Advanced search  

News:

There is no news - all is well.

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Members: 35  •  Posts: 8064  •  Topics: 486  • 
Please welcome Fallen Templar, our newest member.

Author Topic: The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap  (Read 10768 times)

Offline Cameron

  • Knight-Elemental
  • Caretaker
  • *
  • Posts: 5041
    • Twitter
The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap
« on: January 21, 2011, 04:19:55 PM »
((The events of this transcript occur at the same time as the Companions initial entrance into the Eye of Terror and the landing in the Eidolon wasteland. It is a continuation of the post found here: http://theadministorum.yuku.com/reply/2532/The-Eye-of-Terror-Battle-of-the-Eidolon-Wastelands-Part-I-#reply-2532))

The small craft that provided the Imperial fleet entry through the Eye of Terror’s warp storms is too small to be picked up on any imperial radar. None of the Imperial warships can track it as it hits the Chaos line, nor do the Chaos warships pick it up as it streams through their line of ships. Both forces are too focused on each other to pay much mind to anything else. As the huge space battle breaks out behind it, the small ship’s engines finally die. The momentum of the craft carries it into the gravity well created by the dead asteroid at the center of the Eye. It accelerates without any way of controlling it’s descent. Finally, the small escape pod smashes into the dust of the Eidolon Wasteland. A shower of dead rock and soil is thrown up as the craft burrows nose first into the ground.

Hours pass. The craft has landed far apart from the other invading forces and has not moved since its landing. It is therefore ignored by the Chaos forces as they move to engage the drop pods streaming from the Imperial vessels above. Finally, as the companions cut through the Chaos marine resistance and reach their showdown with Abbadon the Despoiler, something stirs within the crater.

Pounding can be heard from behind the small hatch of the crippled escape pod. After a few muffled strikes, the hatch suddenly bursts open. Cameron Aileron emerges. His space suit is torn in places, and the visor on the suits helmet is cracked in three places. Cameron rips the helmet off and throws it away. He tastes the foul smelling air as he looks up out of the crater.

“Well, at least it’s breathable. Otherwise, we’d probably be dead.”

Cameron absent-mindlessly rubs at a large gash on his forehead from the impact as he turns back to the pod. Looking inside, he finds the warp elemental Mary slumped in the second seat of the craft. She is still unconscious. Cameron’s first instinct is to leave her where she is in case she is injured, but he knows that leaving her here will pretty much guarantee her capture by Chaos forces. However, he won’t be able to get her out of the small hatch without hurting her further in her current position. Cameron leaves her for the moment and turns back to the opening.

Expending some energy, Cameron propels himself out of the crater. He lands at the lip and surveys his surroundings. A vast expanse of gray open plains greets him. He tries to sense his companions, but they are either beyond his reach or blocked from his sight by interference. He checks his communicator and sees that the Starblade is at least in orbit above him.

“Well, that’s helpful.”

Cameron interfaces with the Starblade and requests a supply drop. While waiting, he makes his way down into the crater and checks on Mary again. The warp elemental remains unconscious, and it seems that she is reacting poorly to being within the Eye. Power courses through her unchecked, and her skin is almost scalding to the touch. Cameron scowls. He may have to risk a teleport to get her back to the relative safety of the Starblade if she doesn’t recover soon.

A huge thud from above and more ash and gray dirt raining into the impact crater alerts Cameron to the arrival of his package. He leaps from the crater again and lands in front of a drop pod from the ship above. As he approaches, the pod opens up and he steps inside. The pod closes behind him. After a few minutes of mechanical sounds and rumbling from within the pod, it opens again and Cameron emerges. He is now outfitted in his power armor. He slams the helmet down over his head and waits for the vision sensors to calibrate before leaping back into the escape pod’s crater. With his strength now augmented by the power armor, he easily rips a large chunk of the plating away from the hatchway to widen the opening. He then lifts Mary from the shattered craft and carries her out of the crater.

