RPG - The Armageddon Conformity -

[Shinobi]

[i]McD had had enough of his boring life in his new found home...Texas. He had only been living there for a year and already he was becoming bored of it. It took him around 22 years to get bored of Scotland. His archioligy digs were on hold just now for they had made a huge discovery and it is taking all their time to analyse it, so McD is out of a job just now. As he finished up packing his bags, he told his landlord about his small voyage south. As he jumped into his green Land Rover he sped off heading for Route 63.
He was driving down Route 63 for the most part of an hour and a half when he came to his turn off. It was a small diserted road, with sand and cactia at each side. The road was covered in a wafer thin sheet of baige sand granuels. He raced down the empty road, spraying the sheet of sand behind him. As the long road twisted off to the horizen, a small black splodge appeared in the distance. It was distorted from the heat waves off of the piping hot road. As it grew in size as it neared, McD finaly worked out what it was, it was another vehicle. It was zooming at approximitly 100 mph, as it slammed the breaks it took about 20 seconds before it fully ground to a halt. McD stopped beside the pick up to see who the hell this was, yet to his suprise he viewed the bloody carcases inside. The driver was paranoid, twiching with blood covering him and eyes as wide as dinner plates. At first McD thought he had a Serial Killer on his hands. The man shouted at the top of the voice to McD.[/i]

Man: ARE YOU CRAZY!!! GET THE ****ING HELL OUTTA HERE!

McD: Why!? What is the problem!?

Man: The beasts...Black...HUGE...Beasts!

[i]McD heard the voice of Paul in his head, the 14 year old boy from back in the Library saying "It looks...almost as if it is non-human!". McD raised his eyebrows..[/i]

McD: I'm going to find out!

Man: YOU ****ING IDIOT! LOOK AT THESE PEOPLE! Follow us! We will take you back to base and tell you much much more!

[i]McD at fist hesitated, but then glanced down the twisting road...he saw a small bellow of smoke almost at the horzen line...he decided to follow them.[/i]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson][b]Shade Advisor[/b]: There are reports of buildups of human refugees.. they seem to be arming themselfs with weapons, the bulk useing guns.

Kenratu had just arrived back at the new base, and already he was receiveing news. Being a leader was annoying at times.. He glanced at the advisor, and then at the humans, then down to his rune. He nodded silently to himself and grabbed the advisor by the shoulder, which startled him to the core.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: We cant wage a war against the world with just 250 Shades, can we?

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: I suppose n-not.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Then we must risk the awakenings to add numbers to our forces.. and this is the key to doing just that.

He held the rune in his hand and let go of the advisor. His eyes traced down to the ground, he was searching for something it seemed. Nonchalantly, he took the rune off his neck and threw it to an open spot in the middle of the camp, and began chanting.

A low hum eminated from the rune, its golden exterior beginning to glow, flickering back and forth from the brilliant glow to its normal appearance. Small blue archs of electricity began to crackle around it, several flicks of dirt beginning to rise from the ground, ascending upwards into the sky slowly. In a sudden blast, black storm clouds exploded above them, thunder roaring violently as strong purple bolts of lightning slamming into the ground, ripping it to shreds as it did.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: I might not have done this in the middle of the camp.. Damn, its too late now. All of you! Hold onto something sturdy.

[b]Human[/b]: Why? You think you can scare us just by saying that?

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Your ignorance is going to cause your death... This is going to be massive.

The storm clouds began to rotate, slowly at first, but soon their speed increased to monumently porportions, a small eye forming in the middle as if it was a hurricane. But soon that eye disappeared, as a funnel began to snake its way downwards twards them, the winds around the camp picking up drastically, trees bending precariously close to being ripped clear out of the ground.

[b]Human[/b]: GODDAMN! What the **** are you?

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Just hold onto something you idiot, this is nothing- Wait for the creation of the gate.

[b]Human[/b]: Gate?..

The funnel expanded and slammed over the ground where the rune was, the walls of the funnel not affecting the buildings at all- It seemed to be mainly wearing on the human POWs, the single loud mouthed human being dragged twards the walls of the funnel screaming. As soon as he hit the wall, he was sent flying upwards into the twister, never to be seen again.

The same superpowered lightning bolts arched throughout the tornado, a few odd bolts strikeing outwards and ripping the ground to shreads, black burn marks scarring the land. Kenratu glanced to the top of the funnel and his eyes grew wide, instantly taken aback by what he saw.

A massive fireball within the tornado was descending slowly, the lightning centering around it, the bolts originating from its surface. Within a few seconds it slammed into the ground, Kenratu raising his hands expecting an explosion. There was an explosion, but all of it was instantly sucked into the supernatural twister, instantly lighting the whole tornado ablaze, the heat seering the skin of most of the humans.

4 silver poles fell from the sky and slammed parrel from each other around the twister, beams of light collideing with the massive firestorm that it was- And it instantly dissapated, leaving behind a massive hole, an orange hue eminating out of it. The sound of someone pounding against a locked gate echoed throughout the scared, shocked silence of the camp, and Kenratu slowly approached the hole with his sword drawn.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: The first gate to our home is opened...

He looked down the hole to where a massive, rusty gate was sitting- A mass of shades behind it slamming against it. New recruits formed from the souls that they had killed today. Silently, he sliced the lock around the gate open, and in a sudden burst around 850 shades ascended from the darkness and outwards to various places around the camp, the gate reshutting with a loud clang, the broken lock reforming itself around the gate.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: What? No more than that are ready?

[b]Kenratu[/b]: You fool, only 850 of our race at a time are allowed through this gate. Dont you remember the gate that we first came out of 5,678 years ago? It only allowed 850 at a time.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: Oh.. right..

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Only 850 every rotation of the earth... But, WELCOME TO EARTH MY BROTHERS!

