Musings of a Bard [Read Only] - Printable Version
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Musings of a Bard [Read Only] - Panda - 11-11-2014
So long as it's allowed, I'm likely to keep some things here. Mostly poetry based on characters, or peeks inside of their head at specific moments in their life. Just snippets, thoughts, parts of who they are brought out. Showing you parts of what makes them tick. Occasionally, you might even get a peek inside my own brain.
Musings of a Bard [Read Only] - Panda - 11-11-2014
<font size="5]Kieran - Loss[/font]
There was pain.
Pain, and fear, and blood.
Voices calling to him, telling him to come back.
They didn't know. They couldn't.
Oh how he both loved and hated this.
Life fled, and then there was light.
Peace.
Hope.
A better place.
A place where he could be happy.
A place where he could finally join those he had left behind.
Yet all too soon the light fades.
The peace shatters.
His body breathes once more.
The memory of his death fades, as he returns to life...
...but the loss remains.
Musings of a Bard [Read Only] - Panda - 11-15-2014
<font size="5]Allen - My Path[/font]
Somewhere, it seemed, I had lost my way.
I had made such great steps from my youth. From someone without a past, an assassin, a criminal I had moved forward into the light. Defended my home against a siege of undead. Helped my allies find the reason behind a city of vanished people, and watched as they destroyed an insane AI. Made my way into a city consumed by the essence of Chaos, and then been empowered by the Chaos as I helped defeat a Fallen God. Slain more than one dragon in defense of the innocent, and then worked alongside a dragon to do the same. I had even been summoned to Avalon along with my allies by some unnamed spirit, and while they fought off a taint that was threatening the land, I had faced off against the darkness of my own past and been rewarded with the Sword of a Knight. Been recognized as someone who could follow in the footsteps of one of those knights of legend.
All while being a mere human, with some paltry artifacts to aid me, while my allies were people who would better belong in legend. The Chosen of a God of Light. A man who bled fire. A demon who fell in love, and chose to fight for the sake of that love. Many others were counted among thier number and I knew very well that to the world I seemed little more than a sidekick. An accessory to the sheer power they provided. Yet I didn't mind, for we did good and helped the world.
Somewhere along the way, I lost that.
My allies were gone. Faded away, scattered to the winds, without even rumor to hint at where they had gone. I myself, I admit, am much the same. Worried about keeping oaths I had made, I faded from the world and forgot about the path I had chosen to follow. Now? Now I am unsure if I even remember how to be a warrior. How to be a Hero like I was once called. Yet it seems that is what I need to be again. Hints of darkness led me to chase clues away from my home and into other realms. Other dimensions. Even as I try to track down the threat, I wonder if I can even manage to face it.
My skills have faded. The blade I was gifted still slumbers, and I lack the knowledge to awaken it. I am merely human, unlike my lost allies, and lack the sheer power they showed. Worst of all, for now I face this nameless threat alone.
Yet face it I shall, as I try to find the parts of myself that I lost. Even if I stand alone, I will stand against that which threatens the innocent. It is simply part of who I am.
Even if all it leads to is my death, I cannot help but follow my path.
Musings of a Bard [Read Only] - Panda - 02-23-2015
It would of course be in a place between worlds that it happened. A shadow given form, lunging forward from where it had been hidden and trying to decapitate him with the blade it formed from it's 'arms'. The first was easily dispatched, but it was just a 'pawn', and pawns never moved alone. Out of the alleyways, out of the buildings, out of the sewer, the many weaker shades made their presence known in this echo of another world.
Alone they were weak, easily dispersed even by a bare fist like he had done before. In these numbers, any normal person would soon be devoured by the mockeries of life, the remnants of souls that had fallen. Allen was not nearly as normal as his twisted perceptions believed him to be however. Meeting the flood of unexpected foes, he felt more than saw the black metal of the clawed gauntlets form over his hands, just in time for him to begin using those claws to tear into the Shades before him. The matching greaves soon followed, again forming as if from nothing, and just in time for him to lash out behind him with a kick that tore the head off another Shade causing it to disperse into empty air.
Foot down, just in time to twist back and grab hold of another pawn, then stepping forward and throwing it into an approaching swarm to buy himself more time. Then twisting himself backwards into a slash with one of his claws, taking out another two that had appeared behind him. So it continued, his strikes calm and methodical even as he took out the pawns one by one. Even he could not last forever though, and the numbers coming at him seemed relentless.
