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Author Topic: A Kobold's Quest II  (Read 76098 times)

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #690 on: January 27, 2008, 01:26:00 am »

Thank you  :)
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Blitukus drove forward, accelerating to top speed and ramming into the gate. His drill became entangled in the bars of the gate, but successfully caused it to come unhinged. Blitukus kept driving forward through the opening gate, the unhinged gate carried upon the drill leaving a trail of sparks as it screaped against the surprisingly hard stone floor of the area. Blitukus approached a ledge, lowered the drill, and backed up, scraping the gate loose from his drill... he looked and saw an iron tank of some sort, menacing with large iron spikes... the entire tank was half-cylindrical and large enough for his machine to barely fit into, but was also sealed off. It was out of place with the rest of heaven... within lay his goal, just about guaranteed. It was precariously perched over the chasm he had used to free the gate from the drill... the chasm led streight down to a cell in hells prison. Blitukus backed the vehicle up, and turned to face the side of the tank... now to finally reach his goal. Blitukus started up the drill, and set the throttle all the way forward, causing the vehicle to accelerate rapidly towards it, drill spinning. Blitukus focused his mana within the drill, using the power from the remaining emeralds...

Fale lay suspended within the iron container... chained to the wall... the entire container was ready to be cast into hell, and she was made well aware she would go with it... she was ready to face anything, but still... what of her son? Her ears perked up to hear the hissing of a several steam engines clanking toward at high speed. WHAM! An enormous adamantine corkscrew punched right through the wall of the tank! Fale laughed and grinned... the steam mechanisms were a giveaway... she knew exactly who had come to her rescue.

Blitukus pulled back out slightly, let the drill spin back up, then widened the hole until it was large enough for the vehicle to cross through. Blitukus shut the drill off, drove through, and turned to see his mother chained to the wall... he felt emotions welling up within him as a result of this... he had finally done it, he had finally reached the soul of his mother... although the circumstances were different than what he had previously imagined. She pulled her arm to the side, stretching out the chain... Blitukus saw this, started up the drill, and carefully maneuvered toward his mother... she held perfectly steady as the enormous adamantine drill covered with cooked blood approached... Blitukus maneuvered slowly and with precision... finally, the tip of the drill struck the chain holding her left arm, severing the chain. Blitukus pulled back, and repeated this for the other 3 chains, going in a counterclockwise pattern. Fale hopped down from her now broken restraints. Blitukus stopped the drill, opened the hatch, then climbed out... he then took off his helmet, and for the first time in so long, saw his mother directly... His mother saw him, standing in his steel suit, covered in gadgetry and standing upon the adamantine plated, gem encrusted armored vehicle. Fale spoke, "Blitukus!" Fale climbed up, ran to Blitukus and gave him a big hug. Blitukus accepted immediately... it had been so long. Blitukus spoke, "You have no idea how much I missed you, mom!" Fale smiled, hugging tighter, "Yes I do!" Blitukus smiled... finally, it had been done. Soon, Kazo would trigger the cat relic, and they both would be back, to once again gaze across the pristine, peaceful grounds of their home... death had not stood in his way... here he was, hugging his mother one more time, years after it should have been impossible. Time travel, all these machines, his fighting his way here, it should've all been impossible... but his love would make anything possible. It had made it possible. Space and time, the gods and the laws that be stood in his way not! Blitukus kept his smile, a tear running down his cheek... that moment seemed to last... it would be eternal within his heart. Fale spoke, "Thankse!" WHAMMMMMMMM! The land itself seemed to rock in an immense earthquake, shaking the moment to its end. Armoks presence drew near. Armok yelled, "YOUUUUUUU!" Fale grinned at the sound. A moment later, Blitukus added his grin to hers. Now was time for the quest to finally end... Armok had lost. First, Blitukus must not allow himself to be destroyed... should that happen, whether the damage would carry over or not was debatable... and if Armok were to get his hands on the relic... all would be lost. Blitukus looked at the open hatch, then looked back at Fale. Fale looked around... it was their best bet for survival... she hopped into the vehicle. Blitukus put his helmet back on, and entered the cabin as well, having to stand behind the chair that was now occupied by Fale. KRCKOWWWWW! A bolt of lightning struck the chain that held the tank from falling into the chasm below, blowing the chain apart. The tank slid forward, and plunged into the chasm... Blitukus shut the hatch... He saw the cell of what was perhaps a prison within hell... which meant it was near the top... and if these tunnels came in pairs, he might end up near his own entry point... was it possible... he would actually make it back home alive?

The tank slammed into the ground, splitting in half between the floor and the wall... the bending and crunching metal absorbed much of the energy of the fall, resulting in the armored vehicle slipping out through the fissure in the tank and slamming down to the ground. Fale and Blitukus were both uninjured as the collapsing tank had slowed their descent quite a bit. Fale asked, "How's I work dis ting?" Blitukus replied, sensing Armok approaching to finish them off, "It might be best if I drove it!" He was right... Fale replied, "Okie!" She then got up and switched places with Blitukus. Blitukus checked his sphere of direction... his goal lay... to the right and up? Quite near actually... Blitukus started the drill... he rammed the wall ahead, bursting through it... the wall was actually a rather thin wall, separating that cell, full of dead bodies, from the chamber with the broken crystal... now also full of dead bodies. He was very close to the exit! What luck! He just had to navigate his way back to his tunnel, and take his tunnel up to the upper level where he could exit hell. There was the problem of the broken bridge and a wall being in the way... no matter! Blitukus found the ramp up, and drove towards it. Bodies ahead seemed to bunch up into a ball, which levitated. Armok was very near... The bunch then flew at the armored vehicle from the side, striking the top of it... many of the bodies were pulverized, blood, goo, and ichor flying into the air with its respective gore... the entire cannon was sheared clean off, and the vehicle in general had taken quite a blow, tipping it with the force of the hit... the vehicle rolled forward on only one tread, then slammed back down to continue on both. Armok bunched up another set, and began to hurl it at the vehicle from behind... Blitukus drove at full speed, reaching the ramp... Blitukus ascended as the projectile was in mid flight, the projectile putting a hole in the ramp behind the vehicle and splattering into a heap of gore. Blitukus turned quickly, jamming the shifter back and forth as he rounded the corner, and ascended up to the bridge... the bridge was out. A section of the ground below seemed to tear itself free... Blitukus drove at full speed, crossing onto the broken bridge. The ball of earth from below shot upwards, hitting the very back of the armored vehicle, catapulting the vehicle upwards and shattering that portion of the bridge, making a large cloud of dust when it struck the top of the room. The armored vehicle flipped as it flew through the air... SLAM! It landed on the other side of the bridge... and it was still going. Fale held on tight as Blitukus drove further... Blitukus was surprised that had resulted in that... Fale was careful to brace herself for impact from any angle... Blitukus was already sore from all the slamming around. Armok yelled in anger, his yell seeming to shatter the stone of the room... there was an immense earthquake, and boulders began to rain down from the ceiling as the room began to collapse... luckily, the collapse included the wall that had formerly obstructed him, resulting in an incline the armored vehicle could climb. Blitukus drove to the incline, boulders smashing through the ledge and clipping the vehicle several times... it even managed to tear some plates off but the vehicle still kept going. Blitukus made it to the incline, and drove up into his own tunnel. BAMMMMMMMMM! The entire enormous cavern behind caved in, the rear of the vehicle shoved forth by debris from the collapse. The ground shook again... the tunnel ahead began to fragment... Blitukus focused his energies again, driving up steam production... there was a burst of acceleration. Suddenly, the land itself seemed to shift, splitting the tunnel in twain... the split, where there was now a solid wall, lay behind Blitukus, empty tunnel ahead. Had Blitukus not given himself a boost, the vehicle would've been cought right in the middle of the split and sheared in half. Ironically... Armoks very wrath was the only thing keeping Blitukus alive... he knew Armok could kill him simply and outright, but no... Armok had to attack him in a more grand but less effective manner...

