[Zorolo] Sonlen's Training

Sonlen was walking north, he didn't know why, but it... felt like the right thing to do, and this time he acted on instinct. Three weeks into his journey, he came upon a wood.... but... not, all the trees were perfectly real, or it seemed that way, but there was something about it.... not real, not natural, but, supernatural.

Sonlen was used to supernatural, not too much new.

"This is some kind of test," muttered Sonlen, "I don't know why, but it is...."

He kept walking.

That night he sensed something coming towards him, something bad. And it was close, and moving quickly.

Sonlen then strung his bow silently and pointed it in the direction the... whatever it was, was coming from.

He could soon hear a rustling noise, and slashing, which slowly got louder and louder.

Sonlen drew his bow.

He could see two shining yellow eyes, they belonged to a werewolf! Sonlen quickly took aim and the arrow struck the creature just above the heart. It was about fifty meters from him. The werewolf howled in pain and merely paused, as if considering him, then it began charging him again.

Sonlen threw his bow to the side, and quickly drew his sword. The were wolf didn't stop, it continued charging him and Sonlen, amazed by its speed, wasn't able to defend. As punishment he took a rather deep slash on his side.

"Damn!" yelled Sonlen.

The werewolf charged him again, but this time, Sonlen was ready, he recognized the same movements from the creature. He wasn't able to attack, but dodge, he quickly sidestepped and the creature screamed its rage to the full moon.

Empowered by its anger, the creature once more charged Sonlen, with even more speed and ferocity than before, but too uncontrollably, Sonlen was easily able to raise his blade when the werewolf was merely two yards away and the werewolf quickly fell.

Instead of changng back to it's human form, as was normal for werewolves to do when they were slain, it stayed in its wolf form.

"So, this is one of the first ones, the type that are continually hibernating..... except at full moon..." said Sonlen quietly to the corpse. He did not need to clean his blade, as it could not be stained. Sonlen took the werewolf body and took it to the deeper part of the forest, slashing trees with his sword so he didn't get lost, and lay the body there.

The next day, he heard a small voice inside his head say "East, turn east." He followed the command.

He began to walk and he soon came upon..... a door, a door that was hidden from view, that he could only see because of his keen elven eyesight.

"What is this place?" he asked himself.

He was too curious, he must know what was behind this door! He slowly turned the nob and found himself in a rather plain room, there was nothing covering the wooden walls, and in the center was a table with a letter on it. Sonlen walked towards the table, and, as he bent down, he heard a whooshing noise, he looked behind him and the door he had entered through had vanished, seemingly leaving no other exits.

"Damn," cursed Sonlen under his breath. despite this, he still picked up the letter. On the letters destination address, it read:

Sonlen Evandar Xiulta, The Dome

The sender address was blank. The letter read:

Good job, now, go through the door.

"Strange....." said Sonlen quietly. He then heard a creaking noise in front of him and looked up, there was another door.

He slowly walked towards the door and slowly raised his hand to the nob.

Ooc: Just so you know, I have absolutely no knowledge of what the dome is, I know just as much as Sonlen. Also, I thought I'd give you a taste of my battle scene skillzzz. Yeah, and how do people get the word count? Do they go in and count the individual words? Just wondering... Thought I'd add in the word count, which is 619

OoC: Good post. I like the fight scene, it was pretty good, and as for the word count, use the count word function in your word processor. Okay, moving on:

Assignment Time:

Have Sonlen head into the Dome. Have him look around at some of the set rooms (the Dome Center, the Cafeteria, the Garden Room, The Fountain Room, the Infirmary or the Library) and have a kind of mini-adventure there to familiarize yourself with the Dome a bit. Choose just one of those rooms for now, and end your post with your character setting off from where he is. ^_^

There was a small click as Sonlen turned the nob of the wooden door.

He found himself in an extremely long stone hallway with doors on either side as far as he could see, "What shall I do now?" he asked himself, "I might as well explore, that is the reason I came this far north, isn't it?"

He walked and turned left to find himself facing a door that read:

Fountain

He turned the nob and went in.

His face was almost immediately wet as he entered the room, this was due to the extreme humidity. "Ah," he said, "very refreshing." He then noticed the actual detail of the room, it had a polished white marble floor and the same for the walls. A beautiful fountain in the center of the room was spewing out crystal clear water from its tip.

I might want to take a bath in that water.... but no, I don't have time.

He turned and exited the room through the door which was, thankfully, the same he had come in.

Ooc: Rather short, I assumed you just wanted a small bridge, and where is this wonderful word proccessor button? I can't seem to find it.

OoC: It's either in the upper right hand corner of the post thing, or use your word processor (word and what not) ya know. Anyway...

Assignment Time:

I want you to wander around the Dome for a bit more, just taking in the scene, etc...You can wander into any of the Dome's FIXED rooms, that is the Fountain Room, the Gardens, the Cafeteria, the Dome Center, the Infirmary, etc.... but I want you to end up in a room that is basically a big lake. Oh, make sure you describe the door. The key to the Dome is its doors. There is an island in the middle of it, and I want you to get to it, whatever mode of transportation you choose (*hint hint*, be creative). Once there you will hear a splash, but that is all. Stop at that, and I will do the introduction between our two chars. Your teacher will meet you there. 800 word minimum

Hmm, where to now? Wondered Sonlen to himself as he exited the fountain room. As he walked through the long hallway, he found a door that read:

Infirmary

He suddenly noticed the extreme pain in his side where the werewolf had slashed him a little bit earlier. “Damn, should get that patched up,” muttered Sonlen to himself. He entered the room, which was filled with beds occupied with strange creatures, some of them not even humanoid, nor recognizable to Sonlen. “Not from my realm....” Again, Sonlen wasn’t exactly shocked, he was used to these kinds of things.

“Dammit, of course, my healing magic,” he had remembered he was adept at healing small wounds, “I can only heal what I can see…” he muttered to himself, “Luckily, I can see all of this.” He held his hand over the wound and focused. The wound quickly scabbed over. “Not perfect, but good enough for now.” He felt himself slightly drained of energy.

He exited the room quickly, silently closing the door. About five minutes later, he found a door labeled:

Library

“Hmm, could do with a bit of reading,” said Sonlen quietly, he opened the door and was amazed to see seemingly endless rows of books, towering above him as far as he could see, and farther. “Quite a collection,” said Sonlen in awe, “Not even the Elven library at home… wait, no, don’t think of that. I’ll just find a book.” He wandered into the third row of books on his right, went about halfway down, and pulled a book randomly from the shelf on his left side.

“The Ancient Elven History,” read Sonlen to himself, instantly very interested, he noticed that he and his companions were mentioned, though not by name.