[b]Newly Arrived Shade[/b]: Its good to be here, finally. My blades have been yearning for blood for a long time since..

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Some of you were formerly humans- You are now Ikrantu, the Shade that is possessing your soul has complete control. You are merely watching it now, enjoy the show.. Finally, we have amassed ourselves to the point where we can spread out... Now, Lets finish up the herding here, then its off to crush those stupid human miltias.[/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]As he stumbled wearily along the road, Mykkael heard the explosion. More importantly, he felt it. It resonated inside him, making him think he had inadvertantly dropped his guard.

But this was different. This...sang to him. It stirred his soul, that long cold and hidden thing within him he refused to admit existed. He refused to associate himself with his people anymore. But now, now that they had engineered some kind of disaster, now that they had returned in what had to be force, he could not deny the call. Bloodlust, something that only occasionally wakened him to fury, rushed through him. It filled his veins with a very different fire to anything else. It was a unique emotion, something trancendental of reality. It eclipsed all.

Suddenly, Mykkael knew how the blood that still stained his skin felt. The rampant thrill must have been intoxicating. Very nearly, he slipped off his gloves, to lose himself in the maelstrom of fouled weapons and broken souls.

Very nearly, he fell away from himself.

But it quietened within him. Logic, cold, faithful logic, prevailed. If it came down to it, and there were any who remembered him, then most likely he would be as much of a target as anyone else.[/font][/color][/I]

[Corey]

OOC: Sorry Ken. I was quite busy.
---------------
[size=1]I stepped out of the Gate, the last to emerge out of the 850. I took one breath and grimaced. How I hated this place. It was so lush, and green... It should be black and dead.

I glanced at Kenratu and took to the air. I hated large groups. He said something to the other that was near him, but I couldn?t hear. Not that it mattered. We knew each other. We knew how the other worked. I worked best by myself.

The fires... The cleansing fires of our world burned throughout the decimated countryside. They destroy so we can create. I flew as fast as I could, not wanting to be near any of our kind when my stamina gave out. I was still young, not able to fly indefinitely. I pumped the muscles to their limit, feeling the lovely burning sensation of overextending tissue. A vehicle. The glint of chrome touched my eyes. A perfect test to hone my skills in this doomed world.

I flew down, arching my powerful body toward the vehicle. The people in the vehicle caught sight of me. A look of confusion spread over their faces. I crashed through the window and growled in pure rage.

[b]??-[/b] "Ikrantu..." the female whispered. She jumped out of the car. I pulled my head from the shattered remains of the glass and set my eyes on the running human. I smiled and walked after her, not bothering to run. In her fear she wasn't running but more hobbling. I gained on her. She ran into a building that was tall. It was at least three stories. The door closed with a slam.

[b]Ikturu-[/b] ?Stupid human.? I walked up to the door and sliced it apart. The shards clattered to the ground. The doorknob made a dull ding as it hit the dirt. I heard a yelp and another door close farther up a stone staircase. I grinned again and started to ascend the stairs. I could smell the fear radiating off her like a large bonfire. This door? No.... The next... The top. I sprinted all the way up the stairs and crashed through the door. ?Time to die young one.?

I couldn?t see the human, but I could smell her. She reeked of fear. Normally I would have heard her, but I saw her first instead. She was coming at me with a makeshift spear. It looked like a piece of iron pipe broken off.

[b]Ikturu-[/b] ?Silly...? I touched the tattoo on my forehead and activated the small amount of magic that resided in my evil soul. Everything slowed down. Birds were made so that they hung flapping in the air. Smoke that billowed in the distance slowed. Licks of flame separated from their mothers and dissipated. The human seemed to stop completely.

I walked up to her and grabbed the weapon. Her wrist made a hallow snapping sound in the slowed world. I pushed her down. As soon as she hit the concrete floor of the roof her body slowed back down. A spurt of blood flew from a large cut on her face. She grimaced. I stopped my magic.

The human stopped, shocked. She looked down at her broken wrist and probed the cut on her head. She looked up at me.

[b]Ikturu-[/b] ?Time to die.? I grabbed my small weapon and held it against her throat. ?You will be my first.? I made a swift swiping motion and stood up. I wiped the blade off on my shirt. It wasn?t wet. I looked questioningly at my clean shirt and then at the girl. She was standing and glaring at me. ?Wha...? She was glowing with a white aura. I held a hand up to my eyes and brandished my blade again. ?Mage,? I said with utter disgust. I jumped up and took to the air.

I triggered my magic again and flew at her. A white ball of light flew at me grazing my left wing. It burned and scorched. She had the same ability as me. She must have absorbed it...

[b]Ikturu-[/b] ?Hear me Mage! Your kind will die! The Shade will triumph!? I flew away, ready to relay the information of another very powerful Mage. Perhaps our leader could do something.[/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson][b]Shade Advisor[/b]: Problem..

Kenratu shook his head slowly at the ever persistant concerns that this advisor brought up. He ended his conversation short with the newer Shades, and looked at the advisor, takeing him off to the side.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: The gate.. Its going to allow all the humans within maybe-.. *pause*

He calculated for a few moments in his head, before nodding to himself, satisfied with his arthimitic.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: 700 miles.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: To be able to awaken? So not all would.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: But under extreme stress, as in a sudden attack from an unknown race, most would awaken..

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Their powers are still weak, we dont need to worry.. what we need to worry about is the next gate I create- That will surge the power of the Mages further into them. All we need is to keep ourself strategetic.. This is still a game of chess, our numbers arent great enough to just randomly shed blood.

[b]Shade Advisor[/b]: May I reccomend a council? A war council? Where you could grather strategies and ideas from others of where to go next with our army.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: A war council, hmm.. Beautiful. Invite all of the more intelligent ones along with my trusted friends.. We dont need 1000 people shouting ideas at once.

