Kingdom Hearts Eclipse - Chapter 1

[Orion]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

The same thin blades that had interlocked with Daedalus' hand to help him grapple up to the Carriage-model Reaver returned, instead of sliding, the flicked about on a fulcrum that slid down the arm as they made their half-revolution, and snapped into place just at the base of Daedalus' hand, all sitting perpendicular to the wrist. With a swing of his arm, the blades spun up into a blurry disc that flicked away the small, incoming blades with ease.

The motion continued, and a single blade snagged in the hull of the Reaver, and the continued rotations of the blades served to lift Daedalus up along its surface, not entirely pulling him out of harm's way from the second volley. He brought his knees tight to his chest, and when both feet planted firmly on the roof of the craft with no pain, he was confident he dodged the attacks seamlessly. Before he gave his enemy the chance to attack him further, he brought his right hand to hold the upper of his left arm, and in a great, heaving motion that was accompanied by the loosing of the cord that held enabled his hand to grapple, swung his left arm over himself and pirouetted around the waist.

During this maneouvre, he had two thoughts in mind, the primary, since the much larger Carriage models had begun landing - he had to get to the central lightning tower, atop Ansem's castle, from which he could direct all the others. The invasion they had been anticipating had arrived, and the distraction provided by the errant marshal had, in fact, done more good than harm, distracting the warriors from the real problem. This Carriage model provided an excellent means by which to quickly ascend to the pinnacle of Ansem's castle, but that was also where the second idea presentd itself: The supposed owner of the vehicle was still present upon it, and would be a hassle to Daedalus if not an outright danger as he headed toward his destination.

Daedalus' hand launched away from his wrist due the centripetal reaction from its rotation and soared far until, with clawed fingers, it dug into the forward roof of the Carriage. At this moment, the cord connecting arm and hand came loose from the latter, already retracting fast as plates slid across and Daedalus' mechanical arm opened at the upper, and from it he drew the handle and subsequently the rest of a plain-looking dagger - rectangular handle, a blade just over a foot long, and two thick at its widest. Even as the cord was hurtling back to the wrist with metres to go, a series of ten blades were already sliding forward from within, that closed together once the cable was fully retracted, forming a single, larger blade nearly two feet long.

When he sensed his opponent preparing an attack to disabled his crawling mechanical hand, he whipped his body around and let loose a laser-straight bolt of blue lightning that only missed his opponent because Daedalus had not been particularly aiming. If he hit his opponent, or killed him, there was a possibility the craft would self-destruct as a result of that. At least until he get to the central tower, he'd have to keep his enemy alive. Fantastic.

The hand nearly skipped forward, as fast as its magnetised fingers allowed, until it clawed into the very prow of the Reaver, and with precision-placed fingers, dug the middle claw inwards, followed by the index, the ring, and the rest until it crawled inside the hand-width puncture. Within, in nearly total darkness, the hand found itself in a cavity not accessible by standards routes within - plates would have to be cut out, pipes severed to allow access. For Daedalus' detached appendage, it was perfect. It took seconds to scan the fore of the ship as it tinkered along, and found an instant later the exact place it wanted to be. Now actually skipping along - with no risk of falling off - the hand moved along at a merry pace, apparently happy, and after several metres of this cute-in-a-strange-kind-of-way display, with a single powerful leap (powerful for five fingers) jumped up and fixed itself to a wall, and began digging into it.

Through this barrier, the hand now rested at the core of the Reaver, a heart glowing intermittently bright resting inches away, hovering and spasming and 'beating' as though it were in pain. Contained on all sides by a transparent container reinforced with a metal framework that manipulated the power output by the heart as needed. The hand made a minute leap and expert flip to grab onto this, and crawled up to the top, from which existed the 'heart' of the Reaver itself, as it were. The tip of the middle finger opened up like a petal, revealing a dozen tiny mechanical tentacles and instruments. With careful precision, stabilised on four 'legs', the digit was lowered through a gap in the crowning unit of the heart-container, and seconds later, contacts met and the hand's control became total soon after, feeding back to Daedalus' command: Get to primary lightning tower station.

The large Reaver pivoted in mid-air as it found itself faced with new orders. The turn was so sudden, both parties might have been tipped off, had both of them not stabbed into the hull blades they found at the ready, and held there tight as the Carriage found its initial - and pleasantly strong - burst of acceleration as it set a course diagonally upwards, to the mass of soaring spires.

 

[Chromatic]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Anton streaked through the still midday air with an exuberance of a child presented with their favorite of treats, or a day of naught but play. As was his standard inclination, the young ghoulish boy traveled his way in the influence of a single-tracked mind: To reach the training grounds, and meet with the heroes to be. Anything and everything happening in the periphery of his focus was, at best, processed as passively as each breath he took, or each blinking of his eyes.

As his flight drew him ever closer to where the masses of bearers had been dismissed from, he made out some chain of events progressing near the training fields. Figures of various sorts seemed to be gathering, and interacting. Other than that, Anton could tell little. The distance between him and the training grounds made the task of making things out painstakingly difficult. But he continued staring down at the gathering, expediting his descent. Nearer the training grounds, and at a significantly lower altitude, he could make out the motions undergone by the still vague figures. It was battle, it seemed.

The Eclipse folks? That was the first thought that had crossed his mind. They were the only ones he could name that would have been so low as to attack Keybearers after a long day’s worth of training. Steadily, he veered his dive off course by about ninety degrees, touching ground a jog’s distance away from the grounds. He wasted no time upon his landing, darting off at his skip of a run towards the site where things appeared to be taking a turn for disaster. Through the bone-chilling sounds of battle, he pressed forward, reaching the training grounds in time to see the full extent of the cacophony that was only beginning to grip the once peaceful world.

It was a site more wild and gripping than any the young spook at yet to witness in his days. The robot man Daedalus wrestled around with a Reaver, which bolted skyward not even just moments after Anton had pieced the site together. Not far from that, a teeny looking figure whirled around in the midst of a cyclone. And more wild and gripping than even those sights… the passing over of a titanic vessel, casting a massive shadow over the grounds for a moment as it cut its way to a “proper” landing site upon the fragile homes of Radiant Garden. The battle was only just beginning, yet the picture of it all seemed to paint out a most gruesome climax in the making.

It was only after taking all of this to heart that Anton became aware of the sturdy, threatening constructs enveloping the training grounds. Reavers! There were several of them, perhaps… no… definitely too many for him to handle on his own power. At best, he believed himself capable of drawing their focus away from those encased at the heart of their encirclement, long enough for the captives to make their necessary escape from the hold, assuming he played his own skills the right way. Or in the best-case scenario, those he aided would be kind enough to repay his handsome favor.

Whatever the end might have been, Anton set himself to work on the first trick he could think to pull from under his sleeve. Gathered above a slightly outstretched left hand, a trio of orbs composed of darkness made to energy, floated as though balloons held down by strings. Three, the spook surmised, would be efficient for drawing some of the Reavers’ attentions away from the training grounds. That would surely provide enough of a window for his ‘friends.’ Tilting up the restricting cover of his grisled pumpkin mask, he took his picks out of the litter of Reavers. Three scuttlers, if he recalled it correctly, though they seemed slightly different than the ones he had been shown when he trained for this sort of occasion. Nonetheless, he determined that their weakest point was underneath their bodies. With baseball-like draw back of his left arm, he let the orbs loose, putting his efforts into guiding all three of them into their most effective destinations. From there, it would just take some luck... followed by more luck.

