Council of Oblivion

Chapter 14: Meeting with the Spirits

Thyker’s body floated in darkness. He knew neither how he had gotten there nor why. “Thyker!” A voice called his name. There was no one else present in the darkness. It had been the same voice as before. “Thyker!” Thyker snapped his head to his right to see that Karil had materialized. Karil stood in the darkness, even though there was no ground. Thyker realized that he himself was now standing on the non-existent ground.

“Karil, what’s going on?” Thyker asked.

“You went unconscious. I’m not quite sure why, but that’s not the purpose. In your conscious state, I exist as little more than a flicker. When you lose consciousness, however, I can communicate with you. I have urgent information that you need to know about.”

“Well… what is it?”

Karil went silent. Next to Karil, a second body materialized. Thyker recognized it as Ahrim. Well, at the very least, he recognized the mythical armor; no pictures of the brothers themselves existed. “Thyker. The spirits of the Mort’ton brothers have weak attachments to the world. While we cannot control the actions of our owners, we can see small bits and pieces of them. My spirit is owned by a powerful mage named Ansa. Thyker, above all else, you must stop her. As owner of Karil’s armor, you are best-suited to take out this mage, as Karil’s abilities have an advantage over my own.”

“Ansa? Stop her? Stop her from what?”

“I do not know exactly. As I said, we only view flickers of the real world. But we know she is setting up some kind of massive teleport spell between this realm and the demon realm. If she is successful, humanity will be overwhelmed by demon hoards.”

“What?! So is she planning on teleporting an army of demons?”

“I do not know. It is highly plausible, though.”

“Why? Why is she doing this?”

“I do not know. But she is resolved. If events continue on their current course, she will succeed in her plans. That is all I can say.”

“I believe you see why it is important that you use my powers,” said Karil. “As a ranger, you will have a natural advantage over this mage.”

“You don’t get it though!” Thyker said. “I hate range! I can’t stand it. I’m not good at it. I DON’T WANT TO RANGE!”

“That is exactly why I wished to lend you my powers,” said Karil. “In you, I saw that you had great magic and melee powers, even though you didn’t use of all them against me. In combat, I saw your fighting spirit. Unfortunately, your range is weak. Even more unfortunate, every form of combat has its advantages. There will be times that range will be necessary for you to win battles. In those cases, all your other talents will be meaningless. Your weakest link determines your strength. It was for that reason that I wished to help you.”

Thyker wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t say anything. But he had to say something. Even just a simple “I understand.” But as Thyker went to say it, he realized he really couldn’t say anything. Literally. The darkness was beginning to break, and Ahrim and Karil were fading into nothingness.

Thyker opened his eyes. He saw two gnome guards looking over him. Thyker quickly reached to his sword. It wasn’t there. So, he had been captured. There was little he could do about it now, as the guards were standing right over him. However, given a little bit of mobility, he’s sure he could overpower him.

“So, why have you captured me?”

“Captured you?” said one of the guards. “Sir, you are not captured. Now that you seem to be feeling better, you’re free to leave anytime you wish. Your weapons are in the corner of the room”

“Huh? But… what? I remember blacking out while talking to the guards.”

“I think I can explain that,” said another voice. Thyker recognized the voice of Narnode, king of the gnomes. “My guards said you walked up to them at the gate, quite battered and bruised, actually. Not to mention, it turns out you had been poisoned quite severely. It seems like you were oblivious to your own injuries. Whatever you had been doing, it caught up to you and you fainted. It’s a good thing you fainted here. You might have died without our help.”

So, Janrok had injured him worse than he thought. That could be bad. He didn’t have time to rest, not with Marik missing and all those ingredients left to be gathered. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Nearly a day,” said one of the guards.

“A day! And how much longer is it going to take for me to heal?”

“I have good news related to that,” said Narode. “Our best medical gnomes have treated you well. You might feel a little weak for a few days, but you can leave now if you wish.”

That was good news, well, almost. Thyker suddenly wished he had done more than just teleport Janrok to another location. He had teleported him nearly a day ago. Had he broken free of the clay prison, with good speed, he could be almost back to where Thyker was now. And Janrok would likely pursue him. Thyker’s plan had been to be gone by now. It was a big world, and Janrok would have difficulty finding him. Oh well, nothing he could do now. If he left now, Janrok might catch up to him while he was weak. If he stayed, Janrok would only be more likely to find him. It was better to go with the first option.

