Volki: Erudite Chronicles

[Volki]

ERUDITE CHRONICLES

 

 

 

Intro

For 300 year the great demon queen Isidore bled the people dry of every resource imaginable. Through the malignant hubris of the ancient magi she was summoned through the hell gates using an ancient talisman. The relic had been passed down through time immemorial. Isidore fed off the energy blood sacrifices of each mage and grew more powerful by the day.

 

 

 

   The magi used her power and influence over the hell beasts to inflict devastation on the various towns and factions. With every village consumed she grew stronger and more viscous, yet her greed made her restless. It was inevitable that she would one day consume even the seven magi. One night she lured the keeper of the talisman into her chambers under the great volcanic mountain. She consumed his energy before casting him into the magma and claiming the talisman for herself.

 

 

 

   The people sensing the impending hordes, gathered together and assembled great machines to battle the evil queen. The towns were fitted with immense power grids and every technology imaginable was used to develop ways of combating the onslaught. The factions fought valiantly but only managed to wall themselves into their own territories while Isidore consumed the surrounding lands.

 

 

 

   The factions would have never guessed that the very technology that was saving them was also integrated with Isidore herself. The queen, after learning how to wield the great talisman began fusing herself with the vast power grid that flowed through Phalon like the veins on a rotting corpse. Beast by beast and inch by inch she became one with the city's energy and the very earth itself. Her infectious influence spread until she consumed every capsule of power.

 

 

 

   Isidore became lustful for greater amounts of energy. The factions were forced to offer up taxes of their own bio-fuel in the form of capsules. Each month to prevent the endless waves of beasts destroying the barricades the capsules were collected and brought back to the queen’s lair. Energy stores and upload centers littered the land as man, woman and child offered up the very energy keeping them alive to feed the queen's insatiable hunger. The queen enforced her rule by outfitting each citizen with small screens in their arms. The screens managed and tracked their total KiloJoules. The kJ screens also served as a leach on the central nervous system and a storage container for the kJs.

 

 

 

   It did not take long before this bio-energy became the binding currency of the land. Capsules were used at each up-link center to condense kJs into tradable portions. Greed and addiction soon took hold of the major factions as they fought over energy stores and even resorted to capturing and enslaving each other for energy farming. Each person could only accumulate 50kJ a day. The wealthiest of owners resorted to kJ mining from hundreds of citizens. They traded their kJ for various virtual upgrades and chemical concoctions to numb the reality of living inside their concrete cages.

 

 

 

   The world grew darker by the day and the old legends of Kaaros the savior of Phalos faded from memory. The children no longer learned of how he saved the old world and only saw them as fairy tales. All except the long line of Erudites in the forest village of Kama. The villagers of Kama rebelled against the cyber city as they tried to live closer to the earth. Only simple machines were used because of the queen’s power over electronics. The Erudites resembled the witch doctors of old and were kept on the fringes of the village. Each generation bore an enchantress who guarded the sacred knowledge of the ancient legends. Through the influence of Isidore and the state of the world soon even the Erudites were regarded as superstitious fools. The Erudite lineage has dwindled to only one girl serving as the village medic and archanic mechanic.

 

 

 

   She alone knew of the hero, she alone held the keys to saving Phalon and returning peace to the land….

 

 

[Volki]

CHAPTER 1

Spoiler

Chapter 1

 

 

“Yes! Finally it’s working!”

   Though I couldn’t see anything at the time, I felt my head lift up and slam down hard against something with a loud snap and metallic thrum. The force of said abuse sent my thoughts scrambling like a freshly booted ant hill. The world was black but my other senses seemed relatively intact. I tested out a nice long string of obscenities but only managed a weak groan. Where the hell was I? The familiar scent of wood and dust wafted toward me in the wake of the unseen stranger pacing around me.

The labored breath of the onlooker and the soft thunk of the presumed boots grew faster as they rummaged through something in the corner of the room. How long have I been asleep? A few more thunks across the floor ended behind me. After a short pause of silence something hard clicked into place against the back of my head. The veil of blindness was lifted and in its place was a cramped wooden room that was barely visible through the mountains of half completed gadgets and scrap metal. There was a strange glass portion of the wall outlined with various knobs and dials.

I struggled to shake my body out of its paralysis but only managed to rattle my head once more. A wide eyed girl with sharp features crept cautiously into view from behind one of the scrap mountains. Her hair was a pale green and resembled the fall grasslands. Her hair was cropped to the skin on the sides and the patch on top swooped messily behind her ears. Her frosty blue eyes peaked out from behind a sweat streaked face accented with streaks of oil. The eyes were kind but seemed to hold a certain wildness about them. She stared studying me for some time like I was some puzzle to be solved. Her leather jacket with its innumerable amounts of oil and grime stains clung to her as if she was the one thing keeping it in one piece.

