Madness of The Moment

[The Madness]

Ostia, her hills of gold
In dark and mournful times 
Does now a hopeless horror hold

When from her sacred veil did spring
With darkness and death, a monstrous thing
Her name Madness, the servant

Her wrath boomed across the land
And none who dared and fought could stand
Against the iron tyrant’s hand

A fortress grand, a walled domain
Such mighty works born of her reign
Built by slaves, their hearts in chains

But seasons change...
But tyrants never die.
Gather heroes, storm the gates, the servant awaits...
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She enjoyed border patrols. While this land had been destroyed and ravaged, it was still beautiful in it's own way. The sky might have been darkened with an eternal, almost depressing smog, and the land might never fully bloom again, yet life was reborn beneath the blood fed sand. Human blood had fed the plants, causing them to slowly regrow. The grass was thin and yellow, but it was still better than nothing. Trees were small and they were screaming in eternal pain on the inside, but it was better than nothing. The humans were gone. That was better than anything, and now there only stood her and her troops, the undead wretches that served her and her alone.

Yet, Ostia, as the humans called, was not enough. Soon, she'd have to go beyond the mountainous border regions and penetrate deeper into the human held lands. Lycia was an obstacle for her king. Humanity was an obstacle for her king, too. So, she would remove all obstacles for HIM and him alone. She loved him more than anything. And she did everything she could for that love. Emotions weren't her strong suit. Insanity and love never went to dinner together, nor did any other emotion. A foolish prince, the class clown. Such ideas fitted madness as an ideal well.

Too bad she was none of those. Her feet trampled against the ground as she went across the mountainous border. No humans. Maybe her actions had scared the majority away. Some had still tried to live near the borders to their old homes, but they soon saw the error in their ways. Madness came and took them all, and insanity chewed upon their souls day and night as they worked to built her king's castle from the ground up.

Delicious.

[Aeos]

Ostia.

After being away from Elibe for several months the wandering Dragon had returned to the continent. He arrived into Badon weeks ago and decided to make the familiar walk through Lycia, cross the outskirts of Osita, and make his way into Nabata. He was a bit of a different man now then when he left. His time on the island climbing mountains, living in the forest, traversing vast territories, and the subsequent months at sea had changed him. His body was stronger than it was before. His muscles had toned up a bit to the point where it was a bit difficult to move around in his own tunic. He was not to herculean proportions like the gods in fables, but he was built enough so that he drained less power off of his stone when moving heavier things. He also appeared strong to outsiders which was a boon for work. His current pants and dusty colored tunic now felt and looked considerably tighter on him then usual. His reflexes were a bit sharper too.

Mentally, the young dragon had gained confidence in himself. His partial shifting had improved. He could fully shift his hands and feet for quick climbing and jumping. He slowly learned to control more of his base instincts. His shifted self no longer felt like a mental tug of war for control over his actions. His body would just move instead of thinking or arguing about moving. The relationship between control and power wasn't perfect, and it probably never will be fully perfected. But, overall as a whole things were getting better.

The wandering Dragon pulled up his hood and took a look at the bleak expanse that was Osita. This territory that lay in the gap between mountains had not changed. The air was still tainted with the scent of death. Even as time ticked on this place would forever be tainted with the scent of corruption. It was a stark contrast to the lush island of Vinland, where the air felt charged, and so full of life. He shook his head and kept moving.

[The Madness]

The balance of power and control was so fascinating. She had both. She had such power, destructive forces and fel lines that could destroy any human sorcerer who was brave enough to try and brave the secrets of her insides, and she had the control. The control of Seelenschmaus. The control of her legions, the control of all that were beneath her and her king. The other knights could never fully appreciate the whims of being able to control those below you. Especially that fool, the one who consumes, the one who but hunts the land for battle and combat. He was a special fool, a fool not deserving of the title knight. Yet, the king kept him around. How he saw anything in the buffoon was a mystery, but she would not question his superior intellect.

Maybe it was his raw strength. His raw determination to brutality, to anger, to hate! That must be it. It made sense. The perfect warrior wasn't honorable or celebrated. The perfect warrior was brutal, a killing machine bound by nothing more than an undying loyalty to the one thing stronger than the warrior. And that was what the buffoon was, in the end. She was saddened to know that he was stronger than she could ever be, even if her full power awakened and even if her king was to give her even more power as a reward for such love and loyalty. She clutched her fist against her chest for a moment. She didn't need to breathe, like those humans. But, she still released something akin to a sigh from her deepest reaches. Mayhaps she was getting too flustered with him. She should focus on other things. Her patrol was almost over... She should be turning back towards the castle once more.