Thyker snapped back to reality to notice that all the gnomes had left. His silence must have made them think he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Well, while that hadn’t been the reason why he had been silent, it was true. As Thyker reached into his coin purse to make sure nothing had been stolen he noticed something strange. An extra slip of paper in there. Opening it up, he read the gnomish handwriting:

“I know why you are here. Do not worry. Refer to the following coordinate.” Below that was a list of coordinates. Thyker recognized them. They were located in the gnome stronghold. Was this the location of Hardigan’s forces? If so, who had slipped him the note? Did one of the guards know about the secret force? Or had it been Narnode? Thyker realized it could have been almost any gnome. He had been asleep for nearly a day, and it didn’t look like his room had been off limits to anyone.

Thyker gathered his possessions and left the Grand Tree. He headed to the southwestern part of the stronghold. That’s where the note had told him to go. It was strange, though. The coordinates were that of Brimstail’s cave. Brimstail was a gnome mage. Gnome mages had been distrusted since the days of Gloupherie, a magical advisor who many gnomes believed had betrayed the kingdom. And yet, the army was situated in that cave, according to the note. Well, maybe that wasn’t so strange after all. Since the army had to be kept secret, where would be a better place to put it than a cave that no gnome would want to visit?

Thyker made his way into the cave. Inside, he saw Brimstail, nothing else. No army. Had the note been a fluke? “Hello Brimstail,” Thyker said.

“Oh, Thyker, so great to see you. What can I do for you?”

“Has there been anything… odd going on around here?”

“Odd? Why, I’m not sure what you mean.”

Thyker wasn’t sure what to do. The note had given him this location. Yet, there was clearly nothing inside the cave. Maybe the note was wrong? Yet, somehow, the note writer had known Thyker’s purpose. If he left now, he wouldn’t get his chicken egg anytime soon. Thyker saw only one other option. “Brimstail, I need to talk to Hardigan.”

Brimstail’s face gave a strange response. He wasn’t sure what it meant, only that it was a reaction. “Ah, so you must be the messenger that he sent. I knew one was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be you. Come this way.”

Brimstail walked to the back of his cave. He then walked over to a machine. Thyker recognized the machine. He had repaired it once. This machine had the power to dispel illusions. “See, we need to keep the operations secret. There aren’t many passerby here, but you can’t be too careful.” Brimstail operated the machine, and a wall of the cave disappeared. Behind the wall was a seemingly endless room full of military equipment, particularly gliders. “Wait right here,” Brimstail continued. “I’ll go get Hardigan.”

Brimstail disappeared into the cave. He had certainly improved his powers since his last meeting with Thyker to be able to create a powerful illusion such as that. He was glad Brimstail was on his side. A few minutes later, Thyker could have sworn he heard someone shouting “Thyker… THYKER!” from within the cave. Not much later, Brimstail emerged from the cave with a gnome that Thyker had never seen before. “Thyker, this is General Hardigan. He wished to talk to you personally.”

“Ah, hello Thyker, I’ve heard much about you. You’re a hero around these parts, you know?” Thyker blushed a little. He hadn’t expected that kind of introduction from a person he had never met. Maybe he had heard his name shouted… or perhaps cheered?

“Thank you, general. I was sent here by the Godfather. He wanted me to teach you how to sneak weaponry into the area.”

“That is correct,” replied Hardigan. “You see, the problem is, trollish armies are once again threatening our piece. However, Narnode wants this information to be kept secret. See, last time, we only won due to the mage Gloupherie’s brilliant magics. This time, however, the gnomes do not have him. Thus, we will be forced to confront the trolls in battle. This is not a problem. The Godfather has promised us weaponry capable of preventing any trollish attack. However, if the gnomes saw such magical weaponry, there could be a revolt. And that’s why we need your help. You can freely leave the stronghold and enter it, making you a great way of developing a route.”

“With all due respect,” said Thyker, “I’ve already discovered a route, I believe.”

Brimstail and Hardigan both looked rather surprised. “Please, do tell,” said the latter.

