Old Soldiers Don't Die, They Just Fade Away (Open)

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It had been a long and brutal winter. Djoser had been everywhere and back, but now he had finally reached his destination. The old sage was not sure if his wrong turns and opps were accidental or him lying to himself. Ostia was never that far a destination, but yet he wondered all the way down to Nabata and then back to Bern. From Bern he went to Ilia and from Ilia he attempted to go to Etrulia, but they turned him around at the gate. Arrogant youngins. If Djoser was thirty years younger he would have frozen them all to death, but he was not 30 years younger. He was seventy years old and he was feeling his body giving out. Now with only one place left to go, the old sage was going home. He was going back to the place he was born, to see the homeland that was no more.

When Djoser was first told that Ostia was whipped from the map he did not believe it. The closer he got to it the more real the story seemed to be. In desperation to stay ignorant, he got lost. However the truth remained in the back of his head the entire time. The reason he did not want to go to Ostia was not because it use to be his home. Now there was another reason. He did not want to go to Ostia because of a nagging feeling that its fate was his fault. He was the Wizard of Blizzard, The White Sage, a hero to the people of Ostia. Yet he abandoned them and fled to the mountains to live out his old age. He abandoned his country, he abandoned his family, he even abandoned his honor.

"What have they done to you", spoke Djoser as he fell to his knees and stared out at the reached pit that was Ostia. Tears began to flow from his old eyes as he looked at rubble that once was buildings. He could hear the screams and feel the breaking of the bones. Each cinder that left its mark on the broken halls called out to him. They asked him why? Why was he not here? Why did he not stay and defend his home? Why did he abandon them? Why did he turn his back on them?

"I am sorry", spoke Djoser as snot began to run from his nose. "I am sorry", he shouted as he held the black earth in his hands. "I AM SORRY I ABANDONED YOU! I AM SORRY I FAILED YOU! I AM SORRY THAT I LEFT YOU!" The old man cried alone left with nothing but blacken sand.

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As Djoser sat in the dirt waddling in his own guilt the beast of Ostia began to stir. There was no way they did not hear the old man's wailing. There was no way they did not sense his guilt. Djoser was in the heart of monster territory and he was creaming as if he was in a open field. It was not long before the sound of shambling started to fill the broken streets. Walking corpses from yards around came shuffling Djoser's way. They came in response to the sound, but to Djoser they came in response to his guilt. They were all the people Djoser failed to protect. They were all the people Djoser had let down. They were all the people who believed in the Wizard, but never saw his breath. They were here to put Djoser on ice. They were heart to end his lonely winter.

"I am sorry", spoke Djoser as he rose from the ground. The first walking corpse shambled up to him. Once it was in striking range it lunged forward ready to feast upon the old man's flesh. "Forgive me", spoke Djoser as he manifested a beam of holy light in front of his face and blew the skull clean off the first undead's shoulders. "I am sorry I failed you", spoke Djoser as a serious expression covered the old man's face. "I may not be able to save you, but I sure as #@$$ can avenge you!"

As the old man cursed the entire horde began to charge forward, but the old Wizard was ready for it. For a brief moment his mind flashed back to his days as a soldier of Bern. He had tripped and fallen into a pit leading into a bandits din. He was surrounded as he was now and as now the horde of raging idiots charged toward him.

"Chill out", shouted Djoser as he called forth the power of ice! The Wizard manifested several spikes of ice and stabbed them into the ground. Like the bandits in the cave the undead foolishly charged straight into them. There own momentum drove them into the pit of there bodies as the old man created a step of ice. With a running jump, Djoser hopped off the step and then onto a nearby crumbled wall. With all the strength of his arms the old man pulled himself up escaping the clutches of the undead horde below.

"Oh my hip", groaned Djoser as he took a moment for himself on top of the broken wall. The horde of undead moaned bellow as Djoser pulled himself back to his feet. There was a lot of undead gathering just below him, and from what he could see atop the broken wall that there were more to come. He promised that he would avenge the people of this city, but not in a soldier fighting against the prophet, but as a warrior fighting to take back there home. Djoser knew he could not do it. He knew he would not be able to take back this city alone and rid Lycia of monsters, but he was going to take out as many of them as possible before he left this earth. This would be his atonement for abandoning them.