Cameron sets her down gently and manages to get her shattered helmet off of her head. Her breathing is erratic, and her half open eyes are completely violet and bright enough to cause distortion in Cameron’s vision sensors. A quick scan tells Cameron what he needed to know; other then the warp energy overload, she is uninjured. Cameron shakes her and she slowly wakes up.

“Ugh… what fucking freighter hit me… and why is it so fucking HOT?”

Mary struggles to stand up. As she gets to her feet, a sudden wave of warp energy lashes out from her, ripping apart everything around her. Cameron is just barely able to leap backwards in time to prevent being torn in half. The backlash knocks Mary back to the ground. She does not attempt to regain her footing again.

“Cameron… this is too much. The warp energy is too strong here. I can’t… I can’t control…”

Mary is pulled from the ground into a sitting position by another huge wave of energy lashing out from inside her. This one cuts huge gashes into the ground around her and sends razor sharp shards of rock flying in every direction. Fortunately, these harmlessly bounce off of Cameron’s armor. But Cameron knows he cannot allow this to continue. These spikes of power will only draw forces to them and endanger everyone around her.

A third wave of energy rips forth and Cameron reacts quickly, popping a small needle from one of his belt clips. He waits for the wave of energy to pass and then leaps forward. Reaching Mary, he injects the syringe into her neck and catches her as she slumps to the ground again. She mumbles barely audible words.

”Guh, what did you dooo. To me. Fuckface."

Cameron calmly reassures her.

“Calm down. This is for your own good. We’ll see if we can get you back up on your feet after we rejoin the group.”

Cameron picks up Mary, who protests and weakly struggles to escape.

”Fffffuck you… you’re not my dad. Put me down I can walk. You stupid furrrrghh…"

Mary mercifully falls unconscious again, and Cameron carries her under one arm while dialing his helmet’s transceiver into the Imperial Lexicanum’s local net. Immediately, the sound of multiple garbled voices begin to pour from his helmet’s internal voxcoder. Cameron quickly authorizes himself as a Chapter Master and dials into the priority line voxnet. The information he hears being relayed is heartening. The companions have landed, 80% of the Imperial forces survived the entry, and the fleet is still active above the wasteland. Then Cameron hears information that sends chills down his spine.

”The strike team has engaged the Despoiler. Pull back from their sector. Do not attempt to assist.”

It was too soon. The companions weren’t expected to reach the Despoiler until they had breached the main line. He had obviously moved to engage them first. Cameron needed to hurry to try and get there to help. He engages his voxcoder and is about to broadcast a message to the Imperial forces when he is suddenly cut off from the voxnet in a burst of static. Irritated, Cameron flips through all active channels and gets nothing but static feedback. Something is blocking his transmission. He also still can’t sense any of his companions, despite the fact that they should be close by.

“Fine. I’ll just have to find them myself-“

Cameron hears something drop to the ground behind him and spins quickly around. A dark figure has landed behind him. Unnatural shadows flit around him and obscure his face. A distorted, yet recognizable voice cuts through the air, stopping Cameron dead in his tracks.

”Ah, Cameron. Leaving so soon? You just got here. It would be rude of you to run off without at least saying hello...”
« Last Edit: January 21, 2011, 07:41:50 PM by Cameron Aileron »

Offline Cameron

  • Knight-Elemental
  • Caretaker
  • *
  • Posts: 5041
    • Twitter
Re: The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2011, 04:13:54 PM »
Cameron slowly lowers Mary’s unconscious form to the ground as he regards the figure in front of him. At first glance, it appears to be a robot or cyborg of some kind. It is vaguely humanoid, but certain features give it a strange, almost insect-like appearance. Long metal legs end in three huge talons, spaced evenly apart with two facing forward at opposite angles and one facing straight backward. The figure’s arms are longer then they should be, and are strangely jointed. These also end in razor sharp metal talons, four on each hand. The body mostly resembles a skeleton. Metallic ribs protect a bundle of metal and cables that serve as the figure’s spine. The upper chest area is a solid enclosure of plating. This appears to protect the main portion of the figure’s systems. Large silver chains wrap around the figure’s body in multiple places. Strange translucent wings are folded back behind the figure’s back.

