Eternal Darkness

my first story book so lets see how it goes, shall we?

No one knows what it is. A plague, maybe. A curse, most likely. All they know is that there is a lot of them, and they won't stop killing. Most any who survived chant only one word. "Shadow."

Few have survived an attack of "Shadows" and even fewer have stayed sane. Those that can describe can only say a black mass of destruction, with no shape, no feeling. They can fly, they can swim, and they don't stop. Most have gone into hiding, avoiding any contact with the outside world of Cardac, or what is left of it. Though it looks serene, no one can last more than five minutes.

You are on a mission. You are looking for a weakness to these shadows. You are going to the surface. In a way, shadows have affected your life. Whether human, elf, or any race you think of, there is only one thing left to do. destroy the shadows.

*RULES*

-no GOD characters

-No "for the good of life" characters. There needs to be a reason you are searching for the weakness. Make sure you state how you got involved.

-Don't kill off other people. Chances are you will need their help anyway. You can kill yourself off, and minor characters.

- any magic is allowed. have fun with it. but it doesn't affect shadows, except for maybe for a distraction.

-we can go as far as PG-13ish. Have as much violence as you wish, but no sex scenes.

name: Sirion Kadenis

gender: Male

age: 21

race: avian (winged human)

powers: flight (obviously), power to control air magically (to be discovered in him)

looks: short brown hair, green eyes, light skin. about 6'2". Has black wings each six feet long. Extremely well built from wing use. wears thick black leather leggings and a sleeveless vest that exposes his back and chest. Large scar across his torso from Shadow attack. Self taught martial arts.

history: Lived in a floating city, when shadows attacked it. Only one who got out alive, but wing was crushed. Crashed hard on ground, captured by humans and thought to be a one of the shadows. Has been tortured for years by them. He thinks he is the only left of his kind (that doesn't mean he is). He only has two things left on his mind, to destroy the shadows, and now, the humans.


He was alone. Blood dripped down his body from several lash marks covering his back. Wrist cuffs bit into his wrist as they suspended him in the air. Likewise, his ankles were swollen beneath thick chains. Only a hint of sanity seemed to glitter from within his eyes. His chin laid on the large scar upon his chest with no hope left. A morbid smell emanated from the moss covered walls around him. A steady drip of water echoed down the rocky halls. Alone.

The flicker of torchlight illuminated one of the many corridors. The sound of metallic boots clicked upon the floor. Sirion, barely concious, looked up with the little strength he had left.

A burly man with a thick curly beard came in, most his face covered in a black hood. Within his gloved hands he held a whip in one and a sledgehammer in another. For three years, Sirion had looked at this face with utter hatred, even as the leather straps tore the flesh away from his back.

The torturer trotted gleefully up to the avian, a demonic grin spread across his face. He grabbed a fistful of hair and lifted his head up.

"Good news, bastard." the man spat in Sirion's face. "This is your three year. No one has ever lasted this long. That calls for something special doesn't it?"

He lifted the whip up. "Note the spikes. It adds an extra sting."

He cackled. "Of course, you could just let me kill you by admitting that you are a shadow."

Sirion's eyes grew thin. "I am not a shadow. I have not been one for the past three years. Don't you think I would have gotten out if I was?"

The man shrugged, and walked behind him. "How the hell should I know? I haven't seen one." He raised the spiked straps. "Besides, hurting you is so much better."

The spikes dug into his skin. Sirion gritted his teeth as tears poured down his face. Anger began to boil inside him. Each whip infuriated him more and more. His eyes glowed white. A wind suddenly picked up. The torturer stopped in midswing.

"Wind..." he breathed. "I have not felt it in such a long time..."

His eyes widened in surprise. "In a cave."

Sirion raised up, the winds surrounding him. The torturer flew backwards, hitting the wall hard. The chains began to rattle, and wrapped around the man, pulling him in. The locks twisted, and snapped. Sirion fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

The torturer coughed and sputtered, struggling to rise from the pile of chains on top of him. "What the..."

Sirion was on his feet, his fists clenched. He smiled, his new power swirling within him. His eyes stayed on the man that had caused him so much pain for the past three years. The human stumbled to his feet.

"Sorry." the avian said. "I would love to stay and chat, but I need to breathe some pure air. But don't worry-" He let his wings reach out to their full length. "-I won't forget you humans' hospitality."

