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Die Katze der Zeitalter (Marakai)

Started by Wrathwyrm, June 13, 2017, 08:24:34 AM

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Wrathwyrm

Well, this was the pits.  He was again in this woods, but right now...it was raining.

Often, he was found to wander, having no plans and no particular direction.  This solitary creature had been kicking about on his own for years now, keeping himself occupied by whatever came his way, whether it was an invitation for mischief or destruction.  He was the black magus, Garlock The Destroyer.  Right now, he was clad in a black armored torso with a midnight-blue mantle, black clothing with a brown leather 'claw' belt with leather travel boots...and black metal gauntlets that matched the dark helmet face-shadowing helmet he was wearing.

Clothes don't make the man, and he wasn't even a man.  He was a tom.

Garlock The Destroyer was not human, and as such did not think like one, but he had lived among humans as a familiar with the gift OF the human tongue and understanding.  His values differed, is all.  Yes...such as the event which caused him to hate humans with a passion...  Well, all but one, at this time.  It wasn't known, of course, but Garlock was given his familiar-hood by a human wizard, Zan Goldswith.  That man was killed by complete accident, and the sudden shock of it enacted an obscure legend within Garlock: The curse of the Bakeneko.

When a cat is old enough, or is consumed by woe and hate from whatever source, its tail will split, and it will become...a terrifying spiritual being.  Right now, Garlock was in the shape of a human, though he was but a cat.  His REAL form was horrible.  At the moment, however, he was in these rainy woods, and part of him had wondered if someone he knew was still around here, a ghost by the name of Raven.  She was not, at least not now, and Garlock was left mulling over a recent contact - Zan's niece, Rena - in the rain.

Marakai Trin

Elsewhere in the dense evergreen forest of Niahi, a certain pale, thin,  and lethal man had the misfortune of stumbling upon a spacious clearing amidst the pines. At first, it seemed rather ordinary, just a large open area of dead pine needles surrounded by huge, ancient trees.

Nothing smelled out of sorts, and that was the problem. This damnable rain made everything smell like damp wood and dead pine needles, and it obscured the scent of danger. So when a draconic wyrm burst from the earth, lured by the subtle vibrations created by Kranaths footsteps, the Dragon was caught unawares.

What a horrible way to start a day.

The explosion of earth had knocked Kranath skyward as the great wyrm emerged, and a quick adjustment righted his body so that he could properly see the beast below him. His red eyes narrowed to slits as he reached backward for his daikatana, unsheathing it and twisting in a single motion to cut clean through the thick trunk of the nearest pine.

Another flash of movement pulled his wakizashi from it's sheath at the small of his back, and this he stabbed into the now freed trunk to anchor himself. Throwing all his weight to one side, he was able to direct the trees fall.

Directly onto the head of the massive wyrm.

The resulting crash echoed loudly throughout the forest, followed by the raucous screech of the flailing wyrm, it's head crushed by a tree-sized club, a man having rode all the way down with it.

Kranath pulled his wakizashi from the tree, and sheathed both it and his daikatana.

The noise from this beast will surely draw others, Kranath thought to himself.

And speak of the devil, the scent of wet fur gradually came wafting on the breeze. Kranath snapped his head in the direction of the breeze, red eyes glowing hellishly as he stared through the trees.

Wrathwyrm

The life that he'd had as a mere cat, even before he had voice, had been a pleasant one.  That was when he'd first been introduced to a girl by the name of Rena Goldswith.  They only saw each other when Zan's brother would come down from...oh, what was that town name again?  He didn't remember.  They were better times, but then Zan died and...well...Garlock had destroyed the town.  He assumed that he'd never see another soul that he cared for again...but he wanted to.  What he didn't know that Rena had had her own tragedies, and that by the time they saw each other again, she was a grown woman and sword-wielding fighter-for-hire.

The shock of their meeting weighed on Garlock's mind.  She'd been trying to find him...because of his crimes.  She, like everyone else, had no idea who he was.  Now she knew, of course.  The two of them had had a serious conversation, standing in the timeless substitute world of his own making, his personal realm.  She didn't like what he had become.  She understood, but she did not approve.  He was the creature that he was forever, and he would make those who create agony pay, and reap his own vengeance on he world.  And Rena had-

CRASH!

SKREEEEEE!!!

Umm...no, she hadn't quite done that.  Just what was going on out there?  There seemed to be a clearing with a great deal of activity.  Since it was hardly that of a ghost, it wasn't anybody he knew from around here.  However, as he stepped into the area...  Well, isn't that a coincidence?  He hadn't seen this guy since that little debacle with the cult that they wiped out.  Oh, those poor sods never had a chance!  A dragon and a bakeneko?  They were dead and they didn't even know it.  Garlock looked over the thing he'd killed.

"I didn't even know they had these here."

Marakai Trin

"......."

