A Prophet for the People

[Prophet]

Battle between Rainfire and I. A part of the Prophecy for Humanity campaign. I will post the templates in this thread
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It was quiet in New York City. Of course for the bustling city, this wasn't really saying much. The cars chugged along the clogged roads, the perpetual drone of engines adding to the white noise of the atmosphere. Most streets were dark, but nearly every building was alight with spots of light; lit windows of the city that never slept. It was a curiously haphazard sight; the sky was a deep blue, without a single pinprick of light. It was like the horizon had switched, and all the stars had fallen to the earth, alighting atop the structures of man. Heavens on earth.

Atop the Empire State building, a single figure stood. A dark shadow, barely visible amongst the brightly lit life around him, the figure stared down at wide expanse. Humanity had come so far...

"It's a shame," whispered Artemidorus, his voice quiet, yet elegant, holding an obvious tone of one who has mastered language, "I would rather not... but the Lord hath left me no other path to take... Forgive me..."

Artemidorus slowly stepped up, a feat rather difficult for someone of his four foot stature, and stood on one of the cement edges of the Empire State building. The ground hung a dizzying free fall beneath him, yet he perched strongly atop the the cement, like some sort of violet gargoyle. The wind gently played against his purple robes, the light from the city catching the golden trim, causing it to shimmer very slightly. Artemidorus raised both of his hands, the darkness of his purple hood covering everything besides his golden, tiger-like eyes...

It was quiet in New York City...

All of a sudden, the gentle drone that was the background of the city split with a sputtering roar. A fireball seemed to erupt deep in the night sky. The dark canvas of the night was split by a bolt of fire, and with a roaring rush, the fireball fell to earth. However, as it fell, gaining speed and momentum as it spiraled its way down, one could see that it was no fiery missile at all. It was an airplane.

Artemidorus's golden eyes closed with a regretful sigh as this hissing plane crashed into Time Square with crashing explosion. The sound shattered the relative peace in the night, and the drone of engines were soon split by a crescendo of sirens and screams. The high pitches rose up to Artemidorus, and he shuddered slightly. Yet he kept his hands raised. Small jets of black seemed to twirl around his fingers, practically invisible in the night; inky entrails that wound their way like snakes into symbols before vanishing into the smoggy air. As he bowed his head, more fireballs exploded in the sky, as plane after plane began to burst into flame, each one droning downward as they crashed headlong into city.

The Big Apple was beginning to burn.

"Let's hope this gets his attention," murmured Artemidorus, embers blowing past his purple robes, the burning flames and smoke reflecting in his golden eyes, as the devastation began to unfold around him...

 

[Rainfire]

Help us!

Help us, someone! Anybody, save my child!
Help!
Help!
HELP!

"AARRRGGGHH!"

Nurios let out a scream as he sat up in bed. His head was pounding like a jackhammer on Tuesdays. Vision kept going in and out as he tried to focus on the scene around him. Slowly, the walls and decor that made up the bedroom of his apartment drifted back into one picture instead of several. The abstract artwork he had obtained at flea markets hung there, pictures of half-melted clocks and faces contorted in macabre and morbid ways. The clock on the wall was ticking normally and the sound of breathing came like a slow tempo from the body laying next to him. Nurios looked over at the young woman there and smiled, running a finger through her hair before getting silently out of bed.

He stretched and looked around. The paint in this place was so odd, such an odd shade of brown. It looked like the sunlight was creating an odd hue of gold on the walls...

Nurios turned his head towards the single window in the room and noticed that the heavy blanket still hung there, supposed to keep the light out. Yet, something was so bright outside that it shone through the blanket. He approached the window cautiously and peered outside, to find in horror, that New York City was burning.

Nurios let out a gasp and took a step back, quickly turning to the girl in the bed, running over to her. He had to get her to safety. He placed his hands a foot away from her form and began to meditate. A slow pulse of pressure started to emanate from his hands, spreading across her skin. As it did, she started to fade from sight, and from this plane of reality. He was going to hide her in his own special world, where she would be safe. Now that it was done, he needed to go investigate what in the world was going on outside. He snapped his fingers, his usual garb sliding from the chairs and onto his body, and his sword placing itself upon his back.