[b]Shadow Advisor[/b]: Consider the task completed.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Good. Send them all to my tent in an hour, i'm going to go north, to the smoldering ruins of that city..

[b]Shadow Advisor[/b]: Why?

[b]Kenratu[/b]: I have a feeling that we might have forgotten something big in all of this that might just prove to be a greater threat than God's eyes..

[b]Shadow Advisor[/b]: I shall prepare your tent while you are a-

[b]Ikturu[/b]: Wait.

Startling the advisor slightly, Ikturu landed lightly on the ground, an agitated expression on his face. Kentaru turned and looked at him, slightly puzzled- Something was wrong.

[b]Kentaru[/b]: What is it? Does something approach us?[/color]

[Shinobi]

[i]McD sat with a disgusted look apon his face. Blood had already soaked his clothing, these people were dying?and fast! McD was getting more and more agitated as the moans and whimper became louder, and more pain filled than the last few minutes. He constantly kept looking in the rear mirror to see if anything was approaching...or following. McD sat with his eyes fixed on the road as a drop of sweat rolled down his face, the driver was sitting in complete silence, he told him that it will all be told once they arrive at "The Base". McD had a small glance down and noticed a young boy, only about 10 awaking from his unconscious dream or was it a nightmare? The boy was startled as he found himself to be in the car with a man staring down apon him. He grabbed McD's arm, twisting the sleeve whimpering as he said:[/i]

Boy: Where's my Mummy and Daddy!?

[i]McD dropped his head...the anger rose within. He was furious, he doesn't know what these things are, nor does he wish too, but if this is what is happening he [b]must[/b] help his own damn kind![/i]

McD: I am sorry son, I am as lost as you are...

[i]Boy slowly stated to cry, as the tears plummeted off the vehicles seat he looked up once again.[/i]

Boy: "They" got them...didn't they! There dead aint they!?

[i]He didn't to hear the answer, so McD didn't reply, the boy curled up into the featus position and cried his heart out. McD tried to comfort him as much as possible when the driver swerved off the road shouting at the top of his voice.[/i]

Driver: THERE'S ONE! EVERYONE GET DOWN!

[i]McD raised his head to find this almost mythological beast sweeping through the air. It swiftly landed in its feet and slowly pranced over. McD wasn't going to let anymore suffering continue. He waited until the "Thing" was near the pick-up truck door, then he booted it open smashing the thing in the face. It emitted a snarl as it held onto its "face". McD launched out of the car standing facing the beast.[/i]

McD: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?!

??: Muhuhuhahaha I am one of the many of my race...We Are [b]The Shades![/b].

McD: Shades?! You evil little ****ers!

[i]McD grabbed his Machete and lunged at the shade, his eyes were fixed on the strange marking on its head, he decided to plunge his machete through it. As he lifted high into the air, almost in a split second, his face was eating dirt as the shades foot was pounding into the back of his head. He was almost defeated already! He grabbed his shotgun and let a bullet off, the shade flew backwards in a very conscious manner. It was shocked that he had a gun and could use it even in the position he was in! McD sprung to his feet, with his head pounding hard. He aimed for that scar once more and took a shot. The Shade leaped high into the air with its wings flapping open. He had connected with its arm, not what he was aiming for but it still connected. The Shade let out a shrilling screech as it swooped down smashing its hand through the pick-up window and grabbing the small boy from earlier. I grabbed the boy by his head and landed in front of McD. McD pleaded to put the boy down and take him, The Shade was having non of it and crushed the squirming boy's head there and then. McD let out a small weep as a tear rolled down his cheek.[/I]

Shade: Muhuhauha! Fool! Now I shall kill you also!

[i]McD fell to his knees still thinking of the small boy. The Shade pointed and laughed and was about to attack, when a shot was fired hitting the shade in the leg. It was the driver, he ran forward screaming for the young boy's life, with his desert eagle. The Shade ripped his head clean off! McD peered up, through misty eyes he noticed it's ugly, hideous face. He arose from his pitiful position and launched at the Shade with bare hands, but to no avail, he was smacked to the floor and the Shade sat on top of him with a knife to his the corner of his eye. It laughed once more, then spat in McD's eye and pulled the knife down. Arterial blood spewed everywhere. This was when the Shade was shocked to see...a white aura gleam off the face of the scarred. McD floated to his feet and hovered a foot off of the ground, the thoughts of his family friends and the young boy and driver he exploded forward to impale the Shade one his machete. He pushed the weapon further through its stomach until it burst out the other side. He slid it out quietly and rammed his fist through its face, almost penetrating through to the other side. Before it fell to it's death it mutter to itself.[/i]

Shade:....M...M...Maaaaaaage! Awakening h..h...has come! We will prevail......

[Kei]

[color=royalblue]Newspaper deadlines bite. >_<
---------------------------------------------------------------

[i]Rayne stood on the side of the road facing her latest kill. It was a tall middle-aged man who had been toting a small automatic machine gun. He'd try to come up behind Rayne, but she had heard his irrational thoughts long before he'd gotten within range. As soon as she heard him draw the weapon, she spun quickly around and dashed towards him, claws fully extended. She slashed deep. Deeper than she'd liked. She severed his head almost completely from the torso. All that held it was a thin scrap of skin. Rayne looked on as he fell to the ground with a sick thud and continued to stare at him for a while.[/i]

[b]Rayne:[/b] It amazes me how dumb your species can be sometimes. Honestly, you attack the first thing you see that you don't recognize. Like a bunch of trained chimps.