The wind began to swirl again. The chains wrapped around him, tighter and tighter until the human could no longer breath. Sirion lifted himself in the air, letting his feet lift off the ground. He made himself stiff, and dived down the corridor, until everything was a blur. Until there was a single light glowing in front of him. The surface.

Name: Lye
Race: Drow (dark elf)
Gender: Female
Age: 214 (21 human years)
Appearance: Tall, slim, dusky grey colouring, dark hair, black eyes. Wears light amour, in charcoal. Wears glasses in sunlight, but prefers to aviod it altogether.

History: Humans raided the drow camp after rumours spread that they were the masters of the shadows. After all, they had always claimed the ruled the night.
Lye had watched her family die from the shadows, and while that didn't bother her, the fact that so many leaders had died that she didn't inherit her rightful power did.
She is a creature of revenge, and is seeking to destroy the creatures who took her birthright from her.

Lye crept through the streets, confident that non of the humans would see her. They were such blind creatures. Never mind. If they got in her way, they wouldn't see again.

I have to get to the hospital, she thought, and look up those reports myself. If it is a simple disease her mission will be in vain. You cannot torture a virus for crimes done against you.

Question... when/where is this set?

This is my first time doing one of these, so I might need some help with it. just tell me if I mess up.

Name: Dan (last name classified )
Gender: Male
Age:17
Appearance: Tall, average weight, very pale. Blonde hair, with brown eyes. Wears slightly shabby, worn looking clothes.

History: Dan lived a normal life, happy with his family, until the Shadows attacked. He watched his family die, and as the creatures approached his room, he faded until he was invisible. He fled from the house with only a knife, swearing to avenge his family...

Dan ran down the road, unseeing. He looked down at his outstretched hands, and still saw nothing. He panicked. What if I'm stuck like this forever? he thought.

Then a colder side of his brain took control. So what if you do? You have no one anymore. In a world like this, it's more dangerous to be seen than anything else.

He kept running, but stopped abruptly when he saw his fist. He watched in horror as the visibility spread over him slowly, and looked around for shelter. He didn't know where would be safe anymore. Dan jumped when he heard someone yell "hey!" He began to turn, dreading what he might see...

Name: Celka Sathath

Race: Moon Elf

Age: 142 (appears as around 17 to all other races)

Appearances: Dark, bluish skin, long silver hair, willowy frame, long cloak over light but strong shin guards, minimal chest armor and gauntlets. Wears hood over head in the day. Eyes are deep silver. Quiver of arrows and bow slung over shoulders.

Other: in moonlight, moon elves can turn into shadows and walk, totally unable to track. They are also restored by moonlight and are generally nocturnal, though if they come across humans, they will help. One of the friendlier subraces of elves.

History: Celka belonged to a group of traveling minstrels, acting primarily as a guard but also a good harp-player. When the Shadows struck a town they were visiting, all but two of them died almost immediately. Celka's remaining friend, Paxz, committed suicide. Celka decided to find exactly what she could do to stop it happening - a small amount of her is also contaminated, though the Moon Elf part of her keeps it well at bay.
After she buried her companions, she visited a friend of the minstrels, a well-known practitioner of medicine to ask his guidance. She is acting as his hand, taking samples of the different Shadows and keeping their appearances on paper for him to file.
**

It was a hooded figure, wearing black gloves and wearing a quiver of arrows. Dan jumped - for a few seconds he thought it could be Death itself, until it spoke again.

"What are you thinking?" it asked, stepping closer and sounding rather frightened. Dan blinked - Death couldn't have such a melodious voice. "Appearing like that in the middle of the street!"

"The Shadows," muttered Dan, casting a few wild looks around. That got the figure's attention.

"I see! Can you lead me to them?" it-she, Dan realized- pulled the bow off her torso and quick knocked an arrow.

"Are you MAD?" he asked, wide-eyed. "They'll GET you!"

"That's what you think." she sniffed the air. "You have been touched by them, but you're still here. Please lead me to them- these arrows are somewhat effective."