I know from experience how anger can blind a person... I suppose it applies to truly everyone.

Armoks wrath would be Armoks own undoing. Blitukus continued up the tunnel... A boulder was torn from the ceiling ahead, and cast down the tunnel. Blitukus gathered his energies, and as the boulder drew close, released them all at once into the still spinning drill. The boulder made contact with the drill just as its magic charge peaked... the boulder was shattered, and the armored vehicle continued further. Blitukus eventually made it to the top of the tunnel, proceeding up a ramp into the torture chamber he had previously passed through... the body of the crucified kobold was still there, the now-cool fragments of the bolt sticking out of what remained of its head. Blitukus turned at the T-section, and continued toward the iron-plated room... why was Armok waiting? As Blitukus approached the room, he saw the iron above buckling... He immediately jerked the throttle back, the vehicle skidding to a halt as the ceiling of the room fell in... and then as the floor gave out, the whole thing fell yet another floor! The armored vehicle was jerked about, and most notably jerked forward... the drill had been sheared off! That would've been the whole vehicle had his eyes not been so keen. Now, though, he accelerated again, crossing atop the rough, ruined rock of what once lay above the ceiling, to his entry tunnel. Blitukus saw it... darkness... then a light at the end of the tunnel... Armoks presence seemed to withdraw to a different point in space... and power seemed to begin gathering... if it was noticeable from that distance, it was immense. Blitukus rocketed out of the pit, launching off the top of the ramp and slamming back down in his own tunnel. Blitukus kept driving... again, he focused a burst of mana to increase steam for a burst of acceleration as the vehicle climbed up an incline... it launched off of the top of the ramp leading up, crossing over the broken ground over the magma flow, the top where the cannon used to be scraping against the actual ceiling, then slamming down on the opposite side, even more ground collapsing... the vehicle barely managed to avoid slipping backwards into the magma. Both Blitukus and Fale sensed it... Armok was amassing ENORMOUS amounts of power. Blitukus continued regardless of this... over the chasm, and down, through the cave river... a bright white light at the end of the tunnel was seen... the vehicle roared out of the tunnels, through the storage room, and out onto the glacier. Blitukus saw bright light... which faded, to reveal glacial daylight... they had made it. Blitukus closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. Fale opened the hatch, and stuck her head out, ignoring the bitter cold and grinning as she gazed out... she was once again on the mortal plane... but, her form within heaven was preserved... she was alive again! Blitukus turned the machine, and headed back to the main entrance... they would be able to meet Kazo once more. Unfortunately... Armok now observed all... was everything lost? Blitukus stopped at the front of his tunnels. Fale got out. Blitukus got out and hopped down, running as fast as his armor would permit into the tunnels, Fale following close behind. Kazo had been instructed to keep the portal up should he need to make a getaway... but, though it was possible to nudge the portal while it was observed... it would require an immense, ridiculous amount of energy to do it in any real amount... then, it occurred to him. Though he could not use the primary function of the cat relic... the dragons wanted it for a specific purpose. The amount of power it could supply in its complete form approached infinity.

Meanwhile, outside... Armok yelled, and hurled a vast ball of concentrated, destructive energy at the entire mountain... as the green, glowing projectile approached the mountain, a small, blue, but much faster projectile approached it. The two projectiles collided... the green, massive projectile was deflected into the skies where it exploded with a ferocity unseen since either demonic invasion, melting a crater into the glacier and sending a shockwave out for miles. Armok observed the source of that blue projectile... before him flew a lone red dragon. Armok threw a bolt of lightning down... Dracha teleported out of the way. Armok then threw a supersonic projectile of destructive astral energies at Dracha... again, Dracha disappeared... this time reappearing behind Armoks presence, firing a projectile of her own which struck Armoks presence... doing little other than causing Armok to focus his attention even more away from the mountain.

Blitukus reached the cavern... and there was Kazo, holding the relic. Kazo spoke, "You're back!! And you're his mother I assume! He never stopped observing!" Blitukus replied, "And he will not stop..." The portal was already ready... it just needed coordinates. Fale smiled, "Hi der!" Kazo handed the relic over to Blitukus, then smiled as he shook hands with Fale. Blitukus quickly placed the relic upon the wires connecting the dynamos to the silver spheres... the amount of energy released would surely ruin the machine... indeed, it would likely be so vast it could even reduce much of the machine to its fundamental particles! This was his last voyage... and his mother would be there with him. But where would he go? The only place he knew Armok would never find him... at the heart of heaven, hell, and the mortal plane... the very origin of it all... it was guaranteed to be out of Armoks jurisdiction. Blitukus ran back to his calculating machine, and entered in the exact coordinate, "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0". This was a fundamental point in the universe... likely much like an anchor for the rest of the universe... as such, it never moved, and due to that, initial conditions were irrelevant. He started the machine. The machine worked extremely swiftly... the 11 key variables being zero caused a lot of terms to drop out... Blitukus spoke to Kazo, "Kazo, I am about to embark for the last time... you must either come with or leave now, for anything else within these halls will surely bee destroyed!" Kazo thought about this... then spoke, "I'm going to go with the dragons!... Maybe we'll meet again some day! It's been nice knowing you both!" The machine was done. Fale smiled, "Thankse!" Blitukus nodded, "Thank you Kazo... it has been nice knowing you too. Now go!" Kazo took one last look at Blitukus for a moment... then darted out. Armok could be heard shouting outside... he was looking in... "You shall not... no... NOOOOO!!!" Fale grinned. Blitukus fired the particle cannon... when it had ceased, he triggered the clockwork controls. Finally... THIS was TRULY it! Blitukus gestured toward the rift. Both Blitukus and Fale ran side by side... MEOWWWL! The cat approached them rapidly. Why had the cat returned at this time? It had virtually no impact... as did the energy flowing to the spheres. Blitukus closed his eyes, not stopping his running, then opened them again... this time viewing the world on all levels... he focused himself on the cat relic... in 11 dimensions... the rift was truly beautiful... in infinite states painting an infinite mosaic of beautifully contorted space and time. Still, he focused himself on the cat relic, drawing forth energy... this energy in and of itself drew forth more energy... an exponential buildup happened, and the device glew brighter and brighter until its shine filled the room. Armok sent a boulder hurtling down toward the portal ring, more than capable of fragmenting the ring. Finally, the energy was ready to be used, but could not be used within the device, for Armok was observing. Blitukus, Fale, and the cat all crossed into the rift at the exact same time... When Blitukus stopped controlling the relic due to this, all of the energy stored in the relic could not work and could not be returned... therefore it only had one place to go, and it was open to accept flow. The relic discharged its astronomically large energy contents... The room was flooded with light as the charge moved down the wires at a speed much near that of light itself. The wires glew with unparalleled intensity... and as the charge reached the spheres, causing them to glow with similar intensity... the rift was obscured from all observation as the entire cavern flooded completely full of arcs and rays of energy. The portal destination was catapulted away... far beyond the distance. The matter and essence of Blitukus, Fale, and the cat also were catapulted forth, far beyond the distant regions of the cosmos...

