Writing Arkali: the history

[Dan L]

for those of you familiar with the [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8294]RPG thread[/URL] I started, this is the promised story thread about what happened [i]before[/i] we start in it (I still need at least 3 people ;) ;) ).. I'd like any feedback anyone can give about how I can improve and such.. I've already changed it a little... unfortunately the 'chapters' were too short.. averaging on 1 page of A4 paper.. and not alot in the post... so I've merged them into bigger chapters, with little subheadings where the old ones were... anyway... here I go.. I'll post it up two parts up at a time ;)... (because that's about how quickly I write it ;))

[size=4][COLOR=darkblue]Chapter 1: The First Armageddon[/size][/color]

[b]DAWN[/b]

[size=2][i][color=darkblue]The Dawn of the Universe. Nothing is know of the first few million years after it's creation, nor how the race, named 'Arkali' came to be during this time of unstability and chaos. Many used to speculate that they were older than the universe, some went as far as to say that they created the universe, though no such speculations are made anymore. The Arkali themselves are now only remembered by a few, whose family lines have passed the memory down for generations. The word 'Arkali', though, is not entirely meaningless. The empire of Arkali, formed by the Seven Emperors 400 years ago - toppled 70 years later - may now be a bad memory, but a memory nonetheless.

Even in the days of the Arkali Race, Little was known about them. An unusual race, only 35 of them existed, and though they had accomplished and learned much in their vast lifetimes, they never made any attempts to contact any of the other races in the galaxy, despite the other races' constant attempts to contact them. In the billions of years of their lifetimes, they had accumulated vast amounts of information about the other races, despite this lack of contact, but one day, both they and the other races disappeared without a trace, though their home remains, preserved in the darker corners of the galaxy.

The story begins five billion years ago, twelve days before their disappearance...[/i][/color]

[b]DISCOVERY[/b]

[color=darkblue][i]He walked through the halls of the building, towards the leaders' room. The walls of each hall were all beautifully crafted by the priests, with extreme detail and precision. The priests had always said that the new races, however great they become, would never craft anything to rival these halls, because their mortality gives them impatience, they have no time to spend on absolute perfection. These words, though true, meant little to Daotun now, as there were more important matters to attend to. He opened the large, beckoning doors to the room and stepped in. The walls inside were covered were covered with swords and an array of other such blades, each one crafted by the warriors. Though the warriors never actually fought, their whole lives they trained, and crafted their own weapons, most of which served no purpose and quickly became ornaments.

There was a man behind the desk in the centre of the room. He looked up, [/i]"Yes, Daotun?"

[i]Daotun remained silent for a few seconds, and then replied,[/i] "I have terrible news from the mages. They say that they have sensed an evil presence-"

[i]Before Daotun could finish the sentance, the man interrupted-[/i] "There is always an evil presence. What makes this one worth our attention?"

"It's not one of the other races.. we know that... We have reason to believe that it originated from outside this universe"

[i]The man, named Dranat, stayed silent for a while, pacing the length of the room. When he was finished pacing, he replied,[/i] "What magnitude of power does it possess"

"Greater than ours, sir"

"Do you know", [i]Dranat said, worried,[/i] "of anything that can be done?"

"No sir" [i]was the reply[/i]

"Then it would appear that drastic meansures must be taken..."[/color][/size]

[Kain]

I already signed up in the sign up thread.Just waiting to start.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=teal]Correct me if I'm wrong, but that RPG has already started.[/COLOR]

[Kittie]

[color=seagreen] well technically it [i] has[/i] started but it hasn't been taken into effect yet...

um...we need more people to join....itd be appreciated! :blush:

so...it's there...but hasn't treally as of yet! :D [/color]

:wave:

[Dan L]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Raiha [/i]
[B][COLOR=teal]Correct me if I'm wrong, but that RPG has already started.[/COLOR] [/B][/QUOTE]

It... has?? no it hasn't... damn, this is what I get for making the play and sign up in one thread.. people think it's started when we're waiting for people! damn me!

OK.... time for the second instalment... sorry this is taking so long... strange things are happening around here that I won't even go into...