[i]Rayne simply shook her head and walked off, feeling better now that she had killed something. She walked towards the still smoldering city with a slight grin on her face.[/i]

[b]Rayne:[/b] Maybe I can pick up some fast food in the city. Like some Chinese or something.... American always upsets my stomach....[/color]

[Corey]

[size=1][b]Ikturu-[/b] "Approach us? No... It seems there are a few [i]chosen[/i] among the humans. They are not all gone as we had thought... I had just encountered one. A female... She, she absorbed my magic... She almost took off my wing..." I spread my singed wing and showed him the burned part. "Holy magic, sir..."

Kenratu frowned and slipped into deep thought. My mind turned to other matters. Chosen... They had dissapeared over a millenia ago. They must have passed on their magics into their young. The woman... I simply wanted to rip her skin from her body. The warm flow of blood... I shook my head, clearing it and looked at Kenratu.

[b]Ikturu-[/b] "What do we do?"[/size]

[Guest cloricus]

[color=teal]
[b]Some time after last post-[/b]
Thirty humvee's roared along in a sort of straight line all heading south. Armed to the brim. Each packed with ten soldiers, heavy machine gun mounted on top, two light gunners to each side on folded out platforms. The sound of the local radio stations blaring music on all of the vehicles drowned out peoples chances to be afraid.

Each vehicle was filled with regulars, civilians and spec forces. All had full spreads of ?adapted? weapons and protection against non-physical attacks. (Those watch like thingies from the army, though let?s say only 75% effective?)

The mission, clear out any "shades" (as military intelligence now labelled them) attacking people trying to flee the area. Also in doing this they would clear the way for a large strike force. Once this group made it to an advanced point they would wait until the main force attacked and go in as reinforcements.

This group had been dispatched because the last few sat runs over the attacked towns showed that the shades weren't organised or not ready to advance to the next towns. So the army would strike first. Back at the base the sections out searching for more numbers had found a large array of people, from ex-solders to weird new people that were glowing. They were all brought in fitted with weapons. They now had a small army of their own.

It was then agreed that a large section would be sent in to try and rescue any survivors from the attacks. That's when they military command sent out the order. So about three hundred people packed up and rolled out, and were where they are now.

"I see one sir!!!" The call came over the radio.

Having seen it a split second earlier Jim was already pushing his way to the radio. "This is Zero Alpha, all units attack, out"

Men scrambled to get out on the miniguner platforms and take aim, several of the cars slowed to get a better shoot. A massive crack let out as about twelve of the heavy machine guns started their clips at once.

The shade flew down to take a run; it swooped in under the heavy machine guns and lined up for a side of one of the cars minigunner platforms. The man manning it tried to get a shoot, but the shade moved to fast, about a meter before hitting the car it flung up its claws ripping right through the driver?s side and shredding half the occupancy, the minigunner fell and went under the tire. The shade swooped back up in to the sky, a trail of bullets followed. The humvee that had just been hit swung violently off to the side smashing into the one travelling along side it, both ignited. Men spewing out of the back exits in flames, the humvees still careening on for about a hundred meters then blowing up.
Some of the heavy machine gunners had changed their aim to the men in flames, the round chewed throw the men, the others screams could be heard for another few seconds as the convoy kept going at well over the standard speed.

Before any one had recovered the shade went in for another swoop, happy with its first attack it lined up straight for the front of a vehicle. The gunners started firing, but not to hit it. The fired in a cone around it, as if trying to keep it flying straight for the vehicle. Suddenly men started balling from all sides, the guns and the drivers waited. The shade was about to hit and they all jumped.

The shade smashed through the front windscreen, seamlessly ripping through the next half of the vehicle. As it was about to rip through the last part as massive fireball engulfed the humvee, the shade clipped the spare gass jerry and it caught on a claw. The heat from the explosion ignited the jerry and the shade fell out of the sky slamming down hard on the ground. The four humvee's along side the one that had just exploded stopped in a cloud of dust. The men swarmed out and started to let off their clips in to the beast. Massive holes started to rip through the thing, thanks to the enhanced bullets. The main convoy continued and the other vehicles that had stopped took the men from the destroyed one on board.
Once they were ready they speed on and caught the main group.

"Zero Alpha this is Zero Charley, one shade dead, two men from the vehicle died on jumping out of the humvee. They got it by leaving all their grenades on the seats and when it hit they went off, over." A sigs man reported.

"Okay keep on going, good work, out." Jim replied.

They were now about five minutes to their main goal area. Up in the sky they could see three more; the things hadn't seen them yet. But the gunners had advance warning and had shoots set up. The snipers were manning the roofs also lining up their targets.
This time they would be ready...
[/color]
---
Muahaha... crap post... Any way, if any of you guys want to be the shades up in the sky please leave about twenty humvees intact okay. Though if you are one of the things up in the sky you will be hurt, eg we get to hurt you badly and you have to retreat. If not I?ll just leave it as the shades didn?t see us and we got to the goal place all in one peace.

Eps - Muahaha, an attacking post, finally...

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]OOC: Well, say hello to my second character, a human. Just to add something to their side...


IC: [I]Ulrich was suffering from jetlag, fatigued, annoyed, and somewhat bored. He, and several men who had ushered him away as soon as they had gotten off the plane, were trudging through the jungle, and had been for quite some time. They wouldn't answer questions, they wouldn't speak to him casually, and they certainly wouldn't permit him to do whatever he wanted.

It was getting somewhat tedious. Ulrich didn't even know what the hell they were looking for in this humid, infernally thick undergrowth.

There was an excited muttering from those up ahead, and someone ran back shouting something unintelligible to Ulrich. As everyone around him started running, a pace not much faster than a walk in this environment, Ulrich swore, and started to jog himself, to keep up with them.

He nearly ran into the back of a large man named Kevin. He, and all the others, were staring into a small clearing up ahead. Blood covered the trees, and a large stone altar rested in the centre.[/I]

Kevin: What the hell happened here?

