Post by Spwack on Jun 10, 2012 23:23:04 GMT -5
"WHERE IS HE! THAT THIEF HAS SCROLL VI!" Spwack thundered through the headquarters, thin ropes of fire spontaneously igniting behind him. He was furious, and an enraged pyromage in a library is ever a good idea. Shezz hurried after him, trying to contact some of the warriors manning the gates. "Find Ezio and contain him. Don't harm him, but stay alert, just in case. And whatever you do, stop Cadmium. He's gone insane, again." Shezz hurried onwards, leaving the clean-up crew to deal with the fires.
Despite being old and rickety, Spwack had found Ezio before the guards did. A ring of blue-white fire blazed around him, slowly constricting with rogue. "GIVE IT BACK! I NEED THAT SCROLL!" The guards in full iron finally puffed their way up the stairs, two equipped with enchanted shackles, just in case. Shezz called them off, and went to Spwack. "How do you even know he has it?"
"He was in my lab! He saw me locking the cabinet, and that sticky-fingered thief couldn't help himself!" Spwack sat back, his fury draining away. "And before you ask, it isn't there. The residue is till around, but it's long gone... I... I have failed you master." Shackles close at hand, one of the guards took Spwack back to his chambers, while Shezz questioned Ezio.
The next day, Spwack did a full sweep of his laboratory and reported back. "It's been taken, but not in a physical sense. All the traps are still fully primed, not even deactivated. The alarms that should have been set off were fooled by the nature of the entity that took it." Spwack looked Shezz straight in the eye. "The scroll was taken by something akin to itself. And we all know the only things that have the power to do that is..."
"It isn't Terminus. I checked. The residue is different again. So it had to be..."
"Warlock"
Shezz put the whole of Enderguards on alert, with a batch of sensory magicians on standby. He knew that they couldn't stop Warlock in full aspect, but it was better then just waiting to be struck down. Cadmium listed his theories to Shezz while they waited. "The Scrolls are arranged in layers, understand? Each layer is a defense that prevents access to it's true nature. I originally thought that breaking the seals would cause it to self-destruct but now..."
"Now they are an alarm system?" said Shezz hesitantly.
"Exactly. I must have tripped some spell, and now Warlock knows somethings up. But not exactly what. If we activate it again, he would just lash out. For all he knows, Terminus is having a jab at him."
"So I can deactivate the alert?"
"Yes, but keep a few of the sensors up. Run shifts of three or so." They Enderguards were safe, but the lines of war had been drawn at long last. The End was near.
Several days after the incident, Spwack slammed open the door to Shezz's study out of breath, he slammed a think sheaf of notes on his desk, then sat back gasping. He had discovered something immense overnight, and had locked his study till now and blocked all communication. Over the desk he stared at Shezz, still not saying anything, daring him to pick up the notes. To make history. The first page was just the summary of his previous research, emphasising the alarm trap and retrieval. The next few pages were just so much meaningless gobbledygook, with esoteric magical signs that Spwack had probably made up. But Shezz knew enough to whistle at how much power was going on, especially in shielding. Then the final page. Just a few lines. Shezz re-read it, just to be sure. "That's right Shezz. The scroll went back to the instant it was first written. Back in time."
"That's what we are going to do next."
Even as Shezz digested the implications of time-travel, and the glaring problems involved, Cadmium went back to his lab to double- and triple- check his figures. Then he summoned Valfor, then prepared to leave. He had a bodacious plan, one of beautiful simplicity. He was going to go get the Scroll back.
Ignoring the protests of Valfor and demands for information from Shezz, Spwack ignited another layer of vines. It wasn't the fact that the trees were being damaged that bothered the elf. His new boots were getting muddy. But the elf was more use then trouble, so Cadmium just ignored him. After hacking and slashing his way through, Spwack blasted some of the rubble to dust. Underneath was an ancient shrine to some old religion. It was ancient, little more than a cave. Any statues would have crumbled to dust, and any books would have even less remaining. Despite that, Cadmium scanned the room and started kicking apart small piles of stones, Valfor and Shezz looking on in annoyance. "Has he actually gone insane?" whispered Shezz. "I went insane a long time ago Shezz! You of all people should know that!" called Spwack, who had better ears then most people his age. Whatever his age was. Spwack shrieked. He had uncovered a chest under one of the piles. It was encrusted with moss and fungi, with dust ingrained into the wood. It clearly had been left in peace for the past millennium or so. Smashing the lock off, which crumbled to metal dust, and opened the chest. In feverish haste, the ancient logs cracked. He tossed it away, nearly landing on the toes of Valfor. Spwack smiled, before handing a small steel tube to Shezz. It had been majorly enchanted to survive the many centuries, but even it could not last against the onslaught of water. With a squeal of rust, Shezz pried open the capsule. Removing the tightly bound piece of paper, he looked at Spwack. "Is this a joke?" For in his hand, buried under tons of rubble for centuries was Scroll VI.
After trekking all the way back to EG, Shezz had silently fumed at Spwack. As the gates of Rull he finally broke. "All right Cadmium! You win! Now how the hell did you do that!?" Spwack looked faintly bemused. "Elementary my dear Shezz. I simply promised myself that once I discover time-travel and get the Scroll back, I would seal it within a shrine in that forest. But no matter what, that Scroll will still get back in that cave. Any way, something else was in the chest..." He held up a rough chunk of obsidian. It was engraved with miniature etchings in Enderite. Half of it dealt with time. The other half dealt with death. But beneath all of that, a huge network of magic and time stretched both forwards and backwards into the distance of everywhen.