“Brimstail, you can still create links between the magical essence world and our world, correct?”

“Of course,” said Brimstail.

“Now, all you need to do is enlist the help of the Draynor wizards. They too can link between our world and the essence world. If you bring the boxes into the essence area from there, Brimstail, you could take them directly into this cave. No one would ever see it because the transportation is being done in a different realm.”

“Will this work?” asked Hardigan. Thyker almost said “of course,” only to realize the question wasn’t directed at him.

“Yes,” said Brimstail. “It’s quite brilliant actually.”

“Excellent,” said Hardigan. “Then, without further delay, I’ll send a messenger to the wizards to ask for their help. They owe me a favor, so I’m sure they’ll accept. As for you, Thyker,” said Hardigan as he wrote and then handed Thyker a note, “here is proof from myself that you assisted in our requirements. I’m sure you aren’t doing this for free, so take this note to the Godfather as proof that you completed his task.”

Thyker accepted the note. “Thank you. And one last thing. I understand your desperation, but be cautious in accepting help from the Fairy Godfather. Your intentions are good, but he himself seems to be quite evil.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Brimstail. “We know what we’re getting ourselves into.” He thought he heard Hardigan chuckle under his breath.

Chapter 15: Assault on Falador

Janrok released another salvo of knives from his hands. Great. His accuracy had insured that his knives had been effective, but unfortunately, he was running out of them. Not a surprise. He had been fighting for nearly an hour from the Falador wall.

Janrok wasn’t actually completely sure what had been going on. It was like the armies had appeared from nowhere. Literally. In the plains to the south of Falador, undead soldiers had literally appeared out of the ground. And they continued their assault to the city. Janrok wasn’t sure WHY he was fighting, but his side was pretty clear. When it came to Falador’s humans vs. strange undead warriors, it wasn’t hard to choose sides.

So far, casualties had been slim to none. Zombies and the like rarely used ranged weaponry. And as of yet, few enemies had reached the southern gate of Falador due to Falador’s guard. Of course, the Falador guard wasn’t simply the Falador guard. Dispersed among it were the Temple Knights, the elite fighting force. The undead had attacked at the perfect time. Nearly all of the Falador rangers were at their posts, making their defenses as strong as they could have ever hoped. It was lucky for them. The army was enormous, and without that advantage the city might have already been over-run. Those who did reach the southern gates found little success. At those gates were several guards killing the enemy. Among them was a strange mercenary who wielded two hammers. Nothing special about the hammers, yet they were literally smashing the enemy to pieces. It wasn’t everyday that you saw someone use such weapons. Janrok wouldn’t want to close to someone like that if they were attacking him.

Janrok heard an explosion. Looking far ahead, he saw a burning hole in the ground. Someone was using magic. By the looks of it, it appeared that it was a strong mage. Janrok looked around him to see the origin of the blast. Yet, he could only see one mage in view.

And it was a person he knew: a fool who had named himself Evil Dave. It was true that Evil Dave knew magic. Yet, Dave was simply a fool wizard who knew simple magics. Not only that, but Dave was a wizard who tried to be evil but only succeeded if he was lucky. Despite that, there is no way that Dave would think that defending Falador was evil. So why was he here? The most likely reason is that the Dark Wizards had ordered him here for some reason, but he didn’t see any other Dark Wizards present. Not only that, had the Dark Wizards seriously wanted to help the city, for whatever reason, they would have sent real wizards, not a cheap imitation like Dave. Something didn’t seem right. Unfortunately, Janrok didn’t have time to think about it now; he’d have to wait till the fight was over, assuming Evil Dave was still alive.
The fighting continued like that for 15 more minutes. Then suddenly, the undead hoards stopped. It was over, and none too soon. Janrok only had a salvo or two of knives left.

Janrok heard a few screams around him; that was uncommon for the guards of Falador. However, Janrok soon saw the reason why, and couldn’t blame them. Juvenites, young vampires. And the young was a deceptive term. Even these young vampires were incredibly dangerous, and incredibly hard to kill. Janrok realized that they had their work cut out for them. Suddenly, balls of yellow energy flew towards the southern wall of Falador. It was unmistakable. While no one seemed to know what that strange energy was, it was without a doubt the magic commonly used by vampires. “Duck!” shouted Janrok, but it did little good. The wall collapsed, and the troops among it fell to the earth. There would be little protection now. With the wall down, they would be forced into hand-to-hand combat.

