The Craihna Continent: Horror on Halloween

Bao is standing in a large white room with a huge screen hanging off the wall and his cousin Warrior Locke tapping at buttons and flicking switches on a small panel below the screen, “at 1 minute past midnight last night a strange message started to broadcast from an unknown frequency. It didn’t come through that well but from what we could make out, it was a message for you”, “so uh can I hear it, we’ll do one better the signals coming in strong, observe the monitor”, the screen gets all fuzzy with static as a vision of a girl wearing a black ribboned dress and a small but long dragon clutching on to her shoulder, “hello, hello are you reading us? This is Kori-Aisu and Artemis, were Gaurdians of the Rifts, we have reason to believe a demonic swordsmen going by the name of Tobias has crossed onto your plain of existence, we would appreciate any help in capturing this fiend before he becomes a terror on your people. We will be arriving at the Craihna fortress shortly”, “cool I haven’t fought any decent swordsmen in ages”, “hey we sparred just yesterday morning”, “uh… your not decent your awesome”, “suck up your lucky I don’t whoop your ass right now but it looks like sunset is upon us”, the signal breaks up on the screen returning the static it came in on and Bao looks out at the sunset through an open window  and Bao sprints out of the room running into a pitch black main hall as the last rays of sunlight fade from sight. Something stirs in the darkness coming closer, Bao’s cat ears flicker hearing the softest step and turns only to be grabbed by the shoulders and thrown up high in to the air and caught in the arms of a young lady and as the flames in the torches flicker and flare she flashes her fangs and bows her head closer to Bao and kisses him on the cheek, “good morning sis, did you sleep well?”, “Oh Bao!! The new silk lined coffins from Dunvladmir are to die for!?!”, “I had to get something you could always use, do you remember what day it is today?”, Daria looks puzzled, “31st October”, Bao giggles, “we became brother and sisters 5 years ago today”, as he says that his other sister Fyre walks up out of their crypt and tucks some of her hair behind her ear and kisses Bao on the cheek too, “happy anniversary little brother”, she waves a small envelope in front of his face, “this is our present to you”, “what is it”, “we’ve been doing a lot of research when you’ve been out of the castle, in this envelope lies a spell that will give you control over Valermos for one battle but it will only work once and only once”, Garret runs in, “hey Bao, some girl just vaporized in to the throne rooms claiming to be a Guardian of the Rifts”, “Kori-Aisu!! Daria and Fyre, please excuse me our land has an intruder, we have to take care of”, “be careful Bao”, “always!!”, Daria puts Bao down and he runs out of the room with Garret to the throne room and puts the envelope in his pocket. As they enter the throne room Kori-Aisu is stood in the centre of the room wearing a dress made completely out of black ribbons and holding a staff of pure white with a web encrusted green jewel at the top and artemis is flittering around in the air above her, “The legendary Bao Ledian I presume”, “yep that’s me”, “you’re a lot shorter than I imagined”, “enough of the pleasantries today is a special day and your sounded desperate in the communication”, “your right today is a special day, today is Halloween and your realm is the last realm”, “what’s Halloween and what do you mean by were the last realm”, “Halloween is the one day of the year where all creatures of the night are at their strongest but in most realms it’s a magical night where the creatures of the night commune with the creatures of the day and party like there’s no tomorrow and exchange treats so to speak, as for the last realm. Over all the realms we protect yours is the only one who doesn’t celebrate Halloween”, “oh!”, “because of that we thought here would be the best place to hide Jack’s Lantern and before you ask it’s a powerful crystal that can only be activated on this day but to activate it, it needs the blood of a vampire” Artemis growls while sniffing the air, “Kori-Aisu, he’s here, I can smell his decaying essence. Tobias is here. In this castle. Right now”, suddenly a scream shatters the silence, “my sisters?”, Kori-Aisu and Artemis look at each other then at Bao as he start running back to the room where he left his sisters and they follow to find Fyre huddled by the wall rubbing a blackened hand print on her face where the demon had slapped her and now he has Daria held up in the air by her throat, her eyes dark and piercing while she struggles in his grip, “Tobias!!”, “put my sister down now or else”, Tobias grins looking backwards over his shoulder and unsheathes his sword with his free hand, “nice to see I have an audience”, “Put Her Down NOW”, “it wouldn’t be the same without an audience, though you didn’t hide it that well this year Kori”, he lets go of Daria’s neck and forces his sword through her stomach then spins pulling the sword out and letting Daria fall to the floor as her blood starts to gush and cascade off her pelvis and Tobias holds out a large onyx colored orb with the image of a Jack O’Lantern pumpkin glowing in the middle of it and wipes the blood