 

[Professor Ven]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

"I know little of losing; the man who devised both the board and game of ki'rhal, against whom I always prevailed and claimed victory, never understood that numbers mean little in strategy. A pity you seem to be afflicted with the same ideology, child." Sea-grey eyes looked unblinkingly upon the runty urchin which dared to peep out from underneath its rock. They glanced at the furious visage of Abel, though not in fury such as the child seemed to behold, along with obvious overconfidence in a victory here; the sage-like gaze of mere sorrow filled Quel'loyen's eyes.

It is un-befitting of one such as I, to kill! Was I not the most powerful of my Realm? I was Primus Ser'lus! His inner voice cried out within the metaphorical mind, beseeching the empty halls of nonexistence. Yet you forget your own pride? You were given your task, a duty so simple, yet also simply undone - did you not challenge He Who Is? In all your power, you dared to defy all, and in the end, cast down from your prideful, lofty perch over the rest. A pity the others were encumbered by your presence; Marquis, Neraen, Mirkhan, and yes, even Das'hir. The second voice replied in slow anger, unamused.

The Keyblade remained in Tal'shendar's grip; his free hand, bothered little by the gauntlet encasing it, moved, twitched. The fingers allowed a sphere of dark matter to appear on the palm; it would not float as fire would. Allowing it to be lifted into the air, he sent it at the child, reversing the entire web of the spell as it descended towards Abel, and suddenly expanded, creating an invisible dome-like barrier around the area for a couple hundred yards, bringing at least Quel'loyen and the child within its folds.

Unless the blunder of a child knew how to dissipate spell weaves, then he would be crashing down to earth any moment, now, as the Graviga Spell, inverted and twisted slightly to suit Tal'shendar's needs, would keep anyone within the field on the ground, and no wind could penetrate the field, nor be created inside of it, though air was present.

"A pity, child. You presume you have won, when the Eclipse King's flagship lands, and his soldiers roll out the hatches, but you are very much alone, are you not? Alone, without allies, at the moment. A band of the same dark substance appeared around his gauntleted hand, as cold eyes appraised the child once more.

"Your move, sold'jer. Pray it will be your last, child."

 

[Alaude Drenxta]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Verah knew he only had moments to react. It seemed his mind, and by effect his reaction time, had become dull over the time he'd spent in solitude, tinkering away with his toys like a child. However, that work was of course not without its merits, for while this interloper had managed to crack into the simple mechanism that was the Reaver's operations system, Verah prided himself on the fact that he had planned for just such an event. If ever the controls on his Reavers were to be over-ridden, he need only return to his workshop to disable, and detonate them. Each was outfitted with a cased explosive built into the core of the "heart". If the Reaver were simply destroyed, the bomb would not have any power, and therefore would not detonate, however if control were ever wrested away from the AI the bomb, similar to that of a neutrino field, would detonate in a 30 foot radius, penetrating into whatever is in the area and shredding it internally and externally. There was little delay, perhaps 8 seconds, 5 for detonation and 3 for potential signal lapse.

He smirked, and took a moment to glance around the battlefield. There was chaos above and below, and as far as the eye could see, the fire that Hunter started was spreading across the village surrounding Radiant Garden. It pleased Verah to know how much it must hurt the young keybearer, knowing that even in trying to do good, he'd set ablaze the homes and livelihood of so many "innocent" bystanders. He relished in their anguish and terror, they all deserved what they got, harboring such unjustifiable criminals in their world. They all deserved punishment, and soon he would dole it out, but first, he'd deal with this strange mechanized being. As akin as he was to a fellow mechanic, enemy status took precedent.

Spotting the mirror fragment, slightly charred on the ground below, Verah sighted his return strategy, and immediately warped back to his workshop. Inside the air was dank and heavy, a strong clash with the heavy, dry air that roiled among the chaos of battle. He simply was not cut out for such trifling matters as battle and war, he preferred cold destruction, and that was exactly what he intended to do. Accessing the multi-monitor console in the garage area, he began to strum across the keys like a pianist, isolating the signal of the Carriage Alt. B, and initiating the detonation sequence. Twice the code kicked back, there were fail-safes in place, naturally, however he knew the sequence quite well. As the large red countdown ticked on, he cackled quietly to himself and strolled lazily across the room, heading toward the nearest mirror.

"I certainly don't want to miss the show...hahaha."

In another moment, he was back on the battlefield, backing away from the flames around mirror he'd left behind. Gazing up, his eyes began to moisten, combating the dryness of the choking air as the leftover heat threatened to overwhelm his senses. Shifting into an area much different than before was always quite a shock to his system, the human body was never truly meant to deal with such sudden changes. However, nothing would convince him to close his eyes, as not even two seconds later he saw the massive explosion off in the distance, and he'd only hoped that his previous enemy was wrapped up in the destruction. Averting his eyes from the gleeful event, he saw many battles going on around him from which to choose, and he was uncertain of which to join in on. Instead, he made a tactical decision, he would remain in hiding until the moment provided itself where he could truly prove himself useful. Until then, he would begin building his network around the area, and commence the trickery and games that he was known for.

Verah was never a fair fighter.

 

[HollowHero]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

As Mai and Ryoko appeared a rural housing area, they looked around confused.

"Where are we?"
"No clue."

As they looked around Mai turns to Ryoko.

"Is this really Radiant Garden?"
"Yes it is,"

Ryoko snapped back, Mai flinched at how angry she sounded.

"I don't get lost like you do you know."

Ryoko sighed.

"Damn it why am I so agitated? Maybe it's because of this thing."

Ryoko thought looking down at the black katana hanging next to her original katana.

"I hate this thing."
"Ryoko!"
"Huh?"

Ryoko looked around noticing that Mai was out of sight. However when she looked around she spotted her next to a map. Ryoko walked over wishing she could clam down but it made her uneasy.

"I found a map!"
"Yeah yeah so which way are we going?"
"That way."

Mai pointed off to the left, Ryoko coughs and points in the opposite direction.

"I think you mean that way."
"Huh?"

Ryoko points up at the map and says.

"We are here and the marketplace is that way. Come on lets go."
"Alright."

Mai says as she begins to follow Ryoko towards the Marketplace. However, she stops suddenly as she feels something well up inside her head.

"What...is this? Voices I can hear voices inside my head. ARGH!"

Mai fell to her knees as she grabbed her head in pain.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other."
"Is that supposed to be Leon?"
"Where in cold storage?"

Ryoko turns around and runs back to Mai's side.

"Mai! Mai! Can you hear me?!"

Mai could hardly respond as the pain was tearing her apart from the inside. She felt her mind slowly go blank. Mai slowly closes her eyes wishing for the pain to end.

"Cold...so cold. Water?"

Mai opens her eyes and sees that she is falling through darkness. Below her, she can make out a white area however, there was a giant crack through the middle that split and divided the area into thirds. As Mai lands she looks around.

"Where am I?"
"We have been waiting for you."
"We? Who are you?"
"We cannot remember our names. However you have a choice to make."
"A choice?"
"We will give our knowledge to you but you must accept and take our pain. The longer you wait the more your mind will fall apart."

However, before Mai could even think about it she felt another jolt of pain rip through her mind. Mai closed her eyes tightly wishing for it to end. When Mai opened her eyes this time she saw Ryoko looking back at her.

"R-Ryoko?"

Mai said weakly her mind still throbbed with pain but it was subsiding if only for the
moment.

"Thank goodness you're back. I was worried."

Mai slowly stood up she felt dazed.

"Was that place real? And if so where was that?"
"Mai?"

Ryoko was staring at Mai. Mai turned around and smiled at her.