The Juvenites ran towards the guards with amazing speed. Janrok unleashed the remainder of his knives. Almost all hit their targets. However, none of the juvenites fell. At worst, a few might have been slowed down slightly. “Great,” thought Janrok as he reached into his belt for the rune dagger and defender he carried with him. Wielding one in each hand, he prepared for the attack.

The juvenites separated into groups and attacked individual humans. One of the juvenites selected Janrok. “Poor thing,” Janrok thought, “the child doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.” The juvenite lunged and tried to bite Janrok. That might work on a human that was afraid of them; however, they would quickly find that attack was pathetic against a person defending themself. Janrok was no great swordsman, but he knew how to wield knives, and a dagger and a defender were little more than knives. Janrok slashed a one-two strike at the juvenite as it lunged it. Both blades cut deep, creating a deep gash in the juvenites chest and shoulder. The juvenite fell to the ground.

“Not so tough against humans that defend themselves, are we?” asked Janrok.

“You tell me, foodsack,” replied the juvenite as it stood back up. Janrok stepped back in shock. The wounds had already completely healed themselves.

The juvenite extended he claws in its hands. Great, now the juvenite was using knives itself. The juvenite then lunged at Janrok. It was sloppy, but Janrok was at a disadvantage. He wouldn’t heal as the juvenite did. Well, Janrok would just have to wait for a chance to make a deeper cut.

Janrok sidestepped the claws coming at him, only to be pursued with a strike from the juvenite’s other hand. Janrok jumped back and dodged that one, too. The juvenite came in a third, fourth, and fifth time. Janrok dodged all three. But he couldn’t keep up forever. Those attacks were getting closer and closer each time. Yet, the juvenite, while sloppy, was moving too quickly. Janrok didn’t have time between the attacks to launch a counter-strike. Yet, he knew what he could do.

Janrok rushed into the juvenite. The juvenite seemed surprised by the attack, but still had enough time to lunge out one claw. Janrok was able to move his body down, but not enough; the claw sunk into his left shoulder. Deeply. The juvenite’s head tilted downward, chin to its chest, like a person sleeping.

Janrok chuckled. “I guess you were a little too distracted killing me to worry about yourself.” While the juvenite had been performing his attack, Janrok had sunk the dagger and defender deep into the juvenite’s body. The dagger pierced into the juvenite’s chest, while the defender cut into the juvenite throat. Both had gone in deep, all the way to the hilt. Janrok had sacrificed his shoulder, but luckily, it had not cost him his life.

Janrok pulled out the blades and took a few steps back. The body did not move. It did not even fall. “Ha.” Janrok’s eyes bulged. “Ha ha.” It wasn’t possible. “Ahahaha.” The head of the juvenite appeared again. The wounds healed themselves. “Foolish food, you can’t harm me that easily.”

Janrok took another step back. He knew that was a lie. The juvenite appeared a little injured, somehow. But the injuries seemed to not be serious. Still, at least Janrok knew the juvenite could be hurt. If he had to strike the juvenite a hundred times to kill him, well, then he’d just have to pull off another 98 counter-assaults.

It was Janrok this time who was the aggressor. The juvenite side-stepped the attacked, sometimes blocking them with his arms. The juvenite was just toying with him now. Waiting for him to tire. Yet, Janrok had no choice. If he continued like he was now, he might tire and lose, but if he did nothing, he would certainly die anyway.

Janrok took another swing with his defender. The juvenite swatted it away with his hand as if swatting away a fly. The defender flew out of his left hand. Janrok took a step back.

“Food, you’re tired. This is over.” Janrok growled. The juvenite was half right. An hour of fighting had taken a toll on him. The first hour had been simple, yet throwing knives for that amount of time was always tiring. This juvenite had tired him even more severely. The juvenite was also half wrong, though. This fight wasn’t over. Janrok still had his dagger, and he still had will. No, this fight was definitely not over yet. Not by a long shot.


