An Evangelion Fanfic written by:
The Silent One
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.). And please remember to Review the fic after you have finished, please.
Evangelion: The Forgotten Realms
Chapter Three: Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Angels....Ah Damn!
"But you are the only one who can protect me...Shinji the Black." She whispered to the air, as though someone would overhear her private little moment, and sell it on the streets of Athkatla for two copper a word.
************************************
Shinji quickly made his way down to the tavern and after thanking Bently Mirroshade as well as purchasing two items he might need later on, he stepped outside. And gasped at the sight before him. The entire wall of the temple was indeed collapsed, and a large crater was formed in a semicircle somewhat buried by the walls rubble. Several people were currently shifting through the ruined partition and removing less damaged pieces to be salvaged. Shinji sighed heavily before he stomped his way down the stairs and through the litters of bodies in the courtyard. Slowly and carefully he weaved in and out of the dead and dying and finally made it to the ruined drawbridge, the two guards from the night before helping clear away the ruined house off to the right. One of them looked up and noticed him.
"Hey! You're the guy that took down that monster two nights ago, right?"
The other looked up and then back down to the stones at his feet.
"Yeah, I guess I am." Shinji solemnly intoned. "What happened here?"
"The explosion shook the ground for miles around, this old building here simply couldn't take the shockwave...we think some people were still inside when it went..."
Silence fell as the two guards turned their eyes downward and then went back to sorting through the rubble for bodies. He watched for a few moments longer and then walked out the blackened stone archway.
Sliding down the rocky trench that seperated the small expanse of the front from the forest beyond and then scaling up the other side he turned backwards and survyed the damage wrought on the place of rest.
"Why does this always happen? Why? Anywhere I go, trouble follows me...and people die...I hate this life."
"Well then, you should feel some remorse shouldn't you."
The voice was thick and rough, coming from underneath thick strands of brownish black hair that formed a long, thick, braided beard. What hair that came from the the crown of his head was hidden beneath a dented and well-worn helmet with a movable face guard. From underneath this mass of unruly hair peered out two small and beady eyes of deep brown. The dwarf, for it was a dwarf, was also outfitted with a well scratched set of scalemail armor and a matching pair of knotched and scratched axes crossed over his backside. Standing slightly behind and off to the right of the dwarf stood a gnome: thin for its kind but wearing the usual wirerimmed spectacles for its race, with short brown hair and a thin mustach and goatee; it fidgited as he watched the staredown take place.
"Why should I?" Came his cold response.
The dwarf growled menacingly and brought one of his hands forward in a fist, shuffling forward a step and kicking up a small cloud of dust as his foot set down roughly.
"Toji..calm down, he's not worth it." Came the high-pitched voice from the nervous voice of the gnome.
"SHADDUP!" The dwarf stormed forward and belly-bumped the slighter Shinji back a few steps before he continued even angrier than before. "My sister was in that house!" His finger pointed at the ruins near the gates, "She was the only family I ever had! She was the only one besides me in my family line! And now...now," The shoulders of the squat muscular man shook as he finally broke down and started to cry. "Now she's dead...all because you had to go an' kill that BASTARDLY CREATURE!"
"So what do you want me to say? I'm sorry?"
At that the eyes snapped up from the ground and fixated themselves on Shinji's torso. Before either Shinji or the gnome could blink the dwarf was barreling forward and slamming both of them back into the rock filled moat. The pair rolled twice and finally ended up at the bottom covered in bruises and scrapes, Shinji moreso than the thougher dwarf. Suddenly he found himself lifted up off of the ground and shaken wildly until he felt his nose start to bleed a bit.
"WHY? WHY DID MY SISTER HAVE TO DIE!! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME!!"
His answer came in the form of a blurred fist, connecting slightly above the jawline. The blow wasn't powerful, but enough to imbalence the heavier fellow so that Shinji could roll him over and onto his back. He was about to deliver another punch when he felt a bodyblow from behind. The blow merely upset him enough to leave the blow unconnected, and soon another problem arose as two thick and stringy arms wrapped themselves around his head and neck. It was a feeble attempt to force a release so Shinji let the gnome have his fun, as for the dwarf named Toji: his fist drew back once more, in preperation to deliver a knock out punch to the squirmy creature below him.
"Stop."
The three combatants immediatly stopped their various actions and struggles to look up at the source of the voice that seemed, flat yet flighty. Sure enough, the blue haired elf stood nearby; waiting patiently for the three to stop their little fight and pay attention to her.
"Perhaps you should do that elsewhere...there has been enough fighting here. It would not be kind to give these people more death than they already have."
"What the hell do you know! This bastard here helped kill my sister!!" Toji shouted at her, tears running up along the sides of his forehead as he stared back at the pale elf.
"No, he saved lives. Mine, yours, his, those," Rei pointed back into the courtyard at the litters of wounded. "They all survived because he killed the Angel...your sister died because of simple bad luck, Besheba has a way of doing things such as this. For you to condemn this man for saving lives is an exersice in futility."