‘An unknown Elven swordsarcher, and some others, including a Tree Spirit, played a vital role in the Blood Clan War of the Seventh Age…’

He couldn’t stand the memories, he slammed the book shut and quickly left the library.

Sonlen was trying to hold back his sorrow for the unknown fates of his friends, in his grief; he blindly walked into a room entitled:

Gardens

“Yes, I need to relax, just cool down some,” said Sonlen, taking in the wonderful fragrances of the amazing and strange plants that surrounded him. One looked like a large, blue bulb with strange red and black markings all around the sides. Another was emitting an extremely enticing aroma that put Sonlen into a kind of trance, “No, snap out of it,” he told himself, shaking his head. And yet another of the strange and exotic plants was completely black and looked like a rose, but upon closer inspection, Sonlen found that there were several small, sharp spikes protruding from the center that he was sure were poisonous. He soon grew tired of inspecting the strange plants and left the room.

He came upon a room that read:

Dome Center

“Hmm, maybe there will be someone who can tell me were I am and what this place is,” said Sonlen, opening the door. He however was disappointed, the rather plain room was empty except for a small table in the center, a few chairs, and a desk that was unoccupied. “Oh well,” said Sonlen, “I guess I’ll just have to figure out where I am by my self.”

He found a room that, like the others he had came upon, had a plaque on it, this one read:

Cafeteria

“No, I don’t have any time to eat,” muttered Sonlen, despite this, he opened the door a bit and looked inside. This room, like the Infirmary, was filled with strange, completely unrecognizable creatures.

After some time and much more wandering Sonlen came upon a door that wasn’t like the others he had came across, instead of a plaque engraved with the title of the room on it, there was a picture, a picture of a very old-looking book with a single water droplet centered on the cover. “I wonder…” said Sonlen to himself, in his curiosity, he opened the door and found himself in front of a lake with an island in the center. “I have the strangest feeling that I should… I need to go to that island,” said Sonlen, barely managing to control the sound of awe in his voice, “but how? How do I get there?”

He thought on this for quite some time then he realized that there was some rope loosely piled a few yards away from him. “Maybe…” said Sonlen, thinking to himself. He walked over to the rope, picked it up, and ran it through his hands, about every five inches pulling around a section of it as if to test its strength, it was surprisingly long.

“Maybe…” muttered Sonlen, he then took one end of the rope and tied it to a particularly strong branch on a nearby tree. He then tied the other end to an extremely thick arrow from his quiver and nocked the arrow. He took careful aim and struck a tree on the island with the arrow, the rope tensed. He grabbed the rope and began pulling himself across to the island. Once he was there, he cut the rope with his sword to keep anyone from following him.

He walked no more than fifty feet into the heart of the island and he heard a splash from behind him.

"Oomph," Zachary said as he landed on the beach and slowly stood up. "I hate it when this place decides I need to be somewhere," he stated as water dripped from him. It seemed as if he had been shot out of the water, based on his landing. The ice innate looked at the elf and decided to start this discussion quickly so that he could get past this part. "Hello, my name is Zachary, and I'll be your teacher here at the Dome. Any questions?" he asked.

Assignment Time:

Have Sonlen asked Zachary some questions. He'll answer anything about the Dome, his purpose and the like, but won't answer any questions about himself. After that, Zachary will send Sonlen off to go find a gem in the more exotic part of the Garden Rooms, which is littered with all kinds of dangers. End your post with Sonlen finding the gem. Word minimum is 800 words.

Ooc: 915 words, once again I apologize for the, I won't deny it, laziness.

Sonlen turned around and saw a dripping wet red haired man standing there behind him in a puddle. “Hello, my name is Zachary, and I’ll be your teacher here at the Dome. Any questions?” asked the strange man. He was almost six feet tall and had a sword that seemed to be made of ice, but with a glowing core. At first glance he was an ordinary man, but after a moment Sonlen could tell there was something different about him, a kind of power that was barely contained. This man was not to be underestimated.

“My… teacher?” asked Sonlen, confused.

Yes, your teacher. I will be your teacher here at the Dome. Now, before you ask, the Dome is a great structure that spans across countries, planets, and even dimensions. I am your teacher for battle, and sometimes even life, though you’ll mainly learn those lessons on your own. Anything else?”

“Err, no… I think,” said the elf, still rather confused.

“Good then, I believe you have already been to the Garden Room.” It was not a question, he said it as a fact.

“Yes… it was… nice,” replied Sonlen, not completely sure where this was going, and even more unsure what to say.

“Indeed,” Zachary said, looking at Sonlen rather oddly, “well, in the deeper parts of the Room, there is a cave, somewhere in that cave is a gem, I would like you to retrieve that gem for me.”

“Okay, yes,” Sonlen was a bit excited now, this sounded like a quest.

“Good,” said Zachary, “I expect you to begin immediately.”

“Yes, but-“ Sonlen had just blinked and his teacher had disappeared.

So now, how do I get back, I’ve already cut the rope and I for some reason the tree I tied the rope to on the other side is no longer there, so pulling the rope back in and repeating the process I used to get here is a no-go, I guess I’ll just have to swim. The thought unsettled him slightly, he wasn’t a particularly strong swimmer.

The elf walked over to the shore and, making sure his sword, bow, and quiver were tightly secured, dove into the water. But, when he should have submerged, he was standing outside the Garden Room, it was unmistakably the same golden plaque he had saw only half and hour earlier. “Strange, but it most likely is not unusual for a place like this,” said Sonlen, remembering Zachary’s words: The Dome is a great structure that spans across countries, planets, and even dimensions. “It must be part of the magic of the place.”

He opened the door and found the room exactly as it was before, only there was a cave in a shadowy part of it, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before. The cave had a sense of danger about it, and the elf kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as he walked in. It was very dark in the cave, lit only by a few torches that were barely alive, he could see scarcely a thing, even with his eyesight as good as it was, elves didn’t have night vision. He decided it would be best to grab a torch just in case there were none later on.

About half an hour later, Sonlen heard a noise from behind him. He whipped around drawing his sword, but he saw nothing behind him. “Must have just been a bat,” said Sonlen to himself, though not quite relaxing, caution was in his nature. He kept walking. An hour later, Sonlen was beginning to get worried, was he getting anywhere? Was there some kind of enchantment that Zachary forgot to tell him about? No, he must keep pressing forward he’d reach an end eventually.

WHAM! Sonlen had been thrown against the wall by a massive creature that seemed to be made of stone. It was a Golem! “By the Hells of Rithian! What was that?!” exclaimed Sonlen, “what the- a Golem?” But the stone beast was already advancing toward him. The elf reached to draw his sword, but it had been thrown from it’s scabbard when the Golem had knocked Sonlen against the cave wall; it was now about twenty feet away from him, how would he get to it?

