- Replies 84
- Views 9.4k
- Created
- Last Reply
Top Posters In This Topic
-
Sarrin 43 posts
-
The Transcendent Key 41 posts
Most Popular Posts
-
Chapter Two: Beyond The Bounds Here's chapter two for your insatiable appetites, Enjoy~
-
Chapter Three: Reverence Well here's chapter three not sure how many of these from book two ill put out but enjoy~
-
What do you mean you don't know how many you'll post? Don't leave me hanging!!!! The story's so great so far! D: Please continue to post more chapters! And well, I thought that training session S
If you have not read book one turn back now, you will be so lost.
Here's a link to help~
Transcendence Book 1 New Dawn
Enjoy that for me
ALL OF THIS IS COPYRIGHT BY ME OFFICIALLY
Moving on to the main event, allow me to present to you --
Transcendence Book II Black Horizons
Bloody Evolution Part Start
Chapter One: From Ruin
“Calus how is your end?” Haleigh's voice rang clearly in his mind while he made his way up a mountain of rubble. Seven feet tall, dressed in the thickest leather vest, showing off a plethora of tattoos painted across his arms and chest. Amber colored eyes shifted though the desiccated landscape, if you could call it that. “Shit.” A deep voice replied shortly.
“Any more specific?”
“Deep shit.” A slight of wind caught his dreadlocks, he saw the motion below.
“Lovely, C-3 is almost clear, I should be heading your way soon.”
Unnaturally crawling on the ground below was a creature made of what looked like black diamonds. Calus's eyes stuck out when compared to his dark skin, almost predatory, a beast about to strike down its prey. “N-7 is clear.” He leaped from the overhang, free falling through his decent. A ring of light rapped around his fist accompanied by numerous letters and symbols.
The voidkin looked up, with what he assumed to be it's head, in the split second Calus struck. Dispersing violently into a cloud of dust and smoke, turning to nothing in the force of the impact. He had landed unscathed in the space it had been only a moment ago. “Child's play.” This he said aloud to himself.
Something took his attention in the stale air, a presence. He looked up to find a spire of black crystal four times his size crashing down on his head.
As the dust begun to settle a figure strode towards the newly marked grave. “Child's play.” Dressed in a tight fitting hooded trench coat, his face hidden behind a mask resembling the uncanny likeness of a white fox.
Halting his stride, having noticed a small black swirl on the ground. Two, three, six in total had already surrounded him. “Tsk.” Foxface put up his guard the instant chain links sprung from each of them.
In just seconds they had bound him from the neck down. He watched from behind his mask as a shape shrouded in darkness emerged from his own shadow. Calus rose from the black with the intent to kill strung across his calm.
“These chains are a stalwart ally of mine.” He said reaching for the mask.
Foxface hadn't moved a muscle when his finger tips touched the surface. Calus kicked himself back, narrowly avoiding the crystal spears that crashed into the ground he stood upon. An invisible force seemed to soften his landing, the ever watchful eyes assessing the situation.
“You're wasting your time.” One by one each chain snapped off of him. “I'm much more than this.” They were blown away with a cloud of dust as he vanished from sight.
Calus lunged forward with the same blinding speed. Meeting him in the middle they had reappeared, their fists slammed together creating a sound like that of a thunderclap.
Another spear flew to his neck stopping short by only mere centimeters. This caught Foxface's attention, a single chain link had coiled around the center. The links wipped back returning the spear to its master with much added force. Black crystal pierced through his body, splashing the ground behind him in blood.
Foxface stumbled back one hand clutching at his wound. His low chuckle had almost confused Calus until he saw it.
The spear had started to shrink, melding into his body as if it were a piece of him returning home. A simple chuckle had grown into laughter as the air around them sparkled with a dark shimmer. Foxface had surrounded them with countless shards.
A grin formed upon Calus's face. “That pressure.” His locks raised slightly like the hair of a cat, just as the amber eyes lit up. Black ink painted across his arms and chest shown gold.
Striking all at once, they jetted towards their mark. Calus had barely moved a muscle before a towering pillar of scarlet blaze engulfed him all the while consuming the projectiles entirely.
Walking out of the blaze was a woman. She tossed back her gray hair with her hand, wearing a bemused grin. Dressed in a slim fitting combat dress, she held a fierce elegance that matched the dispersing inferno she came from.