“Can….can you hear me Kaaros?”

  "How does she know my name, is this some kind of trick?"All I could do was blink furiously and hope she understood until my voice decided to return. She let out an excited chuckle and ran over to a table just out of view behind another toppling pile. “I’ll get your motor functions up and running in no time don’t you worry.” She rushed back with a small screwdriver in hand. If I was capable of screaming then I would have unloaded an ungodly scream as she jammed the screwdriver into my throat with a wild twist.

I felt a low rumble below my neck and became suddenly aware of how strange my body felt. Something moved around inside of my chest with a small rhythmic tick every few seconds. The entire experience only succeeded in confusing my already strained thoughts further.I felt a sense of being paradoxically dense and yet simultaneously hollow and it was throwing my mind in circles about my current state of being. Sensing my confusion the spunky girl offered me a comforting look and a few calming words.

“Look, I know how confusing all of this must be but I promise I will help you through everything soon. I just have a few more tweaks to make before I can let you move. We wouldn't want you falling apart after all it took to bring you here would we?”

More quick blinks of confirmation.

   Whatever her game was she seemed harmless enough. All I had to do was play along long enough to get out of here and find my gear…what did she mean falling apart? After what seemed like an eternity of staring holes into the wood grain walls she seemed to lock one final piece into place.

I immediately slumped forward as my legs betrayed me. The treacherous limbs overcome with a sudden sense of self preservation scrambled wildly to remain under my bobbing head. I managed to stabilize the unruly legs and creak my head upright again. What was going on? What did she do to me? As I brought my hands up to help steady my head I noticed why everything felt so strange.

My hands were nothing more than a patchwork of steel and wire. To my growing horror I realized my entire body was made up of industrial trash! My chest was a a nest of wires and gears creaking along in unison. I stomped my metal feet as the room began to spin. Once the room began to come back into focus I noticed a strange object lodged beneath a thin cloth cover in my chest.

The shiny stone was an emerald green and laced with a thin line of gold that spiraled into the center. I could feel the power radiating off of the stone. There was something about the stone, it seemed so familiar. I heard shallow footsteps slowly coming up from behind me. “Kaaros….please take it easy. I know this must all be so confusing.” I stared at her, as a thousand questions swarmed my head like an angry hornet nest. Each one fought to escape my mouth first. “How do you know my name?” It took all I had not to growl the question at her.

“Kaaros, I named you after the great hero from the legends. I do not know how but it seems that the stone in your chest has done more than just animate the body I made for you.” Slowly I let her words roll around my brain as I digested what she was telling me with careful consideration. “What do you mean the body you made for me? You did not make me girl. I am the descendant of a long line of defenders of this realm. I do not know what trick you are playing but believe me, you will not live long enough to enjoy it.” Her eyes flared with confusion for a moment” Kaaros please this is no trick! I made your body from spare parts but your mind seems to have come from the Kaori Stone.” She motioned to the pulsating gem in my chest. She seemed sincere in her words which helped to take a hold of my temper once again.

“Kaaros please just listen to what I have to say. I am Zeko, last in a long line of Erudites. It has been our job to keep the legends of your adventures alive these many years. We have been charged with guarding the sacred temple sites that contain the powerful artifacts like the one currently within you now. The evil queen Isidore has taken over this land and searches constantly for the ancient sites. Her spies are numerous and her lust for power is never ending. If she is able to unite all of the artifacts again then she will have enough power to destroy us all.” Isidore, I know that ancient name. She was one of the demon queens of the nether realm. How could she have maintained herself in this realm. I listened carefully as she continued to tell me of the atrocities committed by the evil wretch.

“The forest temple of Kaori was compromised so I needed a way to store the artifact without anyone being able to find it. It seems however that the fates had another plan. Somehow it seems that part of you was contained within the Kaori Stone. Kaaros I fear that the other temples will soon be in danger, we must find a way of gathering the relics before the queen is able to unite all four. It is said that if all four are brought together as one then the stones will bestow unimaginable power.”

I stood there speechless for what seemed like ages. What is there to say when you find out the life you knew ended hundreds of years ago and you were now a walking trash puppet. “If these stones could bestow such power on the gatherer maybe there was a way to restore my body. I will help you as best I can Zeko, Isidore will not get away with what she has done to this realm.” Zeko ran up with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes as she squeezed me as hard as she could. “Thank you Kaaros, I always knew you weren’t just a fairy tale!” What had she meant by that I wondered.