“Come on lump, come and get me,” Sonlen said under his breath. The creature lunged at Sonlen with surprising speed. The swordsarcher leapt out of the way just in time. The rock beast was angry now, it was a mad dash to the death, Sonlen had to reach his sword! He barely got to his sword in time, and when he grabbed it, he immediately swung it around to strike the Golem. The blow would have killed any regular opponent, but the stone monster barely seemed to feel it. The elf’s sword rebounded off the creature, which took the opportunity to deal Sonlen a punishing blow, knocking him over.

This is it, I’m dead, thought Sonlen as the creature raised a stone fist to crush him. But suddenly, Sonlen’s sword began to glow bright red, and blue flame shot from it’s tip and wrapped around the Golem, immobilizing it. The creature gave a scream like metal scraping against stone, and shattered into millions of pieces, which forced Sonlen to shield his eyes. As Sonlen slowly stood up, his whole body aching, he saw a shining purple stone lying on the ground where the Golem had stood only moments before.

Ooc: Is there an improvement in my writing compared to my last post? I hope there is.

OoC: I see some improvement, but there are always a few things that a person can work on. Since its early in the morning (because I'm a college student and eight thirty EST is early), I'm going to show you some small things you could do to make your writing a little bit neater. Aside from these things though, you're writing does seem a bit better. ^_^

You wrote:

This is it, I’m dead, thought Sonlen as the creature raised a stone fist to crush him. But suddenly, Sonlen’s sword began to glow bright red, and blue flame shot from it’s tip and wrapped around the Golem, immobilizing it. The creature gave a scream like metal scraping against stone, and shattered into millions of pieces, which forced Sonlen to shield his eyes. As Sonlen slowly stood up, his whole body aching, he saw a shining purple stone lying on the ground where the Golem had stood only moments before.

Corrections:

This is it! I’m dead! thought Sonlen as the creature raised a stone fist to crush him. Suddenly, Sonlen’s sword began to glow bright red and blue flame shot from it’s tip and wrapped around the Golem, immobilizing it. The creature gave a scream, like metal scraping against stone, and shattered into millions of pieces, which forced Sonlen to shield his eyes. As Sonlen slowly stood up, his whole body aching, he saw a shining purple stone lying on the ground where the Golem had stood only moments before.

First: For the first thought, which, being a thought, you need to italicize it. Anytime your character has some form of internal monologue, you want to italicize it to differentiate it from the rest of what's going on. Also, in that same thought, you need exclamation points to add a sense of energy or rushing. It adds to the suspense and makes what's going on more enjoyable to read because you want to see the conclusion.

Secondly: In the second sentence, you have a conjunctive verb, but, starting a new sentence. Now, there are times when you can do that, however, when you're expressing passing time, like suddenly, you should use only that word and avoid using a word that confuses if the sentence is attached to the last one or starting a new one. Also, between the sword glowing red and the blue flame, you don't need a comma after the and because you're not breaking up two thoughts; the and is helping to combine two thoughts. Thus, no comma is needed. ^_^

Lastly: The creature's scream described in the next sentence is very vivid, however, because you don't need to tell the reader what it sounded like, you need a comma before and after it, because its a modifier. It's modifying the sentence and adding more information than needed, so keep in mind that those thoughts, unless ending a sentence, need a comma on both sides.

Observations: From simply this last paragraph alone, I see you like using modifiers to add more depth to your writing. Now, there isn't anything wrong with that, but try to keep them limited to so many every paragraph. If you have too much detail, the reader loses interest. Too little and you leave the reader guessing what/where/when the character is. Just things to keep in mind in your next posts to come. ^_^

Assignment Time:

Now that Sonlen has recovered the gem, its time for him to find his way out of the tropical mess that is the rain forest he's in. Naturally, nature doesn't want to make things to easy, so be prepared to become the prey in a landscape that's hostile to Sonlen. As Z says, let the games begin. ^_^

Ooc: Thought I'd leave it a bit open ended.

Bic: Sonlen walked slowly to the glowing stone and picked it up, “It’s warm!” exclaimed Sonlen, surprised. Surely after being in this cave for who knows how long a time it would be freezing. He took the stone and placed it carefully at the bottom of his quiver. He looked around, expecting Zachary to appear, congratulating him, or perhaps telling him that his victory was only luck. But the teacher didn’t appear. Apparently, Sonlen was going to have to find a way out of this cave by himself. Sonlen thought the best idea was to go back the way he came, then he found that his fight with the Golem had caused him to lose all sense of direction, and everything in the cave looked the same to Sonlen: rocks, rocks, and more rocks. “Damn,” muttered the elf, “Just have to pick a random direction and hope it leads out.” That is exactly what he did.

~~*~~

About thirty minutes later Sonlen saw a light at the end of the tunnel, he started running, excited to finally be out of the dark gloomy cave. He stopped once he reached the end of the tunnel. It was amazing! Sonlen thought there were big trees at home; these were gigantic! There were trees with ten-foot trunks that towered into the sky, massive leaves coming off their thick branches. Sonlen couldn’t say anything, it was amazing.

“No, stop,” Sonlen shook his head, “That’s a perfect way to get yourself killed, gaping around like that.” Now that he had recovered from the initial awe of the place he could sense that all wasn’t what it appeared to be, there was danger in the air. He took his bow and nocked an arrow onto its string; the feel of the cool wood comforted him.

He walked through the rain forest, enjoying the green landscape, which reminded him of home on a massive scale, though never completely relaxing. The heat and humidity were the only things that Sonlen didn’t like about the place. In fact, after walking quite a while, the air itself seemed to be trying to suffocate him, it was so thin that each breath seemed to take in less air than the last, until he finally had to breath so deeply and loudly that it was a wonder that nothing stirred. This was so strange in fact, that Sonlen became unnerved that nothing had revealed itself or attacked him yet.

After walking for about an hour Sonlen could scarcely breath. Luckily, though perhaps not, he came upon a massive temple. It was made of solid stone and was in a pyramid shape, with each of the four sides coming up in a stair-like fashion meeting at the top. This was interrupted on the side facing Sonlen by a flat area that had a perfectly flat rectangular stone table about three-fourths of the way up, there was an opening behind the table that was lit only for a few feet by four torches that were mounted on the walls. It seemed that this was where Sonlen should go. There wasn’t anywhere else, was there? After all, if he stayed out in the open much longer he would most likely suffocate.

The elf laboriously climbed up the pyramid, the lack of air nearly suffocating him. When he finally reached the area with the stone table he saw the ground around it and the table itself was spattered with what looked terribly like blood. He walked into the temple door and, surprisingly, the air became immediately quite breathable.

