Librium

[Joa-Boo]

Your small dagger tasted everything the starved goblin had eaten last. It’s inners turned and skewed with your plunge pushed an end to the goblins life. The other four around you found similar fates as one by one you tore into them, each one however leaving you with a brand new scar. Their bites were little but had there been many more, enough little cuts like that could have killed you. Fortunately for you your bloodshed felt like anything but death.

You were now being hounded down by the larger and fiercer Spinors. They replaced each dead goblin and their weapon skills were noticeably better. They would not die by any simple lounge. They rejoiced around you. Clapping their flails against their shields because the amount of blood you were losing left you blanketed in red. They might now even have to swing a weapon before you bleed out and die.

"Good I think this might be the end of Hudson. Good reddens and Paitrux rest you sou!" Varkannon said. he turned fro the screen to leave the room when suddenly everyone gasped.  

[Dugan195]

Hudson tore into the goblins spilling blood and guts in every directions. They were the fallen, they were the past that tainted him his whole life. Because of monsters like him he had starved and strayed away from the path of Paitrux and stole the bread. They were the filth that needed to be cleansed away. As he tore into the last goblin he was awoken from his trance. The blade of one of the Spinor's blades cut his side. He rolled out of the way to barely get cut by a spinor's swinging flail. Hudson grunted in pain as he felt his blood start to flow from the wound. It was weird he felt like this much blood shouldn't flow from that small of a cut. It was like blood just poured out of him.

Another Spinor slashed at him but he blocked it with his shield. As he did another spinor slashed his shield arm with his blade. Hudson let out a shriek of pain as the shield dropped from his arm. He grabbed at his arm as all his defenses were lowered. The Spinor surrounded him posed to strike. Hudson looked around as if time was in slow motion. He was going to die. He was unfit to serve Paitrux....no! That was not acceptable! Hudson would prove that he was a loyal of Paitrux. Being a goblin or stealing some bread to save his life would not brand him a heretic. This mark of Deminas was not who he was and he would serve the light. He would banish the darkness from this world and cleanse himself of his evil eye. As Hudson roared in anger he felt a strange sensation on his arm. The blood dripping down his arm started to races down his arm despite it being at an angle. It shot past his hand and suddenly he felt the blood turn into a hard material. It wasn't quuite metal, but it wasn't quite like a gem. It felt like both at the same time. The blade was crimson red, dark as blood. Light shown through it slightly lighting up random parts of it. The blade was attached to the top of his arm and seemed to have fused with his skin. It was an extension of his body. It was not an unwieldy weapon that would through off his balance, the blade was a part of him.

With time still at a standstill Hudson shot his arm forward into the Spinor in front of him sailing under his falling strike. Hudson pushed his whole body forward to drive the blade all the way through the Spinor and push him back to allow Hudson to escape his encirclement. With a fierce roar Hudson felt the wounds on his body start to scab over with the same material that made up his blade. His wounds were completely protect now and was safe from all types of infections.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Looks like Paitrux still gifted this young Lumen. Varkannon you can’t surely mean to purposefully kill this tool of Paitrux?” Val was beside herself. This wasn’t the first time she disagreed with a Lu, even the Luminary. Val’s quiet temper with her words and underlying sarcasm was the best way she could show disrespect. Varkannon’s face lit was nothing but shock. He attempted to mask his anger but Val saw through it just as well as he could not see through her slide remark.

“Well maybe he is useful after all!” Varkannon amused himself. He watched as your blood blades struck all of the Spinors down around you. You cut through them like butter with these new found weapons protruding from your body. “Keeper go ahead and finish the trials oh and have fun with it!” He paused and then turned to look at Odell. “Come with me. We have a few things to discuss.” Odell nodded and the two left the room. Keeper’s soulless armor fell to the ground and instead a set of armor inside the trial room came to life.

“What do you think Varkannon is planning?” Noah asked. He stepped close to Val as the two watched you now take on the minotaurs.

“It is not our place to speculate but if I was to guess Varkannon wants some better understanding of what this Hudson is here for. There might be answers on Librium.” Val responded. Both of her elbows balanced against the screen so she could rest while watching. This was not a good thought for the two. Going to Librium was always messy.

A massive axe slammed against the ground next to you, shifted flat, and then horizontally swung at you. The other minotaur waited for the axe to pass by before barreling forward with its huge horns and then slamming the axe over top of you. It was a blood bath in the ring and that is exactly what you wanted.

Your strength and sharpness was to much for the two to handle. As the first axe swung horizontally at you, your blade met it with enough force that it split the blade in half, rendering it useless. The minotaur looked down at you with a blank stare, terrified and confused all at the same time. In a foul swipe your blood sword connected with the bull’s face as if you where punching it but your first extended another 3 feet through its skull.

While you dismembered this fallen minotaur the second rushed you like it originally intended. The beats run you over, crushing you with fierce might. It’s axe slammed against the ground but all you had to do was side step, adjust your weight, and then crash through it the same way. It was finished. Everything was dead.

“Very interesting new Lumen. You have passed the first trial of skill. Now you must pass the trail of wisdom.” Keeper, in his new set of armor, approached you from out behind some rocks. The vacant helmet he wore faced your bloody mess. “Again you may give up at any moment by saying those magic words.” Suddenly the armor fell to the ground, lifeless like one would expect.

Then all of the monsters you had just destroyed broke free from their armor. Each creature’s armor came to life the same way Keeper stood and they all converged on you, this time without biological deficiencies or emotions. As a wave of blades descended upon you, you did the best you could to block, few hit, but every attempt you made would miss. The armor would simply pull apart just out of reach so that you could not hit it.  