“Well, where do we start?” She let go of the embrace and pondered for a moment. “Well first things first we are going to have to work on this body of yours. While I am proud of my work, it still needs alot of repairs and reinforcement before we could stand a chance of making it through the long journey.” She was right, the clunky framework barely hung together with sinews of wire and joints of tightly curled springs fighting age and rust with all its might. “First things first I need to patch up that hole where the stone is sitting. We definitely would not want that to fall out or become damaged in any way.

She walked over and began to rummage around in a large bin of scrap metal until she pulled out a thick sheet of flexible steel. She rounded it around my chest and used some sort of high powered torch to cut through the remainder. I stood there watching as she melted the sheet to the clunky frame. The smoothness of the sheet was an improvement on the open rats nest of wires, cloth and gears. I was admiring her work when we heard a loud bang on the door. Zeko’s eyes grew wide in fear but she whispered for me to remain calm...

CHAPTER 2

Spoiler

 

CHAPTER 2

 

Zeko crept slowly towards the heavy wooden door as the bangs grew louder and more frequent. "Wh-who is it?" she said with a slight tremble in her voice." A panicked young man's voice screamed through the cracks of the door. "Zeko! Its me Terhan, open the slaggin door!" She shot me a worried look before opening the door to two teenage boys who spilled onto the dusty floor. She quickly slammed and locked the door behind them. What are you to doing all the way out here and what happened to Jarrel?" She bent down down to examine the gash in the back of the presumed Jarrel's skull.

   "It was Isidore's Cerulean guard they..." Terhan's eyes fell on me as I took a slight step back. I really have been brought low I thought., being worried about the flailings of a pubescent boy was a new blow to my already fragile ego. "What the slag is that thing, is it one of Isidore's droids?" Zeko grabbed his shoulders before he could get too close.

"No Terhan Kaaros is no concern of yours, please tell me what is going on down in the village." He took a stuttering breathe trying to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes. "Today is the energy cull and they increased the quota at the last minute. You know how slow information from the city is in getting here. We were too short Zeko, they killed Chief Banos and the other villagers!"

   "The Cerulean guard used their leach blades and started stabbing and absorbing the kJs out of everyone. They are going from house to house taking every life they come across and burning everything! I managed to drag Jarrel into one of the caves until they passed. You were the only one I could think of that could help him." Zeko looked down at the bleeding Jarrel and listened quietly to his breathing and began cleaning and bandaging his wounds.  She looked up at Terhan quickly "How long until they reach here?" He only shook his head " I'm not sure but it can't be long, what do we do?"

   She looked down sadly at Jarrel's round blood stained face that was beginning to look whiter by the minute. "Terhan, I am sorry to say this but your brother doesn't have long either. He has lost too much blood and he doesn't have enough kJs to power his organs. See for yourself here on his KJ monitor." She rotated his arm to expose a small black screen the size of a pack of cards that seemed to be implanted inside the dying boy's forearm. The black screen just flashed a red warning "kJ depletion critical, power failure in 10 minutes 53 seconds"

      Terhan put his hand on his brothers chest and bent forward to kiss his forehead. "Goodbye brother, I swear I will drag as many of those bastards to hell as I can before we meet again." Zeko looked up at me "Alright Kaaros, looks like its time to put that frame to the test. We have to get out of here before we end up on the end of a leach blade." She ran over and grabbed  a backpack from under her bed and made her way to the door as she motioned for Terhan and I to follow.

   The door opened with a slow creak as she peered out into the forest and the path that led to the inflamed village. We all stepped tentatively out of the doorway and onto the grassy clearing around the small home that had been built into the trunk of an ancient tree. The sky was beginning to fill with a cloud of smoke and the air was permeated with burning embers and the screams of the villagers. Zeko took point position in our juxtaposed group. Each step we took brought about a clearer picture of the horrors that had overcome the peaceful village.

   The gravel crunched under my clunky legs as we inched our way through the winding trails of the forest. Zeko explained to me how she was an outcast of the village. The villagers only came to her when they had a medical emergency or needed an herbal remedy for child bearing or some other issues best left for hushed conversations. At large the villagers regarded her as a superstitious girl who still clung to the ways of the old world. Why she endured that social punishment I will never know.

   The sound of a razor sharp blade as it cuts through the air is unmistakable. The obsidian sword found its home in the back of my head before burrowing deep into the steel casing. The force of the blow sends me face first into the muddy gravel of the path. My legs follow the arc, only stopping once my neck breaks the momentum with a sickly crunch. The wound in the back of my head sizzled and arced with the residual energy of the blade. With my face half buried in mud and gravel I saw the Cerulean Guard draw his blade back and turn his attention to the terrified Zeko.

