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Post by Snakeskin on May 17, 2012 15:27:36 GMT -8
The inside of the dark castle is vast and filled with shadows, lit by torches with flames that burn endlessly. The main atrium is filled with grotesque sculptures of figures, many nearly unrecognizable as living things, in states of torment and pain. The walls are adorned with paintings of unspeakable terrors. Ornate chandeliers hang from the arched ceiling. Numerous spiral staircases lead out and up from this room, into servant's quarters, a kitchen and dining room, several torture chambers outfitted with cages and brutal tools of "advanced interrogation", prison cells, and, at the very top of the highest, central tower, a throne room. The throne, meant for the governor of the colony, is made of solid gold. The cushion is an odd, purple, fleshy substance of some kind. The room is always staffed by demonic Dark Dimension guard soldiers. It includes its own massive chandelier, which lets off a pale green glow, and a ring of windows around the room from which to survey the entire island. On the opposite end of the room from the throne itself is a pristine mirror in an ornate golden frame, hanging proudly on the wall. In the center of the room sits a podium of black bones, on which rests a thick, leather-bound book - the tome of laws governing the colony. All the pages are blank, save for the first, which reads: I. Do not steal from fellow citizens.
II. Do not delete fellow citizens without permission from the governor or those granted the power to give this permission by the governor.
III. Do not disturb the dark and unholy aesthetic of the colony through dress, decoration, agriculture, or architecture.
IV. Do not question or disobey orders or commands from the governor unless they contradict the laws or commands of Lord Samhain.
V. Do not attempt to expand the colony without orders from Lord Samhain.
VI. Citizenship can be granted to non-colonists only by the governor or Lord Samhain. Non-citizens have no rights or protections in the colony.
VII. Punishments for crimes may be decided only by Lord Samhain, the governor, or those granted this power by one of the above. Punishments need not be consistent or just in the eyes of the citizens.
VIII. Additional laws may be created and enforced by the governor or Lord Samhain at any time, but laws made by the governor must not contradict these eight laws of Lord Samhain. No one else may create new laws.
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Post by Genesis on Jul 16, 2014 16:02:12 GMT -8
"...Toxin gone and curbing my eternal boredom, huh?"
*Pain and torment. This area perfectly surmised that for him. It was also what he wanted to do if Ruin's report didn't appease him right now. This was the best place to do that as well as it happened, making it to the throne room as his eyes flickered between their normal sheen to the darker sheen that they held when he let forth the bitter darkness that he held within him. He remembered the book. He looked over it when he came back here after Samhain's last announcement and proceeded to reassert his dominance for why he was chosen the first time. After that the people were fine again. And so he sat down on the throne, the light of his eyes dimming until the point where they could no longer be seen, possibly implying that they were closed for once. Ruin doing something foolish again might have resulted in rather surprising information again. He had his moments when he wasn't acting as the ambassador of destruction.*
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2014 19:50:41 GMT -8
Ruin wasn't as familiar with this place as many other areas, stepping out of his portal at the base of the central tower that held the throne room. He began his ascent as Xion took a look at the book which held the laws for the colony, which had ended up in the hands of Xion as the governor. As Ruin ascended the spiral staircase, thoughts not quite his own plagued his mind. Even as he was able to temporarily quell the powerful, even deeper darkness within, it still tugged on his consciousness, trying to find any weakness in which to take control. This loss of control... on this level, Ruin could not stand. He would have to learn to subjugate it like he had the powers of the darkchips and the darksoul, bending them to his will. As he reached the top of the tower, the massive double doors which lead into the throne room stood before the de-masked navi. As he was about to enter, he remembered he had crushed his mask in his frustrations in the Undernet. Bringing his hand up to his face, the shadows around the entryway drew to him, forming a black mask much like his previous one, holes for his eyes but extending down over the lower half of his face as well in a sheet of what seemed to be hard leather with metal plating to keep its form. Unlike his mask before which exposed his lower half of his face, this one was not intricate, just very simple.