P.S. A little bit of self criticism... I think I switch between different points of focus too often, and don't describe anything in enough detail, what do you think?

(still chapter one)

[b]Ka Nhara[/b]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]On a planet in the far reaches of the galaxy, the very border of known space, was a civilization named the Ka Nhara. They had not yet reached beyond their own planet, and at the time had no intentions of doing so, as their planet was engulfed in a massive was between two continents, which had been building up for centuries. On one side of this war was Resis Noth Karula, one of the higher ranking personnel of the continent of Amura ('Resis' signifies this rank).

Karula looked out from his window, watching over the battlefield. Flashes could be seen everywhere, partly from gunfire, but mostly from bombs, dropped onto the enemy troops. The battlefield was ablaze with fire, whenever a flame disappeared another took it's place. Amid the wailing of bombs dropped from above, and the constant rattle of gunfire, were screams of pain, anger and fear. The only thing to muffle this was the occasional sound of an explosion. Before long, the huge moving mass of bodies began to lessen.

Resis Karula could feel that their numbers were falling. A few seconds later, a messenger confirmed this.[/i]

'Resis Noth Karula?'

"Yes", [i]Karula replied in a voice, deep and imposing.

The messenger hesitated, then quickly said [/i]'Our numbers our falling, the enemy have the advantage'

"And...."

'And the Regis wants you to help them', [i]he quickly finished. The Regis, similar in sound to Resis, was another military rank, though the Regis never did any actual fighting, and only decided on the fate of lower ranks.

'Finally', Karula thought to himself, 'those bastards are going to see why I am the Resis here', he smirked, looked out of the window, and uttered [/i]"I hope you are ready..."
[/COLOR]

[b]The Resis in Action[/b]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]The transport craft slipped through the air of the valley, quiet and unnoticed. There were three other men inside the cabin with Karula, all of whom were aerial troops - soldiers dropped from above, directly onto the battlefield. Their eyes, though intrigued, never so much as glanced at Karula, in fear that he may be staring back. They had all heard stories of his battles in many wars, though Karula was by no means unique. Every planet had their version of Noth Karula, all legends n battle, but each of them suffered the same fate. Although Karula could feel something terrible coming, he had no idea of the magnitude of it's evil.

They were almost directly above the battlefield now, and the soldiers were getting anxious. An artillery was heard firing from the ground, but nothing was thought of it, for it was a common sound at the time. Then, an explosion rocked the cabin, and the craft started to fall. Karula ordered the soldiers tojump out of the craft, and they did, after a moment's hesitation. Seconds later, their parachutes slowed their descent. Meanwhile, Karulatried to help the pilot, but when he found him, the pilot was beyond Karula's help. The shell that hit the craft did so directly beneath the cockpit. Karula leapt out of the craft, seconds before it crashed to the ground.

Karula landed in the middle of a field, only a few hundred metres from the edge of the battlefield. He saw one of his enemies, that faced away from him, and sprinted towards him. When Karula was 5 metres (about 15 feet for those of you that are unsure ;)) away from his opponent, he turned around, but it was too late. Karula sprang into the air, and whipped one leg around his opponent's torso, then drove the knee of his other leg into his opponent's skull. His opponent died instantly. Karula unsheathed the kalatu blade (a sword crafted by himself, unique in design) and ran towards the main battle [/i][/COLOR]

next bit should be up on thursday ;) provided that no more strange things happen... hey.. one of you knows what I mean..

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue]No, I don't think you switch too much, don't worry about it.[/COLOR]

[Dan L]

Time for the third instalment... here goes... yeah I said it's be up by thursday, but there was an eerie lack of strange things going on....
I think I'll change the name of chapter one... simply because the chapter seems to have less and less to do with the title... as of now, chapter one is 'The First Armageddon'

[b]Prelude to Darkness[/b]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]The dark force had drained the planet of all it's energy and left it, a lifeless rock, doomed to spiral in towards it's Sun. The were no planets left in the galaxy it was in, so the 'darkness' (as it was becoming referred to), moved on towards a new one, fairly close by in universal terms, and untouched by it's evil. All of the consciousnesses within agreed, and it departed, unaware that the Arkali were expecting it.

