Recipe: Death With a Dash of Ritual

[James]

((OOC: This is a story I'm writing simply for my mage. If you want to offer advice on plot advancement, etc, I appreciate it, but I'd rather not have anyone RPing with me unless they seriously want to be a part of this. Thanks! Also, this will be in sections per post so people who are reading this can tell when I post more to the story.))

Argus awoke from death.

"What?!" His voice screamed. Instead of his words echoing dully, like they used to, they were filled with his youthful vocals.

"I..." His voice scared him.

"...am alive..."

His arm rose half an inch as though of its own accord. He knew he moved it, but he couldn't feel it. What had happening to him?

He grunted trying to lift his left arm. It was attached, apparantly.

"Who did this to me?"

He looked around. The only things he could see were two walls to his left and right, as well as his robes.

With a sudden impulse his voice exploded with magic. The crimson magic bounced off the walls, creating an unusually loud chant, and yet his voice was in but a whisper. His magic had grown.

Now free of what bonds restrained him, the mage sat up and rubbed his face. He certainly felt... dead.

Looking at his hands and arms he looked at his pigmented flesh. It was... unusual. Perhaps just the darkness.

As if upon an impulse he restrained a cough, but it never came. It was gone. Whatever had killed him, he was immune to now. His anger flared. In a swift movement his fist slammed into the wall to his right, leaving the brick smashed, the dirt compacted greatly, and dust fluttered this way and that, threatening his cough to ensnare his body. Yet, it didn't.

His eyes truly opened, then. Ahead of lay a stone door, flattened by his spell of opening.

His feet moved on their own. He knew he was the one who willed himself to move, and yet his old bones would not ache, his cough would not collapse him, his heart would not comfort him...

His heart.

He was dead.

The shock drew a maroon red from his eyes as they widened.

The mage looked at his chest. Apparantly he still had to draw breath.

"Son of a motherless ogre!"

Thoughts crossed his head. The one that stuck, that played with his mind, was suicide. Could he kill himself?

No... he could live on. He could continue his journey. With sudden realization of this fact, he smiled.

Why would anyone let him help, though? He stroked his beard. The feeling shocked him.

Suddenly, his lungs flared with the deep, strong breaths he drew. His head hurt.

"Ach, this headache... ever since I helped that vampire, it hasn't left me." Realizing he was talking to nobody but himself, he drew back and started thinking his words.

Yet, he was elated with the advance in his undead body. He applied his hand to his heart.

There is no pulse...

Certainly not.

He whirled about, seeing nothing but the opening through the door. The whole chamber was closed but for that door.

What...?

Yes.

So, he was a lich.

[James]

His robes flowed beneath him with a cold wind.

Who...?

You'll never know. But that doesn't matter... I'll have you soon enough...

The mage's eyes flared wide, the deadened crimson blood filling his eyes.

"You will not have me!"

He walked stiffly out the door into an underground temple. An unholy temple. Behind the altar stood a throne. A throne of lies, deception, unholy abomination, death and undeath.

A throne of...

evil?

An evil laugh echoed throughout the temple walls, writhing its way into Argus' brain, stabbing him with metal needles.

He reacted quickly as his brain misplaced the pain and created a shield for when it came back.

Very tricky, aren't we?

The force exploded against his brain, splattering itself all over him. His body shivered with the coldness that had embraced him.

Argus stepped forth towards the altar. His mouth opened slightly and a whisper rained forth like a silent hurricane, and the altar was torn asunder, split into pieces.

The figure that encroached upon his mind evaporated and dissipated from him. Before him upon the throne of lies sat the Evil King.

The King drew his breath suddenly, unexpecting to have been broken from the power he had from the altar.

"Bastard!"

His cape and feet flew upwards, and the King evaporated again.

The crimson words bounced off the walls once more, and the throne lay ashambles around a hole.

"You cannot hide from me!"

Argus stepped forth and his feet flew downwards, whirling wind around his whipping robes.

His feet landed with a dull thud onto the soft dirt that marked a buriel ground, and as his eyes adjusted the dwarvish runes flickered across his eyes.

A clan's burial chambers, he thought. His feet flew before him, sending him off into an impulsive direction of where he thought the King would be. He once felt like this long ago, when the Evil King haunted his memories. The death of his family cost him his life, his otherwise normal life that turned him to wizardry merely for this... and he was simply a pawn to the King. The Evil King, Dun'Zaer.

His feet plodded forward through the endless catacombs, his mind grasping for revenge.

