[Power Shot] Keldar (the Demon Spawn)'s Training

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: Alright! Training is good for all people!

BiC: Why am I in this horrid swamp? I had been hovering above the thick, muddy water of the swamp. I was looking for something that may not even exist. I was looking for the Dome, a legendary place of training. Many say it is real, and others say it is not. But if I am to become a Knight of the Council than I have to at least try to find it, and with the training from the Dome the Demon Council will have no other choice than to give me that prestigious position.

After another hour of searching the smell from the swamp gas began to get worse. The smell got to the point that if I did not get away from the smell than I would have no choice but to vomit. I kept going and the stench worsened to the point where I had to expel the contents of my stomach. I vomited into the water and fell down. I felt the slime on my skin and robes as I sank into the swamp, and I quickly sank to my neck. I closed my mouth and eyes and prepared for death. The thick, awful smelling liquid covered my head, and darkness surrounded me.

I woke up in a pond surrounded by flowers and trees. Had it all been a nightmare? I was still covered in swamp water. I tried to move but found that I still couldn't. I tried flying but couldn't do that either. That swamp seems to have taken all of my strength from me. My only hope was to get this goop off of me, perhaps then my powers would return to me. I sent out a distress signal through the area, luckily there was an imp near the pond who responded to the signal and floated over to me.

The imp took a look at me and said, “Well, well, well. It looks like we have a fool covered in swamp water here. Don't worry I'll get that goo off of you in no time!” He began to push me in the water and roll my body around in the clean, pure water. Within minutes I was clean and able to leave the pond and explore my surroundings.

I stood in the center of a forest, the trees looked as if it was autumn. Most of the trees still had their leaves, but some were gently floating in the breeze. It was peaceful and relaxing, and everything was one with nature. Well, everything but the large dome about a mile away. I realized that it must be the Dome, I jumped in the air and flew to the Dome. Within minutes I had reached the Dome and stood before the grand entrance of the mystical building. I stood before it in total awe at its splendor, the Dome appeared to be constructed of marble and gold and shone with the brilliance of one thousand suns. I looked around me and examined the entrance I was standing in. I was standing in an area of bright light, but farther down the entrance, which I now realized was a tunnel, the light dimmed and became an almost total darkness. I was amazed at this magnificent building, and took a step towards the darkness.

OoC: Alright! There it is, I think I may be a bit of a comma freak but whatever, I am here to learn.

[Zorolo]

Interesting. I like how you write in first person, I did as well when I first started. Means you've got a strong attachment to your character, and the repeated thoughts made it interesting. Overall, this post was very good.

Assignment Time:
Have Keldar walk through the darkness for a while, and eventually there will be a very bright flash and he'll find himself in the Dome's central area. Basically, it's a large, circular room that has multiple floors have doors scattered about that lead into hallways that lead to the infinite doors of the Dome. Keldar can explore the set rooms (Dome Center, Library, Cafeteria, The Garden Rooms, The Fountain Room).

After Keldar has explored a bit, have him come across a room that looks like the outside to a temple with several statues lining the walls of the cavern on the sides of the road that leads to the temple. End your post with Keldar entering the room that leads to the temple road. Word minimum of 400 words.

Also, on another note, Power Shot has not told me if he or I will be your full time teacher when he returns, so for now, I'm not going to introduce Keldar to his teacher until I have an answer. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: Sorry I took so long to post this, I have been computer-less for the past 2 weeks.

BiC: The darkness consumed my vision as I walked slowly through the tunnel. The darkness enveloped everything it touched and after only seconds of walking the light from the entrance disappeared completely. After many hours of walking the darkness began to feel solid, and became like thick water. My ability to breathe began to lessen until I was forced to just hold my breath and hope I reached the end soon. The darkness became like rock and I stopped moving and became suspended in the air.

Finally I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. My breath escaped me and I realized I could breathe again. The light grew brighter and brighter and the darkness disappeared. I closed my eyes but the light was still there. Finally the light dissipated and I opened my eyes and looked at my new surroundings. I was standing in the middle of a large room with several levels. There were doors scattered everywhere and I decided to enter one of them. Inside I found a hallway with hundreds of doors; some were labeled but most were not. Each labeled door had a different label on it. Some had an ornate gold carving in the wood of the door while others simply had a wooden sign nailed to it.