Shinji felt the hands slide away from his neck, and the dwarf beneath him went rubbery. Slowly and cautiously he stood up and looked down at the two men and then back up at the moon elf.
"Thanks." Was all he said before turning and climbing once more out of the moat. This time there was no obstruction to his path, and he didn't waste his energy in turning back to wave goodbye.
"Its always the same...everywhere I go people end up hurt. I hate my existance for this cruel fate."
****************************************
Two figures stood high above the Friendly Arm Inn. One, wrapped in a dark cloak that continually whipped around, frowned silently and turned to the other. This one was robed as well as cloaked, but unlike the first: its clothes remained calm and undisturbed.
"Your brother failed. So now you must take his place." Came the assasins soft voice.
"I will not fail you. Unlike my predecessor, I am subltly more powerful and dangerous. First I shall deal with the boy, the one who killed the third. Then I shall retrieve the masters request for you." The voice came as a hiss, nearly quiet but at the same time easily heard. It set the teeth of the other man to grinding in thinly vieled nervousness.
"Be sure you don't. If that boy does not finish you then I will should you fail me."
A cold flash of metal emphisied the deadly meaning behind the warning and the creature was smart enough not to belive that it would be carried out if he did fail.
"I, Shamshel, go for my mission."
And without a whisper in the wind, the creature faded from view. Leaving the assasin to resheath his dagger and await the return of one victorious Angel.
"Of course; if that boy could take down Sachiel...he might just be able to destroy this one as well."
The figure contemplated that line of thought for a moment and then moved off to behind the overlooking bluff. Moving north through the trees in the Spiderhaunt Woods and making way for the flourishing port of Baldur's Gate.
******************************************
The dwarf, Toji of the clan Boodaxe: son of Suzahara the Twice Maimed; sat crying softly for his dead sister as his now one and only friend: Kensuke, known as the Spetacled, watched the dissapearing form of Shinji's back as the boy walked down the rough trail. Kensuke let his friend cry for a few more moments and then bent down and placed both of his hands on the sides of Toji's wet cheeks.
"Toji.."
"W-what," The ususally surly dwarf blubbered out. "What do you want."
"We should bury your sister. Come...lets find the body."
Kensuke watched silently as his friends tears dried and his eyes clouded over, then stumbled along after him as he scrambled up the side of the moat and rushed to sort through and find his sisters last mortal remains.
They walked out of the Friendly Arms Inn bailey nearly half an hour later. Toji's arms filled with a long, cloth-wrapped, body shaped package. They walked out into the dangerous Spiderhaunt Woods for nearly a quarter mile before they stopped and Toji finally put down the body of his sister. Toji quickly and efficiently used his axes, bound together with two sturdy pieces of leather, as an improvised spade to dig away a small and shallow square of earth. Kensuke then conjured up a magical servent that carefully lifted her body and gently laid it face down into the black soil of her grave, then he used it to push the upturned ground back into the open square and cover the body.
As he was finishing up, Kensuke noticed that Toji was crying again. Silent tears rolled down his face and dissapeared into the thick braids of his beard.
"I'll leave you for a moment...take as long as you need Toji." The gnome clapped a hand on the stouter fellow's shoulder and grasped it firmly before heading off to another glade.
Kensuke was there for a scant few moments, idly listining to the soft murmur of Toji's farewells, when his highly sensitive ears picked up a faint rustling of leaves from ahead of him. Slowly, barely breathing, his hand dipped down and plucked out a trio of throwing daggers. Kensuke pulled his hand up, daggers set one a fingerspace, and carefully aimed it at the direction the sound was coming from.
Soon enough, the leaves closer by started to move, bend, sway, and bounce as something came haphazerdly through them.
"A little more...just a little more!" Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as his arm slightly dipped from the strain of the position. Then there came a flurry of motion, the branches parted and bent aside.
Kensuke slowly lowered his hand and ducked aside into a small grove of young sapwoods.
From the grove came snuffling and snorting that slightly rose above the heavy, slow footfalls as the bear wandered through the open area of forest. It stoped at the spot Kensuke had stood in, looking down as its nose tried to identify who the stranger to the forest was. It stopped abruptly and looked around as Kensuke began chanting harsh arcane whispers and gestruing in small fluid motions as the beggining of a spell was started. The bear located the source of the enigmatic noise and started to edge forward only to be struck by a golden ball of light that shot from the cupped hands of its caster. The bear...whimpered and immediatly fled back through the opening in the trees. Leaving a smirking Kensuke happy at his accomplishment.
"Not bad...not bad at all I say!" He whispered self gratiatingly for his own pleasure.
"Perhaps," The voice made Kensuke freeze, chills ran down his spine as its low hiss continued. "But perhaps it will not be good enough to save you from me."
Toji feebely wiped his cheeks with the back of his stained and weathered hands as he finished his broken goodbye to the last of his family. He stood a moment longer as his mind slowly memorized the location and feel of the gravesite, his body wanting to leave but his mind wanting to stay forever in its softly lit, cool bourghs.