"Sorry I'm fine. Let’s go! I want a new candle."

Ryoko sighed as she followed Mai to the Marketplace. When they arrived, they were expecting more people but it was very quiet.

"Where is everyone?"
"Ryoko! Look!"

Ryoko turned to Mai and saw that she found a shop.

"They're open!"

Mai said as she ran inside.

"Duh. It's the middle of the day why wouldn't they be open?"

Ryoko thought as she followed her sister inside. As Mai quickly picked out a new candle, Ryoko sighed as she paid for it. However before she followed Mai outside she spotted a thing for ice cream. Remembering how they have not eaten in a while, she bought two. Ryoko steps outside and sits next to Mai on the bench.

"Here."

Ryoko hands the ice cream to Mai who takes it and says.

"What is this for?"
"Well we haven't eaten in a while so you know...though you would like one."
"Oh well...thanks."

As they, both begin to eat Mai sighs.

"You know I thought there would be more people. But I guess not I mean who do we ask about the Keyblade man this is so hard."

As Ryoko finishes her ice cream, she pockets the stick and says.

"Don't worry I’m sure we will find someone. There has to be someone here who knows about the Keyblade."

As Mai stares at Ryoko, she could not help but smile.

"Thanks. There is a map over there I’m sure we could find a good place to start looking."

As Mai got up her and Ryoko walked over to the map and began looking for a place to begin their search.

 

[Orion]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Daedalus instantly felt something was wrong when his hand spliced into the systems of the Carriage Reaver, yet he had no control over it right now, no way to tell it to pull out, run away on its tinkiling little fingers, no way to override the simple intelligence it now possessed that simply told it: Get inside the Reaver, get control of it, then hand control over to Daedalus.
And something had been tripped. No doubt a self-destruct mechanism. Daedalus hoped the intelligence of the hand was enough to at least pick up the pace. Even if the Reaver were to blow up, Daedalus could still make use of that, even though he'd probably lose the hand. That was less worrisome, at least he had more of those to make use of. What he didn't have more than one of was an explosive Reaver and his own body. One of them was going to be blown into nothingness, and he sorely hoped the other would be far away enough to avoid that.

Within, working in inky darkness with little mechanical whirs and clicks, the hand did manage to wrest control of the sizeable machine, and as Daedalus was kicking off the side of the ship, control was transferred to him, even if unavoidable systems had set to work to detonate the machine in no more than ten seconds. The augmented man's mind worked feverishly over the course of a second to construct an algorithm from memory that would allow the doomed hand enough intelligence to make full use of the similarly-destined craft. His eyes flickered about as habit, having spent months looking over advanced diagrams of logic gates, boolean alternates and of course continuum contingencies. Jesus, the hand would be overloaded enough just establishing the first task Daedalus wanted it to fulfill.

Anchored by the thumb, the hand lowered all its digits into the key circuitry of the Reaver, moving in little darting motions from wire to wire and tracking where they most likely led. The system that Daedalus wanted to temporarily disable was hidden underneath a massive of a dozen coloured wires - a thin, grey, indiscriminate line of plastic enclosing metal. Two fingers held apart the thicker wires as another two set about baring the wire with tiny incising mandibles. Once the wire was bare, a third finger extended down, opening slightly to grip one end of the bared section, and a mandible on a different digit retraced to allow the other bare metal end to be gripped. The third finger came down further, and cut the wire right in the middle, making the entire hand part of the circuit. Albeit, a very long-winded one, with lots of alternating paths of circuitry. The pulse of electricity that would signal the hand's doom contained within its own victim, the two fingers that gripped the snipped ends of wire stayed in place, as the thumb lifted the hand up more, allowing the remaining fingers to get to work splicing more wires. It still had control, and by God it was going to make use of that explosion.

So caught up in the intricacies of the process, Daedalus had neglected the fact he was falling. In fact, he only realised he had been falling when he was no longer descending. Much the opposite, he was ascending, and moving quickly. A wind, feeling dense and forceful - like a huge wave - lapped about his figure as he tried to ascertain what was happening. He barely registered that the Carriage Reaver was now drawing away from the training ground, making rapid progress toward one of its larger brothers, ready to complete that deadly circuit the moment the hulls touched together. Below and behind him, a man was hovering after him, clad in desert garbs that bellied the clearly advanced skinsuit he wore underneath. Whatever his powers, he seemed a friend, and intriguing, but for now, Daedalus had other priorities, and yelled to the man, just audible above the howling wind, point to his destination as he did so. "I need to get to that tower," he exclaimed, rigid index finger pointed out from the handle of his not-currently-Keyblade straight at the pinnacle of Ansem's castle, "From there I can repel those massive Reavers, and more of the invasion still."

A dark grin forming on his face, Daedalus yelled out with grim happiness, already basking in the havoc he would wreck on the enemy: "Hope you like a good storm!"

 

[OmniChaos]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

As Abel fell from the sky, he looked down at the ground quickly rushing up to meet him. Just before impact was made, Abel curled up, making sure to hold his halberd horizontally aligned with his body, and rolled forward, essentially negating the shock of impact, coming up in an upright position. Abel rose to his feet, dusting off the dirt and small stones of the street that had collected on his clothing. A gravity spell, Abel mentally noted, a particularly powerful one as well. It did its job and grounded Abel, even furthermore, the spell itself seem to have been altered, as the stillness of the stagnating air suggested that the flow of air, and thus the wind, had been cut off by some invisible force. So it would seem he was planning to cripple Abel before engaging him in combat. A cowardly and cleaver move. Abel was impressed.

"Impressive," Abel applauded, coldly, leaning the shaft of his halberd onto his shoulder. "Very impressive, indeed. Using a simple Graviga spell in such a way not only to ground me, but to cut my power and trap me? I must say, it seems I have greatly underestimated you." Abel scratched his head with his free hand and sighed. "You must forgive me, for you see, all of my previous encounters with your rebellion have been... how should I put, lacking? They were nothing more than simple apes with swords, really. Untrained and unseasoned. I might has well been fighting infants. A waste of my talents, really. But not you. No, not you."

Abel spun the halberd once, nearly scraping the ground with each end, and pointed the blade toward the man. "Tell me old man, have you ever heard the tells of the Forbidden Arts?"

---------​

The Eclipse King slowly walked down the steps of the ship, crunching the remnants of the crushed houses as he touched the ground. Behind him on each side came his two personal Guardian Reavers, their golden bodies sparkling from the shining sun. The armor clad man took a few steps, the remains of the houses still crunching under his feet, as he slightly looked left to right.

"Is there any way around it?" The man asked aloud to his two guards. "I'd rather avoid it, if possible."

"No, sire," one of the guards replied on cue, "I am afraid there is not."

The Eclipse King's lips curved downward, a look of sadness and regret plastered on them. "Very well, then," he said softly. "If there is truly no other way, then I ask for one thing: Forgive me."

The man held his right arm out forward, fingers open and extended to their limit, toward the houses that still separated him from the market place. A howl let loose as a funnel of wind whipped by the Eclipse King, which ripped through the houses as if they were tissue paper. The force of the initial impact on each house caused it, and everything with in it, to explode outward, throwing the shredded remains of the houses into the air like confetti, only to be sucked back into the passing vortex. The funnel, now stretched out to its full length, broke through the last of the houses and, now free, began to curve up toward the sky, the debris of the destroyed houses raining down upon the market place. The funnel, now stretched out vertically above Radiant Garden, faded away, dropping what ever debris it might have still held onto the market place below. The Eclipse King dropped his arm back to his side and began to walk, slowly, toward the market through his newly created path. Behind him, he could hear the transforming Carrier Reaver, which would soon be followed by the chorus of mechanical 'clings' and 'clangs' and the monotonous march of his army onward into battle.