He walked to one of the torches on the walls and as soon as he removed it, every single one of the torches went out. “Ahh!” Sonlen jumped, startled, unfortunately, he had dropped the torch. After feeling about with his hands he eventually located it and managed to place it back on its stand, at which point all the torches reignited. “Strange,” said Sonlen, “but there is a sense of magic about this place, though not all completely good magic. Apparently I’ll have to use magic myself if I want to see in this wretched place.” He didn’t like using magic, it wasted too much energy, but apparently he would have to. Sonlen concentrated, he wanted a light, he needed a light he had to see. The elf felt a sudden drain of energy, more than he expected, but at least there was now a glowing orb of white light floating just above his right shoulder now. At least he could see.

He walked through the long hallway, which turned left, then right, then there was an area where Sonlen had three options on where to turn: left, right, or to go straight ahead. He chose to turn left, this hallway led to a stairway that dropped sharply into the darkness. He walked down these stairs cautiously for a while, then stopped. Something caught his eye, there were pictures on the wall of men tied to the stone table on the front of what was unmistakably the same temple that Sonlen himself was in. The pictures that followed these were of a great snake head emerging from the door behind the table and devouring the men tied to the table. Sonlen shuddered at the gruesome picture, and hurriedly continued down the stairs.


Ooc: 882 words. Oh yeah, and in case I didn't describe the temple enough, it looks like an Aztec temple with the stair-ish sides and all.

As Sonlen continued to run, the ground beneath him opened up suddenly and he found himself suddenly being pulled down into a room that was nothing like the room before. The elf crashed into the crisp sand of the beach and found himself rather taken aback by where he found himself.

"I somehow knew that you'd wind up back here. After all, people here are harder to kill than roaches sometimes," the Replicator stated as he crossed his arms and looked at the Elf. "I must say, though, I'm impressed. To not have died in that circumstance and escape mostly in tact. I can't say that I'm not at least a little surprised. Z says that normally students wind up with wounds from stuff like that. Anyway, let's get going," the ice innate stated as he started walking.

"I'm sure you're tired and will want to get some rest. I'll show you to your room."

Assignment Time:

Okay, because I'm not creative enough to phrase this myself... here ya go:

Quoted from the amazing 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.

Well, thank you, Zanza-sensei. Anyway, that's your next assignment so... hop to it.

Also note: Zachary has been upgraded, so make sure to give his new profile a read over. ^_^

Ooc: Not very good, I know, but I was having trouble thinking while I was writing it. 708 words.

Bic: “Well, it was mostly luck, the fall took me completely by surprise,” Sonlen said as he pushed himself off the ground and began following his teacher. He had noticed it was the exact same beach he had first met Zachary on. The look of the place was unmistakable. The rest of the journey went in silence, Sonlen too exhausted and bruised to say anything, Zachary apparently not interested in starting a conversation. Sonlen had noticed that Zachary no longer carried a glowing sword, instead, this was replaced by a pair of long, white gauntlets.

Zachary led Sonlen through the island at a brisk pace. They soon came upon a door that was in the side of a rather large tree, it was completely black, with a small picture of several zigzagging lines. Zachary opened the door and as Sonlen followed the teacher in he found it was pitch black. “Would you mind doing that trick of yours you used in the temple?” asked Zachary.

“Oh, yes, right,” said Sonlen, “but wait, how did you know-“

“About your little adventure in the temple? Yes, I’ve was watching that little adventure of yours,” said the red-haired man, “Now get on with it, I’d rather not bump into a wall every two seconds.”

“Yes,” Sonlen concentrated, willing the same light to form that had aided him in the temple, which soon, it did. There was now a small ball of light hovering above Sonlen and Zachary, illuminating their way. Sonlen, although, was still not comforted, they were in what seemed to be a maze, hallways twisting left and right, with the occasional door or stairway leading into darkness. Zachary, however, seemed to know exactly where he was going. Sonlen tried to memorize the way they came, a left, a right, another right, straight on at the next intersection, a left, another left, but he found it impossible. Instead the Elf began to reflect on what had happened in the past day. I find myself in some magical building, a man comes and tells me his has been appointed to be my teacher, sends me to recover a gem, and I nearly get killed by a Golem. This has been a very strange day, even compared to everything that has happened in the past… Sonlen found himself thinking of the friends he had left, Kitar, Moddehn, and Mirabella, he had no idea what had become of them now. He missed them.

“We’re finally here,” said Zachary, causing Sonlen to snap back to reality. They were in front of yet another door, this one was made of wood and was ornately carved with images of vines and leaves, the knob was also made of wood. “Well, go on,” said Zachary, gesturing for Sonlen to go in the door.

Sonlen placed his hand on the knob, “This is good wood,” he observed.

The elf turned the knob and looked back, expecting Zachary to be moving the follow him, instead the teacher said, “No, you go, it’s your room after all.”

Sonlen nodded and opened the door to be greeted by a breathtaking sight: In front of Sonlen stood a short, squat tree with a large opening in the front, which opened into a large, simple room. A small bed sat in the corner; beside it was a two-door nightstand. A small torch was mounted on the wall, providing light to the room. Around the tree were more trees, and more trees, and more trees! It was an entire forest! The sun shone through the leaves above, this couldn’t be a room, this was the world! Sonlen loved this place, it reminded him so closely of home, it was absolutely wonderful!

“Now get some rest, you’ll need it for tommorow,” said Zachary, closing the door.

Sonlen walked into his small house, took off his sword, bow, and quiver, and placed them all on the small nightstand. As he did this the stone he had obtained from the Golem rolled out of his quiver. Sonlen took it saying, “Yes, I had completely forgotten about you, I guess I’ll just ask Zachary about you tommorow.” The Elf took the stone and placed it in the top droor and collapsed into his bed, almost immediately falling to sleep.

Good, good. ^_^ Now then, next thing next:

Assignment Time:

The next day arrives, and every day is a new chance to continue your training. Sonlen will now have a chance to better explore the Dome while he waits for Zachary to get in touch with him. Take some time to look around. 600 word minimum.

Ooc: 768 words.

Sonlen woke up the next morning at about 9:30, the sun was in his eyes. “Ouch,” said Sonlen as he raised his hand to shield his eyes. He got out of his bed and took his bow, quiver, and sword, making sure to retrieve the glowing stone from his nightstand. “Now, what should I do now?” the Elf asked himself, “Zachary hasn’t appeared yet, not that I’d expect him to, but It would be nice if he did.” Sonlen walked out of his forest home, unsheathing his sword, “might as well explore a bit, I must remember to keep my guard up here, it’s very dangerous here,” as he said this, Sonlen recalled his fight with the Golem, and the increasingly scarce air of the rain forest. The Elf walked out the door to his world-room and stepped into the hallway, which, not surprisingly, wasn’t the same maze that it was the day before. Sonlen turned left and started walking.