But... She sensed something pulsating. Like a heart. How tempting. Perhaps she could exercise off her little annoying buzzing with this. With Seelenschmaus in hand the insane one set down the cliffside, towards the beating heart she could sense. Like a heart... But not so. A rock. A stone. A...

Soul.

[Aeos]

The wanderer pressed forward deeper into the territory but still hugging the land closest towards the mountains. But something else had stopped him. He felt something. Something disturbing. He wasn’t quite sure what exactly it was but he knew it was something unpleasant. A stray breeze blew through ashen area kicking up all manner of dust and dirt. Then he felt a chill. A chill that seemed to start up from the tips of his pointy ears and made it’s way down his spine.

The dragon tapped into the power of his stone so his senses became sharper. But yet he still couldn’t place what it was that was giving him such a bad vibe. He turned around to see behind him but could see nothing. His nose twitched slightly and he continued to move. Unknowingly he drew more power from his stone until the back of his neck and outer rim of his ears had taken a bit more of a scaly appearance. He rubbed his forehead and could feel the little bumps or nubs of elevated skin where his tiny dragon horns would be. Why?

Then he smelled it on the wind. The faint but unmistakable odor of death. The living dead. Mixed with metal and something else he couldn’t quite place. A monster? Ah.. makes sense.. this is Ostia. The more he smelled it the further he could feel himself changing until he was fully half shifted. But to an outsider looking directly at him they wouldn’t notice anything truly wrong with Aeos, his cloak hid most of the draconic half shifted features. He shuffled around in a bit the sudden appearance of scales on his skin agitated his clothes. But, he had to keep looking around to find the source of the smell.

[The Madness]

"Come, come." Her words rung trough the minds of her people, and her champions answered. Five fine warriors, clad in reforged steel and wielding weapons ranging from swords to mauls soon caught up with her as they went down the mountainside. Thank King she had arranged continuous camps around the mountainside. Her people kept watch and contacted her the moment they saw anything out of the ordinary. But now, she didn't see anything. They did not see anything either... She sensed it. Such a lust for this object. It was beating harder and harder, like a heart that was about to burst from all the pressure that it was facing. Shh, shh, dear heart, stay still for a second. Mother was going to come and save you.

Eventually, she found what was causing this beating of the heart. Down below, maybe ten meters, there was a man. Or a woman, either or, she could not care at all. Let it be a dragon for all she scared, for the one thing she wanted was the beating heart. The stone that whispered such sweet things into the air, the thing that had raised her interest. She slowly held her spear, ready to jump down and impale the newcomer before he/she could even notice the Madness.

But what if the heart fell down and cracked? It's lifeblood would seep away, leaving her without a prize. The Madness hesitated, staring down in deep thought. How could she go on about this without problems.

[Aeos]

He smelled the air some more and could feel eyes staring at him. He sensed it from above, the thing that was giving him chills. A figure in black armor looming above him in the cliffside. Red eyes. Black armor. And It had a small horde of undead at it’s side. The dragons green eyes widened as he realized what creature it was. It was that creature. THAT monster from Sacae. That horrible black knight that plagued his memory and showed him true fear. A creature that was death incarnate. He jumped back to give him some distance between him, the mountain, and the black armored thing up there.

”Demon!” He shouted in his native tongue. He felt his hands or claws curl into fists. He steadied himself. This was not the time to quiver in fear. His life and soul were in danger. He did not know what sort of new power the demon had. But he could see that it involved the undead.

Aeos knew he could at least fight off the undead that were summoned. The thing in black armor possibly. At the very least he could shake it off, transform, and fly away. He continued to look at them, judging them. Five. Undead monsters armed with various weapons. His scales would protect him somewhat from their weapons but he still needed to take great care not to be overrun. He knew not to make the first move. Let the enemy come to you. Use their movements against them. Look for any weaknesses.. such as a limp.. His mind recited the words of a stranger on the beach. He calmed himself and prepared for the fight ahead.