"It's time to take Radiant Garden and position myself for the final strike. Today is the beginning of the end of the Rebellion."

 

[Ordeith]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Upon returning to Radiant Garden, Animus instead chose to emerge in an alleyway located a ways closer to the assault than his previous location. If his role was to be a long-term one, then it would be much better to begin the exposition sooner rather than later. Although he personally felt that it was a somewhat inefficient tactic to not take full advantage of the surprise attack, the assassin hardly minded—so long as the ultimate result remained the same.

From his shadowed nook between buildings, Animus was only able to glimpse a snapshot of the city outside—but not even thick stone walls can stifle the sound of panic: Groups of people stampeded down cobblestone paths, while each individual shouted to be heard over the next. Each noise built upon one another to paint a clear aural image of the chaos being loosed outside—and Animus didn't need to wait for the sound of clanking metal to know that the Reavers were already spreading from their entry point. After a quick shuffling of his hair and articles, he rushed out from the alleyway and quickly melded with the pandemonium. And now, all that needs to be done is establish my role in the drama about to unfold...

Summoning the Keyblade of his Rebellion persona, Caduceus, Animus promptly froze an approaching Scuttler model with a well-aimed Blizzara spell, and immediately raised his voice above the din: "Keep yourselves collected, everyone! All civilians should make their way over to the castle at once, no exceptions. Keybearers—no matter what level apprentice you are—gather at the training grounds, with no less than six high-level apprentices escorting civilians!"

Like a siren's song, his composure and control immediately attracted the frenzied inhabitants of the city. Already, his instructions were being echoed amidst the crowd. Keyblade wielders organized themselves into small parties headed towards the training courtyard and marketplace.

Yet not a minute after his directions had taken root, the roar of the crowd was drowned out by an even greater cacophony: Tearing an entire housing district from the ground—along with several unfortunate apprentices—and catapulting them into the sky, a funnel of dark wind had been loosed to make way for the approaching Reaver army. Hm, that's certainly regrettable, Animus thought as he watched the potential Keyblades disappear in the blink of an eye. Not to mention the lack of finesse, which is almost as regrettable...

Nevertheless, Animus continued to weave through the mass of bodies, urging everyone (including those with Keyblades) to make haste towards the castle, rather than lose people in addition to ground. If that failed to create the perfect situation for the Reaver army—and for his Keyblade library—the assassin would be sorely disappointed.

 

[LongLiveLife]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

The twins had set out intending to create a blockade that would hamper the progress of the countless Reavers the Carrier harbored. What a foolish idea. They reached the crash site and hid behind a stray pile of crates in time to witness the armored monster Hunter immediately recognized as the Eclipse King, flanked by two Guardians on either side, summon a vortex with an intensity unlike any they had ever seen and power far beyond their reach. Entire houses were razed to the ground in seconds, broken glass and debris rained from the sky, and as quickly as it had come, the vortex vanished. Hunter glimpsed a bright, orange shape whirring toward him. It bounced on the ground twice before landing, neatly, beside his heel. A heavy pang struck his heart when he realized from where it had come. The piece had once been a part of the sign that hung outside the sea salt ice cream store that he had grown up loving. It had been the dot over the i. Now it was nothing more than another meaningless fragment of broken wood. He could only hope Scrooge and Huey and Dewey and Louie had fled before complete destruction had seized the Marketplace.

Neither brother had the heart to move. Radiant Garden had been their home, and just like that, the Eclipse King had left it irrevocably desecrated.

Malik didn’t know how much time he’d spent stood there, gawking, but by the time his senses returned, the Eclipse King had long since departed. In his wake was a river of Reavers pouring through where buildings once stood. Civilian bodies – people they knew by name, some even friends – lay trampled beneath the mechanical footwork of the Reavers. Malik placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, a gesture that he hoped would comfort but simultaneously say, Get moving and start forgetting.

There was no battle cry; no mad, onward charge to ruin the metal parasites that would undoubtedly cause havoc to anything and anyone in their path. No, for once in battle Hunter was calm, and he knew he owed it to Malik. Malik who kept him grounded in the face of hysteria. Malik who had always quietly been the stronger of the two. Malik whose presence in his mind he now felt all the more pressing, commanding him to purge his emotions, to focus and to kill. And so when Hunter began his walk toward the iron creatures, wistfully beckoning the aether to heed his command, he was set to do one thing: oblige.

Between a hundred to a hundred fifty yards separated Hunter from the endless parade of Scuttlers that spidered in synchronous motion, one behind the other. Closing the distance, he unleashed his first elemental assault. The ambient humidity solidified into an iceberg – roughly conical in shape, with a diameter no larger than fifteen meters, dropping plumes of mist around its body – above the flow of machines beneath and then plummeted toward them, immediately crushing four and snagging on the legs of at least six more. His fingers danced beside him, orchestrating the magic.

He now had the Reavers’ attention. Sensing the cause of their brethren’s demise, a small tributary diverted from the main stream and scurried toward the twins, with something akin to fury racing in their circuitry.

Scintillating, white-hot traceries leapt around Hunter’s palms, and though they made no exchange through their telepathic bond, Malik knew what to do. A silver orb formed in Hunter’s vision, and as the Magnet spell took shape – tearing Scuttlers, who were all but powerless to resist its pull, from the ground – he smiled. The spell cemented the Reavers’ demise twofold: the first, it concentrated them in a neater, tighter area, making aim that much easier; the second, the potent magnetic field, at least ten thousand times stronger than those of the World, would augment any electric phenomena that occurred within its reach – anyone with a basic understanding in the physical sciences would know that. Hunter flung his arms forward, and electrical fury leapt from his hands. It surged through the air in a brilliant, white arc, and penetrated the cluster of eight or so Reavers, instantly shorting their transistors and capacitors, and fusing their iron hulls.

Hunter turned to face Malik, gave a quick thumbs up, and smiled.

Programmed to remove any obstacle that threatened their path, more and more Reavers veered off course and charged toward the twins, who were, apparently, greater menaces than initially calculated.

Good, Hunter thought. Keep ‘em coming. We’ll at least thin their numbers before they can reach the rest of this World…or the Keybladers.

 

[Professor Ven]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

"I know no tellings, tales, or even "tells" of such Arts, though all I have done before the Long Night descended was Forbidden. Would you be so prideful, to wield your power in such arrogance, so as to bring a civilization mightier than any your master could ever hope to come close in achieving, to destruction? Millions of lives rest atop this mountain I bear, their innocent blood on my hands; would you dare to bear the load, child? There is much you merely refuse to comprehend, boy." the sorrowful sea-grey eyes watched his small foe. Lillith, were you here, or your kin, we could destroy this Eclipse King in mere seconds. Must I pity all now? I serve now as well as I commanded once, now in humility, without the luminous pride I once shone with.

A sweeping of the Keyblade warned of his jump, as Quel'loyen spun in the air, flipping forward, rings of flames appearing around him. As he passed through them, they each broke into two halves, the portions then sent searing towards Abel, eight of the original ten halves descending upon the boy seemingly in the form of fiery phoenixes. A shield of gravity, inverted and twisted, created a dark shield before him - any attacks sent directly at Tal'shendar would be absorbed by the shield, until either the spell itself was ended, enough damage was done to cause it to burst, or the arcane energy taken by the shield was sent back at the offender.

