No Ralen's Story

No Ralen stands in silence, overlooking the lands beyond. His eyes, empty and clear as the blue sky, see far and beyond what is known to that which has never been witnessed.

His right hand holds a long, intricately carved bow. Vines and leaves travel it's length, and affixed to it are ornaments of feathers and bone and horn. It seems more an ancient artifact of legend than a weapon, and it' equals him in height, but he wields it with such dexterity that it seems nothing more than a reed in the wind.

The tail of his coat flows, resembling the fluttering wings of some great bird. The green jacket is wrapped around his waist with several black belts, which appear to restrict breathing. It seems not a problem for him, nor does he even seem to breath. His boots are black and unadorned, and his blond hair seems to shine with the light of the sun.

His very presence, though inexplicable, exudes a sense of peace and protection, as though there is nothing wrong with the world around him. As though, while he is there, there will be no evil.

Yet it was the peace and protection that the man exuded was flawed for there was a shadow in this place that should not be there. Alien and terrible like a mass of raged void that keened and growled like some demon starved of blood for an eternity's time. It did not hide its presence and yet did not address No Ralen who stood not more than three meters to its front even as the archer overlooked the lands beyond.

The observation of a weapon could not be made among the torn shadows if one did exist but within the swirling terror and madness stared forth two blue eyes, eyes as blue as No Ralen's and just as clear as the sky. Where the tempest of void parted first here and then there an image of a man among the swirling maelstrom would form in any would be observer's mind.

The sun shone vibrantly and cast its rays harshly upon the swirling shade but this shadow did not flee or seek shelter and the man within it had no fear for the day's light.

No Ralen lifted his face and released a breath, before turning to the demon and lifting his bow, he pulled the string back and aimed at the creature. As the string was pulled an arrow formed and flowed, liquid in it's elegance, yet diamond in it's hardness. No Ralen said not a word, he only looked with empty eyes and clear mind at his target.

The demon, so named by No Ralen did not move yet the shadow continued to whip violently around the archer's would be target. Nothing was said and nothing was done, the only noises the wind and the audible keening of the creature that No Ralen now held at the point of an arrow.

No Ralen continued to aim at the creature, his face impassive and silent. And yet.... He held the position, where another might fire and unleash death to the creature.

No Ralen Continued to aim at the creature, his face impassive and Silent and yet... He held the position, where another might unleash death to the monster.

He seemed to be waiting for something from the beast before him.

The man within the swirling shadow remained stoic, unmoving. After some seconds had passed the evil looking man spoke. "Do you doubt your first instinct? Is it not prudent to judge a book by its cover and so pass judgment on something that may be evil? If such evil be out of your league to deal with then the initial strike may be what is needed to achieve victory.", the man spoke with a harsh, gravelly voice but despite the harshness there was greatness and the man's voice could be heard easily.

No Ralen's silence was unbroken, but the arrow never left it's target. He might as well have been a statue, a part of the monastery for all the movement he showed.
In fact... He was indeed far too still. A moment later the double that had appeared to be No Ralen crumbled to dust, even as seven Iron chains attached to silver stars flashed from nothingess and wrapped around the creature, attempting to bind it to the place it stood.

If the creature, named a demon by No Ralen held an expression it was not seen. The iron chains came, unhindered by the swirling shadow that still enveloped and broken fragments fell to the ground even as contact appeared to be made with the man within the tempest. What permanence do links of iron have when faced with such strength? Would it have mattered if the chains had wrapped around the creature? An observer would be left wanting for those answers.

The creature did not turn to No Ralen's true position and had not appeared to move. In truth there had been movement and yet no weapon had been drawn. It had been the creature's gloved hands that had rent and torn asunder the iron chains and scattered their fragments upon the monastery roof. "Shameful.", the man muttered. "Iarann." The last word seemed to vibrate the air.

From the heavens above the crystal arrow sank into the shadows of the creature. A bright, ethereal light filled the crystal, the strength of a thousand souls. Should the arrow come in contact with it's target, the souls of ancient heroes would grasp it with chains of fate and drag it to the ground.

At the same time as the first arrow fell, Two more came from either side of the creature, and another from far in front of it, as though the being who fired the arrows was in all places at once.

Arrows flew and for an instant No Ralen may have had hope that one of the arrows had connected. That moment in time came and went and no thud sounded to indicate that an arrow had found its mark.

Spiritual light blossomed, eclipsed by the writhing shadow. Clicks and growls issued. The ground cracked, buckling under the forces set loose. The many struggled against the one and found they could not make adequate contest. Heroic spirits were scattered like a dragon’s tail scatters pines. The writhing void ballooned out, coiling through the air like windblown smoke as dark as the space between stars. The light was murdered, cut down, and devoured.