[The Madness]

It spoke. The ugly thing that held the beating heart spoke... Such tongue. She was not too sure on what it said, but it was a simple word, that she could cipher easily. Perhaps a simple curse, or a battle cry. Or a word of mercy, of fear. Hopefully the latter, that would be such a delicious thing. But in the end what mattered was that the one holding the stone would soon be dead at her feet, risen to serve her. And the beating heart, the soul would be hers to examine more closely. What was it? How did it whisper such sweet things into her ear? Was she going mad, or was the stone alive?

Oh well. She'd find out soon. "Kill it. But keep the body in good enough condition for it to be raised... Perhaps it'll be of use. And if even one of you harms the beating heart it holds, you will face an eternal torment." Her words were simple and efficient in rallying her mindless slaves to work. They quickly hopped down and began to slide down the cliffside, towards the man or woman. They'd be a fine distraction of nothing else. As they slid down some lunged towards it, weapons ready and a loud, guttural like growl echoing from their dead and rotting throats.

Meanwhile, she tightened her grip on the Seelenschmaus, feeling it's fel energies ripple. Let it come, Seelenschmaus hungers. She took a few steps back from her position before then running right back to the edge, leaping down. She spun her spear around for a moment before pointing the tip of the spear towards the opponent. She gathered all of her energy as she prepared for the impact, ready to release it all in one strike. She hoped this'd be quick. If not... Well. She'd slam to the ground with great force.

[SMITE X2 ACTIVATED]

[Aeos]

The undead monsters made their way down the cliffside. The first to greet him was a half fleshed undead creature with a steel plate over its chest. It held a rusty old sword in its hand and attempted to take a swing at the half shifted Dragon. Another semi armored living corpse was trying to circle around behind him. However, the Dragon knew what to do. He took a step back and let the monster with the sword swing forwards. The Dragon Man grabbed its arm and drew it forward, disarmed it quite literally with a firm elbow bash. He caught from the corner of his eye the sight of the black armored creature jumping off the cliffside with its spear pointed downwards.

Quickly, Aeos jammed his knee into its pelvis so it would buckle over. Grabbed it's chest and heaved the body upwards so that it would absorb a portion of the blow from the Armored Creature of Death. Aeos braced himself for impact. There was a loud bang or crash as the Thing inevitably hit the makeshift shield.

The force of the blow was enough to knock the half shifted Dragon a few feet. He crashed into the zombie trying to sneak up behind him prior. Both rolled over the ground into a dusty heap. Thankfully, the zombie body he used against the Black Knighted thing.absorbed most of the spear’s impact. But there was a god awful ringing in his ears that deafened him momentarily. His vision was hazy. And he could taste blood coming down his lip.Come on get up! The part of him in his stone screamed at him mentally. The undead body underneath him wriggled in an attempt to throw Aeos off. A blow that hard would be enough to knock out any human. But Aeos wasn't human, he was reeled but still mostly conscious. The blow knocked his hood off of his head. And left him feeling sore. He slowly pulled himself up off the zombie body. He was on all fours when another undead creature tried to shove him off.

But the dragon's grip on his perceived humanity had faded. He started to change. And the zombie that tried to jab him, if he still had any semblance of a mind, soon regretted it. As now the man before him was no longer a man, but a creature of myth and legend. And was soon crushed between the massive weight of the dragon's body.

[The Madness]

A regrettable loss, in the end. Madness watched as she slammed down against her own soldier, Seelenschmaus tearing trough the scrappy armor like it was molten butter, and as if her weapon was a hot knife. Beautiful in the end, but the wrong target had been killed. As the two landed she calmly ripped her spear out of the corpse's body. Maybe she could fix it in time, if she could handle the human quickly. She turned her head towards the human, cocking her head to the side soon enough. Hm. So, it had survived the fall... But, with luck her man could handle the beast easily before it got up. But...

Maybe taking down a dragon won't be as easy as taking down a beast would be. She has to reassess the situation now that all the cards are on the table. The dragon was big. It was also stronger than her men. She could possibly beat it if she took her time and did hit and run tactics and just avoided direct hits from the dragon. Her three remaining men concentrated around her as she considered. The beast would attack soon, for it had lost it's last shreds of intelligence when it became a dragon... The noble things could not be bend to her will. Sad. Oh well. She'd still be taking the delicious soul.