"I live to serve all, unlike you, a slave to your own existence. How long until your own self-proclaimed monarch decides you useless?" The Keyblade burst alight, the red and gold flames casting a glow about his form, as Quel'loyen stalked towards Abel, ageless eyes not furrowed by hatred, nor by anger. A pity I must battle such mindless peoples. This Eclipse King is a man much like any other - prone to failings. "Arkanii tel'dar ser'los!" I guard the Light, always. Quel'loyen Tal'shendar hummed in a deep, perpetuating lull as he strode, flaming Blade of Keys aloft in a parry position, cautious. And yet without mercy do must I perform my duty.

 

[Alaude Drenxta]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Verah had not left his shop entirely unprepared for the circumstances he now faced. Most, if not all, of his custom Reavers were destroyed, used as nothing more than bait and distraction to whittle away at the energies of the mass of fighters that accumulated in the area around the perimeter of the town, a place he once called home. However, he could only assume that the most powerful warriors in the warriors of light's disposal were there, combating the darkness on the front lines. What, then, could they do to someone who could infiltrate their rear? What defenses lay in waiting, while the warriors fought for their lives against the mighty army that bore down on them?

These were Verah's only true concerns, for he had a knack for slipping past battle and into places where he certainly did not belong. For at this very moment he was crossing the threshold of the great castle that loomed over Radiant Garden, a testament to the final bastion of light. Amid the chaos of battle he'd realized while he could be of aid, he was not likely needed, and his skills could be put to much better use than racing about bouncing energy back at their sources. He would become a spear, in place of forever remaining a shield. Taking in the torrid air that surrounded this grandiose place, he felt the true fear that surrounded him. Huddles of civilians accompanied by ragtag groups of keywielders who looked less than sure of themselves and just as thrown into chaos as the people they aimed to protect. He walked among them with a light touch, unseen and unnoticed up to this point.

Retreating across the courtyard into an essentially deserted area away from the throngs of people running in fear, he removed two metal cubes from his cloak pockets, roughly 6 inches across on all sides. Each side was flush, with strange carvings on them that didn't seem to stand out much, with only a single noticeable blemish. Both cubes had a red circle on what was to be the top sides. Placing his finger on these red pads, the cubes suddenly sprang to life. They were Scuttlers, more of Verah's designs. Basic creatures, if one did not consider the strange shape and mechanism that allowed them to super-condense themselves into their cube shape. This was Verah's favorite design, and one he hoped to share with his leaders when the time was right, it could certainly increase mobility for the Reaver waves.

The two creatures shot up along the walls of the castle, hiding in shadows as they crept inside separate windows as if they had minds of their own. They were given specific orders, seek out the keyblade masters and immediately relay their locations back to their master. Even supposing the information were not useful, he would do what he could to aid his own master. Subterfuge and sabotage was to become his specialty, and this was his first real chance to prove his worth in that area. After his minions disappeared, he continued his infiltration, looking to find whatever source of weakness he could locate. His first idea, to find the cornerstone, and begin "Operation Tear The Castle Down".

"I never cared for clever names."

 

[Solar]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

It was to be a beautiful, uneventful day.

In the grand scheme of things, maybe it was. Tales of darkness and light, good & evil, and everything in between occur every couple of ages. It was the natural cycle of life or rather, their universe. Stories are the necessity of existence, lullabies for the universe to sing itself during its endless dreams. One day, after the last story is told, it will sleep. And then, it will wake. But that is a long way off.

The curved and rolling green hills looked wonderful, the open sky magnificent, and the clouds a work of art. The cool summer breeze, a blessing. The sun a friend and eternal foe.
Danyal felt good to get away from everything. Away from the older children, away from the teachers, the practice, the study, the work. It all felt over-bearing, he sometimes felt he was treated like a child (which he failed to acknowledge he was). Hard work made up his life, hard work got him respect, it kept his mind of things, it made him stronger and smarter but still, there was more to life then hard work which he had to admit, once a while.

So he lay among the hills, not too far away from the main hub and town of Radiant Garden. He napped; he read, ate, practiced and enjoyed his solidarity in the nature. But all good things had to end, of course. Such is the perpetual flow of life, transforming from one state to another infinitely. Soon, noises and rumblings of violence interrupted Danyal’s peace and the middle of his imaginary fight. Well, at least now he would hopefully face a true challenge and his stretching wouldn’t go to waste. Leaving the basket in which he brought his food and books, he hastily arranged his garb and ran towards the action.

It was chaos.

His friends, the people he practically grew up with, were in battle. Mechanical creatures attacked left and right, his home away from home getting destroyed. Anger rose up from him, there would be retribution. The sizeable gusts that originated from the once peaceful breeze were on his side. He looked towards the ‘ship’ device, immediately sure of his role to use the wind to take it down and make to prevent as much as damage possible. His eyes noticed Daedalus, a rather mysterious man he had seen here and there but wasn’t acquainted with. Drawing Arcbringer in an instant, he churned up the wind and with a stroke his keyblade came downwards. The winds moved in a wave to keep the robot-like man afloat. He had to grin, the guy seemed sort of crazy but in a good way.

“Alright, hold on for a bumpy ride!”

Twisting his keyblade erratically, the winds moved in a circular boost to push Daedalus higher. For a second he was falling again, but Danyal gripped his keyblade with both hands, feeling the power of a storm gathering within himself. A sizeable, whirling ball of wind formed on the tip of the keyblade which he aimed towards the man’s destined location. The ball shout out like a bullet and the keyblade moved with a coil.

“Aeroagaaaaa!”

Upon hitting Daedalus, it exploded into a whirlwind, setting him off towards the tower with Danyal running behind him.

 

[OmniChaos]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

"Oh yeah?" Abel asked confidently, a sly, yet still childish, look on his face. The look of a child who had just stolen a cookie from a jar and had successfully scapegoated his younger brother to bear the blame. As the flames closed the gap between them, Abel, still unmoving, glanced up at the flames. Finally, after what seemed like a century of waiting, Abel rose his right arm, placing it diagonally across his chest. With a swift movement, Abel jerked his arm back down, still in a diagonal position, and the incoming flames, accompanied now by a soft howl, followed in suit, missing the boy and struck the ground harmlessly. Abel erupted into a childish laughter, clapping his hands joyfully.

"How funny! How funny! You call me a child, yet you cannot comprehend the limits of your own powers!" Abel chuckled gleefully, obviously getting more excited about the situation. "How funny! How funny!" Abel revealed a large, joyful grin. "You're really funny, old man, you know that?"

Abel paused for a moment in order to calm himself down, so that he may explain in full what he meant. "Allow me to explain: You 'gravity shield' cut off all airflow to and from our little battleground here. True, there is still air inside the dome itself, but, without anywhere to go, the air will grow stagnant. On top of that, we require the oxygen in the air to breathe. Since we rob the air of the oxygen and, in turn, spit out carbon dioxide, your little dome will eventually be nothing more than a bubble of carbon dioxide, and we certainly could not survive in that."

"As for your little flish-flash fire," Abel continued, motioning toward the spot where the man's fire spell had been diverted to, "it also requires oxygen in order to burn. In such, your fire spells are notably weaker in areas of low oxygen, such as this. Not only that, but your flish-flash fire spells also eat up a great deal more of our quickly depleting supply of oxygen."