   The guard's blue armor gleamed in the afternoon light that poured through the canopy of trees. His armor had a black cape fastened neatly at the shoulders with a gold clasp. His helmet was narrow and the many vertical slots that lined the front served as a way to see without giving away the focus of his gaze. The long black tufts of hair that accented the top of the helmet gave him an almost regal look.  Each gauntlet was accented with spiked knuckles that were currently grasping the black blade with a thin blue hilt. He moved closer to Zeko and began to raise the blade.

   My body was frozen and all I could do was convulse in the mud and watch in horror as the guard swung the blade toward Zeko’s head. She ducked and rolled out of the way just as the blade made an audible swish behind her. Terhan ran screaming toward the guard with a small dagger in his hand. "You bastard! This is for Jarrel!" He jumped on the guards back and drove the dagger into the slit between the guard's helmet and shoulder. He must have found his neck because his face was sprayed with a sickly dark purple liquid that had such a stench that even my mechanical stomach felt queasy.

   The guard let out a roar and I could only presume curses in the demon tongue. The guard reached up and snatched Terhan by the hair and slammed him into the path. His black boots were brought down hard into the boy's face. The guard stomped hard against the boys face over and over again turning his face into a bloody mess. Each stomp was accompanied with a sickly squish of breaking cartilage and ruptures veins. Zeko scrambled over to me and tried to pull me upright again.

She began saying something to me in a language I didn't understand. "Kaaros si us plau, aixeca't! Hem d'anar abans que els altres guàrdies vénen!" I could see the terror in her eyes and the pleading way she pulled at me I knew that she needed me to snap out of it. My body shook violently as I stood up but miraculously held itself together well enough move around.

      The guard heard our shuffling and turned his attention away from the bleeding boy under his boot and started toward us. His blade was pulsating from a dark black to a deep blue, almost anticipating the blood and energy coursing through us. I moved in front of the her to shield her from the dangerous blade. Terhan was laying on the path motionless surround by the gravel that eagerly soaked up the blood streaming from his face.

   The guard roared as it lunged toward me. I managed to swing a wild fist hard against his helmet. The blow only managed to knock him off balance but he did not go down. His blade was quick as it flew through the air in a fury of strikes. I managed to dodge most and made it out of the onslaught with only a few more shallow gashes against my frail armor. Suddenly a calm came over Zeko as she began chanting something with one raised palm. He words grew stronger and more forceful, Her face began to change and almost glow with a blue hue, a crescent moon began to glow on her forehead a deep energetic shade of purple. "Dukh, Lluna, Tierra, Mozhet diosa tech'través de mi. She began to shout the last part as energy began to crackle around her open palm. She must have begun chanting in another language because I began to understand the chant. "Spirit, Moon, Earth, May the Goddess to flow through me."
  
   The guard's breastplate was getting increasingly more purple as the demon's blood continued to ooze out of his neck. His attention was now on the chanting Zeko and he was closing in with his blade. As the guard swung the sword and immense bolt energy flew from Zekos hand and smashing into the stomach of the guard. He immediately burst into a convulsing mess as his entire body writhed with the electric shock of the bolt.
  
   The moment was was enough for me to run up and grab the blade and rip it from his hands before he could recover. Zeko collapsed onto the trail after the lighting began to subside. The sword was heavy but felt perfectly balanced in my hand. I drove the blade down hard into his chest with the audible pop of breaking bones and flesh. The sword ate through the armor as if he were only clothed in rags and drank in his purple blood greedily. He gasped and wheezed as the sword thrummed and consumed every remaining kJ in his body. I could feel the energy transferring through the hilt into my body.

   The energy jolted through me and made every sinew come alive.  The world itself grew brighter and my very mind became sharp and focused. Every scent and sound was amplified. The guard slumped down and only managed to gurgle a few final words before dieing. I pulled the blade from his chest without much resistance. I glanced over to Terhan and he still had not moved and was now a sickly pale mess. His wrist flashed a few more red warnings in a strange language and then faded to black.

   I ran over to the unconscious Zeko, she was alive but she would not wake up despite my best efforts. I inspected the area for someplace to hide until Zeko regained consciousness. I saw a small cave opening just off the path that was shrouded in overgrowth and rotting trees. This must be where Terhan and Jarrel hid the first time.
  
I brought the unconscious Zeko into the mouth of the cave and laid her down on a bed of old pine needles and leaves. I run back to the path and drag the dead guard back to the cave and then Terhan's body. I did my best to cover the blood up on the path before heading back to the cave to inspect the guard's pockets and stripping his armor for usable gear.