The cat relic seemed to disappear as soon as its charge was released. The cavern was filled with a blinding light... pure energy unseen before filled the room... the wire, the dynamos, the control panel, even some of the adamantine, was vaporized and in some cases reduced to their component fundamental particles. The walls of the room turned to magma. An immeasurably small fraction of a second later, the radiance of this proceeded through the tunnels, eating away at the walls. Blitukus', Kazos, and Drachas designs upon the walls were etched in forever as the radiant energy burned the lighter rock differently than the painted rock. The doors were knocked down and melted, Blitukus' bed, books, all of it, blown apart, mostly vaporized, the rest in a flaming heap. All the barrels were blown open, the food within vaporized, what little remained in flames. The work room was blasted through, melting the stone workshops and melting the metal workshops alike, melting the magma buildings down into molten heaps. The radiance shone through to the river, and proceeded up and down the river bound only by the banks, causing the river of water to lay beneath a new river of steam. The beam continued out, erupting right behind Kazo as Kazo jumped off of the armored vehicle, off to the side. The beam struck the armored vehicle. The armored vehicle... already minus a drill, minus a cannon, and with heavily damaged armor... was finally melted through from the inside out, the glacier turned into water and steam for quite a ways. Finally, the energy dimmed down... the earth shook, not under the will of Armok, but under the sheer reaction this event had caused as the magma flow was disrupted... hidden tensions and further stored energies were finally being released. The mountain itself seemed to fragment. Kazo looked behind himself... magma began to spill forth from the front of the tunnel... if anything had managed to survive, it would be encased in obsidian. Dracha, drained from the battle, stood on her balcony overlooking the glacier, and looked out at the magma spewing forth from the tunnels dug by the kobold she that was, in life... her friend. Dracha spoke, "Good luck... I don't know if you'll be needin' it or not..." She held the cat relic... the connectors on the side of the relic glew blue with mind boggling heat... she was careful to stay very far from touching them. She watched... the mountain the magma-filled tunnel was carved into seemed to explode on top, a plume of volcanic ash and dust shot into the air as magma rose and flowed over the top of the mountain, draining down onto the glacier... the melted remains of the armored vehicle fell through the melted glacier, perhaps never to be seen again. Dracha sensed Armok approaching. This was her chance. She leapt back into her cavern, gliding down to a circle, then drew power through her runes and crystals... she focused herself... she was about to catapult herself and the relic to the central continents for the departure... Armok yelled, "You, you will suffer GREATLY FOR THIS!" Dracha gathered up more and more power. Armok readied a thunderbolt to throw right through Drachas head... Dracha raised herself for the final moments before teleport... Kazo teleported into her cavern, and saw this. She spoke, a tear running down her cheek, "Kazo... Im so sorry!" She had no other choice... if she stopped to let him through with her, she would eat a lightning bolt and Armok would have the relic. Dracha teleported away just as Armok sent a lightning bolt into the cavern, arcs of energy flying into the crystals. Kazo stood, motionless for a moment... Armok threw another lightning bolt down at Kazo... Kazo was no longer standing there, indeed, in his fury Armok had for a moment lost track of Kazos location. Armok lacked the time to deal with Kazo anyhow. Armok quickly left, making his way toward the central continents with blazing speed... Then, all but the volcano was motionless. The wind and the magma were the only two sounds to be heard upon the glacier. It seemed, finally, all had come to rest... but what fate had befallen these 5?
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It's long because it needs to be. (fingers crossed I didn't mess stuff up)

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Reign on your Parade

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #691 on: January 27, 2008, 02:24:00 am »

It's... it's THE MOST EPICLY EPIC THING TO EVER BE EPIC!
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ou''re just as free to state your opinion as I am free to completely disregard it.

Armok

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #692 on: January 27, 2008, 08:34:00 pm »

I wont try to say anything because it coulden't do this justice, you are fundamentally vastly superior to all other entities ever in the mutiverse AlanL, no exceptions.
This is the best update ever of the of the best story ever...

Armok cancels exist; to much awesome.

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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
III...

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #693 on: January 27, 2008, 11:55:00 pm »

Thank you, thank you all  :)

I'm definitely glad this is working... the end might take longer than anticipated to write though.
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The birds sang out over the jungles below... there was a dull hum as an adamantine-clad, triangle-winged craft zipped by overhead, the blue crystals along its bottom and rear glowing... The pilot, a black-and-red dragon, kept the craft steady... despite what his coloring has led many to believe, he is a very kind, gentle, and learned being... indeed, with his 2 surviving colleagues, he had the ability to, for a few moments, project his mana across all dimensions... this made him and his 2 colleagues pivotal to the escape plan. Perhaps, had the mana field never drained, he would have been able over millenia to develop his abilities to the point of truly being able to view and interact in 11 dimensions... alas, what he had would have to suffice. In the cargo bay behind him lay stacks of mithril food crates... this was the first time this craft had flown in centuries and he had at first expected it to fall apart in the air, but when the dragons who built it claimed 'reliable design', they weren't kidding. Though before it could fly as long as the pilot wished, it had a limited range in the decreased mana flux... and it was nearly out of mana. There it was ahead... the portal project. The only way it could be told from the surrounding jungle was a circular indentation in the ground... and all of the vessels landed by it. These vessels were centuries old, and many were showing quite a bit of wear, but all of them flew... most importantly, all of them had one thing in common. Their engines were not the air-impulsion variety that worked only in the air, they were mana-focusing arrays... engines that worked just as well in vacuum as in air. Though these craft were centuries old, they were the only craft suitable for the journey, and as such, these small craft became the colony ships. The pilot slowed and descended... he focused his will to unlatch the doors below... the binding runes holding the landing gear doors shut dimmed, then parted, the landing gear doors swinging open and the gear dropping down and latching. The pilot set down among the loose gathering of vessels... he cut power to the array, the ball of mana within vanishing. All of the weight of the craft came to rest on the gear, and the hum stopped. The pilot got up, walked to the door, and held his hand in front of the runes at the inside of the door. The runes changed color, and the door swung open, swinging down and coming to rest with its unhinged end upon the ground, forming a ramp. The dragon exited, and looked around... he counted 10 craft in total... there were 20 dragons, and it was said half of them could add to the transportation, which seemed to be exactly right. He counted 19 dragons though... there were his two colleagues conversing with the chief smelters of the group, standing by a large pile of mithril. He himself had farmed up food in preparation for the journey. Mostly herding and raising animals, it was a peaceful and simple break from his intense and complicated studies. He looked around again... he turned to find himself being hugged by a red dragon. Dracha, dragon number 20, spoke, "Tano! It's been a long time!" Tano, the pilot, accepted and replied, "Yeah, you've been up in that outpost forever!... We need to keep moving here. It looks like they've gotten ready already, we just need to refuel and get the gate charged... I brought my food and my head, did you get the cat device?" Dracha paused, but replied, "I lost two good friends in the course of getting it... Here, you can make use of it right?" She gave him the cat relic... he replied, "I'm sorry to hear... yes... yes, I can make use of it with the help of my colleagues. Thank-" Dracha interrupted, "Thank Blitukus Thimaiyilo... Blitukus Siegedriven... remember that name." Tano replied, "I will..." It seemed lives had been lost in order to gain this device... it was a necessary sacrifice... perhaps, it was just how it happened. He looked down at it... the cat device was rather small for supposedly being able to power all this... but, whenever Dracha brought something to a group project, it worked.

