A few of my older battle posts,

[Dukkha]

Joaya's stomach sank as he floated through the immense void of color and darkness surrounding him. He had been called back to the Sanctuary early from his long yet uneventful search for what he had come to know merely as the, ' Savior's Stone.' and he still hadn't quite gotten used to this new way of traveling. Joaya looked around rather perturbed trying to get an idea of what world the path he was on now was taking him; he had been away from the Redeemers for nearly half a year and had no idea of his destination his fellow Redeemers merely set one for him.

Just as the swirling vortex before Joaya opened to thrust him into the reality which his comrades currently inhabited he noticed that the void had been bent and distorted becoming a jagged wall of pure black. Something is wrong here... and with that final thought the young librarian was forced through the portal and onto the Sanctuary.

~~~~~~~~

The portal vanished leaving Joaya where he had spent the majority of his time so far with the Redeemers, the library. He had come to call it the library but that name did not do it justice, it wasn't a library, it was a castle of knowledge, hundreds of shelves lined the what seemed to be never ending hallway. The stained glass windows showered the room with countless colors letting in the light from this rather bright world.

Approaching his desk it was apparent to the young Guardian of Light that the head librarian Phenton had not ceased in leaving him new reading material to document during his absence. How his desk could hold that many books even its crafters would have been amazed. Jarring his desk chair out from underneath the huge stack of books some came crashing to the floor. This will take weeks for me to catch up.

Nessa, the Redeemers recruiter the one that had saved him, was never around anymore so he didn't bother to look but the young man was excited to see his current mentor.

"Phenton! I'm back!" Joaya's words echoed down the long book filled hallway.

Joaya stood waiting for his master to come embrace his return, or at least one of his own apprentices to come take him to Phenton. He stood waiting for nearly five minuted completely ignorant of the red warning lights flashing at his back. The young man had no reason to worry he was just glad to be home.

"PHENTON I'M BACK! I BROUGHT YOU SOMETHING YOU MIGHT LIKE!"

As his call faded being absorbed into the soft bindings of the books as it bounced off the walls another noise became dominate in the library growing steadily louder. Joaya was perplexed at the new noise taking a few steps further into the room. He removed his hood revealing the small horns that adorned his head in an attempt to hear the racket clearly. The noise became horrifying like the sound of fingernails against a chalkboard. It grew louder and more violent with every passing second slowly bringing Joaya's hands up to cover his ears.

With a huge crash the librarian apprentice was sent flying as what appeared to be a ship exploded through the floor. Landing hard on the pile of books which Phenton had left out for him the recently returned Redeemer quickly regained his composure. His head throbbed with the jarring noise of metal scraping against metal, and then it stopped. The ship had almost entirely escaped the library going straight through the ceiling leaving only the tail end of the ship protruding about 4 feet into the library.

Not knowing what was going on Joaya stared horrifically at the abomination before him. Books were ablaze and not a single person was around to douse the flames. No, there was a man now. More or less. The upper half of a man's body was sprawled across the floor near the gaping hole that the ship had left. Metal rafters and steel pipes creaked and fell to the ground from above as Joaya ran towards the man. He had to do something.

On the ground before the apprentice was his master. Phenton, head librarian and keeper of all the Drifter's knowledge, lay there black as night the whites of his eyes offering the only value to his body. Kneeling by his side the young man was amazed to find him his master still breathing and trying to speak. His voice was faint, but he caught every syllable and underlying tone it carried. And it all screamed more or less the same thing. He had no fear of dying.

" Ru.. Ru... Cugh. Run Joaya you can't save this place, " the man sputtered blood as he tried to give his final speech. " I've opened a gateway in the halo.. Caghuh... Halo-Deck. Leave there is nothing you can do here... You must carry on the knowledge, " and with that the old man's head fell limp.

