ROM 4: New Horizons

Post by **Simeon** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:58 am

The guardian was relieved that the threat was over... for now.

He mave a move to sheath the Archangel again when the sword drew his attention to the girl with anger in her heart.

By now, Joshua had gone to tend to Mahri and the other children, allowing the Guardian some quiet for meditation...

... he had other things in mind for this peace.

-------

The Guardian's apparition appeared faintly beside Shauni.

"Daughter of Hellfire. I am here."

Post by **shauni** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:04 am

Shauni glanced at the guardian and smiled
"Father...what darkness is within me I can not let go of? I never used to have this rancid core. Lady Midori tried to purify me once before, but my dark side came out and a actually slashed her with the cursed daggers. She said my soul wanted this darkness, needed it, that I was to become destruction"
She closed her eyes
"I what to get rid of this festering blackness within me these cursed daggers has released. I know the Ivy staff will stop it manifesting itself, but its still going to be there."
She cupped her head in her hands and began to cry
"What evil lurks within my soul?!"

Post by **Simeon** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:39 am

"Fear." was the Guardian's answer, "Fear, anger, and jealousy..."

"Fear of death... of dying. Angry, for you are already dead. Jealous for life that is out of your reach."

Shauni looked at the Guardian. His countenance had changed. The friendly glow in his eyes was now a flame of impassioned rage. His posture reflecting his inner seething...

"Destruction... Destuction..." his voice was growling, snarling. "To make room to live... to take and steal what you need. Blood on your talons and soaking your fur." he flexed his paws in front of his face with a sadistic and toothy grin, "You need it to survive... To be alive."

The Guardian seemed to snap out of his sudden change of soul.

"But you're already dead... Dead and gone."

There was a pause.

"Darkness is part of the balance. In moderation, it is safe-- but it is like fire, and untended, it will consume; and it must consume to live, even if it is a half life. There is, however, but one salvation from his cycle of death to true life..."

"Where must I find this hope, Guardian!?" Shauni stood up, her eyes hopeful.

"The power lies in the hands of-- AUGH!!"

"Guardian!"

"I'm sorry, Daughter... but my time is short... I will speak with you again. Listen for my voice and I will guide you."

"You and I are one in the same..."

-------

The Guardian was snapped to his senses as a dark figure shot at him with a small black arrow. The accursed object was embedded in his shoulder...

He pulled the arrow out and checked if it was poisoned, then noticed a shadowlike creature reaching for one of the children.

With a mighty roar, the Guardian pounced upon the creature and tore it to shreds. He was still mauling the creature when Mahri clamed him down.

"Guardian Father... that's enough... please..."

He noted the children were looking a little scared, and dropped the shadowling's corpse.

"I... I'm sorry, children... I did not mean to frighten you."

"Guardian Father, we have never felt safer." was Mahri's reassurance.

Post by **shauni** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:00 am

Shauni stood, unmoved from her panicked pose as she had reached out for the guardian, only to find air
She sensed a great wrong in the air and a burning filled her heart

"Fear, anger, and jealousy..."

She clenched her fist

"The power lies in the hands of-- who?"

Her eyes wavered for a moment as frustration filled her. They turned black, blacker than any shadow that was cast, blacker than any night sky. Those eyes were void of life and seemed to sap the colour from there surroundings

"There has been poison and malice towards innocuous. I can feel it within me. I sense the guardian has suffered at the hands of evil before and he fights something rancid within himself. This world has been nothing to those that inhabit it but death."

She was clenching her fist so hard it was bleeding

"Someone holds the power to correct this...condition I have...I will find them and extract what I need. I can not exist in a world where only festering darkness awaits. This world is not dead...I will not stay dead."

Shauni closed her eyes and held herself, as she fought against the darkness within her own soul

"no! No! I won't exist in darkness again! I won't go back to a black void! this world is full of pain but even that is better than NOTHING!"

At that outburst, Shauni's eyes had returned to a steady grey.

"I wont live in cold shadows. I WON'T! And I won't be the course of destruction! I am not a monster! I AM SHAUNI AKETCHI! BORN OF FIRE AND RAISED IN LIES! THIS IS MY PROCLAMATION! I WAS CREATED WITH NO TRUE PURPOSE BUT DESTRUCTION, BUT I CHOSE WHAT MY FATE IS! I WILL NOT EMBRACE THIS FALSE DEATH!"

With that spoken, her tormented soul balanced itself, if only temporally.
She slumped to the ground and began to cry with such anguish...but it felt good. Pain let her know she was alive, where as the void she remembered from before all this had been formless...with no feelings at all...

Post by **Celebifly** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:16 pm

"Summon her? oh boy..." Opal got a little nervous as she summoned out

"What do you want?" Lopa snapped as soon as she was summonded.