[Dugan195]

Hudson grunted with every new slash into his body. Luckily the instant plating of his wounds made him very substainable in combat. He thought about the battle as a test of wisdom. Wisdom, If it was wisdom it was knowing what is the best way. He wasn't meant to overpower these armors. There was no way he would ever hurt them, this wasn't a test of strength but of intelligence? This worried Hudson as he was not a very sharpe man. He had little education as a member of the 3 rank. Even less because of him being of the fallen. Was he supposed to figure out how to use his new power to defeat them? His power seemed to only be of a physical nature so that wouldn't help him any. Or was he suppose to disable them somehow? Blood was flowing from his many wounds and Hudson wasn't figuring a way out yet but he had to try something. He swung his off arm and shot off a stream of blood that harderened into a semi-metal-semi-gemstone bolt that aimed right for the armor in front of him. He didn't know if this would work but atleast he would be able to learn more about his enemy.  

[Joa-Boo]

There was so much for Hudson to learn. Like every Lumen, surviving was the real test when attempting the will they were given. This is what Hudson must accomplish. There is wisdom in understanding the sciences and thought but there is also wisdom in how to survive. This is best known as people’s instincts. Did Hudson acquire the instincts necessary to solve through these things? Only Paitrux could say.

Your bolt of bloody crystalline fired from your arm and smacked against the armor but by the time it reached its target it had already melted back into a splatter of red. The armor looked unfazed and in response motioned to charge at you. Instead all of the suits of armor halted in a defensive stance. They each drew out shields as if readying to defend from some dangerous weapon you were going to throw at them. Were they learning how to better deal with you?

“Lumen, this is Paitrux’s gift to all of you. That mark on your back, the shield, displays a devastating truth; there is Paitrux’s light inside you. That light will eventually claim your life but while it is in you now it grants you basic properties all Lumen have. They call it “Influence,” your ability to influence the elements to your will. There are two types of Influence; Influence Form and Influence Caliber. Influence From is your ability to shape, move, and alter the elements. Influence Caliber is your ability to expand or shrink the elements. Influence alters from Lumen to Lumen and most are only good at one or the other. However, no Lumen can overlook the survivability one has with the gift to influence earth, fire, and water.” Keeper spoke from all around you. His voice resounded through the trial cave. “EARTH….FIRE…WATER!”

As Keeper chanted each of these the cave altered with respect to each element he called out. The whole space shook while moving around. All four of the outside walls rushed inward, dividing the open space by 3. As the walls moved they subsequently crushed a few of the armored souls. Then a pillar of fire shot up from the middle of the available space. The fire burned brilliantly with a never ending flame from top to bottom. And around that, about 3 feet from the pillar of fire, ran a constant stream of water, entirely surrounding the fire. The elemental frenzy you now stood amidst raged with a loud roar. It took a moment for the armors to compose themselves but once they were focused they converged on you once more. There were only five left and each had their shield and sword at the ready. Every move you made was watched and they altered what they were doing based on your past movements.

Behind the armor, along the most north wall was a frozen doorway that led to the end of this trial. Etched into the thick layers of ice was the word WISDOM. There was a final click, one that made it actually urgent to use that door. In each corner of the room a gash in the rock appeared and out of them pored gallons of sand. The room would fill up in less than 30 minutes, suffocating anything living inside this tomb.

“You can feel it can’t you. That natural instinct in you is the shard of Paitrux wanting to survive. That same feeling may connect you to your will and that same feeling is how you Influence. Use that feeling Lumen. Connect the light inside you to an element and then Influence it.”



((Influence ground rules: only heavy Influence users can Influence more than one element or target at a time. You have already chosen to be a heavy combat fighter but because I am introducing this now I will let you change your mind if you want. To use Influence you must use part of your consciousness to connect with a target element, such as a fire in a fire pit. Once you connect to that target you can either InFo (Influence Form) and/ or InCa (Influence Caliber) depending on how good you are. For instance if I am a normal Lumen I can connect to a fire in a fire pit, cause it to grow with InCa, and then shape it into a long flaming whip with InFo. How well I do either of those is based on how you want to customize your character. To do what I just described takes basic InCa but good InFo because it would be more difficult to weild or manipulate a flaming whip. However if I wanted to toss that fire from the fire pit to some location and then expand it into an explosion it would be the other way around.

Options:

No Influence = The full extent of your inspired powers are preserved in your signature power. Your signature power is very powerful. You are unable to Influence at all but have a natural resistance to Influence.

Basic Influence: Your Signature power is far more powerful than your Influence but you still can use Influence.
Balanced = You are average in both InFo and InCa.
Form Strong = You are above average in InFo and below average in InCa. This allows you to vastly manipulate the elements at hand but can barely alter the amount there is to use.
Caliber Strong = You are below average in InFo but above average in InCa. This means you can grow or shrink things however you may please but are very limited to how you can move it or shape it.

Strong Influence: Your Signature power is as about as strong as your Influence capabilities. These Lumen are known as Casters. Your combat skill suffers because of the amount of focus this takes.
Form Focused = Above average in InFo and average in InCa.
Caliber Focused = Average in InFo and Above average in InCa.
Form Master = Master of InFo but unable to InCa.
Caliber Master = Unable to InFo but master of InCa.

Master Influence: Your Influence capabilities exceed your Signature power. You are not very good at combat. You can target 2 things at a time.
Master Balanced = Above average in InFo and above average in InCa.
Form Focused Master = Master of InFo and average in InCa.
Caliber Focused Master = Average in InFo and master of InCa.

Influence only = Master of both InFo and InCa. You can target up to four things at once. Do not have a signature power. Pathetic in combat.

I will add this to the profiles so please list your choice and update your profile.))  

