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[Thugren]

Life was perfect in the valley.....Your father , skarn had made a quant little sanctuary for you besides the lake. It was safe and secure and it had been ever since you coukld remember.

 

 

Here your father raised you, trained you in the powers of psionic kinesis, raised you with one singular purpose....To take that damnable iron mask to the boy that was meant to use it.

 

 

The memories fade, and you are jarred into reality.

 

Standing besides the fire is a massive, mettalic mantis beast. It holds your father by the gut in the air, hissing and clicking in a language you dont understamd.

 

"avalon.."

 

The old man grunts, his eyes glowing with the effort it takes to keep the beasts pistoned arms in place using his power.

 

 

"take the mask and go..."

 

there is a sickening sound of flesh being skliced as you see the beasts razor sharp bladers push deeper into your fathers gut, sending blood down ots arms in a cascade.

[Lafayra Rue]

Horror fills Avalon's mind. There was so much blood, she knew her father could not survive no matter what efforts she made to free him from this demonic beast. With hot tears welling up in her eyes she turned on the balls of her feet and sprinted to the shore of her beautiful lake. As she reached the waters edge she focused her powers to her feet, levitating her steps to hold her on the surface of the water, racing to reach the small shrine where the mask, Shrike, resided.

 

'Just run. Don't look back, don't let that thing catch you.' She thought to herself.

[Thugren]

you get to the mask and you rip it from its housing. you look back at the shore and see tyhe beast drop your father and turn to face you.

 

 

NO"

 

he shouts , ligfting his arm and sending a massive wall of water that lifts you in its swell and hurls you over the waterfall.

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon coughs up water, using her arm against the wind to turn herself over. The river at the bottom of the falls consisted of fast flowing, rocky rapids. She would have to aim to land on the bank. She would head west where the forest was thicker. She clutched the mask tightly to her chest. 'He warned me that the mask was dangerous....'

 

As the water came closer, she formed a bubble of psionic energy underneath her, bouncing off it as it impacted the water, landing hard and rolling onto the bank.

[Thugren]

above, a whole murder of those mantid beasts stand on the rocks. and look at you. They seem to consider you for a long moment before with a horriftying screech they leap into the air and dive downward at you

[Lafayra Rue]

Horror flashes across her face again and she turned, dashing into the dense foliage. She ran hard, ignoring as branches cut her arms, face and legs, and snagged her dress.

 

'Are you going to say, anything Shrike?' She ducked under a low hanging branch, searching for a good place to hide.

[Thugren]

"you can give me to tyhem."

 

the vopice chuckles dryly.

 

"Its not like you can use me at all......Or ever could."

[Lafayra Rue]

'I have never wanted to use you, you sarcastic ass. I have no desire for the power you hold, that's why I protect you, and you really are a fool if you want to be in the clutches of those horrid beasts.' Avalon kept running, but she was coming to the edge of the territory her and her father had roamed for food. She did not know much of what lay beyond the borders of the forest, other than that a lot of it was harsh barren wasteland infested with undead.

[Thugren]

" I could be used.... It would be nice to have an actual use other than watch you failing at psioniv lifts...


Behind you you see the mantis beasts slam into the ground and recover with horrific speed running after you snarling.


As you run you see the trench line that leads to the nearby towns food market , you can choose to take the forest route or the trench line

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon vaults over the trench, using a bit of power to push off from the ground. She was pretty sure they were tracking the power of the mask, its essence being almost tangible, but she prayed she might lose them in the thick of the forest.

 

"I'm not meant to use you. If I wore you, you'd consume me, and there would be no one to watch you and pass you to the one who is meant to wear you. I do not want to lose myself in your power....yet I do not want to die."

[Thugren]

you run the trenchlibne and the creatures get closer and the mask glows.

 

"One time.......I will help you this one time.....Wear me girl.....Put me on and let me show you what i am meant for."

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon's breath was coming out in ragged, heavy puffs. She could hear the chittering of the beasts as they crashed through the trees after her. Her eyes looked down at the mask she clutched and a memory came to her mind.


"Avalon, you are a strong girl, maybe not in power, but in mind and heart. That is why you were chosen to protect the mask and why I will teach you patience and control, but you need to remember, power is an alluring thing. It will draw you close and devour you whole. You must never wear the mask, for not only will it consume you, it's fate will forever be altered."


Avalon gripped the sides of the mask with both hands, swallowing hard as she tried to wet her burning throat.


"But papa," the memory continued "what if someone comes to take the mask? What will happen if someone bad wears it?"


She lifted Shrike and pressed it against her face as the last of her fathers warning went through her mind.

"Nothing but chaos and disaster."

[Thugren]

The wold blacks out. There is nothing for waht seems like an eternity but your minds eye fills with a vision.

 

a young boy walks amoungst an inferno. The flames lick at his hands but he continues to walk. The wold is in ruin, bodies litter the floor, but this boy advances grimly, a chain dangling from his fingers

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon tried to step forward. "Wait....who are you?"

[Thugren]

the boy says nothing. His face a grim mask of pain and determination. From his bloodsoaked fingers dangle a handful of dogtags, each bearing a name on it.

 

he collapses to his knees, sprawling out. and his hand comes in contact with a familiar object.

 

the mask lays just beyond his fingers, hidden in the dirt

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon's hand reaches up to cover her lips, muffling the small gasp. She moves toward the mask. "You...you were the one destined to wear Shrike...." Her eyes started to tear up. "You are so young...and having to bear such a terrible burden....having had to bear that burden....but no more." She looked at the boys reaching fingers.

 

"What have I done?"

[Thugren]

the boy says nothing....in the distance you can see the undead amassing. Millions begin the charge as the boys fingers grip the mask and he pulls it from the dirt.

 

 

"I will not...Fail this time dad.."

 

The boy murmmers, pushing the mask onto his face with a sigh.

 

 

Instantly, the world darkens, The ground roils as if alive and with a trembling shout, the boy stands.

 

 

The air burns, a sweltering heat as if touched by the boys hatred and he turns to the advancing army .

 

 

"no more..."

 

He growls, the shadows rising and absolving itself into its own army.

 

"NO MORE."

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon stumbles back, tripping and falling into the dirt. She was nearly suffocated with the amount of power this boy possessed. Looking around she watched the carnage ensue. Fresh bodies joined the rotting and eaten and the wailing dead stifled every other sound. Her hands crushed fistfuls of ashy dirt until she grabbed at her face.

 

"Make it stop!" She clawed for the mask that she could not see on herself in the vision. "I don't need to see any more!"

[Thugren]

your vision swims, the world returns and you are kaying on the ground.

 

around tyou are the crushed remains of the mantids, pulped and oozing purple blood.

 

 

"The boy....Find that boy........be worthwhile. Do not waste my time if you dont want that to pass."

[Lafayra Rue]

Avalon pries the mask off her face, setting it on the ground in front of her. She simply sat there for a while, letting the strength come back to her limbs and watching the images run through her mind again. With a heavy sigh she pushed herself up, grabbing the mask as she stood and walked over to a large fern plant growing at the base of a tree. Picking several of the larger fronds she wrapped the mask carefully, making sure to conceal it completely from sight with the greens.

 

Not knowing if it was safe to go back to her home she started making her way back through the forest to the nearby town, securing the mask underneath the sash on her waist. The ends of her dress were ragged and torn and she had no money, all of it being in the house up by the lake, so she was not sure how she would get supplies for a journey.