“And Lady Valestani joins the frey.” Foxface commented to her arrival.
“I prefer Madam Scarlet.” Her eyes had settled into a light gray. “Have we met?” She wouldn't get a response. Calus had darted ahead without a care for the makings of their conversation.
Standing his ground until the last possible second, Foxface caught his punch effortlessly. “Like I said,” He lifted his leg, parrying Haleigh's thin blade with the bottom of his boot. “More.”
They were both stunned, not by the fact that he had stopped the pair of them, but that he had done it like it was nothing. Foxface spun his body, releasing Calus's arm only once it had snapped, and countering Haleigh with his other boot in her stomach.
She stumbled back just missing him disappear. Having slipped his wrist back in place Calus lunged for Haleigh. Confused at first when he grabbed her, but then she saw the seven foot spike that now stood where she once did. Another struck out, and then another after that. “We need to split up, it'll be harder with multiple targets.”
Calus released her, but even this proved almost fatal. They dashed back from one another only just managing to evade another, twice in size with several attached to its base
Encased within the clusters center had been Foxface, his body frozen in crystal and limbs folded to his chest. The duo knew what came next. His body sprang to life as the cluster exploded, sending the shattered fragments soaring to their marks.
A perfect circle of fire absorbed the brunt of the attack for Haleigh, while Calus had summoned a wall of overlapping chain links.
“Oh to hell with this.” Her eyes flared up as she went for Foxface. Calus joined her effort gladly.
They pursued him down the open street of the desolation that remained of New York City. Entrapping chains failed to snare him as he also evaded an arsenal of scarlet blaze, each movement faster than the eye could follow. Keeping up with him had been no challenge at all, yet each offensive. no matter the distance, could not touch him. Whatever they threw at him was met with either an impossible dodge or instantly forming crystal shields.
“Calus I have an idea.” Haleigh's words rang through his thoughts. Neither slowed in the slightest with their attacks. Dozens more crystals had come forth, dangling high above them for less than a second before they jettisoned to the pair below.
The air began to ripple and the temperature rose by at least thirty degrees. “Now!” Calus vanished from sight; a vicious dome of Haleigh's inferno surrounded Foxface along with herself. Not one of the raining spears penetrated the all consuming tempest.
Inside had become an entirely different world. Every inch coated in a fierce red glare, and the sound. Deafening beyond measure, a roaring blaze true in name and strength. Foxface stood in the center taking in the dilemma now before him. She couldn't help but smile. “I would start taking shallow breaths, the air here isn't going to last long.”
“What of you?” Another spear sped through the air, Haleigh didn't even bother to flinch. Once it made contact her body exploded into a flurry of crimson.
“Me?” Her laughter seemed to echo in her formless state. The embers began to reshape her yet the blaze held its strength. “I'm the one breathing all of the oxygen,” From the bottoms of her boots to the tips of her waving hair, every part comprised of the scarlet blaze. “I am fire.”
Projectiles struck down upon her, passing through her only slightly disturbing her new form. “You aren't the only one with more to offer.” Haleigh lifted her arm as if she were reaching out to him, having conjured a symbolence that then became encased in flames. Overlapping circles, strange and foreign letters shown beautifully, if only for a moment. Haleigh staggered back when it exploded in front of her. Through the blast itself Foxface emerged, halting his advancement once his hand had firmly taken hold of her throat.
Gripping tighter the flames began to retract, showing the skin of her neck. “H-how..?” She struggled as the embers dispersed, watching the dome do the same.
Six spikes came to life floating symmetrically behind his back, almost like a deadly pair of wings. Simultaneously they moved in just as Haleigh had closed her eyes. Stopping just short, the closest barely grazing her waist, something had garnered his attention. In his free hand a blade took form, swinging it at the ground to sever the chains attached to his ankles.
Foxface released her, his back unnaturally bent as Calus drove his elbow in. He dropped down low, using his legs to sweep out his. Landing on his free hand, Foxface sprung into the air spinning wildly until his wings righted himself. Descending gently onto the high ground he stood, almost waiting for them.
“This is getting out of hand.” She griped rubbing the base of her neck. “I feel like he's toying with us.”
He held up a single finger. “Why are you even here? Elipses has disbanded and Yggdrasil has sealed itself off. The Aesir do not fight and the world has gone mad with disarray. Balance doesn't exist anymore.”