The doors to the throne room creaked loudly as Ruin pushed on them, letting in the dim light from the stairwell. The doors were heavy indeed, but no match for Ruin's strength. As he walked in, he saw Xion sitting atop his golden throne. So gaudy... that throne always seemed out of place in this entire fortress. As Ruin approached he spoke to Xion atop the throne.
"It would seem that great forces are currently at work in the rest of the net right now. Though I was unable to find Toxin, my trip to Villa De Bogues was not a total waste. I happened to come across a number of very interesting navis and creatures."
Ruin finally made it across the massive throne room and stood before Xion on his throne. Crossing his arm as he addressed the lord of this area. To think it has been this long that he's known him, and he's definitely one of the strongest navis Ruin knew. One of the few that he deemed worthy of his respect. Though his mannerisms related to curbing his boredom were sometimes troublesome, at the end of the day, Xion could get things done, and truely a force on the battlefield. Ruin was glad at the very least to be working with him, a comrade even, to be on the opposite side of the navi's claws was a frightening prospect.
"As you likely know, the Bug Net served for some time as the bug beast Gospel's prison. Unsurprisingly my trip there lead me to encounter its fearsome power... But that was far from the most important of what I witnessed...
Surely you've heard the legends of Forte? Rumors float around the Undernet from time to time of his strength, one that none can stand against. What I witnessed in the Bug Net was none other than that same navi. The pressure was incredible, but I'll spare you the finer details. After he absorbed Gospel into his body with the power known as Get Ability, he had a singleton message..."
Ruin cleared his throat slightly, ready to announce what he was told by the oppressive force commanded by Forte.
"He said 'Tell all what you've seen this day. My judgment is coming, and none who oppose me will survive.'"
Ruin allowed that to sink in for a short time before continuing, there was more to this report.
"He left shortly after, however a new one took his place. Looking exactly like Forte... But it was not. I'm not quite sure what this navi... or creature was, but it wasn't the same pressure as before. The only difining feature about it was its eyes, Red irises and black sclera, with streaks of orange and red throughout. Its voice was like a thousand needles piercing the ears... Quite powerful, but not Forte... However, I'm lead to believe this one holds immense powers of Darkness, not unlike Nebula Gray.
I figured these beings would at least prove somewhat interesting to you, at the very least, the appearance of Forte and his absorbtion of the bug beast Gospel."
Ruin finished speaking at last, looking at Xion atop his throne. He would wonder how the eternally bored ruler would take this news, perhaps it would give him something to do. Things were certainly much more fun when they had a goal of some kind, especially when The Chaotic was working as a whole.
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Post by Genesis on Jul 16, 2014 21:48:27 GMT -8
*One of the silly rules that he had to abide to was not redecorating anything. He dealt with it because he was hardly ever here though. But that was secondary compared to Ruin's report. He had gone in as he expected and as expected ran into Gospel. But if Ruin thought Toxin was there then there had likely been some signs of him having been there. Forte... that was a name that brought up age old memories. Far back when he was known by a different name from centuries past. Memories that he had total recollection of even to this day. So that guy was planning to act again, just like at the end of the Eternal Endgame? Hah. So much for that being an endgame and eternal.*
"I didn't feel like opposing him last time because it didn't interest me. We'll see if it interests me this time too. We'll have to clear out that city at some point to get back to it with Gospel gone to quit trying to maul us when we try to go anywhere down there. The other creature though..."