"And finally," Abel continued further, wagging his index finger left to right childishly, "you forged this dome in hope to rob me of my ability to control the wind, in which it did, to an extent. While I cannot control the natural flow of air currents from within here and do not have access to large scales of wind in order to manipulate, any and all of your movements, as well as mine, are more than enough for me to forge together a simple blast of wind. Whenever you jump, swing your keyblade, launch an attack, or whenever you move, you push the air around and, while it is on a much smaller scale, is still, in essence, wind. So, while you may have cut off my access to the natural wind, you have not, and cannot, cut my access to the artificial wind created by you and me."

Abel erupted into a gleeful laughter once again, clapping his hands. "So funny! So funny! So funny!"

---------​

As quickly as he had arrived at the market place, The Eclipse King had departed. He walked through the town, once peaceful and calm, now engulfed in screams of horror and cries of battle, following a source that seemed to pull at the strings of his heart, urging him and guiding him to the destination that he sought. It had taken some time to navigate through the maze of houses, but, finally, the Eclipse King felt the force pull downward on his heart and he knew that he had reached his destination. The force had pulled him to his location, and his location just happened to be at the edge of the keyblade training grounds. Such a perfect opportunity.

"Wielders of keyblade!" the Eclipse King boomed, his powerful voice echoing over the clashing metal and raging magic. "I am the Eclipse King!"

With his presence now known, the Eclipse King held his arm out to his side. In it, his grand blade, the Inselberg, materialized with a brilliant flash, which reflected off of the man's black armor, resulting in the armor sparkling from the light. The tyrant dropped his arm, allowing the blade of the sword to rest lazily against the cold ground of Radiant Garden.

"What a sight," the Eclipse King mocked coldly, looking over the keyblade wielders before him. "This is supposed to be the hope for the rebellion?" The Eclipse King pointed the index finger of his free hand outward, moving it slowly across his range of vision and pointing to each and every keyblade wielder. "You, all of you, you all fall short of the mark to be worthy of wielding a keyblade. You fight for Radiant Garden, yet there is nothing any of you can do in order to protect it, nor is there any reason you should. So go forth! Forget your past! Forget Radiant Garden! You've learned all that you can here! Go onto the worlds and become stronger! Or stay here and die at my sword." The Eclipse King lowered his hand back to his side. "Either way, there is no need for any sort of home for you all. So, allow me to free you of such bothersome and worthless burdens."

The Eclipse King held the Inselberg high over his head, pointing the tip of the sword up toward the sky. The sword glowed with a thick, unnatural black energy. The tyrant spun the sword around and dug the blade into the ground, the energy from the sword sliding down the blade and seeping into the ground. A bright, purple light shone from around the Eclipse King's sword, reaching high into the sky. The ground began to trimmer, resonating from the point of impact and spreading outward to engulf not only the city, but all of Radiant Garden.

"Behold!" The Eclipse King shouted, a dark grin on the man's visible lips. "Every light casts a shadow. Every shadow harbors darkness. Every light creates its darkness and is thus its own worst enemy. No light knows this better than the light of Radiant Garden. Now, witness as, once again, the Capital of Light is swallowed by its own darkness!" The Eclipse King removed the Inselberg from the ground and, once again, lifted it high into the air. The light acted in turn, and the purple light, now growing blacker and thicker, poured out of the crack. "Now, I hereby call forth your shadows, Radiant Garden! Fester! Grow! Seep up from the corners from which you coward and make yourself known! Engulf the light! Swallow it whole! Suffocate it beneath your darkness! I, the Eclipse King, commandeth thee: Come forth, shadows, and eclipse the light!"

The light erupted from the ground, solidifying into a grand beacon of, now, black light, that loomed over the Capital of Light. The Eclipse King took a few steps back, as a grand, black spire ripped out of the ground where the the black beacon shone, throwing rocks and debris onto nearby houses and blocking out the black beacon. The spire grew upward, twisting around itself and taking a form similar to a screw. The spire continued to grow until it stood thirty feet high. However, things did not stop there. Another spire ripped through the ground nearby, then another. The city, no, not just the city, but all of Radiant Garden, was littered with the black spires, each of which began to resonate with a sickly, black energy.

"And now," The Eclipse King said, dropping his arm back down and letting the sword rest against the ground. "Now take your final look at the sun before the shadows swallow it." On cue, the sky was filled with a thick layer of clouds, covering the entirety of Radiant Garden in a dark grey, overcast of clouds. Quickly following the blotting of the sun, a grey haze rose from the ground and filled in the air. Most of the city was still visible from their location, but everything beyond that was engulfed by the haze.

"Now, your Capital of Light is no more, eclipsed by the same darkness it gave off! Welcome back to your hollowed bastion."

 

[HollowHero]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

"My my and this is where I find them."

Mephiles says while staring down at the marketplace. As he turns his attention to the sky above.

"Radiant Garden is gone swallowed by its own darkness. And yet,"

Mephiles turns his attention to Mai and Ryoko.

"They are as carefree as always. Hmm? Oh, it has changed form I almost did not recognize it. I guess that Keyblade wielder was smarter than I gave him credit for. Oh well, no seal shall hold it for long. Now then..."

Mephiles held out his hand in Ryoko and Mai's direction as the katana glowed black for just a second as it quickly faded.

"Let's have some fun of my own."

Mephiles slowly places his hand on the ground as his eyes glow light blue.

"Light, light, light. Geez nothing but hearts filled with light how dull. Hmmm? So this place does have some interesting individuals. However attracting top much attention is not on my to do list. Oh my my I think I found the perfect playmate. Depression with a splash of sorrow and doubt. He is perfect...Ogen."

Mephiles took several steps back as he quickly glances at Mai and Ryoko he cannot help but to smile.

"Everything is moving forward accordingly."

Mephiles goes into a full sprint as he leaps from one rooftop to the next. Suddenly he catches the Eclipse King out of the corner of his eye. He stopped as he resisted the urge to fight knowing it would cause too much attention. However, he decided to have a little fun with him. Mephiles slowly draws his Oblivion Keyblade and throws it in the Eclipse King's direction. Mephiles quickly disappears from sight as he dropped into a dark alleyway.

"I'm coming Ogen. I hope you will be fun."

 

[Eva]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Chaos.

Confusion.

Defeat.

And a remarkable, frightening show of power.

Stay, fight, and die, or flee, run, and live another day. The choice presented by the Eclipse King--who had truly earned the name--was, put simply, not a very hard one. Radiant Garden was hopelessly overrun, people running for their lives, houses torn down and blown away. The King had made his mark, and unfortunately, Radiant Garden was doomed to fall.

Miraculously reaching the castle, the twins came to a halt, each heaving for air as they watched the madness. People were demanding that something be done, but what could they do? The castle was, for the most part, relatively safe; the many civilians had gathered here, the two Keybearers felt semi-hopeless as the sky above them darkened.

"What now?" Aiyana asked as she stared at the sky, an eerie chill going down her spine. "I think we have everyone safe here..."

Leilani beckoned Aiyana closer, and once she was, she told her something in a quiet voice; "Odds are, we're screwed. Did you see what the guy could do? We need to get out of here."

Drawing in a breath, Aiyana crossed her arms, unable to reply. How could they just abandon Radiant Garden so easily? Was there really no other way? Uncrossing her arms, she looked around worriedly. "But..." was the only word she could say in all her confusion. She couldn't understand why this was happening. What would happen to this world? These people? Were they all going to die here and now?

Her sister's thoughts were vaguely similar, though she was more trying to think of their next move. What could they do now?

 

[Ðari]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

This was the terror and pandemonium the marshal had been vying for.