Sonlen soon found himself in front of a door that was completely made of steel and centered on it was a plain blackX. “I wonder where this door leads to…” the elf said thoughtfully, “might as well head in…” Sonlen opened the steel door and found himself in, although he did not know it, modern-day New York City. “Where am I?” he asked, watching countless metal beasts making loud noises at each other in what seemed to be a giant pathway. There were people as well, bustling along smaller, stone pathways oneither side of the metal beasts. There were buildings along the stone pathways, huge, stone and metal buildings. He stepped out of the doorway cautiously, unsure of, well, everything, where he was, what everything around him was, and why no one seemed to notice the door that Sonlen had just stepped out of. It was, after all, just standing in the middle of the small pathway. Oh, that was it, it was part of a small blue thing in front of a large mound of dirt.

He began to walk along the small pathway, with every other person he saw looking at him rather oddly. The Elf saw a small weedy man in a chair, he seemed to be asleep, he was sitting next to a large stand full of large pamphlets, each one said, in large letters on the front:

Stock market Plunges!!!

“Hello sir,” Sonlen said to the man, “but I was wondering if you could tell me where I was?”

“What? What was that?” said the man drowsily, “Oh, hi, want to buy a paper?”

“No, I was wondering if you could tell me where I was?” the Elf asked politely.

“New York City, kid. Hey, ain’t you dressed rather weird? You in the circus or summat?”

“No,” said Sonlen, not entirely sure what a “circus” was, “but thank you anyway.”

Sonlen walked on, until he noticed a small man was being chased into a dark gap between two buildings by two larger, ragged-looking men. He followed, he smelled trouble. Sonlen found the two men had cornered the smaller man at a fence at the end of the gap. One of the men was pointing a small, black device at the small man, who was looking at it, scared. None of them had seemed to have noticed Sonlen yet. “Now, I want all yer cash, yeah, and that Rollex too,” said the one of the two ragged men. Sonlen had heard enough, these two weren’t good.

“Excuse me,” said Sonlen, unsheathing his sword, “but I advise you to let him go.”

“Whazzat? Oh hello, yer a rather strange feller, ain’t ya?” said one of the ragged men, also pulling out a small device, identical to the firsts. He raised the device, which Sonlen had decided must be a weapon of some sort, so he quickly whipped his sword up, knocking mans weapon to the ground. “Wha’ I din’t see ‘im move!” The second man had turned around now, also raising his weapon, which Sonlen quickly disposed of with another flick of his sword.

“I advise you two run, immediately,” Sonlen said, raising his sword threateningly. The two men fled, turning left out of the alley. “Are you okay? Who were those two men?” he asked the small man.

“Muggers, yeah, I’m okay, who are you?” asked the man, looking up at Sonlen, gaping.

“My name is Sonlen, yours?”

“Ed, thanks again,” said the small man, “anyways, I’d best be goin’.” The man got up and walked out of the alley, looking back at Sonlen before turning to the right, out of the alley.

"You've sure got an eye for adventure. After all, Monroe's the only person I know that likes these places," Zachary said as he headed down the alleyway. He had become accustomed to traveling through odd places, and this place wasn't anything new. He wore street clothing, but still kept his breastplate on under his shirt. Aside from that, he looked almost totally normal.

"Where are we?" the elf asked as he looked at his teacher.

"We're from the world a man I work with is from. This may be his home... but even he doesn't know. Anyway, we'd best get out of here... these worlds don't take kindly to people with magic. After all, magic died out in these lands long ago," Zachary said as he held his hand up and placed it on a door. The door turned into ice and the ice mage opened the door and entered.

After the two passed through the door, they found themselves back in the Dome. "Now then... since you've gotten a chance to look around the outside world, I think it might be about time we get some exercise. I've got the perfect place," the Replicator said as he smiled and began to walk off. "Follow me."

Assignment Time:

Zachary will lead Sonlen into a graveyard. This graveyard is relatively frozen, making it rather odd, but still, a strong magical presence exists here. A legendary artifact also exists here, however, even Zachary doesn't know where said object is. He's brought Sonlen here for two reasons: 1) to prove if there is or is not a relic from the war here, and 2) to see if the second rumor of a great power truly exists.

For this one, its a bit of a double whammy two part assignment. YOur first post will be Sonlen traveling through the dead lands of the glacial valley. The valley is ridden with all kinds of creatures ranging from ice trolls, to zombies and skeletons to more advanced forms of undead. This part will be at least 800 words. End your post with Sonlen finding a great palace made of ice and bones. Then we'll get to the extreme part. ^_^

Ooc: 804 words, barely got the minimum.

“We?” asked Sonlen, following his teacher through the ice-door.

“Oh, right, I meant you. But I might pop in occasionally just to see how you’re doing,” answered Zachary, “Now, shut the door, I don’t want anyone wandering in here who shouldn’t be.”

Zachary led Sonlen through the Dome, and after a few minutes they found themselves in front of a plain black door with two bones coming together to form a cross, the two bones seemed to be made out of ice.

Zachary opened the door without hesitation. They were now in what seemed to be a graveyard. It was completely frosted over, some of the gravestones were cracked where ice had froze inside of them. There was a fog everywhere that obscured everything over ten feet away. Sonlen could sense a powerful magic was here, though he was uncertain what it was. “Where are we?” asked the Swordsarcher.

“We are at a place known only as the Graveyard. It’s riddled with various enchantments. Inside it lurk skeletons, zombies, and more sinister forms of the undead,” replied the red-haired man, “I also believe that there is a magical artifact here of some sort, though I’m not completely sure what it is, and I’m hoping that we could find it.” Sonlen was sure that when Zachary had said “we” he meant “you.” “Well, good luck!” And with that the teacher turned around and walked into the mist, fading from Sonlens view.

“Well, best just to head on,” Sonlen said. “Better keep my bow ready though.” Sonlen selected a strong-looking arrow from his quiver and nocked it on his bow. The Elf started walking.

After about an hour, Sonlen heard a moan. He raised his bow instinctively and pointed it in the direction of the sound. He didn’t release yet. Instead he waited to see if it was friend or foe.

After a few moments, a corpse emerged from the mist. In its mangled hand, a bloody ax. Sonlen fired. The arrow embedded itself in the zombies rotting flesh, right where its heart should have been. Still, the creature didn’t slow.