[I]Other members of the disparite group were inspecting the bodies. Triumphantly, the held one of the corpses up, revealing large, almost talonlike marks on the throat. Evything started whispering excitedly, but it was undercut by fear. Ulrich looked around, noting that there was a neater blood spray in one direction. Almost like a trail. And, because he was bored, annoyed, and independant, he walked over and started following.

It disappeared after a metre or two, but some kind of creature had forced passage through here recently. Within seconds, Ulrich was lost to sight, and angry shouts over his disappearance quickly followed him.

Ulrich smiled, and picked up his pace. Serve them right for being a pain in the ***.

He lost the almost non-existant trail several times, it taking him nearly an hour to backtrack, all up.Eventually, he slowed his pace, and found he made better time like this.

The jungle ended abruptly, terminating a few feet away from a long, straight road. A figure was walking slowly down the road towards him, and it wasn't human.

Ulrich's mind jumped back to what had sent him here in the first place. He would be thrice cursed if this wasn't another of these creatures.

He walked onto the road to meet it. The strange, black figure halted warily, then narrowed its eyes, or seemed to. Ulrich wasn't too sure. Then, surprisingly enough, it spoke. It had a curious accent, almost English, almost French, almost Irish. It was a strange, ancient sound, though the conversation itself was modern sounding.[/I]

Mykkael: You were the man at the great circle of stones.

Ulrich: You? You were what I saw? What are you then? Who are you?

Mykkael: My name is Mykkael, and I am one of Ikrantu. Albeitly, one long since disassociated with that particular crew, but neverthess, if you want a definition, I woudl suppose that's as good as it gets.

[i]Ulrich blinked several times. Here was a non-human entity, standing there, speaking urbanely with him like your average man on the street. Some strange part of his mind said "Well, if it can do it, so can I".[/I]

Ulrich: Well, I'm Ulrich Aleksanren. An Irish born, Russian raised druid, and from certain assumptions I can make, I'm here to find out what the hell you're doing here.

Mykkael: So that's what you people get up to. I always wondered why you were always sneaking off into the woods...

[I]The wry, teasing bent of humour shook Ulrich even more. This thing was definately a modern creature.[/I]

Ulrich: How do you know so much about humans?

Mykkael: I've been studying you for the past few thousand years...

[i]That was it. The batwinged, long-lived, human sounding creature before him was enough. Ulrich's eyes took a decidely interested look at the top of his eye sockets, and he collapsed.[/font][/color][/I]

[Angelus_Necare]

OOC: wanted to post a longer version of this yesterday when OB and my explorer decided they wanted to wage war, ah well, here's a summed up version.
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Fayne sat on the curb of the street as the sun climbed higher into the afternoon sky. Her car refused to start, there wasn't a soul around and the gentle song of humming flies was the only thing keeping her company. She was still in shock from what she saw, trying her damndest to wipe the visions of her dead brother and family from her mind. There was a rumble off to the distance, it sounded like thunder yet she dissmissed it.

Another vision was comming to her, a large winged black being hungry for blood and the demise of others. It was comming, comming for something that survived, herself. Fayne only shrugged, slipping into a mood of the lowest depression.

"no need to avoid it, if it wants me, let it come." She mummbled absentmindedly reached for her pocket, where a pack of ciggaretts would have rested a few months before. Unfortunately for her she had quit only finding a pack of gum. She hissed a word that would have made anyone's mother blush and flung the gum accross the street, finaly cradling her forhead in her hands.

[Chaos]

[center][b]9:54 A.M.
New Ikrantu Base[/b][/center]

[b]Amatros:[/b] [i]"We increase our numbers as planned."[/i]

[i]Several eyes snapped to the dragon, who was staring particularly hard at a young, teenage girl in the paddock. Ranging from questioning glances to sneering glares, every face in a twenty foot radius looked at the hulking beast.[/i]

[b]Shade Advisor:[/b] "Surely you're joking. And risk the demise of our cause? No, I don't think so. The more we bring into this world, the more we will awaken. Not to mention that those already able to perform the primal magicks would become more powerful."

[i]Amatros growled deeply, magma-like drool seeping onto the ground through his bared teeth. The advisor took a small step backwards.[/i]

[b]Amatros:[/b] [i]"Do you take me for a fool? I know that, you bumbling idiot. But did you forget that if we open more gates, and bring more Ikrantu to this world, that our powers and abilities will strengthen at the same time, yet faster rate?"[/i]

[b]Shade Advisor:[/b] "Yes, but at the same time, we have limited numbers; the humans have all of their kind already placed in this dimension, which leads to more awoken at a faster rate."

[b]Amatros:[/b] [i]"Speed over experience? Not likely."[/i]

[b]Several Shades Including Advisor:[/b] "Eh?"

[b]Kenratu:[/b] "What he means is that while they will have more numbers, they will also not be trained as you all are. Their lack of understanding of the arts of mana will scare and confuse them. Outbursts by those awakened will strike fear into those surrounding them, causing other humans to suspect them to be our kind in disguise. Overall, our advancements will give us the edge."

[i]Eyes softened, and brows wrinkled in thought. Humans in the captivity pen whimpered at the thought of the world being overrun by the Shade. Flies buzzed in harmonious symphony, and fires gently snapped. General milling around on part of the Shade carried on, and the one-by-one killing and cooking of the humans resumed.

That is, until the wind brought noise of gunfire and explosions, very faint, but picked up by the toned senses of the Ikrantu. Amatros looked towards Kenratu, whom after judging the direction of the sounds, returned the favor. A single mouthed sentence came from Kenratu's lips, and Amatros was airborne in a split second;

"Fry 'em."[/i]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Kenratu drew his sword and rested it on his shoulder, grabbing his advisor by his shoulder with his free hand. He murmered a few things to the advisor, a look of contemplation and thought coming onto the advisors face- A few seconds passed, when a murmered reply came back. Kenratu nodded and patted the advisor on the shoulder, more low murmers coming out of his mouth. Finally, he turned and sprinted in the direction Amatros had gone, his image turning into a flash compliments of his immense speed.