Those chains of fate that found purchase were shrugged off easily, grating against links many times thicker, many times stronger. This creature had purpose and a fate not so easily changed. She may be fickle at times but the stab of her spear and the sting of her whip are more painful than any weapon yet wielded by No Ralen upon this roof. This creature had a terrible fate in its future but this was not the day.

Then all at once there was a blood curdling cry as if the daemon had been dealt a fatal blow. The shadow retreated, falling back into the center, collecting, recoiling and fading until it was no longer shadow. There stood a man, cloaked, hooded, and cowled in ivory patterned with black script in the form of chains. His right hand lowered slowly from a ruby and gold clasp upon his left breast. In his left hand, between his fingers were the three arrows that No Ralen had fired. The arrows were cast away to fall off the roof top.

Now it had been that the arrows had come all at once or apparently so. The arrows had come from three different directions and three apparently different locations. If those arrows had truly come all at once or just very swiftly in succession the man in the cloak would know for even though the outside observer could not locate No Ralen, the man was glaring in his direction with cold steel eyes and could clearly observe him.

The initial illusion had not deceived him and No Ralen would find that wherever he moved, whatever attempt at swiftness, stealth, or trickery he made it would go unrewarded unless some vast amount of preparation of personal sacrifice was paid to achieve it.

As long as he remained in the man’s presence the archer would fail to escape his gaze. The air vibrated and cracked stone and tile rose into the wind, not bound by gravity, caught up in the cloaked man's aura. His predatory eyes narrowed and his right hand was brought near to his left hip. "Fine. If this is what you wish."

No Ralen sits by a campfire, leaning against a tree root. A crafted series of sticks and twigs holds a set of four fish above the flames where they lay cooking.

The man himself is garbed in a simple leather jerkin and breeches, with thick leather boots and a belt garnished with silver. His hair is blond, his eyes are blue as the empty sky, and his skin is pristine. A wood frame pack sits to his left, an elegantly carved and ornamented bow to his right, with a quiver of arrows.

He sits there, watching the sky and smiling, contented with his life.

In the sky there was a bright flash and then an object could be seen falling it looked like a meteor falling from the sky. It was alight with flames as it flew through the polluted atmosphere toward the ground below. Before it hit the ground it seemed to slow. A large crater the size of a bus remained still a crash landing but a seemingly controlled one.

In the crater was a large metallic pod. A hissing sound could be heard as it opened and revealed a single metal construct. A blue glow came from it but that suddenly turned a viscous red. [Location Unknown/Condition stable/ Combat Features engaged/ Directive: Target and Eliminate Hostiles].

No Ralen watched with mild interest as the object fell from the sky, when it landed he stood up and kneeled, placing one hand on the ground and focusing.

A small, blue flower would grow near the Crater of the pod and bloom, facing the object of consternation. The flower would be there for a bit more, then it would wither and fade from the world.

Back at his camp, Ralen put out the fire, took the fish and stored them in his pack before hiding the pack amongst the roots of the tree. He then threw his cloak over his shoulders and picked up his bow and quiver.
He set off towards the crater.

Emrys-079 Watched a flower grow on the pod with its scanners. Before it withered it gathered the flower and placed it in a scanner as a panel slid back on it's forearm. Anomaly detected flower affected by supernatural or other worldly force. It though as it returned into the pod to gather it's weapons and gear.

Then it moved away from the crater leaving it behind and opted to climb a tree near the crater giving it an overlooking view of the pod. Scanning systems engaged searching for hostiles....

No Ralen sat in a tree about four miles from the pod, his bow in his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when they opened they were silvered over. This power granted him vision of his target, and he lifted his bow to the sky, pulled an arrow to the string and knocked it, then released the missile to the sky. He then jumped from the tree he was in to another one, then to a lower branch and thus traveled along the treeline to another spot, where he jumped and fired another arrow to the sky, before continuing on his path.

As a result, seven arrows fell, each one embedding into a branch on the tree his target sat in.

As the arrows hit the tree the cyborg did a back flip from the branch onto the ground. [Tracking projectiles, Locations targeted. It thought as three small missiles were launched from it's wrist out of a concealed compartment. Each missile would hit but unknown to Emrys was that No Ralen had moved after every shot rendering this attack in effective.

No Ralen sat in a new position and watched calmly as the missiles impacted the trees. He nodded, then pulled another arrow and, instead of knocking it to the string, took something from a pouch on his belt and attached it to the shaft. He then took aim again and fired.

The arrow wasn't aimed at the cyborg, instead it would impact a tree some distance away, where the attached pouch would loosen and a small piece of crystal would fall out and onto the ground.

Emrys watched as the crystal fell from the arrow though before going to the crystal it raised it's long range plasma sniper and took three shots toward Ralen's position.

Then Emrys moved across the clearing toward the tree. It could have been a trap so it raised it's shield just in case. Object detected/Approach with caution. Scanning object. It said as a blue beam shot from it's eyes over both the crystal and the arrow. Processing....