Neither knew the response he was looking for. “Look around you, the world itself is willing its own end.”
“What?” Haleigh looked to Calus in sheer disbelief then back to him. “I have a better question; Why are you even talking? We're here. The End.” She whipped the air with her saber. “Are we going to kill each other or what?”
Before Foxface had a chance to respond the ground burst, devouring him within another fiery tower. Haleigh had been no less than pleased with her work. The flurry ended leaving its prey scorched yet still standing. Parts of his coat still burned with living embers. Foxface raised his head to meet their gazes. “I accept.”
Lighting struck the ground, blinding the trio in it's brilliance. As the disorientation left them they discovered another had been added to their company. This one was different from Foxface, his cloak was much heavier accompanied by several straps on his arms and chest, with a large gauntlet fitted to his left hand. The mask he wore was featureless save for a single slot for the left eye.
“Not another one of these guys.” Haleigh tiscked.
“Behind.” Calus sensed the next arrival approaching from the rear. This ones mask was painted to the likeness of a clown.
A gale of relief past through Haleigh, greatly settling her nerves. “Carmicheal.. What are you..?”
He acknowledged her before turning his head to the two young men ahead of them. Their gazes were locked in on one another. Something about it was strange, and somewhat frightening. This moment was for the two of them not meant to be witnessed by others.
“You just had to show up.” Shifts in the space behind him became a portal into the unknown. He stepped back into the folds until it closed in on him, calming the distortion.
Each of them waited as the significant level of tension diminished. Waiting for a sign of danger that never came.
“Calus, Haleigh, It is good to see you.” Carmicheal greeted them.
Haleigh nearly took a double take. “Good to see us? Where the hell have you been? Who is this guy?”
“That's just Vwiess, don't mind him he doesn't talk much.” Stepping out from behind Carmicheal was another hooded man, clearly much younger by the pitch of his thick Irish accent. Definitely the more cheery of the two he dawned no mask just a lighthearted grin and emerald eyes.
Carmicheal removed his before pulling back his hood, freeing the black mess underneath. His eyes weren't as vibrant as Calus's surrounded by dark circles and age. “This is Leon Wynguard, and that would be Hunter Vwiess, my personal guards.”
“Hunter?” Calus took notice of the title.
“You have a Hunter as your personal guard? When did that happen?” Haleigh looked him up and down. “How old are you?”
“We're actually not to sure about Vwiess here, but yours truly turned seventeen last april.” Leo answered for him.
“Seven-? What have you been doing Carmicheal?”
“Take a breath Scarlet, we'll have enough to talk about back at Olmhold, frankly I don't prefer the view here.” Carmicheal waved his arm through the air and a portal came forth. “It's horrifying.” He passed through as the other two followed, Calus behind them.
Haleigh took one last moment, looking at what Carmichel had been. A black hole hanging in the sky above the city, and the bottom half of the Empire State Building still hanging out of it. “No, it's sickening.”
Two Months Earlier
“Take us back.” Sophie ordered with the two siblings right behind her.
“I cannot.” Curdis replied flatly.
“Can't or won't?” Tyler snapped back. “Personally speaking, compared to what I've seen in the last week dulls in contrast to taking us back to where we just came from.”
He took a deep breath through his nose, rubbing the space between his eyes. “When I told you we could not go back, whether you choose to accept it or not, this is the path you now walk.”
“What?” Stephanie couldn't keep a level head any longer. “That is our brother. We are going back, even if I have to take us myself.”
“Stephanie..” Verdandi couldn't think of what to say to any of them.
“Ask yourself why.” Skuld spoke from behind his fiery exterior. Haleigh stood behind him clearly agitated. Apparently he had rerouted himself through the portal leaving a flaming incarnation behind. “Why did he choose to stay behind?” Turning to Gilgamesh as he said this. “It's better this way right? For everyone.”
“I'd hardly call it better..” Gil mumbled, following up with something no one picked up.
“Like it or not Caleb realized what he was becoming before we even had an idea about it.”
“Are we supposed to believe that?” Haleigh muttered wearing a scowl.
