Have a story.
Jace
"So?" the musical voice called out from above him "How would you like to be a hero?" The boy started and jumped into a rough defensive posture, or tried to at any rate. His feet got caught in the undergrowth and he ended up falling flat on his back staring up at the owner of the voice.
"Hmph," the cat in the tree snorted as it watched the boy's antics. "Not the best of starts I'll admit but your heart seems to be in the right place. So I'll say it again how would you like to be a hero?"
The boy just sat there gaping as he stared up at the, surprisingly realistic, hallucination. The cat was a jet black with bright green eyes and it perched on the branch with a grace he had never seen before. He yelped and jumped in shock as the cat leapt down from the tree and landed on the ground in front of him.
"Well? Speak up, I don't have all day you know? I need an answer either way, yes, or no. tell me which so I can help you or move on." The cat sighed as it could see that it's current tactic wasn't working "Saay what's your name anyway kid?" the cat continued as it prowled around him in a circle while examining him with it's inhumanly green eyes. "I need to know who my prospective hero is after all."
With the not so subtle prompt the boy finally found his voice "J-Jace. My name's Jace. And yes I would like to be a hero Mr Cat sir. But who
are you and why are you well, umm-"
"A cat?" The cat finished for him in clear amusement "
That is a very long and very old story. But suffice to say that I was forced into this form when I rebelled against the Dark Queen and now I'm stuck like this." The cat shrugged "It doesn't matter, you get used to it, the only things I really miss these days are thumbs, but anyway. My name was lost to me a long time ago but at the moment I go by Kage, a pleasure to meet you young Jace."
Kage stopped prowling and sat down in front of Jace as he prepared for the inevitable barrage of questions that would come.
"Nice to meet you Kage" Jace Spoke up with a smile as he extended his hand in greeting. Kage blinked, slightly surprised by the response, before smiling back, as far as he could as a cat and extending a paw in return. "I think we're going to get on just fine"
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"What you need to understand is that how you feel now
is not normal. You've never known any differently but how you feel now is the result of a great curse cast by the Dark Queen millennia ago. It saps the energy from people and steals their power and feeds all of it to her." Kage explained carefully as he paced back and forth in front of his young charge who was being surprisingly attentive as he rested at the base of a large tree.
Jace frowned as he considered what Kage had told him "But if that's true then how can I help you? If I'm affected by this curse and it makes them stronger then how is it possible for me to fight them? I don't see how I can become a hero if that's the case" he said thoughtfully before starting suddenly "Not that I'm not willing to try Kage. If you say it's possible then I'll do what I can!" He backtracked quickly in the fear that Kage might decide to leave.
Kage just snorted as he rested his head on his paws "You're exactly right I would not send you against them like this even if I had no other choice. Doing so would lead to nothing but your death. No, take this." Kage leapt up into the nearest tree and fetched something small and golden from it's branches. "It is an artefact I created to block the effects of the curse from a single person, namely you. With it you should have no problem matching the Demons you are likely to encounter. Hopefully after a few raids I should be able to make some more of them and then we'll be able to start putting a team together and making some actual progress."
Jace took it and as he examined it he noticed that it was some kind of golden bracelet studded with various jewels and engraved with strange patterns. "Wait" he said as he scrunched up his blue eyes "If you can make stuff like this then why do you need my help at all couldn't you just do everything yourself?"
Kage chuckled softly at his pupil's perceptiveness "Regretfully not. That bracelet you're holding took me the better part of three months to make and that was with things going well. My powers are greatly limited in this form and as I mentioned I'm stuck with it. So I'm going to be relying on you to do all the hard work if that's okay?"
Jace was practically jumping up and down on the spot by this point in his eagerness to get started "Don't worry about it Kage you can count on me! So? How do I use this thing anyway?" he asked contemplatively while shaking the bracelet vigorously as if he could get the magic out of it that way.
"Hold it above your head" Kage instructed simply "and say the first words that come to mind when you think of why you want to use it. That should be enough"
Instantly Jace's hand shot up and held the bracelet high above his head and he closed his eyes for a second as he focused. Before relaxing and speaking out in a strong and clear voice "For Justice. Give me the power to protect Everyone!"
