Board Thread:Roleplay Ideas/@comment-26210095-20161015002246/@comment-26084195-20161025185714

Faenor of the Silver Laurel wrote: Eureka Enderborn wrote:

Faenor of the Silver Laurel wrote: 'Wouldn't have missed it,' he replies, reaching the top and standing opposite Anubis. Several of his "gates" appear, the golden swirls of light hypnotically writhing in the sunlight. "To the death." He stands, whipping out his battlestaff. This post has been made with the consent of Eureka Enderborn.

'To the death,' Asariel replies, pulling a black arming-sword with a golden crossguard and pommel out of one of his "gates".

Asariel's gates fire with flashes of gold-red light, lancing swords, spears, and other ancient weaponry at Anubis. With a cloud of purple miasma the Egyptian disappears, and Asariel rolls forward, just in time to avoid being skewered from behind.

Sparks fly as the two exchange rapid blows, but it becomes clear to both of them that of the two, Anubis is more skilled in hand-to-hand. Anubis disappears again, and Asariel's gates fire, just as he reappears above the Progenitor. Asariel steps back in shock, before leaping back even further before the was of the Pharaoh can pierce through him.

Anubis disappears again, and Asariel jams their two weapons together, before Asariel's own weapon shatters unexpectedly. Anubis teleports once more, appearing around twenty feet in the air, aimed directly at Asariel's heart. But when their eyes meet, there is no fear in the teenager's eyes.

'Let the winding path show the way to victory,' whispers Asariel as he pulls a bow out of one of his gates, and a strange spiralling sword out of another. Fitting the weapon to the string, the sword elongates into an almost-arrow, as he takes aim at the rapidly descending Anubis.

'Caladbolg!' he cries, releasing the odd weapon from the string, and blue energies swirl around it as it lances upward at Anubis. When it reaches the Pharaoh, it detonates, a massive explosion that shakes the very pyramid itself. Asariel looks up, then, as if warned by some sixth sense, dodges to one side, just as Anubis's battlestaff passes through the air where he had been standing.

Pulling a serrated sword like a calamus leaf out of another gate, Asariel leaps upward, seemingly impossibly far. He aims his bow downward, fitting the sword to the string, and takes aim at Anubis, still recovering from his failed attack.

'Amaterasu's judgement upon you,' he whispers, as blue-white light begins swirling around his sword-arrow's tip.

'Amanomurakumo!' he shouts, again releasing, and this one connects with the pyramid itself before detonating, leaving a large crater of sandstone rubble in the top of the ancient wonder. Asariel lands on the ground, and dodges to one side (almost out of habit by now) as Anubis teleports straight in front of him, swinging his battlestaff downward.

'You're good, Egyptian,' Asariel comments at he summons another sword (this one silver-bladed, with a simple golden crossguard, blue enameling, and a dark blue grip) and proceeds to almost dance with the Pharaoh atop Khufu's tomb. Both disengage after a moment, and look at one another before raising their weapons again.

'It appears I have no choice but to show the truth of my power,' Asariel says after a moment, then drops his bow, allowing it to dissipate into golden sparks which flash before dying out. He raises one hand, the other sinking his sword's tip into the ground. He begins to recite an invocation, an elegy concerning something, though what Anubis cannot fathom.

'I am the bone of my sword.'

Anubis attacks, and Asariel rapidly fires hundreds of ancient weapons, of every type, from every era, out of his gates.

'Steel is my body, and fire my blood.'

With flashes of purple miasma the Egyptian rapidly teleports around the field, but the area around Asariel is filled with such a thick flurry of swords, a storm of blades, that to try and teleport in is madness.

'I have created over a thousand blades,'

Anubis is forced to continue teleporting or risk becoming an Egyptian shish-kebab, as weapons continue filling the area, flying about as if they have minds of their own.

'Unknown to Love, and unknown to Life.'

Fire begins to encircle the pyramid, a ghoftly flame that does not burn or give off heat. The ground around Asariel's feet begins to take on an almost circuit-like look, as golden lines trace themselves all around the area within the flames.

'I have withstood pain to create these weapons.'

The storm of weapons begins to grow older and older in nature, with more ancient weapons flying about than before. Anubis can even see a few kopesh flying among them, and he is forced even further back.

'Yet, my hands will never hold anything true.'

The lines of golden light begin to writhe hypnotically as the area around the pyramid grows darker, and for a moment Anubis contemplates retreat.

'Infinite World Forge!'

And with the final words of Asariel's elegy, the world goes white.

