-===( The Scrolls of Serenia issue :2: )===================================- ...An OnGoing Anthology... +----- - --+ s$$$$$$s s$$$$$$s s$$$$$$s s$$$$$$s s$$$$$$s $$$ s$$$$$$s $$$" "$$$ $$$" "$$$ $$$" "$$$ $$$" "$$$ $$$" "$$$ $$$ $$$" "$$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ ;$ý $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$. ,$$ý $$$ $$$. ,$$ý $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ `"""""$$$""$$$""""""" "$$$ """ " "$$$""""""" $$$ """$$$""$$$ "$$$$bd$$$$" $$$. ,$$$ $$$. ,$$$ $$$ $$$. ,$$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ ý$$$$$$$ý ý$$$$$$$ý $$$ b3 ý$$$$$$$ý $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ +----- - --+ -===( Editorial by Warlock )==============================================- Now you've done it. You've gone and read the meager first issue of some new story-zine named The Scrolls of Serenia and you said, "Dah! this'll never last!" See, now you've done it. And thus Warlock brought for the SoS! Not one, No-hoho! but TWO! Egads Man. Yes, even though I had doubts that SoS wouldn't live to see another issue, the response (although it itself was small) was that it was atleast a good idea, and a great start under the circumstances. Hope- fully into the next issue we should be seeing some new writers, but like I said, _HOPEfully_. This month's ascii was drawn by belial of Avalon in an old netspiel style, or so I'm told. So, in the words of belial, "donuts are good!" I mean, let's get on with the stories already... -=====( creation.two.of.three. )===========================================- ::A second reading from the Book of T‰lk:: ..... And thus Geldrion sent from the heavens a cheurgion, a messenger of the angels, to search out a wielder who would hold the great power and banish the evil that was Neim, should Serenia be peace- ful once again. When the cheurgion descended from the Heavans, she could see all that was good and all that was evil, and at first, this was all she saw. The messenger's first encounter with the children of Geldrion had greeted the bluntness of her appearance with fire from the pits of Neim's realm, which even the messenger of the mighty Lord of Makers, Geldrion, had never seen. In the last event, luckily, an unlikely candidate averted the master of the Neim fire and saved her. Neim himself received word of the messenger, knowing the angel's true purpose. He must have the power that the angel had to give, and thus he gave bounty for the death of the messenger. After her encounter in the forest with the mage, the angel took rest in a far part of the forest, during that time she learned much about life and this world, Geldrion's Creation. As the days past, the angel began to understand why the Creation must be saved from the evil that is Neim, and she ultimately began to care for the Creation. After, she gathered herself and moved on... Coming to a city near the edge of the forest, she donned a hooded cloak and entered before sundown. She could feel the presence of the wielder of which she sought. Little did she know that the evil Initiates of Neim were following her, waiting not only for the moment to present itself for the kill of the angel, for their master knew too well that if one angel could be sent, more and yet more after could be sent. No, they waited for the moment of which the wielder would be revealed. Then, in one foul swoop could they finish Geldrion's attempts at a saving of Serenia. But it didn't quite work out that way... <+--| creation :3: Next issue! |--+> -===( reyhan.part.two. )====================================================- __ __ --+> TwO è pArt I <+-- | | / | \_ |__|\_|asimir curled and backed away from the magnificent ball of light that had descended and paused a mere few feet above where he was laying. Just then, a figure became apparent in the ball of light, arms extended, legs outstretched and tight together. It was an angel from heaven, I thought, it must've been; what else was it? In the all the comotion, with all the thunder and lightning going on, I silently crept down the tree and ducked behind a bush on the outskirt of the clearing. I suddenly became aware that it was raining softly, and the cold that had been had gone and a heaven-like warmth replaced it. I pulled the hood of my cloak over above my head and wrapped it around me to shield off the rain. Being recently awaken from my sleep, I had just then began to soak in all that had happened up until this point when the ball of light and the being inside lowered into the clearing and hovered. The magnificent ball of light that came from the heavens had completely taken my mind off of my initial target, which was now drawing some sort of circle around himself with rocks into the dirt. He then stood, and stepped into the circle, raising his arms and closing his eyes. At this point, little caught my amazement. The ball of light, after what seemed like eternal moments of hovering wrought a tremendous flash of light which had been an awesome sight