As soon as he finished speaking his whole body was consumed by a blinding white light that hid his entire form from view without hurting the eyes of those watching, Kage in this case.
Not bad. It seems like his heart's in the right place. This might just work after all.
After a second or so the light faded and revealed the new Jace. His black hair had bleached out to a silvery white and he was garbed in a long blue coat with a red jacket underneath. In his hand he held a sword and he stood taller than before.
Jace stared down at his hands in awe. He could feel the power he had now, the strength that surged through his body and he could hear the words being whispered in his mind that would call that power forth to destroy his foes. He clenched his fist before looking back up at Kage. "I'm ready what's the plan?"
Kage sighed
So he's a hot head after all. Why is it that as soon as someone got these powers they thought that they could take on the world? "The plan is to wait a week or so while you get used to your new abilities and get ready for actual combat. As powerful as you feel the Demons are just as strong and far more experienced. You're not ready."
Jace flinched slightly and cried out in protest "But Kage I can feel it! I can do this trust me. I can beat them just tell me where to go." His enthusiasm was contagious to an extent but Kage had plenty of experience in ignoring such things.
"No" Kage replied swiftly and calmly "You've had these abilities all of five minutes I'm not sending you out yet."
"Fine then." Jace replied hotly slightly hurt at the lack of faith in his ability "I'll do it on my own and show you that I can handle it!" He pronounced before turning to head off.
"Oh?" Kage said quickly before he could go wandering off and wishing that he could raise an eyebrow at him "And do you know where to look for these enemies? No, well how about tracking them? No again? Well I imagine you know the signs they leave and can deduce what plans they would use?" Kage waited for a second while Jace said nothing "Well, there you have it then. You aren't fighting anyone without my help so sit down and heed the wisdom of your elders."
With clear reluctance Jace turned back around and sat down to pay attention.
"Good. Now one of the most important things to remember is that..."
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"So, this is it then? The enemy base that is?" Jace asked with a frown on his face
"Yes, this is definitely the source of the spell I was detecting" Kage replied while staring intently at the building in question with his tail lashing back and forth.
"But a church, really?" Jace continued in disbelief
"Is it really that surprising? The Court have insinuated themselves in every facet of human governance, anything to control the masses. Is it really surprising that they would use religion as one of their tools?"
"Well, no. But I wouldn't have thought that Demons would be able to enter churches, holy ground and all that."
"It's been over five thousand years since anyone truly consecrated a place as holy, that building hinders them as much as any other. Not at all. Now are you certain of the plan?"
"Right" Jace said as he banished his thoughts on the church and turned to business "The Demons have set up a spell to drain energy from the people in the town and the focus point is in the church somewhere, it will be some kind of decoration made of gold and jewels, I should be able to feel it as I get closer as a kind of miasma. My Goal is to find it and bring it out here to you so that you can destroy it and salvage any components you can from it."
Jace paused to take a breath and rolled his eyes at Kage to say that he didn't need to go over it again "It is reasonably likely that I am going to encounter a Demon down there guarding it. If so I should kill it. Is that satisfactory? Can I go now? As I said
I'm ready."
Kage closed his eyes for a second before breathing out and opening them and replying "Fine, transform and go. I will wait here for you, but Jace? Be careful." Having said his piece Kage slid off into the shadows just another patch of darkness in the night.
Jace's smile was threatening to split his face from ear to ear as he held his bracelet up and spoke "For Justice. Give me the power to protect Everyone!" and with a flash of light he stood garbed in blue and holding his sword. He nodded one last time at where Kage was waiting before leaping off the roof and down to the entrance to the church. He landed with a quiet thud and he looked back at the roof he had jumped from and marvelled at the distance he had travelled. It must have been 20 meters and two stories in a single jump and he felt fine.
Jace grinned again and with a quick slash of his sword sliced through the locks on the door as if they were made of butter. Sheathing his sword in an entirely unnecessary flourish he pushed the door open with a dull creak.