*His eyes opened again here since the lights were shining from the armor again. That one didn't sound as lenient. If anything it let Ruin live to pass on that message or simply because it didn't feel like taking him out. A being of the darkness. Odds were it wasn't something that you could reason with then. Contrary to popular belief, the avatars that represented the darkness and light were rather picky. But light would choose people from the dark if it felt it right. Darkness... well they were more inclined to destroy anything in their path. Good to know they had some other giants on the net to mess with them now.*
"I imagine it has no business with us right now unless we pester it. I'm not quite in the mood to go looking for them since they don't feel bothered to go after us. Who all else knows about this? I imagine you weren't alone at the lake."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2014 8:28:27 GMT -8
Insightful as always, it was true that he had not been alone when he entered, and after some time he was not alone in the city itself. Terra had shown up late, and that blasted Iria was there too along with another navi, Ruin could only assume they were who locked him in the city at first.
"This is true. On my way into the city I noticed four navis, two of which I've never seen before. The two I was aware of were that navi Phenoix and Iria of the ONB. Another was with Iria... he had a number of propellers on him, though I did not hear his name spoken. The last seemed to just be a bystandard, couldn't make note of any defining features.
Additionally, reclaiming the city might be a bit difficult, as Forte blasted a hole in the network and by now the city is likely entirely flooded. After Forte and the other had left, one other showed up."
Ruin clenched his fists, the one navi to humiliate him so and he had been unable to get him back for it. He was right there, no searching necessary, but the darkness within had been a more important battle.
"In the aftermath, Terra of the ONB also showed up, seemingly to recieve a report from Iria and provide backup. I retreated after that... That navi that looked like Forte did something to me... the bastard"
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Post by Vilicious on Jul 17, 2014 12:19:13 GMT -8
Madness knocks on darkness' door.
Almost before he mentions it, before he thinks of it, the thing Ruin had repelled rears its demonic head once more within him: The cadence of the earlier mind-sundering pounding begins again at the threshold of his mind, this time more insistently (though still not unmitigably).
<All words after the final "Forte" are cut off.>
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2014 18:29:24 GMT -8
Ruin instantly crumpled to one knee as the darkness swelled up again, his voice stolen from him, replaced with grunting and snarling as it began to once again consume his mind. His right eye was engulfed in darkness, turning his iris red just as before. Though Xion could see the rather quick transformation, in his right eye before Ruin's head dropped and his hand covered his face, his left eye also began to show signs of being overtaken, dark tendrils reaching across it as if claws reaching onto his eye to devour it.
[smear:949494]As the darkness notable in his eyes showed the progression of his affliction, Ruin's dark attire grew even darker from his core, spreading out across his chest as it threatened to engulf him, with his other hand Ruin grasped his chest, screaming out in the throne room as if something was eating him from the inside. The pain of the fight for his control was immense as it slowly gnawed away at his being. Encroaching slowly upon the rest of his body, Ruin's threshold for pain was reaching its limit.[/smear:000000]
[smear:feb300]It could be so easy to simply let it take over, so painless.[/smear:fc1717] [smear:fc1717]Just to let go, run free, leave nothing in your wake.[/smear:feb300] [smear:feb300]To go beyond simply destruction, to erase everything before me and reign supreme.[/smear:fc1717]
But these were not Ruin's thoughts. And what was power without control. Even in his frenzy, even as he let loose to fight the strongest of his opponents, he was always in control of his own power. This darkness was stronger of course, but wild, he had to find a way to control it... or at least suppress it.
As Ruin's screams echoed around the room, his threshold for pain this intense finally reached its limits. From the outer edge of his body creeped the familiar darkness of a darksoul. Not quite as infinitely dark as the one coming from his chest, but engulfing the rest of his being. As it met with this other darkness, the two fought for supremacy over Ruin's body, the darksoul and this erratically powerful darkness. All the while Ruin knelt in agonizing pain as the battle continued.
