Antagonist’s Anarchy: Derived from Dianthus

[dplax]

Nivram

That last bottle of rice wine had been the drop to make the lake overflow. Now he was starting to see things, meteorites and flames streaking across the sky...Pah! It was true that the rice wine was burning his insides, but heck...not that badly. Deciding that now was a good time to collaps and simply sleep things off, Nivram unceremoniously leant against a wall, and fell asleep before getting the chance to get into a more comfortable position.

[DrowArchmage]

Looking up into the sky with a look of shock, maybe even something close to terror, Jason looked around for the companions.

Telryn! We need to move out, now! Grab the drunkard and lets go!

Today was not turning out to be a good day. First the fire, and now it looked as if the skies meant to smite the entire village to the ground. He knew that he had done some bad things in his life, but this was not the way to go about making things right.

Stupid skies, with stupid lighting and stupid balls of fire, Jason muttered to himself as he started running for the cover of the forest. Im going to find out whoever the hells has got it out for me this bad, and make them wish that they had killed me when they had a chance.


Blood and ashes! That hurt like hell! Not waiting to see if more were going to fall on him, he jumped up and bolted for the trees, looking back only to yell for the companions again. Burn you Telryn hurry up you great oaf! You want to live forever?

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Thunder boomed, and the luminous blue-green fire continued to flare, the very clouds touched by their eerie light.

While the party scattered, Asokil did what Asokil did best: looking out for number one, and of course, the pretty damsel in distress - that is, watching Jason flee towards the nearby forest, and glancing back towards the village as the fire spread, and edging his horse to steer clear of the flames and smoke.

Through the fire, thunder, lightning and meteorites, ice began to fall in the form of shards. Wild surges erupted, flashing across the sky and striking down and blasting the very earth itself. Magic, in its rawest, untainted, un-channelled form spewed across the world. In an instant, everything was changed. Folk, common, and noble, were caught up in it; altered by the sheer volume of naked power. Some were untouched; left as they were. Others were imbued with it.

Jason was one of these: his sabres turned black, as dark as the storm clouds above it, and forever he was changed as the raw energies filled him. Dark fire surrounded his blades and when it faded, an after-glow lingered permanently. His face turned black, as dark as coal, and his eyes were as fire, burning embers. His hood was black, as were all his clothes, until finally, he no longer resembled a mortal.

He was not the only one, for other villagers were turned into the same black humanoid figures; some mutated, holding various limbs, their skin turning charcoal and scaly. Others held horns, spikes, ‘chitin’, their teeth replaced by mandibles.

This was no dream. This was real. A reality superimposed by prophecy, the dawn of the Master’s Return.

Asokil and Dot were also affected, but in another way; rather than turn dark, they turned light, a bolt of lightning that should have obliterated them, flaring their skin with luminous energy. After it faded, there was a faint glow, as if there was something more to their eyes, a lingering whiteness that transcended all but magic. What new abilities they gained was uncertain; even the horse was affected. Somehow, their very hair seemed to carry a sheen that was not there before, Asokil’s black hair gleaming like a black opal.

Elsewhere, having made her discrete exit, Isokla left her wayward followers to their demise. No a single one survived, to her knowledge. In anger born of frustration and annoyance, she glanced up to see the skies too late. A meteor, a stray, fell to the earth and struck her; surging with wild energy, the rock burned brighter than a star. Her own magics were not enough to save her, but in the instant of impact, the rock’s energy fused with her own.
Later, when she awoke, her eyes were as blue fire, and she no longer seemed the mortal she once was.


As the surges continued, the village brewery exploded, and lightning-filled-with-wild-surge struck the fountain of ale, torching it. The resulting explosion devastated the village, but when the ash finally settled, there was a pool of alcohol in its place, the likes of which no one had ever tasted, or ever would taste again. Somehow… it seemed magical.


Those affected by the wild surges or ‘star rain’, as it would later be called, became known as ‘monsters’, or ‘intransient mortals’; somehow, they seemed more than mortal, but at the same time, less. It was theorised that from the stars, the first ‘star rain’, magic awoke within the land, within mortals, and now, that time had come again.

It would not be long before the Master Returned, no long before he claimed his brides. Battered and bruised, Isokla set off to find him…

As to the rest of the party? Who was to say who was affected, and how? Truly, that was for them to decide, a mystery for the sages.

[DrowArchmage]

Pain. Thats all he could think of. Incredible pain....yet..at the same time, power. What in the nine hells had happend to him? To everyone?