"Now if I was an evil demon where would I hide a magical artefact to gather the most energy?" Jace asked himself quietly "Ah, of course the altar." With his destination set he started slowly walking up to the altar keeping a careful eye out in case of an ambush. The church was quite eerie at night and the knowledge that at any moment face eating demons could come jumping out at him didn't help.
As Jace got closer to the altar he could start to feel it, a sickening crawling sensation on his skin, like insects running all over him combined with a nauseating stench which wasn't. Having been told to expect such a feeling Jace knew that he wasn't really feeling such things, but it was still unpleasant.
He knew it as soon as he saw it, it was the only thing gaudy enough to be it. The device was shaped as an ornamental golden cross studded with rubies and set into the front of the altar. Jace sneered at it, he found it rather insulting that a symbol like that was being used to hurt people. He stepped closer and his hand shot out and grabbed it splintering the wood it was set in and with a minor effort tore it free of the wooden altar.
As soon as he did so he felt a cold breeze blow through the church and a loud crash came from outside. After sparing one last glare at the cross he tucked it away inside his coat in that strange place he pulled things from. "Well I'm guessing you're the Demon in charge of keeping an eye on this place then? I knew this was too easy." Jace called out to the person who had entered the church while he was putting the cross away. The person didn't answer and just growled instead as he seemed to burst into flame as his body reshaped itself into a monstrous form.
The Demon stood 8 feet tall and was coloured a dull crimson. It held a large mace in it's right hand and a sinister looking gauntlet on the other. It's face was a thing out of nightmares all fangs and horns and drool. "Well aren't you an ugly one?" Jace commented at it while stretching out his arms and taking a firmer grip on his sword "Well then. Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough"
With that last comment both combatants burst into motion and charged at each other tearing up all the pews in their way. As they got close to each other the Demon attacked first as it swung it's mace violently at Jace with an inhuman bellow. Jace snorted slightly at the simplicity of the attack and slid around to the side and avoided it completely. He was then caught completely by surprise when the mace hit the floor and shook it like an earthquake, leaving a massive crater where it hit. "Not just ugly but strong as well. Good for you." Jace commented as he brought his sword around in a silver arc aimed straight for the Demon's head "My turn"
Jace was expecting the Demon to die right there as his sword removed it's head and so he was caught off guard when the Demon simply reached up and caught his sword using that strange gauntlet it had. "Oh cra-" was all he ahd time for as the Demon whipped the sword around and threw Jace away like a cannonball directly into one of the massive stone pillars that stood around the edges of the church causing a massive boom and a cloud of dust. The Demon waited while growling softly as it stared at where Jace had landed as it could tell by some instinct that he wasn't finished yet.
The Demon's caution was proved correct as the dust cloud was suddenly blown away to reveal Jace standing in a stance surrounded by a blue aura as he held his sword tightly back in it's sheath "Awaken, Sacred Sword"
The Demon howled as it could tell that he was building up for something and pointed the gauntlet at him while speaking in a monstrous voice
"BlaCK STOrM" immediately streams of black lightning poured forth from the gauntlet at Jace who had started moving by then still without drawing his sword.
Jace dodged the first blast of the lightning by the narrowest of margins only to get caught by a glancing blow from the next. The pain from the blast and shock caused him to stumble slightly, not much, but enough for the next few blasts to re-orient on him with no room to dodge. Shaking off the pain with a hiss Jace reacted instantly and drew his sword in a smooth motion and placed it between himself and the lightning. The black spells slammed into the glowing blue sword and drove Jace back a step from the force of it before he steadied his footing and with a yell of effort deflected them up into the ceiling where they detonated explosively, sending rubble falling everywhere.
In the chaos of it all the Demon lost track of Jace until it heard a voice from below it. "Sacred Sword, Judgement Cut!" With a single slash of blinding light Jace's sword sliced through the Demons arm and cut it off completely sending both it and the gauntlet flying off into the air. The Demon howled in pain but didn't hesitate as it tried to smash him with it's mace. Jace simply leapt backward into the air and began focusing his power into his left fist. "Finishing strike, Catastrophic Rain!"
