Fan Fiction - The Resurgence

[Shadowborn]

I know what's gonna happen next! Majiya will point Oggy to the general direction of Zaladar to be MCed :P

[Preybird]

I know what's gonna happen next! Majiya will point Oggy to the general direction of Zaladar to be MCed :P

That would be OP though

[Preybird]

Apologies for no story yesterday, was ANZAC Day here in Australia, and I was busy with family.

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The Glutton

“I hope whatever you’ve got planned is about to happen Majiya. Because I don’t see anything from my end.” Nishaven stated, his voice and his anger engulfing her. Majiya simply smiled as she looked up and pointed to the heavens.

“Look to the skies for your salvation, human.”

As Majiya watched, the storm clouds began to congregate and the sky turned blood red. No one seemed to notice as they were too busy fleeing for their lives or they simply considered it part of the Glutton’s arrival. The beast was not so ignorant; he knew that the clouds meant the arrival of another like him. Staring upward, he was greeted by a fist of lightning as Zaladar descended like a vengeful angel.

Stumbling backward, the Glutton almost fell back into the Hellmouth but caught himself at the last second. Roaring hatred at the elemental he reared up to his full height, engulfing Zaladar in his shadow. However like the undead in the square, Zaladar lacked a soul and was thus immune. He was not immune to the Glutton’s claws however.

The swing sent the construct of lightning and stone crashing into the nearest building. Despite his size Zaladar was not particularly heavy and the building stood firm, breaking his fall and allowing him to recover much faster than would be expected. Standing again, Zaladar sent tendrils of lightning lashing out from his body into the crowd, collecting souls of his own and growing in power. A sword began to form, a weapon of pure Shadow Energy and it hummed so loud that the few still in the square were dropping to their knees while clutching their ears.

“OGLOTH!!!!” Zaladar bellowed, and the sound of the Glutton’s true name seemed to destabilize him. Seizing the moment, Zaladar swung the sword into Ogloth, gouging a deep wound in his torso. The wound glowed brightly but did not last, healing rapidly. Ogloth retaliated with another swing that Zaladar just barely managed to avoid. Roaring again, Ogloth’s mouth began to split along his jaw line, and dozens of tentacles erupted from his mouth. They ensnared the Elemental, and though his body was largely non-corporeal enough tendrils managed to find their grip. Ogloth squeezed tight, compressing Zaladar and attempting to crush his physical components into dust.

Zaladar struggled as he attempted to break free, and Ogloth made a noise that sounded suspiciously like mocking laughter. Ogloth began swinging Zaladar into nearby buildings, walls, whatever was within reach. While his non-corporeal components were unharmed, the physical stones that held it all together began to chip and crack under the constant pressure. Ogloth, not simply content with crushing Zaladar, began to draw the tentacles back into his mouth so he could eat him as well. However the sting of flames in his mouth gave him pause.

Turning to catch sight of his new attacker, Ogloth spotted Majiya, arm raised and hand smoking from the assault. She was utterly dwarfed by Ogloth, yet remained defiant as she launched another pair of Fireballs at him. They bounced off Ogloth’s impossibly tough hide without causing any real harm but they served their purpose, distracting him enough to allow Zaladar to cut himself free. Ogloth bellowed in agony as Zaladar’s energy blade ripped through the tendrils and then through his lower jaw. Ogloth stumbled backward, his wound already healing, but Zaladar was not going to give him the chance to get back in the fight. Absorbing as many souls as he possibly could reach, Zaladar raised his free hand and an all-powerful blast of blue-white energy burst forth from his palm.

The blast hit Ogloth like a mountain being thrown by a God. It didn’t just push him into buildings, it pushed him through them. His hide burned and flaked off, and when there was no skin left to destroy it tore apart his muscles and his bones. When Zaladar finally lowered his hand there was no more Ogloth the Glutton, only a mass of broken buildings and a deep score line in the ground that ran the length of Draconia. However the attack had taken its toll on Zaladar too; he had used the combined energy of all the souls he reaped to defeat Ogloth. Shrinking down to his natural size to conserve energy, Zaladar found himself under threat from the furious Gravebone and his undead horde.

“Thaddeus.” Gravebone turned to his acolyte, his voice filled with venom. “Get down there and kill him.”

Despite having used so much energy in his previous battle Zaladar put up a good fight, but it was too much. Waves of undead troops led by Thaddeus fell upon him, and for every one he would destroy with sword or lightning, two would take its place. Realising the threat of Ogloth had passed and seeking vengeance for their friends, living troops joined the assault, and Zaladar was overwhelmed. With no other option, Zaladar purposefully ruptured his own structure, causing him to self-destruct. When the smoke cleared large portions of the battlefield were charred and blackened ruins, very few of Gravebone’s troops had survived, and no one was uninjured.

“Nishaven.” Majiya said. “Now.”

As the massive portal opened and the humans poured through Majiya could see Gravebone slam the balcony rails with his fists. The humans engaged the weakened Shadow forces, and despite still being outnumbered were able to take advantage of the destruction wreaked by Zaladar. Aldon truly earned his nickname of “The Brave”, leading his elite squads to battle against the largest minions and combining arms to defeat Minotaurs and Shadow Knights. They even used tactics pioneered by Amber at the battle of Corvinus to defeat the larger Behemoths.

Gravebone began launching a devastating magical assault from the balcony, and it caused untold devastation to the human forces. With the advantage of elevation as well as his magic, Gravebone was untouchable for the largely non-magical forces of the humans. This meant that it was time Majiya stepped in. She summoned a Portal and teleported up to the balcony with the intent of catching Gravebone off-guard. Instead of surprising Gravebone however, she was met with a lightning bolt and slumped to the ground in agony.

“Stupid.” Gravebone muttered as he looked down at Majiya. “I knew you were going to betray me. You’ve always had you own agenda.”

Those lifeless sockets stared at Majiya as she propped herself up on her hands and knees and it was almost like Gravebone was sniffing the air. “But this time you’re dancing to someone else’s tune. I missed it before, but now I can sense the binding enchantments on you.”

Majiya felt like vomiting, but managed to rise to a kneeling position. The lightning burn ran across the length of her torso and it felt like a demon was trying to claw its way out of her stomach. She looked up glassy-eyed as Gravebone laughed.

“I can’t believe it! The great Majiya, nothing more than a puppet for the humans!” He raised his hands as though basking in the adulation of thousands of worshippers. “Don’t fear however, your indignity shall not last much longer.” He raised his hand to deliver the final blow, and Majiya took her opportunity.

The dagger she had crafted from Jakar’s bracers sunk deep into Gravebone’s spine and he gurgled as the enchanted metal began to do its work. It took the magical bonds keeping his form together that emulated muscle and life, and shattered them. Gravebone barely had time to scream before his body shifted from being an undead construct to a simple pile of bones. Staring at what remained of her nemesis Majiya slowly picked herself up and smiled. Her job was done.

She walked over to the balcony to see the progression of the battle. The humans had caused significant damage to the Shadow forces, but Thaddeus was still commanding a commendable counter-attack, and she could see Kairos had entered the fray. It would be a close battle, the outcome of which she really cared little about. Ogloth was dead and Gravebone too, and with her insurance policy in Serena she would be free of the bondage imposed on her by Nishaven. Unfortunately it seemed fate had a sadistic streak.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see a familiar female clad in black, directing the playthings Majiya had collected for her army through the city towards safe harbour. She slammed her fist on the railing and cursed every God she could think of. Serena had escaped somehow, and that left her with only one rather distasteful option.

Taking in a deep breath, she looked at the dagger in her hand. “Nishaven, I hope you’re watching this.” She muttered before plunging it into her torso.
 

[Preybird]

Desperate Measures

Nishaven recoiled as his connection to Majiya was violently severed. The enchanted metal of the dagger had done its job quickly, breaking her bonds and leaving her beyond his grasp. He hoped she would perish from her self-inflicted wounds, but he knew not to take any chances.

“Mikhail.” He called out. “Majiya has broken free, send word to Aldon to have her killed immediately.”

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Majiya let out a silent scream as the dagger sunk deep into her flesh. It was the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced due to both the physical wound and the damage it was doing to her magical aura. But it served its purpose. Supporting herself with her free arm, she ripped it from her and tossed it across the room. Blood poured from her wound and her trembling arm could not support her weight any longer. She collapsed.

Quickly weakening, Majiya applied pressure to the wound to slow the blood loss while she fumbled through the small potion pouch she kept with her at all times. Her magic did not extend to healing her body, so she always kept a healing salve for emergencies. Her vision was starting to lose colour so she didn’t waste any time popping the lid and swallowing the potion whole. It tasted like brimstone and it took everything she had not to vomit it back up.

Thankfully the potion worked quickly, and it wasn’t long before the pain began to dull and Majiya could breathe more normally. She was still very weak, but managed to crawl over to Gravebone’s remains, using one of the scraps of cloth he wore to make a pressure bandage. She needed to get away from here quickly, no doubt Nishaven would’ve already organised a hit squad to finish her off. So with what little energy she had, she summoned a Portal and crawled through.

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“Boss!” The squad leader shouted as he caught sight of Majiya, helping her to stand. “What happened?”

Majiya had teleported to the building her mercs were holed up in. She was feeling stronger with every passing second, but for now she was vulnerable and needed protection, a position she didn’t enjoy at all. Still, two solid weeks of browbeating and catering to the ‘needs’ of her men meant she could count on most of them not to try and take advantage of her weakened state.

“I’m fine Tigrus. Just had a run in with Gravebone.”

“I hope you took care of business.” Tigrus replied with a smile.

Majiya smirked, despite the fact her torso stung profusely. “Well, let’s say he won’t be going anywhere.”

“Good to hear.” He replied, leaning her up against a wall. Her legs threatened to buckle, but she managed to stay upright to keep up appearances. “What’s our next move?” Tigrus asked.

“We wait until one side is victorious, then we wipe them out.” Majiya replied. “But if your men want something to do in the meantime, Serena has escaped and is running off with your entertainment. If you want it back, you know what to do.”

Tigrus smiled wickedly. “I certainly do.”

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“This way.” Serena whispered as she led the women further away from the battle. Leading the poor women anywhere was a difficult task, most of them were in shock, or so uncontrollably frightened that they just wanted to curl up into a corner and cry. It had taken a great deal of effort to even get many of them up and walking.

Still, they’d gone this far, and a few of them were starting to exhibit a spark of defiance. As one would begin following Serena, another would too, and it wasn’t long before they were on the move again.

The distinctive sound of moving armor caused Serena to pause and ready herself for battle. Out of the shadows stepped a good two dozen of Majiya’s mercenaries and she knew they were in trouble.

“Found you.” The leader grinned. “Oh you’re going to suffer for this.”

“Move. Now. Or you will not survive.” Serena snarled.

The leader simply laughed as his men surrounded Serena and the cowering women. “Oh come now, you think you’re going to fight us all off? How cute.” He looked Serena dead in the eyes. “Once we herd this meat back to its pen, I’m going to reserve special treatment for you. You’re going to spend the rest of your short miserable life chained to my bed. And I’m not kind to my meat.”

Serena did not respond but clenched her teeth as she reached out mentally, delving deep into the mind of the monster in front of her. She could see all the sick fantasies playing around in his head, but she pushed past them. She pushed further, deeper into the darkest recesses of his brain, into the subconscious. She pushed through to all those areas thought impenetrable, thought safe from people like her.

As she descended, she couldn’t help but cast her mind back to the last time she did this. To her teenage years and that boy of barely seventeen, who forced himself on her, who tried to take from her. In her fear and rage she made him pay, as she would make this monster pay. But there was no fear this time, only rage. She smiled as she found what she was looking for.

“Fuck you.” She whispered.

And with that, Serena made him forget how to breathe.

The mercenary’s eyes went wide as he realised he could no longer do the most basic of tasks. His face went blue and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he struggled to take in air. Eventually his body could not go on and he slumped to the ground dead.

The men under his command stood there for a moment, completely shocked at what they’d seen. It didn’t take them long to snap back to reality, fear and anger motivating them to move in. Reaching for her belt, Serena flung four throwing knives outward, the fan of blades guided by her mind to their targets, leaving four more mercenaries dead as their jugulars were ruptured. The rest continued on without pause, focused solely on ending Serena’s life.

Serena’s life was something she wasn’t willing to give up just yet, and she launched a psychic barrage at the remaining mercenaries. It wasn’t deadly like her last assault, but it was enough to completely disorient them. She choked one with her whip and dragged his lifeless body into another two. She used one of her daggers to end the life of another, and she cracked the neck of a third. The massacre continued and by the time they others had recovered their senses there were only three left.

Serena was preparing to unleash another psychic assault to finish them off when a pair of arrows and a bolt of lightning did the job for her. Looking over she saw the familiar faces of Gwen and Eladwen, both wearing heavy cloaks as a result of their trek through the mountains.

“Are you a sight for sore eyes.” Serena stated simply. She was glad to see them, but her rage hadn’t worn off yet and she didn’t smile. “Why are you here?”

“We’ve been tailing Zaladar.” Eladwen replied, looking around at the carnage. “It seems we’ve missed the action.”

“Yeah. I’ll explain once we get these women back to Corvinus.” Serena said, looking over at the congregation. “They’ve been through hell. Multiple times.”

Eladwen said nothing but simply nodded and crafted a Portal. Through it Serena could see the main temple of Corvinus, and Zhanna turning to await their arrival. She helped all the women through the portal, followed by Gwen and Eladwen. Serena cast one last eye over the city of Draconia before stepping through, vowing to see Majiya and her army burn.

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A chorus of cheers caught Majiya’s attention and she half-walked, half-dragged herself over to the window to see what was happening. Down in the square she could see the humans celebrating, Aldon standing atop a fallen behemoth and delivering his victory speech. There weren’t many left however, maybe fifty or so. Behind him the portal flickered and died, but not before Lance Shadowstalker stepped through. He approached Aldon and whispered something into his ear. Aldon nodded and Lance took a dozen of his men and headed into the palace. Looking for me no doubt.

Majiya waited until Lance’s troupe had disappeared before giving the order. “Kill them.”

Tigrus nodded and gave the order to his archers. The humans down below were completely caught off guard by the assault, and a dozen fell before Aldon could even assess the situation. Once he realised exactly where the assault was coming from he ordered his remaining men storm the building, but it was for naught. By the time they’d made it to the ground level and engaged their foes there were only a half dozen left. Aldon took more than his fair share of mercenary lives but ultimately he fell as well, bleeding from over a dozen wounds. Majiya smiled. Victory was almost in her grasp.

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Lance and his team had made it to the balcony where Gravebone and Majiya had fought before they realised their compatriots were under attack. Unable to make it to them in time they could do nothing but stand by and watch the wholesale slaughter. Lance hung his head as he realised they had failed, and he ordered the retreat. Before leaving however he noticed the dagger on the floor, covered in Majiya’s blood. Picking it up, he placed it into his pocket and lead his men out of the palace.

Nishaven would need to see this.

[Preybird]

Imma double postin' again. The conclusion, a nice little wrap up, and one last twist.

The New Threat

Majiya ran her hand gently over King Dinear’s throne as she inspected it. Like most of Draconia’s work it wasn’t embellished, though it was finely crafted. It was also comfortable, the cushions and even the general shape of the throne ensuring that it almost hugged the user. This was good because she intended to spend a lot of time sitting in it.

She smiled to herself as she sat down. Her plan had worked perfectly, bar that slight hiccup with the dagger. Zaladar had kept up his end of the bargain in exchange for her help preparing his return all those months ago, and she knew that his “death” was only temporary. Killing the avatar of a God was nigh-impossible.

Killing the undead was a little easier. Majiya mused as she ran her fingers over the skull of Gravebone. She decided she would keep it on the arm rest of the throne as a reminder to those around her of what she was capable of. Besides, she enjoyed looking at it.

The sound of the doors opening directed her attention to the front of the throne room. Tigrus walked in, coming to a stop about ten paces away from her.

“Report.” She said simply.

Tigrus cleared his throat. “We own Draconia. There are no traces of resistance, we’ve sweeped the city many times over. We haven’t been able to find Lance or Serena, no doubt they’ve escaped.”

Majiya snorted. “It hardly matters now. I would’ve liked to have seen Serena recaptured for what she forced me to do, but it was not essential to the plan. Anything else?”

Tigrus frowned. “We have not been able to find Thaddeus or Kairos, alive or otherwise. They have most likely fled through the mountains.”

Majiya scowled, and Tigrus took a couple of steps back. “That is…. unfortunate. Kairos may be nothing more than a shell of what he was, but he’s still a dangerous combatant and Thaddeus is a sneaky little worm. You will be sending squads through the mountains to find them.”

“But boss, that’s….”

Majiya leaned forward. “No arguing.”

Tigrus swallowed before bowing. “It will be done.” Not wanting to test Majiya’s patience anymore, he fled as quickly as he could.

Majiya leaned back for a moment before deciding she needed to get to work. Forcing herself out of the chair she made her way from the throne room towards the balcony overlooking the Hellmouth. Her side still hurt a great deal, but at least she wasn’t hunched over from pain anymore. Most of her magical power had returned as well, so woe betide anyone who thought she was still an easy mark.

Reaching the balcony the Hellmouth came into full view. Amazingly it had been undamaged in the battle between Ogloth and Zaladar. This was an unexpected bonus, and meant Majiya could move forward with her plans much quicker. Soon it would open once again, and she would have an army larger than any this world had ever seen.

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Corvinus.

The word played over and over in Kairos’ head for reasons he did not understand. He had never heard that word before, nor did he know what it meant. But since the battle with the humans it was a permanent fixture in his mind.

Thaddeus’ voice registered on the edges of his hearing, spurring him onward through the mountains. Running from the battle was the last thing he had wanted to do, it was a cowardly act. And taking orders from this weed of a man rankled him for some reason.

Corvinus.

Kairos snarled as he tried to identify the reasons for the word. Something had brought it to his attention, he just needed to figure it out. It was something to do with the humans. It was not a military manoeuver, he knew that much. Could it have been the name of their leader? No, he had been referred to as Aldon.

The uniform.

That was it; it was the uniform that was familiar. Which meant Corvinus was the name of a city. But how did he know this, and why? Thaddeus’ voice again interrupted his train of thought and he looked up at him. He was standing there with his arms crossed, as though he was disappointed his puppy dog hadn’t come to him straight away. His cloak blew wildly in the wind and the Shadow Crystals at his belt clanked against each other.

No longer content with simply glowering at Kairos, Thaddeus walked over to him. Kairos waited until he was within reach then simply smacked him across the face, the impact sending him tumbling down the side of the mountain path. Kairos watched Thaddeus fall then continued on. The Shadow Crystals in Thaddeus’ possession had been the final piece of the puzzle; they had reminded him of his purpose, of his true nature.

He was Kairos Doombringer, the one who united the Shadow factions and lay siege to the Corvinus Mine. Ultimately denied at the eleventh hour by betrayal within his own ranks. Resurrected and used as a puppet by Gravebone. Now he was finally free of his bondage.

And it was time for revenge.

[Reshiram99]

Dun, dun DUN!