The Ultimate Map (Kurai Chi and two more)

OoC: The beginning of this story might seem a little weird. First of, Luna is not a registered character. To find out more about her Check Leonidas’s training on pages 2 (From post #31) and 3 (Don’t worry, she won’t be staying long). Anyway, if you want to join, all I ask is that you do not bring a god-like powerful character (Like Zorlo or Chronos). This is also the first time I open up a thread in the crossroads, so expect some mistakes on my part. I will try to do my best and I will correct any mistakes anyone points out.

BiC:
The rays of the sun on one’s face in the morning. Is there anything else more bothersome than that? Great, now I’m half awake. Might as well get up.

These were Leon’s only thoughts as he awoke. The last couple of days had been full of rigorous training. The goal was to finally master the Spirit of conquest technique, and, luckily, it worked. Leon was finally able to perform said technique on almost any moment, pose and situation. The only drawback was that his yard was now full of rock dust and destroyed trees. In any case his plans for that day were just to relax. Even if he were to receive an assignment from his teacher he would have probably pushed back for a day or two.

After a small battle with himself trying to figure out if he should get up or not, he finally got up, got dressed in his average traveling clothes and set off for the cafeteria. Nothing too interesting happened, just a nice and light breakfast to start things. Now, after finishing he set course back to his room, unfortunately for him, he would never reach his destination. As he walked on the halls of the Dome, he heard the scream of a girl and well and the sound of horses running.

The sound of a horse in the halls was weird, but this was overshadowed by the screaming voice. Leonidas recognized that voice. It was Luna. A good friend of his he had met in the dome. As he turned back he saw Luna running towards him, while she was holding a huge book wich was about the size of a big Bible.

Following Luna were a few men in silver armor mounting their horses. The horses took almost all the space in the hall, so there was no way of avoiding them but by running. And so that is exactly what Leonidas did.
“What the heck you did you do to them?” the young warrior shouted at Luna as they were being chased. Luna teleported a few meters so that she could be side by side with Leon.

“What makes you think I did something to them?”

“Could it be the big book you’re carrying with you?”

“Let’s talk later. Just get us out if here!” Luna shouted in desesperation. The young warrior grabbed the girl and ran faster than any horse could ever do so. He ran for about five minutes until he decided to go through a door and stopped. The door they went through and apparently led them to a forest. It was a very dense one and it’s trees weren’t really all that big.

“Now, what did you just get me in to this time?” The young warrior asked as he put the girl down.

“We have to keep moving. They’re everywhere, and some have abilities like mine.”

“What are yo--”

“We finally found you! Traitor!” Someone shouted on the distance. As Leonidas turned around he saw more knights. There were not far away sp running away did not seem like a good option. They were not the same knights as before, yet they seemed to have the same intentions.

Looking carefully at them, he noticed they were seven of them and they all had bows and a two of them were creating some sort of blue energy spheres. They were all long range fighters, it seemed. The situation was clear to Leonidas, to a certain point. He and Luna were in trouble and in a disadvantage.

Oh, man, I’m probably going to get my butt kicked. Why didn’t I ever ask my sister to teach me how to use a bow?

OoC: Mind if I jump in?

I had come out of the spell into a foresty place. I did not know this place, but my powers brought me here, so someone was in trouble. I heard, "...Traitor!" and went to see what it was. I saw two people against the door, and seven soldiers conjuring magic. I knew that the two were at the disadvantage, so I went to the soldiers with a longsword and attacked. I hoped the two over at the door would would escape.

Ooc: Hey Zero. Well, here I go!

Sonlen staggered out of the Door of War in the Dome. Of course, she had to be a vampire... thought the Elf, remembering his recent encounter with Melantha, so recent, in fact, that it was the cause of the ache in his back.

"Well, at least that's over..." he muttered, sheathing his sword. Then he heard the familiar clash of steel on steel, and what sounded like horses' hooves clattering against the stone floor of the Dome. I'd better go see what that is... Sonlen thought miserably.

He ran towards the sound, finding the source as he turned a corner. It was a team of seven soldiers on horseback chasing two figures that Sonlen couldn't quite make out; it seemed that two of the seven were mages, as they had glowing balls of energy in their hands. Pursuing the soldiers was a figure brandishing a longsword.

