bonds of Fate: The nine return.
 

The city of Aya sprawled miles, a circle oh glorious architecture dominated by a single white tower, the seat of the government. While the city was glorious in the daylight, at night it sparkled like a jewel. Apollonia the Avatar of the sun loved looking at the city at night.

“Enjoying the view?” A raspy voice asked. She turned quickly. She saw a man wearing a robe of deep ebony. His face concealed in the shadows of a hood, but from his hood his eyes glowed a dark angry red.

“Charos!” she said startled.

“You should enjoy the view since it’s the last thing you will see.” He flared his hands forward. Black fire erupted from it forming a vortex and a bolt of shadow moved toward her, forming a skull like face as it approached. She shrieked as the demonic magic struck her.
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A few days later black clouds had formed over the city. An emergency meeting of the council was called, to figure out the meaning of the clouds. The council had been discussing it for hours when Apollonia entered followed by a man in a black cloak, and hooded robe. The man carried an evil looking staff.

“I have figured out the meaning of the magical clouds,” the Solar Avatar said. “They represent a coming storm. A storm that will wash away the entropy we have brought to the world. They represent your pain and suffering.” The broken avatar of the sun spoke blasphemies in the tongue of the demons and pointed to the Aquiline, avatar of water, the oldest and wisest of the elementals. A ray of darkness shot from her dead hand, leaving a smoking hole in his chest. Infernos, Avatar of Fire Summoned forth flames to strike the fallen avatar.

“WITHER AND DIE!” Charos yelled and grabbed the avatar of fire by the face. Black steam rose from the Avatar and was absorbed in to Charos, whose eyes flared brighter. Soon only a withered corpse stood where the Avatar of Fire stood. The corpse fell to the ground.

“Aerion!” Tara, Avatar of Earth shouted to her twin brother. She struck the white marble floor hard with her fist shattering the tower. The white tower crumbled at her might dropping tons upon tons on her enemies. Aerion, avatar of air, protected the surviving avatars She lowered them to the ground. Only thing they found in the city was ravenous packs of hideous creatures, known only as ghuls. The ghuls feasted on the flesh of the cities inhabitants. The avatars fled the dead city. Soon the undead had excavated the ruins to find their master alive and well, with two new recruits for his growing legions.
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Tara, and Aaron, Avatar of Life, had raised an army to retake Aya from the grip of the Dark Lord. Her army had marched for months and was soon to reach their target it had been a year since the white tower fell. They marched through a fetid swamp. A swamp Tara had no memory of. The Earth here was not right. It seemed to be afraid, but afraid of what?

That’s when she saw them four black-cloaked figures riding skeletal horses.

“Come Tara, join your fellow avatars at my side. I have saved a place for you, of fair lady of the land. Join me willingly, Kill Aaron, and take my hand in marriage and I’ll spare the lives of those who follow you.” Charos yelled.

Tara gave the signal and her archers let loose a volley. One of Charos’s friends waved his hands and the arrows burst into flames.

“I gave you your choice. Now I will take what I want.” Charos gestured and thousands of rotted arms emerged from the swamp. The troops screamed as the hands pulled many down into the mud. Others fought into a last stand as the army of undead slaughtered the army for three days. Soon no one was left alive and all the corpses were added to the ranks. Including the bodies of the avatars.
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It had been a year since Tara and Aaron had disappeared. Seth, Avatar of the moon, assassin of the council would not allow the other members of the nine destroy Aylana. So far the undead had stayed to the regions surrounding Aya. He avoided the ghul packs easily. He snuck into the iron citadel Charos had erected, on the ruins of the white tower. He moved silently through the corridors and around the sentries. He approached the throne room when a bolt of blackness burned the ground at his feet.

