The FIRST Most Epic Victory Honor

Admin Posts : 89 Join date : 2014-10-21

It is my honor to present this story which showcases the talent of one of the first writers to take part in the first version of this RP I developed. This story was one of the last ever written by him and it certainly is deserving of being put on a pedestal. His character, Sytus fought a demi-god.

Jak Sacul wrote:: Men roamed about this section seemingly without care. Where most regiments had been rigid and militaristic, these men seemed to be perfectly content playing cards, drinking horrid smelling liquid and occasionally brawling. Not fighting. Fighting was a far more elegant process than the sport these men partook in. This was simply slamming each other in the head with large meaty fists until the one with most brain damage went down first.
Sytus shook his head exasperatedly from the air, surveying the scene below him. He subconsciously raised his respect for his quarry a notch. To keep these men sso careless in such a dangerous place, the god must be powerful indeed. Be that as it may, Sytus needed to draw him out, and it wasn't as though the humans had any margin of visible skill.
So Sytus shrugged his shoulders and floated closer to the ground, his toes skimming the odd cloud like substance the city seemed to be made of. He raised an arm and greeted the nearest human cheerfully. "Hey. I'm Sytus. Would you happen to know where I could find a chest?"
The Human dropped his cheery facade immediately and replaced it with one of cold defiance. Sytus heard sounds behind him. clumsy humans sluggish in their movements were trying to surround him. Sytus didn't change his posture or show any recognition at all as he continued. "It'd be a reasonable size, very ornate, probably kept close to someone pretty powerful?"
The man sneered and wiped his wrist across his mouth in a most undignified manner. "What ye bout?" Sytus blinked, a bit taken aback had the bad grammar and silently noted that he was surrounded on all sides before continuing amiably.
"Well, I sort of collect them. They're fairly rare and I heard that one might be around here. There are rival collectors looking around and I wanted to be sure I got to this one first." Sytus scratched the back of his neck, a practiced an insincere gesture of insecurity.
"Notin like that here. Getcher goin!"
"Sorry, but I can't. I have two lovely ladies waiting for me to return with the chest. I hope you understand."
The men surrounding him attacked. It was an uncoordinated thing, they moved, but not as a unit and a bit clumsily. Sytus absently made a note to thank Talia for their practicing sessions. An attack like this was dreadfully clumsy compared to the elegance of the course they had created together. Sytus calmly turned aside two sloppy blows before rolling to the side they came from and all the men attacked each other, landing in a large unorganized heap. Sytus would have been proud had they not been so simple. He'd have layed good odds of Talia getting through almost as easily. Any Zuwadza child could certainly have done so. Sytus calmly floated over the tangled mass of men and landed calmly on the opposite side of the man he'd been conversing with.
"This is getting tiresome. I don't know why I'm bothering with you. Listen, I don't like unnecessary deaths. Take all the humans and leave this place lest you get caught in the fallout."
"I taint scurred o' you!"
"... You'll run. In about twenty minutes, maybe less. When you do go to the Spiders. Tell them Sytus sent you and you are under his protection."
Without another word Sytus turned his back on the man and flew upwards. The guard was a complete joke. He was going to go straight for the god less he actually get tired out fighting through a swarm of the drunken idiots below.
The vibration in his heel got more intense the closer he got to one of the breathtaking golden trees. He circled around the base of it for a minute before determining that the chest was somewhere higher up. He flew up through the branches cautiously, not wanting to make himself vulnerable to a surprise attack. HE sped up his search the higher up he went until he slapped his forehead in realization. "I'm fighting a god. Where would a god be? The top. Sytus you're an idiot sometimes." He said to himself, exiting the tree and flying towards the top.
The scened that awaited him there was one that he should have expected but still caught him entirely off guard. The man stood on nothing. His feet solidly planted on nothing but air two feet above the tree. Sytus's gaze followed in what was most likely the proper manner to view a god. The god's shoes were nothing special in and of them themselves. They were build neither for comfort nor functionality. They seemed to be there simply for no reason other than that was what was accepted in intelligent society. Sytus held no doubt the feet they held had never touched the ground. The shoes were pristinely clean, something that served to separate him from mere mortals.
Sytus raised his gaze slowly, taking in the ornate robe the man wore, fabric that could only have been forged by gods. Or spiders Sytus thought wryly his thoughts turning to his arachnid friend and snapping him back into reality. It would do nothing to be submissive at first glance of his opponent. Sytus wrenched his eyes pass the robe, noting the Sai in the waistband, and raising his gaze defiantly to match the gaze of the oriental being in front of him.
"Who matches gazes with me without permission?" The man's voice was electric. neither deep nor high, and infused with both nobility and an air of superiority that not even the eldest Zuwadza possessed.
"Sytus Zuwadza. One who believes in equality, and acts what he preaches." Sytus said unflinchingly, despite his instinct to grovel at the man's feet for his transgression. The Spider-demons had given him a similar fear and he'd be damned if he gave in to this guy.
The god didn't smile nor scowl. He simply bored into Sytus's eyes with his own. After a minute or so the silent battle of wills was broken with no clear winner. "The Zuwadza have no interests in gods or items. You have no right to use the name, forsaken one. And you have not greeted me with proper respect."
"I believe in individuality and equality. I'm here not as a Zuwadza. I'm here as Myself. And respect I have shown. Submission is what you seem angry to find me lacking in."
"What is the purpose behind insulting me with your presence?"
"Hm. And here I always thought that gods knew everything. I'm her to acquire the chest hidden in the upper boughs of the tree you stand above." The god's eyes narrowed slightly, the first sign of emotion he had shown.
"The chest belongs to the emperor. I can not simply allow you to take it."
"The emperor, from what I've heard, was a motherless, sadistic bastard who wiped out races for fun. I'm preventing anyone like that from ever coming into power again."