With that he opened his fist and from his hand came a wave of shining purple spheres that shot forward at the Demon and slammed into it with crushing forth. For a good 10 seconds the explosions continued before Jace landed back on the ground and walked out of the church, not even sparing a glance at his dead foe. With a leap he was back on top of the roof where he'd started an eternity ago.
"Well" Kage's voice rang out from the shadows next to him "You've certainly had an exciting evening. I wonder what explanation they'll come up with to cover that then?" Te said while hopping up on to the edge of the building and gesturing back at the ruined church with his head. "At any rate were you successful in anything other than destroying that demon?
"Tch" Jace clucked frowning good naturedly "Do you even have to ask?" He replied while pulling the cross from his coat with a flourish.
"Excellent. Well then would you mind doing the honours?" Kage asked politely
"Gladly" Jace said before tossing the cross up into the air and a quick flash later caused it to fall back to the roof in two pieces. Immediately Kage busied himself looking at the two parts of it and began commenting under his breath.
"Yes, yes. This is good they put a lot of effort into this one. I can use this." He trailed off before speaking to Jace this time "We got lucky." He said bluntly "This is a very high quality device. I can use this to make another Badge for someone, so it looks like you'll be getting yourself a partner. Well done, this is a good first blow against the Court I was right in choosing you it seems." Kage finished in a congratulatory tone.
"Hey Kage?" Jace spoke up.
"Hmm" Kage replied absent mindedly having gone back to examining the cross pieces.
"Why was I the person you picked to do this? You know to be a hero?"
"Oh that's easy. I'd been spying on you for the past few days. I'd been keeping an eye out for candidates and you made the list so I spied on you for a few days to get an idea of what kind of person you were. You passed and so I made the offer." Kage explained casually
"Wait, so that day when we met and you asked me for my name..."
"Oh yes I knew it already I just wanted you to start talking rather than staring"
Jace just frowned and stared at the cat who wasn't anywhere near as embarrassed as he should have been. Kage just laughed at his expression.
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"Commander Jace! Commander Jace." a young boy with red hair and freckles came streaking into the office panting like a dog. "The mission was a success we killed the Demons and destroyed the artefacts. The base is useless to them now."
"Well done Richie you performed admirably. Now go and get some sleep, you look like you need it." Jace replied with a smile.
The boy smiled back even as he swayed on the spot before catching himself "Yes sir I'll do that right away thank you." and hurried out of the room.
Jace just chuckled before calling after him "And what have I told you about calling me sir?" He shook his head at Richie's enthusiasm before speaking to the seemingly empty room. "So Kage, that makes 4 bases this week we've destroyed. At this rate we should be able to drive them out of the city by the end of the month. What do you think, is it going well?"
"Not bad" Kage admitted leaping in through the window "I was sure you hadn't detected me that time. As for the progress, you're right things are going well but it's only going to get worse from here. Before we were a nuisance now we're a threat. They're going to send stronger Demons after us maybe even a Marshal. The battle isn't over yet."
"True but I think you're worrying to much. We have over 20 warriors here ready to fight and we all have decent amounts of experience, I think we can handle whatever they throw at us. Even if we can't and the worst comes to worst we can just go to ground and scatter, start again in another city." Jace stood up and started pacing the room as he planned "We might have to do that anyway. Once we clear out the city we'll be too much of a threat for them to leave alone. By that point it will be best if we all move on so that they can't concentrate their forces to take us out. Either way I think we've done it Kage!"
Kage lashed his tail in a combination of excitement and worry. He agreed with his friend mostly but he knew not to underestimate the High Court. They were far more dangerous than Jace could really understand. But he could let his pupil fight without fear for now. There was no point in worrying over the infinite possibilities of the future after all.
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"Finishing strike! Whitelight cutter!" With one final battle cry Jace slew the last of the Demons fighting him before collapsing to the ground panting in exhaustion. He had been fighting for most of the day and the transformation was never meant to be used for this long, he was reaching his limits. Even as he struggled to recover another explosion occurred in the distance. Jace cursed and using his sword a a crutch he forced himself to his feet and started running towards the site of the explosion.
He was slightly recovered by the time he got there, enough that he could imagine defeating a Demon at least. What he found was a desolate battleground that had once been a set of houses, Jace could see the bodies scattered around and his sword creaked from the pressure he was putting on the hilt.