I came across a door that was labeled "Library" I decided to go in, I spent a lot of time in libraries and I figured that the library in the Dome would have more books and information than many other libraries that I have been in before. Perhaps here I could gain the power I need to impress the Demon Council. I stepped inside and looked around; the room was essentially a giant floating bookshelf. Gravity did not seem to exist in this room, and I found I was able to simply float over to a book and pick it out. The book I chose was written in a language I did not understand and I quickly put it back. I found that the first fifty books I chose were written in this strange language. I left the library and began to search other rooms.

After looking around for hours I came across a door that was different than the others the door was more like a large stone slab. I pushed it aside with ease. The stone was much lighter than I thought it would be. Inside I found an area that resembled the outside of a temple of some sort. Several statues lined the walls of the room. The statues depicted gods, or at least they looked like gods of some sort. They certainly were not any gods that I recognized, but some statues resembled demons that I read about. I took a few steps into the room, and looked down the temple road.

OoC: There you go, once again sorry I took so long.

[Zorolo]

Awesome. Your First Person Point of View makes reading your posts interesting. Mayhaps I'll put my in-character parts of my post in first person, but I'll decide when we get to that. For now:

Assignment Time:

Now that you stands before the temple, the guardians of the temple will judge if you are worthy to enter or not. The statues are not merely the silent guardians, but come to life when they temple needs to test the warrior that is approaching. Your goal is to fight the many statues that are going to life. After destroying three, one at a time in one on one combat, they will allow you to enter. End your assignment with you standing at the slightly cracked door to the temple.

Rules: 500 word minimum. Also, let us add some interesting description to your next post. I want you to describe, in detail, what each statue looks like, and they'll look different from each other. Good luck. ^_^

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: Right away sir! New post coming your way!

BiC: The statues watched my every step as I walked to the temple entrance. I couldn't help but notice the craftmanship on each statue, whoever carved them must have been master of his craft. Each statue was carved from a strange white stone that shone and glowed softly in the dim light of the room.

As I approached the temple I heard a voice in my head, the voice was deep and echoed in my head. "One called Keldar, you must prove yourself worthy before entering the sacred temple. You must face defeat three of the guardian statues in order to pass."

The ground rumbled beneath my feet as three of the statues began moving toward me. The statues moved slowly, their footsteps echoing throughout the room as they walked. The statues arranged in a triangle around me and stood in a fighting stance.

The voice once again spoke in my head. "Before you stand three warriors of stone, you must defeat all of them to pass. You may pick your first opponent."

I looked at the statues and analyzed them for any visible strengths or weaknesses. Each statue was about ten feet taller than me and each looked as if it could easily kill me.

I looked at the statue to my right; it resembled a man of about fifty years and had a rough looking beard of stone. The statue wore a simple stone robe and held a large sword in its right hand.

The second statue was a large wolf. The wolf was staring at me with its teeth showing. As I looked into its stone eyes I could see the hunger and anger in this stone wolf. No mortal could have created this statue, the fur was so real looking that I was tempted to reach out and touch it, just to see if it was soft. The statue's tail wagged eagerly, the sound of the tail wagging was like a sword cutting through air.

The third and final statue was of a large bird. The wingspan of the statue was huge, easily three times my size. Each feather on the bird was different than the feather next to it and the birds talons looked like they could cut through a mountain.

"I choose the wolf." I yelled to the air, as I drew my katana.

The other statues backed away and the wolf stepped forward. I ran and jumped at the wolf in an attempt to stab the wolf from above. The wolf leaped to the right and lunged forward to bite me with its razor sharp stone teeth. I shot blasts of dark energy at the wolf; only two blasts hit the wolf in the legs. The blasts managed to break bits of stone off of the wolf and it fell over. I took this momentary lapse in balance as a chance to strike and quickly cut into the neck of the statue. The wolf shattered and turned to dust.

The man statue stepped forward and raised its sword. I dove left, narrowly avoiding the blade as it cut deep into the ground. I shot several blasts of energy at the sword and cracked it in several places. The statue pulled the sword out of the ground and swung again. I put up my blade to block the attack. Sparks flashed as the two blades ground against each other, I was out matched by the giants strength and could not hold out long against the statues strength. The cracks in the giant's blade grew larger and the sounds of the stone blade slowly cracking filled the room. The cracks in the sword eventually grew to big and the blade shattered. I jumped into the air and slashed the giants face vertically. The giant fell down and shattered.