Curdis took another breath. A chair came to life beneath him as he sat to rest a set of aching knees, his cane planted before him with both hands on its handle. “In truth I believed Caleb to be of great importance, in fact I believed he would be the one person to save us all.” He looked each one of them over. “Jeremiah I have cost you the whereabouts of your son, I have cost the two of you your brother, I have sacrificed so much from you all to put us on this course. Since the day I locked Sarrin inside of that book I have been guiding us to this. But I was wrong. There was still so much I myself did not understand, and so many things I never knew about.”
Verdandi tilted her head slightly. “Do you remember what you told us in the manor, about Caleb? The heir to the void yes? Let's start there. Sarrin happens to be the voids current master by the looks of things and that was made apparent by the second conflict, so my thoughts lie on when our young Caleb inherited this right and why he is only just now surfacing.”
“Emissary of Nell..” Skuld thought on these words.
“Yes. Nell is the first piece to this puzzle.”
“Stop there.” Verdandi bent down to look him in the eye. “I'm going to make this clear for you; I don't want you talking in circles, I want to know how we got here.”
Curdis wasn't caught off guard, it was an expression most of them hadn't seen before. It was like a parent being talked down to by their own child. “You searched through an era long before your time and what did you discover?”
“Aeolus.” Stephanie spoke up. “I watched everything I could find on him read every record.”
“And why did you do that?”
“We discovered that his life seemed to only begin and end with the void conflicts.” She took out here phone pulling something up. “The first recorded event of Aeolus Pride names him the hero of the first and the days before the second all records of him stop.” A puzzling look dressed itself across her face. “Sarrin and the second void conflict aren't even recorded, I've only just started adding what I've learned about it.”
“Did you learn anything else?”
“Um.. I think it's safe to say that we don't know enough about the people involved with the void exploration. Their mission is where all the records end before the aftermath of the second conflict.”
Curdis placed his hat in his lap. “Aeolus Pride, Ludious Alcross, Alistair Harknet, Essence Bell, and Ketos Prori. Four of these members were personally selected by Aeolus himself. Their objective was to discover if life existed within the void beyond the voidkin, and to seek out the heart. Ragnarok.”
“They were in that place for so long there's really no telling exactly what happened, but only two came out. Aeolus and with him Nell.”
“We were astounded, the other Aesir and myself. We never believed he'd come back, let alone with her.” His tone was sharp. “The two of them knew nothing of what they had done.”
“Aeolus Pride and his team were not to return, they had been sent there to die.”
“What?” Jeremiah finally gained the nerve to speak.
“We knew even then,” The Urd wasn't going to be interrupted. “We knew Aeolus would cause the second void conflict. So we sent him to his death, and he returned with the void itself. What choice did we have? We needed to understand the void, control it.”
“And then we did. A key had been forged from Nell, at the cost of her life. We had the power of the void now, it was supposed to be over but somehow Aeolus managed to get to her side in her last moments. From there you know the rest, Sarrin killed Skuld and Verdandi took the key and fled into the void. Just a few years later he returned to take his revenge and then I imprisoned him.”
“I personally saw to it that most of Aeolus's life was kept secret.”
Haleigh stepped forward. “To cover up what you did?”
“Yes”
“You selfish bastard.”
“Haleigh!” Jeremiah was appalled.
“No, he is responsible for so much death and he used his authority and power to serve his own needs and cover it all up once he was done.” She looked the Urd in the eye. “You don't deserve to be an Aesir.”
“That isn't why I did it.”
Her anger seemed to pause at his words. Looking at the man she had met in her youth and realizing still just how little she knew about him. “Why?”
“Because Sarrin was once Aeolus Pride, and Aeolus Pride was my son.”
Ringing silence filled the room. None say for one had a response to give.
“Not going to mention the entire land of Avalon being dragged into the pit?” Skuld chimed in.
“I'd rather not.” Curdis rose to his feet. “There has been enough talk of death.” His hat was returned upon his balding head. “Agatha I'd be interested to know why we are not in Chicago.”
Lights filled the giant room, illuminating the large featureless walls and a metal staircase crisscrossing over the far end.
Standing above them was a bespectacled woman with glares reflecting off her lenses. Blond hair tied up, she wore a long sleeved white button up and a black skirt stretching past her knees.
“Because there is no Chicago. Welcome to Olmhold Fortress.” She began to descend the stairs. “San Fransisco, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Dallas, and seven unpopulated areas across North America have been confirmed as what we are now referring to as void territories.” The heels of her shoes clanged on the steps. “This happened within the first six hours. Since then we have lost contact with at least twenty four of our branches around the world.”