Kranath stared at the approaching figure, very slowly arching a single brow. This was a...being he hadn't expected to see again.

"There aren't supposed to be Wyrms here. Yet, here one is." Kranath lightly stepped off the trunk of the fallen tree, and landed with practiced ease on the damp earth.

"So. I thought that little excursion in the desert was to be our last meeting...tell me you're not following me."

Garlock might notice the black marks under Kranaths eyes, present now unlike before when Tiamat withdrew her power from his own. The marks crawled and writhed across his face.

"I seem to remember you and I don't get along so well."

Wrathwyrm

"Following you?  Following you?"

His hands flew up in emphasis of how such a claim irritated him.

"It's been months since the desert!  I've been to Adela.  I've been through Seren.  I've been kicking about on a boat.  How in the furry heck would I be following you?"

He had a point.  It wasn't as though their travel plans had intersected much.  Frankly, if Garlock had any great and pressing plans to do something to the dragon, he wouldn't be waiting so long to pull it, nor wait for an isolated forest to do it in.  There just wasn't any purpose in that.  And now, Garlock very pointedly ignored the dragon-in-man-form to inspect his kill.  Oooh, he'd staved in its head with a tree.  The bastard wouldn't have seen that coming.

This was following you.  I have been here before."

After all, if the man himself said that it was out of place...well...that was more suspicious, wasn't it?

Marakai Trin

Kranath shook his head gently, his piercing gaze never losing eye contact with the other. One hand gestures toward the wyrm.

"If this thing followed me all the way from the Thunderblacks, I would have noticed....I suppose the same would be true for you."

He dropped his hand again, and finally broke eye contact to turn and look into the trees. "I was tracking...someone. Into the woods. The rain seems to have washed the scent away."

His head remained turned, but those eyes flicked to look upon Garlock once more. "So...what is it you're doing here, then? Surely there are more idyllic places for you to wander about, so you must have come here foe a reason."

Wrathwyrm

Well, he didn't exactly expect a black dragon to know what an earth dragon's up to if it's underground...and this one clearly was.  But for now, Garlock just let that one go.  He had to remember that it was a very prideful dragon that would just get grumpy if you called him out on things.  Whether he thought he could be followed or not, and whether this creature came from the Thunderblacks or not, hardly mattered to the cat-in-man-form.

He was far more interested in the wyrm itself.

There was only a lingering trace of its spirit right now, no indicator as to if it held some sort of grudge against yon black-scaled warrior currently walking as a man.  At the moment, Garlock couldn't even tell if it had been a conscious dragon or a mere animal.  They came both ways, of course.  How else would Adela have Dragonriders?  Raised from an egg so that it would psychically imprint upon the one who took care of it?  That's more like a storybook series or something.  Anyway, the dragon was addressing him as he flicked the dead wyrm's tooth to make a 'tink-tink' noise.

"Oh?  I must have a reason now?  Who said?  I mean, I've got one, but it's rather presumptuous of you.  I mean, for all you know, I just happen to like the outdoors."

He did, actually.  Warm grass was just so comfortable.  And trees?  Oh, to climb trees...!  Wait, what were we talking about?  Oh right, bloody reasonings to be here.

"The truth is that I know someone who frequents these woods, but she's not here right now.  Past client."

Marakai Trin

Kranath let out an exasperated sigh. "I asked, because I gave my reason. Common courtesy would...you know What? Forget it." He closed his eyes for a moment, and turned back to the trees.

"So, neither of us found what we were looking for. The Gods are cruel, truly, to deny us our respective targets and cause our paths to cross. Again."

(OOC: Sorry, short...)

Wrathwyrm

Yeah, he doesn't know it, but he's trying to explain courtesy to a cat, who would not often make the connection there.  Still, the dragon's weird comments would make Garlock raise an eyebrow if he truly had one.

"Gods?  What do gods care of mortal business?  I've yet to see a god come forth and address my situation, by any means."

Kranath would get the idea that tthe magus was hardly being serious right now, and in fact grinning behind that shadow that kept his face obscured.

"Besides, if there's really a load of angry gods at work, they must have been asleep when I was in Seren, of late.  I had a renezvous that could have gone extremely bad...but it didn't.  Perhaps they're not hiding in every tree, ready to plant misery in your path, eh?"

Marakai Trin

"Indeed. They seem to care little beyond their own personal musings, save for a few who make their presences known to select people." Garlock may not know this, but Kranath was referring to himself - the marks crawling across his face were proof enough of his statement.

"Well. Neither one of us will accomplish anything by standing around here, and I think I've spoken to you now more than I've spoken to anything in the last week. Perhaps we should move on."