"Now I have this. We're going back Shezz, Valfor. Back to the beginning."
Despite being old and rickety, Spwack had found Ezio before the guards did. A ring of blue-white fire blazed around him, slowly constricting with rogue. "GIVE IT BACK! I NEED THAT SCROLL!" The guards in full iron finally puffed their way up the stairs, two equipped with enchanted shackles, just in case. Shezz called them off, and went to Spwack. "How do you even know he has it?"
"He was in my lab! He saw me locking the cabinet, and that sticky-fingered thief couldn't help himself!" Spwack sat back, his fury draining away. "And before you ask, it isn't there. The residue is till around, but it's long gone... I... I have failed you master." Shackles close at hand, one of the guards took Spwack back to his chambers, while Shezz questioned Ezio.
The next day, Spwack did a full sweep of his laboratory and reported back. "It's been taken, but not in a physical sense. All the traps are still fully primed, not even deactivated. The alarms that should have been set off were fooled by the nature of the entity that took it." Spwack looked Shezz straight in the eye. "The scroll was taken by something akin to itself. And we all know the only things that have the power to do that is..."
"It isn't Terminus. I checked. The residue is different again. So it had to be..."
"Warlock"
Shezz put the whole of Enderguards on alert, with a batch of sensory magicians on standby. He knew that they couldn't stop Warlock in full aspect, but it was better then just waiting to be struck down. Cadmium listed his theories to Shezz while they waited. "The Scrolls are arranged in layers, understand? Each layer is a defense that prevents access to it's true nature. I originally thought that breaking the seals would cause it to self-destruct but now..."
"Now they are an alarm system?" said Shezz hesitantly.
"Exactly. I must have tripped some spell, and now Warlock knows somethings up. But not exactly what. If we activate it again, he would just lash out. For all he knows, Terminus is having a jab at him."
"So I can deactivate the alert?"
"Yes, but keep a few of the sensors up. Run shifts of three or so." They Enderguards were safe, but the lines of war had been drawn at long last. The End was near.
Several days after the incident, Spwack slammed open the door to Shezz's study out of breath, he slammed a think sheaf of notes on his desk, then sat back gasping. He had discovered something immense overnight, and had locked his study till now and blocked all communication. Over the desk he stared at Shezz, still not saying anything, daring him to pick up the notes. To make history. The first page was just the summary of his previous research, emphasising the alarm trap and retrieval. The next few pages were just so much meaningless gobbledygook, with esoteric magical signs that Spwack had probably made up. But Shezz knew enough to whistle at how much power was going on, especially in shielding. Then the final page. Just a few lines. Shezz re-read it, just to be sure. "That's right Shezz. The scroll went back to the instant it was first written. Back in time."
"That's what we are going to do next."
Even as Shezz digested the implications of time-travel, and the glaring problems involved, Cadmium went back to his lab to double- and triple- check his figures. Then he summoned Valfor, then prepared to leave. He had a bodacious plan, one of beautiful simplicity. He was going to go get the Scroll back.
Ignoring the protests of Valfor and demands for information from Shezz, Spwack ignited another layer of vines. It wasn't the fact that the trees were being damaged that bothered the elf. His new boots were getting muddy. But the elf was more use then trouble, so Cadmium just ignored him. After hacking and slashing his way through, Spwack blasted some of the rubble to dust. Underneath was an ancient shrine to some old religion. It was ancient, little more than a cave. Any statues would have crumbled to dust, and any books would have even less remaining. Despite that, Cadmium scanned the room and started kicking apart small piles of stones, Valfor and Shezz looking on in annoyance. "Has he actually gone insane?" whispered Shezz. "I went insane a long time ago Shezz! You of all people should know that!" called Spwack, who had better ears then most people his age. Whatever his age was. Spwack shrieked. He had uncovered a chest under one of the piles. It was encrusted with moss and fungi, with dust ingrained into the wood. It clearly had been left in peace for the past millennium or so. Smashing the lock off, which crumbled to metal dust, and opened the chest. In feverish haste, the ancient logs cracked. He tossed it away, nearly landing on the toes of Valfor. Spwack smiled, before handing a small steel tube to Shezz. It had been majorly enchanted to survive the many centuries, but even it could not last against the onslaught of water. With a squeal of rust, Shezz pried open the capsule. Removing the tightly bound piece of paper, he looked at Spwack. "Is this a joke?" For in his hand, buried under tons of rubble for centuries was Scroll VI.
After trekking all the way back to EG, Shezz had silently fumed at Spwack. As the gates of Rull he finally broke. "All right Cadmium! You win! Now how the hell did you do that!?" Spwack looked faintly bemused. "Elementary my dear Shezz. I simply promised myself that once I discover time-travel and get the Scroll back, I would seal it within a shrine in that forest. But no matter what, that Scroll will still get back in that cave. Any way, something else was in the chest..." He held up a rough chunk of obsidian. It was engraved with miniature etchings in Enderite. Half of it dealt with time. The other half dealt with death. But beneath all of that, a huge network of magic and time stretched both forwards and backwards into the distance of everywhen.
"Now I have this. We're going back Shezz, Valfor. Back to the beginning."