Chapter 16: Playing with Your Food

Janrok stood poised with his rune dagger in his right hand. Things were certainly starting to look worse. He was definitely a better warrior than this juvenite. However, he was stuck in a hand-to-hand battle, out of knives to use in his preferred style of combat. He was starting to tire. And while the juvenite didn’t seem completely immune to attack, it didn’t appear that a single attack would be enough to kill it. This fight could take a while at this rate, and Janrok would certainly tire out before then.

The juvenite lunged at Janrok with his claws. Janrok jumped back. Janrok then lunged back in. He let loose about a half dozen slices with the dagger, but the best hit he landed was a small gash across the juvenites arm, which quickly healed. The dagger was only a short-distance weapon, and thus was rather easily dodged. The juvenite had been careless at first, but it seemed to be fighting smarter now. It was becoming nearly impossible to land any blow at all, let alone a significant one.

“Think, Janrok,” he thought. “There must be some way you can take him down. It’s all or nothing. I’ll try hitting him directly in the heart. If that doesn’t take him down, nothing will.” Janrok lunged at the juvenite and slashed, but the juvenite dodged it. No good. The weapon wasn’t long enough to attack the juvenite before it had time to dodge. Janrok attacked a few more times, but with no luck.

The juvenite slashed with one of his claws at Janrok. Janrok sidestepped but not by enough. The claws ripped slashes across his left ribs. The juvenite then collapsed onto Janrok’s left shoulder. “Heh, I hope you got a good taste of it,” said Janrok, thrusting his rune dagger even deeper into the juvenite’s heart. The juvenite wasn’t moving. It looked like it had worked. It was either dead or immobilized. Either was fine with Janrok. “Your claws have no more reach than does my dagger. If you’re close enough to slash me, I’m close enough to stab you.”

“That’s true, but the difference is, a stab to your heart would kill you.” Oh no, the juvenite couldn’t still be alive after that. The juvenite ripped its claw up Janrok body. The force of the attack sent him off his feet. The new gashes seared with pain. At such a close range, they had cut deep.
Furthermore, hitting the ground, Janrok felt a twinge of pain in his back. He had landed on something.

He reached back to feel what he landed on. It was a strange shape, but Janrok recognized it. A crossbow. Wait a minute! Not just any crossbow; it was the one Tiffy had given to him. That’s it! Janrok opened the bolt pouch and searched through the bolts Tiffy had given to him. Did it have what he needed? YES!

Janrok stood back up. “Now we’re going to play my game, beast.” Janrok pulled one of the silver bolts from his pouch and loaded it into the crossbow. Had Tiffy known that he would need silver bolts? Or had it just been a coincidence? There were a lot of different types of bolts in there, but not every bolt known to man.

“I’m sorry, but it’s time that I stopped playing with my food. I think my brethren could use my help,” said the juvenite as it began to charged towards Janrok. It was obvious: the juvenite planned to make this his final blow. Well, Janrok was planning the same thing for the juvenite. Either way, this would likely end it.

Janrok shot the bolt from the crossbow. It was too close for the juvenite to dodge. It made contact between the juvenites chest and left shoulder. Immediately upon contact, that portion of his body started turning to ash and crumbling to the ground. It then quickly spread . The juvenite gave a look of shock and fear and touch the crumbling ash. It didn’t last for long though. The juvenite had completely disintegrated in under 3 seconds.

So, it was true. Vampires were weak to silver. Good thing the bolts had been enchanted in advance, or the power might not have been strong enough. Still, it was not easy. Wielding these kinds of bolts drained the power of the bow-user as well. Still, Janrok though he had enough strength to help out a little more.

Janrok looked around the battlefield. Surprisingly, the humans seemed to have the upper hand. No, more than that. They were outright winning. Maybe it wasn’t so much of a surprise after all. The juvenites were pitted up against the Temple Knights after all, defenders of humanity for centuries. Janrok released a second bolt towards a juvenite which seemed ready to finish off a human. The juvenite disintegrated.

Then, across the battlefield, Janrok noticed something important. A vampire, not a mere juvenite. Not only that, a vampire he had seen before. The vampire’s name was Malak, and he was one of the generals for the vampires. Janrok fingered a silver bolts in his pouch. Malak would be much stronger than a juvenite, and Janrok was well equipped to take out such a powerful vampire.