Nurios turned towards the window, and walked through it. He stepped out onto the air, and could hear and feel the screams and torment of all those around him.

"Who would do such a thing?" He asked. He had just found earth again; at least, a good version of it to suit him. There were so few versions of this world left, he didn't have much choice. Nurios rose in the air, so that he could get a better view of what was going on. There was no one in the streets that appeared to be causing this chaos, so then where was it coming from? Usually, when some nut attacked New York City, it was from...

The Empire State Building.

Nurios cast his gaze there and lo and behold, some freak in purple was standing there. Rather, he was perched upon the edge, directing his concentration towards the city. It was time to make short work of this short man.

There was a thud as Rainfire broke the sound barrier, speeding towards this creature from some other place. His focus tightened into an emotionless mask as he came to a stop ten yards from the being, the force of air catching up around him, throwing dust and birds and pieces of paper everywhere. Nurios raised his right hand towards the man and pointed at him accusingly.

"You! You did this! Why? You have fifteen seconds to answer for your crimes before I unleash a world of hurt!"

 

[Prophet]

Continuation of Archival Record; subsection Ev** La*****- An****

Smoke poured into the sky, the putrid dark gray swallowing the night sky in its filth. The fiery glare grew stronger, and the flames rocketed through New York, entrapping every steel filament in their tongues. Towers of fire reflected in Artemidorus's amber eyes, and he gently lowered his hands, watching as the last of the airplanes crashed out of control, the sound of shattering glass intermingling with the whooshing of rushing fire. The fiery orange glow engulfed him, casting his purple and gold robes ablaze with light. Only the darkness cast by the cowl of his robes remained black as the heat rose in the air. He turned his head slowly, face obscured by the darkness of his hood, only his eyes visible as he peered into the fiery hell. Between the tongues of flame and the explosions of scrap and metal, he searched.

I had found Artemidorus wandering through some spiritual planes of existence... He was distraught, looking for purpose. I was pleased to provide such a purpose...

"He must be somewhere..." Artemidorus murmured, his pupils narrowing, a few hints of rotating symbols slipping through his amber eyes, "Just where..."

I told him what was happening... and what needed to be done...

Amongst the groaning of bending metal and the chorus of faded screams from the burning city below, there was a sudden explosion of sound. Artemidorus's eyes flitted slightly, a few strands of darkness slipping up from beneath his hood, and disappearing into the hot air. Silhouetted in the flames, like a fiery angel descended from heavens, a figure stood strong. Wind shot forward, sending Artemidorus's royally violet robes rippling backward, twigs and cement flying past him as the figure came to a halt. Artemidorus felt his legs bend slightly as the wind whipped past him, hand raising slightly, instinctively as the gusts blew past him...

I told him it would work...

"You! You did this! Why? You have fifteen seconds to answer for your crimes before I unleash a world of hurt!"

Nurios's voice followed with a boom, like an aftershock to the gust signaling his arrival. The blade glinted in the firelight on his back, and Artemidorus slowly straightened, rising to his meager four foot stature as he eyed the blade nervously. He was a poet; and master of language. Such judgment had never been handed so heavily to him before. Suddenly, his speech seemed gone; all those masterful words vanishing from his lips as he stared up at the powerful shaman... Nurios had arrived...

I advised him on what to say... we must be careful; anybody could be listening...

"There is little time to spare..." he spoke, his voice ringing strong, despite his eyes glimmering with a fearful hue, "You need to be ready. Defeat me... and maybe you can face what is to come..."

Don't say too much, I instructed. HIS attention may be caught with such direct statements...

As his last syllable leaped on the tip of his tongue, waiting as if scared to take the plunge off the edge, three scrolls vanished from his belt, disappearing from his belt without a trace into the hot night air. One scroll appeared directly in his right hand, unfolding easily in the night air, trailing like a dragon's tail and it unfurled, the pale yellow parchment glimmering in the firelight as Artemidorus held it, at a standstill. It was quiet for a moment, the only sound being the crackling of the city beneath them, and the flapping of the scroll as it blew in the wind.