Scoffing. Those twins were the merry-makers of mayhem. Leba but the thorn in their sides, the ascension was already here. As elderly as he was, the phantom of the eclipse army braced, and folded his arms beginning to levitate. Mesmerized and in something of a trance, that carnal hatred being festered with. Thinking of his father as the shimmer of purple and inverted light began to fester and surface unrelenting.

This radiant garden would loose its namesake. As the marshal just floated higher, to mete the altitude of a carrier reaper, boarding its open bay door. Hanging behind the flag ship the eclipse king boarded.

As if on cue, the pandemonium escalated as their tyrant like none other raised his fabled armament. The Phantom had known this for decades, many a world so powerful and bold had met its undoing by this 'unnatural' method of compromise. An array of inversion, sweeping like a broom to a pan, picking of particles and the kneading of umbran shadows cast by luminescence. He tipped his cloak and hood over, as Harken floated beside his shoulder.

"Travesty bestowed upon them, mark this, engrave it. So we can...write tragic stories upon their defiled graves..." the marshal hinted madness of nightmare mode in his tongue.

 

[Orion]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

After all their supposed preparations, Radiant Garden was not ready.

Its people knew The Eclipse King was coming, that with him an impenetrable shadow would sweep over the world without resistance unless they acted. They understood that his victory would plunge everything they had lived for into a darkness just as deep if not wholly more suffocating than that which wreathed Hollow Bastion two decades ago.
But what had truly been done? Over many meetings at all levels of Radiant Garden's community, and the apparent victory over endless deliberations and beauracracy, what now stood as a testament to those small victories? What was in place to slow The Eclipse King, who or what would stand to show that Radiant Garden's defeat would only be accompanied with a tooth-and-nail resistance to The Eclipse King?

Biggest and most obvious was, of course, Daedalus' lightning towers. And what good were they right now? They were virtually useless. No, absolutley useless, so long as he was absent from the system. Radiant Garden lacked the technology and power to support an ever-vigilant artificial intelligence construct to manage the towers, and so the onus of using them fell upon Daedalus in the end.
But why did that, what might very well be their strongest weapon agains The Eclipse King, seem to be the only purpose-built defence against the tyrant? The Keyblade wielders, while competent, could not be counter. They were always ready to act, and Radiant Garden was their stronghold, but still more than just them was needed. Why was it that their defence would fall upon the shoulders of the disorganised and unprepared wielders?

Daedalus couldn't put a single name down, but he knew later on, when Radiant Garden had fallen, all his rage would fall upon a single head. Until then, he had to rely on the spread-wide complete picture of events: An invasion of Radiant Garden was imminent, and anyone with half a brain in regards to interworld affairs knew this. Ansem the Wise, Yen Sid, Merlin, and all the other brains of Radiant Garden knew it well, and they - all being 'pragmatic' - felt the need to establish countermeasures to this eventuality. And where did that idea lead?

Beauracry, deliberation, needless complications to more than a dozen projects that needed to begin straight away. But even among the brightest minds, there was in-fighting - Yen Sid felt the populace should know of the eventuality of an invasion, even if it meant they lived their lives in constant fear until that day finally did occur. Ansem felt it better to keep the spirits of the people up, and to work on projects secretly and out of view to not disrupt the lives of civilians and give away what would happen in future. Merlin abstained from judgement - he felt both perspectives bore their own merit in equal ways. In the end, Ansem's say overrode Yen Sid's, and it was decided things would be done quietly.

Quietly was a funny label, Daedalus thought as his rising arc through the air brought the eight lightning towers soaring above the city into full view. The people of Radiant Garden were told half the story of those, because that in itself didn't harm anything: They would be used to gather the huge amounts of energy discharged as storms passed over the city. And Daedalus' own inception of storms via the towers only helped to reinforce their supposed role: Storms would normally pass through Radiant Garden having left a roof blasted through or a blackened, somewhat-melted crater in the ground. Now, every brilliantly glowing arc went straight for the nearest tower.

But what else was truly there to repel The Eclipse King? The question rang through Daedalus' mind as that very lord's voice rang in his ears, having set foot on Radiant Garden properly. Daedalus could not pivot himself about in the swirling sphere of air he was caught in, but he knew from past encounters that in one hand he would be holding the Inselburg, that great and terrible blade that would issue the first, resounding call of a world's demise.
As Daedalus answered his own question - one he had asked himself many times - with frantic mental haste, he felt his pulse picking up, now with the firm knowledge that The Eclipse King had well and truly arrived. Simultaneously, he felt an anger growing inside him - the lightning towers which he had spent many months working on would never be used to defend the world. They would be toppled in the coming months as darkness took its hold over Radiant Garden. For that reason, Daedalus no longer cared to use them for defence.

If he didn't die, he would be off this world before the day was out. Speaking of day, the purple hue of the sky and the orange horizon were already giving way to encroaching clouds of thick blackness that roiled in and coalesced from seemingly nowhere. Just another step in The Eclipse King's to-do list when it came to claiming a world. Eradicating every little mote of light.
Daedalus ran through everything they had that might slow The Eclipse King down - in Ansem's castle there had been installed many dozens more surveillance cameras, and hidden in the walls at each major intersection of corridors were small turrets. Every other item of defence was of similar type, but of lesser numbers and efficiency the further out from the soaring castle one went.

Absolutely typical, the leader makes sure his ass is the first one to be saved. It didn't matter that there were people flooding into Ansem's castle, that his abode and only his abode was the protected core left little room for misinterpereting Ansem's priorities. He'd be the first to escape.
Daedalus cursed the man as he drew closer to the pinnacle of his castle with agonising slowness, despite the fact that, were they going over the ground with similar pace, they would be making fantastic progress.

Of course he'd be the first to escape. Say what you will about his brilliance and his value, even if he lacked both of those and there was no one to support him, Ansem would still make sure his own ass was the most safe. Daedalus thought as he came within metres of the stone lip of a ten-metre wide pedestal, the base to the core of the lighting tower defence system.

He was the one who told everyone else to keep things on the down-low, don't disrupt or risk scaring the citizens. Daedalus recalled as the air around him fell away and he stepped solidly onto the stone. Yelling thanks over his shoulder to the aeromancer who had helped him ascend here, and saw back down the ground, as spikes of blackness puntured the ground and erupted from buildings.

The wise idiot who believed people's priveliges to a happy but truncated existence was more important than their right to know their fate, and with that knowledge maybe just change it. Daedalus scorned the man others loved as he ran toward a conical spire made of many interlocking mechanisms, three metres wide at the base, ten tall. With knife still in hand, he clawed around the base for a discrete notch and, finding it, rose quickly to the top.

How many lives had Ansem the Wise lost to save his own? How heavily would it weight on his consciousness, how greatly would it influence him to change his ways? Daedalus asked as he thrust the point of his Keyblade - still in its inconspicuous knife form - straight down the very top of the mechanical spire. Hefting himself up, at the same time a series of triangular plates folded out from the spire as their pivots rose up to be flush with the only part of the Keyblade that now showed - the handle.

Light as a feather and not one bit, Daedalus answered the questions respectively as a hum began in his arm, mechanical clicking and whirring beginning. He seemed to stab down slowly with the blade that extended from his augmented limb, until the tip of it met the butt of the handle, and a tiny spark of blue lighting flickered into existence.
Over the course of half a minute, the mechanisms up and down the spire span into life, manipulating matter and energies to draw a storm right to them, and he would unleash it all on The Eclipse King's head.