Anubis looks around. All around him is a shifting wasteland of sand, ash, and bare rock, filled with sulfurous yellow gases drifting in the hot breeze. In the distance, monolithic black gears fill the sky in every direction, churning like a massive Victorian factory. And piercing the ground as far as the eye can see, like grave markers to an unimaginably large battle, are weapons, of every type, from every period in history.

'Welcome to my world,' comes a voice from behind him, and he turns to see Asariel there.

'That's right,' he continues, as if hearing Anubis's unspoken question. 'I don't create items. I create a world where imagination is possible. You can call it "imagineering" if you like.'

'What is this place?...' asks Anubis, gripping his battlestaff tighter.

'It's not real,' Asariel replies. 'Well, not real in a certain sense. This is all just a mirage, if you like. The image I saw just before my death, the one thing I took pride in.'

'Your death?...'

'Yes, I died once before. A stroke, I'm told. They brought me back, but this image is what I saw. A world suited for someone who worked with swords, and lived with swords, for his whole life.'

'But what is this place then?' Anubis asks, more emphatically now.

'If my power is actualizing concepts, then this is my concept of the word "Genesis". It's a factory, an unlimited forge where the rules of the normal world don't apply. This is the world behind the Genesis Gate.'

Anubis raises his battlestaff, leveling the edge at the Progenitor.

'Let's continue, then. I hope you've got enough weapons.'

'Don't get cocky,' Asariel replies, and the sand explodes.

Anubis races through the weapon-riddled field, battlestaff in hand, before disappearing and re-appearing behind Asariel. From every direction, swords rise out of the ground, and aim at the Egyptian, forcing him to move yet again or risk dying.

Grabbing a khopesh from the ground, Anubis throws it at Asariel, and the Progenitor steps to one side, letting it sail harmlessly past before it abruptly switches direction and attacks the Pharaoh, forcing him to cut through the weapon and causing it to fly apart in a shower of golden sparks.

'That's not going to work so well in my world,' Asariel comments, before pulling a sword from the ground next to him and swinging it in Anubis's direction.

'Arondight!' he shouts, and the sword responds, causing a line of spiderwebbed cracks in the ground to extend forward, causing Anubis to teleport yet again.

'Every weapon in this world actualizes something,' Asariel informs him, and Anubis suddenly has an idea. Picking up an arming-sword with a beautiful golden crossguard and black grip, he swings it downward, hoping with all his might that it's the weapon of legend that he thinks it is.

'Durandal!' he shouts, and the sword actually responds, bursting with brilliant light that causes Asariel to stumble back in surprise.

'Well now... I didn't consider that,' the Progenitor murmurs. 'He can use conceptual attacks here, because... yes...'

Asariel is so wrapped up in his contemplation that he nearly misses ducking as Anubis's was hurtles through the air where his head had been a fraction of a moment before. Kicking off the sand, the Progenitor slides several feet away before getting to his feet, and drawing out a red spear from the ground. Leaping back, he then jumps into the air and aims the spear downward, the tip burning with furious red light.

'Gáe Bolg!' he shouts, and hurls it downward with all his strength. Anubis teleports just before the spear hits, causing a massive shockwave that sends the Egyptian flying.

'That's that...' Asariel murmurs, before looking up and seeing Anubis there, covered in a familiar rosy shield.

'Rho Aias!' the Egyptian shouts, obviously remembering what it had looked like from their previous encounter.

Several dozen swords immediately rise from the ground and smash into the shield, but the rosy light holds, until Asariel and Anubis are almost face-to-face. It finally breaks, and Asariel's eyes widen.

'You're done,' Anubis murmurs into his ear, before withdrawing his was's straight-bladed end from the Progenitor. Asariel falls to his knees, blood pooling about him, and strangely enough, smiles.

'Go,' he says, looking happy about his death, and the world fades, Asariel with it, leaving Anubis alone on the top of the pyramid, as if he had never moved at all.

Nearby him are two khopesh, similar if not identical to the ones Anubis had seen in the tomb of Tutankhamen, and the red spear Asariel had used near the end, Gáe Bolg. They look almost heavier now, as if some light and airy quality had vanished, but they still looked serviceable, and they still give off the light from the weapons that indicated a concept being imbued inside of them. Anubis lay down on the ground, soaking up the light of the desert sun. His golden mask reflected it brilliantly, sparkling in the light of dusk.

"Ra has smiled on me."

After laying there recharging himself for quite a while, he stands and grabs the weapons which had come with him from the strange and wondrous realm. He held the Khopesh swords close. "You were a worthy opponent, boy. Find rest with whatever gods you held dear. This was but the first stepping stone on my road to greatness."

He gathers up all weaponry and returns to Memphis, still under construction, where Anrakyr is awaiting him.