   The guards boots and gauntlets fit over my frame perfectly. The right gauntlet contained a kJ scanner that lit up when I slipped it on. Once it calibrated itself it displayed a green message that i still could not make out. I slipped the rest of the gear off of the putrid body. The only salvageable pieces were the pants boots, gauntlets and the helmet. The breast plate was caked in drying blood and had a huge gash in the middle so it would be useless to try and salvage it.

The helmet fit nicely over my head and offered a reasonable amount of field of vision while still serving to protect my freshly gouged head. The inside of the helmet still smelled like the rotting flesh of the demon. It was the smell of a fish market on the hottest of summer days. With myself cleaned up and the sword secured at my side I made my way back toward the mouth of the cave.

      I could hear the sound heavy boots and trotting horses as they made their way down the forest path. There were five of them in full Cerulean armor. Three of them followed closely on foot while two rode ahead on horseback. Even their horses wore the Cerulean armor and were gilded with the symbol of an eye with a strange rune over the iris. I held my breathe in anticipation as they passed the scene of the fight. Luckily they did not seem to notice and continued past and toward Zeko’s house.

   It wouldn't take them long to reach her home and then how long until they realize one of their own was missing? Zeko had to wake up, and quick if we stood a chance of making it out of this alive. I paced the room trying to think of a way to wake her up. Shaking her or talking to her did nothing and time was running short. Crouched over her body my eyes fell on the sword at my side. I turned her wrist over to check her power level. The warning was yellow this time but I still could not make out the language that it was in. If the sword could give the wielder energy then maybe it could shocker her awake.

   I positioned the blade in her palm and made sure her fingers wrapped around. I picked the edge of the blade up and already I could feel it start to steal my power. I placed the point of the blade against my chest against the steel cover that guarded the Kaori stone. I leaned against the blade as it drove itself slowly into my chest. As soon as the blade came into contact with the stone there was an enormous jolt of energy that traveled down the blade and sent Zeko and myself flying backward from each other. After the initial shock I scrambled to my feet and rushed over the Zeko. She jolted awake and began coughing and fighting for air.

   She turned her head and in the dimly lit cave she saw a tall figure in Cerulean armor bearing down on her with a leach blade laying at his feet. She rushed to grab the blade but he kicked it away in a hurry. She tried to scream but his gloved hand grabbed her mouth stifling any noise. At that moment I realized I had still been wearing the helmet and was no doubt sending her into a terror filled panic. I threw the helmet off with my free hand and grabbed her close. I could sense her calming down as the realization that we were not dead sank in.

  I whispered to her that it was okay, the guard was dead but all she heard was. " Zeko yego bienchas. Okhrannik muerto." Her eyes grew wide as she looked at me in confusion. "Kaaros, who taught you this language?" I didn't understand what she was talking about. "O que govorísh? Estoy govorísh zhe mismo vy tú." She shook her head, "No Kaaros you and I are speaking in the ancient language of the Erudites. The ones who built the temples and relics spoke Erudea." She got back on her feet and examined the back of my head.

   The blow to the head must have damaged your language processors. Her head snapped back around "Where is Terhan?" I motioned toward the heap that I had the guard and him laying in. She walked up to the boy and kneeled down next to him. "Gràcies Terhan, el seu sacrifici no serà en vena. Descansi un jove i ara hi participaré a la vall prou aviat." Once she said her goodbyes we made out way to the mouth of the cave.
  
"I know someone who can help us Kaaros, but we need to travel to Vemil City and meet up with the Crescent Order there. They are a druid order that learned how link with the KJs of the earth. They are hiding within the walls of Vermil City now after Isidore slaughtered half of the order in her pursuit of their magic. Unfortunately she obtained enough to be able to link herself through the power lines where she leaches off of the land. The Order will help us remain hidden until we can find out where the next artifact was hidden. I nodded my head in approval, her plan offers alot of room for error in an unknown city where we will be at the mercy of Isidore's spies and the kindness of old men.

   We made our way through the dense forest making sure to offer a wde bredth between us and the carnage in the village. Steering clear of the path until we were on the outskirts of the village we crept and crouch through the dense brush while getting slashes by thistles. The scent of burning wood filled the air as heavy clouds of smoke still bellowed into the sky above the canopy of trees. The ashes of Zeko's former life still littered the sky as we finally cleared reached a clearing.

In the haste and madness of the situation we had only managed to bring a backpack with some meager supplies and a small tarp that could be used for a tent. All I had were the stolen gear from the guard and a new hole in my head. The city was still a few days worth of walking and we were already exhausted from the day's struggles. We found a nice spot just off the beaten path to rest for a bit before picking back up and moving on. Zeko avoided the question I had about her powers and only offered the vague answer of "It will become clearer once we reach the city."