"Dammit, won't I ever get a break!?" yelled Sonlen angrily, pulling out his bow. He shot at the nearest mage, leading him just enough for a direct hit. The arrow pierced his left temple.

Sonlen pursued the mob of warriors.

Ooc: Meh, starts out pretty bad, but I think I got into it as I went.

The young Martial artist watched in awe as he saw two figures coming to his aid. On one side there was a man with green clothes and a bow, and on the other side, a dark figure with the height of a child. Of course, this was not really a surprise after thinking about it. [/I]This is the Dome. There’s always a random warrior here and there. I don’t know why I got so worried. [I]

With the horseman distracted by the sudden attack of those two, Leonidas ran towards them and got so close to them, he could have probably mount one of the horses, yet, his intention was not to mount a horse but to force the knights to dismount. Leon opened his legs wide, and hit the floor with a conquest punch from his right hand. A shockwave was made. All the ground in a five meter radius had turned into fine sand. Like the one you can find on a beach. The horses were actually sent flying up for a few centimeters along with their riders, causing them to fall of their mounts once they hit the floor.

The beasts ran away out of fear as their masters were still trying to get up. Leon knew he couldn’t give them a chance to stand up, so he ran to the nearest foe. This knight was barely getting on his feet, so Leonidas just hit him in the face with his knee, knocking him out cold in an instant. At this point one mage was down and one normal soldier was down as well.

Just four warriors and one mage left. Knowing that this was probably going to get dangerous, the Martial artist drew his blade and placed it on his right hand. The other men were probably already on their feet so he was going to needed some protection. He needed to at least distrat the ones behind him, so he hit a tree on his right with another conquest punch, turning the lower part of the tree in to dust. That would have at least knocked them off balance for another second.

Leon turned around and saw everyone. The soldiers got distracted trying to avoid the falling tree, the Small dark figure was already close enough to attack and the archer was probably already aiming again. It appeared that this fight was not going to last long.

OoC: They're all yours, guys. This post looked bigger in Word

Ooc: Hey, Zero, in that last post you didn't get your italics code right. Just thought I'd let ya know.

Bic: "I've got the mage! You two take out the fighters!" yelled Sonlen. Even as he said this he pulled another arrow from his quiver, aimed, and released the shot. The mage was forced to redirect the attack he had been aiming at the dark child to shatter Sonlen's arrow.

Still, the unicorn horn tip remained unscathed, and buried itself in the man's palm, causing the mage's blast to fizzle out and be replaced by a squirt of blood.

The man waved his good hand over his other and the wound healed. "Dammit, he can heal too," muttered Sonlen. "I'll just have to aim for..."
.
He released three arrows off of his bow in rapid succession. The mage blocked the first two, but the third buried itself in his eye.

Ooc: leave it up to you two to take care of the rest.

I go and stab the first fighter in the back. I take out my sword just in time to block the second ones attack. I feint right and do a vertical slice, cutting him clean in half. When I see the falling tree, I go behind the third and stab him in the back. The fourth one came behind me and tried to get me in the back, but I hurry and turn my blade and stab him backwards. He falls to the ground, and I hurry into the shadows and turn invisible. I watch the two walk forward to each other.
OoC: He does this alot. You could call him shy.

The Martial artist grinned has he observed how the knights were falling. Of course, he did not enjoy the death of those mean, but he was glad it was all over. However, he was also a bit puzzled. The small dark figure ran in to the shadows and stayed there. He still had no idea who or what that was, but he decided to ignore that thought for the moment. He would have to come out sooner or later. In the mean time he headed towards the archers as he waved his hand.

“Thanks for the help. I don’t think I could have gotten us out of that one. My name is Leonidas. May I ask your name?”

“My name is Sonlen. Before we move on, I must ask: What happened here? Why were you attacked?” Leoned turned around and looked at Luna, who was just standing there looking at the two.

“You know, I have no Idea myself. She’s a friend of mine and I saw her getting chased.” Leon, long with Sonlen, walked closer to Luna.

“I guess you want to know what you’ve gotten yourselves in to huh?” Luna said as she rested her back on a tree.

“ ‘Yourselves’? You’re not inviting them over, are you?”

