The end of an era

Joined: Posts: -19

Moonlight glistened off the mist in the clouds like tiny sapphires floating in mid air as a thought ran through Antubis' head, " Its always night out here near Mount Haledor, or maybe I only get out at night." He shrugged and relaxed on the back of the mighty multi-legged dragon the artifact of the Fighter's guild had summoned.
The Wyrm was massive, even the giant castle of Lasentrop was dwarfed in comparison to the girth of this huge beast. Her wingspan could easily shade the entire city of Kelrath on a day of the clearest skies, the giant's eyes were a lifeless red and swirled with hints of intelligence and flecks of silver and gold. On the rare occasion that the dragon showed its teeth to you and you survived, a cavern of chipped and worn teeth as tall as a man stained brown from eons of blood letting and destruction welcomed you to your demise.
Two of her arms were crossed behind her head, resembling something similar to a saddle in order to make it's rider's journey more comfortable. The dragon's four other arms clung tightly to her torso, granting her a more favorable speed in flight. A loose scale between a great claw of the monster caught Ant's eyes and he walked up the spine of the monster to retreive it. " Damn, this thing is enormous."
The scale easily plucked from its well worn spot in the dragon's armor, the weight almost knocking him off of the dragon's back. A burst of steam shot forth from the space beneath, revealing a dull white glow and the giant beast shuddered. The glow was hypnotizing and Antubis could not draw his gaze from it.
' The potion Antubis, get the potion...' a wispy voice emenated from within the crevice the withdrawn scale had left.
"Priest! What the hell do you mean?" Ant became infuriated as the dragon swooped down from the clouds near the city of Nosfer.The dragon uncrossed it's arms and placed Antubis safely on the ground to face his foe. In an instant the great beast departed and he was left to fare on his own, for good or for bad. "Now to find this Pegasus." the Lord of the Fighters mumbled under his breath as he scanned the area.
"Finally, some luck!" Antubis said happily and headed east for a few clicks to catch up with his mount. He gathered a few small logs and some kindling to make a campfire and withdrew his pipe.
"Sit!" the Fighter orderd the Vampiric Pegasus as he withdrew his Giantbane. Antubis swung the huge axe over head and sliced the air over the pile of wood with a roar from the Panther's head atop the weapon. The space above the wood shimmered briefly, then suddenly burst into flame catching the kindling beneath it.
"Ahh...now to sit and wait." Antubis said while taking his first hit from his pipe. He leaned back and rested upon the side of his mount.......axe in one hand, pipe in the other ready for his foe. "Now if only I had remembered to bring some ale....Dammit"
Shrill chirping sounded an alarm in the Fighter's mind, and he rose to face another swarm of bats. Axe gripped tightly by both hands and pipe in mouth, Antubis stood at ready as the first of the bats drew near. The bat closed in on Ant's location, and he reared back for a mighty blow that would obliterate the flying rat.
*THWAP*
The bat was sent flying over the horizon chirping angrily at Antubis as he prepared for the next wave. Minutes went by and still no bats came into sight, so the Fighter resigned himself to more relaxing matters. He placed the Giantbane on the ground and dug around in his sheeny backpack for more tobacco.
*AWWRROOO*
A loud howl silenced the entire forest and Ant deftly rolled backwards, grabbed his axe and scanned the area. He saw nothing, but the hairs on the back of his neck signaled an alarm. "Alright Giantbane......here we go." he invoked the rune of sanctuary on the mighty axe, and began a thorough search of the area.
"Ah ha!" Antubis exclaimed as a shadowy figure darted behind his Pegasus.
"Pegasus! Get it!" Ant screamed the order at the mount and it rose quickly. A low, inhuman growl sounded as the Vampiric Pegasus raised it's hindquarters in preparation for a kick. The blow landed squarily in the figure's chest, the shadows around the beast departed, and the monster beneath stood staring at icily at Antubis.
The two began a sprint towards each other in the same instant; Antubis with his axe held overhead and the beast brandishing its claws, snarling loudly. The lord of the Fighters brought his axe down just inches from the Werewolve's face, and the creature deftly backflipped over Ant's head.
Antubis continued the downswing from his strike and turned to uppercut the beast. Suddenly, the werewolf was gone.
Nothing....
" What the hell!" Antubis screamed, "Show yourself so that you can taste the cold mithril of this blade!"
A Glimmer of light behind a tree...
The Fighter's eyes caught the movement and he drew his bow. "Alright Neflin, your bow had better do some damage." Antubis knocked a Death's Rain arrow onto the string of his halfling battle bow, and pulled back as he tracked the beast's movement. "There!" he screamed and let the arrow fly...
*TWANG*
The arrow screamed through the air as if it wailed with the lamentation of the many lives it and it's brethren had ended. A hint of recognition flashed in the werebeast's eyes as it attempted to leap out of harm's way.
*AWROOYALP*
The bolt flew true and struck the monster a deep wound in its chest resulting in strange noises as rivulets of blood began to pour from the hole. Seeing his moment to strike, Ant gripped Giantbane firmly and leaped into to the air to strike down the monster in a single mighty blow. The white aura around the beast began to shimmer, and slowly faded away as Antubis bore down upon his prey.
"No!" Antubis cried in horror as his foe's features came into focus. "How could you! You're supposed to be DEAD!" Fury filled the veins in his neck and soon flooded his heart with a rage beyond all comprehension. Antubis stood next to the man lying on the floor who looked very similar to himself. The eyes, the nose, the man's ears and even the ghost of stubble all painting a sad portrait of a life full of past regret and future hardship all demonstrated that this half-man, half-wolf was somehow related to Ant. "No..." Antubis said with a calm expression, but glazed over and bloodfilled eyes. "You will not live again, this I promise." Giantbane was raised high over the Fighter's head and for an instant time froze as the two brothers were finally reunited, if only for a brief second as haunting memories of something gone horribly wrong danced across thier eyes.
The sound of crickets signalling the coming of morning....
Wind wailing through the trees, mourning what was to come.....
"AAAHHHHH!" Antubis brought down the giant axe with great precision into his brother's neck, signalling his end with a muffled scream.
*THUD*
The axe stuck in the ground at an angle, seperating his brother's head and his body. "Strange...." Antubis thought as feelings he had long considered dead began to swim through him. "There is no blood. For such a mighty wound....I should be ankle deep in his life's blood." With a single blink from the decapitated head, the man faded away.

An orange potion swirled with blackness in place of the man's head
A magnificent blade lay on the ground, glowing white and catching the ground near it on fire in place of the man's body.

"Choose..." A wispy voice emenated from the clouds. "Make your choice Antubis." The Fighter yanked his axe from the ground and intoned a sacred rune upon the Fighter's guild artifact, causing the panther atop it to growl fiercely. Ant slammed his axe down upon the sword, and the blade fell to pieces with a loud explosion.
*BOOM*
Pieces from the decimated weapon flew to the corners of the realm and he bent down to grab the strange elixir. Strange voices began to fill his head as he placed his hands upon the bottle, and Antubis began to shake violently. "Begone!" Ant shouted with authority as he threw the potion as far as his rage would allow.

**Continued later