in the rainfall and surrounding darkness. For those moments that I sat there behind that bush, I looked into the clearing, and it seemed so odd to me that the light's reflection on the rain was like delightful rainbows... I shook myself back into reality, fighting off these light-hearted feelings once again getting into my killer's mind- set. I ignored the rain and looked back out into the clearing, wondering what I would find next. I saw a woman surrounded by a lesser light, or more of a glow, approaching Kasimir with a wonderous broadsword in her left hand and a short sword in her right. I also noticed, and of course I wasn't sure as to why, Kasimir was still poised in the center of his circle. This woman.. this angel, as she seemed to be, continued towards Kasimir, and the thought occured to me: `wait, _I'M_ supposed to kill him. I've got to get a better handle on my situations from now on...' Even as I thought of a counter-measure, and the angel moved ever closer to Kasimir, he brought his hands together and threw hell's fire from his hands! I had to act. Do something, and I did. I looked up at the angel, whose eyes had began to glow a beautiful white light unlike all of the previous lights I had seen this night. She looked up at Kasimir and greeted a mighty blast of hellfire of which the likes I had never dreamt of. My dreadlocks fell over into my face, and I tucked them back into the hood of my cloak. I gave a small smirk as I saw my chance to be rid of Kasimir and hopefully this "good and evil" shit. I pulled a dagger from the inside of my cloak, and then slowly put it back; I realized that I had took too many chances already during this hunt, and that now was the time for some hand-to-er, whatever combat. I reached deep into my cloak to the short sword that I had strapped tight to my back, sliding the blade gently out. I kept the blade close to the ground; a slight glint of light catching it could make me instantly recognized. Kasimir, still flinging balls of fire and the like, forced the angel into the far corner of the clearing, thus leaving his back- side uncovered and apparently open to attack. The pig, not able to maneuver well, decided he had fought enough and held off the angel with small, seemingly simple spells from which he flung from his right hand while he tried to conjure something else on the side. I didn't know what exactly he was doing, but I had to do this before he destroyed everything in the forest _except_ for the angel (which at this point was taken back only by the sudden rash of Kasimir's attacks). I grabbed my sword and dove over the bushes, charging at Kasimir. I guess I felt sorry enough for the angel that I had to do something, but I soon realized I was mad. I ran swiftly towards the fat man as he conjured a passage into the air itself, drawing his attention. He prepared to jump into the passage, and the angel quickly gathered herself and went after Kasimir as well. --+> TwO è pArt II <+-- _______ |__ __| __| |__ |_______| dove, sword first, at and into Kasimir as he went into the passage, falling into it with him. I fell into the abyss behind Kasimir, and finally we hit ground. I looked around and stood up, noticing that it was not ground, nor was it the clearing in the Andrion forest, it was nothing. I decided to stop being surprised and surveyed my surroundings. Kasimir lay there on the nothingness, not dead, but heavily exhausted. All of the recent happenings must've been draining for him, mentally and, well obviously physically. As I bent over him to examine him, I failed to notice the small portal opening above me. Kasimir opened his eyes, and weakly grasped out to me, trying desperately to stop what he knew what was coming. I couldn't immediately find my short sword, but that was fine, a dagger should serve its purpose at this point. So I pulled the dagger from my cloak, which I threw back over my shoulder, hardly noticing that the angel began to descend through the portal which had been opening. Kasimir's eyes glossed and grew wide. Life sprang into him and using the time I gave him gloating over my victory, he sent forth a final blast of fire, sending me up towards the portal, into the angel and back into the clearing. I flew out into the clearing to the soft earth and layed there, dying, charred and lifeless. I tried to stay conscious while I could, and all I could see was the light of the angel, and I thought mad thoughts, thoughts of all the death I had seen, the pain I now realized I had caused, and everyone I had known, and how did I end up doing this for a living? My thoughts helped me to begin my drift into unconsciousness and death until the angel, which I had forgot was still there with me, bent over and lifted me up, kissed me and then layed me back down onto the ground. I then drifted off to sleep, not death, only to awake the next morning in better health than I had been, and a pure-white feather on my chest. In the most indirect of ways, I saved Kasimir and myself, yet