As the spire revved up to its fullest power, Daedalus darted his head around in anger and despair as he failed to feel the characteristic charge in the air. The sky was now entirely dark, all sunlight blocked out. The air and wind and clouds around them were all strange and foreign and malevolant, and totally incompatible with the lightning towers. They were designed to be put to use at the first sign of The Eclipse King's invasion, but right now was happening at any time other than the very first moments.
The machine was advanced, and no one doubted it, but its command over the weather was artificial, repurposed from its original function. It's ability to wield the elements of the sky was not innate, and Daedalus would need someone with just that power to get the lightning towers working. Running through namesm, faces and the abilities he associated with them, Daedalus found no one he knew who could help him.

Even if he knew who they were, how would he find them? Even if he found them, how would he bring them here fast enough for their presence to achieve anything? Becoming increasingly desperate as sweat beaded his head, neck and torso - adding a chilling edge to a body already feeling the effects of complete darkness at high altitude - he saw out of the corner of his eye the newcomer who had brought him up here, who faced away from him, but his posture as he looked down upon the collapsing Radiant Garden told Daedalus he was doing more than staring down absent-mindedly. With truly nothing to lose, Daedalus called out to him.

"You there, aeromancer! Do your powers extend to storms?"

 

[OmniChaos]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

Ogen awoke with a start. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his right cheek, cooling the skin beneath its trail and giving Ogen a sudden shock. His heart was thumping at a racing speed, sounding like a roll of a timpani in a marching band. His breath quick and sharp, accompanying the the timpani roll with a high-pitched screech from his labored, almost wheezing breath. A drop of sweat fell from the soaked tip of one of his strands of hair and hit his left eye, causing Ogen to respond with a quick jerk of the arm to wipe his eye.

As another bead of sweat rolled down his right cheek, Ogen caught it with his right index finger before it slid off the side of his face. He held his arm out at full length, looking at the bead of sweat on his finger. "A dream," Ogen said, his voice emotionless and monotoned. "It was... only a dream."

Ogen placed his hands onto the hard material of the roof below him and pushed down, lifting his body up into an upward position with an aching groan. As his body reached its vertex, gravity took hold and pulled the body forward, causing Ogen to slump forward limply. Another groan escaped Ogen's lips as he lifted his body back upwards again, his head falling back onto his neck as his torso was once again upright. Ogen let out a yawn, which he elongated and exaggerated as he lifted his arms out, fully extended, and stretched. His arms fell limply to his sides as he finished, smacking his limps slightly after the yawn. That was when he finally realized it.

It was dark, well, cloudy, to be precise, but unusually cloudy. Ogen had seen plenty of storm clouds during his time in Radiant Garden, but these clouds seemed darker, evil even. Storm clouds were always a precursor to the impending storm. So, if Ogen were to assume they acted in the same nature, just what were these malicious clouds a precurse to? Quite frankly, Ogen did not want to find out. However, he had a gut feeling that he was about to and was sure that, whatever it was, he wasn't going to like it one bit.

 

[Eva]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

After a moment of an awkward, strained silence, Aiyana finally gave a small, reluctant nod. As much as she hated to admit it, Leilani was right; they needed to get out of here. Radiant Garden was doomed, and there was nothing they could do about it. Still, she couldn't just up and leave, and Leilani sensed that feeling when she tugged at her sister's arm.

"What is it?" Leilani asked curiously, peering at Aiyana.

"...I'm not going until I'm sure every single civilian is here, in the castle." Aiyana announced, her face in a determined, childish pout.

The girl was insane; how in the world would they be able to get back out there? Surely things were getting worse by the minute, and there was little to no doubt that the King was advancing to this very castle. With a small, slightly annoyed sigh, Leilani turned away from her sister, crossing her arms across her chest as she thought about it. How could she refuse the request? She could always just knock her out and drag her along...but then she'd never hear the end of it, would she?

Immediately regretting the decision that she made in her head, Leilani swung herbody around, facing Aiyana with a scornful, weary look. "...I'll give you ten minutes." She muttered, her gaze immediately dropping to the ground. "I'll stay here, just in case something happens, alright?"

With a small, delighted squeal, Aiyana nodded and ran off immediately. Leilani watched her, deeply regretting it. I should've just knocked her out...

_____

"Hello?! Is anyone out here?!" Aiyana called as she weaved between the streets, searching her hardest. She had the fortune of not finding anyone yet, or perhaps it was the other way around. Nonetheless, her ten minutes were almost up, and she absolutely needed to make sure no one was left behind. If she had to flee, she'd do so with no regret.

Stopping before a low-roofed house, Aiyana bent her knees and kicked off the ground, jumping and grabbing the ledge. Pulling herself up with ease, Aiyana walked the roof before reaching the edge, and saw one higher up. Taking a few steps back, she ran off and leapt, actually making it onto the roof. To her surprise, she found someone on top. The shock of actually meeting someone made her forget her footing; she stepped back, and her foot slipped. With a small yelp, she grabbed onto the ledge with one hand, dangling for a second as she caught her breath.

Ohh, thank goodness for reflexes... Aiyana sighed, swinging her other hand onto the ledge and pulling herself up. After dusting herself off, she looked at the boy properly, and recognized him. "...Ogen? What're you doing here?" She asked, very confused. "I thought you went with the others..." Her voice trailed off a bit, though she hesitated. Just what was he doing here? Shaking her head, she wandered over to him, taking his hand and pulling it, as if to drag him along with her. "Come on, we need to go, we can't save Radiant Garden...The Eclipse King is just too strong." She told him as she pulled.

 

[Ordeith]

Re: Kingdom Hearts Eclipse

With cool efficiency, Animus ushered civilians through the chaos, creating a current of human bodies that flowed in the direction of the castle. There, Gummi Ships could be commandeered for the purpose of evacuation. From his position atop the battlements, the telltale black spires were clearly visible; they jutted high above the town's humble skyline.

Already, the die is cast. His Majesty's methods are a tad careless--but they're certainly effective. The spires' dark energy saturated the air, causing the darkness in his heart to surge up in slight defiance. Animus saw it in through the faint tint of his glasses, mentally noting the change. Control must always be maintained...

He kept such thoughts in the back of his mind as he made himself accessible to every part of the castle, assigning a Keybearer to each current of civilians. When able to, the assassin lead a stray recruit on a detour into the maze of hallways--from which they never returned. Above all, he kept himself in a constant state of motion, thereby keeping the evacuation in a constant state of motion. Animus's long coat swished about dramatically as he wove around the castle's sharp turns, calling out orders that sliced through the confusion. Overall, he cut a very striking figure. While he certainly wished the civilians well, it was of greater importance for his role to be maintained.

As he made his way along the castle's outer balconies, the sight of two figures on a rooftop drew his eye. His assassin's instinct whispered of Keyblades ripe for the picking--and surely enough, he was able to identify both of them as apprentices he'd seen before. Animus wove an Aero spell about himself, and as he drew closer, realized that one of the pair was Ogen. Ah, poor lad. I'd imagine he came here for a moment's peace. He stepped nimbly onto the edge of the rooftop. It's a shame that the boy couldn't die that way.

"What ho, Ogen?" he called out in greetings. "I'm sure that some folk find roof shingles to be excellent pillows--but Miss Aiyana is right; our top priority is to evacuate the city." Animus crossed in front of Ogen to stand beside the young woman tugging at his arm. "If the situation at the castle is...relatively under control, then we should try to stave these drones off for as long as possible. I've given most of the others instructions to do the same.

"Besides," he added with a joking smile, "there's more chocolate in store, if you lend a hand." Just as before, Animus could sense something throbbing just beneath the surface of Ogen's heart. All the more reason that the lad outlasts all of this. At the very least, it saves me from bringing his spirits even farther down.