As the unnatural shadows fade from the figure, the face captures Cameron’s attention. The left half of the face is the face of a robot. The eye on this side is a glowing red lens set into a metallic visage in the shape of a skull. The area where the mouth would be is covered in a metal plate. It appears that the metal part of the face on the right side was ripped off at some point. A jagged line of sharp metal and exposed wiring indicates where the metal face was sheared off. This exposes a human face underneath it.

The human visage visible on the right side of the figure’s head appears to be the face of a corpse. The flesh looks pale and lifeless, as if it had been preserved for a funeral. The mouth is visibly stitched closed, and the creature’s hair is mostly gone. What is left of it is wispy and transparent. The only indication that this figure is alive is the exposed eye. The iris glows a sickening shade of green and is almost painful to look at. It swirls around the pupil as if it was a cyclone of energy instead of a physical part of the eye. As Cameron regards this, the creature’s mouth twists into a smile. The stitches prevent this from becoming a full grin.

Cameron recognizes this face immediately. It is the face of one of his former soldiers, James Peterson. He had been lost to the warp during Soul Reaver’s campaign against Blackrend. Cameron had almost died that day, but Peterson DID die. He was lost. Cameron had tried to save him, but he had ended up in the Eye of Terror…

As Cameron thinks this, the smirk on Peterson’s dead face gets wider. The stitches pull taught but appear to be made of firmer stuff then just thread. Though Peterson’s mouth never opens, his distorted voice cuts through the air again.

“Yes, yes. I was lost in the Eye of Terror. But I did not die. I wish I did. And soon, YOU will wish I did too. For I am your coming doom!”

The smirk droops into a frown.

“That sounded so much better in my head all these years. Seriously. ‘For I am your coming doom?’ What was I even thinking!”

Peterson regards Cameron coldly.

“Let’s just go with ‘I’m going to wear your entrails as a hat’ and we’ll call it a day.”

With that, Peterson disappears. Before Cameron can react, metal talons are raking across his armor’s back plating, leaving a shower of sparks and propelling him forward. Cameron catches himself and rolls back to his feet just in time to block aside a blow from Peterson’s outstretched claws. However, as he blocks this, he receives another blow to the midsection. This hits him with the force of a cruise missile and he crumples to the ground. Peterson laughs.

“Pitiful! The great marine, felled by a school ground style kick to the crotch!”

Shrugging off the pain, Cameron swiftly returns to his feet. His swords appear in his hands, and he lays into Peterson with a blinding fast series of slashes. Peterson’s chains suddenly unwrap themselves from his body and swirl into movement. As swift as Cameron moves, Peterson moves faster. Each of Cameron’s blows is deftly blocked aside. As Cameron winds up for one last swing, his feet are torn out from under him. Peterson raises Cameron over his head and slams him into the ground face first, creating a Cameron-shaped impact crater in the gray dirt.

Cameron is dazed. He pulls himself out of the crater only to catch a kick to the back of his head which sends him tumbling again. He is then grabbed again and hurled through the air, smashing into the ground 100 yards away. Peterson jeers at him from across the distance.

“What happened? I thought you were the best! Knock off this amateur hour horseshit and FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN.”

Cameron returns to his feet and allows himself to float into the air. His armor is damaged but still functional. He has a few broken ribs but no serious damage. However, he has failed to even land a blow against the former Blood Angel. He calls out to his former comrade.

