushed by his brother. "Soo, are you going to let me sit here for a long time, I've never really liked binding magic, but hey" he nodded at the house. "Maybe I'll be a good garden ornament" He smiled to himself.

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith walked after him and grasped his arm, "No, you don't," Faith spoke immediately as she tightened her grip on his arm, "You need to stay here, if you go out now alone there is a chance Nikolai, another necromancer, or a demon will catch and kill you. You need to remain here until morning with the group...please." Her eyes seemed to plead with him, begging him not to risk his life going out to his home alone when the sun was so close to setting. "You won't make it before the sun completely sets...I don't want you to get hurt."

 

[Alstromeria]

Halks expression darkened as he gently brushed her arm away. "I do. I've survived this long hiding in my little bunker. It's time I've done something more than just spend my time uselessly rambling and doodling on my walls." The sphere made another streak of white light. "There are things that need to be attended to. Things I've never imagined. But I'll deal with them in the best way I know possible." Some of the more jagged runes on Halk's sleeves glowed, and he jammed the charmed ice blade of his multistabber back into his wrist, the contraption dulling and matching the color of his skin. "I know how to take care of myself. Now I need to start taking care of others." Halk began the walk back to his home.


Faith's concern was misplaced. He did run into a magician on the way, but he turned and fled when Halk unsheathed his multi-stabber and his wrist lit up. Halk growled menacingly, stomping on his trapdoor a few tines to disable the runes and descended into it's strange depths.


Halk didn't eat. He didn't sleep. He was crafting. Working. Exploring. Except now, he had a specified goal. He swept everything to the floor off of three tables, setting his sphere on the center one, and scraps of metal and notes of protective charms on the others. He used his hammer, a few different chisels, a saw, bits of wood, some clamps to hold the pices together. He pounded and shaped, molded and sculpted, charming and enchanting this or that, but once every five minutes he would go back to the center table and stare at the sphere intently. Then he'd snap out of it and return bustling about his workshop. Halk grit his teeth. Sparks flew as he worked feverishly, smacking things around, all the whie being silent, pensive. His jaw was set in a straight, squarish line. He stayed there for a long while, his mind working in so many ways that he lost track of time.

 

[minismurf]

Solomon, who was starting to get bored decided to spend some time. "Well, since it seems like I'll sit here for a while, I might as well catch some ZZZs, Zzrot, keep guard will you? make sure that Vytalas doesn't try anything" Zzrot stood up and turned towards Vytalas, scythe ready for anything. Solomon then fell asleep.

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith felt useless, her expression filled with defeat when she headed inside and contemplated what had just transpired. She wasn't a fighter, wasn't a tool marker...she was a healer...someone whose use came when people she cared about came home to her dead or dying. "I'm so useless," she cried, jumping as Raine hopped into their home through the window and fearfully snuggled into Faith's arms, her fur raised out of fear of the dangers that were awaiting them if they traveled too far outside in the darkness.

 

[LeSoraAmari]

Vytalas stood there as he caught the metal cylinder and stuffed it in a pocket dimension "I don't think I will be releasing you anytime soon..." He sighed as Viper hissed at the bone familiar, alarmed by it's actions, acid fell from Viper' fangs and the ground that soon became home to the acid began to burn away and leave a hole, sizzling could be heard. "I suggest you tell this.. Disgusting creature to put its scythe away and to stop pointing it at me... It isn't intimidating in the slightest and is just annoying me. And it most definitely isn't helping you in this situation, Solomon." Vytalas sighed as he walked over to Solomon, his familiars at his side as he put The shackles on Solomons hands as they glowed a vibrant blue, which showed that the binding spell had worked. "charmer magic is a very wondrous thing.." He chuckled as he then looked at Faith. "What exactly would you like me to do with him?"

 

[minismurf]

Zzrot understood that now would be the worst time to fight, with his master asleep, so he decided to let the necromancer bind his master despite his offensive words. As Vytalas was binding him, Solomon whispered with a grin. "We're not so different, you and I, Vytalas" and then he went back to sleep.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk lifted up a small part of what he had made. It was a bit of metal he had worked into a hand. Halk dropped it with a clang, it was very heavy. The fingers flopped over, lifeless. Halk scowled and ran his hands over the heavily runed fingers, each of the three segments on all five fingers had a strengthen user rune. Which was strange, because this hand could't be worn. Halk sighed and tossed it onto the center table. The sphere blurbed out a few noises and settled down, going back to its lucid, clear, blemishless surface. All the runes Halk made on it soaked into it and dissapeared, but it remained enchanted. Such was Halks design. What time was it? Nevermind, work was to be done.