Then the second 'wave' hit. The 'Rooks' with their colossal frames and strength. The 'Knights' with their weapons and skill. The 'Bishops' with their more esoteric abilities. Allen didn't know why Joseph naming them after chess pieces stuck, but the names did fit he had to admit. The last time he had faced these had been with an army of allies at his back though, and with even the weakest of them being worth more than a dozen pawns, facing the countless numbers he could see was looking like a losing proposition. With no obvious escape before him though, Allen called his blade to him, the dark katana forming at his side as he stepped forward into the attack. A strike to his side with a claw pierced through a Rook that trusted too much in it's armor, then a step back and to the left as he deflected the spear a Knight wielded, before stepping into range and decapitating the shade with well placed strike. A step to the side let a fireball from a magic capable Bishop slip past him closely enough that he could feel the heat, the flames exploding and taking out a group of Shades that had been trying to surround him. Not giving that Bishop a chance to cast again, Allen Accelerated and watched the world around him slow to a crawl. He moved swiftly, striking through the seemingly immobile Shades around him and finishing with the Bishop, before his perception shifted back into real time. As a more than a dozen shades of various types fell, Allen could already feel the ache in his muscles that came from forcibly accelerating his body so far beyond human limits. Still, they came onwards.
The increasingly one sided battle drug onwards, for five minutes, ten, half an hour, an hour. Allen might have had the skill, but the shades coming at him seemed to be endless, and were tireless. Still he fought, not knowing where his escape route might be in this place in between and knowing that if he stopped he would be dead. Therefore he was quite confused when the shades suddenly stopped their assault and seemed to simply part around him. It took his tired mind a few moment to realize what this must mean, and by then it was too late.
"So I see we have a pest. How strange."
It was one of the generals. One of those rare shades who kept some measure of their mind, even as they were bound. Even worse, Allen knew exactly who it was as impossible as it might seem. For the first time since arriving here, even after facing the endless hordes, he felt fear. This couldn't be possible, could it?
"Alpha. No, you're dead. Athan killed you, we made sure you were gone!"
The being itself stepped into view by this point, looking remarkably like a man for something that looked mostly like darkness incarnate. A giant, hulking, armored brute, but still remarkably like a person even with just the one giant eye in it's 'face'. Surprisingly it lacked the giant sword he hd seen it with before, but that was just a small detail really considering that the form was even more damning than the 'voice'. This was the one they had termed as 'Alpha'. The supposedly strongest of the shades, and one they had made damned sure was dead when they thought they had pushed these beings back before. Apparently though they hadn't made sure enough.
"Alpha, you called me? I see. You're one of them. The Berserker may have sent me back to my master, but he reformed me after my penance for failing to destroy all of you was complete. You've even been so kind as to provide me a chance to begin fixing that mistake. Now die for me, pitiful one, and let me offer your soul up to my master."
Then, Alpha moved. If it could even be called that, since as tired and bloody as he already was Allen didn't even have time to react before the giant fist was slamming into his gut. He tried to move, but was not fast enough to avoid an open handed blow that tore right through his chainmail lined trench coat and left a gash in his side. Allen tried to Accelerate to dodge the next blow and strike back but his body had been stressed too much during the long battle before. Even as he went to strike at Alpha, the large shade simply moved fast enough to catch the blade of the Katana in one large hand, before twisting it in some indescribable way that made the until then indestructible blade simply shatter. Allen screamed out in pain as the sword shattered, both physical and metaphysical as the shards of his soulbound weapon cut deeply into his face before vanishing into ether. He didn't even notice the next blow coming, one that sent him straight through a nearby wall.
His sword was gone. The katana, the blade he had been taught was formed out of part of his soul, had been broken. He...he still had his other 'weapons' though. The gauntlets and greaves that he even now wore. Almost by instinct, Allen tried lashing out with one of his claws as he felt more than noticed Alpha approaching again, only to have his eyes widen in horror as the being easily caught the strike. He could feel the pressure being put on his arm as the giant Shade just squeezed, and soon enough the gauntlet shattered under it's grip taking it's counterparts with it. Almost as an afterthought, Allen's arm snapped under the pressure before he was simply tossed away like a broken toy.
"I expected more of a fight, from one of your ilk. This almost wasn't even worth the effort. I'm quite disappointed."
Allen barely registered the speech, barely conscious by this point. He was bleeding, battered, broken, and as far as he knew parts of his soul had just been irrevocably shattered along with the priceless artifacts that had allowed them to manifest. All that kept him from giving up his hold on alertness was the sliver of light he could see right behind Alpha. Something he knew he couldn't see, something that was beyond his capability to even comprehend without aid under normal circumstances, but it was there. A path out of this place in between, and back into a full reality. Not a doorway or a gate unfortunately, but as he'd only found this place by slipping through the cracks he'd take what he could get. Forcing his body upwards, Allen grasped hold of the 'key' he had been using to travel and forced himself to Accelerate one last time despite his protesting muscles tearing with the attempt.
How he got past Alpha, Allen would never know. But he made it past, somehow, and slipped through the crack even as the 'key' fell from his blood soaked hands. Alpha's enraged cry at his escape was the last thing he heard as he finally gave in and blacked out.
Somewhere else, in a world that was much less empty, a broken body would appear from this air and start bleeding on someones floor.