The days were long and the endless walking became monotonous as the conversation grew more scarce and the scenery was only broken up by the occasional wild animal that was brave enough to watch the odd pair of beings hiking through their territory. We decided to get rid of the guard helmet before reaching the city, best not draw questions as to where we acquired a Cerulean Guard's uniform. Along the way we met a travelling merchant who thanks to the last of Zeko's kJs we had food and some cloaks to wear in order to better conceal our province of origin.

Finally after almost a weeks worth of walking we had reached the road that led to the enormous stone walls of Vermil City. The wall stretched on for countless miles in either direction and rose high above the treeline. The city was a seemingly impenetrable fortress with bladed guards standing watch. We approached the gate cautiously and were greeted by a guard. "Què dimonis vosaltres dos volen?" He seemed angry and almost shouted the words at us as he eyeballed the girl and the hooded robot standing before him.

Zeko replied in that strange language "Si us plau, senyor, sóc ser un aprenent de l'ordre Crecente i aquest és el meu servent aracnic." She gestured toward me with the last word. The guard stared at her for a while trying to decide if she was telling the truth. He spoke once more in a questioning tone "No suposi que té alguna prova?" She looked over at me then she rolled up her left sleeve revealing a patchwork of strange runes. The most prominent was the patchwork of designs leading to a set of runes and the words Dukh, Lluna, Tierra that formed a triangle around a single symbol. The symbol resembled a runic tree.

The guard seemed satisfied with the symbols and he called back to another guard who then ran and opened the doors for us. For a moment the guard seemed frightened of the symbols on her arm but her kept his composure in tact. That momentary glimpse of fear left me with so many questions though. Just who was Zeko really, and what happened on the trails that she wouldn't talk about? We made it through the checkpoint without any further issues and the door was slammed shut behind us.

Once inside the city the noise and smells assaulted our senses and threatened to drown us in the million scented perfume that was Vermil city. Everywhere we looked was something or someone screaming for attention. Huge billboards flashed with faces of so many strangers, each one begging you to indulge yourself. We made our way down a dirt road that was littered with various pieces of plastic and electronics from so many products of days past. Each person we passed seemed to barely even notice we were there. Thousands of faces were glued to tiny holoscreens that linked into their kJ screens in their arms. Every game, video and ad consumed them as I watched their kJs slowly tick away as they paid for their entertainment.
 

Zeko grabbed my arm and whispered to stay close as we weaved through the labyrinth littered with the bodies of people watching or performing unspeakable horrors and delights to and for each other. There were woman floating in cages above the crowd and each beckoned for someone join them. Once a purchase was made the man climbed up the stained silk rope to live out his desires in front of everyone, if they weren't too busy watching one of the other thousands of distractions. The entire atmosphere was chaotic, beautiful and disgusting and I couldn't stop drinking it in.

Finally we made our way down a surprisingly empty alleyway. We came upon a thick wooden door with a crescent moon symbol burnt into the top. Zeko reached up and banged firmly against the door. "Quina és la clau?" came from the other side of the door. It sound was the sound of vocal chords made of sandpaper, it was rough and stern and I eagerly hoped Zeko knew what he wanted. "Dukh, Lluna y Tierra font ens farà lliures." There was shuffle behind the door and a few latches were unlocked. The man creaked the door open and peaked out, his wrinkled face lit up as he ushered us to come in.

"Zeko després de tots aquests anys és que realment vostè?" He said with a wide smile. Zeko smiled and said in the familiar Erudea "Can we speak in the old tongue so my friend here can follow along Mathius?" The wrinkles on his old face wiggles when he smiled as he said "Of course dear, but I am a little out of practice. So what brings you to this shit hole of a city after all these years?" Zeko lowered her head and began to explain everything that had happened, including how she brought me to life once more.

"These are dark time indeed young one, tell me how can I help?" He rested his hands on hers and furrowed his eyebrows in a worried expression. She looked up and said "I need the Grimoire of Arimathea. Before you go on with a speech telling me its too dangerous, I already know what is at stake Mathius. We have no choice and we wouldn't be here if there were any other way. He stared in silence for a long while until he finally stood up and walked over to the dusty bookshelf and halfheartedly thumbed the pages a few books. I would gladly hand it over to you, that is if I still had it.

"Brother Balon or General Balon as he is known now betrayed the order. He took the Grimoire for himself and made quite the name for himself exploiting the powerful rune spells within to muscle his way into the various stim smuggling rings. All is not lost though, once I learned of his plot against the order I had enough time to split the book in two and send off the second half to an ally in the water tribe."