[James]

Argus flew like the wind where wind shouldn't be. His robes flailed and his voice echoed, as he chanted slowly and quietly to prepare a defensive spell.

Suddenly he lost feeling in his arm. Stopping and looking to the right he noticed that it had fallen off because of a wire that had just slashed through his shoulder, pulling his left arm out of its socket. He laughed. Pain didn't hurt, it was fun... how interesting.

Turning around he picked up his arm and reattached the bone, then focusing his magic into a spell that enchanted his fingers to have a fusing effect, and connected his flesh back together. A scar remained on his skin, but the job had been done, and his arm was as good as new. He turned again and began running once more.

Turning another corner the spell he had prepared came in handy. Releasing its magic, it deflected a fireball that had roared towards him, setting a wall aflame and causing it to have a large, blackened dent. With an explosion of crimson arcane veins erupted from his feet, and he reached his hand out to the wall where more veins corrupted the corridor. They moved faster than he had been running, faster, and faster still, until they caught up with the king and ensnared him, entangled him, crushing his magic slowly.

Argus walked up to the paralyzed Evil King, his mind bent on his revenge. Yet, he was still Argus... pacifistic and forgiving. He couldn't kill anyone, especially after his oath.

I should've been a priest...

"Di'adur, your so called reign is over. No longer will you hold power over others, nor will you be able to live for a thousand years. At that time whatever magic you had will be erased from you, and you will be but a mere mortal. Begone from my eyes and others' until that time comes, and may I never meet you again."

He locked the spell, and the Evil King melted, his agonizing screams echoing throughout the halls. He melted into the floor and the veins went with him, carrying him to the center of the planet, never to be heard from for a thousand years, without magic.

Argus sighed. Now, he had to get out of this forsaken corridor. But how to do so he did not know.

As a journey begins with a step, his un-life began with a sigh. At long last his life had truly been made complete, the murder of his parents avenged.

He continued throughout the maze. Who knows how long it would take him to escape these damned confines? He may as well have been encapsulated like the Evil King.

((OOC: This is now, for the most part, an open RP. Join if you wish ))

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe slipped through this way and that, exploring the caves deep in the mountains, searching for another entrance. Long, long ago he had been a captive in these stones, unable to get out no matter how hard he had tried. He hated being stuck in the earth, in the rocks colder than he was, but that didn't keep him from returning to them. The young-in-body vampire would not let his angers keep him from what he wanted, and so, he would return the mountains. It was a dark place to sleep in the day, anyways, but that was not why he came here. ::..

..:: When the Amentan came, the thing had accidentally released him, and Blythe had been able to watch it create a home in the cavern he had once been trapped in. Someday, he planned to learn all about it, but he knew he could not go there without zip's help. At least, not without a way to get the plant guarding the only entrance moved, and he didn't know how to do that without something from her. He would get that something, use it when he needed and if he needed it, but preferably after he knew all about the things inside. ::..

..:: It was possible that there was another way in, but if so; he had never seen it from before when he was inside. At least he could learn the twists of the caves, and use the knowledge someday, if the need ever came of course. He had never been as deep as he was now, and he was sure he could find his way out; but there was something strange about this area. The rocks of the cave turned to bricks, and soon, had four walls like a hall. There were no doors as far as he could see, but there might be further down, past where he could see it turn. Thinking it would be interesting, he headed into the hall, listening and looking around. ::..

[James]

On the floor lay the staff. A pile of dirt covered the corner of a turn in the path next to the staff, and in it hid Argus. Discovering he didn't need to breathe was an interesting thing, though it made him horribly uncomfortable. Though he was a lich, he still got tired eventually from walking for days at a time. The mage was astounded at his newfound stamina and endurance, and figured that with time it might grow. For now, though, he was tired and needed to sleep. And so there he lay in the dirt, awaiting the time he would awaken a few hours from when he started his sleep, which was only a half hour away. His left foot stuck out from under the dirt, the blueish brown boot reflecting what light there was in the tunnels.

[Blythe]

..:: So far, there hadn't been anything special about the stone hallway, but it was still oddly placed. For whatever reason, this was hidden inside of a mountain, and that was enough to keep Blythe looking for whatever it was here for. He looked at every wall, down every hall, and even in the darker corners. The only thing he saw was still skeletons lying about in some of the corners, old and fleshless. He couldn't figure out why they would be where they would whenever they died. ::..

..:: Figuring this would go no where, Blythe turned back, he could look for ways into the cavern back in the caves. There, blocking his path, was one of the dead people's legs in his way. He had been kind enough to walk around it once, but this time, he kicked it for being so annoying and keeping him from going where he wanted with ease. Stupid dead leg. ::..