The emanate destruction of the Dream above the young man's head became apparent when alarms started to wail from inside the smaller vessel. Knowing what was going to happen Joaya readied his defenses. The tiefling's body spasmed as he threw his arms to his side screaming. A great ball of incandescent light formed around the young man's body threatening to swallow him whole. It grew hotter and whiter by the second. Joaya shouted but his voice was drowned out by the crackling of the light and the reactors going critical above him. The light bleached all color from its' surroundings engulfing everything into a solid white sheet. In another moment the light rose from his body like a phoenix ascending from its nest, trailing a plume of light from his body up towards the ship above him forming a solid shield of light between himself and the Dream. The newly formed shield saved his life from the detonating reactors but his minuscule power couldn't contain the entirety of the blast. The shock wave still reverberated through the walls causing extreme damage in its wake.

As he stood there floating in the chasm left by the dream a single tear escaped Joaya's eyes as he remembered his master's words. Leaning forward a single tear streamed down Joaya's cheek exploding in an extremely minute tidal wave when it hit the ocean below him. His ability of healing was far to weak to do anything for Phenton other than lengthen his time of suffering and Joaya felt powerless. Standing he raised his head and cloaked his visage once more with his hood. Phenton was the closest thing to a father Joaya had ever hand and now he was gone. His whole life he had been alone and for moment he thought he had someone and now he was taken away from him. Joaya's body seemed to glow with an inner power, for that moment his skin almost seemed emanate an internal fire.

He was pissed.












Post #2-
The sun slowly rose cascading hues of red and gold into the room where ToolBox lay. Scaring away the darkness and creating shadows as the cyborg creation's mechanical parts began to spur and click into motion. ToolBox couldn't move; no he was being told not to. Warning lights were flashing and power low screens kept opening across his heads up display. He was stuck here, for the rest of the day probably and he could do nothing but wait to recharge. A rogue missile had struck a building as he walked by, hurling his altered body across the street and smashing it against the side of another building. He didn't like it here and he just wanted to leave, or did he? Was it his own mind that was telling him this wasn't where he wanted to be or his programming? This question had plagued him more and more recently as he found himself doing things he never would have even considered before the calling.

"My memories start to fail me, my sanity starts to drift away, am I even me anymore? Am I human? I wish I would have died that day! WHY DIDN'T THEY LET ME DIE!!!!" ToolBox called out for an answer but didn't receive or expect one for that matter. He hated what he had become since the accident, he was a shell of his former self just a shell. "The whole world is in an uproar and about ready to try and eradicate everyone." ToolBox raised his arm to smash it against the ground, ignoring the increased violence of the warning pop ups with each movement he made until finally his systems blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even miles away he could feel the looming presence. Almost like the very land on which it stood knew he was coming, knew ToolBox was drawing ever so near. Now here he was standing by the door of his gleaming black Barracuda and staring up at the old, decaying house. His home… His past.

Slowly, reluctantly he approached the Victorian Mansion hidden within the wilderness of Colbon, Washington. The surrounding pines glanced and waved, whispering his return to the passive breeze around him. The wild grass rustled, disturbed by his footsteps. He scaled the cracked, cement stairs, disgusted. Toolbox stopped there in front of the rotting wooden door disgusted.

White flecks of paint fluttered to the ground as he opened the door. “Twenty years and nothing has changed,” he whispered. The memories suddenly hit him, breaking loose. Stepping into the house he could feel the ice blocked memories that lingered there and he began to chisel away at them realizing how much he had missed over the years, how much he had forgotten. The cyborg’s immense weight caused the wooden floor to moan and sob as he walked; but nothing that could make him worry.

Crooked, and dirty. There they were the black carpets that had begun to curl away from the steps. ToolBox thought he would never again have to ascend them; this would be the final time. He climbed slowly, each step agonizing and heavy. The steel feet settled on the final step and his genetically enhanced eyes gazed down the benighted narrow hall. Even through the darkness could see it; its wood gleaming menacingly and then he woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- - - Beep - - -

- - - Click - - -

Laying there on the ground ToolBox’s systems spurred to life once more as his power supply had been replenished enough to function. Standing ToolBox found himself standing about one-hundred meters away from what appeared to be an abandoned subway station. Thinking that perhaps he could take refuge there until his fusion reactor cooled and his battery charged the cyborg man headed towards the stairs.