[Dugan195]

Hudson felt the power rise inside him. It was weird, he felt like he was connected to the elements around him. He could feel the fire's heat even though he was so far away, the water's moisture and the hum of the earth. Hudson closed his eyes as the armors composed themselves. He felt the presence of the elements, but he didn't feel a strong connection. He had seen Lumen who could make a match turn into an inferno and he had seen Lumen who could turn a lake into a monster. Hudson knew he would never be able to do either of those things. His connection to the elements was weaker. How weak or how strong he had no idea. Still with his eyes closed Hudson let out a deep breath and reached his hand towards the pillar of water, he didn't know what to do with it though. Make it bigger? Form it into some type of weapon? Perhaps he wouldn't be able to do either. No Hudson had been blessed by Paitrux and he would use all the tools at his disposal to prove his devotion. Hudson eased his mind as he started to breath deeply as the armor closed in around him. "Bend to my will!" Hudson suddenly roared feeling the connection light up inside him. The water started to rush towards his arm and suddenly his arm was surrounded by a mass of water. It spiraled around his arm as he waved it about like a gauntlet. The armor seemed to hesitate from advancing on him, but it only slowed them for a second. Soon they moved in at him striking towards him with their swords. Hudson rolled backwards away from the armor fiends and put his other hand onto the mass of water and imagined a hammer, he started to move his hand through the water, molding its shape. Suddenly the gauntlet of water around his hand became a massive war hammer of liquid. Hudson smiled as he croutched down and lunged at the armor. He swung left and right at the armor.

The armor kept on dispersing and reforming just out of reach just as before. This was as useless as his blood formed weapons. Once again Hudson had to remind himself that strength wouldn't be able to keep him alive in this trial. As he tried to figure out how to use his new found powers of influence to live through this trial he felt the edge of one of the swords to tear into his leg. Hudson cried out in pain as he feel to one knee. He put one hand on the wounds and forced the blood to coagulate into the armor plating he had used before. Even with the armor plating over the wound it still throbbed, his body was almost at its limit with pain. The roughest of inquisitors had nothing on the pain true combat inflicted onto you. Hudson started to pant as he felt himself tire, he had to figure a way past this trial quickly. The sand was filling the room quickly, soon he would find himself with little room to dodge the armors' attacks.

Wait!

The sand was the answer. Sand was a type of earth, and that meant that Hudson could manipulate it to his will. If Hudson couldn't destroy the armor attacking him then he would bury them. Smiling Hudson dived through the onslaught of blades trying to assail him and ran towards one of the holes that the sand was pouring out of. He let his influence grip the edges of the hole and brought his real arms together. He felt the rock walls resist his influence, but he was Lumen, he was not going to let a wall of rock stand in his way. He pulled his arms apart and as he did tore the hole apart making the gash tenfold in size. As planned the sand started to gush from the tear at an intensely faster pace. The area around him started to fill with sand and Hudson let go of his control of the tear in the wall and quickly brought his influence over the sand itself. Sweat rolled down Hudson's face as he felt the sand fall victim to his will. He had to finish this quickly, Hudson was not strong enough to keep this up for long.

Sending a wave of sand into the armor he sent them flying back into the wall opposite of him. The triumph was short lived as the armor was unfazed by being slammed against the wall and started to rush him with speed unlike he seen in the combat before. As Hudson sent another wave of sand into them the armor merely braced for impact and held their ground. "******** bastards, you will not be the end of me!" Hudson shouted as he fumed. These things were unbeatable. Nothing Hudson could do would stop them.....that's it! He didn't need to destroy or stop them, he needed to prevent them from attacking him as he got through that door of ice. Smiling Hudson spun around with his arms stretched out and formed the sand in a sphere around him. He pushed his main hand toward the door and the sand opened up infront of him and formed into a corridor for him to walk through. Not knowing how long his sand barrier would keep the armor off him he quickly sprinted down the corridor using his blood to form another giant warhammer and started to pound away into the ice of the door. "Paitrux guides me. Your armor and your walls of ice will not stop me. I am Paitrux's tool and I will preform his will and nothing will stand in my way. Not demon armor, no the fallen, no Deminas himself will stop me, but certainly not a wall of ice!" Hudson screamed as he bashed into the ice over and over again with a revitalized strength that surpassed his early combats.  

[Joa-Boo]

The room now gushed full with sand. The alarming rate at which the small room filled violently stressed you. Your new found ability to Influence the elements was a nice feature but sand just didn’t’ feel like everything else did. Every little grain had to be focused on where water, rock, and fire conformed easily. Being surrounded by the stuff only clouded your Lumen focus.

The sand was at your knees and the corners of the small space were already filled. Your temporary walls were enough to set the armors back into the shower of sand, immobilizing them. Every now and then you would see a sword or gauntlet stretch from out of the sand but it would quickly crumble under the pressure holding it down. As for your attempts at breaking through the ice; it did not look promising. You had wailed at that wall of ice with the most strength you have ever felt and only chips would pop out here and there. At this rate you would be buried in the sand before breaking through ¾ of the wall. Something else had to work better.

“Everything is ready to go sir!” Odell looked over the previsions in front of her and then back to Varkannon. She nodded.

“Good… good. Now you will instruct your team on Librium to watch over Hudson. We can’t let him fall into the hands of the fallen. Tell the others that you are taking him to Farseir. They will believe you. You know what you must do Odell!” Varkannon was very cryptic. Odell understood and that was all he cared for.

“As you wish sir!”

“Oh and just take Noah and Felix. We really don’t need Val or Shela from your team getting into the way. I have plenty of things for them to do in Sanctasplin to keep them busy.”

Odell bowed again before Varkannon left and then surveyed over their equipment once again. Everything was set to leave. The air ship was loaded and ripe for flying. All they needed now was for Hudson to complete the trial.  

[Dugan195]

Hudson looked at his futile efforts and groaned. How was he supposed to get through this ice wall? If he could just get the ice out of the way he would be to escape this trial. Hacking away he saw that the armor was having trouble getting through the sand. It was slowly them down. Hudson smiled, he had power over the elements. He did not need to smash through the wall, he would have it bend to his will. Turning from the wall he gather all the sand under his control and sent it blasting at the armor sending a tidal wave of sand at the armor. He buried them beneath the sand and as quickly as he could he let go of his influence over the sand and grabbed onto the center of the ice wall. He pulled with his arms and used his influence to shatter the ice blocking his escape into a thousand small shards that he would fling across the room.  