As he was examining the area Jace spotted a hint of movement in front of him. Quickly dashing over he found Richie in his un-transformed state bleeding from a deep wound to his side. "Richie! Hold on don't move. I'll get you to a healer don't worry, you'll be fine." he called out to him desperately before his priorities reasserted themselves. "What happened here anyway? I told you to escape and fall back to the safe-house. Why did you decide to get in a fight?"
Richie stirred as he saw Jace holding him "I'm sorry commander, but they were draining people." His eyes lit up a bit and his arm rose with surprising strength to grip Jace's coat "They weren't even trying to be subtle about it! They were sending Demons into the houses and dragging everyone outside then they just drained them. Totally. They were just throwing the bodies off into a pile at the side. I'm sorry commander but I couldn't just stand here and watch that. I had to do
something. I got them though and the people got away I can't ask for more than that." His eyes were starting to lose focus and Jace knew, though he didn't want to admit it that Richie didn't have long left.
"Heh" Richie coughed weakly "I don't think this was the only place they were doing it sir. I think it's happening all over the city. It's been an honour sir..." Richie let out one last breath before going still.
Jace stood up in silence "Damn it Richie what did I tell you about calling me sir?" he asked with tears in his eyes before turning to where he could hear the loudest sounds of combat. "I'll stop this Richie I won't let any more people die. No matter the cost. Count on it." With that he leapt up to the nearest roof and began sprinting towards the sounds of violence.
"
Damn it!" Jace yelled out in rage as he skidded to a stop before the burning house in front of him "I was too late, again." He slumped to his knees as he stared into the roaring flames "I can't do this. There are too many of them and I can only be in one place at a time. I can't stop them. Damn it all" Jace slammed his fist into the round next to him causing it to shatter into a shallow crater "Why are they doing this? We are their enemies here not all these innocent people. So why are they doing this?" He yelled out his fury and grief to the sky.
"It's all your fault you know?" A strange voice called out from everywhere and nowhere. It was a voice completely unlike any other Jace had heard before. It was like someone had taken a normal voice then overlaid a perfect version of it on top before making it into a song. The closest he could recall hearing to it was Kage.
"Who's there?" Jace yelled out in wary frustration as he took a defensive stance and tried to figure out where it was coming from. "Show yourself!"
"Now why would I do that?" The voice replied mockingly "Ah, but where are my manner? You can call me Tempest and you are Jace, the leader of this little rebellion. You've caused us quite a lot of trouble with this tantrum you've been throwing. Tut, tut, tut so many lives wasted because of the actions of a few terrorists. How tragic."
"We're not terrorists!" Jace replied furiously "We're rebels against your tyranny. And you can't talk about wasting lives considering it's [i[your[/i] Demons who are killing everyone! You know I reckon you're the commander here, so if I take you out this whole operation should fall apart!" Jace called back with a renewed sense of hope.
"Now why would that happen? This isn't some story, this is reality. Even if you somehow kill me this operation will continue exactly as planned. There's really nothing you can do. As to being rebels, how many times do you think we've put down rebellions like this? Has your furry little friend told you how many attempts there's been? How many failures? Your animal companion has been setting up things like this for thousands of years. They never succeed, they never help. All they cause is more suffering as the local population gets caught up in the fighting. Everyone who's died has died for nothing. Don't feel bad though, this has been one of the most successful rebellions so far. You should be proud, usually we don't have to do anywhere near as much damage to wipe them out. But you forced ours hands.
"No! I don't believe you!" Jace called out in response now looking around wildly to find where Tempest was hiding "I'll defeat you and stop your Demons. Then I'll stop the court as well."
Tempest's laughter echoes around the area like a storm "Ah, I haven't heard a joke that good in a long time. But if you want to stop my Demons there is a way, if you're willing to listen..."
"I'll never listen to you!" Jace called back with less certainty than he'd like. As he continued to search for his elusive foe.
