It has been thirteen years since the final conflict between Cosmos and Chaos erupted.  Ever since the destruction of Chaos, a very fragile peace has followed.  But what awaits the world now, as a new threat beckons at its doorstep?  Will anyone be prepared for the arrival of Shinryu...?  Can the mighty dragon be stopped?  The fantasy begins now...

 

It's a cold and quiet summer evening, and the ocean waves gently crash on the shore.  The moon rides high and the town is ever peaceful, as people go about their daily night life.  Among the crowd walks a lone man, one that you could say, stands out from the crowd.  He seems quiet and stoic and he has clothing that would mark him as a solider.  His name is Lucius Sablewind.  The man always keeps to himself, closed from anyone who tries so much as to make contact with him.  He notices an inn nearby, and as he walks towards it, he sees the name of the inn up top.  "The Blazing Phoenix huh?" he says to himself.  With that, he enters the inn, and then he goes straight to the bartender and asks for a drink.  At the far end of the table, he sees a woman, no doubt a warrior, taking a drink herself.  He immediately took notice of the weapon she was wielding, and he stared at the weapon intently, wondering who could have forged it.

The tall blond wiped his forehead with a satin glove before switching his spear to the other hand.  His right, with which he'd initially been bracing it, had begun to cramp, as he'd held it tightly for far too long.  The armor on his chest grew heavy, and right now he wanted more than anything to catch all of the surrounding soldiers by surprise and cast train on them.  It would cover their eyes with darkness, along with inhibiting them from using any magic on him.  That is, if they had a speck of magical blood within them.  After watching all of them for the past six hours, Jethro partly doubted it.

 

His attention was aroused when he saw a blonde young woman approach the building.  It was rare that he'd seen visitors come by the castle, let alone female ones who weren't of any military authority.  With a swift glance the mage sized her up, taking note of her rather large and unique weapon.  Bored and mildly curious, Jethro left his post and approached Luna.  "Good evening, madam.  May I ask you what brings you to these parts?  You've strayed far from town, if you haven't noticed."  His blue eyes rested on the sword, causing him to smirk slightly.  "And that's quite some sword you have there.  I'm just wondering what good soul you killed to acquire it."

Edited April 5, 201411 yr by Mystics Apprentice

"I've came here to finish off Yanoto, and Yuzun off for good." Luna said to the man.

Yuzun came out of the castle gates and smirked, spotting Luna just a distance away from him.  "So, you've come to slay me and mother haven't you?  Your always claiming that it's your mission to destroy us...but what you don't understand is that you cannot and will not complete your mission!" he said, unsheathing his sword.  "Don't forget Luna, I bear the dark counterpart of your blade of light, so I shall not be defeated so easily.  Ah, and I see there are others here as well.  Different warriors...none of who I have business with.  But I'll take pleasure in killing you all just the same.  And I shall protect my mother Yanoto!" he said with determined anger and rage.

"So that you could cause darkness to spread throughout Lagoona? I'm not going to let that happen." Luna said taking out her sword.

"You are so blinded by that which you do not understand...you see, there is madness and chaos sleeping within the hearts of all men and women upon this earth.  You know this to be true, so why fight it?  Chaos may have been destroyed, but that doesn't mean that chaos itself has vanished from the world.  There will always be conflicts and terrible misdeeds that plague the world, no matter how much you try to stop it.  So why bother?" he asked, laughing maniacally, and then he punched the ground and caused the many warriors within the area to fall to the ground.  "Now then, all of you, do not cower behind rocks and trees, come and fight me!" he said, welcoming them to battle.

"Don't" Luna said to the other warriors. "This is my fight, and my fight alone. I swear it in my mother's name." Luna said already prepare to battle Yuzun.

"Hmph, so your playing the hero now aren't you?  Unfortunately I won't let that be an option for you." he said, and with the lift of his finger, he sent strings of darkness to assault the other warriors.  He then clashed his blade with Luna's, and they furiously traded blows with one another.  He was laughing maniacally all the way.  "Ha, you think you can defeat me?  That's preposterous!  You don't know who your dealing with!  You are just a pawn of the light, desperately crawling towards the little sanity that remains in this world!  Die now!" he shouted as he sent pillars of darkness crashing on Luna.

Luna quickly dodge as she send multiple aura waves at him.