[Joa-Boo]

Even as you started you could feel you self slipping. This was no task for a mild influencer. Moving this mound of ice would be difficult even for a strong caliber. Your determination kept you going though. Bit by bit you could seize the melted parts of the ice and use that to carve your way through. You were making leaps faster than hitting the block with everything you had. It just wasn’t enough. The sand was climbing your waste now and had you trapped. The weight was squeezing your lower half, cutting every attempt to move your body to less than a wiggle. The shield mark on your back burned as it shined with every Influence you performed, your mind was slipping from exhaustion, and you body ached with the sand lashing against you. It seemed dim until the ice wall concaved on itself suddenly and then folded inward like origami until nothing was left but a sugar cube sized block in the palm of Odell’s hand.

“So you learned you have Influence, woop-di-do! Keeper another great performance but you didn’t finish the job once again. Have fun in your dark cell.” Odell screeched as Noah grabbed you by the shoulder, pulled you out of the room, and set you down on a bench so you could catch your breath. Odell lifted the palm of her hand to her lips and then blew the cube towards the sand filling gap. Her breath pushed the tiny fragments of ice forward and then it explosively grew back to size as if you had never done any damage to it at all. “Still don’t think you’re a Deminaught? You have quite the dark power I’d say. You bleed all over your foes until they die. That is some twisted stuff if you ask me.” Odell had this strange sense that she could say whatever she wanted and you would do nothing. She had a habit of feeling superior to others.

“Congratulations on passing the first two trials Hudson.” Felix hummed through a monotone. He never moved his body, just continued to sulk from the top of a wooden pedestal. Once you looked toward him was the first time you noticed there was nothing below you but a small dock and at the end of the dock was a beautiful air ship, unlike the standard one you had traveled for work. This floating galleon featured colorful art and sculptures that decorated it from end to end. At the peak sat a representation of Paitrux, a huge owl with the body of a man with 6 arms. “Even though you technically did not pass the second trial you got everything you needed from them. There are more important things we need to take care of.”

“Buckle up Hudson cause we are going to Librium!” Noah lifted you from the bench and carried you over to the air ship alongside the other two. Noah didn’t seem to ask if you needed carrying, you were probably fine, he just wanted to help; at least he thought he was helping.

“Please tell me that is not the real reason we are making an emergency run to Librium?” An attitude filled voice grumbled from behind a slab of barrels. The female tones hit a number of pitches that suggested she was frustrated with even having to be a part of the mission, now she was upset about the cause. Word about you had apparently spread through the Lumen fast. The irritable model of a woman stepped around the stock to reveal her attractive figure. Unlike the attractiveness of her shape, her attire was very out of place. She dressed as though she has just stepped out of a steam factory but was as clean as a Godess with drapes of curly black hair that tangled around her shoulders. The most unusual part about her was the decorated fans she carried in both hands,; the one in her left beat at her chest as though it was to warm out.

“Whisp you know very well what we are doing and why this is so important. Besides, Paitrux commands it!” Odell budded in before Whips could continue speaking.

“Paitrux commands, you’re a fool. This is all Varkannon and you know it.”

“Unfortunately Whisp it is not Varkannon who put that shield on your back. Looks as though you’re stuck kissing Paitrux’s feet.” Felix continued to resist moving. The man was void of most emotion and this frustrated Whips even more. The Shango dropped through his pedestal and didn’t reappear until he stepped through the door to the chambers that the lumen rested in. He fell unto a bed with his name scratched at the base board.

“Tell that to this goblin thing! Does he do anything cool?” Whisp had to ask. It was everyone’s favorite thing about new Lumen, discovering their inspired powers.

“Oh yeah, Hudson was bleeding, he looked dead, then all of a sudden his blood hardens into this axe and he cleaves a Minotaur clean in half. It was incre… erhhh. He wields blood like a weapon.” Noah corrected his tone once he saw Odell’s glare.

“Sounds useful if you had to kill a bunch of people.”

“That’s what I said.” Odell turned to face Whisp. They both made the same gagging face when they realized they agreed on something.

“Let’s get this show on the road already.” Felix stuck his head through the door long enough to yell and then vanished back into the dormitory.

“Right we should get going then. You can put Hudson down now Noah. I am going to need your help dropping the ship.” Whisp commanded with a strong tone. He did as she asked; finally putting you down and then turned a lever that bound a few gears that held the ship to the dock.

As the ship was free falling, Whisp calmly walked to a pedestal where a commander would turn a boats wheel. This ship had none such device. Instead, Whisp held out her fans. The shield on her back began to glow until suddenly she gained control of the wind flowing around the vessel. Whisp influenced the air around the ship, causing it to move in the direction she chose.

“Welcome aboard the Jade Dragon goblin. Even though I don’t like you, nothing can put me down while flying.”

Now that you were once again on course to Librium you couldn’t sit still. So much had happened in such a short time it left you in a weird combination of confusion and amazement. As you wondered the Jade Dragon you came across some of the equipment stocked on the ship. You had no idea what the plan was but there was a whole lot of compacted gear soldiers on board. You even found a box or two of steam giants. Your random wondering led you to the base of the ship in a large store room. That’s when you heard small whispering and then a shh.

“No I know Hudson won’t tell us away. Trust me.” Suddenly Shela popped in front of you. She tugged at your pants leg with a bright smile that made you want to pick her up. “I had to make sure you were alright. I guess this means you passes the first of the trails. Oh boy what can you do?”

“Shela calm down. Let him breath. Well Hudson, do you have any interesting talents?” Val sounded as though she was challenging your pride, if you had any. She had to push all of the boxes out of her way before she was uncovered. She stretched her body and her wings all together. “And what have you gotten yourself into now?”

((edit: From now on think of the Jade Dragon as a Blimp and not a flying Galleon. Forgot we are trying to stay Steam punk here))  

[Dugan195]

Hudson felt the sand covering his waist line as he kept ripping pieces of ice out of the wall. "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!" Hudson yelled as blood started to seep out of his eyes, his ears, his mouth, and any other opening in his body. It was his bodies response to exhaustion and the anger he was feeling. His powers were being drained and he knew it. Their was still a bit of ice blocking his escape but Hudson wouldn't give up. He had to prove that he was a true follower of Paitrux. This was his test of Hudson's will and Hudson would not fail him. "******** this ******** ice!" Hudson growled as suddenly the ice disappeared from infront of him. With the new opening the sand pushed him forward into the corridor as he spat sand out of his mouth. Panting Hudson was given no relief suddenly he was surrounded by the Lumen who all started to blast him with questions and comments. Hudson was too tired and too weak from weeks in jail to respond to them.