"Nice to see you too..." Opal rolled her eyes. "I'll just get to the chase. Either we purify you or-"

"Purify? You want me to get SOFT?!? Lopa yelled.

"Let me finish. If we don't purify you, you'll be destroyed and-"

In a split second, Lopa pinned Opal down to the ground.

"How would you like it if I destroyed you?" She ask, bearing out claws.

"Either that or we purify you!" Opal managed to squirm away from Lopa.

"You think you're so fancy, being able to destroy...things." Lopa snapped back up.

"Just shut up!" Opal sighed. "Just pick one; purified or we destory you. It's not that hard!"

Lopa just cross her arms and stared at Opal and Midori.
"Who's she?"

"Um, Midori Fidori." Opal said blankly.

Lopa lifted an eyebrow.
"And what does she do? Just watch us?

"No, I'll be the one that will either purify or destory you." Midori gave a faint smile.

"You don't scare me." Lopa smirked.

Opal took in a deep breath.
"If you don't put your word in, I'm just going to destroy you!"

"Like you could have the guts too." Lopa flipped her hair.

"Midori, I made my decision! I want Lopa destroyed!"

Midori gave a nod.

"Hey, whoa, what about my word?"

"I gave you enough time to answer that! Too late!" Opal flipped up her card.

"I change your mind! I want to be purified!" Lopa screeched before she got summonded back.

Opal just smiled.
"She was right. I couldn't destroy her. But tricking her is another thing." She gave a smile.

Midori smiled
"Now it's time for the process.

Post by **shauni** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:17 am

Midori smiled
"Now it's time for the process."
Midori walked over to Lopa and threw salt all over her

"HAY! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOUR D-"

Lopa stopped mid sentence

"And where done"
"WHAT?? IS THAT IT??"
Midori nodded "Yep, this is purification salt. It only works if the evil agrees to be purified. Its an ancient powder that's made from the horn of a very rare monster called a Unipasora."

She passed Opal a text hat she had gathered from a shelf

"Its all here"

Opal took the scroll and read it aloud
" It is traditionally believed that only Shrine maiden's could catch and train the delicate Unipasora. The Unipasora, who craves purity, would be irresistibly drawn to the girl and lie down with his head in her lap. While it slept, the shrine maiden could capture it.
Throughout the stories of the Unipasora, its horn is said to have great medicinal powers. In Ancient writings, the dust filed from the horn was supposed to protect against deadly diseases if mixed into a potion. Or, if you drank from the horn, you would be protected against any poison.
Unipasora are shy animals and will not appear before humans unless its senses there good intentions. This suggests the creature is empathic, and can sense peoples feelings.
Little else is know about these creatures. It is thought they have the ability to fly for miles at a time at very high altitudes, but there is very little evidence to support this due to its reclusive nature."
Opal scratched her head "never heard of it"

Midori nodded "Its a closely graded story. the Ivy Staff Shauni seeks is the full horn of a Unipasora. Think of it. If dust from the horn can purify a Shadow of Soul, the Ivy Staff may help your friend"


"Please, tell me why you where so cruel to her. Why not just tell her that"

Midori grabbed her shoulder and pulled the robe down, showing a large gash

"Your friend did this to me..."

Post by **Celebifly** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:03 pm

(Wow, I have heard of that story before -takes out mystical creatures book which she stole from her grade 6th class- The only was to get a Unicorn is for a beautiful Maiden, yadda yadda yadda, Unicorn lays head down on her lap, they got it!)

Opal eyed the large gash.
"But...but...Shauni?" Words failed her.

"Yes, she did that." Midori covered her gash

"Wow, and, um, Lopa, how you feel?

"Um...sleepy." Lopa responded as if she lost her old personality.

"Good, I mean, great." Opal smiled and summonded her back.
"Can I go now?" She asked Midori, not trying to sound rude.

Post by **Josiah** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 12:59 pm

"Well, that was strange..." *Josiah commented as everyone flew back to the ship.*

"Why the Fudge Crackers did it have to Instakill my monster?"

"Hey, that was just bad luck." *Josiah landed and returned to his normal form.* "Could have happened to any of us."

"It said that there would be more..."

"Bring 'em on! I hardly got to do anything in this battle."

"I'm more interested in this master it mentioned. I wonder if it's part of the same group we fought in Vahallow..."