It was already dead, the only way to kill it would be to completely destroy it. Sonlen put away his bow and drew his sword, charging the corpse. It raised its ax, and attempted to rend Sonlens head in two with a downward slash. Sonlen easily blocked with his sword; he moved the blade of his sword under the blade of the ax, twisted it, and the ax flew out of the zombies grasp. Well, it was actually still in the zombies grasp, the zombies hand had gone with the ax, yet the creature showed no sign of pain, it didn’t even bleed, it just kept coming.

“Damn!” cursed Sonlen, rending off the zombies handless arm, “it just won’t die!” He took his sword and used a cross-slashing move to behead the zombie.

It still didn’t die.

I’m dead if this keeps up, how will I kill it? Of course! Magic! If I can burn the beast… It surely can’t attack me as ash! But how will I get enough time to cast the spell? I’m not very good with offensive spells, they take too long to cast. The zombie answered Sonlens time problem. Without its head, it couldn’t see. The zombie was blundering about, trying to find its prey. I guess that works…

“Concentrate… concentrate…” It took Sonlen about a minute to cast the spell, all the time making sure the corpse didn’t get to close. “Now!” Sonlen made a pushing motion with his right hand, and out of it shot bright blue flames, engulfing the zombie. “Finally…”

But it was not over, the zombies skeleton was still there, and its bones were coming back together of their own accord. “What the-?!” exclaimed Sonlen. The skeleton had fully reformed, and it was charging Sonlen at a surprising speed. It still had the ax in its formerly removed hand, and began to raise the ax as if to throw it, which, after a very short moment, it did. Sonlen barely ducked in time, he could feel the air coming off the ax as it passed over his head. “How do I kill this thing?!” said the Elf.

The skeleton continued to charge, its hands held in front of it, groping in the air. Sonlen raised his sword, point facing the oncoming skeleton, which, upon impact with the sword, exploded, knocking Sonlen off his feet. “Wha-? What happened?” Sonlen said, getting up. “Woah, what’s that?” He had found himself in front of a massive castle that was made of bones and ice. Undead gargoyles were menacingly looking down on Sonlen from their perches high above. “I must have ran further in that fight than I intended…” said the Elf, “I wonder what could have made such a monstrous castle…”

Mmkay, I found a few problems, so its time to fix those up, and move on and on. ^_^

First:

“Where are we?” asked the Swordsarcher.

Fix:

“Where are we?” asked the swordsarcher.

Just a minor thing, but you don't capitalize something unless its some kind of a title. Although if his title is the Swordsarcher, than my bad. ^_^;;
Second:

“Well, best just to head on,” Sonlen said, “Better keep my bow ready though.” Sonlen selected a strong-looking arrow from his quiver and nocked it on his bow. The Elf started walking.

Fixed:

“Well, best just to head on,” Sonlen said. “Better keep my bow ready though.” Sonlen selected a strong-looking arrow from his quiver and nocked it on his bow. The Elf started walking.

If your character finishes their sentence and you conclude with the character saying something, you end the sentence with a period and just start the second statement with its own set of quotes. That or you could just remove the Sonlen said and make it one long stream of him talking. ^_^
Third:

After about an hour Sonlen heard a moan, he raised his bow instinctively and pointed it in the direction of the sound. He didn’t release yet, he waited to see if it was friend or foe. After a few moments, a corpse emerged from the mist, in its mangled hand, a bloody ax. Sonlen fired. The arrow embedded itself in the zombies rotting flesh, right where its heart should have been, but the creature didn’t slow. It was already dead, it would have to be completely destroyed. Sonlen put away his bow and drew his sword, charging the corpse. It raised its ax, and attempted to rend Sonlens head in two with a downward slash, this Sonlen easily blocked with his sword; he moved the blade of his sword under the blade of the ax, twisted it, and the ax flew out of the zombies grasp. Well, it was actually still in the zombies grasp, the zombies hand had gone with the ax, yet the creature showed no sign of pain, it didn’t even bleed, it just kept coming at Sonlen.

Fix:

After about an hour, Sonlen heard a moan. He raised his bow instinctively and pointed it in the direction of the sound. He didn’t release the arrow yet. Instead, he waited to see if it was friend or foe.

After a few moments, a corpse emerged from the mist. In its mangled hand, a bloody ax. Sonlen fired. The arrow embedded itself in the zombie's rotting flesh, right where its heart should have been. Still, the creature didn’t slow.

It was already dead, so the only way to kill it would be to completely destroy it. Sonlen put away his bow and drew his sword, charging the corpse. It raised its ax, and attempted to rend Sonlens head in two with a downward slash. Sonlen easily blocked with his sword; he moved the blade of his sword under the blade of the ax, twisted it, and the ax flew out of the zombies grasp. Well, it was actually still in the zombie's grasp. The zombie's hand had gone with the ax, yet the creature showed no sign of pain. It didn’t even bleed. It just kept coming.

Okay, this one has a lot of stuff, so I'm gonna start with the basics of it: Paragraphing. In order to keep a reader interested, you don't want your paragraphs to be too long, so try to keep them to between four and six sentences. Aside from that, when referring to something owned by "the zombie", attack an apostrophe and an s instead of making it multiple zombies. Also, I reworded a few of the things to make them sound a bit better, so when you're writing things, don't be completely and just to the point, you can add some interesting wording to, again, keep the reader's attention.

Lastly, the first thing you did in your first sentence of that paragraph is that you moved time along, but didn't break the time movement from the actions taken. After a thought that moves time along, you need a comma.

Forth:

I’m dead if this keeps up, how will I kill it? Of course! Magic! If I can burn the beast… It surely can’t attack me as ash! But how will I get enough time to cast the spell? I’m not very good with offensive spells, they take too long to cast… The zombie answered Sonlens time problem, without its head, it couldn’t see, the zombie was blundering about, trying to find its prey. I guess that works…

Fix:

I’m dead if this keeps up. How will I kill it? Of course! Magic! If I can burn the beast… surely it can’t attack me as ash! How will I get enough time to cast the spell? I’m not very good with offensive spells; they take too long to cast. The zombie answered Sonlens time problem. Without its head, it couldn’t see. The zombie was blundering about, trying to find its prey. I guess that works…

Here, there are definitely a number of things. First off, when your character has a thought process occur, use Italics to indicate thought. Its the universal way I've learned here, so its a good thing to know.

Aside from that, you're combining a bunch of independent clauses together like dependent clauses. Pretty much, you're taking sentences that could be whole sentences on their own and trying to make it seem as though they're extra information. In order to avoid this, either use a comma, or a conjunction verb like and, but, or, nor, then. There are two more I can't recall, but keep that in mind. That or just make simple sentences out of your thoughts, much easier. ^_^

And with that... fix that all up and we'll keep on moving on. ^_^

*Edit to give you your assignment:

BiC: Zachary walked up next the Elf and laughed. "You're not very good at this," the ice mage said as he pulled his right arm back and, with a flick of his wrist, he tossed an oddly shaped sword that impaled the gargoyle through the head effortlessly. In another second, the ice mage had done the same thing to the other. Both creatures soon feel from their perch, dead.