"You see child, you need both halves in order to summon Navi the great navigator spirit. She alone knows of the true paths along the earth that lead to the rest of the relics hidden from Isidore's reach. You still wish to seek out the Grimoire knowing all of this?" He gave her another worried look.

"I know what what must be done, and if we fail I know that will mean the end of this realm. Tell me grandpa, do you still have my old Hermetic Tomes? I think we are going to need them now more than ever."

 

[Volki]

Hello All

 

So for the 100th time I am going to start a BL! I have been around NF for a minute and decided to take a break from the 4WC challenges and work on some more personally and low key things. My hope for this log is to house my continual ADD brain and also use it to work on a story that I am writing for the fun of it as well as my continual weight training with the Juggernaut Method as well as experimenting with other activities. All gifs and feedback are welcome, and welcome to my daily ramblings

 

 

 

For record keeping here is my training BL:

 

 

[Volki]

 OKAY!

 

So for this month (Feb 6 - Mar 6) I am going to try something different as an experiment and I hope it works out.

As you can see above I am working on writing a story for fun. Well, I thought it would be fun to have how I do 

each month effect what happens in the story. I went ahead and rolled up his starting stats and I am going to run it like 

a solo campaign. My character is named Kaaros, he is basically an android made from scrap metal which is wrapped around a magical artifact. I have 4 goals this month:

 

LANGUAGE: Kaaros needs to learn the Lore of the Land and the new way of speech since he has been dormant 

 

•                    I am learning Russian with a few other NF people and I am setting the goal of Duolingo practice 5x a week.

                   1 day = 1pt for a min of 20pts for the month

 

•                    Also I want to continue writing so I am joining a few people on NF to do a Play by Post set in the Shadowrun world.

                             My goal is just to stick it out and finish the PbP. 

                   Complete = 3 bonus pts

 

THE COST: If I fail to reach the 20pts then Kaaros will have something damaging happen to either his ability or his ability to understand any language. 

 

 

  VULNERABILITIES There is currently a metal plate covering his most vulnerable spot. He needs to work to fortify his frame further.

                      I want to work on some personal vulnerabilities I have. Since I am the one who cooks most of the dinners at home for my wife and kids it is up to me to choose the food. unfortunately due to laziness I end up making food that isn't the healthiest and my family is suffering the cost. I also need to keep the kids and wife active, we have been doing well I just want to keep it up. I also need to step up the romance game, I need to set up at least 2 date nights this month. We have 2 kids so date nights are hard to come by and with Valentine's day coming what better month to kick up the romance.

 

• Learn and cook 3 new recipes this month : 12pts
• 2 family walks a week : 8pts
• 2 date nights this month: 20 pts
• Bonus pts for small romantic gestures and extra date nights(at home or out) 1pt extra per week.

 

THE COST: If I fail to reach 40 pts then there will be damage to Kaaros' body. This could come as losing a limb, a body part or simply 

the cover for his artifact heart could not be strong enough.

 

STRENGTH: Kaaros needs to develop strength in order to fight and carry his steel framed body

                                I recently finish a run through all 4 phases of the Juggernaut Powerlifting program and I loved it. I am going to try out a variation of the Bulgarian method this time though. It is only Bulgarian inspired because I am only aiming for 3x a week.

 

• Bulgarian 3x a week 12pts

 

THE COST: If this is not completed then Kaaros will have points taken from his strength attribute pts and will have something happen that will cause him to have encumbered strength.

 

CYBER: Kaaros needs to learn how to navigate the cyber world that he now finds himself in.

• Study Linux+\or Security+ 20mins 4X a week : 12pts

 

THE COST: If he does not get enough pts then Kaaros will have an error causing him to have a greater difficulty in communicating with this digital world.

 

Stating Stats:

Kaaros

STR: 19

DEX:11

CON:16

INT: 13

WIS: 16

CHA: 14

 

 

 

Character Sheet for Shadowrun

Spoiler

 

[Laghail]

This idea is so win. Fun, SMART goals, and creative. Wells done man.

[Volki]

2 minutes ago, Laghail said:

This idea is so win. Fun, SMART goals, and creative. Wells done man.

Thanks

 

How I felt when I pulled the idea out of my ass:

[Laghail]

As someone with similar brain processes to what you describe, that moment where disparate ideas come together into this one great new thing - that jolt of excitement is like a drug.

[Volki]

1 minute ago, Laghail said:

As someone with similar brain processes to what you describe, that moment where disparate ideas come together into this one great new thing - that jolt of excitement is like a drug.