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From the top of the wall Djoser began to call upon the forces of his faith. The old man truly believed in retribution and the magic took its strength from that. Calling upon the greater forces of magic Djoser created a ball of brilliant light. With a few choice words the light ball broke apart and split into separate bolts of light. Each bolt was assigned a target and pierced though the skulls of the undead. In mass Djoser had taken out about twenty of them, but twenty more had quickly come to fill the gaps and pile around the wall attempting to get to the aged sage.

"Man they give me the chills", spoke Djoser as he looked in despair. It was almost as if he was not fighting back. "Well at least they can't", spoke Djoser, but he was interrupted by a thumping sound on the wall. Two of the undead had jumped up onto the wall. Immediately Djoser realized that they were a much greater threat the the shambles on the ground. Their skin was a different color of rot. A guaranteed sign of bad luck. The old sage immediately switched to his ice tome, but the moment he put his hand on the book the two of them were already upon him.

As Djoser called upon the ice spirits the beast swung its mighty claw and slammed into the ice forming in front of the sage. With the force of a battering ram it shattered the ice and found a nice spot inside Djoser's chest armor. The ice had slowed the beast arm down enough to keep its claws from piercing, but it was still enough force to send the old man flying backward. "My back", shouted Djoser as he hit the the top of the broken wall. Djoser's old reflexes kicked in and caused the sage to tighten his grip on his book while he flew. Still with the tome in his right hand Djoser was armed. However the devils duo was not going to give the old man any rest.

As Djoser hit the ground the second undead leaped into the air prepared to slam its sharpen claws into Djoser's skull. The old man however was not ready to give up just yet. As the beast came down Djoser grabbed a loss brick with his left hand and tossed it into the beast eye. The force of the brick was strong enough to knock the beast off course for a moment. Instead of finding Djoser's smushy old skull the beast claws found itself burred into the wall. Taking full advantage Djoser raised up his book and shot a beam of light straight int othe beast skull. However it was far stronger than the mundanes below. Such a attack was child's play for it. However Djoser was already a step ahead. As the monster screamed in agony as the light washed over it Djoser kicked its back leg and caused it to fall over the top of the wall and join its cousins on the bottom.

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Angered by its double's trouncing the second undead rushed the old man. It screamed and wailed at the top of it's lungs as it charged forward toward Djoser. "Oh Chill out", spoke the old man as he pulled himself off the ground. Calling upon the spirits Djoser drew water from the atmosphere. However he did not solidify it till he could see the red in beast eyes. Then suddenly and without one of his witty and really useless spell words he brought the ice spikes into reality. The beast had unknowingly impaled itself on three separate spikes. One for the people of Lycia, another for the souls of Ostia, and the last one, just for pissing Djoser off. With a twist of his hand Djoser pulled the final ice spike out the beast head and redirected it toward the other one on the ground. Unable to escape the horde of its own kind the beast was like a fish in a barrel. The ice spice pierced its head and put a end to it with little effort from Djoser. "Looks like your a chip off the old block me boy."

Smug and happy with himself Djoser prepared to once again attempt to dwindle the numbers of the undead below, but suddenly the wall began to shake. "What the", spoke Djoser as the wall began to push in the opposite direction of the horde. Their combined force was finally stronger than the damage molder keeping the all together. With a great uniform push the undead pushed over the wall sending the old man flying over into the roof of a house. "By the ice maidens", he shouted as he fell back first into the aged roof. With great pain and much complaining Djower broke through the weakly held roof and crashed into the building.

"Oh my back", spoke Djoser as he found himself lying on the ground. The crash had knocked something out of place. Looking around Djoser noticed that there were no undead around him. It was actually quite surprising. He was sure that he would be devoured the moment he fell to the ground. It seemed however that fate had intervened. As the wall fell the horde of undead had rushed over, but the rubble blocked the entrance to the home he was in and the undead were to stupid to realize what had happen. Djoser knew it would not last long though. You can only hide from the darkness for so long. Eventually it would find you and take you away.