The Arkali sensed it's movement, and became anxious, unsure of what to do. The darkness seemed to be made up of a great number of consciousnesses, all somehow linked to each other. It was difficult to tell exactly how each of these consciousnesses came to be, or how so many could be linked to form what seemed to be one being. They believed that each one of these consciousnesses was the real equivalent of what the new races referred to as demons.

The arkali had two plans-

The first was to destroy the darkness, by allowing it to drain the energy of the outermost planet - one with life, but without civilisation, and directly in the darkness' path. The planet's Sun was forced to explode, destroying the darkness, and unfortunately, all other life on the planet as well.

The second plan was less certain to work- The arkali were to poison a few of the individual consciousnesses in the hope that their link with the rest would somehow spread this poison, and defeat the darkness.

They soon began setting up the traps, hoping that one of them would work...[/i][/COLOR]

[b]'Lord' Karula[/b]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]On the planet of Ka Nhara, Noth Karula was attending a ceremony in his honor.. The war was over, due to his 'brave' actions in the battle a few days ago. What the people didn't realise- and he was in no rush to tell them -was that when he killed the leader of the opposition, it was by accident. But the people needed someone to praise, so he kept this quiet, and now, he was being appointed a Lord. Although he was honored, at the same time, he didn't want to be a Lord. His speciality was fighting, not ruling people, and though the war had ended, he could still feel a strong, evil presence on it's way.[/i]

"Resis Noth Karula"[i], an elderly, distinguished man said. Karula stepped forward, and the man continued [/i]"We, the Lords of Amura, ask you to accept this symbol of our gratitude, and of Lordship", [i]he held out a pendant, with the symbol of the continent of Amura etched in gold.

Karula hesitated, unsure of whether he would accept or not. Suddenly, his mind was flooded with thought of pain, of darkness and of despair. His feeling of a dark force coming grew stronger by the minute. He could feel it moving. [/i]'I do not accept'[i] he said.

[/i]"What?"[i] One of the Lords looked at him, bewildered, filled with disbelief. [/i]"Why"[i], asked another.

[/i]'Because'[i] Karula answered, [i]'I am not a leader. I wasn't born to be a leader, to rule this land and decide on how it should work. I was born to defend it. I can feel a great disaster coming our way. I need to defend us from it, which means I can not accept your offer' [i]Karula finished, and awaited a response.

After a short pause, the diasappointed Lord simply replied [/i]"very well"[i], and one by one, the Lords left, leaving only Karula and those who came to witness the ceremony. After a few minutes, they left too, leaving only Karula.

Karula now felt alone against a great force threatening Ka Nhara, but at the same time, he felt that his decision was right, as stuck to it...[/i][/COLOR]

[b]Enter the Darkness[/b]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]Karula's heart began to race. He knew that today the presence would show itself. He could feel it stronger than ever, though he had no idea what he was waiting for. He grew anxious, nothing was happening yet he felt it stronger every minute. After a while he began to think he was losing his mind, he could sense something unimaginably strong, but could not see anything. Just thenm, he saw what he was waiting for.

A cloud of darkness ripped through the sky of Ka Nhara, determined to reach the surface. Karula's eyes widened as he saw this, he knew instantly what his fate would be, and that the whole planet shared it. He knew that there was no way around it, it would end now. He unsheathed his Kalatu blade, not in preparation for battle, but in preparation for death. Of all his posessions, the only one that had any real meaning to him was the Kalatu blade- a sword crafted by Karula himself, and a quite unusual design, yet very effective in battle when used by one with the right skills.

The darkness slowly descended, and claimed him as its own. Moments later, both Karula and the darkness had disappeared, and only the Kalatu blade remained, glowing faintly though with no one to observe it.

The darkness left, having taken all it needed from Ka Nhara, and proceeded on towards the next planet.[/i][/COLOR]


-END OF CHAPTER ONE-

Edit: Damn... these 'Parts' seem so much longer on paper.. :eek: