Age of Warriors

[Joa-Boo]

“It is about time we saw some action. I want to feel like we are accomplishing something. Let us get these bastards.” Crux decided. Muez had agreed. He could have puppets there quickly so they would know what they were up against. The three moved out after the source of light. Crux was ready to avenge all of this violence.  

[Dugan195]

As they appoarched Iniac signaled for them to be silent. They wanted to get the jump on the bandits if that was in fact who they were up against. Iniac crawled on his stomach up to the edge of the mound they were behind and surveyed the group ahead of them. He turned and smiled and crawled back. "Just a bunch of bandits, no legends with them fortunately. Muez why don't you make puppets on either side of them to block their escape. Crux you watch for any that try and run towards this direction and stop them. I will take these bastards out." Iniac said with a grin.

Without waiting for the other two to be ready he jumped up and yelled, "For Javel!" He raised his axe above his head and struck the ground causing a wave that rose the ground to shoot out from in front of the axe. It knocked over a couple of the men in the middle and shocked the rest of them. Iniac ran in the middle of them and started to swing his ax around cutting down bandits left and right. One came running at him and he stomped the ground causing a spike from the ground to shoot up into the throat of the man coming at him.  

[Joa-Boo]

Crux was able to get into the action and root a few bandits trying to get at Iniac’s back side. He stomped in their way, lifted them with his shield arm, and then shredded them with the other before they hit the ground. Muez animated one of their fallen and struck fear into the rest. It was a slaughter. These bandits stood no chance. Hopefully that was all there was. Crux looked to Muez for any detection of reinforcements.

“You fight with such heart Iniac. Do you really still hold so much allegiance to Javel?” Crux had hardly any motivation to fight for the north. They were his employer and that was about as much. Muez was all he had that he remotely liked. It was hard to find glory in winning for a zombie. He marveled in the passion Iniac had. Maybe it was because of all the drinking. That, or it was old age.  

[Dugan195]

Iniac laughed as he wiped some brain matter off his axe, "No I can't say that I do. It isn't passion for my country Crux, its the fighting. You are young and don't understand. I was a legend before you had picked up a sword. By the time you came around I was to old to be in my prime and fighting the top tier fighters, to skilled for the new comers. The only people I could fight were the other old timers, the thing about getting old in Kalbor is you met everyone. By the time I reach old age I was too close to all the legneds to want to fight and kill them. So I turned to drink and reliving my glory days with the youngster like you. But now, now I can feel the weight of my ax swinging, the sight of stone tearing through flesh. I feel so alive again like your Emperor standing up from that damned chair and rising again. It saddens me that this war must rage and kill hundreds of innocents, but at the same time, the chance to fight again is an unexpected gift in my old age."

Iniac walked among the dead and found a bandit still living. Grabbing him by the throat Iniac laughed and said, "Where do you make camp boy? Speak quickly and die quickly. Speak slowly and die slowly." The boy looked up at him in fear and tried to struggle. Iniac slapped him with his hand and the boy howled.

"We are camped up this mountain near the peak. The mad man holds his experiments in the caves there while those psychoapth sisters lead the raids." The boy cried breaking down into tears.

Iniac looked at his companions and smiled, "Good good, now what of the other two? The brothers Minotaur and Dragon? What are they doing?"

The boy looked at him in fear, "I don't know!"

Iniac reached down into a cut in the boy's stomach and stuck his fingers in it, "Liar!"

The boy's eyes rolled back and he screamed in pain his body flailing, "I swear I don't know. They are always with the mad ma, guarding him, helping him, ******** him, I don't know. We hardly see those two. That's the truth I swear."

Iniac dropped the boy and frowned, "I believe you, now I will make good on my promise." Iniac grabbed his ax rose it above his head and brought it down splinting the boy's head in two. "Doesn't seem like these will be all. If the Juna Sisters are leading the raids and aren't here, then there must be more. Damn them. I knew those three wrenches were always sadistic, but to help out Artimus? And the brothers? What do they gain from this? They are mercenaries for pay, even in the arena sure, a little rough from what I could tell drinking with them. But this massacring and violence, they didn't seem that sadistic to me."  

[Joa-Boo]

“There is a beast to feed in all of us Iniac. I kinda went crazy my first few battles. These grunts don’t die like Legends do. It’s like instant gratification; you get the same rush as winning a match with hardly the same effort. They must be hungry for power. Who knows, we may be able to convince them to change their ways. It may just be Artimus pulling their strings.”

“NO one pulls strings but me. Man I can’t wait to tear this guy to pieces.” Muez howled through the zombie puppet. Instead of just unanimating it he ripped it to pieces from the inside out. He was furious again to hear the Artimus was free.

Crux looked to the mountain head that the bandit spoke of. It did not look that exciting of a place, too hard to tell if anyone really was living in there. He did like the sounds of tunnels and caverns. Crux was triple as deadly in tight spaces.

“Iniac, give me a swig of that. Tonight we storm a castle in the hills!” Crux was pumped and ready to go. Muez was angry and blood thirsty. They only hopped Iniac was just as ready to kill as they were.  

[Dugan195]

Suddenly a inhumane howl echoed in the wind. The shout sounded like the gates of hell opening and made even Crux's blood shiver. Following the howl can the shriek of human, the shrill sound echoing off the sides of mountain magnifying them. Iniac took out his flask again and took a huge swig, "Take a big one Crux, that first howl belongs only to one creature on this planet, Rentus, the Stalker is close and on the trail as well. We must move swift least we get caught up in its path." Iniac said as he tossed the flask of the whiskey at Crux and started up the mountain.

As they walked up the mountain Iniac stopped in his tracks and spat, "Dammit, why didn't it dawn on me sooner. That bloody monster must have alerted the whole bunch of the bastards that trouble was coming. ********, they are going to be on guard or even out hunting for him now. Dammit, there goes any chance of a suprise attack we might have made. This isn't good boys, we all want to kill Finn, but he outnumbers us by a lot, and not just in men. He's got five legends with him, plus Finn himself isn't someone to take lightly he isn't feared just for his experiments he is as good as a legend as any of us. Damn damn damn this isn't good."  

[Dugan195]

A monstrous howl echoed in the forest night. Ethet let out a squeal, "What is that?" She said as she fluttered her wings "Dalia, that doesn't sound good. Is it Finn? Some monstrous creation of his? Papa use to tell stories of Artimus Finn's creations on the farm." Ethet said floating over to Dalia.

Buckle looked at the small fairy girl and listened to the gears in his body turn as he thought, "No that isn't a mechanical creation. I would know if it was. That is something else," he paused and spoke with a hint of disgust, "Something organic."

Ethet turned from Dalia to the clockwork golem, "Well what could it be then? A ferocious monster?"

Buckle nodded making screeching sounds of metal on metal as he did, "it appears the rumors are true. Yulta has in fact sent in Rentus to kill Artimus Finn.. This is unfortunate no? I have only heard stories of Rentus, the golems of the swamp say the beast is nothing of this world. A true monster of the dark. I think it would be best if we tried to avoid meeting this monster. He might be here to kill Artimus Finn, but Yulta and Minimoto are still at war, I doubt he will care to much to have us in the area."  

[Joa-Boo]

“There numbers count for nothing Iniac. You saw how we cut through them earlier. If we can start up a slaughter and bait a few of their legends at a time then we can win this. I’ll take the blunt force and you and Muez pick them off. It is a simple as that. Besides, sneaking isn’t my style. It is hard to move around silently when you are lugging around as a tank.” Crux yelled in a way to calm Iniac down. He needed the bare to be clam if they would win this as easily as he hopped. Crux figured this wasn’t the Finn encounter. Not this soon, not this easily.

“Crux I can feel enough rubble around to conjure a good fighting puppet. We can draw some fire there and then unleash. I don’t know what we will be fighting but once my puppet is up we can fight.” Muez said as they continued moving toward the fortress in the hills. Crux had such excitement in his eyes. Their numbers counted for nothing in a tight space against Crux.  

[Dugan195]

Iniac laughed, "Crux you are in your middle age and yet you still think like a young man. Finn is a genius and will make weapons that can pierce even your armor. He isn't someone to take lightly. Once he feels threatened he will can control of his minions and they will be tenfold hard to kill. These thugs follow him willingly so they do not have his assistance yet. Now that Rentus has alerted him and bands start to go missing he will be arming up for war. This will be no easy task my friend."  

[Joa-Boo]

Dalia shuttered. The noise gave her goose bumps from head to toe. She gripped tightly to her flute, the action soothed her. She brought herself closer to a tree to brace the weight of her body against it. She didn’t like all of this uncertainty. Why had she been chosen to chase after the mad man? She actually admired his mind control capabilities. Of course, if it was her own powers, she wouldn’t use it for evil. Still, it was an amazing power she only vaguely understood herself. With her eyes closed she imagined a tall, unnaturally shaped, man slinking along a bloody terrain towards her. She blew on her flute but no noise came out. Was she playing his tune or her own? Would she be able to fight him when the time came?