[James]

The leg bounced of the ground, then shuffled slightly. Suddenly it retracted into the dirt, and the dirt pile began to shift, move and to tumble its top contents to the ground.

Out of the dirt stood the mage, now lich. He wiped off his shoulders and yawned, though it was odd of him to do so.

Looking down, he spotted the young looking vampire he'd met a month or so ago.

"Blythe... what a pleasure to see you again!"

He smiled at the vampire, and began humming the song he had when the two had met.

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe's attention locked on the leg once it seamed to move on its own. The vampire had seen magic before, but never had he thought he would run into some here, but still he only stood slightly surprised as he watched it. When the leg slipped into the ground, it was obvious what Blythe was seeing; the dead thing was undead. Darn. He supposed that this would make all the other dead things possible undead things too. Great, he had stumbled into a place full of things that might attack him; wonderful. ::..

..:: Blythe looked up to the darn dead thing, wondering if he should attack, or prepare to defend himself. There could be so many, Blythe knew it would be better to run than to be over ran; but the tunnels might direct him to others waiting for him. Darn it. Then the dead thing spoke his name, said it had seen him before, which worried him a bit. Most of the dead people that knew him he had killed, for reasons; Blythe knew his reasons were good. Blythe immediately recognized the tune, and a light smile took him; it was good that he ran into his trainer. Blythe didn't dislike the mage, either, but he did wonder why his trainer stood before him dead. ::..

..:: "Argus." The child's smile grew a bit; he was actually a bit happy to see the mage, for quite a few reasons. He glanced over the mage, though more so Argus would see him looking rather than curiosity, "Why are you undead?" Blythe knew Argus was a great mage, and remembering everything he had learned the night they had met, Blythe touched his ring with his thumb. ::..

[James]

Argus blinked and his hum stopped. His face grew a little grim, as did his attitude.

"An evil king."

His face softened a bit, and he looked back to Blythe. The mage kneeled down on the floor to become of eye level with Blythe.

"Forgive me. Perhaps a week ago, or two weeks, I had died. I'm not sure, as since I have been here I have lost track of time. I do know for a fact that I died at one point, however, but I was brought back. When we met... I was sick. I was going to die in a few weeks, if not then a few months, and my family... went unavenged. But the king..."

Argus bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't think of such an opponent as so weak, but he was... an idiot. To make an already powerful mage that wanted to kill him into an even more powerful, uncontrollable lich that wanted to kill him was a fallacy, as the events proved.

"The king turned me into a lich. I'm assuming he was nearby when I had died, or perhaps he had poisoned me, I do not know. What I do know is that not much time passed between the binding of my soul to my dead body, or else I would not be talking with you now." He paused for a second to let this sink in.

"I know not of his name, nor if he had one, but he was a king. Instead of killing him for my revenge, I instead subjected him to hell. He is currently banished at the center of the earth, and somewhere in these passages I banished him, but I forget where now. He sought to control me and utterly failed. I destroyed his altar, the source that made him a king of the undead, and since my soul was uncorrupted I did not fall to its powers. I've been wandering and now... I've met you. It really is an interesting thing to see you here, quite quizzical in fact, but I'd rather just ask you to lead the way- I have lost my life and must discover how to pick up a new one in my undeath."

At this Argus chuckles. He paused for a second, in memory of the priest that he helped, the one he told Blythe of. She said the same joke about an undead being once...

"At any rate, I would like to follow you. I have nowhere else to go and would much prefer to have a somewhat mindless routine until I can figure out what I want to do. If you'll have me, then lead on."

Crunch.

"Wait. We need to hide."

Crunch. Crunch.

Dirt fell onto the pile that Argus stayed in. It was close. Argus dug quickly in the dirt and recovered himself. His staff dispersed and there was no sign that he was even there. A muffled voice came from under the dirt, "Quick, get in!"

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe stood his place when Argus kneeled, listening to what the mage had to say, and nodding at times. He hadn't even suspected that Argus was sick, or even really cared at the time; Argus was just another step closer to what he wanted. In fact, Argus didn't seam to trust him so much at first; so Blythe hadn't wanted to go personal. Actually, he never wanted to speak of personal junk; it was just junk. ::..

..:: The vampire did wonder why the king was after Argus and his family though. The only slight reason he could come up with is that this King didn't like Argus because the mage was good, and had probably caused the King some trouble. But now Argus said the king was taken care of, and so Blythe nodded again; maybe Blythe could get Argus' help in other things now. Blythe guessed that it was good Argus came to trust him—an undead—before the mage became one himself. ::..