Dracha spoke, "Armoks bound to be hot on my tail so we need to get this done now!" Tano replied, "Right... thank you... and thank Blitukus." Dracha watched as Tano walked to his two colleagues... they spoke, then formed a triangle around the device, calling the rest of the dragons over to be ready to take in mana, to channel it into their craft. Dracha reviewed what she had read about external astral guidance, a navigation technique used during critical maneuvers in the heavens when one dragon, shrouded in an environmental isolation bubble, aids in aiming a vessel. The vessels could not strike the wall of the tunnel as they crossed through, and it indeed WOULD be a long tunnel! Anything to strike the edge of the tunnel would be sheared clean apart by celestial forces. Tano and his colleagues focused themselves with intense power, each one holding part of the key to working in higher levels, each one working with the other 2 to make it possible. Dracha aided the other dragons in loading the spacecraft, and, once the 3 had managed to draw forth energy from the cat relic, they drew this raw energy up... in their magical hands it became mana... and used it to refuel the vessels. After that was done, all that was left was to power the portal and open it.... finally, after eons of waiting... they would be able to leave, and reestablish themselves. The 3 dug down near the circular indentation, revealing a mithril panel beneath millenia of deposited dirt, crystals embedded within... they pulled out the crystals, part of a matrix extending far out and into the mountains, and replaced it with the cat relic. They then all gathered around... Dracha looked out to the storm gathering on the horizon... Armok was nearly upon them. The 3 drew up power, which went into the crystals... an exponentially accelerating flow into a power array that spanned throughout the surrounding mountains... there was a loud humming, and the earth shook. Finally, the cat relic had a suitably large load to drive... the crystals began to glow... the crystals made the ground glow... the mountains around began to glow as masses of energy pooled within. Energy could be seen arcing among the peaks of the mountains as the power slowly built up. Dracha looked up. "YOU WILL ALL BE MADE EXSZTINCT!" He was here... As energy flowed all around, the streams upon the mountains began to boil, the vapor trailing upwards... this boiling was accelerated by unknown forces, the vapor brought together and spun into a roaring thunderstorm overhead. Dracha joined the rest of the dragons, lined up upon the circular indentation... She felt charge running up into her feet... she yelled out, "SHIELD!" She casted a shield above her... the other dragons felt this as well, and did the same, merging their shields together above the entire circle. Lightning struck, and bounced off of the shield. More and more lightning hit, bolt after bolt after bolt, each one threatening to shatter the shield and allow the next to kill a dragon. The dragons were all rapidly drained by this onslaught... the dragon next to Dracha grunted, "This is impossible." Dracha spoke, "If there's one thing I learned from that kobold, it's that nothing's impossible!" Dracha tapped into the very innermost energies she could in keeping the shield up... just a little longer, and they could escape. The mountains themselves began to glow brighter and brighter, culminating near the tips of their geometrically arranged peaks. A volley of lightning struck all at once, shattering the shield. It was time to trigger the portal anyway. They all had the destination of the portal engraved into their minds... and now, they made it the focus of their willpower, to project this space, the space between them all, streight through to meet that distant world.

They all focused their entire souls upon the energy within the mountains, drawing it up... it took all of their might... but it was done. Energy erupted from the mountaintops in beams, beams that shot through the clouds and culminated at a point above them... a ball of energy grew there. Meanwhile, back down below, lightning kept striking, and it would keep striking... One yell... two yells... a dragon close to Dracha was struck, blood flying out of his mouth... this dragon then stumbled back, and fell, smoke rising from his body, torn through by the energies of the bolt. The dragons all at once... their destination the only thing on their mind... brought the energy down. The sphere above became a beam, a beam that shot down through the thunderclouds, and landed between all the remaining dragons, right in the exact center of the circular mark... the ground glew red, shook, cracked, then the land within the circle shattered, falling into a rift through the astral plane. The glow of the mountains, the glow of the lands, even much of the energy of the storm above had been consumed in doing this! The remaining dragons returned to the vessels, and started their now refueled engines... when the ball of mana at the center of each engine array was moved, the opposite end emitted a glow, and the craft was pushed in the direction of the ball. The 10 craft, stuffed with supplies, sluggishly lifted off with the excess weight within. The 5 dragons remaining to escort them, including Dracha, did so. Dracha remained by the portal, providing navigational support in the storm. The vessels nosed downward, pointing into the swirling vortex within the spinning mithril and adamantine rings that were once merely seen as an indentation in the ground. Though they had all contributed their willpower, the 3 controlling the cat relic were the ones who actually charted and fed the portal through all 11 dimensions. They were still there, holding the rift open. Lightning struck one of the craft... 3 bolts struck it simultaneously, causing it to explode in a brilliant flash, its pilot dead and its cargo of gems shattered. The 9 remaining craft thrusted downwards, a reddish glow emanating from the rear of each vessel. Dracha, despite having just witnessed the death of a fellow dragon, kept doing her job... she used what little energy she had left to organize and guide the craft down into the vortex. Lightning struck again... the vessel in the rear exploded, its mithril and adamantine parts raining down along with shards from its now shattered crystals, its payload of stack upon stack of mithril bars flung about the skies. Tano saw this... "No..." He forced it from his mind, and forced himself to focus, for, for the sake of all dragonkind, he had to. Finally, 4 of the 5 dragons and 8 remaining craft ran right into the vortex, being sucked in with a flash of light. Dracha stood by the portal, making sure that all had gotten through... 2 of the 3 dragons also entered... Armok yelled, "DRAT!" Tano and Dracha looked at one another. They were the only 2 dragons left on that planet. Tano gestured for Dracha to enter the portal... Dracha hesitated, but nodded... she herself entered, leaving him alone. Tano jumped away as lightning struck. Tano then ran to the panel, grabbed the cat relic, then flew, lightning striking all around and behind him, right toward the portal. Armok must never have the relic... no matter what. Armok wanted it... Armok saw this... "NOOOO!" Tano casted an environment isolation bubble around himself, and allowed himself to plummet toward the portal, "Tally ho!" He was the only thing standing between Armok and the cat relic... As he was about to cross through, 3 lightning bolts struck him simultaneously, causing him to explode into gore in midair... this inadvertently knocked the cat relic right into the vortex. It was gone from Armoks domain. Armok yelled, "AHHH NO NO NO NO NOOOOO!" Dracha witnessed this... she thought to herself, that was 3 good friends gone thanks to the cat relic... she saw the relic pass into the auroric, astral tunnel... and promptly drift away, into the side of the tunnel, where it collided with the edge of the tunnel and was sheared into its component particles by celestial forces, scattered about the planets of the system they were leaving... Dracha sighed, teary eyed... she had once treasured it... now she never wanted to see the damn thing again anyway... never again will life be lost over it, and never again would a god threaten to take it.