He fell to his knees as the transformation completed itself. His head pounded, his skin felt harder, yet he felt lighter than he had been...in a sense of weight. He lifted his head and tried to open his eyes. The light seemed to seer his eyes, and made his head feel even worse.

He lifted his hands to move his hood farther foreward, and jumped when he saw his hands; they had turned black as night. He quickly pulled his hood farther up, and his new eyes slowly adjusted. Everything was in chaos!

His first instinct was to kill everything that moved, but as he got to his feet, he realised that it was not only himself. It seemed that the whole town had changed, commeners and lords alike. He looked to Telryn, to see if he had been affected....and was shocked.

Telryn! His voice was the same...that was good at least. Telryn, we need to go, please, we must move before this place tears itself apart!

He couldn't tell if his shouts were being heard, but he moved for the trees anyway.

[Ivelliis]

Telryn

Telryn could make out something yelling at him. Something...black, with burning red eyes and sabres which tingled slightly, glowing power.

"Jason?" He asked to himself, "What in the name of the hells has happened here?"

Telryn didn't feel any different. Perhaps his hatred of magic, or his stubbornness towards it, or even the fact that he didn't want such power, meant he was unaffected, at least from what he could tell. He didn't feel particularly different, maybe slightly more aware of what was going on (explosions can have that effect on you). Whether his appearance had changed he had no idea, his hands didn't seem different. He hoped he hadn't changed anyway; he didn't need any help sticking out from a crowd.

Asokil and Dot both were changed too, as was Asokil's steed.

"Will someone PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on with everything? If it's this prophecy bullshit again I won't be best pleased," Telryn roared in annoyance.

Another village visited, another village obliterated. History did seem to repeat itself with this group.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

“Well... this is different,” Tod - Dot stuck her arm out and stared at it.
“You're shimmering.” Asokil eyed her, “Like crystal.”
“So are you.” Tod flexed, then rolled up her sleeve, pondering, “I think it's pretty.”
“If you say so,” Asokil commented with a shrug, “Seems somewhat pointless, to me.”
“Hush. You men are all the same. Hmm... I think... this deserves a new name. 'Starfury'. What do you think? Or, you can be 'Starfury' and I'll be 'Starfire'.”
The man shook his head, exasperation painted clearly on his face.
“Yeah, 'Starfury' suits you more, I think. So, what now, Starfury?”
“Call me that again, and you'll be off my horse.”
“Don't be like that; us 'Startouched' have to stick together. Okay, okay. No more Starfury. Sheesh. Starfury Asokil, then? Eek - wait, no! I'm sorry! Don't - please don't push me off.”
He didn't loosen his grip on her arm, “Well?”
“I'll be good, honest. Promise.”
“You'd better not bring this up again.”
“Shall I call you 'daddy' too? Ah! Wait; please -”
“Be silent, girl. I'm trying to focus.”
“Oh. Okay. I'll try too!” After a moment, Tod asked, “Um... is it working?”
“It's hard enough meditating on a horse without you prodding me. Enough, or you're off.”
“You'll... leave me behind?” Crestfallen, she pulled away, no longer leaning on him.
“No; I'll make you walk.”
“Oh. All right. So, uh, us Startouched do stick together?”
“One.”
“Sorry!”

He fixed her with a long look, then closed his eyes. He began to glow; a lingering golden hue, tinged with eerie green, fading after a moment.

“Oh wow, what was that?”
“Whatever this is, I don't know what it does. I can't harness it. It's there, near the depths of where my magic should be, but... it's different, somehow. My magic's gone; changed. It may still be in there, it may not be. I don't know. It may be it's taken form through us. I can't focus hard enough, or long enough to concentrate on it. I feel shaken, nauseous when I try.”
“Oh. Good thing you've got your spear, then.”
“I can feel you, girl.”
“Well, I am sitting next to you! I'm leaning on your shoulder!”
“Fool girl; I mean in here.” He tapped his head, “When I summon the magic. I can feel you, and the horse.”
“Oh. Can you feel anyone else?”
“I haven't had a chance to try; someone keeps distracting me.”
“Sorry. Oh! Oh! Maybe you should try focusing on that girl, what was her name? Isikie?”
“Isokla.” he corrected dryly, “And maybe I should, but first, perhaps it would be best if we stopped conversing and found the others?”
“I s'pose. Oh! I want to go skinny dipping in the lake! It's got all sorts of swirling colours; it looks like us. Do you think it'd help? I know we're wearing clothes and they got affected too, but maybe it'd amp-amplify an' en- enhance the magic, or something! Worth a try?”
Asokil rolled his eyes. “Fine, but I'm not taking my clothes off.”
“Aww, you're no fun!”