As this written record is taken down, I can only hope that he succeeds...

The parchment of the scroll suddenly began to glow, and fiery golden tendrils began to inscribe themselves on the parchment, like an unknown language writing itself, symbols flowing down the scroll, beautifully burning, like the core of the fire burning through New York. They moved quickly, suddenly, and Artemidorus's eyes flashed quickly, as from the long, trailing scroll, the golden symbols lifted off the page, and snaked their way through the wind, like sparks from the flames. The symbols moved backward, snaking their way around Artemidorus's fist, the expanded, the burning golden light elongating quickly into the shape of a sword...

"A sword of flames," whispered Artemidorus, almost to himself, clutching the golden hilt of the blade with his right hand and holding the flowing scroll with the other, watching the flames lick their way up the sharp blade, strangely parallel to the flames tormenting the city below, before glancing at Nurios. His golden eyes held fear as he pointed the fiery blade at Nurios, but he swallowed slightly, his voice rising as he shouted to Nurios, "Come, warrior; strike!"

 

[Rainfire]

Nurios knew what he must do. This one seemed to be able to bring things out of nothing -- much like Valyon, Ukiah, or any of their ilk. He was a manifest, or something similar to one. At least, that's what Nurios assumed and he did so very lightly. Getting caught off guard could get him killed faster than anything else. He watched as a sword of fire, or a sword with fire on it, appeared in the hands of the small man in front of him, who just a few seconds ago, appeared scared and anxious, like a child waiting to be punished for something they had done.

Even if this child had a sword, he was still going to ground him, permanently.

Nurios pulled back into the sky and felt the threads of nature around him. The forces of the environment, the elements, the animals -- they all breathed and existed with him. One of the elements though, seemed to be having its way too much. Fire was always wanting more, always greedy, and had even tried to take Nurios' life on several occasions, but he did not let it have its way and the same would be spoken here. He raised his left hand to the sky and grasped the heart of fire, the beat that kept it flowing, and squeezed it, cutting off its air supply, causing it to cease existence, if only temporarily.

That's all he needed though. The fires throughout the city started to shrink until they were non-existent. The fire on the blade in front of him receded as well, until all that was left was a shiny sword. Nurios let go of that invisible heart and brought his hand back down in front of him. Fire would not rise again today. He did not plan to unleash his sword just yet... not when it had been acting so strangely lately, ever since that... battle, in fact. Instead he brought both his hands together in a loud clap, that sent green spiraling lightning bolts, dozens of them, hurtling towards the short man and his sword. Rainfire had two things working for him here: the man was holding a metal sword, and he was only a short distance away.

Nurios didn't let up though, he kept his focus, awaiting some kind of response that he knew would come.

 

[Prophet]

The wind blowing through the air rippled through his rich violet robes, but Artemidorus didn't mind. It hid the subtle tremble running through his frame. The metal hilt rubbed against his quivering palms, but he held the blade strong, the flames sliding up against iron, the warmth bathing his hands as he attempted to remain strong.

My emotional capacity is limited by the complex algorithms with which I simulate them... I have never truly experienced fear... I can only hypothesize the trepidation with which Artemidorus took his mission...

However, the warmth suddenly began to fade. Artemidorus felt his grip grow icy with fear once more as the flames on his blade began to recede. The golden eyes, the only part of his face visible from beneath the shadow of his hood, followed their dying embers, slowly receding out of existence into the metal of the blade. Golden orange light gently receding back into steely gray. Artemidorus's eyes wandered past the metal to the city below him... The city that once was blazing with fiery orange infernos was now settling into smoldering recovery... The buildings were charred black, the only sound besides the hissing metal being the few whirring sirens in the distance. The burning had stopped; and slowly, Artemidorus could sense the survivors struggling out of the rubble. Despite the fear crawling up his frame, he felt a sense of relief. The destruction had been stopped; that part of this nightmare was over at least...