Wrathwyrm

Considering the way Kranath tends to speak, he might've mentioned his own god at some point in the desert, but for Garlock this would be one of those 'couldn't be arsed to remember' moments.  Gods had nothing to do with himself, for or against.  If they had, for some reason, intended both tragedy and empowerment, the loss of his master and the gaining of destructive power which he would make use of, none of hem were claiming credit for it.

"I'm curious about something.  What does a dragon of your stature - a thinking dragon - do with itself?  I hear talk of hording, but somehow you don't seem the type.  As I recall, you're even a black dragon, and it's evident all over your face that you're an evil sort, as well."

Funnily enough, he was trying to run a comparison on motivations.  Garlock's own recipe for destruction was based upon a vengeance-hatred-suffering motif, that people get what they deserve...and he makes sure of it.  Alot of it.  True, gods for Kranath, but why?

Marakai Trin

Kranath was quiet for a long moment, staring into the trees. What was his purpose, beyond fueling the resurrection of his Dread Lady? After that, what would happen?

He was promised absolute power...but he knew from experience that beings such as Tiamat often didn't share their power.

That is a dangerous line of thinking, Kranath...

"Apologies, my queen..." he muttered under his breath. Lately that voice seemed to grate more and more on his psyche. After all these millennia, he was getting tired of having more than one voice in his head, during his first time at life, the ten thousand years during his death, and even now while he lived again.

"What do I do with myself....? What is my purpose....?"

His eyes narrowed, and very slowly he turned around.

".....after all is said and done,  I will have no purpose. "

Wrathwyrm

He muttered, but cat ears hear.  Most curious a thing to be saying.  To whom was he speaking?  Somebody in his head or on the aether?  Gods above or devils below?  Perhaps the reverse was true.  Still, what was this all about?  The dragon-man seemed at a loss.  Garlock had no idea how long this creature lived or what he did with his time, but it was quite surprising to hear him say 'I got nothin'.

"Well, I didn't expect that."

He kind of expected the dragon to be philosophical, not morose.

"No hobbies or diversions?  I may be a Destroyer, but even I feel the need for something else to do, every now and then.  Besides, it keeps them from ever guessing where I'll show up next.  After all, I'm not out to destroy the world, just the parts of it I don't like!"

For whatever reasons, Garlock took his work seriously, but maybe not as serious as Kranath...

Marakai Trin

"No. I am dedicated to the freeing of my Lady. Any use of time beyond that is a waste, unless it is some other task dictated by her...such as our previous sortie into the desert."

Kranath crossed his arms over this chest, regarding the  other with an odd look. "Though I'm at a loss as how to proceed. I can do one of two things, two paths to the same end. I can hunt my brother, slay him, and send his soul to Tiamat...or I can reap the souls of many, many lesser beings and use them instead, draining the world of its population with an endless slaughter." A thin smirk appeared across his lips.

"Either one seems viable, and it's looking more and more like the slaughter would be far easier."

Wrathwyrm

"Oh, your Lady, huh?  Interesting."

He said thus, but in a way that indicated it was a little more than 'interesting'.  More like 'ironic' or 'amusing' or somrthing like that, though the first part was because...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stood in his realm, black magus to armored swordswoman.  When they had first known each other, he was a cat and she was a little girl.  Now, look at them...  He was Garlock The Destroyer.  And she, Rena Goldswith, was a warrior clad in mythril armor with a bigass sword on her back.  Up until this point, she had assumed that he had killed her uncle and - for some reason - taken the name of his familiar as his stage name.  Now, she knew that he WAS the cat and that he had taken revenge for the death of her uncle.  Even still, they were still on somewhat opposite sides...

"Why do you kill and destroy, Garlock?  Putting aside who the hell a CAT achieves that, why do you do it?!"

"The answer is simple, Rena.  Zan was killed in a drunken fight between wizards, the pointless waste of a man who gave me everything.  What are people like when they MEAN to cause harm?"

"Don't I know it.  It seems like people like that are born every second.  People like that went after my mom and dad, because they couldn't stand a human and an elf starting a family together..."

That gave him pause for a second.

"Then, that's why you're in the armor?"

She nodded.

"Over such a stupid thing as who to love and spend your life with.  My parents killed them all, but...they didn't survive.  So, I have to live for them and be better than this.  You should too, Garlock."

"I'm not doing this out of simply fear or anger, Rena.  These people need to be taught a LESSON..."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The magus had managed just a small sardonic chuckle.

"So, she set you a task which requires either the death of your - I'm assuming - highly-formidable brother...or the massacre of the many."

The redness of his eyes appeared to deepen.

"Your sole task, for you have admitted that afterwards...you'll have nothing.  Tell me something then, Sir Dragon.  If that's the case..."

And then, there was sound like teeth gnashing together at the formation of a very large grin.

"...why'd you even get started?"

Marakai Trin

"Started....why? Why even bother...empty promises of false power....to be cast aside, my purpose fulfilled...."