YESSS definitely, especially after so many false starts and half finished ideas. I am hoping to ride this story out to the end ;D

 

[Wild Wolf]

3 minutes ago, Volki said:

YESSS definitely, especially after so many false starts and half finished ideas. I am hoping to ride this story out to the end ;D

 

 

I'm on board! And I feel you 100% dude...I have so many half finished ideas its ridiculous. I need to go back and read chapter one but I wanted to drop by and say I love the set-up! Also excited about our Shadowrun PbP  

 

Wolf

[Jord]

I can't promise I can keep up, but I will check in from time to time.

[Volki]

1 minute ago, Wild Wolf said:

 

I'm on board! And I feel you 100% dude...I have so many half finished ideas its ridiculous. I need to go back and read chapter one but I wanted to drop by and say I love the set-up! Also excited about our Shadowrun PbP  

 

Wolf

Yeah I am very excited about our group and I am hoping to have a chill month to just list and work on some hobbies. 

 

1 minute ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

I can't promise I can keep up, but I will check in from time to time.

No worries, This BL is actually by way of retreating from a thousand NF updates lol. So skim whenever you get a chance

and I will do my best to check in on my favorite Warriors

 

[Volki]

Day 1 of this challenge is going well, I went and tested some 1RMs.

 

SQ

135x5

225x3

275x1

315x1

335x1

345x1********** NEW 1RM

 

OHP

95x5

115x3

125x1

135x1

145x1****failed on lockout**

145x1************New 1RM

 

[Laghail]

14 minutes ago, Volki said:

A- that kitten is racist.

B- Yuuuge congrats on the pr's. Tape one of your OHP sets? I'm curious to see how you've changed your hip/neck positioning, but mostly just wanna see dat ass.

[Volki]

1 minute ago, Laghail said:

A- that kitten is racist.

B- Yuuuge congrats on the pr's. Tape one of your OHP sets? I'm curious to see how you've changed your hip/neck positioning, but mostly just wanna see dat ass.

Lol I will definitely try to do that next time and angle the camera so it accentuates

 Also true, look at him looking down on all the other non furry cat creatures. But I admire his conviction to stand up for his own. He not the cat we want but the one that we need.

[Laghail]

15 minutes ago, Volki said:

Lol I will definitely try to do that next time and angle the camera so it accentuates

 Also true, look at him looking down on all the other non furry cat creatures. But I admire his conviction to stand up for his own. He not the cat we want but the one that we need.

See that you do. It pleases me.

Also, why are all our political heroes orange these days??

[Volki]

55 minutes ago, Laghail said:

See that you do. It pleases me.

Also, why are all our political heroes orange these days??

Idk man maybe if I rub cheetos on myself I could one day rule the world.

Heres hoping

 

[Jarric]

Live the concept and the story man!

 

 

[Volki]

Todays workout

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
205x4x5

BP
55x8
95x5
115x4
135x4
185x5
165x3x5

DL
255x10

Pullups
5x3

 

Today was the first day of the new program and damn did it kick my ass. I had to adjust the BP weight or else I wasn't going to make it. 

[Laghail]

Well done Volks. Tweaking the weights to prevent injury is its own version of badass.

[Volki]

Today's Workout

 

SQ

85x8

135x5

175x4

205x4x5

 

BP

55x8

95x5

115x4

135x4

185x4

165x3x5

 

OHP

95x10

 

Pullups

5x3

 

 

Also all of the goals are looking good this week. I have been on a few walks with the kids, had movie nights with my wife and I have been playing the PbP

and studying Russian(bare min but still counts).

Today I snuck out of work in the morning and knocked out the above workout and then hauled ass back to work and nobody noticed

 

Catchy song of the day:

 

[Laghail]

Showing up to work smelling like a goat and no one noticed?? Much impress.

[Volki]

35 minutes ago, Laghail said:

Showing up to work smelling like a goat and no one noticed?? Much impress.

haha luckily I didn't end up a sweaty mess so I was just the normal amount of stank.

 

So last night did some more duolingo and some Linux study on my phone for a bit.

So far all the goals are going really well

 

Songs of the day!!!

Spanish:

 

Russian:

 

Norwegian(Singer from Norway, song in English):

 

[Laghail]

Loved "Running with the Wolves". Like 4x so far.

[Volki]

Todays workout

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
205x4x5

BP
55x8
95x5
115x4
135x4
165x4x5

DL
255x10

Pullups
5x3

 

[Jord]

Also enjoyed the Aurora one. Even though it made me think too much of medical stuff. I'll have to check out her other work.