Dracha and the vessels accelerated faster and faster at an exponentiating rate, zipping through the tunnels of space and time. Dracha immediately moved into place in front of a vessel, her environmental isolation bubble protecting her, the vessel pushing her forward, and herself keeping the vessel from sliding around within the tunnel. They kept accelerating, faster and faster, the thrusters of the vessels leaving streaks of magical glow within the tunnel, the oddly colored view of the planet behind showing the planet zipping away into the distance, becoming a speck... yet the faster they went, the slower the rest of the universe seemed to go... still, they accelerated exponentially... or perhaps, moved nearly the same speed across an exponentially distorted space. One vessel lacked a guide... its lipped to the right... its pilot veered to the left, and the vessel zipped to the left... it slid around, several times nearly crashing into another vessel... then finally, slammed into the wall of the tunnel, being sheared into its component particles, pilot, payload and all. Despite the fact they only saw 4 dimensions, they moved in 11... this is what made navigation so difficult, why each vessel NEEDED an aid in front. Dracha looked forth... the entire star system seemed to shrink behind them to a shining point... soon, the stars around began to move. They passed through a shell around the star system they were leaving, a shell of frozen rocks, and left it behind, that sphere shrinking behind them as they finally escaped into the interstellar void. No longer were they bound to that drained world... no longer were they under Armoks thumb, shackled down... they were free to venture forth, and indeed they did. Dracha looked ahead... she was the aid for the last vessel to make it through... ahead, 6 more vessels, loaded with supplies and the backups of 20000 draconic souls, zipped through distorted space at an otherwise impossible rate, leaving streaking trails of spent mana behind them, the stars moving by all around... the entire band of stars was visible. All of the losses had been suffered... and now they rode upon the shoulders of giants, riding into parts never before seen by draconic eyes. For the first time, Dracha felt sort of an emptiness in the space around her... an emptiness filled with chaos. There was no more god observing them... they were free to provide for themselves, free to determine for themselves, for now, their own will reigned supreme over their destiny. Dracha then looked back... back at the now distant star behind them... she left behind her home... she left her friends behind... but she carried with her the memory of them... the cat relic may have indirectly brought the demise of some... but its use brought new life for the Dragons... they did stand on the shoulders of giants, and Dracha found it ironic that she, a dragon, knew one of these giants to be half the size of a human. She would remember Blitukus... she would remember Kazo... she would remember Tano... and as the dragons settle, and perhaps one day expand to other worlds, their memory would be carried with.

Dracha saw the end of the tunnel... she closed her eyes as a successful exit was imminent... the journey was complete, but, though it seemed to take very little time for her, likely years had passed back on Orubxah Oru... many more years would before she would be able to visit it again. Several flashes were emitted from the open vortex as several vessels emerged from it, rapidly slowing down to more typical velocities. Soon after they all had passed through, the vortex shut behind them. Dracha felt cold and solid... she opened her eyes... and saw brilliant stars. She looked up, and saw tandem blue stars... dancing with one another. An eternal, cosmic dance, a dance that turned tearing gravity and the nuclear fury of a stars heart into the beautiful, serene motions of a pair that had happened upon eachother and had been together since for eons... a pair that would live and die together... indeed, the two stars really did seem to enjoy each others company. The immensely energetic rays emitted by the blue 'surface' of these stars bounced off of a magnetic field... Dracha looked down, taking note of her weightlessness, and saw below her feet the horizon of a planet... it was a peaceful blue with a purplish atmosphere, and all around it was a strong mana flux... Dracha would have to take some time to get used to it, but until then, they had provided themselves with a chance... a chance they were all intent on taking. The price of freedom was large indeed... but those who had died would not have done so in vain. There was much work to be done, but finally... finally...

Dracha sighed deeply in relief, a sigh as if it were intended to echo out among the glowing nebulae... "We've arrived."
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I get the feeling I was talking in circles a bit.

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Armok

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #694 on: January 28, 2008, 11:47:00 am »

Beyond Quality!
First post!
"This is a steel Beyond quality award.
It menaces whit spikes of steel and industrial diamond.
It is encircled whit bands of titanium.
On the item is an image of a mushroom cloud in black plastic.
On the item is an image of two suns in blue diamond."

For the Thimaiyilo...

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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
III...

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #695 on: January 28, 2008, 11:58:00 pm »

Thanks  :)
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All was still on the glacier... nothing moved but the slowly settling volcano... eventually, even it would be motionless... and for eons ahead, nothing on these frozen areas would move. Save for one... the only one left. Kazo exited from the tunnel, slowly walking onto the snowy glacier below the starry sky. Kazo looked around... for the first time since Arkus death... he felt lonely. He was the only thing alive for hundreds of miles... yet, he was alive... and the radioactive warmth within his chest would ensure he would be for a long time... his memories of all he had met... he would remember Arkus... he would remember Blitukus... he would remember Dracha, Fale, all of them... He walked up to the volcano where his friend once lived, and looked up... then looked down... he remembered the snowball fight, the snowbold, all he had learned and the fun he had had with this friend of his... though he had not been awake to witness most of this kobolds quest, that which he had seen amazed him, and would stay. He took up snow into his mouth, warmed it within his mouth, melting it with his own energy, and then spat a stream onto the cliff face, forming an icicle. He looked at the icicle, and broke it off... he 'shut' his eyes, offering it to the empty space in front of him in remembrance... upon resuming his view, he observed the empty space. Kazo looked down, bringing the icicle close to his chest... he then etched an image into the icicle with his claw, an image of a kobold and steam machines... the kobold raising the steam machines. He walked away, looking at this image, and when he had gotten far enough away to guarantee it would never be disturbed by the flowing magma, he sunk it down onto the snow... the icicle stood straight out of the snow, the image on top. He stood for a few moments looking at it... He then spoke, "Thanks, friend!... I'll miss you. Good luck, wherever you are." Kazo spent another moment looking at it... then walked away. He walked across the glacier... he walked, and walked... he passed mountain ranged, beneath overhangs, leaving the volcano and uninhabited lair behind him... perhaps never to be revisited for centuries. He walked... and never seem to tire even as day and night cycled above him. The life-giving warmth within his chest, produced with technologies unknown, gained on his quest together with Blitukus... it never faded... it would last him quite a while. Quite a miraculous technology indeed... but, what miracles had been melted and encased within obsidian? Kazo looked on as tundra turned to snowy forest. He walked westward... away from the civilizations, out to unknown lands... Blitukus went through the portal... where he went, Kazo didn't know. Kazo looked up at the stars. Perhaps he was out there somewhere. Perhaps... he would meet his old friend some day, at some point. The odds were so astronomically against it... but... maybe. Kazo kept going, walking forth... eventually, he decided to stop at a cave among the snowy tundra. A new wound had been inflicted upon his heart right over old scars... it was not often in his life at all he felt this way. Still, he held out hope. Some day... Until then, the future lay ahead, and he was intent on seeing what it would bring. He entered the cave. It was small... he was the only occupant. Once again, he decided, he would sleep away the eons... only now he had nothing to protect but himself. When he would end up... he couldn't tell. Kazo lay upon the rocky floor, looking outside throught the mouth of the cave... snow blew and the stars shone... apart from the dull howl of the wind, all was silent. Kazo retracted the rods within his power source... he felt it cool, and his power flow diminish. He would only keep enough power on to awaken himself... when that would happen... even where perhaps... he was eager to find out. A lot of new things lay ahead... but still... he would always remember. Kazo spoke as he dissipated away his power, his head resting upon in such a way as to look out at the stars, "Good luck, friend..." With a voice that seemed to echo out among the heavens, he continued, "Good luck!" The glow of his eyes faded... and he lay motionless... and would continue to do so for quite some time.