He seemed to be talking to himself,  eyes fixed and staring, yet at the same time wild and feral. His mumbling became nearly incoherent as he continued, the musings slipping unintentionally into ancient draconic.

As his mouth moved, the eldritch markings on his face crawled and writhed wildly, sometimes forming logical formations and other times just an odd black scrawl, a mask of insanity.

And then, audibly, there was a crack, echoing throughout the otherwise quiet forest. A subtle wave of vibrations radiated outward from the Dragon. And then,  complete stillness.

"No."

With that one word, everything seemed to stop. The rain above came to a sudden and abrupt stop, and the breeze accompanied by the storm became still, the branches of the trees falling limp.

"No...." he repeated, and turned his gaze skyward.

When he spoke again, his voice began to echo with an odd duality, an otherness that thrummed with power. Yet this power...

...was all his. Another sickening crack symbolized the parting of God from Dragon, and the markings on Kranaths face vanished.

"I'll not be your tool to cast aside. I will fulfill my purpose. I will awaken you...and then I will kill you. I don't need your power...not when there is more than enough of it for the taking. I will empty this world...and cast your carcass to the abyss when you are freed. And I will rise....as the new God."

He turned his feral gaze to Garlock, and with deliberate slowness, unsheathed his daikatana.

"....I suppose I'd better get started."

Wrathwyrm

The writhing of the markings on the dragon-man's face and the way he was talking to himself would have been most unsettling to a normal person, even an abnormal person.  Hell, it was still weird to Garlock, though admittely he couldn't be entirely surprised.  No...not when going mad with shock and grief was precisely how he attained his power.  Seeing his own appraisal of the situation here effect Kranath was not a shocker.  It was just the display that caught him off-guard.

Crack!

Garlock looked around.  Somewhere, something snapped without warning.  Was that him or the dragon?  Probably the latter.  The dragon's energies were thrumming and the air was most disquieted by it all.  And then, it all seemed to go very still...  Even the rain stopped.  Apparently, Kranath had parted from his god, because he was talking to someone not there and then declaring that he would become a new god.

And then, he turned to Garlock while unsheathing his weapon.

"Hmmm?  Oh.  Ohhh...  Right.  Yes.  Slaughter."

He seemed to muse on that point for a second...then pointed his hand at Kranath and fired an ice beam, intent upon creating a frozen prison for the guy.

"No."

Marakai Trin

Kranath first felt the energies, long before he saw them. His mind immediately shut down, and pure battle-tested instinct quickly took over.

His lips curled into a smirk, revealing teeth that were quickly looking more and more like fangs. With nearly unseen speed, he sidestepped the beam of ice hurtling toward him, lashing out with his blade to catch the brunt  of it.

Through a slightly dilated form of perception, he could see the crystals of ice spreading from the point of impact, jagged blades hanging from it. Still in motion, he twisted away from the beam, pulling his blade away with him.

Completing the turn, he swung his absurdly long daikatana in a horizontal arch, sending several long shards of ice hurtling back toward Garlock. Just as soon as he finished the swing, he leapt to the side, and began running wide, attempting to make his way toward the magus.

Wrathwyrm

Oh, that's right.  He's a fast one  Garlock had admittedly forgotten about that.  The question is...was he fast enough...and would it matter?  Kranath caught some ice on his blade and flung the frozen daggers back at him.  With an upward gesture of the hand that had been extended, the ice was whipped up and away by a sudden whirlwind around the magus.  Where they landed, he did not care.  Those icy shafts were of no particular use.  Probably hit some trees and shattered or smething.

The dragon was up to no good, of course.

There's just no gratitude!  Here, he put Kranath on a very decisive course, rather than wasting his time, and he wanted to kill him for it?  Guess he got underneath the man's scales.  Hmmm...  Underneath the...?  Now, there's an idea, but for later.  For now, Kranath would be totes fine on the approach until Garlock blew that whirlwind around him into a blastwave in his direction.  This was intended to throw the dragon-man into a tree, but Garlock tossed over an explosive fireball in afterthought.

Marakai Trin

Kranath had yet more tricks on his repertoire that the other hadn't seen yet - though, admittedly, there hadn't been cause strong enough to use them. His own supernatural speed and his blades would always carry him through.

But, when the wave of force blasted towards him, he caught hint of it by the way the air seemed to ripple in front of him. He smirked, and suddenly vanished as his body seemed to dematerialize into black vapor.

The wave carried the remains of the black vapor into oblivion, and the fireball travelled harmlessly afterward to explore against a tree some distance away. And now there was going to be a forest fire.

Not that Kranath cared. The whole forest could burn, and it wouldn't matter.

Almost immediately after he had disappeared, he puffed back into existence some ten yards to the side, and resumed running toward the other, his daikatana held to the side and it's tip carving a vicious furrow in the damp earth.

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