[smear:000000]For what seemed like hours to Ruin, but was rather only a few minutes to those observing, The darkness welling from within finally receded, giving way to the Darksoul as Ruin's eyes returned once more to their original color. Breathing heavily, Ruin still knelt before Xion, his outburst finally quelled as his internal struggle finally returned. He had been able to keep it subjugated for a little while longer. However Ruin was sure at this point if it happened again... he would not be able to control it. Raising his head, Ruin looked to Xion, his eyes had rather serious a look. It was clear he could tell no one exactly what had happened, but he hoped Xion would understand with simply a look.[/smear:949494]
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Post by Genesis on Jul 17, 2014 21:23:27 GMT -8
*So the ONB and someone else. Propellers... well he knew one navi with that, but he imagined that the design wasn't too far off. If they were talking to Iria then they had some standing in the ONB if nothing else. Then that meant it was probably that other guy who used wind as his weapon. Phenoix was someone he didn't pay too much mind to. The bird would flock where he pleased and if it happened to be in his way, then fine.*
"Odds are the ONB will do most of the cleaning up first. We can leave it in their hands for a while. Worrying about reclaiming it can come after. But if we're lucky nothing of import will be found that was down there. Most of it will either be destroyed or be secure enough where it'll be found one way or another. And if they don't fix it, we just have to swim a bit."
*Considering their base and the fact that Arancione owned the city, it was better to let the clean up crew fall into most of the traps that would mess them up that were definitely down there. As for swimming they could either find someone who was good with water, which they did have until they lost contact with him too. Or just be really good at swimming, although he was joking when he said it the first time. Besides, Terra showing up was proof of how troublesome the situation there was. But Ruin seemed pretty concerned about the other one that looked like Forte. He hadn't brushed it off, just put it aside because he didn't expect it to rear its head and become a substantial problem that stood out. Rather it was a substantial problem that was focused on something else. In fact he had cut off mid-sentence, something that Xion noted. And then had that episode just now. Xion remained calm through the whole thing, but the look in Ruin's eyes spoke enough for him.*
"...Alright then. I need to make a visit to someone in the Forest Network for business. And you might be in need of some more professional help. Let's see if we can't kill two birds with one stone."
*Xion was still lingering on the fact that Toxin could possibly be gone for good. If he was... well, better to make certain that it was a definite thing. Ruin hadn't seen Toxin, but he imagined some of the people at the lake before him would have an idea of what happened there. And if there was someone who would know of some connections then he would try out his windy associate first. That and it might be better to not ignore Ruin's plights for once, so he'd see what they could learn about that too while they were there.*
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2014 10:22:02 GMT -8
Ruin rose from his kneeling position. Tired still from his outburst as his Darksoul still encircled him. Unfortunately it would wear off soon, but it had been enough... barely enough to quell that which was within for a second time. It clearly had no intention of staying dormant for very long, so indeed some assistance was needed. Ruin turned from the throne and took a hold of something in front of him, seemingly nothing... but the network distorted about his hand. Tearing down, Ruin ripped the network down, through it a door into the Forest Network. This one would last a slight bit longer than normal, after all it was intended for two to use it. Ruin looked back to Xion and motioned for him to enter first, his hand holding the rift open.
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Post by Genesis on Jul 18, 2014 17:32:00 GMT -8
*Looked like it was time to go then. Here was hoping this didn't somehow turn out to be a dead end. He happened to want to learn something and Ruin was going through an episode worse than what made him Ruin in the first place. He walked through the rift first, knowing, or expecting anyway, for Ruin to not be far behind him. Hard to say what to expect these days anymore.*
{Xion Location Change: Forest Network}
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2014 18:18:04 GMT -8
[Ruin Location Change: Forest Network]
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Post by Phen on Oct 19, 2014 10:18:37 GMT -8
Ruin trudged in to the castle foyer, his scaly companion of sorts no doubt just behind him. There wasn't much to do here, mostly it was just private. He made no effort to ascend the spiral staircases that lead to the throne room, nor did he make any motion for Xyzillentz to head up there. Xion was the leader after all, and Ruin didn't much trust the serpentine navi after being gone for a year, despite what he said. Turning around to face those we led in, Ruin crossed his arms once more.