“It can’t be helped. They probably saw them fighting with us. They always leave a scout behind the rest . If the party gets in trouble, that scout withdraws and repost to other units. He’s probably gone by now. Even if they leave us they will get chased just like I am.”

“Seems like you’re in this mess whether you like it not. I’m sorry. But look at the bright side. If you had nothing to do then this will be a nice way to kill time.”Sonlen sighed deeply. It was as if he was frustrated for some reason. But that didn’t matter anyway, they were all in trouble now. “Very well, Luna, tell us what’s going on.”

“Well, you see… The book I have with me is some kind of Atlas for The Dome. Its pages describe the hallways, wolrds and civilizations that are connected to the Dome in any way. With this, you could find anything and anyone at all times. You would never get lost.”

“Cool! Where can I get one of those.” The young man shouted in excitement.

“You can’t. This is the only one, and we have to do everything we can to prevent this to fall in the wrong hands. This book also contains the locations of treasures and magical weapons. One could easily find the most powerful weapons in existence and completely destroy even the mightiest warriors the Dome has.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” said the archer, “but we must get moving. If it is true that a scout saw us then it is likely that we will be attacked again if we stay. Besides, since the problem at hand seems to be of high importance, we should consider talking about this somewhere safe.”

"I agree." I said, coming out of the shadows, with my hood still up. The archer and the man with the strong fists had surprise on their faces, expressions which amused me. But first I said, "But, let's not be impolite. My name is Tarok, What are yours?

"Sonlen," replied the Elf, slightly unnerved at the sudden appearance of the child who called himself Tarok.

"I'm Leonidas," replied the black-haired man next to Sonlen.

"And I am Luna," replied the woman who the soldiers had been chasing. After a moment Sonlen noticed that she was drenched in sweat.

"We'll go to my room, they'll have a hard enough time finding it," said Sonlen, turning. "I know I do..." he muttered.

And it was true, the four warriors had absolutely no landmarks to tell them the way back to Sonlens room. The Door of War had long since moved on to find some other student to lure into battle.

But it seemed the Dome was on their side, for after a few minutes they found themselves in front of the beautifully wood carven door of Sonlens room. They walked through and entered Sonlens abode.

"Now," said the Swordsarcher, "I'm sure there is much more we all need to know. Would anyone mind telling me what it is?" he asked, not too politely.

Ooc: The complete description for Sonlens room can be found here.

"I know as much as you do." I said. "I was just helping the one with the disadvantage. If you had ore people than they did, I would have been on their side." I said, a-matter-of-factly. The two of them looked scared. They probably saw what I did to the soldier "That would have been interesting....." I said thoughtfully. " Sorry, I got a little off topic there. And I have a question of my own. What is this place? I really don't know how I got here, for my spell brought me here. Went 'haywire' I think people in this country call it."

“How should we know? I didn’t even see where you came from. You just popped out of nowhere and started killing people. Anyway, before we talk about anything else,” the young warrior spoke, “… are you sure this is a room? I mean, there’s a bed here, but…”

“There are no walls or ceiling?” Said the Swordarcher.

“Yes, that’s what’s missing. Not that I’m criticizing. I’m just noticing the… um… uniqueness.” An awkward silence invaded the room. It seemed like maybe that was not the best time to say stuff like that, so Leon coughed a bit a changed the subject. “Anyway, um Luna, I think you owe us all a good explanation. And I mean a good one. Don’t skip anything.”

The armored girl remained silent for about 30 seconds, in wich she only held the book against her chest and her eyes seemed to show her memories. “ Well… I already explained to you what this book contains within its pages. I also told you I am trying to prevent this from falling in to evil hands.”

“Evil hands meaning who, exactly?” The Swordarcher asked.

“The king of the land I was born. His name is Edgar. The kingdom is known as Mitemas. The technology we hold there is very low, but we are very knowledgeable when it comes to magical arts. Believe it or not he has created a huge army. Most of them are, naturally, spell casters. The army is also composed of average soldiers and some living armors as back up. The whole Idea is to go conquering civilization by civilization. Getting stronger with each new conquer. With the dome leading to every known world and civilization just by walking a few corridors, there is no better means of transport to other worlds. Ad with the book I have, determining wich worlds to strike first and how to get to them would be very easy.”
The young warrior just looked at her for sec, then shook his head and began to talk. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me that this dude wants to conquer every single world out there by using the Dome as a bridge to get to the worlds? And now, you want us to help you stop this, right?”