He blocked every single one, mocking Luna's efforts to defeat him.  "Well, at the very least you have some friends to see your downfall.  They will witness your death and I shall awaken my mother, and there's nothing you'll be able to do about it!" he said calmly, as he continuously clashed blades with Luna.  He had been observing her ever since she was searching for the castle, and he was ready for whatever she had planned for this battle.  What he didn't expect was to see the other warriors scattered about.  "Well, they aren't even helping her...so I'm guessing they're not allies." he said to himself, analyzing the current situation.  (For the other members of this RP, sorry if me and twilight_roxas are posting too fast.  Be sure to make your posts everyone! ) 

Jethro was rather surprised by Luna's blatant response.  Sure, he expected that the girl was up to no good lurking around the castle, but her honesty baffled him.  What's more is that Yuzun himself came out of the palace gates, overhearing the blonde girl and attacking her from there.  Truth be told, Jethro wasn't quite ready to make his true alliance known just yet, and, despite his Chaos soldier guise, he'd been attacked by waves of pure darkness.  Jethro struggled against it, eyes clouded as he glanced over at Yuzun.  "Hey, what's the big idea?  What makes you think that I have anything to do with?  I'm just the sentry here, though right now I'm thinking about packing myself up and heading straight back home.  Some treatment."

 

Hopefully his bluff would be enough to fool Yuzun, or at least long enough for him to sneak into the Chaos palace and search the treasury for a fabled trinket.

Yuzun glanced at Jethro and smirked.  "You fool, you are more than ignorant to stand in my way. If you are to be my ally as you say, then you shall assist me in battle against this foolish woman." he said, glancing over his shoulder and creating a barrier so that no one could enter the castle.  "Do you not think I am not prepared for treachery?" he asked, making a coy smile.  Now that he had Jethro at his side, all that remained was to dispatch these warriors that were at his doorstep.  "Very well, let's teach these fools what madness is all about!"

Jethro glanced at Luna lazily and shrugged.  "To be honest, I don't see why bother wasting my time.  The girl is as good as dead in your hands, and I have bigger fish to fry.  However"--he jerked his head toward the castle--"I can't help but wonder what your poor mother is doing right now if any more of her kind managed to infiltrate the castle.  Some dude gave her a heads up on how to enter, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he, or any of his cronies, are also out to kill her."  

 

The blond man shook his long golden bangs from his face, eyeing Yuzun coolly. "So, what say you?  Shall I go stand guard over her, or waste precious time and energy over this goddess brat?"

"Nngh...damn it." Yuzun muttered to himself.  He knew just by looking at Jethro that he was treacherous, but he had no choice but to trust him, because when it came to his mother, he would do anything.  "All right, go inside the castle and stand guard over mother...but if you intend to lay a finger on her, when I finish Luna off, I'll be going after your head next!" Yuzun growled coldly, his sharp eyes deactivating the barrier.  "Now go you fool, while I take care of this imbecile!" he said as he turned his attention back towards Luna and kept attacking her.

"My my, a fool, you say?  You really know how to flatter a man, don't you?" Jethro replied cockily, though he didn't press the matter further.  He was granted access to the castle, and that was good enough for him.  Of course, he really had no intention of harming Yuzun's mother.  All he cared about was entering the treasury, nabbing the item he sought, and beating it out of there.  While he didn't mind taking out as many chaos soldiers as he could while he was in there, it wasn't his ambition.

 

"You just focus on taking this lady person out, and you have nothing to fear regarding your dear ol' mom.  Or, at least not while I'm around."  With that, Jethro whipped around and took off toward the palace ahead, his cloak billowing behind him.  Indeed, he would visit Yuzun's mother, but perhaps not for the reasons that Yuzun was anticipating.

"Good question." Joker muttered as he watched the fight unfold.

He was use to seeing this sort of thing happening all the time, with him just watching. Maybe this was one of the few times he should interfere?

"So, how do you stand on e subject off direct involvement?" He asked.

He grimaced as he remembered a bit of protocol.

"My name is Joker, by the way." He introduced himself. "Pardon my not saying that up front, but I haven't had to introduce myself in a long while."

"DIrect involvement?" She asked. "I do not mind it. Sometimes it is the best option."Rabiyu turned her head to watch the fight without saying anything else for a couple of minutes."Rabiyu." She then said. "My name is Rabiyu. I may not remember much of my past, but I am sure that I didn't introduce myself that often either."