Janrok began to run towards Malak. Malak was standing alone near the back of the battlefield, and the fighting had cleared out a path for Janrok. As a result, he met no resistance along the way, though three Temple Knights did join with him as we were running. “That’s Malak over there!” Janrok shouted. “If we can take him down, the undead army might disperse!”

“I don’t have time to deal with you right now,” said Malak as they approached. Malak sounded infuriated; strangely, his anger didn’t seem directed as the defenders of Falador.

“Tough, you’re going to have to make time,” said Janrok as he loaded the silver bolt. Unlike the juvenites, Malak seemed well aware of what the bolt meant, and his guard went up. Janrok shot the bolt at Malak, but Malak managed to dodge. “Wow,” thought Janrok, “he’s fast. That bolt was shot from almost point-blank range.”

“Fine, I suspect it’ll be simpler just to kill you,” said Malak. Malak held one hand in the air, and a weapon materialized. Janrok examined it. It appeared to be a halberd, or something very similar, but Janrok had never seen the material before. Malak took a swing at the group, but the Temple Knights’ swords were quickly drawn and managed to deflect the attack. Still, it was impressive. Janrok expected that two Temple Knights might have been knocked over by the swing.
Malak held out one of his hands, and the familiar balls of vampiric magic appeared. “Move!” shouted Janrok, though he realized afterwards that the Temple Knights needed no such direction. The balls of light shot at them, destroying the ground where they stood, or had been standing at least. Luckily, then had dodged in time. Janrok reached into his pouch to pull out another silver bolt.

Suddenly, Malak’s attention seemed distracted by something he saw behind Janrok. His face turned to one of intense anger. Malak created 10 times as many balls of energy as before, and quickly launched them. However, they didn’t appear to be aimed at Janrok’s group; instead, they all splashed into the ground in front of them, kicking dust into the air. When the dust cleared several seconds later, Malak was nowhere to be found. Janrok quickly looked in all directions, but didn’t see Malak. However, something else quickly caught his eye. There were no juvenites standing anymore. Many humans, whether dead or injured, lay on the ground. Yet, the results of the battle were obvious. The humans had won.

*****


Malak flew in the air in his bat form. He was seething with anger. His army had been completely annihilated. Even his juvenites had fallen to the humans. It had been a lie! Ansa had tricked him. Her reports said the humans would be at their weakest at the time. Clearly, that was untrue. If anything, he had attacked at the worst time possible. Not only that, the demons had coaxed him into attacking today. He didn’t know what her game was, but he was going to find out. Now.
Ansa had long remained safe because the Council was unsure where her base of operations was. However, she had made a fatal mistake. While a group of humans was attacking Malak, something caught his eye. It was Evil Dave. He had been attacking the undead army! Clearly under Ansa’s orders. He obeyed no one else. Well, no one except for Malak’s mind control, that is. That was all the proof Malak needed. Ansa was truly a traitor. He had no reason to allow her to live any longer. He would follow her servant to her home base and destroy all remnants of her existence, including any of those who served her.

Malak did not follow Evil Dave as long as he had expected. Somehow, the wizard moved with unhuman speeds across the terrain. And finally, Evil Dave entered a cave. So, this was Ansa’s base. Malak had been wrong all along. It wasn’t located in the jungles of Karamja. However, this did explain why Malak had never been able to sense Ansa’s magical abilities.

Malak transformed into his vampiric form and walked toward the cave. He walked across the barren landscape. While the land was barren, it wasn’t he same kind of barren as Canifis. Canifis was a death kind of barrenness. This was a natural kind of barren. A few strange creatures even walked the land. The whole set-up made Malak uncomfortable. As he began to enter the cavern, he was repelled by some invisible barrier. Strange, Malak had never seen anything like that. He tried to enter the cave a second time, but was again repelled. “Ansa! I know you’re in there! Stop hiding!”

Half a minute later, a silhouette appeared in the entrance of the cave. As it walked forward, the light revealed Ahrim’s robes. Ah, so Ansa decided to meet with him in person. A brave move. But a foolish one. Malak would make sure she never entered that cave again.

Written By: Shadow7
Submitted By: Serpentis
Edited By: Knil
Coded By: Hoof NoobQuest