There's something wrong. That was Kage's first thought as he entered the safe house through a window. The lights were all off and while it wasn't a hindrance to his feline eyes it was unusual. So with extra caution he slowly sneaked his way through the room making sure to keep out of easy sight if someone came in. As he reached the door his nose twitched as he suddenly caught the unmistakeable scent of blood.
Instantly he stiffened turning as still as a statue as he stretched his senses to their limits but he still couldn't determine anything else. Trusting to his own abilities and to luck he crept out of the room and into the main planning room.
It was a scene out of a nightmare, bodies lay all over the floor in pieces with blood slowly covering everything. Quelling his disgust for the moment Kage examined the scene more closely, trying to discern just what had happened. After a minute or so of examination he came to a few worrying conclusions. The first was that this was recent meaning that the killer may still be around. Next was that they had all been killed before they had a chance to transform as was apparent by their expressions and positioning. The third was a question, how did an enemy get close enough to kill all of these people silently and without letting them transform? The most obvious answer was that there was a traitor in their group and that thought chilled Kage's blood.
While running through a mental list of who could have done it Kage slowly walked through the rest of the house noting the bodies scattered around the building, like the others they had been killed without being transformed and were taken by surprise. Kage sped up sacrificing some stealth for speed, he was getting worried by this point and he didn't want to waste time.
He sped through room after room and followed a trail of corpses all the way to the top of the house. This wasn't a room that had been given a specific purpose so Jace had claimed it as his office and had retreated here a number of times when he needed some peace and quiet. Kage noticed that the door was open a crack and so he pushed it open the rest of the way and slowly entered the office.
"Jace?" he called out quietly, hoping against hope that he would find his friend here as he stalked into the room. His heart jumped when a voice answered him.
"Kage" Jace replied his voice as tired as Kage had ever heard it. He was slumped down in his chair bent over his sword, every inch of his posture an image of defeat. "I expected that you would arrive here eventually." He didn't make a move to get up he just sat there staring at the floor.
"Jace what happened here?" Kage asked as he walked closer "everyone's dead and-"
"I know" Jace interrupted as he looked up for the first time. It was then that Kage noticed that his sword was covered in blood "I killed them."
Kage was struck speechless by Jace's confession and he could find anything to say so Jace continued "We can't win this Kage. They were crushing us out there, we were beating them in the fights that we fought but they just kept coming. They were slaughtering the people for power and using it to create more Demons. We couldn't stop them, they were everywhere and that's when I realized. The whole world's like this any attempt we make to fight will just get more and more people killed."
He stood up and started pacing around the room gesturing wildly "even if we do free a city it's pointless. They can re-take it easily and the battle will just get people killed. I accepted these powers to protect people Kage, not to get them killed. I can't do it Kage, not if this is the cost."
he stopped his pacing and stared out of the window at the now quiet city. "I made a deal with their commander. I would end this rebellion myself and join their side and in exchange they would call off this attack and stop killing people." He chuckled with forced brightness "Who knows, I can probably stop them from doing this again if I'm on their side. Oh, god what have I
done?"
"Jace" Kage whispered out in heartbreak and despair.
"Don't call me that!" he cried out in anger as he spun around "Jace died here today I am Marshal Cain now. You should forget about me and go."
Cain turned and slowly began walking out of the room and as he reached the door he paused and spoke one last time "Kage. You were my friend for a long time, because of that I can give you this one chance. Run, leave here and stop trying to fight, live your life as you can. I can let you go this time but if we meet again I doubt I will be able to. Goodbye Kage."
With that he walked out of the room and left Kage sitting there, alone in the dark with nothing but his grief for company.
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It was a dark night and a sleek black cat was staring in through a window at a boy dutifully working away at his chores. The cat had been watching him for several days and had determined that he was a good candidate for the artefact he was carrying. The cat opened his mouth and was about to call out to the boy below him when the face of another boy he had made this offer to flashed through his mind. The cat flinched and closed his mouth. He hesitated for another minute before picking up the amulet and leaping away.
I'm sorry Jace. For everything. I can't do that to someone else, not again. I need another way, a better way the cat thought to himself as he walked away from the house behind him.
A long way away in another world a Marshal felt a flicker of emotion in his chest for a split second before crushing it ruthlessly and turning back to his work.