The Zodiac Sword
Crab Cutter, Bull Blaster, Hurricane Twist, Twin Healing, Holy Justice, Poisoned Water, Demonic Fire, Maiden's Protection, Gale Force, Paralyzing Blow, Eroding Strike, Poison Fang, Lionheart, Zodiac Sky

Monsters:
Electriblast - 4/3 - Electric --> Multi Striker, Voltage Overload, Electric Heaven, Electricuter, Static Surge
Midnight Wing - 4/3 - Dark/Mutation --> Shadow Pain, Omni-Mutation, Dark Radience, Drill Dash, Reverse Charge
 Yggdrasil - 4/3 - Ground --> Rock Crusher, Pebble Rain, Life Drain, Multi-Fissure, Grand Quake
Rayzion - 4/3 - Light --> Shine, Wrath of God, Mirror Slice, Heaven's Retribution, Between Heaven & Earth
Hell Fire - 4/3 - Fire/Dark --> Flare Up, Pyro Gyser, Fireball Charge, Magma Ocean, Armegeddon
Aquaticia - 4/3 - Water --> Undercurrents, Acid Rain, Super Splash, Tsunami Force, Typhoon
Ice Celestial - 4/3 - Ice --> Snow Drift, Hail Storm, Perfect Zero, Freezedown, Ice Age
Goddess Virgo - 4/3 - Metal/Light --> Mecha Overdrive, Divine Gift, Angel's Restoration, Heavenly Spear, Shadows of Heaven
Mythril Dragon - 4/3 - Wind/Metal --> Supreme Guard, Velocity, Air Gun, Wind Tunnel, Invincible Charge
Death Glider - 4/3 - Shadow/Dark --> Negablast, Duel Shredder, Domino Burst, Dark Requiem, Shadow Fade

Post by **Neo Zanther** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 12:09 pm

The group headed back to the ship to wait for Opal and Shauni to return from the shrine. As soon as Neo and Tsuekasa landed Tsuekasa climbed off of Queen Ice Bird first. Then Neo took off into the air.

"Where are you going Neo?" , said Tsuekasa. Apparently either Neo didn't hear her or ignored her as he headed of to Onett. It didn't take him long to arrive to the shrine.

Neo then jumped off of QIB and landed near Shauni startling her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm hear to tell you something Shauni, daughter of Hellfire." said Neo. Though it wasn't Neo's voice that was talking. His eyes looked blank. ""Why do you reject the darkness within you? The darkness is your greatest alli. This world apparently cares nothing for you. It won't help you in your time of need. Let your darkness fill you and destroy the world that has rejected you. Teach it that it was wrong to turn it's back on you. This world is getting too big so destroy it to make room for a new generation. One that will be under a dark rule that can help you. Let the darkness consume you again. Let it fuel your ambitions and the voids that you feel."

"Who are you?"

"I will not say as all will be releavled in due time. Though I will say this. You have less then 2 weeks before a certion village will be wiped off the face of Orca and free up space. So remember daugher of hellfire, let the darkness in. Remember what it was like as a Shadow of Soul."

Then Neo fell in a heap onto the ground. Soon he came to. "Where am I?"

Post by **Celebifly** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:35 pm

Opal came out with Lopa in its card.
"I'm ready to go Shauni, and I have some information for you-" She stopped as she eyed Neo. "Um, where did he come from?"

"I don't know...what information?" Shauni asked.

"Something about catching a Unipasora with a beautiful maiden....the horn can be made to protect from diseases, and the maiden must have good intentions because the Unipasora can sense feelings..." Opal sorta trailed off. "Hey, are there even jsut pure Unicorns or Pegasus's in Orca?" Opal asked.

Post by **shauni** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:06 am

Shauni lent her head sideways in confusion at Opal, then turned her attention back to Neo

"You, you where flying over head when you fell off your monster, you hit your head on the ground. Must be amnesia. Don't worry about it!"

Shauni began to sweat a little and she unconsciously adjusted her collar on her cloths
"Urm..come on, let go back to the ship"

Shauni took of before anyone could say another word

*I hope Neo wasn't referring to Onett....*

Post by **Josiah** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:43 am

*Back at the ship.*

"I'm bored, bored, bored, bored!" *Silver paced restlessly.* "Are they ever going to get back here?"

"I'm sure it won't be much longer." *David was leaning against the railing nearby.* "That place they were going wasn't very far away."

"Personally, I'd like to know why Neo suddenly flew off." *Since they weren't moving, Jeff had come out to join the others on the deck.*

*Josiah nodded.* "That is kinda strange. Although he has been acting a bit strange lately, what with that dark energy and all." *He sighed.* "I miss the times when all of us were normal, you know? No possessions, no dark energy, just ourselves... Things were way easier back then."

*Virgo walked over and put her arm around his shoulders.* "Things were easy? That may have been before my time but you've told me the stories. Easy isn't a word I'd use to describe it."

"Well, maybe easy isn't the right word... But back then, no matter how bad things got, we could always count on each other. Now, I'm not so sure..."

"Hey, you've got me!" *Silver had drifted away from Jeff and David.* "I'm not evil or possessed or anything."

"Yeah, and I'm glad for that. If you turned evil you'd make for a really dangerous opponent. Well, maybe... You weren't too bad when you meged with your Shadow of Soul. Actually, you probably screwed up the other SOS more than you hurt our team."