“We have been waiting for you, Seth.” Apollonia said. She stood with the broken Avatars. The revenants stared blankly except the avatar of Life and Charos.
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The Seth leapt upon his target, Elektra, avatar of lightning. She put up little defense as his blade cut out her heart.
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For four years Aerion and Sylvion had hid themselves They were the last two and knew they were being hunted. The attack came in the middle of the night. Aerion fell to his sister’s hand and Sylvion killed himself rather than run again. In the end it made little difference both were soon leading a legion of the damned. The legions now led by the revenants of the former avatars marched east. Slaughtering all who opposed them. The dead killed all who opposed them. For the last fourteen years the survivors of Aylana acted only to slow the damned down. Phoenera offered them escape across the sea. Many had traveled there to make their escape.
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Jules had been woken up like he did at the first rays of the sun. He dressed quickly and left the large community tent. Few were awake this early. The summer sun rose early in the morning. Julius went to the wall and looked west toward the nation that used to be his home. Reports said the damned were drawing near. The refugees were to be moved further east. Julius Soliel was getting tired of running.

"So they really destroyed your home just for fun?" Mirith asked in the dialect of a bird, a robin to be specific. The bird he was talking to was perched on his wrist, chirping harmlessly as it ate some food out Mirith's hand. Mirith had been talking with the bird for about half an hour now, and it had a little tale that was actually pretty similar to most of the people in the town, the only difference was that it didn't involve undead, but people trying to get wood and food for the camps.

"Well I couldn't really tell WHY they did it, but they killed a lot of the animals around there when they really didn't have to. I guess I'll never really understand you humans all that much, except for you of course, but you seem more in tune with us for some reason... Why is that?" The little robin sure was talkative. Of course, a lot of the things in nature were talkative like this, but this little one seemed to be an exception.

"I don't really know, ever since I could talk I was talking to plants animals... Oh well, I always put that thought aside. I mean, as long as I can, what's the use in wondering?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right... Well, I gotta go or I'll get yelled at by the family again. Nice talking to ya person," the little bird said as he flew off. Mirith dumped the rest of the seeds in his hand off on the ground, getting up from his little spot on the ground and going up to the wall. He stretched as he let the sun warm him up a little. Looking out on the horizon over the wall, he was almost reminded of home because of the peacefulness. Sighing, he sat down with his back against the wall, thinking about his old home.

"Thump thump thump"

"guh?" Ayden asked, half-asleep.

"Thump klink thump klink" The sound was getting faster.

"Later. Too early."

"Thump chirp klink thump klink chirp whoosh" Everything was happening faster.

"Not now!" Ayden swung his arm, trying to throw his pillow.

"Thump klink chirp thump chirp WHUMP klink whoosh"

That 'WHUMP' was Ayden waking up and hitting the ground in the process. Or the other way around. Coming to his senses, he thought... Ok... I'm on the ground... My right side hurts a LOT... He got up and looked around, then saw the branch he slept on. Oh! Thats gotta be it. What did I steal yesterday? I fell asleep on the branch for a reason... Oh well, it doesn't matter now.

"Thump klink chirp whoosh chirp thump klink" Went the natural sounds of the morning. Or at least the 'chirp' and the 'whoosh' were.

Hm... What is that "Thump klink"? He heard a loud chirping, looked overhead, and saw a flock of birds flying east. Undead maybe? I should probably check with the village. They'd know more. Ayden headed to the refugee camp, inquired, and found what he already knew; the undead were advancing. He decided he'd wait in the middle of the camp for everyone else to wake up and get going. He was used to running from the undead; he just preferred to stay in a group, to increase his odds of survival.

Taini Aileen squinted one eye open and grumbled a few words against the morning light. If there was one thing she hated about having to travel with the refugees was having to live by their clock: sleep at night and work and move during the day. It seemed like such a waste to spend the best hours of the night sleeping. <Why do all of your work in the hot sun anyway?>

She opened the other eye and looked around the tent. A few of the people were getting around and a few whispers circulated around the camp about the Ghuls drawing closer and having to pack up and move the refugee camp again. Taini figured she should care a little more, but at the moment she just wanted to close her eyes against the morning light. "Just a few more minutes..." She mumbled, rolling over and closing her eyes again.

Jules saw a murder of crows, and flocks of vultures in the distance. The warning bell began to sound. He strung his bow and counted his arrows, only 6, hardly enough to even run. Panic began to strike the camp. The Phoenerean soldiers took to the watch towers and gate houses.