Then came Kensuke's scream of pain, more like a loud gurgle really. The end part of it dying off in an unintelligable sounding rasp of...submittance? Toji raced over to his axes and ripped the leather apart in his haste to prepare himself to fight. He rushed through the last of the tree branches and stopped cold.
His friend dangled from a tree branch, his feet nearly two feet off of the ground. Thin streams of white smoke curled away from his head and neck as his hands, feebely attempting to free his neck from the thick brownish material wrapped around it, fell uselessly to his side. Toji sreamed in rage as the forehead dipped sideways and Kensuke's tounge lolled out of his mouth, thick and purplish to match his face color as the precious supply of air was prolongedly choked off.
"KENSUKE!"
There was a thick swoosh of air followed by a wet snap as one of Toji's twin axeblades sliced into the odd rope that meant slow death to his longtime friend and buried itself into the tree behind it with a sharp thunk. Toji rushed forward in a hasty attempt to grab Kensuke before he fell and broke something important, managing to slow the fall enough to allow for a soft landing on the pile of leaves and grass below.
"Kensuke!..Kensuke! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
"No amount of shaking or name calling will get him awake now, my sweet puppet." Came a hiss from Toji's left.
Thin branches snapped or were cleanly sheared as his second axe was swung in a wide arc through the foliage.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO KENSUKE!" He angrily shouted.
"Oh don't worry. Your friend isn't permenantly damaged. But I'm afriad he won't be waking up just yet." Came the voice from his right.
Before Toji could do another bonesplintering swipe with his axe, something thick and smooth wrapped itself around his larynx with a thwip. Sharp, stinging pain followed by buring redness seeped up from his neck in rapid succession as he franticly clawed at the obstruction with his free hand. Soon the world started blurring and he dropped the axe in favor of using another hand to attempt to free himself.
"Oh no, no, no...we can't have that."
There came something he had only heard once. His father had died on the fields of battle during a fierce thunderstorm. He died not of arrows or swords, he died not of men but of the whim of the gods. That day he had heard a terrible sound as a thick bolt of lightning arched down from the black clouds and engulfed his patriarch. Then there was smell, the smell of cooked air and roased flesh that accompanied the crisped body.
The sound of lightning roared in his ears before the painful process of electrucution began.But the last thing he remembered was the smell of ozone permeating his nose...and the dull, muted sounds of his pain wracked screames shattering the peace of his sisters gravesite.
*****************************************
Shinji had traveled most of the morning, and a few hours past highsun before he even saw the bridge that crossed the River Chionthar and headed into the east gate of Baldur's Gate. The city walls itself slowly grew higher and higher as he approached the simple and effective toll bridge. Even as he approached he began mentaly calculating what it might take for him to be able to cross over into the city itself as he neared the first archway to pass across the bridge.
Thats when he saw the first of the bodies.
Three men decked in chain with pikes and what looked to be the shattered remains of a longsword scattered across the cobblestones. The same cobblestones now thickly coated by deep crimson blood. The men all wore the same black helms with red sidebands running down from the top to the bottom.
"City guard...but who?" Shinji knelt by one and gently eased his shaking hand into the nearest pool of blood. Warm, but cold enough to be a hour old or so.
"Well, well, well...so glad you finally show."
Shinji snapped upright at the sudden hiss that came from the shadowed archway ahead of him, his hand instantly strayed to the top of his small shoulder satchel. The shadowed figure stepped slightly into the light and partially revealed its features to the boy.
Shinji felt slightly sickened at the weird parody of life he saw in the unnatural creature. Underneath its open cloak and barely concealing robes and near the middle of its chest which held a circular red orb, much like the creature back at Friendly Arms, was a small collection of thin arms that were more like insect legs from large beetles. The head resembled a beetles as well, with two oval shaped white outlinings that contained a small white dot in the center of each. There were no legs as far as Shinji could tell, in fact, the thing wasn't standing on the ground at all! It was hovering slightly in place, the ground a mere six inches away from the bottom of its round and unfeatured lower torso.
"By the nine hells and all the demons of the Abyss what are you!" He shouted as his hand finally reached deep into his satchel and pulled out the item he had purchased from Bently Mirrorshade. The string on the crossbow hummed and spat forth a small, thick quarrel at the inhuman monster.
Shinji swore he heard its raspy voice chuckle at him as he rapidly began to reload the weapon, his hands moving quick enough that as the string reached halfway down the stock his first quarrel struck the target.
And rebounded from the blue circular magic shield that appeared at its tip.
"WHAT!?"
"Poor little mortal...still not comprehending anything are you? Come, let us see if others can give some enlightenment to you."
The creature flew backwards from Shinji, who finally reloaded his weapon and leveled it at the retreating form. Deciding quickly that it was too far away to actually damage it he bent down and pull out one of the glaives from underneath a guards body. The helm slammed back down with a wet chang, making Shinji wince as he gripped its blood slicked haft and ran through the arch. He exited out onto a long stone causeway that led down to a smaller wooden drawbridge that was supported by several stone anchored woodbeams that made an inverted L that went out over the river. Small hooks were on the bottoms of the L and lanterns hung on a few of them.