“Peterson! If that really is you, then why are you attacking? I did everything I could to save you-“

Cameron is watching Peterson as he talks. Peterson has not moved. Which is why Cameron is completely surprised when Peterson smashes his fists down on Cameron’s helmet from behind and sends him spiraling back to the earth. Cameron twists in mid-air and hurls a fireball at Peterson, but he is already gone. He appears on the ground and kicks Cameron as he lands. Cameron is once again thrown through the air and lands in a heap.

“THAT WAS NEVER IMPORTANT, YOU ASSHOLE. I got myself into this fucking mess by accepting your help. I got myself into this mess. It’s what you and your retarded fucking friends did LATER that is my problem. You will only be the first to die for your transgressions. I’m going to gut Soul Reaver like a fish and keep his skull for my fucking drinking cup! I’ll rape Tamrissa Roshan’s corpse like the whore that she is. Who knows… maybe I’ll make Kalana my bitch while I’m at it.”

Cameron returns to his feet again, enraged by Peterson’s words.

“I don’t know what your problem is, but you will NOT harm my friends. And if you even lay a finger on Kalana, I will-“

Cameron is expecting the stealth attack this time and dodges Peterson’s initial blow. But it almost seems that Peterson KNEW he would dodge the attack, because he swiftly changes position and catches Cameron in mid-dodge. His talons rip through Cameron’s helmet, destroying the lenses and equipment inside and leaving Cameron temporarily blind. Cameron has a split second to realize that Peterson could have crippled him with that blow and didn’t, and then a blazing ball of Chaos fire sends him flying into the air, knocking off chunks of his armor with the force of the explosion. Peterson appears above Cameron and casually whips him back towards the ground, where he once again lands in a smoldering heap.

Groaning, Cameron rolls to his back, ripping off the remains of his helmet and tossing them aside. His nose is broken and is gushing dark orange blood. Even more ribs are broken and Cameron can feel one of them punching into a lung. His body has already shifted to the auxiliary lung to compensate, and his regeneration is attempting to knit his wounds. He looks up and sees Peterson plummeting towards him. Cameron expends elemental energy and erects a shield in front of him to stop this killing blow. But just as Peterson is about to hit the shield, he vanishes, and arms and chains rip from the ground and wrap around the fallen marine. Cameron is drug underground.

Cameron is pulled through the earth at an insane speed. Rocks and shards of metal smash into him and cut into his exposed face. Then, just as quickly, he is forced from the ground into the air, where hooked chains lacerate into him and cut through the rest of his armor like butter. Peterson then reappears and forms a giant hammer the size of a small tank from Chaos magic. He slams the green translucent hammer into Cameron, breaking his body and sending him tumbling to the ground again. This time, Cameron fails to get up.

“Oh, the poor baby. How does it feel to be completely outclassed? And all I had to do was endure insane amounts of torture and pain! IT WAS EASY! Now get up. GET THE FUCK UP. I want to kill you while you’re standing so that I can catch your blood in a jar and drink it later with my AFTERNOON TEA.”

Cameron’s confidence is shattered. No matter what he does, Peterson seems to have a counter for it. Peterson is moving so fast that it almost seems that he knows what Cameron is going to do in advance. Cameron checks his mind to make sure he’s not being read and finds nothing. Cameron quickly determines that he can’t take Peterson on by himself, and moves to retreat. He launches himself from the ground as fast as he can in a random direction and runs straight into Peterson’s foot.

Cameron is kicked backwards and then meets Peterson’s foot again. Peterson plays pinball with Cameron for a while by kicking him, teleporting, and kicking him again repeatedly. He eventually grows bored with this and grabs Cameron. He twists him into a spinning pile driver from 50 yards in the air. The move lands perfectly. Cameron is almost rendered unconscious by the crushing blow.

“You aren’t going anywhere. I am not done with you yet. I will continue to play with you until I get bored, and then I will flay you alive and take your face back to Kalana to prove that I killed you before I eat her alive and make a cake out of her innards.”

