Age of Warriors

[Dugan195]

Buckle looked between Dalia and Crux and then at the forest, "Dalia is right Crux. Muez's body is frail and crippled, but he is not a helpless beggar. He is a champion of the Kalbor arena. He can take care of himself. Muez's ability if anything allows him to be tricky. As long as Iniac is unconscious he is in good hands and will be protected. Finding Muez means finding Iniac which is a undue burden on our mission. We should move on" Buckle said in a cold calculating voice.  

[Joa-Boo]

Crux was beside himself. Giving up going after Muez could mean the last time he ever saw him. That thought was more dangerous a weapon than any sword or spear. It took him a moment to clear the clouded and misguided thoughts but finally lifted his head in a defeated manor and conceded. “Fine then, we move on. You have any leads on the where abouts of Artimus or his marry band of idiots?” Crux asked Buckle. He hopped the golem could be of some extra use sense he just finished fighting the other two. That thought sparked curiosity. “On that note, how did you fight off those two?”

“This is kind of like being herded. I feel as though we are purposefully falling apart as a team as though someone planned for it to happen that way.” Dalia chimed in. She didn’t want to think Buckle had anything to do with it but no one could be ruled out at this point.

“No Dalia you can’t afford to think like that. If we start turning against our allies now then the terrorist win.” Crux was quick to snuff that thought. He didn’t mean to stir any of this up but he couldn’t help but feel a bit suspicious as well.  

[Dugan195]

Buckle let our cackle, "I didn't fight them. I got shot up enough I could spray oil over their faces and run." Buckle raised his arms and turned around so they could see the fresh patchwork on his body, "I just had time to patch myself up before you arrived.....my lack of a real body makes....healing it a lot easier than your flesh bodies."

Buckle started moving towards the peak of the mountain, "Rentus came at us downhill. That means he is traveling up hill. Rentus doesn't fool around, he was moving uphill to find Finn. Rentus was our lead, he is towards the peak of the mountain.  

[Joa-Boo]

“That makes perfect sense I guess. Sorry we ever doubted you Buckle.” Dalia let her lips squish together in a smiling plea while a finger played through her hair. Everything about this place and finding Flin was messing with them and turning them against one another. It made her sick.

“We better not waste any time. The sooner we get through this the sooner we can find Muez and Ethet. That is my priority. Any king can suck it. No one sacrifices me or my friends.” Crux had a fixed cold growl grown along his face and it hung there as he pushed past the others toward the vertices near them so he had a clear view of the next few peaks.

“Crux, do not worry about your friend. He will be alright. He may even turn up to help out in the fight. We can just leave clues for him to follow.” Dalia chassed after Crux. She reached close to him with an arm at his shoulder for comfort. She was upset about Ethet but this was different. Crux was a bit unstable without his friend.  

[Dugan195]

"It's alright, I would have suspected me too. Only logical," Buckle said coldly and distantly as he started up the mountain, "Let's go, every second we waste is another second closer to Ethet's death. We must get to Finn." The group started walking for a couple of hours when Buckle suddenly stopped. Dalia and Crux slowed to a stop as well as they looked at their friend.

Buckle turned his head towards the two and stared for a second, the two could tell he was calculating in his head intensely. "Something isn't right. Something is very wrong in fact."

(time for your response)

Buckle looked at the two in silence, only the sound of his pistons turning moved through the wind. "We forgot something...well someone very important. Rentus. What happened to him? He is a restless creature, he would have made it to the top hours ago. Finn and the others might already be dead, torn to shreds by the Stalker. That would also mean that Ethet would be dead, possibly the others as well. We must move with all swiftness, no stopping for anything. If we wish to have the chance to save Ethet then we must move with all haste." As he finished Buckle took off forward not even waiting for the others to join him. Being a golem he still had a soft spot for a creature of the earth like Ethet.  

[Joa-Boo]

Something clicked in Buckle. There was no way he would have run if not. Crux could think of a billion different scenarios and most of them suggested not running forward like mad men but without the help of another hard hitter like Buckle they wouldn’t stand a chance. Crux gave a glance towards Dalia as she looked back at him. The two nodded in agreement and ran after the golem ahead with their weapons drawn and ready for the worst.  

[Dugan195]

The three ran and ran for an hour as they made their way to the top of the mountain. As they neared the top they could hear the sounds of men screaming and metal scrapping. Up ahead they saw the outlines of what seemed to be a cave system with fires out in front of it. IT had to be Finn's base of operations. As they slowed to a stop to see what was up with the situation they heard a young girl's scream echoing out from the cave. The scream could belong to no one other than Ethet. Buckle tensed up as Ethet screamed, "IT seems we are not too late, but we should be swift in infiltrating this base. We will be outnumbered not online in men, but in champions. I don't know if we can take all of them at once. Any ideas of how we should attack?"