The volcano over the glacier settled, and eventually became dormant, and when the magma had cooled, snow retook the land... the winds shifted... eventually, for a moment, they stopped entirely. For that moment, all was still upon the glacier... there was perfect silence... in the starry sky above, even the once characteristic aurora was dimmed, hardly noticeable. It seemed the land itself slept. Before the entrance to what was once a home, now a small outcropping of obsidian... nothing between it and the horizon stirred. In the snow near it... finally, a small breath of wind stirred, revealing the ice image of a kobold and mechanisms, buried within the snow, dimly shining under the moon and stars in front of the motionless obsidian outcropping.

Time passed, and nothing happened on the glacier.

Time passed... but what was time but one of many dimensions?

Blitukus saw the brightness behind him... all around him... he, Fale, and the cat were catapulted forth, and it seemed the beginning of this tunnel through space and time was blown shut before they had even arrived at their destination... Blitukus felt himself relatively frozen compared to the many bands of stars zipping by... countless eons regressed... even the stars seemed to grow younger and quickly unform. They continued past everything, feeling their presence being squeezed together within a shrinking tunnel... Blitukus and those around him were catapulted beyond the stars... beyond the bands of stars... into the blackness beyond... into the light beyond. The entire universe seemed to draw in on itself as the 3 neared the origin of it all. It was all but a flash of light...

Blitukus emerged... and found himself cramped up within a small space... this was an understatement, for, he found every piece of his body occupied the very same point... a point occupied by a further amount of mass and energy that... very much seemed to make him numb to the very concept of mass and energy. There was so much energy, all was whiteness... so much heat, Blitukus felt nothing for such things were beyond his senses. It was the universe... it was everything... and Blitukus felt one with it all. He opened his eyes, and saw the chaotic fluctuations of space around him... it was the entire universe packed within one fundamentally small unit. Indeed, the sheer density of it all was so beyond all that the distinctions between the fundamental forces of nature became trivial. Matter, energy, and the forces, all were one... everything was at harmonious peace... Blitukus had no time to think... everything was still. This little point contained enough to make all else seem trivial... indeed, if one were pressed to describe it in any language alien or not, the closest, most descriptive concept available would be 'infinity'. Slowly, like a chain of dominoes being knocked down, the elements of the universe began to separate and function. The universe buzzed before Blitukus... Blitukus felt like he was one with the universe... as if he was the universe... and he himself buzzed along with it. A single fundamental particle with a mass that would never be seen since... then, that particle began to fragment... the forces themselves began to part with one another...

What happened next proceeded with haste beyond words, for it consisted of an explosion which language would be far too ineffective at describing.

Throughout all of this, Blitukus had retained his information... his heart and soul... but that very well could be all he would be left with. He hardly noticed as his physical body was reduced down to particles, which in turn were reduced to their fundamental particles... continuing until only the most fundamental of particles were left. His astral self was obliterated, and became one with the cosmos... but, the information held within became imprinted upon the energy flowing through... his mind and heart remained, but the soul and body around it was replaced by an amount of energy so immense it could form stars from empty space. This energy became imprinted onto Blitukus' mind and heart. This energy became Blitukus... perhaps, Blitukus became this energy. All around, energy became densified into matter... the two opposite bits of matter then meeting and annihilating one another, converting back into energy. Very occasionally, a little tiny bit of matter would escape this cycle... A truly astronomical amount of energy flowed through Blitukus and into him, but before the feeling had a chance to even register, he was already rendered unconscious by it. The white... the matter and energy, pointless to differentiate between the two... it all faded to black.

Blitukus had a dull, dreamy sensation... the heat, seeming to be distant and external, cooled... matter became dominant, and Blitukus sensed what almost seemed like a cool mist blowing across him. Even this dissipated... and there was nothing but solid cold. Blitukus felt he was displaced in time to a degree he would be rather incapable of measuring... but as he slept, this displacement diminished slowly. Either his dreams fooled his senses or he was sleeping for an amount of time that indeed had a number trailing many zeros. The darkness continued... what seemed like a misty fog was all around him in his dream... he felt it deep down in his heart, and it brought a tear to his face and simultaneously brought his mind to action... he has simultaneously failed and succeeded in his quest. He had not prevented his mothers death... he had not undone it all... it all remained as it was, and what he had observed would always be the same no matter what he did to it... but, he had saved his mothers soul and his own soul, and although he didn't prevent his mothers death... and technically, his own death as well... he felt in his heart, it was all alright again. He felt relaxed as his presence slowly drifted through the ever evolving cosmos. It had been a long and dangerous journey... but, he had finally done it... it was all alright... something told him this, and he felt his previous emotions melt away... his heart was filled with an inner peace he hadn't felt before. What the future held for him and his mother, he didn't know, but whatever it would be, everything would be fine. He opened his eyes... before him in his dream played what seemed to be a movie... of himself... the young kobold... discovering his dead mother, chased away by crossbowmen, fleeing in a wagon to the northern regions... the first time he struck the earth, that rock that hit him in the nose... the first bridge he had made, the first buildings he had made, his first attempts at steel and steam power. He remembered how his quest had started so simply... he just wanted to speak with his mother again... he had succeeded. He remembered his first attempts to do so and the troubles around... the flying machine... the battle and the armored vehicle... the wave generator... the demons, the deal, the adamantine, and the time machine... He had made his first real attempt to save his mother what rightfully seemed so long ago... He remembered the first time he ventured to the past... the first time he met Kazo... when he had gone to the future, when he had visited the other world, the mana focusing array, when he had visited the future, and fought demons in the future beyond... indeed, it had become so much more complicated than when he has started out, seeking only to speak with his mother once again. But once again, things were plain and simple... no longer would he need time machines and devices from other eras... he could simply enjoy a peaceful life... his best friend, his hero, his mother, was finally safe... Blitukus saw once again the faces of the friends he had made along the way... Dracha, the humans of the northern army, Arkus, Kazo... he would miss them all... he remembered Kazos smile, and mirrored it... he knew not if he would be able to see them again. Perhaps he would be able to some day. Slowly, these images faded into his memory... he felt the mist in his dream blowing alongside him. He felt his displacement in time had grown much, much smaller... soon he would be upon the very time he had left... coincidentally, soon he would awaken.