“Well, I’d appreciate the help.”

Leon sighed for a bit, and thought for a second about what to do. “Well, You guys are in this wether you like it or not, so I won’t ask you if you’re in, what I have to know is… Do you have any Ideas on how get out of this mess? I’m open to suggestions. We’re up against an army. We can’t be on the run forever. We could make an army with the warriors of the Dome to retaliate, but that would take much time and it would turn the entire place in to a mess since it’s unlikely that it will happen without the enemy noticing. Anyone?”

At least he knows the facts... thought the Elf.

"Well..." said Sonlen thoughtfully, "no matter how proficient of warriors we are, we would fall against an entire army. We could destroy the book, if that's possible."

"It isn't, unfortunately," said the woman calling herself Luna.

"Damn," Sonlen and Leonidas said in unision. The agreement between the two made Sonlen smile slightly, he was going to get along with this man.

"We could hide the book," suggested Leonidas.

"I doubt it would stay hidden for long, they'd find it," said Sonlen. "No, the only way to prevent this from happening is to destabilize their entire system."

"Any ideas?" Leonidas asked Tarok, who had been lurking in the corner of Sonlens tree, listening to the conversation.

Ooc: That's your cue, Haagar.

OoC: Sorry guys, my internet at home has been out of whack for a while, and I'm at a friends house, but hopefully my internet will be up tomorrow.

BiC: "Well.... If you want to hear it from an eleven year old boy, I think I have an idea." They all looked at me like I was crazy, so I said, " We're gonna need the atlas of the dome, first of all. And second, I would like it if I knew more about all the spells and technology they have, because I didn't know what they could do. I think we should find more about them."

Eleven year old boy? And here I was thinking that’s just what his race looks like. Whatever he is.

Leon, leaned his back against a tree and began talking. “Well, from what Luna has told me, they are not very technologically advanced. They are in the medieval ages in that aspect. Don’t expect anything sophisticated. AS for magic, I guess only Luna can explain.” Hearing this, Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“When it comes to magic we are very skilled. Mostly we just use magic that could just be described as energy manipulation. This is more powerful than you think. The more skilled a magician, the more powerful the orbs will be. The size of the orbs, rays and so on will always be of the same size, so its always hard to predict how strong the blasts will be unless you’re the one making it. We are lucky those guys didn’t fire any energy orbs. Maybe they were powerful enough to turn us in to dust with one shot. Then again, maybe not. We don’t know how skillful they were.

We also posses magic that can control the elements, but people that can use such magic are rare. Also, we should be careful as some of us have that ability to read minds. But people with those abilities are even more rare. Probably about one in five thousand posses that ability or so. We also have teleportation magic. However, it is not strong enough to carry us for vast distances. Even the prodigies have trouble teleporting for more than ten meters. I can only teleport for four meters. It’s mostly a skill used in combat to get out of enemy reach.

Other than that, you should just be wary of your usual weapons. Swords, Axes, Arrows and the stuff. Almost everyone has magical skills, but not everyone is powerful or fast enough to use them in battle. At least, not your average foot soldier and scout.”

“Well, that’s all right?” Leon asked the girl as she opened her eyes and looked at the other. The girl just moved her head up and down in response. “Well, that sounds fun. I’m not a long range fighter but if they have skills like yours then this will probably be easy.”

“Don’t make fun of me. You dind't have such an easy time as you claim you do. I Had you running in most our practices. Besides, most of my skills are all a bit below average. I was just a low class soldier remember? You have never faced someone skilled.”

"Yeah, you had me running alright. The FIRST FEW FIGHTS. And I wasn't really making fun of you. Ok... maybe a little, but I wasn't trying to offend you or anything. I was just trying to convince myself that I can actually fight these guys. Close range fighter here?"

Leonidas, turned his head to look at his other companions. He couldn’t help think they were going to have some tough fights. The archer seemed reliable enough. He wasn’t worried about Sonlen at all. Something about him just made Leon feel like he was trustworthy. The kid seemed to be a bit odd… and a bit violent. But he certainly didn’t seem like a trouble maker and apparently had enough skill to take care of himself. “Well… any more questions? Or shall we get down to planning a course of action?”