"Need to get moving", spoke Djoser as he attempted to shuffle toward the back door. However the krink in his back would not allow it. The old man let out a slight whimper of pain, but that was enough to let the horde outside know he was on the inside. Soon he heard a clanking and banging of undead on the outer wall. It seemed that Djoser was about to meet his fate. "No, no, no, no", spoke Djoser as he looked around. There must be some way to escape. Some way to get out of this trap. Suddenly Djsoer's eyes caught the view of a metal door on the ground. "I should have guessed my salvation would come in the form of a cooler", spoke Djoser as he shuffled to the door. Pulling up the hatch, Djoser was meet with a ladder heading down into the earth below him. Without a moments hesitation Djoser took the shaft, but his haste would cost him. As the old man climbed down he slipped and fell to the bottom. Breaking his fall was some old wooden boxes and a single bottle of wine.

"Me back", shouted Djoser expecting pain. Instead he got the opposite. The Goddess of random numbers was looking out for him today. Whatever he knocked out of place his fall put it back.

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As Djoser stared into the darkness he heard a crashing form above. It seemed the stupid brutes had broken into the house. Hopefully they did not know how to use ladders. Djsoer could kill them all as they fell down one by one. However the old man's wish was never granted. As the walls of the building were broken into the whole structure collapsed. The shock of wood and stone hitting the ground sent a miniature pressure wave through out the basement and as a result the ground cracked open. "By the frosty breath of...", shouted Djoser as the ground under his feet collapsed. "I would rather die by frostbite", shouted Djsoer as the ground gave way into a chasm under the city. The old man hit the ground and blacked out.

"Oh where am I", spoke Djoser as he came to. It was so dark that he could not see the front of his nose. Pain rolled over the old man's entire body as he began to reach into his pockets. Feeling the front cover of the books Djoser found his tome of light. Calling upon his faith in whatever would power the book Djoser summoned up a ball of light to illuminate his situation. His body was covered in brushes and scratches and there was a giant chunk of rot sticking into his old light weight breastplate. There was no reason to even carry the thing around any more. The old sage unbuckled his old faithful armor and allowed it to take its rightful resting place on the ground.

Now shirtless, hungry, and buried underneath the earth Djoser walked into the darkness. A pillar of brilliant light illuminated his way as he drew upon the power of his magic. soon the narrow cavern was starting to smell. "Who tossed rotten eggs down here", spoke Djoser as he turned the final corner. As he moved into a opening Djoser's eyes were meet with his worst enemy, lava. Below him boiling earth and fire exploded from below. At first Djoser thought he was cut off from the water spirits, but to his surprise there were plenty of them in the air and in the stone around him. It was clear to him now, that there must have been some kind of lake nearby, but aat the moment he could are less. Djsoer needed to find the way out of this place. He needed to get back to the surface. sure he had just fled the enemy, but he was still dedicated to fighting off these monsters in his homeland.

As Djoser walked around the pit of boiling hot death he heard a growling sound in the distance. Suddenly and with very little warning demon dogs began to pour into the cavern from another passage. It seemed that Djoser had figured out how he was going to get back to the surface, but he seemed to have more pressing matters. The first two beast rushed him, while the other two simply stopped. It was almost as if they were studying what Djoser could do. Calling upon the power of water Djoser drew liquid from the moisture from the wall.

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Djoser could feel it. The bitter taste of the air and the aching in his bones. This would be his last fight. This would be his last battle. As the feral dogs rush toward the old man Djoser finished his spell. He could feel more and more water being pulled from the walls as he cast. Their was only one explanation for why this was happening. Rather than shoot his bolt of ice magic toward the charging beast Djoser fired it toward the wall that gave him the most water. The spike sailed through the air and slammed into the stone. Suddenly the walls in the cavern began to crack and liquid began to pour into the room. The dogs had latched onto the old man's flesh with there jaws, but their feast was premature. With one last crack a portion of the all erupted into a torrent of water. Djoser's last attack had pierced the underground lake and sent the liquid rushing into the room.

"What killed the dinosaurs", spoke Djoser as the water rushed over him ripping the beast from his limbs. "THE ICE AGE!!!!!!" Shouted the old man as he pulled upon the last of his magical power. Immediately the water surrounding him began to freeze and spread out. The old soldier froze himself and the foolish mutts near him in a gigantic cone of ice. It was the old sages last and most noble of act. He could finally go to the after life and tell his old war buddies how he slew many of the monsters that had taken over their home town. Djoser's final moments were as he thought they were, Frozen in time.

[Thread End]
[Djoser frozen solid] Stay cool my friends, stay cool