Hudson didn't even resist when Noah picked him up and started to carry him to the ship. As the others started to talk about him as if he wasn't there Hudson did not respond. Even though he knew he was now an equal among them years of being told that he was less because he was fallen and in the third guild prevented him from speaking up. Within a minute he was in the air ship as it started to free fall. The more experienced Lumen walked as if nothing was happening, but Hudson (who had no conscious memory of ever being on an airship) clung to the nearest wall until Whisp's powers fell upon the falling airship and set it on a normal flight. Letting out a breath Hudson let go of the wall and cautiously tried to figure out what was going on. All of the war machines in the airship made him uneasy, was this an execution? Had Luminary Varkannon and the Lu decided the eye on his chest was more important than the shield on his back? Did they want to kill him in secret? Why were all the other Lumen asking him what his powers was then? Nothing made sense to Hudson right now. He was so confused and needed to talk to The Priest. The Priest always was able to give people in Hudson's building good advice, even though Hudson had never really had a chance to seek his help. The Priest was one of the few Lu that Hudson felt really served Paitrux. He choose to remain a humble servant of rank 3 when his knowledge and skills would have let him advance far in the priesthood. God how he wished he had someone like that now. All the Lumen around him looked at and talked about him like he was some new exotic animal. Hudson hated it.

Hearing a whisper Hudson backed into a corner thinking his end had arrived. "Who's there" He said weakly as the little chipmunk girl and fairy popped out in front of him. Hudson inched his way towards them, but was still cautious. Hudson noticed Val's challenge of his talents, for the first time he felt the urge to last back at the Lumen. His whole life he had been looked down upon no matter what he did. Finally for just a moment in time as he laid on the table to be blessed he thought maybe people would finally start to see the good in him, but even still he was looked down upon. He couldn't take it anymore, it went against every urge in his body to bend knee to the Lumen, but he WAS one of them now. He was tired of being afraid, and tired of being looked down upon. He was a true follower of Paitrux, he would complete his will and spend eternity at his side. "Paitrux has blessed me with gifts to defend the people of Sanctasplin." His reply was short and concise, but filled with pride.  

[Joa-Boo]

Val was impressed, a bite taken back, but none the less she was impressed. The valor you stood up tall for brought a smile to her face. Shela even giggled a bit. She didn’t understand the difficulty you had saying that and giggled as though you made some silly sound. Val on the other hand could see right into you. She appreciated your response.

“Not exactly what I was looking for but you must be right if you’re going to put it that way. You not what Hudson, I think the others are wrong about you. You have what it takes to make it around here. The rest are just afraid you might challenge them because of that eye on your chest. Truth is, most of us Lumen are afraid of that symbol. We don’t see as many Deminaught as we do Lumen and the few we have seen took us down by the dozens before they fell.” Val sat against a pallet of boxes and crossed her arms. She let her gaze trace the floor boards along the ground as she recovered the last time they fought a Deminaught. The thing turned itself into a massive wolf with horns that shot out from its back. It devoured a few of her troop and then incapacitated a whole line of gear soldiers with a single swing.

“I like you goblin. You’re pretty funny!” Shela was still giggling about your answer. She wasn’t sure how it was a power but she was excited to see it all the same.

“Shela what did I tell you about personal space?” Val gave Shela a motherly look.

“Arms length away is where I should stay.” The little chipmunk sang. She backed away but never stopped staring.

“Anyway I am sure the other, especially Odell, is afraid that you might surpass them because you’re also a Deminaught but at that point will your powers be for good or for evil. My guess is even you don’t know that answer. Must be scary, to not know what you really are?” Val looked inward again, as if recalling another tragic moment from her passed. She shook it off with a shrug and stood in front of you. “I have faith in you though. You’re going to make a great Lumen and do exactly that; defend the people of Sanctasplin!”

A loud thud that shook the entire Jade Dragon meant the ship was under attack or that they reached the Librium. The three of you held your breath, hopping it was the latter, only to find them crushed by a second crash against the ship.

“Oh no we must be getting bombed.” Shela said. She poofed for a second and the reappeared with a gasping fit. “They got golems!” Shela screamed. She ran to Val’s side and clung to it like a baby bear would their mama bear.

“Hudson see if you can help them. I know Varkannon doesn’t want us here so we are going to continue to hide out. Don’t let anyone know about us!” Val said before packing herself and Shela behind boxes once again.

You could hear rustling above on the main deck. It sounded as if they turned on a few racks of gear soldiers and a steam giant. The turning and pulsing of gears and hydraulics pounded through the roof. As another mass of rock stormed toward Jade Dragon Odell froze the chunk and caused it to shatter with the snap of her finger. Tiny fragments hit all against the side of the ship like a shot gun but most of the damage was still avoided.

All around Jade Dragon were peaks of mountains and hills that stretched through the sky. Whips did all she could to keep the ship dodging from crashing against a solid rock wall. Not to mention the rock walls that were moving, tossing boulders, and trying to snatch JD from the sky. Golems, only found on Librium, were not considered a sentient race due to their viscous nature and animal like behavior. This reaction was nothing different than if JD had just flow right into a bee hive.

Odell dashed toward the front of the ship to splice another oncoming bolder. She dismantled it but would not be able to turn and face the next just to her left. Noah quickly stepped to the plate. His arm extended upward, grew to huge proportions, and then caught the bolder. He sent it flying back seconds later.

“Whisp get us out of here. Take us up and land us somewhere else. It looks like our landing zone has been overrun!” Odell was not happy that their trip would be extended. There was only so much of Librium that the Lumen new about. This forced them to have to land in uncharted territory. Only Paitrux knew what hid within the fog of war.