I'd like another chance at finishing him. I gathered myself, and made my way to Andrion where I stayed for a while and even made some honest money, for once. I knew my peace wouldn't last long. My life became more and yet more anarchic as the next days played their parts... ______ |__ __| --+> TwO è pArt III <+-- _| |_ |______|t was no less than a month after my "encounter" in the forest, and at that point my nerves had calmed along with my lifestyle. I made a living the past month aiding an ill friend by running his blacksmith's in the square of the city of Andrion. Never before had I noticed actually how the air of a city changes and lightens until I actually took the time to pay attention to it. The city was truly awesome, the people could use some work, but the city as a whole was beautiful. Today, however, my friend whose shop I had been tending to during his illness decided to come in and keep me company. My friend T‰lken was, of all people I've known, the After closing, and minding the weather, we walked west down the main road towards the Sheolton Forest to watch the sun set and, for myself, to reflect on my life and whatever else I happened upon in my wandering of thoughts. We stood at the town gates, my thoughts wandering as the last of the berry-gatherers, hunters and the like made their final trips back into the city for the evening. Then, almost unnoticed, one man, about my height, thin, almost woman-like, dressed in a cloak that covered his entire body, made his way into the city. Not far behind, three men dressed in the same style of cloak as the first made their way into the city within a close crowd of commoners. I initially wouldnt've noticed any of them, but the gates had began to close, and the cranking of the chains startled me, so I spun around and quickly made my way back into the city. After noticing them, I motioned to T‰lk the men and wondered what could be going on. I began to follow after them, more out of instinct than interest, and the three men that followed the first began to close in on him and my interest began to spark, the hunters and the hunted. This had became an obvious trap. Then T‰lk put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I thought we left that life behind us, eh?" Hmph. I wasn't about to leave this one alone. Yeah, I thought I was done with this type of lifestyle, and sure me and T‰lk've been on many journeys and hunts before, but no one every changes completely. I told T‰lken that I was only trying to prevent a dangerous situation that was about to errupt, but he didn't buy it. Although that wasn't my first intention, it was somewhere on the list. I told him to trust me, and to come on, because I might've needed his help for what I was gonna try. He was weak, but in full strength he was _very_ dangerous in a fight. I wasn't sure if I should rely on my instincts, they were rusty, but I had to help this guy, if not just find out what's going on. Then, the three men ripped off their cloaks to reveal dark red and black coats and they announced to the first man and to anyone who cared to listen, "You there! By the order of Neim, he who controls all in Serenia, stay where you are and lay on the ground!" The first man, the hunted, froze in place. Not a scared type of frozen, he just stopped moving. Then, another odd occurence I wasn't prepared for happened. The three Initiates of Neim, as they called themselves, pulled thus from their hilts swords and one pulled a bow and arrow. At this point, T‰lk decided to follow me. We rushed to stop the Initiates, me drawing my short sword, and T‰lk drawing his dagger, and we took out two of the men without a problem. The one who had the bow and arrow, however, found his way out of the fray, and began to aim his arrow. I, being occupied with the other two, had failed to notice both the fact that the first man was still frozen, and that T‰lken had been running toward him, obviously knowing about the arrow. T‰lk ran, dagger in hand, towards the first, still cloaked, still frozen man, and jumped in front of him, throwing the dagger in the air, as the Initiate let his bow sing. The dagger... Flew swiftly and connected with the front-side of the man's neck. The arrow... Flew through the air and into the chest of T‰lken. The first man... From under his hood there could be seen a soft glow which grew until it became a blinding light. The cloak was dropped and a loud scream could be heard despite the loss of sight. When the light died down, there stood my angel. A tear was in her eye and everyone who had been watching, the Initiates, and myself were dumbfounded, as the angel kneeled down beside T‰lk, picking his head up and laying it in her lap. The angel, still silent, said nothing, but all around could feel, well, feel something. I don't think anyone knew what exactly was going on. The onlookers were just now coming into a realization of the past events, and I was still frozen in combat, with my hand around the neck of one of the Initiates. The