Agatha approached them, her beauty was radiant but held a fierce intensity. “Most of our forces on this hemisphere are unaccounted for, and as of now Elipses has contact with zero percent of its remaining forces.”
Jeremiah and Haleigh went stark white. Gil and the Aesir kept their eyes on the floor, it was clear they had expected something of this gravity to happen soon.
“I don't understand.. They're all..?” Haleigh raced through her mind thinking of who knows what. “Where is Carmicheal?”
“Where indeed..” Agatha flipped through the papers of a clipboard that had been under her arm. “He informed me when the first incident occurred in San Fransico and said he'd be returning once he had made contact with you.”
Haleigh's face cringed slightly. “Carmicheal was there?”
“Yes he left two weeks ago.” She adjusted her glasses. “Should I have led with that?”
“Yes you should have.” Her fists tightened and teeth clenched. As the day progressed it became harder to deal with, but then all of the tension seemed to leave. “I need a drink.” The smile she now wore almost genuine. “Jeremiah let's go.”
Without a word he followed her up the steps. It was clear to all of them he didn't want to be there either.
Curdis approached Agatha. “I believe for now we need to see if we can make contact with any of the remaining allies we have, until then we will remain here and deliberate over the current state of affairs.”
Agatha adjusted her glasses. “This is acceptable. There are several rooms upstairs.” She said gesturing to the stair case.
“That won't be necessary.” Verdandi conjured a wafting portal in the rooms center. “We'll be connecting our respective domains to Olmhold.”
Skulds flames began to diminish. “We are in agreement then? I'll be on my way, no offense to you Gilgamesh, but our newest showstopper was much more interesting to watch.”
“Just go home.” With that Skuld had vanished.
Once Verdandi noticed that the Urd to had left already she made for the light filled doorway. “Come along you two, much to do.”
“Ma'am.” The two responded in unison realizing it had happened by reflex. Stephanie followed after her, while Tyler gave a brief goodbye before he departed.
“Guess that's my cue.” Gil snapped his fingers and a familiar door appeared on the wall opposite of the stairs.
Sophira lost track of just how long she had been starring off into space. It felt like some kind of daze. She shook it off. “Gilgamesh stop.”
Halting his stride Gil didn't look at her. “No.”
“But I know you can-”
“No I can't!” He snapped. “Soph.. Even I can't go back. I'm sorry about Isaac and Caleb.” Gil opened the door just barely looking back at her. “It's better if you forget about them, trust me.” He said closing it behind him.
She didn't say anything back, just focused on pain of her wounds and the sick feeling in her stomach. Agatha placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Neither of them spoke a word.
“You broke our deal.” Tyler casually spoke trying to make some sense out of whatever Stephanie had started working on.
Verdandi huffed. “He stayed there on his own.”
“I don't care about that.”
“Then you better stop.”
“Or else what?” His voice echoed through the white.
Stephanie paused leaning against the console with her head down. “It's no use.”
“Stephanie stop helping her.” Tyler had lost his cool. “I don't give a damn what you are, there isn't a single thing-” His head had turned sideways without him realizing.
The burn of his sisters hand print was visible on his cheek. “I can't see inside of San Francisco, what should I do?”
“If you want to find your brother, the all seeing eye is the best tool at our disposal.” Phoebe spoke calmly. “Caleb might be out there somewhere and if he is I'm confident you'll be the one to find him.”
Tyler had been beyond lost. “Wait..”
“Your sister is in charge of finding your brother, she has all of my resources at her fingertips.” Verdandi came uncomfortably close, her exotic fragrance filling the air he breathed. “You have a job to do Mr. Harris and I expect you to preform as admirably as you always have, is that clear?”
Chocking down his embarrassment, still feeling the warmth of his cheek, he watched as Stephanie returned to work without a second thought. “Crystal, ma'am.”
“Splendid.” She clasped her hands together, dawning a bright smile. Another doorway opened as she lead Tyler by the hand. “Let's go make some friends shall we?”
Well there you have it Book 2's first 15 pages enjoy~
Let me know what your thoughts are and what you think may be coming next
and as always, Thanks for Reading,
-Sarrin