Yuzun noticed Joker and Rabiyu speaking, and then he laughed with a great tint of madness in his tone. "Why settle for the sidelines???  Come on and join the madness!!!" he shouted as he sent streams of darkness heading towards the two individuals.  Then he turned his attention to Luna again and then swiped her off to the side so he could deal with Joker and Rabiyu.  "Now you shall witness what true power is!" he said, ready to battle.

Joker was about to speak again when Tuzun broke in. The former magic student flipped forward, over the stream of darkness, clearing it by inches, and landed on his feet. A sheathed katana appeared in his left hand, which he immediately drew it, sending a a wave of magical energy speeding at Tuzun.

"I've seen madness." He said. "You are just a little unbalanced."

"Fool, then you've only yet begun to see the true potential of madness!" Yuzun said, holding back the magical wave that Joker sent at him.  He could feel the sting of his attack piercing through his hand, and he immediately goes out of the way before his hand is cut off completely.  Yuzun then shakes his hand and lets it heal while he uses his other hand to send spheres of darkness towards Joker.  "You know nothing of madness!  Only after you've truly embraced it can you truly understand!  Let the madness take you!"

Once Joker flipped forward over the stream of darkness, Rabiyu reached her hand out making a barrier of mist which absorbed the attack."You think you know everything about madness then?" She asked as she pointed her bow at Yuzun. "Madness… isn't that a strange word?"The white haired girl then shot arrow after arrow against her enemy."What is madness? is it a state of mind that a being can enter and exit at their free will? Is madness a mental condition that beings suffer when they lose their sanity and cannot regain a sense of who they really are? In any case, everyone is mad, but not everyone can accept that."

"Ha, that is where your wrong!  You see, madness is what allows you to be truly free!  Once you accept that fact, you shall feel no more pain or sadness or fear or sorrow. That is the absolute truth, whether you choose to accept it or not!" Yuzun shouted, quite pleased and enjoying himself.  He caught Rabiyu's arrow but felt a slight pain from it, as if it was burning him.  "I have to say though, for two stupid warriors of light, you pack quite a punch.  But that will all be over soon!" he said, smirking as he dove towards them and delivered fast and deadly strokes of his blade to attack both her and the Joker.

Using both his blade and sheath, Joker blocked and parried Yuzun's attacks.

"'Madness is the emergency exit,' eh?" He asked. "I've heard it all before. Still unconvinced."

"Though always tempted." He thought.

Joker went on the offensive, using the katana sheath in left hand to lock with Yuzun's blade while Joker's own katana slashed at this mad opponent.

Once Yuzun gave his speech and began to attack both Joker and Rabiyu, the white haired girl was trying her best to dodge his attacks with her speed."He is fast." She thought. "Even faster than me, if this keeps up then"Rabiyu's eyes got wide in surprise as Yuzun's blade was moving closer to her chest. She closed her eyes and slowly looked to the ground to wait for the attack to hit her, but the pain never came. The white haired girl smiled as her enemy's blade was barely inches away from her chest, or at least half of the blade while the other half appeared behind her thanks to a space distortion both in front and the back of Rabiyu."Sorry, but I'm afraid we have distinct points of view about what madness truly is." Rabiyu said before jumping and pointing her bow down while Joker had his sheath locked against Yuzun's blade. "A pity, but as a Descendant of Chaos you're destined to fall."While Rabiyu was talking she was focusing on embedding her arrow with powerful wind magic before shooting it against Yuzun.

At that, Yuzun fell back and then regained his footing, and he smirked as he watched both of his cunning opponents.  "Oh, destined to fall, eh?" he said, looking at Rabiyu.  "No, you couldn't be further from the truth.  You are young, and so you are blind to the ways of the world.  There is no such thing as destiny.  What you claim to be destiny is nothing more than a mere illusion, a useless dash of hope that you cling onto for desperate life.  Destiny is flawed, there is only free will, and finding one's path.  And my path is madness!" he shouted, but before he was able to deliver the final strike, a sudden earthquake began to shake the very foundations of the castle, and all of a sudden, everything started to disappear.  Yuzun didn't cause this, of that much was certain, which made him all the more confused, but he never took his eyes off of Joker and Rabiyu.

Joker was about to counter attack against Yuzun, but the earthquake hit. He looked around to see parts of the scenery start disappearing.

"I'd argue against your point, but we may not have time." He said calmly. "Whatever started this, I doubt it cares who gets caught in its disappearing act."