OoC: NOOOOO! Back to school on monday! NOOOOOOOOO! (I've been busy with reinscription and all that.) Sorry if the post suscks. I don't know what's wrong witht it. Something doesn't feel right about it but I can't put my finger on it.

Ooc: Well, I'm finally posting...

Bic: "I have none... for you two..." said the Elf. "But there is one thing I would like to know: Tarok, why do you say we need the atlas of the Dome for your plan? It would be too dangerous to use it."

"Why?" Leon and Tarok both asked; Leon appeared confused, Tarok slightly defiant.

"Isn't it obvious? If we had that atlas waving around and some soldier were to see us we'd be dead. He could creep up behind us and kill us all then steal the atlas. He would'nt have to worry about us not having it but knowing where it is, he could kill us flat out. No regret, no problem.

"Like I said earlier, we have to infiltrate them and destroy them from the inside out. I suggest we kill their king."

Ooc: Bad post, sorry, haven't written in forever...

"Well, as far as I know, the door to their realm and every other door in the dome move's all over. Without the Atlas, we're walking blind. As for the waving it around..." I used my transfiguration, and it turned into a small book.

“Well, that will make it easier to hide. Still, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful where we pull it out to look at it.” Said Leon as his eyes were getting lost in thoughts. “I agree in that we should get rid of their king. There is no other way to stop this. Anything else would just slow them down. Let’s just take a quick look at the book, find out where we can find a door that will lead us to their world. After that… well, we can work on the sneaking plan once we get there. Anyway, we should also wait a day or two before heading out. After all, they are going to be looking for us since we were spotted.”

The expression in everyone’s face seemed to indicate an agreement, except for Luna. Her eyes showed nothing but concerns and worries.

“Well, then, let’s look at the book and plan a route for Mitemas” said the Swordsarcher. Tarok immediately returned the book to its original size and everyone gazed in its pages. Looking map after map and reading description after description. It took about an hour to find a way that seemed safe. They would have to take a 30 minute walk around the Dome’s corridors, but it seemed worth it, as they would eventually reach a door that would leave them to a huge city that, according to the Atlas, was heavily crowded. There was no guarantee that that they would not be discovered an attack there, but the chances of that were smaller. Right in the middle of the city they would find another door that would leave them just ten minutes away from the door that would leave them on the outskirts of Mitemas.

All that remained was to wait until the patrols around the area cooled off before heading out. And so everyone just took a seat or a makeshift bed and rested for a while. Sonlen took a seat at observed everyone. Luna was holding the book tightly with her eyes lost in thoughts. Tarok was just looking around, trying to find something to do. Leon climbed a tree and hanged from a branch with his legs, leaving his head point down and started doing some abs.

OoC: OK, guys, we can either let our characters get to know each other better and maybe make them friends for future posts, or we can just skip to the day of action.

Leon has the right idea... thought Sonlen, and proceeded to cause five targets to appear on trees at respectably differing heighths and distances, walked fifty yards away from the nearest target, and took out his bow.

The Elfs arm was a blur of motion, pulling the arrow out of his quiver, nocking it, aiming, and releasing each individual arrow in seconds. After he released all five arrows he moved closer to inspect his marksmanship.

"Three out of five," he remarked, "not bad, but not good either." Three of the arrows were perfectly in the center of their intended targets, but the other two were three or four inches to the right or left. Just enough, Sonlen noted, to leave a living target alive to strike back.

The Swordsarcher retrieved the arrows he had shot, only to discover the shaft on one was broken. "Dammit, now I have to make another."

He repeated the proccess several times, until he was satisfied with his marksmanship. (Five out of five perfect shots, three times in a row) He replaced his bow and sat down on the ground. Looking up, he saw Tarok. "Where are you from, anyway?" he asked.

Ooc: Not sure how to end it, but it gives you a direction to go.

"Well... this seems to be a different realm than the one I am from.... but if you must ask, My mother and fathers hometown was the greatest kai-city in all of the realms of man. I even think that there is a door leading to it somewhere in the atlas. And does that have the effect on the sun like the outside?" I said, and since the only thing to do was shoot at the targets at the end of the range, I changed my dagger into a bow and arrows with a full quiver and shot with speed and accuracy that riveled the elf.