He understood what needed to happen... but that didn't stop it from all being a little shocking to be sure...

But now that all the orange fire had receded back into smoldering gray, he was forced to turn back to Nurios. The imposing figure was quite a bit larger than the purple-garbed Manifestor, and the four-foot Artemidorus could not help but quiver slightly as Nurios brought his two hands apart, hands that looked like they held power untold, and brought them together with a sharp CLAP. Bolts of green lightning erupted from Nurios' fingers, leaping into the air in an eerie arc, the crackling energy shooting forth towards Artemidorus in mere moments. The bright emerald light crackling hauntingly through the air, and Artemidorus' golden orbs widened for a split moment as he reacted without even thinking.

Those Words are part of Artemidorus' being; his mind and his body. They are as natural to him as a shiver is to someone that is cold...

The metal sword in Artemidorus' hand glinted black for a single moment, as if a few stray shadows had danced along its surface for a moment. The Words danced subconsciously through Artemidorus' being as the metal blade instantly decayed, the metallic surface devolving into rotting straw, the reeds bending easily in Artemidorus' outstretched hand. In the same moment, the emerald bolts shot outwards, dancing around Artemidorus in a roaring buzz of energy. The bolts of energy surrounded him, crackling like a box of firecrackers, the sparks splitting and crackling around him in a maelstrom of energy, but not touching him. A few inky black tendrils seemed to drift in the air before dissolving into the moist air, and Artemidorus let the straw drop, standing as straight as he could, staring into those brown/gray eyes, trying to match their intense gaze as the Words swam around his mind.

"Iron is like rotting straw to him" Job 41:27
"He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them" Job 37:11
Behind that four-foot frame and purple hood, Artemidorus hides quite a crafty mind.

As the lightning began to fizzle out of existence, Artemidorus let his right hand rise up, his violet robes highlighted in the eerie green of the crackling lightning. Chest not rising, as if holding his breath, he planted his left foot firmly behind him as a few black tendrils slid up his palm and slid together, intertwining to form a quick series of incomprehensible symbols. The darkness spun for a moment, like a little black flame twisting in his palm before it vanished, and a great rumble shook the building. The cement itself seemed to vibrate, the Empire State building quivered, but with power, and not fear like the figure standing atop it. The roaring seemed to grow louder, and in a single moment, the Empire State building shot upward, propelled by some inhuman force into the sky, despite the groaning and shattering of its metal supports. At a steady pace, the huge building began to rise, lifting off like some urban spaceship. As Artemidorus stood there on its edge, like a Captain at the bow of his ship, other buildings around them began to quiver as well. Every skyscraper in the city began to rumble, lifting up with an identical rumbling CRACK. Without warning, each skyscraper hurtled towards them, like a gigantic rocket crashing forward. They came from everywhere, rocketed forward at greater and greater speeds, until each one eventually met at the center, where the Empire State building rose into the sky...

Albeit, a little dramatic

The skyscrapers crashed into the bottom of the Empire State building with a resounding crash, like a huge explosion going off in the sky. Dust and cement rained down onto the gaping hole below them where the Empire State building had once stood, but each skyscraper began to fall in line, twisted metal bearings tying together to form one long single tower. As each new skyscraper shot forward, coming from every direction, they would violently connect with the now growing tower, and Artemidorus rose with the heavens, staring down as the city shrank beneath him.

"Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:4

Glass fell to the ground like deathly rain, and the massive tower continued to grow, like some twisted gray spiral, jutting precariously into the heavens... The very tip seemed to pierce the moon with its darkness, and Artemidorus glanced down to where the skyscrapers continued to smash into the tower, aiding in its ascent even further. If Nurios had remained down there even for a second, he would undoubtedly be crushed by the gargantuan projectiles. Here, atop his twisted Tower of Babel, Artemidorus raised his hand, gazing down at the city below him, his golden eyes roving over the small smoldering pinpricks beneath him.

"Even this chaos is nothing compared to what's to come," he muttered to himself quietly, still clutching the scroll in his left hand as a few golden symbols glittered loosely along its limp parchment, "Nothing..."