“Right, I would much rather know why I am dying than land in the unknown but you’re the boss.” Whisp sent the ship spiraling straight into the air. Everyone had to brace themselves as the force knocked the team to the ground. As soon as things calmed down, Whisp brought JD back down and began the search for a new landing zone, one hopefully close to where they needed to be. It didn’t take long to find a wide grassland to park JD. Whisp was able to stop the ship on a dime.

Librium; you didn’t remember it like this. This looked nothing like the lumber yards you hacked at. No, this was vastly beautiful as far as the eye could imagine. Water ran freely through rives sprouting form waterfalls that fell from mountain tops stretching into the sky. The grass was greener, the air was soft, and there was even a bit of music about as birds flew by.

“I hate this wasteland!” Odell started as she started up another rack of soldiers. She gave them the orders to protect the ship and then another to scout a radius around them. The soldiers, while their gears wound and turned, set off to mindlessly complete their tasks.

“Odell I would like to inform you that 2 level 3 and a level 5 Deminaughts are closing in on us.” Another Lumen you had yet to meet approached from behind Odell just about the same time you made it to the deck. The man faintly pointed to everyone’s left, just south of where JD sat. Two modestly armored figures followed by a heavily mounted centaur were on the run toward the ship. On either side of them charged whole groups of soldiers of various races.

“Well that is not good. This is not where we need to be if we are going to fight.” Odell looked around until her eyes fell on you. “This is it Hudson. This is real now. You follow me. We need to get just a bit to the west, into that mountain pass over there.” She pointed. “Felix you lead what Fallen you can astray. Meet back with us at the ridge once you have gotten away. Noah, Hudson, Nale, and you tow," She motioned to two other Lumen aboard, "come with me. Whisp, get the Jad Dragon out of here once we are off. We can't afford to lose the airship."

“What of the other two?” Nale asked as if everyone knew there were more Lumen with them.

“What other two?”

“There is a Level 3 and a level 5 Lumen in the store room.” Nale was still confused. He assumed they knew.

“Felix!”

“On it.” The Shango dropped through the floor in front of Shela and Val. They screamed together and all he could give was a frown. “You two… I thought… never mind… at least it is you two.” The three reappeared on the deck ready to follow Odell.

“s**t… well ok then, Felix and Shela draw some of them while the rest, we brake for the mountains.” Once Odell finished her words she was off and running. The rest followed but soon were overrun with fallen. The lumen engaged in the fight.

Arrows, spears, swords, shields, everything seemed to clash with furry against the Lumen. This looked to be a bit routine for the more experienced. Odell Stood behind Noah and Nale while catching all of the arrows in a cold storm above them. Once frozen, she redirected the projectiles back at their assailants. This took little effort for her so at a moment’s notice she would send a spine of icicles into the nearest oncoming goblin or fallen human.

Noah used his fluctuating size and resistant body to slam any foe that neared. He got stabbed a lot, even a few finger cut off but they were replaced almost instantly, filling the furry with which he hit things. His best talent was disarming his foes and then breaking their body. Nale on the other hand wielded a large spiked mace with a shield in his other hand. He spun the deadly spiked ball into the units around him with such accuracy it was strange. He seemed to always know where things were at the right moment. The strangest thing about it is his armor even covered his face. The ork was blind.

Val followed alongside you. She was eager to see what you could do. She even winked at you when you looked over. While she was beside you nothing could get close. Once an enemy stepped within a meter or so she would have the grass root them in place. Then she would toss a seed that would eject into their skin and begin to eat away at their body as they rapidly grew. Before she could stop it , the centaur Deminaught rushed into her field of protection while she was distracted and then plucked her from the ground. She fought in every way she could but the centaur was much stronger. She managed to get lose by tripping the centaur’s legs with a thick vine. Now you were all lone. What you didn't know is the centaur was really aiming to grab you.

A few spinors ran you down with spears and shields, ready for a good fight. Another centaur to your left ran by swinging his club. This was a real fight. The chaos made it hard to focus. The fact that it wasn't a trail made it terrifying. Or was it a trail? Now wasn't the time to find out. A spear cutting your left hand woke you up. It was time to fight.

((edit: From now on think of the Jade Dragon as a Blimp and not a flying Galleon. Forgot we are trying to stay Steam punk here))  

[Dugan195]

Once again everything started to happen so fast. One second Hudson was finding the courage to stand up to Val, and now they were crashing into Librium. Hudson wasn't fast enough to grab onto anything before they landed. He flew across the floor of the JD hard and before he had time to get up he was being helped up by one of the Lumen. He looked out of the window and his breath was taken away. The sight of Librum dazed him. It was unlike anything he had ever seend.

"I hate this wasteland!" Odell said behind him. How could she hate this? This was infinitely times better than the cramp, dirty ghettos of Sanctasplin. Was the higher end areas even more beautiful then this paradise? Surely not! Perhaps it was the fallen in him that caused Hudson to revel in the beauty of the surface of the planet, but there wasn't time to think or talk about that now. Suddenly the new lumen orc was telling them about the apporach of Deminaughts. "Deminaughts!?" Hudson breathed, but no on heard him. They were all too busy planning their plan of escape.

In the next moment that Hudson comphrended he was running with Val towards the mountains. With Val keeping the assailants off them Hudson ran looking around like a cluesless moron. This was way more intense than the battle in his first trial. Things all around him where screaming and howling and Hudson could smell fresh blood being spilled all around him. As the aroma crossed his nose he felt his own blood resonate, as if it was alive inside him. It started to pulse through his body faster, how Hudson knew that he couldn't explain...suddenly the centaur grabbed Val and pulled her away from Hudson. Spinning around to help his new friend he saw he slip from the grasp of the centaur and draw it away into combat.