He glanced up a distance to Amatros, who was preparing to dive where the humvees were, and he silently nodded to himself, Raising his sword as he closed in within half a mile of the humvees..[/color]

[Chaos]

[i]Wind whistled past, a constant din in the ears of the beholder. Just ahead, dust was kicked up in a single column and was growing higher yet fainter with every foot it advanced. The enemy was moving at a considerable speed.

Amatros, not one to be out done, pushed his wings back against his body, and plummeted nearly straight down. Fire, could one's eye keep up with the beast, would have been seen seeping through his teeth, not harming him, for he was made out of it. Bullets suddenly came his way, whistling sharply over the howling wind. Several made contact with his neck, his face, his back, but they did little. They merely bounced off, only to leave a noticible stinging sensation.

As his body reached within twenty meters of the ground, his body snapped upwards, wings briefly flairing to alter his momentum to that of an Apache's forward leaning attack pose. The dragon's speed brought him upon the hummers quickly, much to his surprise. He barely had time to launch the gob of napalm that had been collecting in his jaws, and fly over his selected targets. Barely.

The sphere of hellflames, the size of a VW Beetle, crashed into the second to last humvee. Reeking of fire and heat, it crashed backwards, fire blazing in it's trail. The ball had not yet broken, and clashed the two last cars together. Only then did that circular inferno unleash, in a dazzling and deadly display of a pyro's biggest wish.

The two shells of the cars, flying upwards at least thirty feet out of the miniature mushroom cloud. The other humvees screeched and twisted around, coming to a complete stop. Upon that moment, the shadow of Amatros crossed them, and his body blocked out the sun from yonder high. A unanimous 'klack-klack' of cocking machine guns echoed from below, but Amatros only smiled, seeing the smaller dust trail, similar to what he had seen with the humvees' roaring speed advanced on what was the first hummer. It was about to be the third hummer lost in this round of pre-assult battling...[/i]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Lol. Failed attacks suck, dont they..

---

His body slammed through the very shell of the car, ripping it clear in two as his sword sliced through the head of one of the humans. Kenratu silently shimmered before disappeared from veiw again as several cuts appeared on the front half of the humvee, before a few seconds of silence followed. A small orb of flame slammed into the ripped-open engine, the explosion that followed throwing the surronding humans off their feet and onto the ground.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: You think that you can sneak up on us? That your guns are not loud enough to echo across this empty wasteland that we, ourselves, created? Who the **** do you think that we are? Barbaric idiots?

His sword slammed through the skull of one of the regular civilians that had come along, pieces of skull mixed with his brain splattering onto the soil below. Anger flareing within him, he turned and stared at the barrels of several different guns, each of the people's fingers pulling the trigger at once. He flipped to the side, behind the burning hulks of the pieces of the humvee, each of them halting their fire and eyeing the hulk carefully...

Black tentacles ripped through a humvee in the middle, grabbing the sniper that was aiming for Amatros head and ripped him through the bottom of the humvee, dragging him deep into the ground. Silence fell on Kenratu's end of the counter-attack, a few of them stareing to the humvee where the sniper had been.

[b]Civilian[/b]: He's under the godd*mn ground.

[b]Military Soldier[/b]: ****ed.. We should have pulled out all the stops on these guys, this is getting bad.[/color]

[Chaos]

[i]Gunfire gave too late of a warning to the doom that would befall the civilian. Heavy fire missed the speeding figure of Amatros, who dove on the blind side of the humvees; he came straight down.

Upon nearing the ground, the beast arched up, feet kicking out. His claws closed into the shoulder blades of the civilian, and he used his kinetic motion to send him sky high. Still in the grasp of the dragon, the human went into shock from the pain. Few things in the world can match the pain of being impaled.

Higher and higher, wings pushing them higher still. With enough force to crush steel those huge, demonic, bat-like wings flapped, sending them to cloud level in mere seconds.

Then, the world slowed. The human could hear the growling snicker of Amatros and as well his own heartbeat, growing faint. Blood continued to spill from his wounds, and his stomach flip-flopped.

And then...

...

They fell.

Like a rock, Amatros dove straight down. His wings pushed him down with twice the strength as when he was climbing the ladder of altitude. He easily broke the sound barrier, and the human cried out as his heart flailed to a stop. Life fleeting from him, and eyes clouding over, his last image and feelings were having those serrated claws shred his flesh as they pulled out of his body, and seeing the hummer draw ever closer.

The last thing he and the driver saw was each other.

And it seemed, as if some power, that the world in it's entirty shook when the body of the civilian exploded and crushed into the humvee. Such a devestating blow, that the vehicle exploded.

Amatros doubled around, ignoring the sting of bullets which split skin, but did not penetrate. He was low on the ground, so low that he could see eye to eye with the drivers. His aim, adjusted as he came to the front of the convoy. The lone Soldier that remained to stare at assault turned to run. All in vain.

Amatros' jaws snapped shut, taking the man in from above his head and clipping his legs off. In a single bite, another life was taken. Blood burst outwards, spilling on the sand, on the underbrush, and the nearest humvees. Then, it seemed, as if with the speed of light itself, the dragon flapped his wings as before, and was gone from sight within a second. When a small squad of about twenty humans went to take down Kenratu, he was gone. Several footsteps marked here he had run back behind the cover of the shell of the hummer, and a small circle of sand pushed away where, obviously, he had taken flight.

The humans shouted curses, and with rage in their hearts, pressed on towards the base.[/i]

[Corey]

[b]Ikturu-[/b] "A waste of time..." I shugged and began my journey to the far north. They were doing nothing but wasting their time fighting the humans face to face. The north held a secret. Something that would speed up the conquest of Earth.