Halk ran his hand over the palm of the hunk of metal he had left, plastering a blast rune onto it. He grunted, realizing his mistake. He then took a different bottle of quicksilver and dripped a bit onto the back of the hand. The silvery liquid curled its way into a royal design, looping around the fingers, curling down what was considered a wrist. Halk stuck the cap back on the bottle and swirled it around a little, admiring his work. The quicksilver hardened, and glistened in the dim light of his home. What was the time? Where was the sun? Not of importance.


Halk rolled his shoulders, cracking his knuckles. He limbered up, then began working with the metal again. What was the time? What was happening in the world above? That was none of his concern. "I've got shit to do." He told himself, "Stay focused Halk." The sphere gurgled out a few words. "I've got shit to do." Halk stopped. "Shut your mouth." he threw over his shoulder. "Stay focused Halk." A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. The sphere was beginning to understand language by listening to him talk to himself.

 

[LeSoraAmari]

"We are nothing alike Solomon. You are a craven thirsty for power.. Always have been and that will never change. Don't ever compare me to you." Vytalas sighed as he called back Mileena as now only Viper was summoned, wrapping himself around Vytalas' arm. "Yes, we may both be Necromancers.. But I don't desire to join that little cult your brother had going on.. They all deserve to rot in hell, the crimes they have committed are unforgivable.. Not long ago you were part of that 'cult' so I don't trust you.. You have even performed the ritual for gods sake!" Viper continued to hiss at the bone familiar but the hisses and spits of acid got worse as Vytalas' anger increased, after a minute of ranting. Vytalas cooled. "i will not let you torment me... So just he quiet."

 

[minismurf]

Solomon gave up on trying to sleep since he found it more interesting to conversate with Vytalas instead. "Oh please, you're mixing me with my brother, he's the one who wants to escape this place by brute force, me on the other hand, could find it to make a living here" He nodded towards the house Halk had made. "And it seems you're thinking the same, and don't be too harsh on my brother, sure he is very powercrazy, but that's what happens to the weak inside this void, it drives them mad" Zzrot was starting to find it quite amusing, dodging the Vipers acid oh so graciously.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk had made another hand. It was the mirror image of the one he had previously made. "Good work. Good work." He set it on the table beside the sphere. "Good work," it repeated. Halk held up one of the hands next to one of his and wiggled his fingers. "This is a hand. Hand. Hand." "Hand," the sphere repeated. Halk smiled and set it down. Now to work on the forearms.


The forearms took considerably longer. Again, he made two mirror images, but unlike the hands, they had protect runes on them. Heavy protect runes, these ones were some of the most powerful he had made, they were linked to the blast protection runes in the hands. If one could count the layered swirls and curves, you would see that along with blast resist runes, there were poison, shock, paralyze, fire, ice, water, earth, physical, death, corrosion, decay, and charm resist symbols. The charm resists were added last. The runes covered the gray reflective metal almost entirely, the only parts you could see poking out under the ornate surface were nearer the middle of the forearm. The forearms were especially large, even bulkyer than the Maegor guys. Halk smiled, and tried to stab it with one of his un-charmed daggers. The dagger broke. He tried cutting the forearm with an un-charmed saw. The saw broke. Halk smiled, and placed the forearm in a safe he had made, along with one of his shock rocks. He rubbed the rune and closed the door. An audible BANG was heard, and he opened the door. The forearm still did not have a scratch on it. Halk allowed a bit of a grin to cross his lips. Again, why he was runing the body parts was still anyones guess, they forearms were solid hunks of metal, they could not be worn.


Halk hefted the forearm over to the table and slammed it down. He attached the right hand to this arm. Halk stood the forearm up next to the sphere and pointed to his, posing in a similar manner. "Sheild." Halk said, "This is a sheild." The sphere hesitated, then bleeped out "Sheild." Halk grinned and looked at his waterclock that was set against the wall. The sun should be coming up about now. Halk covered the clock with a blanket, time could wait.


Halk attached the other hand to the other forearm and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Keep moving," he mumbled to himself. The sphere blinked white and spoke, "Stay focused Halk." Halk's dark expression lightened a bit, the sphere seemed like it could use the words it heard repeated. "Heh. You're a fucking miracle. You know that?" The sphere made a whirring sound in responce.