Peterson reaches down and hauls Cameron up by his throat. Cameron struggles to escape but is still stunned from the previous attack. His ruined power armor crumbles off him. Power cables spark and sputter from the remains of the frame. Peterson laughs and pulls his foot back to deliver another low blow. But then Peterson is lifted from the ground and knocked away by a powerful blow from behind. He catches himself in midair and wheels around to see who has interfered with his fun.

Cameron slumps back to the ground. Mary stands in front of him. Only it isn’t the same Mary, because that Mary is still laying unconscious on the ground yards away. This Mary is not suffering from any of the ill effects of being in the Eye. In fact, she seems to be using the Eye to augment her power. Cameron also notes the tattoo on her hand. All elementals are given a magical brand on their right hand denoting their caste when they finish their training. These brands change themselves when an Elemental reaches their full potential in controlling all elements by surrounding the symbol of their prime element with a gold circle. Up until now, Cameron was the only full Elemental, but this Mary’s hand has the gold circle surrounding the purple cyclone Warp symbol. She regards Cameron briefly.

“Well, they told me you got your ass kicked, but I didn’t know it was THIS bad. He really did a number on you.”

Mary draws her two-handed sword from her back.

“I’m here to help. But you need to let me do this alone. He can sense what you’re going to do before you do it, and hear everything I’m saying to you as if I’m talking directly to him. You’re a liability to me, so STAY HERE.”

Cameron sputters, but Mary is gone before he can say anything. Cameron once again turns inwards, scouring his mind, but he cannot find any sign of mental influence. Confused, Cameron slumps back and concentrates on trying to re-knit his bones.

Mary appears in front of Peterson, who looks less then amused.

“Hello, warp bitch. I have no beef with you, but if you insist on pushing me, I will have no choice but to beat you to death with your unconscious self over there. Just take your sleepy self and move on.”

Mary grins.

“Okay, fine. I’ll do that.”

A warp gate opens on the ground behind the unconscious Mary. A third Mary steps through. She glances around, sees the second Mary hovering in the sky, and tosses her a wave. She then picks up the unconscious Mary and hauls her backwards through the gate, which proceeds to close. Peterson snorts.

“What the fuck. Okay, fine. I’ll just beat you to death with Cameron then.”

Peterson looks over to Cameron just in time to see yet another warp gate open. Mary’s arms reach through and haul Cameron backwards through it before he has the chance to protest. Peterson is enraged.

“No. NO!!!”

Peterson launches himself at the gate and arrives just as it closes. Peterson slams the ground in frustration and turns his gaze back to the Mary hovering in the sky. His one human eye is now completely consumed by green fire.

“YOU BITCH! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT ASSHOLE FOR AGES! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Peterson launches towards Mary, and Mary launches herself back at Peterson. The two collide, and a purple and green shockwave of energy consumes the battlefield.

Offline Cameron

  • Knight-Elemental
  • Caretaker
  • *
  • Posts: 5041
    • Twitter
Re: The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2013, 09:51:26 PM »
Mary lands in a three point stance with her sword pointed behind her. She is exhausted. She has been fighting this abomination that calls himself "Peterson" for close to an hour. She's done her best and kept him distracted, but she is wearing out fast, and Peterson's only taken a few scratches. She watches as he lands about 20 yards away from her. He has two wicked hook blades in his hands, chains flailing around him, and a gleam in his living eye.

"I have to admit, you're putting up a hell of a fight. But you're almost done. I can feel it. You're going to fall, and then I'm going to enjoy myself a little with you before I kill you."

Mary shudders. This asshole has given her no reason to doubt that he means what he says.

"Come on, you sack of shit. You don't have a hotline into my brain like you do with Cameron. You don't know what you're talking about."

Peterson doesn't respond. He vanishes instead. Mary swiftly swings around and blocks a flurry of attacks from behind her before countering with a two-handed slash that misses decapitating Peterson by mere milliseconds. He lands a few feet away, still smirking.

"I can play this game all night. You have Cameron, and I will rip his location from your mind as I devour your soul."