A few miles away Iniac woke up from his rest in dense bush. Yawning he sat up and looked around hazily as he looked for the others. He painiced as he noticed no one was around him, then he felt the strange feeling of Muez's strings on his body, they weren't tangible, but he could still sense their presence on his body, making him feel queer and uncomfertable. "Muez, Crux, Dalia? Ethet? Buckle" Iniac called out as he groaned and got up off the ground, his old bones hurt after laying on the ground and being dragged around for a day.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Dalia and Buckle, we will have to be swift in and out. Once we have Ethet we should be able to go into hiding. I will draw everyone’s attention and then Buckle you make a charge in. Dalia you control the crowds with your range music. This should be quick but I am ready to pull anyone off you as soon as needed.” Crux looked back and forth between the two before going back into armor form for the ready.


“Iniac your awake?” Muez was sad to lose Iniac as a way of speaking but the brush nearby worked just as well. “I think I should be the first then to thank you for saving us all back there.” Muez made himself visible by bringing himself closer with some trees. Iniac was hardly moving but conscious was enough. “No one else is here. Just you and me!”  

[Dugan195]

Buckle nodded as Crux spoke, "As you say Crux. That should work. We just have to be quick enough that the champions can't respond to the distress. If they all attack at once we will be dead before we can escape." Buckle said in a distant, logical way. He drews his pistols and drew the blades from the back of his hand so that once he shot he could easily get into close combat with the bandits. If one of the Monster Brothers showed their faces Buckle owed them payback from battle in the forest.

Iniac looked up at Muez as he emerged from hiding, "It's only us? Where are the others, they...they made it correct? Our trip though the mountain, everyone made it through alright?" Iniac said the immediate fear that he had succeeded in saving his friends from Rentus, but only done so by finishing them off himself.  

[Joa-Boo]

Crux shut everything out. He stood aside from the other two and only let himself breathe. Nothing else came in and nothing else came out; just the steady controlled breath. He brought himself into a meditated state where he visualized everything happening as it should, as he hopped it to occur. Not much was known about what he would face but he had to be ready and focused. All of the practicing he had done with Muez prepared him for this kind of event and he had to deliver now. This was no practice round. He had the safety of two other people, one he had become fonder with than he generally allowed.

“Ready…” he paused for the others to show signs of understanding. “My blade is my heart, my armor is my bone, and this shield, the shield of the North, is my will, the reckoning by which things are made right.” Crux whispered to himself until the last part of the sentence. At the same time he lifted himself from the ground with the anchoring bone in his left leg and then fired another from his right leg through a bandit. As soon as it made contact with the target, after he had launched a good 10 feet into the air, Crux retracted the spine in a way that pulled him towards the split bandit. Once he was dead center of the entrance to the cave he let out a devilish roar as his armor ignited from his skin. The initial power of his armor exploding outward knocked a few close by bandits to the ground. They were cut in half by Crux’s lance before they ever made it back to their feet. Now in full swing, Crux dismantled what came near to him. The sudden and large quantities of death occurring outside the cave alerted those around. Crux was outnumbered within minutes 20 to 1. He stood his ground and fought even though each of them was able to get a hit in. The breathe of war was like ecstasy. Crux was actually smiling.

“ok, now” Dalia yelled from the side bush with Buckle. She called out as soon as she noticed all the attention was on Crux. Dalia moved with Buckle into the cave, taking out whatever they could on their way. Dalia blasted through her flute, first to kill a few targets, then to locate Ethet.  

[Dugan195]

Crux tore into the bandits tearing them apart one by one as they came at him. Soon some of the bandits started to take off into the woods, fleeing from the slaughter that Curx was unleashing. Those people fleeing where then cut down by a giant shadow that picked up a deserter and tore him in half. As Crux turned he saw the Walker of the Labyrinth standing there pulling a huge battle axe from his back, "Now this is a real fight brother. The tin can and broken man where no fun, but the Shield of the North shall be tons of fun." As Crux turned to bore his attention to the minotaur he felt a comet slamming into his back sending him sprawling to the ground as he was not rooted yet. Dust flew up from the ground as Crux crashed.

"Yes brother, this shall be fun. Let's see if the unbreakable Crux really is unbreakable." The tall Dragoon said as he bellowed a wave of fire into their own soldiers, "Flee trash, you are not needed here. you will only get in the way."


Buckle and Dalia moved through the system of tunnels occasionally tearing down random groups of bandits moving through the systems. As they ran through the caves they started to hear more and more screams from Ehtet, signs they were getting close. After a couple of minutes they emerged into a big cavern filled with all types of medical and science equipment; some filled with torn up bodies. The sight was sickening, however at the center of the cavern was a table with Ethet strapped down, little cuts all over her body. "Dalia, help me!" She cried. As she did, three distinct snickers echoed through the room in high pitch voices.