The beast would lose itself as long as it had a playtoy. So, she lazily swung her hand and sent two of her men towards the drake. Their orders were simple and clean; keep it busy while she and the one remaining soldier, armed with a spear, went and searched for high ground to prepare at.

[Aeos]

Ooc- Aeos is about a 7-8 on the Dragon scale chart. I think roughly 18 or 20m?

Aeos hesitated for a second at the sudden rush of power through his body. It was in this form that he and his own fractured spirit of his stone were one. Whole. Complete. This form of himself was his true self. A creature of legend that the world had claimed to be long dead. The sandy-golden hued Dragon eyed it's quarry. Dragon fought the red eyed creature in Black Armor once before and he shifted into this form out of fear. He used this form to escape that encounter, but this time he would use this form to fight.

His mind at the moment was clear. His daily spiritual training and meditation had prepared him for this moment. And while it did not prevent the process of madness by power it did delay it. The massive four limbed creature stood there just staring out at its opponents, waiting for them to move. And finally two of them did. The foolish corpses charged forward at Aeos massive draconian self.

Aeos got on his fours and swung his tail forward and curled it. A defensive stance most lizards took. And while this dragon’s tail’s wasn't covered in barbs or spikes like some of the other more combat oriented dragons, a smack from it still hurt. It would feel something like being hit with a heavy club the size of a tree. He kept his large wings pressed close to his body. Tucked in for protection.

The two shambling corpses that approached him tried to split off in opposite directions. But the Dragon knew his distances, he knew his size, flicked his tail forward so it hit one zombie. The corpse went flying due to the force of the impact. In such a manner similar to how one flicks an ant off their arm, using their thumb and middle finger. He pushed himself forward lowered his head and rammed into the other living corpse. Crushing this one as well.

He turned his head over towards the corpse in black armor. It had made its way or was making its way out towards the cliff. The Dragon focused power into his mouth and prepared to fire a blast at the creature. He had one shot at this and needed to make it count. It was only a matter of time before he slipped back into his human form exhausted or lose the temporary grip on sanity he had.

[The Madness]

The two connections snapped like a finger in her mind. Her hand had been cut down, each finger cut down... And now there was only one left on her hand. But she could heal it easily. She could summon her whole damn army if she needed to, and that whole army could slay the beast and tenderize it down to the ground, to let the damaged soil soak in it's blood, and to get fed so that new nature could grow over this destroyed land. But, that'd be waste. Tens of her fingers would be cut off if she did something so foolish. Instead, she could just grow a whole new hand and swing with TWO arms. That seemed to be the smart thing.

She moves her shadowy left hand over to the remaining corpse's shoulder, her red eyes glowing brightly. A nethery liquid begins to shoot out from her hand, dripping into the body, trough it's mouth and eyes, as if it was being overtaken from the inside by the liquid.

"Assuming... Direct control."

The body spasmed in place for a moment, twitching and growling and snapping it's rotten jaws together so hard it was a wonder the rotten lower jaw didn't burst from the force. It hunched over and then stood tall, stretching it's hands and legs for a moment.

"Well. I say, chap."

It had to be him, of course. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but just nudged her head towards the drake. "Well, bollocks. Sure, I'll help with that all you want." Quickly the two turned to face the dragon, which was just about to launch a blast of fire. They both quickly dashed to the side. Both of their movements were well coordinated, it was as if they weren't different beings, but one that was controlling two arms... And each arm was deadly armed. Whichever way the beast would fire, it could possibly not harm them both. And if it tried to attack? Well. The victim would maybe get hit, but the other would strike while it's attention was elsewhere. They were one, after all.

[Aeos]

The concentrated blast of wind magic felt hot in his mouth. The creature in black armor did something to the other risen corpse. Aeos wasn’t sure what exactly it was but whatever it was the thing looked like it was in pain. It shuddered for a moment then started to move in unison with the armored creature. The dragon noticed them moving in opposite directions. This left him with the option to only hit one creature at a time. His eyes glanced around between the two of them and decided that he would blast the Black Armored Demon holding the spear.