 

[minismurf]

@Alstromeria Exposition, Exposition, Exposition xD

 

[LeSoraAmari]

Vytalas stood quietly as he listened to Solomon speak. Vytalas sighed and replied "All Necromancers that have performed that vile ritual are the same. You are no different, since you performed it." Vytalas paused as Viper kept spitting venom at Zzrot, he was only doing this because it amused him, for if he wanted to hit him, he would have. Vytalas looked at Solomon dead in the eyes. "Just because you left the group doesn't mean you aren't as dangerous. Because you are. I know more than anyone here what you are capable of, you should take care to remember that" he then looked towards the house, sensing charmer magic at work. And a lot of it, he looked at Viper and nodded, dispelling him so now only Vytalas stood there with no familiar. "Since we are on this topic, you should be sure not to anger me... You too, know what I am capable of... My abilities weren't unheard of in that cult after all.. I'm surprised no one has come looking for me. May I ask.. Have you seen any other necromancers around these parts?"

 

[minismurf]

Solomon looked at Vytalas, a little dissappointed at his ignorance. "Oh come on Vytalas, that ritual ain't anything special, it's just how the world works, the strong survives and the weak doesn't" Zzrot was starting to get bored of the game and decided to instead go and inspect the house, however still keeping an eye on the Viper to make sure it wouldn't shoot him in the back. "And yes, I certanly know about your level of Summoning, between you and me so were you the best of us at that subject, and as for your question, yes, I did feel the presence of a couple of our brethren just recently, however it seems they're gone now, but who knows what might be lurking around" He said the final words with a grin on his face.

 

[Alstromeria]

More time passed. That was all Halk knew. He wanted to remove the blanket from the waterclock, but he resisted. "Hey shithead," He said to the sphere as he made the hands more limber by attatching them to the forearms with multiple joints, "You're watching right? Pay attention. This shit's important." He clanked around some more, then propped up the arm, making it move this way and that. "Yea? Good?" Halk said, moving his arm in a similar manner. The sphere whirred. Halk's arm slipped and the pieces of charmed metal fell on the table with a big thud, making Halk jump and cuss. "Pay attention shithead," the sphere said. Halk looked at it as a bit of white light curled its way up the side. He smiled and shook his head. The light curled into a mouth much like Halk's and grinned lopsidedly. Halk stopped, shocked. He didn't expect the sphere to catch onto his plan so fast.


"You understand this?" Halk asked the sphere. "Good work," it replied, "Keep moving." Halk's grin widened. "Son of a bitch, you do! This is great. This is wonderful! Listen..." Halk yanked a chair out from under a pile of randomness that was on top of it and scraped it against the floor, sitting down in it backwards, legs straddling the back, arms folded over the top. "Do you know what you are? Yes or no?" Halk waited. The sphere hesitated. "No." was its answer. Halk rubbed his arms excitedly. "This is to be expected, I should have prepared more..." He tried, but he could not wipe the grin off his face. He had done it, he had made the first artificial familiar. "Do you know who I am?" Halk asked. The sphere thought a bit. "Halk." "Yes yes, but do you know who I am?" The sphere was silent. Halk shivered excitedly, even though it was very warm in his bunker. "Let's start with you. You are made of metal, quicksilver, magic, de solidified runes, and some of the most advanced charms I can come up with." The sphere was still silent. "You are about four years old. I first created you when I was fourteen years old. You have a conception of time yes?" The sphere promptly answered. "Yea." Halk was giddy with pleasure, it was even taking his dialect into account. "You're older than that if you count the time you spent in my head as an idea. In total, you are eight years old." The sphere whirred. "Eight years old." it repeated. Halk continued. "You are somewhat of a familiar. A familiar is a creature summoned by a magician. You were made by me, that's technically summoned. But I don't view you as a familiar, I view you as my child." The sphere clicked. "Child. Familiar. Good work Halk." the sphere was getting the hang of talking now, but it still had a ways to go. "I did not make you to serve me. You're the first completely man-made familiar in history. I made you because I needed to test my abilities, because I needed something to do. I've given you somewhat of an intelegence. Now all I need to do for you is give you a better way to use it." The sphere was silent for awhile. "Work. I know you make good work. I watch." Halk was elated. "Yes! Yes! I also want to teach you how to be a charmer. I'll enchant things, you watch." The sphere blipped out a few noises. "You enchant good," it replied, using its newfound vocabulary, "You make. I child, I make too." Halk nodded. "Well. I'll teach you everything I know about enchanting. You need to use it to make life better for other people. Understand?" "I understand," the sphere said.