Expertly ignoring her, he wheeled his horse around to look for the others. Wherever they might be. He needed a drink.

[Legolas]

Ydalon

Having donned his sky-blue robe with the forked lightning pattern, the boy watched the heavens descend upon those around him. The fires burned with a fury to match every settlement and outpost in their wake.
Most stars, he knew, were shooting towards the capital itself, the seat of power for mighty rulers today and the mighty one of tomorrow. But some of these descending stars had changed course, seeing their flaming kin beckoning yellow and orange and smoky from this little village which would soon cease to be. They could all feel special and chosen, Ydalon thought with pride.
He fished a cloth map from his sling and discarded it in a nearby raspberry bush, reflecting on the changes and disturbingly unconcerned by the violence surrounding him now.

It was in ages past that just such a surge brought magic into the world of men, and it was doing so once more. Ydalon thought it best to get the people of old Horton organized, and raised both arms hoping to be heard.

"Hey everyone, stick together! I need you to cross the river, right, by the stone bridge. If you can walk, get going! Blackies on the left side, shinies on the right, if you got another change or just don't know, stand in the middle. Oh, and I'm a girl. Go on, move!"

[DrowArchmage]

From somewhere farther off, Jason could hear a voice, familiar in speech structure, but different in pitch. He scratched his ears to make sure he wasn't going crazy. His shoulders slumped when he relized they were pointed and somewhat sharp. He felt different as well, more so than at first. The shadows seemed to speak to him, and he swore his eyes were playing tricks on him when he thought he saw faces in the shadows. He could feel their cries, and what powerful cries they were! What was happening to the world? What madness had taken hold of humanity?

Telryn! We need to go! Come on, this way. We can figure things out later. He turned and started moving towards the voice, the female voice, and even though he felt the call from the shadows, Jason did not know their meaning and thus was, at least for the time being, convinced not to answer.

Who knows what knowledge could be gained from this new form, this new power. It was a temptation that Jason found hard to ignore as he found what appeared to be the blonde kid from the group, wait, it couldn't be, it's simply not possible. Magic did change everything it seemed.

Yaldon, er...ahhhh...what the hells happend to you man? Or woman? Are you a man or a flaming woman? What in the bloody hell is going on here! We have to get out of here, you remember that bargain we made with those bandits? It's not going to last much longer i think. We need to gather the others and go now. Leave these people to their own devices.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

“I guess we should do what she says...”
“I guess we had.”
“Right. So, uh. Move this horsie?.”
“It's a warhorse, not a 'horsie'.”
“Same difference. Horsie warhorsie, doesn't matter.”
“Why do I put up with this?”
“Because you love me.” Tod - Dot - beamed, then pulled 'puppy-dog eyes' and a pout, “Don't you?”
Asokil moved his horse over to where Yalada instructed, rather than reply, while Tod cackled to herself in the background.

[DrowArchmage]

Jason eyed Asokil and the girl on the horse warily. A well trained warhorse was a deadly weapon unto itself....something else felt wrong. A sudden burst of anger flowed through Jason, this bloody guy right here, this is the guy who was a pompous jerk to him before. Images flashed through his head of a bloody battle, a clash of godlike forces that scorched the earth and blackend the countryside.

Jason forced the images out of his head. He had left that life of killing behind when this group let him live. Besides, who had that kind of power? Certainly not himself, maybe the mage that his group had slain before all this started ( it seems like ages ago). He relised that he was gripping his sword hilt and staring at the pair all the while he was thinking and forced himself to relax his grip. Getting out of here is the important part, with or without the rest of the group, that was up to them, but the disaster that had taken place took its toll on everything. Jason couldn't even imagine that the rest had survived, but he hoped he was wrong. It was going to be one hell of a time getting the lady back, and harder still if there was only two who could weild a sword.

Maybe Telryn survived, but he did not answer his calls. He could go back for him, and the drunk...even though he smelled and was dim witted....but in doing that he risked being left behind, leaving only one aparent soldier with the group.It just wouldnt do. So he moved himself where he was instructed, a few very wary steps away from the two shiny ones, pulled his hood up to keep out the sun, and kept his hand in a position so that he could get at his sword without any hesitation or obstruction.