"Destroy their skulls... its where the source of magic is located."

"What about the skeleton then?" the elf asked as he narrowed his eyes at the Replicator.

Zachary simply shrugged. "Don't ask me. Just try breaking the skulls. I can tell you that that is the best option. Anyway, that castle was created by the thing hiding whatever treasure or artifacts are here. The Frozen Palace... Bronn. Good luck."

The Ice Elemental quickly stepped back and leapt over the gate and rushed into the palace. Now it was time to make this fun.

Assignment Time:

Now that Zachary's cleared the way, time for Sonlen to follow him in. Inside exists the mad king, Bronn, who holds the sacred artifact. Time to travel through the dangers of the palace in search of whatever this thing is. End your post by finding the throne room where the Mad King sleeps. Word minimum is 1000. ^_^

Ooc: 1,054 words, this one was fun to write. EDIT: Oops, actually 1,069 words.

Sonlens teacher had just muttered something about “The Frozen Palace”, and someone called “Bronn,” and immediately ran off into the castle without the vaguest hint of what to do. Now, what had his teacher meant? Well, the Frozen Palace was easy enough to guess, it had to be the huge structure in front of him. Bronn, however, Sonlen had no idea who this person was; perhaps the master of the castle? This man couldn’t be in his right mind to have built such a demented castle.

“Well, here I go,” said Sonlen, walking through the evil-looking door. Sonlen heard a loud THUNK from behind him. “What was that?” he exclaimed, whipping around. The door had closed shut behind him. Cursing, he rushed at the door. He collided with it full force, yet it showed no sign of movement, he was going to have to find another way out. The Swordsarcher turned around and unsheathed his sword. He would have to be ready for anything in a place as twisted and maddening as this.

Sonlen walked through the dark and seemingly endless hallway, which was full of menacing shadows and pictures of suffering people.

Sonlen walked on and on, it felt he would get nowhere, and Zachary clearly wasn’t waiting for him to show him the way to wherever he was supposed to be headed. Every once in a while, Sonlen would come upon a door, most leading into empty rooms, and some into utter blackness. Sonlen refused to take these, who knows what could be lurking in the dark of this twisted castle?

After hours of wandering, or it could have been minutes; time seemed to work differently in this castle, Sonlen came upon a door that did not lead into an empty room or darkness. Inside this particular door was a pathway that seemed to be the only thing rising out of the blackness on either side. This path branched off into two more paths, which branched off into more, which led to more.

“This place is more confusing than the Dome,” muttered Sonlen. Nevertheless, Sonlen walked through the door and continued choosing random directions until he came upon another door, identical to the first. This led into a large chamber that seemed to be completely empty, aside from the ice that had formed in the corners and the candles that provided light to the room. The ceiling was nonexistent, the top of the room leading into darkness. Sonlen didn’t like the feel of this room.

Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

What was that? thought Sonlen, alarmed. He had no idea where the sound had come from.

Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

I don’t like the sound of that… “Where are you?!” yelled the Elf to the darkness. And a better question, what are you…
Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

The sound was louder now, it was closer, it was coming for Sonlen.

Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

A pair of glowing red eyes had appeared in the looming darkness above Sonlen.

Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

Sonlen looked up, “What?!” Above the Elf had appeared a puppet of what was supposed to be a man. This man had claws, and had a demonic air about it. The puppet descended upon Sonlen, its faced twisted into a look of evil rage, its glowing red eyes glaring at Sonlen with savage hunger. “What is that thing?” The puppet was coming faster now.

Sonlen sheathed his sword and drew his bow, taking aim at the evil figurine, remembering what Zachary had told him: Destroy their skulls… it’s where the source of magic is located. Well, the puppet didn’t necessarily have a skull, but it had a head, hopefully, the concept was the same. Sonlen released the arrow with precise aim, but the mannequin moved swiftly,. It was faster than the zombie, much faster.

“This should be fun…” muttered the Swordsarcher, drawing another arrow, which the puppet dodged just as easily as the first. The puppet was only twenty feet away now. Sonlen threw his bow aside and drew his sword.

The figurine fell at Sonlen, he raised his blade, meaning to stab the puppet in the head. The mannequin raised its clawed arm, blocking the sword. It was surprisingly strong. The wood of the puppet wasn’t natural. The puppet backed away, moving into a corner of the room, and then charged Sonlen once more. It held its claws in front of it, meaning to tear at Sonlens face, but, at the last possible moment, Sonlen ducked and rolled to one side of the room, holding his sword out so he wouldn’t injure himself.

This time, Sonlen took the offensive, charging the mannequin as it had charged him just a moment before, but, at the last second, ducked and came around to the back of the puppet, and stabbed it in its head.

The puppet exploded, Sonlen shielded his face with the flat of his sword. After the smoke cleared, Sonlen saw that on the floor was now a pile of dust, it was all that was left of the dark mannequin. “What was that thing?” Sonlen asked himself. “It seemed to be a puppet, but it had no strings. It was obviously enchanted, but if it was, why wouldn’t it come out of the ground? Its prey wouldn’t have as much time to prepare itself for the attack… Still, I’m not complaining, I’d probably be dead if it had dragged me into the ground…”

Sonlen walked to the door that had been his destination since he had entered the Puppet Room. The door wasn’t like the others in the castle, it was made of pure gold, the knob of pure silver. The door opened noiselessly, gliding smoothly along its well-oiled hinges.

Sonlen found himself in a huge chamber. The floor was made of pure black stone, a red carpet leading from the door to a gigantic throne which dominated the chamber. The throne seemed to be made out of human skulls, yet after a moment Sonlen had realized that they were made of ice. Atop this monstrous throne was an old man, his gray beard unkempt. He was dressed in a black tunic and black pants. He wore a crown of gold. Around both wrists were bracelets, also made of gold. He seemed to be asleep, drool coming out of the corner of his open mouth. “So,” said the Elf quietly, “this must be Bronn…”

Ooc: I had the "Scritch, scratch" bit in a better font, Jazztext in Word, but it wasn't in the post thing.

The Replicator stood next to the elf and looked over the massive figure. "Well, what was once Bronn, the Mad King. Now... well, he's just little more than a mummified body and a lot of armor," Zachary stated as he walked towards the massive suit of armor that contained a dried up body. Within the giant body's hands, a massive sword, a gray blue color that matched his armor, was held firmly.