“It is best we stay out of Rentus’s way. I am pretty sure I have been told he does not view friend and foe the same way we do. In fact, I think I heard he doesn’t view morals the same way we do. What an interesting ace card to play.” Dalia laughed it off as she moved over to Buckle. “Who is to say they won’t buddy up and kill everyone? ******** I hate my own imagination. Well, shall we move on?” She giggled and skipped in front of the other two.  

[Joa-Boo]

“The only thing that can pierce me is myself. You do make a good point though. So what, we kill only what we need to? Do we or do we not want to draw him out.” Crux was a getting a bit backwards now. He was no master mind but he was one hell of an empathizer. He understood emotions and thought. Maybe if Finn was too mad a few good unsolvable riddles you drive him just mad enough to implode. That was the hope anyway.

“Shall I create the puppet then?”

“I don’t know, Iniac I need to know your axe is with us. If these bandits get harder to kill, I would consider that to be a good thing. I want his attention. I want him after me. I provoke, snare, you kill.”  

[Dugan195]

Buckle stared at Dalia strangely, his face giving no expression, "Rentus has no true allegiance from what I hear. They simply point him on the trail and allow him to hunt. I doubt he would think to ally with Finn, but that would be..." Buckle stopped talking and blinked his metal eyes, "...problematic."

Ethet looked at the two, "I don't like the sound of this. Maybe we should go back to the capital and get Twinvir. He would be able to handle Rentus and Mr. Finn both. He can defeat anyone, that's why he is our champion." Ethet spoke her the voice of childish innocence and naivety, though she spoke of blood and death. Ethet skipped ahead with Dalia grabbing her hand as they walked. Buckle stalked behind the two silently mulling over the idea of Rentus and Artimus teaming up, the gears in his mind clicking as he pondered the possibility.

After walking for a while Buckle stopped in his tracks and let out a soft steam whistle to get the attention of the two girls.The two turned and looked at the golem, "what is is Buckle?" Ethet asked.

Buckle looked at the girl and then to Dalia, "three humans walking on the mountain path just ahead. I can feel the vibrations in the ground, not sure who though." Even if Buckle didn't worship the earth, just being a golem gave him certain abilities to read nature and pick up on things unnoticed by others, though Buckle would have preferred if these abilities would just carry over to his love of mechanics and further his understanding and knowledge of machinery.  

[Dugan195]

Iniac looked at the two, Muez was more solid in his thinking, but he always allowed Crux to lead the pair, something that Iniac wished wasn't so. Crux was a great man and had good intention, but logic and wisdom were not his strong suit, though Iniac didn't have much either at his age. It was only as he neared his twilight years that he received those abilities.

"My ax is with you Crux. I will stop Artimus Finn even if it costs me my life. A monster like that should not walk the earth. But if that bandit we talked to is correct the brothers minotaur and dragon seem to be acting as his personal guards. If Artimus learns we in particular are after him, no matter how many minions we kill he will not send them for us. We might be able to kill the Juna Sisters separately. But I have no doubt we will fight the other three together. And I am afraid the brothers will not allow your snare plan to work, even if Artimus would be stupid enough to fall for it."  

[Joa-Boo]

Dalia marveled in the whistle noise. She subconsciously called out the note and let it blend with all of the other beautiful harmonics of their surroundings. Dalia reached for her smallest flute and gave three quick puckers from her lips into the end. The vibrations she fired where so high pitched they would not be heard by human ears as Buckled claimed them to be. By the time the vibrations returned, the sonar noise positioned the three figures perfectly in a mental image. Dalia didn’t know whether or not to engage.

“What should we do? Are they friendly or enemies?” She asked the other two. Dalia had her long flute at the ready for a fight. She could unleash any note her heart desired and the speed of sound would take it from there. Her magical ear for music allowed for a large range of special affects occur in the wake of her playing. Just in case, a long blade extended from one end.  

[Joa-Boo]

“You doubt my abilities to taunt someone? This is what I do best Iniac. I would consider myself all the wiser for tossing thought out the window first. Mad men do not play fair. They do not think and if they think too much they will counter true thought. He can’t calculate random. So lack of wisdom may win us this fight.” Crux was troubled with Iniac’s confusion and fears. They needed fearless power. Any fear would be fed on, lead to mistakes, and in the end cause them to fail. “Iniac, it is my job to make sure you don’t have to die so this sucker does. Would you quit your whining and commit.”