But the one Shinji was concerned with held no illuminating source. Instead it held a gnome and a dwarf...a very familiar pair. The creature had tossed off its cloak and in its three fingered hands it held two strange whips. The whips had metal handles that were inscribed with unfamiliar runes that looked to be anchient elvish, but that wasn't the strangest thing about them. The actual length of whip was...metalic by nature. It shimmered and shined and glinted as their owner let them slide about the wood causing, though the creature never moved his hands itself.
Then there were the sparks that flew from the tips and scorched the thick duskwood beams when the tips came close together.
"Good...you followed." The voice emminated from no discernable mouth, but its hissing was somewhat of an annoyance to Shinji.
"Yeah, I can't have you running around without finding out your name at least. Bad for me and rooming accomidations."
"Witty...if you want to call me something, call me Shamshel: the Angel of Lightning."
"Angel..? What the..not another one of you! Look, what the hell did I do to deserve this, hun? I didn't want to kill your friend, brother, sister, whatever the Abyss that thing was back at Friendly Arms...but he pushed me too far."
"What? Sachiel? You think this is about him? That weak pathetic excuse for an Angel..He Was NOTHING compared to me! This is all about one thing...insurance."
"WHAT?" Shinji gripped the haft of the glaive painfully hard. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"
"Simple," Shamshel flicked his wrists up and the whip-lengths slid into the handles with a sound that reminded one of a snake moving through dry grass. "You took down one of us, and you humans 'are' nortorious for gaining power and experiance rapidly. It is a matter of expediance that for my mission to be carried out, you died first."
"Did it ever occur to you that by just avoiding me the problem could be more easily handled THAT way?"
Shamshel ignored the dripping tone of sarcasm and insted continued on in his soft hissing voice.
"But I can't ignore your threat to my mission...after all, its objective is following you." The creature leveled an arm and pointed behind Shinji.
"Wha?"
Fearing a trick he only half-turned to the side, but in that turn he glimpsed a small piece of white float back into the shadows. Shadows that feebely attempted to conceal eyes of deep red and locks of short ice blue.
"Rei of the Ayanami?! What's she doing here...was she following me?" He thought to himself before quickly turing around to face the Angel.
"So...let us try something here. These two are going to drown, probably, if I cut the rope and let them sink into the Cionthar...you, can save them."
"And how would I do that?" Shinji slowly relaxed his body forcibly.
"Simple...kill me."
There came a single, fast, flicking motion from Shamschel's hand let Shinji know the game had just started. He quickly racked his avalible spells and snarled out a fast armoring spell just as the knife sliced through half of the rope holding the two bound, armed, and armored men to the bridge. As he whipped around his crossbow he noted the soft voice behind him muttering a prayer, no time to delay however as the Angle floated forward quickly in an attempt to close the gap and bring his weapons into play. Shinji's hand tightened on the release trigger, and once more his weapon sang and sent out a deadly piece of metal and wood. It was rebounded once again, but this time it had more impact as it slowed Shamshel down to roughly a quick walk that forced his first swings with the strange whips to pass by a wide margin.
Behind Shinji the prayer stopped and a stream of greenish motes flew out from two palms to encirle the cut in the rope. The rope had been slowly sagging downwards as one fiber and then another gave way underneath the heavy weight its length bore. But now it stopped momentarily as several strands reconnected themselves and the remaining strands found themsevles strengthened. Rei smiled at her work and then turned to reawakening the two bound men held safely but dangerously over the rushing river.
"WENCH! Stay out of this!" Shamschel's hissing voice rose to a shriek as he snapped a whip in her direction. Shinji could smell the ozone that rapidly followed the downward flight of the metal rod and quickly reacted, thrusting the polearm which he had been using to parry with up to intercept the downward flight of the whip as it began to extend.
The massive electrical charge that had built up suddenly found itself discharged violently as it met with an unexpected resistance with the wood shaft of Shinji's glaive. The charge immediatly spent itself on the new contact, instantly vaporising particals of wood and causing others to expand rapidly from the unusual forces being exerted on their grains.
The shaft exploded.
Silent Notes: Well, gonna cut this one short and leave off with a cliffhanger for ya. If some of you have a problem with Toji being a crybaby, or if others have a problem with a dwarf showing too much emotion: Toji loves his sister very much, and YES I am deviating from NGE and YES I DO KNOW IT!! I don't wan't to have Toji's character just running around all over the place and leaving around family ties that I will have to come back to later on. Plus, this is a world set in a time that is very harsh and cruel. Back in anchient times women were raped and children slaughtered daily. The Forgotten Realms and all D&D products are based off of those times, so if I want to kill of people for no good reason: I'm sure I can come up with a wandering band of mercs working for an evil lord to do just that! As to the dwarf crying........................
I dunno: some of them have to be emotional, right? I mean: comon, if he wan'ts to cry in the forest or while he's fighting Shinji let the man cry!
Okay, enough of this rant. Next Fic: The death of Shamshel and the forging of an adventuring group: DOWN WITH NERV!......................................