angel looked down at T‰lk, and a bright realization came into her eyes, clearing the tears. She looked up into the sky, and, in the setting sun of that cool fall's day, an even brighter light shone down into the town square of Andrion, my angel became one with my friend T‰lk, and after the light died away, only T‰lken and I were left laying in the square. The peasants had been on with their work as if nothing had happened. The Initiates were not at all present, they had disapeared. I stood and carried T‰lk, who had passed out sometime after his joining with the angel. Obviously, and especially because of his previous illness, the earlier events had exhausted his already-weak body. Once I had T‰lken home and in bed, he began to mumble things in his sleep. Odd things about a mission, destiny, and many agreements; many of which included "yes, I understand," and "I am to take Reyhan?," and at the point he said that, my interest was sparked, and thinks just went downhill from there... <+--| Reyhan :3: Next issue! |--+> -===( natural wonders.part.two )============================================- I woke up later that night in the alley next to the bar. Apparently the bar owner grew tired of seeing me sitting there drunk and decided to throw me out. Happens all the time. Ah well. So, about this book... Like I said, I woke up slobering on it, and after that... uhm, after that I can't remember. Oh yeah, I woke up here. I'll be fine in a minute, I just hafta let this post-drunk feeling pass, holon a sec.... ... ... Now, where was I? Oh yeah, this book. Here, let's take a look at it. Flipping through, it seems obvious that I can't read or make out any of it. It's blank. And I don't mean dirty, unreadable blank, I mean jet-clean, brand new pages blank. Hmph. Oh wait, I forgot, around the edges there's a black strip of ink. Otherwise, it's blank. sorry. Useless book. The sun's starting to go down, and these alleys aren't the most pleasant places to be hanging out at night, so I'm just gonna... what the f*^$? What the hell was that? I could've sworn I just saw something over there in the corner. "thE bOOk." What the hell? "gIvE mE thE bOOk..." Nah, nah, this is _TOO_ fucked up, I'm out... I turn to run, but there's no more exit. Where the alleyway ended, it doesn't anymore. I turn back around, and there's this short guy in a robe standing in front of the exit to the alley. "oh shit." was all I could say. I was thoroughly amazed, so I said it again. The old guy held out a robed arm with no hand and repeated himself, this time more insistent. "thE bOOk, _nOw_." The more insistent he became, the more intent I became about keeping it. Obviously there was something about this that he wanted that I couldn't plainly _give_ away. Now it was time to run, even if I had to knock this guy over to do it. And I tried. Really. I tried to run, and my feet couldn't move. When I looked down, all I could see was darkness about where my ankles were. I looked at the book in my hand, and the insignia on the cover seemed to be glowing. Frantically I opened the book, and the black ink that had lined the pages slowly moved and wriggled into places and eventually words. Once the ink had moved into words, I felt forced to drop the book, and then I myself fell over. I opened my eyes and noticed the sun rising, not setting, and also that I was no more in the alley, but in a clearing somewhere where I wasn't familiar. I was tired of all these going-ons, "What now? oh god, not again..." "Yes? And what again?" <+--| natural wonders :3: Next issue! |--+> -===( watts rong wif mah spellen?)==========================================- Ô( last words )================¾ Now don't you feel better? I'm sure that first adrenaline rush I gave you was just too much to just leave you hanging there waiting for another injection and so I wrote you a WHOLE `nother issue, don't you feel special. Well, the mighty, mighty bells and ringing things in my head tell me its time to sleep, so good night all, and uhm, donuts are _good_. Oh goody! Here's a little non-SoS related short by (you can see this coming, can't you?) Warlock... -===( tha zomething! )=====================================================- "See there was this thing, right." "What thing." "LISTEN Bobby!." "ok, a thing." "Right, and the thing, right, it had things. Like this, that flapped, real skinny thin black things, and the things head bobbed back and forth real hard, like it had a neck of steel!" "the thing right?" "yeah yeah, the thing." "hm. oooooo-kay." "yeah yeah, and, ...hehe, this is where it gets cool... it swung its arms around like a wild something-er-other and it yelled, `WOOOOOO-HA! WOOOO-HA! I gotchoowall-lincheck!' over and over!" "WoW! What was it?" "i dunno, some Thing." "oh. ok. I gotta go Billy. bye." "goodnight. Don't let the somethings WOO-HA-ya ta death." "hehe." "You laugh, but it happens... Freaky shit man... freaky shit..." ===( eof!#@ )============================================================