Ssshhh...Ssshhh...Ssshhh...
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding

Galvin Awoke to the sound of the waves on the shore and the Alarm bell going off near by. "Whats that..." He muttered to himself, He jerked up suddenly and looked around. "People!?" He said shocked. "He grabbed his bag from his boat and got out to pull it further up the sandy shore above the Tide line. "Fate must be in love with me." He mused to himself. He Strapped the bag to his back, and his weapons to his Hips. He takes a last look at his boat. and then begins running toward the bells and finds the town abuzz with activity. As he approached the entrance running a couple guards stepped out and pointed there weapons at him demanding he hold. Galvin skidded to a stop. Smiling brightly at the guards.

"We haven't seen you before, did you come in with the last group?" the first guard asked him
"No actually" Galvin replied, "I came from that way" He pointed back to the sea and along the coast. "well...somewhere out there. I've been at sea for about a month, I came from a fishing town. It was destroyed..." the guards looked at him sceptically with the enemy so close at hand. Galvin Puts his arms out to show his Sea stiffened clothes and the various holes in his pants. "Do I HONESTLY look like I could cause trouble. Beside I can use a sword I could help you out."

"He's small, he probably couldn't cause much trouble even if he was one of them." the second guard Said.

The first guard looked him up and down again. "Alright get inside, and be quick about it!"

"Thanks," Galvin said as he ran in. "Finally a village that has people." Galvin thought to himself.

Mirith didn't even need to hear the bell or see the crows and vultures to know the undead were coming. He could hear the savage shouting of the crows and vultures in the distance, all of them shouting something like "Hey, that eyeball's mine!" or "I'll be full for ages!" He stood straight up upon hearing this, his back stiff as a board. He turned around to see the source of this noise, the scavengers that followed the undead around all the time because of the food that they just happened to be.

"Oh crap..." Mirith muttered under his breath as he checked his quiver. Only three arrows... He'd used the rest hunting the day before, and he'd forgotten to get any more. This would be a problem. He wasn't of any use here, and he had to get back to his family. With a paniced look, he began to run back to the tent his own family was staying in, running past all the rest that were panicking themselves.

Rylan was sleeping peacefully until a sudden shiver down his spine woke him up with an eerie feeling. Undead where approaching. It was easily to feel them, since Rylan was surronded by a nice, familiar feeling with all of these living people, the cold disturbance jumped out at him.

After getting up and brushing the dirt off of himself, Rylan went to check on any injured refugees. They were going to leave soon, and he wanted to make sure that everyone could get away.

That morning, Antaeus had been shifting heavy loads for the very young and very old refugees, who couldn't lift their supplies onto the wagons by themselves. A few of them had tried to thank him, and he accepted with a curt nod and a brief grunt.

People annoyed him sometimes. They always wanted to talk, always wanted someone else to do something with them. As always, he had gently, but firmly indicated his desire to be left alone. He could see the looks of disappointment on their faces, and some of them, especially the pretty teenagers, made him almost want to reverse himself. But no. They were worlds apart, he and they, and he knew better than to try and reach out.

However, when they asked him to help in some physical task, he never refused. His strength was his asset, after all, and he felt that as long as he was within a community, he should at least contribute to it.

Then he heard the warning bell, a sign that the Ghul were coming. Quickly, he loaded the last few bales into the wagons, then roughly pointed at the people watching towards one of the holding areas for the civilians. They looked dumbly at him for a moment, until the bell sounded again and he pointed up, indicating that they should take heed of it. They quickly left, leaving him alone again.

Antaeus took up a discarded wooden pole. Its weight reassured him, and he carried it easily in one hand. If the Ghul wanted a fight, they'd get one, all right.

they crested the hill. 46 zombies, and 60 ghuls. The zombies limply carried swords, and pole arms. The ghuls howled loudly. Julius covered his ears at the horrible high pith scream. They broke and ran on all fours toward the wooden barricade. Julius stood and fired an arrow into the group, if he hit he didn't notice. A few of the gaurds fired arrows and a few of the ghuls fell. Julius knocked another arrow and fired into the group He hit a ghul in the shoulder. It grabbed the arrow as it ran and ripped it and a larg amount of it's flesh out. It threw the arrow back and struck one of the soldiers in the chest. The soldier fell screaming from the tower. A swordsman on the ground quickly took the man's head.