The final statue flew at me with its talons aimed at my head. I quickly ducked and grabbed onto the underside of the bird statue. I plunged my sword into the statue and heard the bird scream as it fell to the ground. I pulled my sword out of the statue and jumped away from the bird. The statue swung its wings and I fell over from the resulting gust of wind and my katana flew out of my hands. The bird statue thrust its sharp beak at me and I had to roll out of the way to get out of the way. With the bird's beak embedded in the ground I was able to smash the hilt of my katana into the head of the statue and broke it in two. The rest of the bird shattered and turned to dust.

The voice rang in my head once more. "You have defeated the stone guardians of the temple. You may enter."

I walked over to the entrance of the temple. The door was slightly cracked and was beginning to slide open. I was breathing heavily from my fight with the statues, but that did not stop my curiosity about what the temple may hold.

OoC: There you go. I look forward to the next assignment.

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: Alright, here is the assignment from last time. I am experimenting with both 3rd person and multiple plots. Sorry that there wasn't much dialouge with Keldar's part of the post, I like him more when he fights. I hope I put enough dialouge in.

BiC: I watched in awe as the book on the table began to glow. It shot out a glowing ball three feet into the air.

“What do you think it is?” I asked as the orb began to shake.

“I don’t know, but it seems to be breaking apart,” Serenity replied as the orb shattered and the energy inside of it spilled out ad became a swirling vortex.

We both grabbed the table and tried to hold on as the vortex began to suck us in, but it was useless. The pull of the vortex became too much to resist and we were sucked in. I didn’t know where we were going to end up, or if we would live long enough to find out.

“Where am I?” I groaned as I rubbed my head.

“Don’t move human!” a roared a voice to my left.

I turned to see who spoke and gasped. I was surrounded by an army of demons; they appeared to be ready for a battle. Each one wore armor that appeared to be from about ten thousand years ago and carried a spear. There appeared to be over fifty thousand of them surrounding me, each one with a look of hatred and bloodlust on his face.

“Prepare to die. You have entered into our territory, human. That is a crime punishable by death,” the demon closest to me growled. He appeared to have more power than the other demons surrounding him.

“I am not human! I am a demon!” I said. I figured that it would be wise to not say that I am both human and demon, based on how others react when they find out I decided to not let them know of the human blood in my veins.

“You don’t appear to be a demon. Prove it to us with a feat of strength, agility, and cunning. You must defeat our strongest warrior in battle.”

“I accept the challenge, where is this warrior?” I said as a demon approached me. He was at least ten feet tall and was bulging with muscles.

“Die, human!” roared the demon as he swung his sword at me.


***************


“Wake up.”

“Where am I?” Serenity said as she rubbed her head.

“You are in Tresagoer of course! Where else would you be?” said a friendly voice from above her head.

“But Tresagoer has been lifeless for over ten thousand years,” Serenity whispered to herself.

She looked up to see an old looking elf woman. They appeared to be in a room made of twigs and leaves. Serenity got up and looked out the window, she was in a city in the trees, and the drop to the ground below looked to be hundreds of feet. In the distance was an army of demons. Their roars and shouts could be heard from the treetops.

“Why is that army of demonic soldiers coming towards the forest?” Serenity asked as she stretched her legs.

“They are planning to attack our city, but the High Elf says that we shall be safe. Our army will surely defeat their forces. They are slow and we are fast, they are rampaging and we are organized. We cannot lose!” the woman said with confidence.

Serenity however, had read the books and knew that this was the fall of Tresagoer. The demon army would wipe out all forms of life in the forest and claim it as their own land. Serenity knew she would have to get out before she was killed. The only way to do that would be to survive the battle and wait for the portal to re-open. All she would have to do is survive.


**************


“We must attack their forces head on!” said the High Elf.

“No, that would be a foolish mistake, we would waste countless lives!” the Military Commander said.

The two were arguing about the strategy that should be used to combat the demonic army. Even as they spoke, countless hundreds of demons soldiers marched towards their city. The elf army of two thousand soldiers was no match; their only hope was an amazing battle plan.

“We cannot attack from the rear or the side, our only chance of attack is from the front!” yelled the High Elf, his fists knocking his glass off the table.

“There may be another option,” the commander said.

“What is it?” asked the High Elf.

“We attack from above,” replied the commander with a grin.


*********


The demon charged and swung its blade at my head. I dodged the swing easily as I drew my katana. I shot a blast of dark magic at the demon’s legs and sent it toppling to the ground, but the demon was back up before I could attack. He attempted to punch me in the gut but I simply flew above his head and taunted him.

“Some mighty warrior you turned out to be,” I said in a calm voice as the demon got angrier and angrier.