What do they do again??
The Silent One
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.). And please remember to Review the fic after you have finished, please.
Evangelion: The Forgotten Realms
Chapter Three: Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Angels....Ah Damn!
"But you are the only one who can protect me...Shinji the Black." She whispered to the air, as though someone would overhear her private little moment, and sell it on the streets of Athkatla for two copper a word.
************************************
Shinji quickly made his way down to the tavern and after thanking Bently Mirroshade as well as purchasing two items he might need later on, he stepped outside. And gasped at the sight before him. The entire wall of the temple was indeed collapsed, and a large crater was formed in a semicircle somewhat buried by the walls rubble. Several people were currently shifting through the ruined partition and removing less damaged pieces to be salvaged. Shinji sighed heavily before he stomped his way down the stairs and through the litters of bodies in the courtyard. Slowly and carefully he weaved in and out of the dead and dying and finally made it to the ruined drawbridge, the two guards from the night before helping clear away the ruined house off to the right. One of them looked up and noticed him.
"Hey! You're the guy that took down that monster two nights ago, right?"
The other looked up and then back down to the stones at his feet.
"Yeah, I guess I am." Shinji solemnly intoned. "What happened here?"
"The explosion shook the ground for miles around, this old building here simply couldn't take the shockwave...we think some people were still inside when it went..."
Silence fell as the two guards turned their eyes downward and then went back to sorting through the rubble for bodies. He watched for a few moments longer and then walked out the blackened stone archway.
Sliding down the rocky trench that seperated the small expanse of the front from the forest beyond and then scaling up the other side he turned backwards and survyed the damage wrought on the place of rest.
"Why does this always happen? Why? Anywhere I go, trouble follows me...and people die...I hate this life."
"Well then, you should feel some remorse shouldn't you."
The voice was thick and rough, coming from underneath thick strands of brownish black hair that formed a long, thick, braided beard. What hair that came from the the crown of his head was hidden beneath a dented and well-worn helmet with a movable face guard. From underneath this mass of unruly hair peered out two small and beady eyes of deep brown. The dwarf, for it was a dwarf, was also outfitted with a well scratched set of scalemail armor and a matching pair of knotched and scratched axes crossed over his backside. Standing slightly behind and off to the right of the dwarf stood a gnome: thin for its kind but wearing the usual wirerimmed spectacles for its race, with short brown hair and a thin mustach and goatee; it fidgited as he watched the staredown take place.
"Why should I?" Came his cold response.
The dwarf growled menacingly and brought one of his hands forward in a fist, shuffling forward a step and kicking up a small cloud of dust as his foot set down roughly.
"Toji..calm down, he's not worth it." Came the high-pitched voice from the nervous voice of the gnome.
"SHADDUP!" The dwarf stormed forward and belly-bumped the slighter Shinji back a few steps before he continued even angrier than before. "My sister was in that house!" His finger pointed at the ruins near the gates, "She was the only family I ever had! She was the only one besides me in my family line! And now...now," The shoulders of the squat muscular man shook as he finally broke down and started to cry. "Now she's dead...all because you had to go an' kill that BASTARDLY CREATURE!"
"So what do you want me to say? I'm sorry?"
At that the eyes snapped up from the ground and fixated themselves on Shinji's torso. Before either Shinji or the gnome could blink the dwarf was barreling forward and slamming both of them back into the rock filled moat. The pair rolled twice and finally ended up at the bottom covered in bruises and scrapes, Shinji moreso than the thougher dwarf. Suddenly he found himself lifted up off of the ground and shaken wildly until he felt his nose start to bleed a bit.
"WHY? WHY DID MY SISTER HAVE TO DIE!! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME!!"
His answer came in the form of a blurred fist, connecting slightly above the jawline. The blow wasn't powerful, but enough to imbalence the heavier fellow so that Shinji could roll him over and onto his back. He was about to deliver another punch when he felt a bodyblow from behind. The blow merely upset him enough to leave the blow unconnected, and soon another problem arose as two thick and stringy arms wrapped themselves around his head and neck. It was a feeble attempt to force a release so Shinji let the gnome have his fun, as for the dwarf named Toji: his fist drew back once more, in preperation to deliver a knock out punch to the squirmy creature below him.
"Stop."
The three combatants immediatly stopped their various actions and struggles to look up at the source of the voice that seemed, flat yet flighty. Sure enough, the blue haired elf stood nearby; waiting patiently for the three to stop their little fight and pay attention to her.
"Perhaps you should do that elsewhere...there has been enough fighting here. It would not be kind to give these people more death than they already have."
"What the hell do you know! This bastard here helped kill my sister!!" Toji shouted at her, tears running up along the sides of his forehead as he stared back at the pale elf.
"No, he saved lives. Mine, yours, his, those," Rei pointed back into the courtyard at the litters of wounded. "They all survived because he killed the Angel...your sister died because of simple bad luck, Besheba has a way of doing things such as this. For you to condemn this man for saving lives is an exersice in futility."