"Look!" *Jeff called from the other end of the ship.* "Something is coming. I think the others are coming back!"

The Zodiac Sword
Crab Cutter, Bull Blaster, Hurricane Twist, Twin Healing, Holy Justice, Poisoned Water, Demonic Fire, Maiden's Protection, Gale Force, Paralyzing Blow, Eroding Strike, Poison Fang, Lionheart, Zodiac Sky

Monsters:
Electriblast - 4/3 - Electric --> Multi Striker, Voltage Overload, Electric Heaven, Electricuter, Static Surge
Midnight Wing - 4/3 - Dark/Mutation --> Shadow Pain, Omni-Mutation, Dark Radience, Drill Dash, Reverse Charge
 Yggdrasil - 4/3 - Ground --> Rock Crusher, Pebble Rain, Life Drain, Multi-Fissure, Grand Quake
Rayzion - 4/3 - Light --> Shine, Wrath of God, Mirror Slice, Heaven's Retribution, Between Heaven & Earth
Hell Fire - 4/3 - Fire/Dark --> Flare Up, Pyro Gyser, Fireball Charge, Magma Ocean, Armegeddon
Aquaticia - 4/3 - Water --> Undercurrents, Acid Rain, Super Splash, Tsunami Force, Typhoon
Ice Celestial - 4/3 - Ice --> Snow Drift, Hail Storm, Perfect Zero, Freezedown, Ice Age
Goddess Virgo - 4/3 - Metal/Light --> Mecha Overdrive, Divine Gift, Angel's Restoration, Heavenly Spear, Shadows of Heaven
Mythril Dragon - 4/3 - Wind/Metal --> Supreme Guard, Velocity, Air Gun, Wind Tunnel, Invincible Charge
Death Glider - 4/3 - Shadow/Dark --> Negablast, Duel Shredder, Domino Burst, Dark Requiem, Shadow Fade

Post by **Neo Zanther** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:07 pm

"Well be better return to the ship with the others Opal. No use in delaying our departure any longer."

"Um, Ok."

Neo and Opal climed up onto Queen Ice Bird and took off twords the ship. Along the way Neo was thinking. The way Shauni said what had happened didn't quite sound right. But he decided not to dwell on it much. If he really wanted to he could talk to her alone and see if they story changed any. But that will be sometime later.

Post by **shauni** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:17 pm

Shauni followed slightly behind Neo and Opal, flying herself. She felt Midori's presence following her

*so...she's projecting her aura towards me. I guess she is more worried about me than she would have me believe...*

She flew on, until the ship was in sight

*I wonder if anything interesting happened while we where gone...*

((no one else can sence Midori's aura. basicaly she can just see whats happening threw her 'minds eye'))

Post by **Simeon** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:50 am

"Midori."

"AH!" Midori whirled around to see the apparition of the Guardian behind her. "Holy Guardian! What are you doing here!?"

"Leave the Daughter of Hellfire to me, Sister Midori." the Guardian, "She has been under my watch since the Archangel found me."

"Holy Protector... she.."

"--Seeks the healing horn of the Unipraesora. Yes, Sister Midori, I am aware. She is destined to find it, but not as soon as she would like."

"Holy Protector, that is not enough to qwell my worries." Midori spoke, "If she finds it..."

The Guardian sighed. "If it will calm your soul, Sister Midori, I will go hunting in the morning. I can guarantee nothing, but it is all I can offer."

Midori bowed, "It is enough knowing that you may be able to draw away the destruction of our world a little longer..."

"Dear Sister Midori, you only wish to hold back what is inevitable... but do know that she is in the company of one other whom I am watching over."

"Who is it and what purpose does this one have?" Midori asked, scared and curious.

"Glad you ask, Sister Midori. That one will need every prayer offered up to the Master now more than ever... I will tell you what you need to know..."

-------

The Guardian sat smiling as he came out of his meditations... then looked into the glowing surface of the Archangel.

"They are coming, aren't they, Guardian Father?" Mahri whispered as she looked over her protector's shoulder.

"Yes. Yes they are, Mahri." the Guardian sighed, "I know what will happen when they come..."

Mahri sat in her Guardian's lap, "Then go when they come. It is your destiny. The Master we serve is pleased with you now and it is time that you complete His work."

The Guardian looked at Mahri oddly. He shivered a bit, sensing a divine power coming from the little girl... "We serve?" the Guardian whispered, "What do you mean, dear Mahri?"

Mahri just cuddled close to her guardian Father and smiled like the child of innocence she was. "When are we going for another walk, Guardian Father?" she asked with a happy yawn.

"In the morning, Mahri. We'll be watching for the winged ones in the fields as the sun rises, as always..." he replied, as he felt the little one fall asleep in his arms.

"In the morning tide, before my destiny comes..."