The demon made several more attempts to hit me with its sword but I dodged all of them with ease. It crossed my mind that the demons that I knew had evolved a bit since then, but at that moment I didn’t really care.

After a few minutes of messing with the beast I finally decided to finish it off. I landed next to him and thrust my katana into its stomach, killing it instantly.

“You have defeated our greatest warrior, you are now fit to enter our ranks and help us destroy the elves!” roared the demon commander.

“Destroy the elves?” I said perplexed.

“Yes, we have banded together to destroy the elves and their city. Within hours we will be victorious!”

“Sorry, I cannot help you right now. I have to go find a friend of mine!” I said as I took off and flew over to the elf city.

“Not so fast,” said the demon.

“Why not?”

“It is only fair that you face the rest of us before leaving,” said the demon calmly as thousands of demons charged at me.


**********


Serenity jumped to the ground, her feet making a soft rustling sound as she landed in the leaves. She had been climbing down the trees for the past hour or so and the demon army was now only about a mile away. She looked up in the sky and saw a shape in air.

“Could it be?” she whispered to herself as she squinted.

Serenity began making arm movements and waved her daggers around in the air.

“Keldar! Hey Keldar! I’m over here!” she yelled as the shape flew closer.

It was Keldar, he was bruised and bloody and was completely out of breath.

“What’s wrong?” Serenity asked as Keldar landed.

“The demons are going to attack the city! They already attacked me, I managed to escape though,” Keldar yelled.

“I know, there is nothing we can do to stop it, it is already written in history as the fall of Tresagoer. All we can do now is wait for the portal to open up so we can go back to the Dome,” she said calmly.

Keldar flew them both over to a safe distance and they watched the battle in silence. Countless elves fell in battle and the demons roared and screamed in victory. Even the elves brilliant battle tactic of attacking from the treetops was no match for the demon’s brute strength and numbers. The trees fell and the buildings collapsed as the portal opened to take them back.


****************

I awoke in the library, a small puddle of sweat and drool was on the table.

“Wake up, Serenity, wake up!” I said as I shook Serenity gently.

“Was it all a dream?” she said as she yawned.

“It must have been, although the chances of us both having the same dream are pretty slim.” I said as I got up and stretched a bit.

“We should probably get out of the library before something else happens to us,” she said.

“Yeah, I think we have had enough with the library for one day,” I said as we began to head for the door.

[Zorolo]

OoC: That post was very good. Your dialogue was great, your breaking between first and third person and the blocking of your post were all great. I must say that was one of the finest first jobs of doing blocking I've ever seen. ^_^

Assignment Time:

Since Zorlo's still on his assignment (my battle Unexpected Encounters), he won't be back for a little bit. While the Aura Master is gone, Serenity and Keldar can explore all of the set sights and rooms that are available. (The set rooms that you haven't visited from back in my first assignment to you are all suggestions) Have the two discuss what has happened and a bit about each other's history. End your post with the two in the Garden Room.

Rules: 700 word minimum, and I want you to describe each room you visit, so your post should end with a description of the Garden Room Keldar and Serenity visit. ^_^

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: There it is, I think it is a bit lacking but I am a little low on creativity from my last post.

BiC: Serenity and I left the library and began walking down the hall. Since Zorlo was still gone we were free to explore the Dome and do as we wished.

“I’m hungry,” Serenity said. I could hear her stomach growling, and I realized that I was hungry as well.

“Where is the cafeteria?” I asked her.

“Follow me,” she replied as she ran down the hallway.

I ran after her and we eventually came across a large door. We pushed the door open and looked inside. The cafeteria contained several hundred tables and chairs. The chairs and tables were made of a strange wood that shone in the light of the room. The room itself was enormous and seemed to be painted white. Placed throughout the room were several stations where hundreds of creatures were serving food to the other students in the cafeteria. We walked up to the station and we were served some kind of chili. It tasted pretty good and I quickly ate three bowls of it.

After eating a large meal in the cafeteria we decided to check out the other rooms in the Dome. We walked to the door labeled Dome Center. We stepped in and saw that it was a giant room that contained several thousand doors. Each door looked different than the last one and probably led to a different room or hallway. I could see several new students entering the Dome for the first time. Some were bloody and wore tattered clothing, while others were completely untouched and just stood there with a confused look on their face.

“Want to explore the Garden Room? I should take a while to get there but it is worth it,” Serenity said to me.

“Sure, I’ll follow you there,” I replied as we left the Dome Center and walked down the hallway.