Shinji felt the hands slide away from his neck, and the dwarf beneath him went rubbery. Slowly and cautiously he stood up and looked down at the two men and then back up at the moon elf.
"Thanks." Was all he said before turning and climbing once more out of the moat. This time there was no obstruction to his path, and he didn't waste his energy in turning back to wave goodbye.
"Its always the same...everywhere I go people end up hurt. I hate my existance for this cruel fate."
****************************************
Two figures stood high above the Friendly Arm Inn. One, wrapped in a dark cloak that continually whipped around, frowned silently and turned to the other. This one was robed as well as cloaked, but unlike the first: its clothes remained calm and undisturbed.
"Your brother failed. So now you must take his place." Came the assasins soft voice.
"I will not fail you. Unlike my predecessor, I am subltly more powerful and dangerous. First I shall deal with the boy, the one who killed the third. Then I shall retrieve the masters request for you." The voice came as a hiss, nearly quiet but at the same time easily heard. It set the teeth of the other man to grinding in thinly vieled nervousness.
"Be sure you don't. If that boy does not finish you then I will should you fail me."
A cold flash of metal emphisied the deadly meaning behind the warning and the creature was smart enough not to belive that it would be carried out if he did fail.
"I, Shamshel, go for my mission."
And without a whisper in the wind, the creature faded from view. Leaving the assasin to resheath his dagger and await the return of one victorious Angel.
"Of course; if that boy could take down Sachiel...he might just be able to destroy this one as well."
The figure contemplated that line of thought for a moment and then moved off to behind the overlooking bluff. Moving north through the trees in the Spiderhaunt Woods and making way for the flourishing port of Baldur's Gate.
******************************************
The dwarf, Toji of the clan Boodaxe: son of Suzahara the Twice Maimed; sat crying softly for his dead sister as his now one and only friend: Kensuke, known as the Spetacled, watched the dissapearing form of Shinji's back as the boy walked down the rough trail. Kensuke let his friend cry for a few more moments and then bent down and placed both of his hands on the sides of Toji's wet cheeks.
"Toji.."
"W-what," The ususally surly dwarf blubbered out. "What do you want."
"We should bury your sister. Come...lets find the body."
Kensuke watched silently as his friends tears dried and his eyes clouded over, then stumbled along after him as he scrambled up the side of the moat and rushed to sort through and find his sisters last mortal remains.
They walked out of the Friendly Arms Inn bailey nearly half an hour later. Toji's arms filled with a long, cloth-wrapped, body shaped package. They walked out into the dangerous Spiderhaunt Woods for nearly a quarter mile before they stopped and Toji finally put down the body of his sister. Toji quickly and efficiently used his axes, bound together with two sturdy pieces of leather, as an improvised spade to dig away a small and shallow square of earth. Kensuke then conjured up a magical servent that carefully lifted her body and gently laid it face down into the black soil of her grave, then he used it to push the upturned ground back into the open square and cover the body.
As he was finishing up, Kensuke noticed that Toji was crying again. Silent tears rolled down his face and dissapeared into the thick braids of his beard.
"I'll leave you for a moment...take as long as you need Toji." The gnome clapped a hand on the stouter fellow's shoulder and grasped it firmly before heading off to another glade.
Kensuke was there for a scant few moments, idly listining to the soft murmur of Toji's farewells, when his highly sensitive ears picked up a faint rustling of leaves from ahead of him. Slowly, barely breathing, his hand dipped down and plucked out a trio of throwing daggers. Kensuke pulled his hand up, daggers set one a fingerspace, and carefully aimed it at the direction the sound was coming from.
Soon enough, the leaves closer by started to move, bend, sway, and bounce as something came haphazerdly through them.
"A little more...just a little more!" Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as his arm slightly dipped from the strain of the position. Then there came a flurry of motion, the branches parted and bent aside.
Kensuke slowly lowered his hand and ducked aside into a small grove of young sapwoods.
From the grove came snuffling and snorting that slightly rose above the heavy, slow footfalls as the bear wandered through the open area of forest. It stoped at the spot Kensuke had stood in, looking down as its nose tried to identify who the stranger to the forest was. It stopped abruptly and looked around as Kensuke began chanting harsh arcane whispers and gestruing in small fluid motions as the beggining of a spell was started. The bear located the source of the enigmatic noise and started to edge forward only to be struck by a golden ball of light that shot from the cupped hands of its caster. The bear...whimpered and immediatly fled back through the opening in the trees. Leaving a smirking Kensuke happy at his accomplishment.
"Not bad...not bad at all I say!" He whispered self gratiatingly for his own pleasure.
"Perhaps," The voice made Kensuke freeze, chills ran down his spine as its low hiss continued. "But perhaps it will not be good enough to save you from me."
Toji feebely wiped his cheeks with the back of his stained and weathered hands as he finished his broken goodbye to the last of his family. He stood a moment longer as his mind slowly memorized the location and feel of the gravesite, his body wanting to leave but his mind wanting to stay forever in its softly lit, cool bourghs.