Name: Viperidae
Gender: Male
Age: 2711
Race: Lizardman
Powers: Invisibility (His scales match his suroundings so he appears to dissapear), Poison (His claws and fangs and poisonous, one bite/slash is enough to kill most humans), Sixth Sense (He can sense any threat to himself or others that surround him), LizardCast (The Lizardmen form of magic, he can only perform a few small nicantations)
Appearance: Covered in blue scales, with black claws, white teeth, red spots on top of his head, green eyes and seven white spikes on his back and down his tail, he is roughly four feet tall.
Equipment: A medium length sword that is slung across his back in a black leather sheath, a blowpipe with poisonous darts and two long daggers with saw blades on his belt.
Personality: Reclusive (he doen't like contact with other races), Cunning, Intelligent and Strongwilled.
History: He was born in the great jungles of Akela, he was raised to be a Shaman, one of the Lizardmens most respected clan members, but he only learned a small amount of incantations of the LizardCast from the last great Shaman, before he died. He became a member of the BlueSkin clan and rose to be the Clan Warrior Chief after learning the art of the blade from Akalan, the master bladesman. He still has to defer to the Clan chief, but everyone in the Clan knows that he is in charge. When the Shadows reached the Clan, Viperidae was sent by the Clan Chief to find a cure, but he refused. That was until his brother, Vipon was attacked by the Shadows and killed. Viperidae swore to his brother on his deathbed that he would find a cure for the Clan.
(Is this ok, because i think the History is a bit long...)

-----

Viperidae crept through the town, he didn't know its name and didn't care to. All he knew was that it belonged to the Humans... He hated the Humans, they had killed the GreatOne and denied him the chance to fully know the LizardCast. He wanted revenge, but that would have to wait until he found a cure for his clan. He and ive warriors had set off with him to search for a cure. So far their search had brought them here, to this town. It was rumored that the medicinemen here knew of a cure. He would stop at nothing to find the cure, he must find it. He turned to Serpantae and fixed him with an icy glare. "We will go to the house of the medicinemen." He hissed.

"Yes, lord chief." Serpantae replied.

They set of through the town, blending in with their surroundings like all Lizardmen, until they became invisible. They crept up to the door of the medicinemenhouse and paused for a moment. "One of them is here!" Viperidae whispered.

The other Lizardmen hissed in shock. A Moon Elf was here. They must find it and get rid of it. The Moon Elf were the mortal enemys of the Lizardmen, they had killed the Old Ones. The Old Ones were the first GreatShamans, izardmen of great learning and wisdom. With their deaths almost all of the knowledge of the LizardCast had been lost. They slinked of into the town, looking for the Moon Elf.

I'll join in later!

name: She'ana Darenya

gender: female

age: 121 (appears 20)

race: Faerie

powers: flight, Faerie Magic, and ability to 'speak' with nature (uses spells to control natural elements to a small degree)

looks: curly, medium-length gold hair, 5'6" with large blue butterfly wings, royal-blue eyes, fair complexion. Wears a short blue and black silk dress with black leather boots, silver shin guards, torso armor, and gauntlets. Carries a double-bladed staff and has a willow bow and a quiver full of osprey-feather arrows slung across back.

history: Her family ruled a large portion of the faerie people, but when the Shadows attacked the Faerie capitol of Territh, her mother and father were killed during battle. She was then appointed ruler of the Faerie people, but she had already vowed to find a way to destroy the Shadows and avenge her parents, but she wanted to do it alone.


She'ana hovered over the village gates. It was the only uninfected town and the safest. The Shadows had yet to try an attack this village, settled between two enormous cliffs and a sea crashing against the docks behind it. A narrow road running between the cliffs was the only ground route from the village.

She could see a Moon Elf and a male humanoid nearby. She had no doubt the Elf could see her wings, but she didn't really care, she wasn't the first Faerie to enter any human village.

note this is based in medival


The sun felt good on his pale skin. sirion Pumped his wings, pushing himself higher into the air, then diving down at high speeds.

"Such warmth!" he thought out loud. He ducked and dived, flying through the air with such glee that he barely had time to notice three darkened silouhettes floating towards him.

Sirion began to glide, allowing the three to slowly close the gap between them. His eyes watched warily as the figures closed in. suddenly, their forms began to shift as they approached. Sirion's eyes widened, putting a sudden fear in his chest.

he pressured his wings to began to flap hard. The strain he put on his body he was now unfamiliar to. Yet his speed increased, but it didn't seem to be enough. The shadows sped up with him. He searched the ground below him for anything of help. The first thing to catch his eye was a a dark elf and a human down on one of the many abandoned dirt roads. He had no time to think about it. He dived straight down at them.

She'ana heard the feathers flapping and turned to see the figure speeding downwards. He was heading straight at the Elf and human, and right behind him were shadows.

She turned and darted through the air heading towards the winged man.