I would walk most of the way, not wanting to exaust myself flying. The north... The cold north so different from out world. I needed to go there. I needed to prove myself to Kenratu... He knew me well, but I needed to put my mark on his mind. Never enough... Nothing I did was ever enough... Even when I was young, my trainers said I wouldn't make it. My parents said I wouldn't survive. I showed them all...

Another vehicle in the distance. A large one, clad in beige camouflage. I slunked behind a rock to the side of the road. Surprise was still the best type of attack. It roared closer. Fifty feet. Thirty. Ten. I jumped out from behind the rock and ripped through the tires of the vehicle. They exploded and the vehicle tumbled off the road. The humans crawled out as the truck came to a stop. One was almost dead. The other gripped his gun firmly, pointing it at me. I touched my tattoo and activated my magic. The man fired just as I turned on my powers. The bullets slowed to a crawl. I walked over to the man and grabbed the weapon away from him. I threw it away, it was still launching volleys of bullets.

I walked up to the man and punched him in the gut. I touched my tatto and the magic switched off. The man flew into the air. Landing with a thud, he exhaled a spray of blood. I walked over and watched the blood coagulate on the sand.

[b]Ikturu-[/b] "Not very smart. Are you a straggeler? Left behind by your friends? Now you will pay the price that all of this world will eventually face." I extended my claws and sliced through his head. His brains leaked out in nothing more than a blended grey mass. I sliced off one of his fingers and pocketed it. A trophy to prove myself.

[Guest cloricus]

I hope that's our convoy you were attacking or this post is useless...
---
[color=teal]
The convoy was being ripped to peaces, the shades and a dragon like animal had wiped out a good part of the left side of the group.
All the cars had stopped now, and all the soldiers being gathered behind the last few humvees, all loading and arming weapons. As the loud screams and tortuous cries were coming from the other side of the convoy the men were getting in toa line formation.

As the monsters got closer they prepared. At about sixteen vehicles away the men slowly walked to each side of the vehicles they had been hiding behind, lined up. Front row dropped to the ground, second row took a nee and the third row stood. Weapons pointing straight forward.
A hundred and fifty men now stood aiming at the two shades.

Jim seeing one of the shades off in the distance leavening reported that they had taken heavy casualties and that a few of the things were going in the direction of the main strike force.

He then walked out in to the lines and aimed his weapon.

They waited.

After about a minute of waiting one of the things finally saw them, and turned and flew hard and fast towards them. In stead of taking aim the men shot straight in front of them, making a wall of bullets. The shade snapped its hand to its head, and started moving very quickly but could not out run then wall. It went down hard, though since it was still about a hundred meters away the bullets hadn't had too much of an effect. It was not dead, but wouldn?t be fighting for awhile, they hopped.

As quickly as they could they reloaded.

The dragon looked up from the end of the convoy and was up in the air as fast as a stone drops. And as quickly it had covered half the distance to them, they opened fire. It had no effect except to push the beast in to the ground hard and fast. It was knocked out.

?RETREAT!? Several men shouted.
Men scrambled to the closes vesical and swung them around speeding off towards the base as fast as they could.

One vehicle stayed, two men lined up shots with a long range mortar. They fired, not having enough time to get a good aim they had roughly guessed where the shades base camp was. The shell hit about a hundred meters to far, the second hit to the side, another small explosion could be heard and a large fire leaped about a thirty meters in to the sky. The third one was dead center. Though they had guess that by the third one the things would have got out, it was only fired to destroy their base.
Debris started to fall, human arms, shades legs, every thing.

Then men dropped their weapons and ran for the humvee, and flawed it.

Some other humvee?s from the other side of the convoy also started up, it seemed that not all up that end had died.
[/color]
---
Muhahaha? Anyway, you?re not allowed to kill the retreating vehicles, or you can kill a few as long as you don?t find our ?secret base?. :) lol.

Eps ? Yeah you take that!

[Lady Asphyxia]

[COLOR=darkred]There were mages about. She'd heard through the other Shades that there was, for an unknown reason, a reoccurrence in mages. It seemed that their terror was causing an Awakening of their powers. It was a problem Leila had thought overcome many years ago, and one that caused the vague stirrings of unease in her belly to become rather sharp.

They were vulnerable enough as it was, and these?events had just confirmed her fears.

The explosion, however, had strengthened her resolve. They would get the numbers, and they would slaughter the humans.

Leila wandered, unsure as to where to go. She knew they were attacking; she could hear the devastation on the wind. There were bound to be problems, but they could deal with that.

As it stood now, her father and his trusted allies could take care of the problems.

She sat down on the ground, pulling out the dolly she?d taken from the little girl, and started playing with it.[/COLOR]

[Chaos]

Cloricus. ...Me and Ken already went back to the Ikrantu base. lol. Goofy-sama. o.<;;

"...as if with the speed of light itself, the dragon flapped his wings as before, and was gone from sight within a second. When a small squad of about twenty humans went to take down Kenratu, he was gone. Several footsteps marked here he had run back behind the cover of the shell of the hummer, and a small circle of sand pushed away where, obviously, he had taken flight.

The humans shouted curses, and with rage in their hearts, pressed on towards the base."


Duh. Continue on to the Ikrantu base foo'.

PS: Haha. No, sorry, but machine gun fire, as I showed in my first post of this battle, does not affect Amatros so...wholly.

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]As the attack started, Ulrich and Mykkael spin, unsure of the distane away. It sounded like a kilometre or more away, but the explosions looked frighteningly close. As they watched, small dots traced through the air. And one slightly larger one. Mykkael's eyes narrowed, and he swore bitterly.[/I]

Mykkael: That fool!