“I feel a bit bad about the whole thing that happened in the library,” I said as we continued to walk down the hallway.

“Why?” she asked.

“Well, an army of demons destroyed one of the most important elf cities and its entire population. I figured that you would be upset that you witnessed the deaths of thousands of your people,” I said to Serenity.

“I should be upset but it was supposed to happen, it already happened before,” she sounded surprisingly calm and I decided that I should change the subject.

“What did you do after you escaped from slavery?” I wanted to know more about her past so I could get to know her better as a person.

“I wandered around a lot, I would go into a town and get a job somewhere and make enough money to move on to the next town. After a few years of this I decided that I would need to finally do something with my life. So I began looking for something to do. After stopping in a town I discovered a book that told me of the Dome. It didn’t have a map or directions but I eventually found it. I feel at home here, but I still think that there is something else out there for me,” Serenity seemed to have finished.

“That’s an incredible story,” I said.

“Yeah it is an interesting story. But why are you here, what’s your story?”

“I am here to get the knowledge and strength to confront and defeat my father. I recently discovered that my father is the Demon King. He is a tyrannical ruler and must be defeated, but before I discovered my father’s identity I was a servant of the Demon Council. I wish my mother was alive so she would know the identity of my father, but sometimes I find myself thinking that she knew all along and just chose not to tell me,” I replied, it felt good to tell someone about my life it almost felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

We finally came to the gate leading to the Garden Room. Serenity opened the gate and we stepped into the room. Only one word can sum up the room… beautiful. There were thousands and thousands of flowers of all different colors and shapes. There were large hedges surrounding everything in the garden and birds and small mammals were chirping and running around.

“Wow,” I said as I took in my surroundings.

[Zorolo]

Excellent, again, a very good post.

Assignment Time:

The Gardens Room is both beautiful and deadly. Have Keldar and Serenity walk around the Garden Rooms until they accidentally walk into a jungle. After they spend some time in the jungle, a great beast will appear from within the dark trees and attack. The two must defeat this beast in order to escape the jungle alive, but this is not the only creature. Massive snakes, insects and other associated creatures lurk as well, so don't imagine they can be ignored. End your post with a door to leave appearing before your characters but don't say where it leads.

Rules: 900 words, and if your creativity isn't working so well, give yourself a chance to recover it. Don't over exert yourself. Does wonders to make posts bad, for some reason.

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: My creativity tanks are filled to the brim after a good nights sleep.

BiC: The garden room was one of the most amazing places I have seen in the Dome so far. As Serenity and I walked through the various pathways in the garden I began to wonder what possible purpose this room could have other than beauty. We walked for hours in the garden without speaking. After a few more minutes of walking I noticed that the flowers were becoming fewer in number and more exotic. The trees were becoming taller and leafier, almost blocking the light completely. The garden became an exotic and beautiful jungle.

“We should be careful, jungles can be incredibly dangerous,” I said, finally breaking the silence.

“I know, I have been in my share of jungles,” Serenity replied.

The dark green vines hanging from the trees became too thick to simply walk through and I was forced to cut thought them with my katana. Part of me wanted to turn around and get out of the room, but the jungle was just so beautiful to leave. We walked for another few hours through the jungle and eventually came across a large nest in one of the trees. It was made of stone and logs and contained a large egg.

I felt compelled to get a closer look at the egg. I grabbed Serenity’s arm and flew us up to the nest in the tree. It seemed as if we were both thinking the same thing, it was almost as if the jungle itself wanted us to look at the mysterious egg in the nest. Suddenly a loud hissing sound filled our ears and shot us out of our jungle trance.

“What is that noise?” Serenity shouted as we both covered our ears.

“I don’t know, but I think it is coming from that egg,” I replied.

The egg began to split open and a giant lizard creature emerged from it, its fangs were dripping with venom and it eyed us with hunger and it shot its head at us with incredible speed. We jumped to the side and I swung my katana at the jungle beast. My blade couldn’t seem to penetrate the beast’s scales, all I did was make it angrier at us.

It whipped its tail around and knocked me down to the ground. It opened its mouth to bite me in half but stopped before it reached me. Blood began to spurt out of the creature’s mouth and I noticed something shining in its throat.

“You owe me a new dagger,” Serenity said as she reached for another one to arm herself with.

“If we survive this jungle than I will get you a new one,” I replied as I shot several blasts of dark fire into the beast’s throat, killing it instantly.