..:: Blythe nodded again before speaking. He wasn't about to explain why he was down here; at least, not yet. "It is good that you had sent that evil king away. I know these caves well, and you will always be welcomed with me." He was about to turn when he could hear the distant crunching, making Blythe stand even stiller; growing in alertness. He didn't want to get into the dirt, but he figured it was for the best. ::..

..:: He listened close for what was coming, trying to figure out what it was. It was large for sure. With Argus, Blythe knew they could fight it off if they needed to, no matter what it was. ::..

[James]

Argus made sure he and his companion were covered then told Blythe, "The beast has no hearing. He does, however, have an amazing sense of touch and sight down here, so keep still."

He lay there, still as death, waiting.

Crunch. Crunch. CRUNCH!

Its scorpion-like tail shot down, pinning Argus to the floor.

"AUGH!" His voice suddenly flowed with a scarlet stream of syllables and his hand gripped the massive stinger, unleashing electricity throughout the scorpion's body.

It pulled back into the ceiling.

"Quick, let's go!" Argus lifted himself up on his good arm and darted towards a random direction. They had to run. They would die if they didn't, the monster was much too powerful, even for his magic.

[Blythe]

..:: He didn't bother to nod at Argus' advice, because the mage should have known he heard, and Blythe didn't want to make any sound from movement. When Argus was pulled from the dirt, Blythe rolled onto his back; already calling magic. A black ball of magic appeared and grew on his hand, spinning and ready as dirt fell off of him, exposing him. He didn't want to hit the mage, but when Argus fell from the air Blythe took his shot; aiming right for where the stinger came from. ::..

..:: Blythe had no problem with running, unlike most people who thought it was for the weak. He was quickly to his feet, wondering just how fast Argus could run. "This way." Taking the lead, the walls of bricks slowly became stone again as they moved into a more cave-like area. Hopefully they could make it to a tunnel too small for this 'beast'. Blythe as ready to grab Argus if he couldn't run fast enough to get away from their attacker, even if he had to carry the wounded mage. ::..

[James]

He ran swiftly, letting Blythe overtake him to lead the way. The mage slid suddenly and stopped, then pulled back his fist and let it crash into the wall, collapsing the roof. He hopped out of the way and ran to keep up with Blythe, his left arm dangling uselessly at his side.

Under his breath Argus told Blythe, "That blasted monster took out my other arm last time."

Without time to put his arm back in place, each step pained him. He was certainly no healer, though he doubted it would help much anyways, considering his state of undeath.

[Blythe]

..:: When the wall collapsed, Blythe slowed, watching Argus move in time to keep from being squished. The monster was though, so there was no more reason to run; he slowed to a simple walk. He had no comment about the monster, so he nodded again, leading as they both slipped deeper into the caves. They were by no means smooth anymore, and Blythe had to climb or slip between rocks; waiting for Argus each time. Blythe took advantage of the peace now to ask more about the mage, ::..

..:: "And what are you going to do now, Argus?" He supposed that he could talk about what he had been doing, but Argus already knew his reasons and his goals; so if needed he could say more on them later. The rocks in the thin cave they were in now had ice on them, some places thicker than others, and balanced Blythe had no problems with slipping. It was pitch black, too, but Blythe was of the night. The dark was welcomed. ::..

..:: There was one block of ice, stuck between several rocks where the wall met the floor, that Blythe eyed longer than the others. Behind it was the cavern he was once a captive of. And now, behind it was more. The blocked opening was only a small whole, but it was bigger to get through if the ice wasn't melted. Too bad he had seen the guarding behind it. He turned back to the mage, waiting for his answer. Depending on what it was, there were a lot of things they could do. ::..

[James]

Argus coughed at the question. What was he going to do? Having not the faintest idea, Argus muttered his answer. When he realized he'd spoken in such a low tone, he reiterated, "Sorry. I'm going to stick with you for a while, if you don't mind. Your aptitude with magic is phenomenal and for now I'd truly like to watch it grow."

He stroked his silver beard. Argus wondered also if the small vampire would try to use any magic for evil devices.

Suddenly realizing his arm was still out of its socket, Argus gripped his shoulder and yanked it into place. A soothing, yellow phrase whispered from nowhere, everywhere, and from him. His arm attached itself to the side of his body and would not move anywhere else.

In a bout of curiousity, Argus asked, "Where exactly are we?"