Mary gestures at Peterson and a lance of warp energy leaps from her fingertips. Peterson attempts to dodge but is partially caught in the blast and is thrown to the side. He lands on his feet and launches a counter attack. Mary tries to defend but a quick swipe from one of the hook blades penetrates her already damaged plate armor and digs into her midsection. She gasps in pain and leaps away.

"You're slowing down! How much longer until I break you? I can almost hear the sounds you're going to make as I rip you apart."

Mary glances up into the sky before turning to Peterson. She grins, wiping a bit of blood from her mouth as she does so.

"That's where you're wrong. I won't be dying today."

"Oh REALLY. And what makes you so sure of that?"

Mary shifts her weight and prepares to launch herself back at the half-dead creature.

"Because I'm from the future. I know how this fight ends."

Mary leaps forward, and Peterson prepares to dodge. But at the last second Mary splits into 10 identical figures that attack Peterson from all sides. He blocks and dodges and avoids the first 7 but is knocked around by the final three and sent flying. He lands hard and rolls through the dirt before righting himself. The 10 Mary copies hover in midair above him, laughing.

"More tricks! That's all you have left. And it's still not going to be good enough."

Peterson sends 10 chains flying at his targets. 9 of them pass straight through, but the real Mary is forced to parry the 10th and give away her position. Peterson is on her immediately. She parries a few blows before he manages to grab her by the shoulders.

"SUBMIT!!!"

Peterson spins Mary around and drives her back into the ground hard from 30 feet up, landing on top of her. The wind is knocked out of her and she barely has time to recover before she feels one of his blades slide neatly between her ribs. Peterson's face hovers inches above her own.

"Now... what were you saying about knowing how this battle will end?"

Mary is in tremendous amounts of pain, but she knows Peterson has played right into her trap. As she looks past his face, she sees her cue to leave hovering in the sky.

"This is exactly how this battle ends. I'll see you around."

Mary suddenly disappears, and Peterson finds himself trapped on the ground by a well of warp energy that was left in her wake. He struggles to avoid being sucked into it and manages to break free from it after a short time. He is infuriated by yet another one of his victims escaping at the last minute.

"Damn this bullshit! Where the hell did she... go...."

Peterson trails off as he notices a bright light above him. He looks up and sees a Space Marine battle cruiser positioned above him. He has just enough time to realize it has charged it's Exterminatus cannon and is prepared to fire.

"Oh, fuck me right up the-"

The Exterminatus cannon fires, and everything within a 10 mile radius is vaporized.

Offline Cameron

  • Knight-Elemental
  • Caretaker
  • *
  • Posts: 5041
    • Twitter
Re: The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2013, 10:06:35 PM »
Miles away, Cameron and a different Mary emerge from a warp gate. Cameron is wearing a new set of power armor and is finally tied back into the voxnet. Mary closes the gate behind him and turns to watch the huge cloud of debris from the Exterminatus blast.

"Did the ship hit it's target?"

Cameron is just getting confirmation from the voxnet.

"We think so. We won't know until the smoke clears. Did you get out of there?"

"I don't know." is Mary's reply. Cameron turns to her.

"How do you not know? I thought you were from the future."

Mary: "I am. But the me that was fighting Peterson came after me."

Cameron: "So she's from farther ahead than you?"

Mary: "Yeah. I decided early on that I would fight Peterson last, in case he killed me. That way everything else would still happen."

Cameron shakes his head.

"Fucking time travel."

Mary grins.

"Without it, you'd be dead.  Now come on. We need to find the others."

Cameron nods and pulls up a map from the Starblade. He projects it from his armor so that Mary can see it too. A position not too far from them is lit up on the map.

"They're at the main gate. Looks like they're fighting something big. They can probably use our help."

Mary studies the map for a moment and then opens another warp gate.

"Come on. I'll get us there quick."

Cameron is about ready to step through the Warp gate when Mary puts a hand out and stops him.

