Elfen High 2 (OOC 4, Closed, No Morals Allowed)

[The Inritus Extraho]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

[Individuality-ness]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

I'm guessing webcomic.

[Erinkita]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

Start of Darkness. A Prequel book that deals with Redcloak and Xykon's backstory.

[Olthar]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

Start of Darkness is a prequel book detailing the origins of Xykon, Redcloak, and the Creature in the Darkness.

[Individuality-ness]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

Start of Darkness. A Prequel book that deals with Redcloak and Xykon's backstory.

Start of Darkness is a prequel book detailing the origins of Xykon, Redcloak, and the Creature in the Darkness.

Okay, I was wrong. :X

[Olthar]

Start of Darkness. A Prequel book that deals with Redcloak and Xykon's backstory.

Start of Darkness is a prequel book detailing the origins of Xykon, Redcloak, and the Creature in the Darkness.

Okay, I was wrong. :X

Well, you're mostly right. It is a comic, and you buy it online.

[The Inritus Extraho]

;-; I want itttttttt

It's not online, is it?

[Erinkita]

I only have Start of Darkness. I'm not quite as broke and Ende, but still broke.

Oh, I've got no money, either. I've just been asking for them for Christmas for the past couple years.

Most absolutely true. I liked Redcloak a lot already, but after reading SoD, he's my favourite character. Xykon's villain cred is ramped way up too. And the backstory it fills in is so satisfying, with Lirian and Dorukan, and especially Eugene Greenhilt. And Right Eye... RIGHT-EYE!

Yeah, Right Eye was definitely the most tragic thing that's happened in this comic, though Durkon is a close second.

I wonder what happened to his daughter. That's a plot thread that's never been followed up on. Not that it definitely will be, but it's possible she'll be important later.

Start of Darkness. A Prequel book that deals with Redcloak and Xykon's backstory.

Start of Darkness is a prequel book detailing the origins of Xykon, Redcloak, and the Creature in the Darkness.

Okay, I was wrong. :X

We love you anyway.

[Erinkita]

;-; I want itttttttt

It's not online, is it?

Nah, you have to buy it from the Giant in the Playground store.

[Olthar]

;-; I want itttttttt

It's not online, is it?

No. Neither On the Origin of PCs or Start of Darkness are available online, at least not legally. You have to buy them from the OotS store.

[Olthar]

Oh, I've got no money, either. I've just been asking for them for Christmas for the past couple years.


Yeah, Right Eye was definitely the most tragic thing that's happened in this comic, though Durkon is a close second.

I wonder what happened to his daughter. That's a plot thread that's never been followed up on. Not that it definitely will be, but it's possible she'll be important later.

Pretty sure she simply died with the rest.

[Individuality-ness]

Okay, I was wrong. :X

Well, you're mostly right. It is a comic, and you buy it online.

Haha.

We love you anyway.

Love our Erin.

[Erinkita]

I wonder what happened to his daughter. That's a plot thread that's never been followed up on. Not that it definitely will be, but it's possible she'll be important later.

Pretty sure she simply died with the rest.

Right-Eye said he was able to smuggle her to safety.

[Olthar]

Pretty sure she simply died with the rest.

Right-Eye said he was able to smuggle her to safety.

Oh, right! I forgot that! I doubt it'll happen, anyways. Rich has stated that he doesn't want the books to be required reading and that anyone can perfectly understand the comic without them. So, I think pretty much everything in Start of Darkness will stay there. Probably the only mention of them will be minor things, like the nickname "Wrong Eye" (which is horribly sadistic, by the way).

[Erinkita]

Well, you're mostly right. It is a comic, and you buy it online.

Haha.

We love you anyway.

Love our Erin.

I blossom with joy.

Right-Eye said he was able to smuggle her to safety.

Oh, right! I forgot that! I doubt it'll happen, anyways. Rich has stated that he doesn't want the books to be required reading and that anyone can perfectly understand the comic without them. So, I think pretty much everything in Start of Darkness will stay there. Probably the only mention of them will be minor things, like the nickname "Wrong Eye" (which is horribly sadistic, by the way).

Yeah, you're probably right.

Yeah, it's things liek that that remind you what a complete monster Xykon is. It's a tribute to Rich's writing that he manages to be really funny without undercutting the evil or the scary.

[Olthar]

Oh, right! I forgot that! I doubt it'll happen, anyways. Rich has stated that he doesn't want the books to be required reading and that anyone can perfectly understand the comic without them. So, I think pretty much everything in Start of Darkness will stay there. Probably the only mention of them will be minor things, like the nickname "Wrong Eye" (which is horribly sadistic, by the way).

Yeah, you're probably right.

Yeah, it's things liek that that remind you what a complete monster Xykon is. It's a tribute to Rich's writing that he manages to be really funny without undercutting the evil or the scary.

Xykon seems to have two modes: Affable funny guy who you could hang out with and OHSHITIHOPEHEDOESN'TKNOWWHEREILIVE!

[Erinkita]

First one-shot. There'll be at least one and likely two more detailing the rest of this twelve-hour period; this is a coherent story, but told in serial form.

Făgăraș, Principality of Transylvania, December 1621. Friday.

They hanged the priest on Christmas Eve. The snow fell heavy down from the forbiddingly rocky peaks of the southern Carpathians where they loomed up above the little town, and it coated everything in a magical blanket of white, so light and delicate that Daniel almost didn't want to step in it, as if it would be a terrible sin to defile something so fragile and pristine with a dirty boot-print. Daniel hopped from root to stone, moving with an almost inhuman agility and grace, smiling as he went. He was ninety years old, and he felt - for a single, precious moment - like a young child again, back before it all went wrong.