"What is going on!" Hudson screamed as he looked all around him lost in the sight of all the blood, it seemed to be the only thing he noticed. Suddenly without him even realizing a spinor appeared in front of him from seemingly nowhere. It stabbed its spear towards Hudson who rose his arms in front of his face, not to block the attack but because he was about to cower in fear. As the tip of the spear sliced the back of hand he felt his whole body go still. He felt the sentient blood inside him all start to rush to the opening his hand. A little blood dripped from his eyes as a feral howl emanated from his throat. With the sight and smell of his own fresh blood all the blood around him seemed pathetic. Whilst the blood of those around him was the blood of pain and loss, Hudson blood was pure, raw power. Every cut on his body would only make him stronger, while everyone else was weaken by them.

Hudson rushed the Spinor that foolishly awakened him from trance and found that the blood dripping from his hand had formed into a sword jetting from the back of his wrist. Seeing that it had failed to do any serious damage, and not realizing the danger it was in, the Spinor pulled its spear back and thrust forward once more to try and finish off Hudson. This stab wasn't unnoticed though. Hudson bashed the tip away with the flat of his blade and then turned his arm and brought it up cutting the spear in half. Before the spinor could react to the loss of its weapons Hudson was inches away from the spinor and had his sword deep in its guts. The filthy blood of spinor gushed down his bloodsword and made Hudson howl in triumph. Another spinor behind him raised its sword to strike Hudson down, but with his new lightning reflexes Hudson spun around tearing his bloodsword through the body of the spinor he had gut and threw it straight into the side of the spinor behind him tearing halfway into its body. With a kick of his foot the dead spinor fell to the ground and Hudson braced himself for the centaur that came crashing towards him.  

[Joa-Boo]

Groups of Spinors feel to your crafty blood weld dancing. Your body moved fluently with strikes and the sharpness of your blood cut deep. The fallen that surrounded you thought twice as each of them fell by your hand. Some began to turn and run rather than strike with your blade. The deciding factor was a well place attack made by another goblin. His blade was swift, cutting along you left arm. For a moment the crowd was ready to celebrate the crippling blow you received but within that same second, as the blood rushed from you, another blade shot from your arm and through the goblin’s neck. They didn’t want to have anything to do with you at that point. The small ranks of fallen started to run. At this point your focus fell on the incoming Centaur.

Each of the Centaurs, including the actual Deminaught, had painted a red eye across their chest. Only the real Deminauhgt’s glowed. All three eyes met with you as the fallen beast charged at you with great ferocity. He picked up speed until finally the two of you clashed. You dove to doge the club he was swinging while your blades cut to the side, hopping to slice through the Centaur’s legs. The Centaur was quick though. It was a well trained soldier with higher speed then most units. It side stepped over you and your attack, getting a good stomp in with each hoof. The blunt force hurt but it was nothing that would slow you down. As it reared around for another go you readied yourself once again. The Centaur closed the gap even quicker this time. He was driven by your ill experience against Centaurs and wanted to incapacitate you fast. Once he was close enough you jumped upward, just enough to pass by his swining club, and came back down with your blades spiraling through the beast. He fell just in time for him to be replaced by another group of Spinors, a Centaur, and a few fallen human. Most of the over flow fallen that had finished off the steam work units turned their focus to segregating your team of Lumen. You were already separated and right where they wanted you.

“Hudson watch this!” A small and familiar voice called out. Shela appeared on the back of one of the Centaurs, tugged at its hair, and then popped in front of the Spinors. She stuck out her tong while the lizard men launched forward with their spears. Shela vanished just before being impaled and appeared again a few feet away. The Spinors and Centaur chased her down but before they could get far Felix dove out from the ground and fell onto the group. He sunk them a few inches into the ground. They tugged and pushed all they could but it was as though their legs had been buried under ground within the blink of an eye.

“Now is your chance, run, regroup, get out of here!” Felix yelled with each fallen he sank into the ground. The Shango moved on without another word. In his wake was a wave of angry creatures but at least they weren’t attacking you. Your instincts told you Felix was right, if you were to survive any more of this you had to keep moving but a part of you wanted to stick around. There was this internal blood lust that fought at your body, demanding you stay and slay the buried fallen.

“Whisp we need some Influence down here. Send us a torch!” Odell yelled her loudest. Most people would not have been able to hear her speak from how far Whisp had already raised the blimp. But because Whisp was so in tuned with the slight changes in the air she picked up Odell’s request. Whisp ordered a team of Gear solders to push a few barrels tied up in a net to a trap door. A few gears turned and the load fell to the surface of Librium. When the load hit the ground one of the barrels broke open, spilling tons of coal onto the dirt. Then a steam giant oriented itself to fire a cannon at the torch. On impact, as huge explosion shot back tons of fallen. So many creatures died within seconds it was hard to tell what happened. Only a Lumen could have picked up on the beautifully initiated attack. Once the flames shot up, Odell and Vall, from two different places of the battle field, latched onto the flames and rushed it all around them like a flaming river. The fire ate everything in its wake. If it didn’t die at first then the fire was held tightly around them. Some sat in a coffin of flames for a few moments before melting away. This gave the Lumen a head up in the fight but if it wasn’t put to good use they would surely be over run again.

“Where did that goblin go?” Val searched all over for you. She didn’t notice you until it was too late. A strange-massive bird scooped you up in its talons and attempted to fly away. Its wings beat hard at the ground, forcing it higher into the air. Val reached out, as if wanting to help but was chassed back by the Centaur Deminaught. Odell, Val, Noah, and Nole each faced the Centaur together. It weaved in between them violently with its massive glaive twirling. The lose grip of the huge falcon cupped you safely as it climbed. The only thing that alarmed you was the visible red glowing eye on its chest.  

[Dugan195]

Hudson started to tear left and right into the fallen around him. He howled with rage each time that he killed another one, their blood flowing onto his bloodswords feeding their ever growing hunger. Hudson's eyes were dripping blood as he barred his teeth as the Centaur attempted to rush him. Hudson dropped into a preadatory stance as the readied himself to counterattack the centaur's charge. Shela appeared and tore the centaur's attention away. Felix slid in and started to protect Hudson as he told him to run. Hudson was about to protest when his blood lust suddenly disappeared. He looked around at the chaos around him and felt his heart start to race, how did things become so intense so quickly? How had he failed to notice everything going around him. As he was killing he hadn't noticed how bad the situation was getting. Screams filled the air as the battle raged on. Without the battle lust in him Hudson started to quiver and turn and started to run. He was running down the path he had been told to earlier and ran as fast as he could. As he did he looked back and saw the barrels hit the ground and the lumen start to weave it around to slaughter the fallen in the immediate area. It was incredible to see what the trained Lumen could do with their influence. Back in the caves Hudson had barely been able to do anything with his influence, it had taken all of his focus to do the simple stuff that he did. How he ever managed to form that barrier of sand around him, Hudson would never know. It was like it wasn't even him that had done it. It just kinda happened.