"A rune blade... just like I thought. Well," the ice mage said as he shrugged a bit, "might as well get out of here. No sense in staying here if it gets dangerous. There are still other..." Zachary paused as he turned his head to the side and saw magic begin to flow back into the suit of armor. Slowly, the armor began to mobilize and move about. "Well that's... not good..." the Replicator stated as he crossed his arms. "Well, Sonlen, I leave this to you. I've found what I was looking for. Don't worry, I'll watch to make sure if you need help, I come to help you."

Assignment Time:

And now, Sonlen must fight the reborn Bronn, the Mad King. To give a better description of him, he stands about ten feet all with a sword who's blade is eight feet and jagged edged until about halfway up the blade. Aside from that, he wears intricate plate mail and a helmet, except the helmet is only a half helm, allowing a person to see his face and glowing black eyes. Anyway, good luck with this one. Word minimum 800.

Ooc: 998 words.


Well, I hadn’t really expected Zachary to help, I am the one here to learn after all… At least he’s watching in case I need help… thought Sonlen, unsheathing his sword. The massive figure that was Bronn rose up slowly from his throne. He took his sword and began to move it around experimentally, as if unfamiliar with the huge blade. His coal black eyes looked around the room, and, spotting Sonlen, the Mad King let out a fierce battle cry and charged Sonlen, raising his massive blade above his head. He had surprising speed considering his heavy armor and massive bulk. Sonlen rolled to his left, dodging the huge sword. Bronn turned his head and raised his blade once more. Sonlen rolled out of the way again, to his right this time.

Bronns blade had stuck in the ground! This was his chance! Sonlen charged Bronn, jumped, and brought his sword down on the Mad Kings armor, exactly where his heart was. Sonlens sword rebounded off the armor, throwing Sonlen away from his foe, and throwing his sword from the Elves grasp.

“Damn!” cursed Sonlen. “This is just perfect…” The Mad King was charging Sonlen again, eager anticipation in his coal black eyes. Sonlen took his bow and nocked an arrow onto it in mere moments. He aimed for the Mad Kings sword hand. Sonlen released the arrow, which flew directly to its target. Bronn gave a bellow of rage, but did not drop his massive sword. The Mad Kings pause gave Sonlen just enough time to retrieve his sword.

“This isn’t working… How am I supposed to kill this monster?!” Sonlen remembered what Zachary had said to him earlier, “Aim for the heads, it’s where the source of their magic is located.”
“Hopefully I can hit him, but how am I going to get enough time to aim?” the Elf asked himself. “The head is a lot smaller target than his hand…” The Mad King chose this exact moment to once again charge Sonlen. The Swordsarcher reacted quickly, but not quickly enough; Sonlen now had massive cut down his right arm. Damn! I can’t heal that, it’s huge! Now it’s going to be even harder to draw my bow… Zachary hasn’t come down yet, so apparently I still have a chance to beat him, but how? I guess I could still try to hit his head with an arrow, but that is going to be extremely difficult.

Bronn was charging Sonlen again. “Woah!” exclaimed Sonlen as he danced away from a cross-slash strike that would have surely killed him if it hit. Now, I have to hit his head… Sonlen was painfully drawing his bow, the cut on his arm throbbing painfully. Sonlen released the arrow, it was heading straight for The Mad King’s head. A moment before the arrow would have driven itself through Bronn’s skull, Bronn raised his sword, deflecting the arrow towards the door that Sonlen had entered, sticking just above the door knob. Bronn charged the Elf again, who jumped out of the way again. Bronn was strong and fast, but he wasn’t very smart. He had been using the same charging tactic the entire fight.

Sonlen cursed. That would have killed him! How can he be that big and still have such incredible speed?! He’s even faster than that demon puppet thing I fought earlier… How do I kill him? There has to be something that I’m missing, some crucial thing that would tell me his weakness…

Sonlen then remembered when Bronn had first risen. Zachary was talking to him, saying they should get going, then suddenly, magic began to flow into Bronn’s armored corpse bringing him to life. Zachary told Sonlen that he’d help if he was needed then disappeared. What was that that was so important about what happened then? Sonlen knew there was some key part to finding Bronn’s weakness somewhere in that memory. If only he could figure out what it was! Wait! The magic flowed into Bronn from the throne! That was it! His throne was the source of his power! It should have been obvious! Bronn had been in between Sonlen and the throne the entire fight! But how was Sonlen going to reach the throne without being killed? He couldn’t possibly get past The Mad King, even at a full out sprint. Sonlen would be struck down before he got halfway to the throne, he would have to trick Bronn into leaving the throne open, but how?

“Okay then, come get me,” muttered Sonlen, leaning forward with his sword held in front of him, “I can take it, let’s go.” But Bronn refused to move, he wouldn’t let Sonlen get near the throne. “Okay then, I guess I’ll have to make him mad…” Sonlen sheathed his sword and drew his bow. He took aim at The Mad King’s lower left leg and fired. The arrow was off slightly, and it struck Bronn in the kneecap.

“Wooargh!” It had worked! Bronn was charging Sonlen in rage.

“I have to wait for the last second,” said Sonlen to himself, “Any sooner and he’ll just follow me, any later and… well, let’s not think about that.”

Sonlen stood completely still.

Bronn was still coming.

Sonlen slowly unsheathed his sword.

The Mad King was only twenty feet away now.

Sonlen’s muscles tensed, preparing to jump out of the way.

The Mad King brought his blade down, a mere moment before Sonlen jumped out of the deadly arc of the blade. Sonlen was running towards the twisted throne, his heart pounding. He jumped and stabbed the seat of the throne with his sword. The throne shattered. Sonlen fell, accumulating several cuts on his arms and legs. Through his hazy vision, Sonlen saw Bronn fall to the ground, dead once more, his blade falling from his grasp. The last thing Sonlen saw was a red haired man smiling and holding his hand out for Sonlen to take. Sonlen fell unconscious.

"Great... I get the wimp. If that had been me, I would have killed that thing in half the time... but for a new guy, he didn't do too bad," the ice mage stated as he picked the elf up. "Time to get out of here," he said as he exited the palace and the landscape changed back to the marble set up of the Dome.

"Now then, to get this guy back to his room," the Replicator said with a sigh as he started walking off.

Assignment Time:

Back in his room, Sonlen will awaken to a peacefully quiet day. Time for him to do some looking around, and what better place than the Gardens. Among the nearly endless Garden Rooms, there are many kinds of flora and fauna, so time for Sonlen to take in some sights. Maybe, ya know, encounter some dangerous flowers or some such to keep it interesting. Do as you please while exploring. 700 word minimum.