"Cameron, wait."

Cameron pulls his helmet up and looks at Mary.

"What? We don't have a lot of time. Our friends need our help."

Mary looks down at her feet. For the first time since he met her, Cameron can see that Mary is struggling with what to say.

Cameron: "Is there something I need to know about?"

Mary: "Well, it probably isn't going to do any good. Time travel doesn't work that way. I can come back and make sure things happen the way they're supposed to like this, but I can't actually change anything."

Cameron: "What are you talking about? What are you trying to change?"

Mary pauses again. She is silent for a moment, and Cameron is  preparing to ask the question again when she finally speaks.

Mary: "Look, just promise me that when this is over, you're not going to leave."

Cameron: "Why would I leave? What are you talking about?"

Mary: "Just promise me. Everyone's going to need you after this. Promise me you're not going to take off."

Cameron: "I don't understand. Does something happen-"

Mary: "PROMISE ME, CAMERON."

Cameron: "Fine. Okay. I promise I won't leave after this is over."

Mary sighs.

"That's going to have to do, I guess."

Cameron raises an eyebrow.

"So that's it? You're not going to tell me what's going on?"

Mary shakes her head and turns towards the gate.

"All talking about it will do is make it worse. Come on. We're wasting time."

Cameron is a bit frustrated with this lack of response, but clams his helmet back down and follows Mary through the gate anyway.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2013, 12:41:04 AM by Starblade|MKIV »

Offline Cameron

  • Knight-Elemental
  • Caretaker
  • *
  • Posts: 5041
    • Twitter
Re: The Eye of Terror: Cameron's Recap
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2013, 10:35:38 PM »
As the dust and debris clears, Peterson hauls himself up out of the edge of the crater the blast caused. He is badly damaged but still alive. And he is angry.

"I cannot believe that bitch tricked me. When I get my power back, I swear I will destroy her."

Peterson can feel Cameron's presence again. He appears to have moved to rejoin his friends. He begins limping in that direction.

Thirty minutes later, Peterson arrives at a sundered battlement. It is obvious a huge fight took place here. This must have been where the companions engaged the Despoiler. He can feel a vast amount of energy nearby, and stops to search it out.

Ah, there it is. The Despoiler's corpse. A few souls that failed to escape during Abbadon's death still linger, and Peterson knows there must be more trapped inside.

"Ah yes. Just what I need. This will recharge me for more murdering."

Peterson eagerly limps over to the corpse. He grabs it and hauls it up, and soon feels the raw power of the remaining souls rushing into him. He devours them happily, but one resists. He feels it inside of him, trying to gain control. And then he hears a voice in his mind.

"Ah, it's you. The corrupter marine. I was wondering what came of that project."

"What? Who are you? Get out of my head!"

"Calm yourself. We are on the same side."

"I am on no one's side. I am my own side. Who are you?"

"I am the former inhabitant of the corpse you just drained."


"Abbadon."

Peterson chuckles.

"So you're not dead after all."


"My mortal shell is, but it takes more than that to actually kill me. However, I find myself incapacitated. I hate to admit it, but I need help."


"And what exactly makes you think I'll help you?"

"I can see your thoughts. You want revenge on your former friends. I want to stop them from destroying the Eye. Our interests are aligned."

"Okay, fine. What do you want from me?"


"Safe passage. Keep me with you and follow my suggestions. I have a plan."

"And what do I get out of this deal?"

"Ultimate power, and the revenge you seek."


"How can you promise me power? You're dead."

"Reap the spoils."


Peterson feels himself reach out and flip Abbadon's corpse over. Underneath it is the demon blade Drach'nyen. It responds to his touch, and he feels unimaginable power course through him as he picks it up. His mutilated mouth twists into a smile.

"Oh yes. This will do. This will do nicely. We have ourselves a deal."
« Last Edit: September 29, 2013, 12:56:55 AM by Starblade|MKIV »