But the battle wasn’t over yet, several hundred snakes jumped at us from the trees while thousands of giant insects flew at us. Each snake was as big as a fully grown man and the insects were as large as a gorilla. We began to slice our way through the snakes and giant bugs, but there were just too many of them. Before we had killed ten of the overgrown creatures several gorillas climbed the trees and began to charge at us. The gorillas were all a dark red color and howled as they ran.

Just when it looked like we were doomed we saw the thing that would save our lives. A door made of jungle wood and leaves appeared several yards in front of us. It seemed that all of the jungle creatures were attempting to block the door. I sent a wave of dark energy at the snakes and disintegrated most of the snakes as Serenity threw her daggers at the flying insects. The daggers seemed to be completely under her control, even though Serenity wasn’t holding them. Within minutes the snakes and insects were dead, but I was just too weak to take down the gorillas.

“I used up all of my energy killing the snakes, you are going to have to take down the gorillas by yourself,” I said, using that wave of dark fire had used up most of my energy.

“You owe me double now,” Serenity replied as she jumped at the gorillas and cut one of them. The gorilla she cut fell out of the nest and fell to the ground.

She quickly cut three more gorillas and kicked another one off of the tree. Within minutes the gorillas were defeated and Serenity put her dagger back in here belt and stood for a moment. After she caught her breath she walked over to me and helped me up.

“Thanks, how can I repay you?” I asked her.

“Well, because of you I have lost one of my daggers and was forced to beat up a bunch of giant monkeys. So I think that you would owe me your life, if you can manage to save my life than we will be even,” she said.

“Fine,” I said to her after standing up.

We walked to the door and I was about to open it when one of the gorillas climbed back up and swung its fist at the back of Serenity’s head. Thinking quickly, I pulled out my sword and cut off the gorilla’s hand. The gorilla fell to the ground in pain and ran off.

“Now we’re even,” I said to Serenity.

OoC: There you go, exactly 900 words.

[Zorolo]

OoC: *Laughs* I love it. Keep up the good work. ^_^

Assignment Time:

The door will open suddenly, and a vortex will suck your characters into the door. Somehow, they'll wind up unconscious before they come out of the other side of said doorway. When they wake up, they'll find themselves on a ship that is simply floating in the middle of the ocean, far from anything. Have them explore the ship and give it new life. End your post with them entering the control room.

Rules: 1200 word minimum. Good luck. ^_^

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: There you go! Cannot wait for the next assignment! Well I could wait but I would rather not because I like typing these.

BiC: “Fine then, we’re even,” Serenity said.

Suddenly I heard the sound of wind coming from behind me and heard the door slam open. I turned to the door only to find a swirling vortex where it once stood. Both of us were being sucked into the vortex, I grabbed a large branch and held on for my life.

I heard Serenity scream and felt her grab my feet in a desperate attempt to not get sucked into places unknown. I could feel my grip on the branch slip; I tried to grab it again but missed. The vortex pulled us deep into itself. My only hope to escape was to try to fly out of the portal. I put all of my energy into one burst of flight and managed to reach the edge of the door. I reached my hand out to grab it but my energy was gone.

“Must… reach… the door,” I said as everything went dark.

I woke up to the sound of waves and wind. I got up and discovered that Serenity was passed out a few feet away from me. I looked around; we appeared to be on a ship in the middle of an ocean. There was no visible land and there was nobody on the ship.

“Where are we?” Serenity mumbled as she got up.

“On a ship in the middle of an ocean with nothing around for miles and miles,” I replied.

“Well, we may as well explore the ship a bit. Perhaps we can find some way out of here,” she said as she began walking around the deck.

“Alright then, let’s see what we can find,” I said.

We walked around the deck of the ship for a few minutes but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, just a door.

“Perhaps we could find something beyond that door,” I said, pointing to the door.

We opened it and stepped inside to find a hallway. The hallway contained several doors; the first door we came across was labeled Crew Quarter I opened it and we stepped inside. The inside of the room contained about twenty cots, each one was empty. There was no sign of life having ever been in this room.

“How odd, it seems that nobody has ever been in this room before. But if there is no crew then how did the ship end up in the middle of the ocean?” I asked to nobody in particular.

We left the room with an eerie feeling hanging in the air. We entered a room labeled Kitchen and stepped inside. I was expecting it to be empty, but I could just see the faded silhouettes of people working in the kitchen.

“Are those ghosts?” Serenity asked as she passed her hand through one.

“I think so, we had better check the other rooms out to see if there are some in there,” I said as I turned and left the room.