Then came Kensuke's scream of pain, more like a loud gurgle really. The end part of it dying off in an unintelligable sounding rasp of...submittance? Toji raced over to his axes and ripped the leather apart in his haste to prepare himself to fight. He rushed through the last of the tree branches and stopped cold.
His friend dangled from a tree branch, his feet nearly two feet off of the ground. Thin streams of white smoke curled away from his head and neck as his hands, feebely attempting to free his neck from the thick brownish material wrapped around it, fell uselessly to his side. Toji sreamed in rage as the forehead dipped sideways and Kensuke's tounge lolled out of his mouth, thick and purplish to match his face color as the precious supply of air was prolongedly choked off.
"KENSUKE!"
There was a thick swoosh of air followed by a wet snap as one of Toji's twin axeblades sliced into the odd rope that meant slow death to his longtime friend and buried itself into the tree behind it with a sharp thunk. Toji rushed forward in a hasty attempt to grab Kensuke before he fell and broke something important, managing to slow the fall enough to allow for a soft landing on the pile of leaves and grass below.
"Kensuke!..Kensuke! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
"No amount of shaking or name calling will get him awake now, my sweet puppet." Came a hiss from Toji's left.
Thin branches snapped or were cleanly sheared as his second axe was swung in a wide arc through the foliage.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO KENSUKE!" He angrily shouted.
"Oh don't worry. Your friend isn't permenantly damaged. But I'm afriad he won't be waking up just yet." Came the voice from his right.
Before Toji could do another bonesplintering swipe with his axe, something thick and smooth wrapped itself around his larynx with a thwip. Sharp, stinging pain followed by buring redness seeped up from his neck in rapid succession as he franticly clawed at the obstruction with his free hand. Soon the world started blurring and he dropped the axe in favor of using another hand to attempt to free himself.
"Oh no, no, no...we can't have that."
There came something he had only heard once. His father had died on the fields of battle during a fierce thunderstorm. He died not of arrows or swords, he died not of men but of the whim of the gods. That day he had heard a terrible sound as a thick bolt of lightning arched down from the black clouds and engulfed his patriarch. Then there was smell, the smell of cooked air and roased flesh that accompanied the crisped body.
The sound of lightning roared in his ears before the painful process of electrucution began.But the last thing he remembered was the smell of ozone permeating his nose...and the dull, muted sounds of his pain wracked screames shattering the peace of his sisters gravesite.
*****************************************
Shinji had traveled most of the morning, and a few hours past highsun before he even saw the bridge that crossed the River Chionthar and headed into the east gate of Baldur's Gate. The city walls itself slowly grew higher and higher as he approached the simple and effective toll bridge. Even as he approached he began mentaly calculating what it might take for him to be able to cross over into the city itself as he neared the first archway to pass across the bridge.
Thats when he saw the first of the bodies.
Three men decked in chain with pikes and what looked to be the shattered remains of a longsword scattered across the cobblestones. The same cobblestones now thickly coated by deep crimson blood. The men all wore the same black helms with red sidebands running down from the top to the bottom.
"City guard...but who?" Shinji knelt by one and gently eased his shaking hand into the nearest pool of blood. Warm, but cold enough to be a hour old or so.
"Well, well, well...so glad you finally show."
Shinji snapped upright at the sudden hiss that came from the shadowed archway ahead of him, his hand instantly strayed to the top of his small shoulder satchel. The shadowed figure stepped slightly into the light and partially revealed its features to the boy.
Shinji felt slightly sickened at the weird parody of life he saw in the unnatural creature. Underneath its open cloak and barely concealing robes and near the middle of its chest which held a circular red orb, much like the creature back at Friendly Arms, was a small collection of thin arms that were more like insect legs from large beetles. The head resembled a beetles as well, with two oval shaped white outlinings that contained a small white dot in the center of each. There were no legs as far as Shinji could tell, in fact, the thing wasn't standing on the ground at all! It was hovering slightly in place, the ground a mere six inches away from the bottom of its round and unfeatured lower torso.
"By the nine hells and all the demons of the Abyss what are you!" He shouted as his hand finally reached deep into his satchel and pulled out the item he had purchased from Bently Mirrorshade. The string on the crossbow hummed and spat forth a small, thick quarrel at the inhuman monster.
Shinji swore he heard its raspy voice chuckle at him as he rapidly began to reload the weapon, his hands moving quick enough that as the string reached halfway down the stock his first quarrel struck the target.
And rebounded from the blue circular magic shield that appeared at its tip.
"WHAT!?"
"Poor little mortal...still not comprehending anything are you? Come, let us see if others can give some enlightenment to you."
The creature flew backwards from Shinji, who finally reloaded his weapon and leveled it at the retreating form. Deciding quickly that it was too far away to actually damage it he bent down and pull out one of the glaives from underneath a guards body. The helm slammed back down with a wet chang, making Shinji wince as he gripped its blood slicked haft and ran through the arch. He exited out onto a long stone causeway that led down to a smaller wooden drawbridge that was supported by several stone anchored woodbeams that made an inverted L that went out over the river. Small hooks were on the bottoms of the L and lanterns hung on a few of them.