Ulrich: Who? What?

Mykkael: That large dot is a dragon named Amatros. I warned Kenratu about him, but he was too blinded by the thought of such a powerful ally. If that's Kenratu out there, which I imagine it would be, he'll be in for a nasty surprise.

Ulrich: Kenratu? Nasty surprise? What the hell are you talking about?

Mykkael: Kenratu is the leader of the Shades, or he was when I left. From what I can determine, he one of the handful left that are older than I am. And Amratos is older still, I believe. I never really did find out that much about him. But I know this much. They are both engines of destruction.

Ulrich: Then why is this Kenratu personage in for a nasty surprise?

[I]Mykkael took his eyes off the sky and looked bitterly towards Ulrich.[/I]

Mykkael: The same reason I was exiled. [I]We need humans.[/I]

Ulrich: Whatever for?

[I]Mykkael shook his head, wondering how this human coped. He seemed perfectly rational, not at all concerned by the fact that his race was in danger of extinction.[/I]

Mykkael: Simple. We feed off you. Not physically, but certainly etherically. That's because the original Shades were the result of a twisted alchemy that learnt how to replicate itself.

[I]Mykkael laughed harshly.[/I]

Mykkael: Kenratu's going to get a nasty surprise when he finds out his numbers are decreasing as fast as they're meant to increase.

Ulrich: How would they decrease?

Mykkael: You humans emit a kind of etheric pulse. That's why the Shades have never risen until now. The pulse did not cover, did not envelope, the world as it does now. As that pulse flickers, then wavers, Shades will start to disappate.

Ulrich: You too?

Mykkael: Oh certainly. But not for a lot longer than most of the newly born, so to speak, Shades Kenratu has with him.

[I]Mykkael stared down the long road for a moment, then pulled Ulrich off into the trees. Several Humvees screamed passed, those inside them looking desperate. After they were gone, without checking for their pursuit, Mykkael walked back out onto the road, and started towards the site of the battle. He called back over to Ulrich, his voice somehow wryly grim.[/I]

Mykkael: I should have done this years ago. Come along, we'll have a little fun before we're staked out over an anthill with streams of honey running into our mouth, eyes, and nose.

[I]Ulrich shuddered, but walked after him, looking around nervously.[/font][/color][/I]

[conpiracymonki]

[i][size=1]
Yulaw stepped back slowly, until his back hit the wall. People were screaming and running in every direction, as the black winged angels burned the underground entrance gates in obvious amusement.
He pulled the trigger at it seven times before realising the clip was empty.
Despair. Yulaw smacked the gun, and threw it at the creature. It grinned a twisted sick smile, thoughts of inflicting pain running through its head.[/i]

[b]'F***. F*** f*** f***... I'll be f***ed..'[/b]

[i]The thing took a another step forward; a pillar supporting the building collapsing behind it. Yulaw didn't stand a chance, and he knew it. The monster took another step forward.. and began to retreat.[/i]

[b][color=indigo]'Fall back! Another one has awakened! Fly!'[/b][/color]

[i]Yulaw pulled his arms away from his face to see a bright light. As it dimmed out, he saw that the burning wreck left behind. And the countless mauled bloody mounds on the floor.

And he realised.. the fading light was emanating.. from him..[/i]

[b]'..F***..'[/b][/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson][b]Kenratu[/b]: This Rune. This will help us retake this world.

[b]Amatros[/b]: How? It merely opens gates..

[b]Kenratu[/b]: If I want it to, it will end our hunger for human flesh.

Both of them stood in the midst of the makeshift outpost, Kenratu's voice merely whispering to where Amatros could hear him only. He held the rune tightly in one hand, glanceing to the ground, his hair shifting over his eyes.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: This was made by our ancestors.. So that we could become something more than ascended parasites. It eleminates the need for humans entirely.. Mentally, and pyschially.

[b]Amatros[/b]: Mentally.. You mean the pulse.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: Of course. You dont think i'm stupid, do you? I know all about that.. thats why they are still alive.

He calmly pointed to the scattered groups of humans locked in their shoddy prisons, dirt encrusting their skin. He silently grabbed his sword, pointing to the northeast, glanceing to Amatros, and the small group of Shades around them that had congregated over the course of the conversation.

[b]Kenratu[/b]: We're going Northeast... To the small Metropolis of San Antonio. Prepare everything, congregate [b]every Shade[/b] here. Keep the humans as prisoners.. they wont be too rowdy if you make them bleed enough. Thats the plan- Thats our attack. Move out..[/color]

[Corey]

Walking... Walking... I hated my inability to fly indefinatly... I was to young. Dammit... Just dammit... I slung my head low and walked. The weather was hot. Stuffy. Almost comfortable it it wasn't for the constant winds of sand. I closed my eyes and took to the air. Enough of the walk. I would fly for as long as I could. The air was less chaotic up here. More wind, but less sand. And less sand made for easier breathing. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I could fly and think at the same time.

[b][size=3][i]POP[/i][/size][/b]

I opened my eyes in a hurry. There were thousands of Shades standing around me. I narrowed my eyes and hissed a Shaden curse at Kenratu. He had just added three days to my journey. Why did he want me back here? He certainly didn't miss me.

[Lady Asphyxia]

[color=darkred]Leila knew that someone was using magic to transport her and her kind. It was Shade magic; human magic was different traces in it. The world slowed and every movement seemed to go at double the speed. It was seconds later that she arrived at the meeting point. There were others there, some looking rather disorientated. She suspected they hadn't been called before, and had just come from the gate.

Ikturu was there, shooting murderous glances at Kenratu. Leila stood for a moment, watching him, before mentally dismissing him. She walked over to Kenratu, feeling - as she sometimes did - like an intruder into the world of he and his friends.

[b]Leila -[/b] Why are we here?[/color]