We entered a room labeled Captains Quarters. Serenity opened the door and we stepped inside. The room was by far the most decorated room. A desk was in the middle of the room, along with a bed and a few tables and chairs. Instead of a silhouette of a person there was a more detailed person sitting at the desk. I could see he was dressed in what appeared to be pirate clothing and was holding a bottle of rum.

I waved my hand in front of his face but he didn’t seem to notice at all. It was as if we didn’t exist to him or anyone on this strange ship. We left the room and entered the prison of the ship where all of the captured people and rebel pirates were kept. The room was damp and dirty, there were several cells made of iron bars and locked with a heavy steel lock. Inside of the cells were at least thirty prisoners, the prisoners were dirtier than the cells and screamed in agony.

“Help me sir, please open the gate. Please get me out of here,” said one of the prisoners to me.

“You can see me?” I asked him.

“Yes, now please help me get out of here,” the man replied.

“What happened to the rest of the people?”

“They all died over a year ago, a mysterious disease killed them and the rats removed the bodies. I am the only one left. Please let me out!” the man sounded desperate and was shaking the bars of his cell.

I opened the gate and the man stepped out of his cell. He ran off somewhere before I could ask him something else. Serenity and I left the prison and sat down on the floor in the hallway.

“This ship is full of ghosts, each time we visit a room the ghosts become less faded and more real,” I said.

“Perhaps our presence is making the ghosts remember life and making them all come back to the mortal world. The real question is why the Dome would bring us here, perhaps we are supposed to free the ghosts and bring this ship back to shore,” Serenity said.

“Well if we are going to free the ghosts then we had better talk to that prisoner, he knows what happened in their final moments,” I replied as I stood up.

We reached the deck of the ship just in time to see the prisoner prepare to jump off of the ship.

“Wait stop! We need your help!” I screamed.

“Why would you need my help?” he asked.

“We need to set the ghosts free and you are the only one that can help us,” Serenity replied.

“Can you tell us anything odd that may have happened right before the crew and captain died?” I asked.

“All I remember is that a stranger arrived in the ship a few days before the poisoning of the food. If you search the kitchen then you will probably find what you are looking for. Now if you excuse me, I have a date with sweet death,” the man said as he jumped off of the side of the ship.

“Poor man, that poor crazy man,” Serenity whispered to herself as we walked back into the kitchen.

The ghosts were practically real, the only difference between the ghosts and Serenity and I was that the ghosts didn’t have shadows. It appeared that the ghosts were reliving the last few hours of their lives. Most of the kitchen crew was fat and wore an apron, but one of them was incredibly skinny and just wore some tattered clothing. He was more of a boy than a man and appeared to be about fifteen years old. I watched him help the cooks prepare the food and was watching him when he took a small bottle out of his pocket. He opened the bottle as I got a closer look at it. It was filled with a strange green liquid that appeared to be a poison of some sort.

I wrapped my hand with dark magic and attempted to grab the bottle. I could feel it in my hands and the expression of the boy changed, he became angry and attempted to pull it back. My grip on the bottle wasn’t very good because the bottle didn’t technically exist in the mortal world. All I would have to do is hold on until one of the cooks saw. I managed to hold on for a few minutes but eventually the boy won and was about to pour the contents of the bottle into the food when one of the cooks turned around. I couldn’t hear what the ghosts were saying but the boy was thrown off of the boat and the crew was safe.

“Now that we have stopped the ghosts from reliving their deaths they should all be set free to enter death,” I said as we walked out of the room and into the hallway.

“Perhaps we can get out of here now, we have been in every room but one so we should check it out before we try to get out of here,” Serenity said.

I opened the door to the control room and we stepped inside.

OoC: Spooky ghosts!

[Zorolo]

OoC: INteresting. I'd not have thought of that, so good job. Keep up ze good work. Now then, time for the next assignment. ^_^

Assignment Time:

After Keldar and Serentity look around the control room, one of them will notice that the location they are headed to is the Dome, and the ship will suddenly vanish and they'll reappear in a hallway in the Dome. After that, have the two discuss what has just happened, past events at the Dome, or any kind of Dome related history you feel is important. End your post with the two spotting an albino monkey and chasing after it. The monkey will stop at a door, end your post at that door.

Rules: 800 word minimum. I'm trying not to over do this, so just take this one easy. Have fun with it. ^_^

[Kanraku Tenma]

OoC: There you go Sir Zorolo! As always, looking forward to the next assignment.