But the one Shinji was concerned with held no illuminating source. Instead it held a gnome and a dwarf...a very familiar pair. The creature had tossed off its cloak and in its three fingered hands it held two strange whips. The whips had metal handles that were inscribed with unfamiliar runes that looked to be anchient elvish, but that wasn't the strangest thing about them. The actual length of whip was...metalic by nature. It shimmered and shined and glinted as their owner let them slide about the wood causing, though the creature never moved his hands itself.
Then there were the sparks that flew from the tips and scorched the thick duskwood beams when the tips came close together.
"Good...you followed." The voice emminated from no discernable mouth, but its hissing was somewhat of an annoyance to Shinji.
"Yeah, I can't have you running around without finding out your name at least. Bad for me and rooming accomidations."
"Witty...if you want to call me something, call me Shamshel: the Angel of Lightning."
"Angel..? What the..not another one of you! Look, what the hell did I do to deserve this, hun? I didn't want to kill your friend, brother, sister, whatever the Abyss that thing was back at Friendly Arms...but he pushed me too far."
"What? Sachiel? You think this is about him? That weak pathetic excuse for an Angel..He Was NOTHING compared to me! This is all about one thing...insurance."
"WHAT?" Shinji gripped the haft of the glaive painfully hard. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"
"Simple," Shamshel flicked his wrists up and the whip-lengths slid into the handles with a sound that reminded one of a snake moving through dry grass. "You took down one of us, and you humans 'are' nortorious for gaining power and experiance rapidly. It is a matter of expediance that for my mission to be carried out, you died first."
"Did it ever occur to you that by just avoiding me the problem could be more easily handled THAT way?"
Shamshel ignored the dripping tone of sarcasm and insted continued on in his soft hissing voice.
"But I can't ignore your threat to my mission...after all, its objective is following you." The creature leveled an arm and pointed behind Shinji.
"Wha?"
Fearing a trick he only half-turned to the side, but in that turn he glimpsed a small piece of white float back into the shadows. Shadows that feebely attempted to conceal eyes of deep red and locks of short ice blue.
"Rei of the Ayanami?! What's she doing here...was she following me?" He thought to himself before quickly turing around to face the Angel.
"So...let us try something here. These two are going to drown, probably, if I cut the rope and let them sink into the Cionthar...you, can save them."
"And how would I do that?" Shinji slowly relaxed his body forcibly.
"Simple...kill me."
There came a single, fast, flicking motion from Shamschel's hand let Shinji know the game had just started. He quickly racked his avalible spells and snarled out a fast armoring spell just as the knife sliced through half of the rope holding the two bound, armed, and armored men to the bridge. As he whipped around his crossbow he noted the soft voice behind him muttering a prayer, no time to delay however as the Angle floated forward quickly in an attempt to close the gap and bring his weapons into play. Shinji's hand tightened on the release trigger, and once more his weapon sang and sent out a deadly piece of metal and wood. It was rebounded once again, but this time it had more impact as it slowed Shamshel down to roughly a quick walk that forced his first swings with the strange whips to pass by a wide margin.
Behind Shinji the prayer stopped and a stream of greenish motes flew out from two palms to encirle the cut in the rope. The rope had been slowly sagging downwards as one fiber and then another gave way underneath the heavy weight its length bore. But now it stopped momentarily as several strands reconnected themselves and the remaining strands found themsevles strengthened. Rei smiled at her work and then turned to reawakening the two bound men held safely but dangerously over the rushing river.
"WENCH! Stay out of this!" Shamschel's hissing voice rose to a shriek as he snapped a whip in her direction. Shinji could smell the ozone that rapidly followed the downward flight of the metal rod and quickly reacted, thrusting the polearm which he had been using to parry with up to intercept the downward flight of the whip as it began to extend.
The massive electrical charge that had built up suddenly found itself discharged violently as it met with an unexpected resistance with the wood shaft of Shinji's glaive. The charge immediatly spent itself on the new contact, instantly vaporising particals of wood and causing others to expand rapidly from the unusual forces being exerted on their grains.
The shaft exploded.
Silent Notes: Well, gonna cut this one short and leave off with a cliffhanger for ya. If some of you have a problem with Toji being a crybaby, or if others have a problem with a dwarf showing too much emotion: Toji loves his sister very much, and YES I am deviating from NGE and YES I DO KNOW IT!! I don't wan't to have Toji's character just running around all over the place and leaving around family ties that I will have to come back to later on. Plus, this is a world set in a time that is very harsh and cruel. Back in anchient times women were raped and children slaughtered daily. The Forgotten Realms and all D&D products are based off of those times, so if I want to kill of people for no good reason: I'm sure I can come up with a wandering band of mercs working for an evil lord to do just that! As to the dwarf crying........................
I dunno: some of them have to be emotional, right? I mean: comon, if he wan'ts to cry in the forest or while he's fighting Shinji let the man cry!
Okay, enough of this rant. Next Fic: The death of Shamshel and the forging of an adventuring group: DOWN WITH NERV!......................................
What do they do again??