* * *

He stands in the village square, the snow cold on his bare feet, and he reaches one little hand up to the drifting flakes, and to what lies beyond. The colors swirl in the night sky, like smoke, like an aurora, but Daniel cannot name them, could not even if he knew the words. There are no words. From somewhere up in the mountaintops, up where the lights are swirling, there comes a distant, terrifying shriek - a sound like a giant hawk, or shredding steel. The villagers tuck their heads down against the snow and hurry to their houses. A young woman, her beautiful face smudged with dirt and already worn with care, drops to her knees beside Daniel in the snow. "Come," she whispers, bundling the child in her arms. "Come inside."

Daniel points up to the mountains. "Dra-kon," he says. "Dra-kon."

His mother nods. "You heard the cry, little one?"

Daniel shakes his head, snow in his curls. "The lights told me." He looked up again. "It not come here."

His mother studies him with an expression that he does not understand, will not understand for years: there is anguish in her love, and awe. She takes him in her arms and picks him up. His head rests on her shoulder; she smells of dark earth and fresh-baked bread. "Come inside, little one," she whispers. Above her head, beyond the slowly falling snow, the colors without names shine like far-off fire.

* * *

Daniel heard the priest screaming when he got within a block of the town square. For a moment, the Sabbatanos felt the cold hand of dread seize his heart. Not tonight, he thought. Oh, please, Lord. Not tonight. Just give me tonight not to have to see Your foes, and shield Your flock, and be hard as iron. Let me be soft just for one night! Just for Christmas Eve.

There was no reply.

Two of the prince's men dragged the priest into the town square. He was a young man - they all looked young to Daniel, now - dressed in a grey homespun robe. The soldiers clubbed him to the ground with halberd butts, and dragged him up the rough wooden stairs of the scaffold. In Spain, they burned the Luteranos at the stake, their skin splitting and oozing out their juices to fry and crackle in the flames. But those who followed the true teachings of Jesus Christ knew that such wanton cruelty was not his way; theirs was the stern justice of Solomon. The priest wept, phlegm running over his lips, as his head was forced into the noose. No drop for him, no knot placed to snap the spine: just a slow ascent, hands bound, feet flailing, as the soldiers hauled the rope over the crossbeam and hoisted him inch by inch into the air.

* * *

"I don't want to," Daniel says. "Please, Father, don't make me. I don't want to kill anyone."

The priest sighs. "Of course not, Daniel. But this is your destiny, your duty to us all. You are a Sabbatanos: you can see things which we cannot. You can hunt the creatures which hunt us."

"But I don't want to hunt them!" Daniel cries, almost in tears. "I just want them to leave us alone! Why can't they leave us alone!"

The priest sighs, and shakes his head. "They are the enemies of God, Daniel," he says quietly. "They will never stop hunting us."

* * *

The captain of the guard read out the sentence: by order of Prince Gabriel Bethlem, etcetera, any man found to be willfully in violation of the law of God, etcetera, papist superstition, pagan holidays, illegal Christmas services, death. Death to the enemy of God. The priest had time for one shriek before the soldiers gave a mighty heave on the rope and his feet left the scaffold, kicking as if he were dancing a hornpipe, and his sobs were choked into softly wheezing silence.

Papist plotter, Daniel thought. He closed his eyes, crushing the screaming child within. Such a death is too good for those who would pervert the Word of God. Warm blood trickled between Daniel's fingers where his nails had cut into his palms. The Sabbatanos' hands had clenched involuntarily as he had watched the hanging, hard enough to draw blood, hard enough to squeeze out weakness and purge the soul. Blood dripped slowly into the snow at Daniel's feet, and drop by drop the pristine white turned red. Daniel looked down at it for a moment. He felt that he would die if he did not weep. His eyes were dry.

High above the town, in the window of the ancient stone tower clinging to the craggy peak above, Daniel saw a swirl of light, of nameless color. Though it was miles away, Daniel thought for a moment that he could see a pale, forgotten face. His fists clenched again. They will never stop hunting us.

It was time. Daniel turned his face to the mountain, and it was as hard as iron. Father, I am coming.

Behind him, his boots left muddy wounds gouged into the soft white snow.

I don't know why I didn't say this when I read it, but this is incredibly good. I really look forward to roleplaying with you at some point.

[Norvenia]

Thank you!

[Erinkita]

Thank you!

You brilliantly pull of the thing I always struggle with: making the reader care what happens to the protagonist.

[AETEN II]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

Durkon didn't die. He joins our endless legions of undead horrors. Durkon, High Priest of Hel should rise soon.

[Olthar]

I'm sad Durkon died.

What's this SoD thing?

Durkon didn't die. He joins our endless legions of undead horrors. Durkon, High Priest of Hel should rise soon.

By definition, one must die if one is to become undead.

[Nationstatelandsville]

(covers eyes)

I AM NOT READING.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Why are people launching fireworks?

There isn't any holiday. There's no need.

[Olthar]

Why are people launching fireworks?

There isn't any holiday. There's no need.

Wynaut?

There's always a need for fireworks. *nods*

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Why are people launching fireworks?

There isn't any holiday. There's no need.

Wynaut?

There's always a need for fireworks. *nods*

But at 3 AM?