As he was trying to process the information the information around him he felt something hard and sharp puncture into his sides. Letting out a howl of pain Hudson fell limp as he was lifted off the ground. Struggling to escape he watched the ground disappear from beneath him. Rising higher and higher into the air Hudson finally managed to turn to see what had taken him. The giant bird squaked as they rose into the air. Hudson struggled to swipe at the bird, but couldn't arch his arms back enough to attack his kidnapper. He swiped and swiped into the air, but it did nothing. Howling Hudson admitted defeat as his bloodswords returned back to blood and fell back down to earth.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Odell, our mission is being carried away by the level 2 Deminaught.” Nale sensed the disturbance in his being and directed his body to point out the huge bird taking into the air. You could barely be seen between the talons of the monster.

“I am on it. You guys fight to the mountain pass. They won’t follow you into the golem’s territory.” Odell turned on a dime and shot a stream of ice along the battle ground that she skated across with great speed. She chased after you and the bird. “Come on, we can’t let the Fallen take him, not yet!”

Nale and Noah fought furiously at the fallen around them. They had finally hit, squashed, broke, and cut up enough fallen that their numbers were dwindling. The two hard hitters slowly fought their way toward the mountain pass. They were making great strides until a group of archers focused on them and the two had to take cover.

“Whisp drop another barrel!” Val yelled while dodging the huge axe of the Centaur Deminaught. As she flipped backward she tugged at the ground, forcing a huge vine to shoot up and grab around the Centaur’s arms. He was thwarted for just a second but it was long enough for a squad of gear soldiers to replace her. They stood in two ranks and adjusted their stance so 20 clockwork rifles could get a shot. All at once the bullets fired from the group into the Centaur. He howled in pain but that only made him angry. The beastly large Centaur ran them down and crushed them with a few swipes.

“This is the last I got for you guys. The Jade Dragon can’t take too much more and still fly.” Whisp feared her blimp had already taken to much damage from the archers around the field. But she loaded another drop and set it on fire just before flying out of the enemies range.

Whisp’s efforts were just enough before she veered off. Val was on the fire just as the explosion occurred. She did all she could to lift the fire from its original impact and tossed it into the fallen units still standing in their way. As soon as she displaced the fire she caused a massive explosion and then held the globe of fire still like an oven. The flames ate everything in front of Noah and Nale alive. Nothing but ash piles stood in their way. “Shela, Felix, come on guys this is our chance. Let’s get to the mountain pass.” The whole group ran for their destination with all the energy they had left. Val dropped as many seeds as she could to slow down their chasers. Each seed turned into a tangle of thorn bushes. The massive centaur halted in front of the vines. He held his arms upward, calling for his forces to stop moving.

“Let them go. They are all dead in their anyway!” Heugh ‘s deep voice rumbled through his ranks. “Double back and find Sheak. She has our real prize” The Fallen force did as he commanded and marched in the direction of the bird. The Lumen had gotten away but at what cost. They all made it a kilometer into the trenches between the mountains before collapsing.

“Why in Paitrux’s name was there that many Fallen to greet us?” Nale asked as he worked at the dents in his armor.

“No idea but we did make a huge dent in them. Nice work everyone, now we wait for Odell and Hudson.” Noah said through panting. "Did you secure the package Felix?"

“I did, but this is a waste of time. This guy is useless without Hudson.” Felix struggled with speaking. He sunk into the ground long enough to lift large coffin from the ground.

"What's in the box?" Val was curious. She thought she had this mission pegged down but seeing this ‘package’ confused her.

“Val this isn’t for your eyes. I’m really sorry but Varkannon said it was vital that we bring him here and you wouldn’t understand.” Felix intercepted Val’s stride toward the coffin. “I mean it doesn’t matter a whole lot since Hudson and Odell are as good as dead.”

“No I can still sense them. They weren't killed. They were captured!” Nale spoke slowly while his head fell.

“That’s even worse.” Val sulked. Everyone understood that was one of the worst things that could happen. Against every itching feeling to know who was inside that coffin Val chose to let it go and turned down the path in front of them. “It is a long walk to Farseir. We will give Odell and Hudson until night fall but then we move out.”

You could get a glimpse of blasts of ice behind you. As you turned you neck you could see Odell close behind the bird. Every now and then she would shoot off icicles at the birds wings but the beast would dodge every time. Then, while shooting around on her trail of ice she got desperate, and took a chance. Odell soot a stream of ice upward like a ramp and launched herself at the bird. The bird turned to try and fight off Odell but with you in its talons it couldn’t fight back. Once Odell tackled the bird she transformed back into her goblin self and all three of you free fell.

“Hudson is there any chance you can fly?” Odell looked worried. It was a face you hadn’t seen her use until now. “Uhh…umm. Grab a hold of me!” Odell yelled as the ground grew closer with every second. She grabbed a hold of you in a tight hug and once the two of you got close enough to the ground ice shot up and froze the two of you in a block. Layers of ice shattered beneath your fall until finally the ground came. Somehow it worked, you hit the ground but it wasn’t hard enough to kill you. Odell struggled to her feet next to you but was kicked over by the goblin Deminaught.

“Why don’t you just give it up like your friend here? I could feel his energy weaken. His spirit is already mine.” The woman taunted Odell. She looked at you with her bright purple eyes and then raised her pistol to Odell.

“HUDSON HELP!”

A spark lit inside you. You could sense a cut along Sheak’s cheek and it enraged you.