"So, the little b***h's friends have come to save her sisters, they rudely broke into our home. Shall we be good hostesses and show them our hospitality?"  

[Joa-Boo]

Crux was on his feet in a flash. His smirk grew to the edges of his face. “You two may be just the fight that would end this boredom. Nothing exciting has happened since the league broke apart.” Crux shouted while he watched the two. He was ready for anything at this point. His full attention was on the brothers and neither of them would get another hit like the comet again.

Crux swiftly shifted his weight so that his blade could aim for the Minotaur’s chest. He moved his lance in the right direction even through it was a foot or so from range. Then, with such speed it would have been missed in the blink of an eye, he lunged forward while extending the bone length of the lance. A direct hit would mean piercing through the heart of the Minotaur. That would be too good to be true.

Dalia knew right away what the voice meant. A fire built inside her immediately at the sounds of the fairy sisters. Those ugly abominations upset the wrong chick. Dalia lifted her flute and shot out another sonar shriek that shook the room. She was ready to light up the room to save Ethet, all she needed now was to know where the witches stood.  

[Dugan195]

Nair, the Walker, swung his ax at the lance and knocked it aside, "Shield of the North. Your defense might be impressive, but your offensive skills are lacking. It was always your weakness in the arena old friend. My brother and me, we are strong enough to crush your armor and tear you to shreds." Nair took the butt of his ax that was still redirecting the lance and slammed it into Crux's face putting a small crack in the bone mask around Crux's face.

Cron laughed as his brother bashed Crux, "Your armor is the strongest, but we are the strongest hitters. Let's see what happens when the two collide!" Cron flew up into the air going high to gain speed to launch another attack on Crux while Nair kept Crux from readying himself for it.


As Dalia let out her shriek but the sisters was nowhere around to been seen. Suddenly spikes started to fall from the ceilings causing both Dalia and Buckle to jump in opposite directions. As the dust cleared from the falling spikes and the two Champions looked to group back up suddenly a giant scythe swiped as Dalia and a giant ax swung at Buckle denting his arm. Buckle returned with a stab of his wrist blade, but Vivian jumped away and Selina was behind him and slashed his back. Letting out a cry Buckle spun around and she was gone, when he turned again so was Vivian. "Dalai set this room on fire, it's too dark. They are masters of stealth and traps we can't win this fight this way."  

[Joa-Boo]

Crux smirked as his armor instantly filled in. “All I need is one hit you fools. I punched like that when I was growing up! I let you hit me there. That was the worst pain I will ever feel from your puny dirk of a weapon and it won’t even hurt as bad the next time you hit me. You are week willed and therefore ants threatening a giant.” Cron wouldn’t be able to do a thing to Crux’s back so he took note of the dragon’s location but though little of it. He had Nair in his grasp at this point and he had to focus on that advantage. With the walker close by Crux expanded his shield, making his lance shrink to a sword length and swung his shield around to guide the walker into a hug with his blade ready to make contact. Crux was putting up a good show. He wouldn’t be able to slay either of these foes but a win at this point didn’t mean killing them it meant surviving.

“Well you’re on your own Buckle. I used sonic to do that very thing. This is different. How they remained invisible through a sonic blast is beyond me.” Dalia showed as much fear as possible but she plaid the part as well as possible. She let a small peep through her flute at a frequency Buckle could understand. “Keep them busy while I free Ethet.” Dalia then pulled her flute close to her, took a deep breath, and then blasted not flames but a powerful air like force from their location. Once she let the note run dry she dashed for Ethet to help her friend.  

[Dugan195]

Both of the brothers laughed, "Oh Crux so over confident you are. We are not weak minded peasants who will be amazed by your armor. Your armor is just a nut to crack between our fingers." Nair said as he laughed. "Together we are an unstoppable force unable to be quenched. To stand against us is to see the North break. You are its shield and we shall break you into little pieces and show how weak all are in comparison." Nair laughed as Crux tried to hug him. He bashed Crux's arm away like it was nothing. Crux was a strong champion in the arena, to see his arm swatted away like a fly showed the true power of the Brothers. With a smirk Nair started to slash away at Crux, wildly swinging without the intention of actually intending to hit Crux.

Cron flying high above in the air circled and circled above to the two as he gained speed. Knowing of the power of Crux's root Cron's plan was to tear the earth away from beneath him to send Crux toppling, no matter how far he root. When he finally gained as much speed as his librium could take Cron went crashing into Crux's back....



The sisters laughed as they started to jump in and out of the random equipment throughout the room slashing at Buckle from every which way. As Buckle turned to attack the sisters in turn he would find them missing immediately. As Dalia ran towards Ethet she suddenly found her legs being pulled out from under her. Head crashing into the hard ground she was lifted into the air dazed by one foot. Without thinking, concerned only with her little friend's life, she forgot that the sisters were master trappers.