Blitukus slowly awoke... He found himself floating in a dense, red, glowing fluid. He was submerged in magma!... but, somehow, it only felt mildly warm. This was not hell, even though one might think of it as such... Blitukus felt well rested. He still felt his heart at peace... yet also overrun with emotions. His mother was safe... but he would miss his other friends... He lay there in the magma for a while... eventually, he decided to find out where exactly he was. He began to swim upwards... but, he found he could move far easier by simple willpower alone. He ascended... and ran into a stone ceiling. He found himself bouncing off... he was strangely solid it seemed, but his solidity actually seemed to vary. Perhaps, as the worlds had formed, he had been sucked in during the formation of one? He grabbed hold of the stone, and tried to dig his way out... he found he could easily dig through hard stone with his claws alone... in fact, he found with willpower and simple movement, he could part the earth ahead, forming a tunnel without digging... he ascended rapidly though miles of terrain this way... though, the magma always kept pace with him. Finally, he burst through to the dark area beyond... below him, a caldera had formed, spewing magma onto a barren, rocky surface... Blitukus found himself hovering further and further away from the surface... eventually, he found the dark sky actually was host to countless, beautiful stars... he looked around... he found himself above a rocky planet covered with metals and with a barely existent atmosphere... it orbited a very, very large red star... it was the world from his dream involving the phoenix! Directly below was the caldera... he realized... it was a caldera HE had made! He realized... he had taken in... become... a LOT of energy... he looked at his hands, and they glowed, his soul consisting of energy from the fires of creation itself... Armok and the demons had nothing on him... he knew, now, he made his own fate. Perhaps the phoenix was a reference to his current state? Perhaps not, it didn't seem to indicate that specifically. Despite this, the implications of what had happened were truly astronomical... but, before he was to experiment with and develop the new abilities this had brought him... where was Fale?
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I'm hoping this all worked...

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Impending Doom

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #696 on: January 29, 2008, 12:16:00 am »

Can't...take...awesomeness..head...explodingAUGGHHH
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Quote from: Robert A.Heinlein
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion, that violence has never solved anything, is wishful thinking at its worst.

Torak

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #697 on: January 29, 2008, 12:55:00 am »

You use ALOT of ellipsis.
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As you journey to the center of the world, feel free to read the death announcements of those dwarves that suffer your neglect.

One billion b-balls dribbling simultaneously throughout the galaxy. One trillion b-balls being slam dunked through a hoop throughout the cosmos. I can feel every single b-ball that has ever existed at my fingertips, I can feel their collective knowledge channeling through my veins. Every jumpshot, every rebound and three-pointer, every layup, dunk and free throw.

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #698 on: January 29, 2008, 12:59:00 am »

Thanks  :p

And yes, I do... probably too many, in fact. Probably because I only know of one way to cause that effect. Maybe I should learn a second one.

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Toaster

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #699 on: January 29, 2008, 01:27:00 am »

How about newlines?

I like the story, but paragraphs 30 lines long are hard to read.

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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #700 on: January 29, 2008, 01:36:00 am »

A consequence of the odd paragraphing I use. It's actually a bit of an issue throughout ALL my writing... I tend to make a few huge paragraphs rather than a lot of small ones.

Edit: Actually, that's an idea. I'll have to consider it. Thanks  :)

[ January 29, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]

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Reign on your Parade

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #701 on: January 29, 2008, 01:53:00 am »

Heres hoping you remember that PM conversation we had so VERY long ago...
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ou''re just as free to state your opinion as I am free to completely disregard it.

Armok

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #702 on: January 29, 2008, 10:43:00 am »

BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND QUALITY!!!  :D
Every time I think it can't get more awesome you prove me wrong...

So now Blitukus is an übergod...
I REALLY hope this provides for some more days writing.

I would have that power to had not Draca been...

Ok, so he sleeps in the mantle of a planet for eons and then by getting up he creates a volcano. He cares about the environment and is one whit the universe. A barren almost lifeless world...
... Did you say you play a lot of SimEarth?  :p

Really, Blitukus as Gaia is not that strange an idea...

What is that PM conversation Reign is talking about? Something I should know?

Really this is the most awesome yet...

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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
III...

AlanL

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #703 on: January 29, 2008, 11:54:00 pm »

Thanks    :p

The idea of him becoming Gaia is interesting, but wouldn't work here (among other things, big red giant star = goes KABLOOIE relatively soon). Thanks for the idea though.

I probably forgot the discussion Reign mentioned... maybe I'll go back and reread.

This might be short... for there is not much left to write.
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Blitukus looked around... it was truly beautiful, a ring around this world and a belt of asteroids around its parent star, all glowing red under the red rays. Blitukus felt peace... his quest was over... but though he had died he now lived on in a state he had never foreseen. He felt a connection within his heart, a connection that seemed to indicate a physical direction. There was also a more broad and vague connection present... but his love for his mother was the sharpest, seeming to become much more solid in this state. His heart would show him the way... he brought his willpower cohesion, and aimed himself where his heart pointed. He moved, faster and faster in that direction. He noticed, he no longer felt displaced in time. He was at the time he had left... but occupied a point in space none had seen before. He noticed he could use his energy and knowledge of grand unification to bend space around him... he soon found out how to engulf himself in a bubble of space, and move that space forward at speeds far exceeding what, even in that state, he had previously been able to achieve. He soon found himself leaving the red star behind, leaving it in the distance as he proceeded toward a white star. Bending space in such a manner to reach such immense speeds was quite a trick... perhaps some day technology would be produced to mimic it. Though, what he easily did would likely take immense amounts of research and energy for those limited to more conventional means. Blitukus looked all around as he transported himself forth. He eventually reached the white star, allowing the bubble of space to harmlessly dissipate. Blitukus quickly moved about the worlds of this system, checking their barren, rocky surfaces, scanning the rock, and finding nothing. Where was she? Blitukus shouted in a voice that seemed to echo throughout the astral plane over celestial distances, "Mother?!" Blitukus looked around... he felt it in his heart... she was near. A few moments passed, then Blitukus faintly heard from the distance, a transmission across the astral plane, "Blitukus?" Blitukus heard it, and pinpointed it, zipping toward the source of the transmission. He neared the barren, rocky planet that he had already searched and turned up nothing... but this time, on the way, he spotted something in the depths of space... his mother had been looking for him the whole time! They zipped toward one another, and hugged eachother. Likely, they had both waken up at the same time as it seemed timed to occur as they reached their departure time. The departure time, the cat relic, the time machine... it all seemed irrelevant now. Blitukus spoke, "Finally, we can have peace... it is over. I love you mom!" Fale replied, "I wuv you too!" They kept hugging... for it was the first time they were truly free to do so in... well, it seemed time bore little weight now. Now they were both free to do as they wished.