He waited just a bit more and then fired. The green ball of concentrated wind magic was shot out of his mouth. Wind wasn’t as dramatic as thunder or fire but the blast did pack a punch. The blast would feel like something searing hot and the blades of air would shred any flesh that were still on the bones. He aimed for the place where the creature was moving towards, hopefully he’d hit it and send it back a few paces. He did not want to get hit with that spear.

This left him exposed to the other one. He did not know what powers the other corpse had, but he knew that up until a moment ago it was weaker. It’s body was the same as it was before the Black Armored Demon cast it’s spell. Regardless of what the other body did, the dragon did have an escape plan.

[The Madness]

The blast aimed to where she was going was to be of expected, honestly. A moving target should not be shot based on where it was, but on where it was going. The dragon was a smart being, after all, they had ruled this land before the humans came and took it. The dragons were noble beings in that respect. What use did a dragon have for building grandiose palaces or to cut down forests just for selfish needs? Nothing. But, they were still in the path of her king. And they could not be turned to see the errors of their ways. A sad thing, the dragons deserved this world more than the humans did.

The searing blades of wind struck her quickly. She felt them going trough the flesh remaining on the corpse that she had taken ages ago. She quickly slammed Seelenschmaus down onto the ground to create a small nethery barrier. But, the damage had been done by the time she managed to protect herself. Most of the flesh on her left leg was gone, bone and marrow showing. She'd have to stitch that back together... But, at the very least nothing important like the bone itself had been destroyed. Skin was replaceable trough taking skins from others, or trough forging armor right into the bone. She couldn't feel pain from it anyways. But if she was to lose the bone itself, there was no real way to reforge it but trough replacing it with her own materia... And that could feel pain.

Meanwhile, the other corpse was reaching the side. It didn't wield Seelenschmaus, and it wasn't as strong or well armored as the other, but if it could just get a good stab right into the underbelly... It would be quite painful. "God, King... Just let this one hit." The shade quickly charges forwards, sliding down against the ground as it soon tries to stab the rusted spear against the underbelly of the dragon.

[Aeos]

Aeos blast managed to hit his mark. He was successful in slowing down the movements of the Black Armored Creature. But, the other one had managed to slide under him and jab him with a rusty spear. The underbelly of the Dragon, he shifted to the side, a bit. The rusty spear hurt as it poked against his leathery underside, but it wasn't life threatening. The spear wasn't one of the legendary Dragon slaying weapons. The rusty spear against the dragon was the equivalent of a human jabbing himself with a toothpick. Uncomfortable.

The Dragon shifted himself a few paces back then used his forearms to sweep the underside and swat the shade away. But he could feel himself slipping, his power over his Dragon form was starting to wane. He needed to escape before he turned back into his human form. If he changed back now it would almost certainly be a death sentence for the young dragon.

He mustered his strength and emitted the power of his element through his scales. Suddenly, there was a small current of winds around it's large body, that kicked up the dust, and ash from the surrounding area. He unfurled his wings and released the spiraling air outwards in and created a smokescreen with the ash and dust. In the haze, took to the skies in an impressive display of speed.

The Dragon was soon high in the sky and flying away from this place. His direction was west. Out towards Nabata, his desert homeland. Some time later there would be a disturbance in the mountains of the desert lands. The Dragon would have crash landed and sought refuge in one of the mountains many caves.

Aeos Exits Thread.

[The Madness]

"Bloody hell---" That's all he manages to say before he's smacked away by the dragons claws and against a rocky cliffisde. A disgusting crack leaves the corpse as it slides down onto the ground. The shoulders are disjointed at least, and by her back luck the spine would be broken too. But he was still about as "alive" as he could be at this point. "Don't worry about me, love! Just deal with the dragon before it can fly off and alert people to our presence here!"

That's what she would have done, if he had been competent at all. But no. No wounds, no real bleeding marks to make sure that it was at least in pain. Not even a slash so that the rust could perhaps cause greater pains later on. But, she would take what she got, and that was the dragon retreating. She felt the pumping of the glowing stone heart evermore, but she could admit loss when she felt it. She gave the fleeing dragon one fierce glance. This would not be their last encounter, she could feel it deep in her core, burning trough with such a seething rage for the being...

Alas. She set onto absorbing back a part of herself and calling some men to collect up the remains. Perhaps they could be used for something more productive in the future. She cast the battle wrought cliffside one more cold glance before then heading back into the Ostian heartlands with her men.

[THREAD END]