BiC: The control room was surprisingly advanced for such an old fashioned looking ship. I walked over to the ship controls while Serenity inspected the monitor. I tried to move one of the levers but the controls were locked and there seemed to be no way to unlock them.

“The controls are locked. Do you have any idea where this ship is going?” I asked Serenity as she studied the monitors.

“The screen is showing a map but it seems to just stop randomly and pick up somewhere else, the only place it could be going would be the Dome. That is the only place you can get to without moving,” Serenity replied.

I was going to comment on that when the ship disappeared and we found ourselves in one of the Dome’s many hallways.

“Where did the boat go? Shouldn’t it be with us in the hallway?” I asked.

“The Dome is a mysterious place indeed,” Serenity replied.

“Yeah, just when you think you’re used to it something crazy happens,” I said.

“The Dome is just trying to keep you on your toes I guess,” she replied.

“Yeah, you never know what will try to kill you here,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Serenity replied.

“So far I have had to fight a sea beast, the Beastlord, the library, an entire demonic army, and a bunch of statues! Although I have to admit, I loved every minute of it,” I said.

“Yeah, I love it here. Battling assorted monsters and exploring mysterious rooms, it never gets old,” she said.

“I think the Dome may be alive, does that sound crazy?” I asked her, I had been thinking this ever since I entered this mysterious place; it seemed that the Dome was sending me to all of these places because it wanted to.

“I think that sometimes as well, the Dome seems to be alive but it is not an animal or any other creature I have heard of,” Serenity replied.

“I wonder who first discovered the Dome. Perhaps it was someone like us, he or she was looking for training of some sort and came across the entrance to the Dome,” I said.

I got up and we started walking down the hall. The hallways of the Dome seem endless and are filled with doors and openings of every sort. Every opening led to a room and each room could be as big as an ocean or as small as a box. This place was one of the strangest I have seen in my entire life.

“Perhaps the Dome chose to let someone know about it and simply appeared before someone one day. It is one of life’s hardest questions and I don’t think it will be answered any time soon,” Serenity replied.

We turned a corner and I noticed that the hallway became smaller than normal.

“Odd, it seems that the hallway is getting smaller. If it gets any smaller than I will have to start crouching,” I said as we walked further down the hallway.

“Yeah, that’s pretty weird. Even the doors are getting smaller,” she said.

We rounded another corner and the hallway got smaller still. We were forced to crouch down and stop moving.

“We should turn around and head back the way we came to see if we could get out of this hallway before we are crushed,” Serenity said.

“Fine, let’s turn around then,” I said as I began to turn around.

I turned around and was about to begin walking out of the hall when I heard a screech coming from behind me. I turned my head to see an albino monkey standing in the hallway. It motioned for us to follow it.

“Come on Serenity, we have to follow it,” I said as I began crawling after it.

“Why would I follow a monkey?”

“That monkey is Zorlo’s messenger or something. It gave me the note to come to the Fountain Room to meet you,” I said as I crawled faster.

“That’s good enough for me! I have seen that monkey walking around here but I never followed it. I guess now would be the best time to do so,” Serenity said as we picked up the pace.

The monkey was fast, but we were determined. We crawled and crawled and the hallway got smaller and smaller. After a few minutes of following the monkey we were forced to crawl with our stomachs pressed against the floor. The monkey was crawling as well and was slowing down. I reached out to grab the monkey and touched its fur. Suddenly the hallway disappeared and was replaced with the Dome Center.

The monkey got up and ran over to one of the doors. Serenity and I followed the monkey to the door and stood before it. The monkey was stood next to us and pointed to the door.

[Zorolo]

Most interesting. I like it.

Assignment Time:

Normally, this is the assignment where your teacher shows you to your room, but given Zorlo's quite busy at the moment, his assistant, Armond, is doing it for him. TIme to hand the mike over to Zanza-sensei so she can tell you what you're doing.

Originally posted by Zanza-Sensei

Simply put, this lesson is a description of your room. Your character will be told to find his/her room. Each room is different and unique. Take some time and describe the door; the secret to the Dome is its many doors. Each door is unique and elaborate, and gives a clue as to what lays beyond its closed surface. Afterwards, your character will enter their room, which reflects the character in some way. Take your time and describe EVERYTHING. That means furniture, colours, décor, etc...EVERYTHING!! I want you to SHOW me the place, so I can imagine what it looks like. This post is all about description, NOT necessarily action. For help, check out other people’s training threads. Minimum 600 words.

There you go, now get to work. ^_^