"So here we are, unfortunately, Xion isn't in right now, unsurprisingly at least. A number of our other members are around, so tell me, what do you know about this guy? How strong is he? Yaknow, details."
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Post by Snakeskin on Oct 19, 2014 14:04:03 GMT -8
"Well," Xyzillentz remarked as he glanced around the room, "He used to be just another of the demon guards, working at the prison. When Xezzukhz made him governor, he gave him his new form and power. He's clearly not invincible, since Xion did a real number on him, but I've no idea what his offensive power is like."
Xyzillentz took a seat on one of the lower steps of a staircase in the room. ElecMan awkardly shuffled over to stand beside him, nervously peering around the atrium.
"He's still not fully recovered, evidently. He didn't MEAN to send that message to everyone, after all, only the natives of his dimension. Not that they seem to care much." He gestured lazily to the guards at the front door, evidently unconcerned with Xezzukhz' call for allegiance. "He must still have some glitches in his code, I suppose. No telling whether that will affect his combat abilities. I do know Nightwind is still working for him. He's... moderately strong. No match for you, though. Just very single-minded in his obedience. Rather stuffy really, not nearly as fun as I'd hoped."
Xyzillentz sighed softly and shrugged. "I doubt Xezzukhz will involve himself in the battle unless he absolutely has to. He prefers to lie around and get other people to do his work for him. The whole governor thing clearly went to his head. I imagine Nightwind will be leading his forces, assuming he can actually muster any."
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Post by Phen on Oct 22, 2014 9:43:19 GMT -8
"It would indeed seem like his call to arms was going mostly unanswered. Though there seems to be a bit of dissent in the streets, and a small bit in the military forces, most are sticking to their guns. Or ours rather. With that in mind however, if this... resistance of sorts is anything like the last one, we should be nearing the time when battles take place. I think its time we scramble the troops. If Nightwind is going to show his face, he'll be doing so soon."
Ruin walked up to the door guards, grabbing one by the shoulder and speaking to him out of earshot. The guard nodded as his eyes widened, fear seemed to permeate his eyes as Ruin spoke to him. He quickly ran off into the rest of the colony, off to do whatever Ruin just told him to. Ruin walked back into the foyer of the castle to re-address Xyzillentz.
"We should move back to the coast, It is likely where the fight will take place after all, that or the ship. We should be able to meet a small force of those who aren't foolish enough to follow this Xezzukhz there. We'll see if its even necessary. Besides... I need to see which ones are the strongest among our forces..."
Black and Orange streaks seemed to flow across Ruin's eyes as he said that, though his mask hid it fairly well. This battle was merely a test it would seem. Ruin expected Xion to return shortly, they would deal with Nightwind, deal with this Xezzukhz guy, then return to business. That being said, they really needed to deal with Samhain at some point, permanently, but that would come at another time.
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Post by Genesis on Oct 22, 2014 17:20:13 GMT -8
*Look at Ruin, getting the hang of conversation with some more people for once. Xion rose up from the darkness not too far from the stairs, his eyes looking between each of them. He had come back here just because this was the first place in mind, but finding some of them helped pretty well. He supposed that the others were already out and about then. Seeing as the fighting hadn't been full blown yet he supposed that at least the other denizens of the Colony recalled incredibly well what happened last time. Well, that and him wrecking Xezzukhz or whatever his name was the last time.*
"Moving would be nice. We can wrap this up pretty quickly for once. So, how's it going? Been a while since you've hung around here in the open."
*He was mostly referring to Xyz and ElecMan. The latter of which he barely recalled at all but since he was here he figured he would include him too. He was probably one of Xyz's boy toys at this point. Xyz liked picking those up. The snake had been missing for a while too, but since he showed up it meant he was hanging around somewhere and doing something all this time. Seeing as Ruin also wasn't, you know, a real number on both of them, then it meant that they weren't exactly on the wrecked Governor's side.*
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