"Look out! Shadows!" She shouted at the pair on the ground. They turned quickly to her, then the avian, and then the shadows. The human seemed terrified, but the elf just readied her bow.

Lye heard the commotion from a couple of streets down.

Shadows.

She ducked into an alleyway, emerging to see a group of beings attacking a swarm of shadows.

A moon elf. Hah. Siblings of the night, Lye claimed, they all had weakness of character. Always wanting to help. That is why, in spite of the moon elf's abilities, the drow were always looked apon as rulers of the night.

Lye darted in, pulling out her dagger. This dagger was forged in the bottoms of the earth, enchanted and made from darkness itself. Extremely sharp, it dissapeared in sunlight.
She struck at the shadows, and though it did no physical harm, they drew back from the dark dagger.

"Well," Lye smirked to the others. "it seems there is a rather well-mixed group of us with the same thought in mind."

The human looked as though he was going to faint.
"What's wrong, mortal, Never seen drow, moonelves and avians before?"

Dan looked around at all of the creatures, hardly comprehending. Then he began to fade away.

Before he could disappear completely, Lye walked over and grasped his wrist. "If you're tihnking of escape, don't. It would be a foolish move. Look around us." She gestured with one arm, making sure not to loosen her grip on the boy.

"I- I'm sorry," he said. "I can't control it. Help!" he yelled as he faded away completely. Lye could still feel his wrist in her hand, but could see nothing.

The Shadows had surrounded them while they had watched the boy, and now, there was no escape.

Without warning, the Shadows attacked.

Celka swung the bow around, took careful but hurried aim and let loose, piercing the largest Shadow neatly. Abandoning her bow, putting it over her head again, she pulled a jagged sword out of her cloak and bit her thumb, running the pale blue blood over it.

"Don't run away!" she called, taking a two-handed grip on the sword and leaping, cat-like, slashing at the Shadows and having remarkable success. Her hood flew back as she landed and turned to face another shadow. Her eyes glowed silver and her hair whipped in the wind.

All at once, everyone else got their bearings and leapt in to join the mad struggle.

Lye kept a grip on the human's wrist, slashing about her with her dagger.
Might as well keep as many 'allies' alive as possible, she mused, they may come in handy some time.

"Keep behind me. I'll protect you. I don't want to stab you if you're in the way, but if I do, well I won't lose any sleep over it." Lye sensed the boy slide behind her, and made him grip onto her shoulder. "I need my arms free, right?"

Lye mentally cursed herself. The shadows were quick, and she was fixed to the spot, protecting a human. Too late to change her mind now. Like all elves, in spite of her dark nature, once she had promised something, it was hard to break. Too much trouble.

She stabbed one shadow, sending it screaming in the other direction.
The fight wore on.

Dan stayed behind Lye as she attempted to hack her way out of the circle. He was terrified of being slashed by the elf, but more terrified of the elf herself. She seemed so cold. What could have happened to make her that way?

Then he remembered the Shadows murdering his family, and the ice cold rage he had felt at that moment. In his terror, he had forgotten them, but the memory returned, and he let out an almost inhuman growl.

He heard a responding grol from behind him, and whirled. A Shadow was racing towards him. Racing towards the elf, he corrected himself. They can't see me.

He looked towards Lye and saw that she hadn't noticed it. She was fighting three other Shadows at once. He turned back to face the beast, and moved towards it.

When it came close, he ducked down, and the beast tripped, flipping over him and landing on the ground behind Lye.

She heard it, and she swiftly turned around and plunged her dagger into it. The shadow seperated into smoke, and floated in different directions.

Dan wasn't sure if it was dead, or just reforming, but he was grateful it was gone. "Thanks," he heard Lye say reluctantly.

He smiled. "Anytime."

Hey, just a question about this. Is there any particular order of people that we need to follow, or do we just add more whenever? Thanks.

Mat, just post whenever. Unless the person who created the post (Darchoco in this case) says otherwise, there's no restriction on when you post.

Lye thought of this human with new respect. He may be human, but he thought fast. She couldn't see him, but no-one else had tripped the shadow up.
She spoke to the air around her between assults.
"Good. Now where are you? It would be even more unfortunate if you fell to my blade now you... helped me."

She felt a hand on her shoulder yet again and turned back to the advancing shadows. The moon elf slashing at them, dispersing them quickly and efficiently. She's good, thought Lye, before slicing at yet another shadow.