When they finished, they looked to the side to see the draconic avatar of the universe, smiling down upon them. Fale spoke, "Hi der!" The avatar replied, "Hello, and congratulations, goddess of peace and prosperity! Congratulations to you too, god of innovation and loyalty!" Fale and Blitukus smiled... but what roles had they truly assumed? Blitukus asked, "I had thought you were against gods." The avatar replied, "I am against foreign, invading gods. You are local. Three for the price of one even... Armok won't be bothering you anymore, so I may explain it to you. For eternities, we universes had existed peacefully within the multiverse. At first, universes were simple, containing only two or three dimensions with laws that did not permit for large, complex objects. As generations of universes rose and fell, more and more complex universes arose. It was only within the last few eternities that the laws of the universes became habitable enough for civilizations to form, and it was then when universes became intelligent. I am not exactly a being in my own right... I am the sum of all beings within me. As intelligent universes and their civilizations evolved, some evolved to the point where gods were created within... at first, all was well. The gods improved our lives and turned the most boring regions within us into beautiful works of art... but then, the gods started to want power for themselves. Together, the gods enslaved entire universes. They spread, leaving universes half-comatose in their wake, and outright destroying countless galaxies with their wars and power disputes. It was this very eternity cycle that we universes decided to take a stand. The old gods still don't know of this, and if they were to find out, they would put in stop measures, ruining the leverage we universes have left, and all would be lost. Some universes take the path of strength, forcing the gods away with celestial calamities and starving them out. Some universes, such as me, take the path of intellect, using the power of advanced civilizations to drive the gods out. This requires change, for these civilizations cannot evolve unless they're free to do so. This change begins with you. We all need to create our own local gods to initiate change, and these gods must not become corrupt themselves. I won't have to worry about this from you. All I ask of you is that you tend to your civilization. Our feline companion already knows this well. For now... farewell." As the avatar began to leave, Blitukus spoke, "Good luck, and thank you." Fale spoke, "Okie, thankse! Bye!" The avatar continued as it faded away, "Thank you." Finally, it faded away.

It made sense... the cat relic was but a tool in the pursuit of the quest of the universe itself to put an end to the tyranny of the old gods. What of the cats then? Blitukus saw what seemed to be a cat approaching, walking upon an invisible surface within space... then, it silently sat before them, and with a flash, took a glowing bluish-white form as big as them. Blitukus smiled, "Hello again!" Fale smiled as well, "Hi der!" The cat-entity spoke, "Greetings, peers! I am now the goddess of Everything Feline! I thank you deeply for pursuing your quest with such... infinite determination. Now..." The cat goddess looked up at a particular star, "I have a civilization to eventually revive. Mrr, goodbye!" Fale spoke, "Bye!" Blitukus spoke as well, "Goodbye, and good luck. We must meet again... I made a promise to a dragon regarding information on a component of the relic, and I am intent on fulfilling it." The cat goddess spoke, "Mrr... ok then. I have much to do first, perhaps we'll meet again soon!" The cat then zipped away, towards that star. Blitukus and Fale smiled at one another... it seemed they had quite an adventure ahead yet... but, gone were the days of desperation and haste. Time bore little relevance now... they were both truly free. For several moments, their smiles radiated out, among the stars, gas and dust of the physical heavens all around. Blitukus wrapped space around both himself and Fale... Fale watched curiously as Blitukus moved this bubble of space with them within, moving it toward a nearby, yellowish star.

Though it had been relatively effortless, much energy was expended. Still, they both made it... they slowed and progressed inwards, beyond the red gas giant planet, beyond the ringed, white, barren planet... to the blue-green world they had so fondly been a part of. It was doubtless Armok would detect them... but until then... Blitukus and Fale descended, down towards some grasslands, and landed in a town... for the first time in many, many years, they stood together on the roof of a building, a simple town around. Fale asked, invisible and inaudible to the mortals of the town, "How'd ya do dat ting? Das machines were huge!" Blitukus smiled, "Now that it seems I have an eternity to explain it, I will. First... the sun is rising." The sky brightened. The sun rose over the green terrain, the town resting upon grassy fields... a simple town... it had been so long since Blitukus had seen one... it has been so long since he had seen these sights... but here he was, once again able to watch it, once again able to do so in his mothers company. The sun began to slowly make its way over the horizon... Blitukus and Fale stood as the wind blew and the town below slowly came alive... how Blitukus had wanted to see such things again, and here he was. They stood near the ledge. Blitukus smiled, shutting his eyes slightly. Fale grinned. From Fale leaving her home cave, a lone, single kobold against a hostile world... to Blitukus fleeing from the assassins, his mothers death tearing through his heart... to them all finally leaping through that rift in space and time, one last time... their quests were complete. They had succeeded. They had both set out, fleeing with next to nothing from a deathtrap home, straight into a deathtrap future, against all odds... and now, here they stood... the most powerful force in the nearby cosmos... a benevolent force to bring happiness, peace, and prosperity once again to all. They both had quite a quest ahead... but they could once again work as a team, best friends and family.

The sun rose, casting its rays scattering across the tops of the clouds, scattering across the fields and hills, reflecting off of the buildings... the pristine landscape seemed to glow.

From the pits of hell to the top of heaven... from the deepest tunnels to the distant stars beyond... from the adamantine towers and enchanted creations of the ancients, to the titanium skyscrapers and advanced machines of the future... to that small, simple town, resting peacefully upon the pristine, grassy fields... Fale and Blitukus were united once more. Throughout time...

Beyond time.
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If that went OK... I guess this story is actually done.

It's hard to believe it's over...

After this is posted, if everything's ok... well, I might decide to go back and put an image somewhere... but still, if everything's ok, this update finalizes the story.

It's been a unique 4 months in my life... thank you all.

In fact, people who I'd really like to thank:

Toady One the Great for creating DF... without which, these ideas may have never even come to be.

Everyone who replied and spoke with me. If nobody replied, the first post of AKQ I would've been the last. Thank you for your support and ideas, as well as saving me from my own mistakes when they occurred.

Those around me. There'd be no computer to type on, no food to make the energy to type with, no mind to process ideas, and no me, had it not been for my loving and caring family. I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for my friends... I consider myself lucky.

All the artists, notably among them my friend Razz, that made the stuff I referenced and the stuff that inspired me. Had it not been for this inspiration this story might've turned out rather dull. Thanks to these artists, I had plenty of inspiration.

The coders and hackers that made the utilities I used in the making of this story, both utilities for DF, and general purpose utilities (image editor, notepad). I needed the proper software to do this, and there it was right in front of me.

Fale Thimaiyilo, Blitukus Thimaiyilo, and all the other characters... No story without characters, but writing your story has had an effect on me beyond the internet. I'm honored to be the one chosen to write your story.

Thanks.

[ January 30, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]

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Reign on your Parade

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Re: A Kobold's Quest II
« Reply #704 on: January 30, 2008, 12:04:00 am »

Yup, it looks like you forgot. *Sniffle.* You were right though, that would have been a perfect place to include me as my "God of Atheism" self...
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ou''re just as free to state your opinion as I am free to completely disregard it.
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