from his sword onto the crystal and it starts to shine like the moon light and melds into his chest, twisting and changing his appearance, with long black trousers, a white ruffled shirt and a long black cape and a large pumpkin crown, “and so it has come to pass, that I King Tobias will rule over all Darkness”, “he’s absorbed the crystal. Nothing short of a god could stop him now. Bao…?”, Bao had been looking at the ground the whole time, “don’t you see Kori, you’ve lost. Even your backup admits defeat”, Fyre hugs Daria close and glances at Bao and her eyes open wide having seen this presence in Bao only once before, Bao lifts his head his eyes a flame and a grin wipes clean across his face, small fragments of metal scatter and glimmer with light bouncing off the small pieces and as they gather they swarm to Bao’s paws and form the War Talons right before every ones eyes, “you hurt my sister”, “yes I did. What are you gonna do about it shrimp”, “I hear her prayer, so now you will hear me”, “No Bao Don’t Do It. You’ve Still Not Mastered Your Powers”, Fyre screams out, “My name is Bao Ledian, Leader of The Craihna Continent and the God of Vengeance”, Bao holds out the right war talon, “I live among the creatures of the night and the night is illuminated by the fire in ones heart, and the strongest fire of the heart is the fire of vengeance”, a five pointed star illuminates itself in front of the war talon and out of the centre a flame drawn handle appears protruding from the star followed by a hilt. Bao grabs the handle and the star shoots forwards creating the blade and disappearing at the tip bringing Valermos into existence. Tobias’s eyes flicker with fear for a moment before bursting into a small fit of laughter when it appears the sword is too heavy for Bao to even lift and it drops to the floor, “That’s the best you have to offer, I’ve seen better displays from a court jester”, “Bao, the envelope!!”, Fyre shouts out and Daria looks to Bao with a tear in her eye, Bao nods and pulls the envelope out from his pocket and Tobias unsheathes his new long black sword with an orange flame adorning the hilt and rushes at Bao aiming for his envelope, Kori-Aisu steps in and deflects his sword with her staff and bats him away while spinning her staff in her fingers with deadly precision, Artemis flies up and opens his mouth to do a breath attack that forms a white ball with blue writing on it  and showers it in white light before it blasts streaming through the air and hitting Tobias, Tobias lets out a huge scream of deafening pain as it electrifies him, his clothes turn back to the decaying swordsmen clothes he wore before the change but the crown and sword remain, Artemis looks in surprise, “did you see that?”, “I’ll keep him occupied, you two do that again”, Bao and Kori-Aisu nod to each other and Bao tears open the envelope, “Valermos Babelia Touronous Arkflamentios”, the sword becomes light as a feather and 2 flames spiral down the blade from the tip to the hilt and the blade starts to glow with its searing heat, Bao jumps clean over the top of Kori-Aisu and Artemis and thrusts Valermos down at Tobias, who then blocks with his sword after recovering from his torment just moments before and pushes Bao backwards, Bao spins to the left and deflects a strike from Tobias only to swing at him and Tobias to jump over the blade and kick at Bao forgets he’s not quite as tall and his foot swipes above Bao’s head with out him having to duck, “your at an advantage, I’m not used to fight such small opponents”, “my advantage is not my height”, their fight goes into full swing while in the background Artemis has curled himself around the large green jewel at the top of Kori-Aisu’s staff to draw off more power into their attack, Sparks fly with each fierce blow and clash of their swords and as Tobias starts a lunge at the small Bao, Bao throws Valermos up into the air and summons his sai’s and interlinks them on Tobias’s sword and pushes them apart causing his sword to spin out of his hands into one of the walls as Bao jumps up into the air lands with both feet on the ceiling, un-summons the sai’s and jumps at Valermos and begins to spin building up momentum and brings Valermos down on top of Tobias’s crown splitting it in half, “NOW”, Kori-Aisu and Artemis fire the Lightning Hex Ball and it consumes Tobias completely, Tobias screams out as the effect of Jack’s Lantern is reversed, “I’ll get you for this, I swear it”, suddenly Tobias gets sucked inside Jacks Lantern and the giant crystal thuds to the floor and Valermos distinguishes itself from Bao’s grip returning from whence it came.
Bao, Kori-Aisu and Artemis rush over to Fyre and Daria to find them both okay, “Bao, I never prayed for vengeance”, “I know that and you know that, but he didn’t. I drew the fire while they did all the work, I never even used my powers”, “why you cheeky little kitten”, Kori-Aisu pouts at Bao, they all laugh, “we’ll let it be known around the realm that today is Halloween in celebration of Unity and the defeat of the King of Darkness”, “definitely sounds like a good reason to party”, Daria, Fyre and Bao get up and head to the Dragons Lounge for their Anniversary party, while Kori-Aisu and Artemis take the sealed Tobias and Jacks Lantern Back to their realm for safe keeping.

The End… for now