"The emperor is a good friend, a promising student, and a better man than you could ever hope to become." The present tense application when mentioning the emperor was not lost on Sytus and he filed the information away for future use.
"Listen. I don't want a fight here. I've never actually gone in looking for a fight. I just want the stupid chest. Now if you don't mind..." Sytus turned his back to the god and began looking through the higher branches. The tree's dimensions appalled him. No living thing had a right to be so large. A sudden blast of wind too powerful to be natural blew him off course and his wings crumpled to protect his body as he flew alarmingly quickly to the ground.
The pendant of the sky shone brilliantly and his decent slowed. He slapped the ground with both hands to absorb some impact and rolled,, minimizing damage.
"You turn your back on me?! I am Fuujin! I am a living god of the elements!" His voice had changed now. It was still electric, but now it boomed down at Sytus like the voice of...well, like the voice of a very angry god. "You will die for your transgression." Fuujin's eyes turned bright blue and he waved his arms in a dramatic fashion. A tunnel cloud appeared from nowhere and began to descend on Sytus like a starving cat on a mouse. Sytus focused his gaze on Fuujin, and the sword on his back hummed.
Fuujin stumbled in mid-air for what may have been the first time in the god's life. Sytus hadn't tried to usurp the god's control. He had merely shifted the winds barely out of place, a gentle nudge had accomplished what an all out tug of war could not. With Fuujin's concentration broken, the funnel cloud dissipated into nothing more than a harsh draft. Sytus awkwardly climbed to his feet, focusing on the sword on his back, wary of any changes in the wind.
Fuujin had been annoyed before. Now he was intrigued, and did little to hide his expression. Sytus could only hope he'd survive the unwanted attention. His only hope lay in surprise after all. "You control the winds?"
"I dabble it it. And that's not all I can do." Sytus said, securing his grip on his staff and willing his structure to change. Almost instantly the change was complete. Sytus flexed his now gray arm experimentally. It was an odd sensation, being made of the same metal he had carried around so long. Sytus genuinely wished he had more time to reflect upon it.
If Fuujin was startled in the slightest at the transformation, he hid it well. Any words either opponent may have had for one another was lost in the tempest of wind the battlefield now became. The wind blew with such force, Sytus was almost surprised that the golden tree didn't seem to be swaying or moving in the slightest.
For a brief second Sytus considered canceling out the winds with the tempest blade, but he quickly dismissed the notion, choosing instead to use it to cancel out only the winds closest to him as he took to the sky in his new metal form.
The few winds that hit him did absolutely nothing to alter his course and he came upon Fuujin quickly, using his experience with his favorite item to its full advantage. Sytus got within two feet of the being who stood calmly in the volatile environment, when the man's face adopted the ghost of a smirk and he performed a flip over Sytus's trust, so quickly and elegantly that Sytus froze in shock momentarily at the man's lazy avoidance of his move. That had never happened before. No one had ever beaten Sytus at aerial combat so completely. Sytus turned and thrust again, this time avoided by a lazy roll to the side.
Sytus resisted the instinct to launch a grenade as his opponent avoided a sweeping strike by dropping downwards.
Somehow, the god's voice reached Sytus's ears despite the howling winds. "This is getting tiresome." Dark clouds appeared instantaneously over the two. "No tricks you have can beat me."
Sytus's metal nose was incapable of smelling the burning ozone but it did little to shield him from the pain as multiple lighting strikes shot through him on their way to the ground. Sytus arched his back as the deadly onslaught of electrical energy continued. Each strike was like a hammers blow to Sytus's senses, forcing him closer to the ground an eliciting a scream of his pain to be torn from his lips at every strike. The inventor had never faced such pain. He hit the ground harshly on all fours, his head upraised to curse the heavens that had inflicted such damage on him. The lightning ceased though the clouds remained and Fuujin floated calmly above him, surveying the damage his attack had wrought.
Sytus dropped his staff, letting it clatter on the ground next to him , his trembling hands no longer able to support it. The instant it left his grasp he transformed back to his "normal" state and struggled to keep himself from emptying his stomach all over the floor.
Fuujin's voice callously cut through Sytus's moment of reprieve. "You speak of equality. You are obviously superior to the masses and must have bested Generals themselves to acquire such powers."
Sytus seized the opportunity as much as he could, trying to buy any amount of time he could. "Yeah. So?" He still didn't look up, not out of submission, but out of unwillingness to show his obvious lack of strength to continue the fight.
"If you renounce your foolish ways and turn over the items, I could teach you many things. You think you know flight, but your grasp is clumsy. You thought yourself powerful but I have brought you to your knees in less than two minutes. "
The promise of knowledge and a way to compensate for his weakness would have been a tempting offer for Sytus not three months ago. Sytus almost laughed aloud at the absurd notion. "Renounce equality?
Sytus's strength had almost fully returned in his anger at the notion. and he clambered to his feet quickly. "Renounce individuality? Renounce my friends? One of us is a fool, Fuujin but I don't think it's me."
Fuujin floated a foot above the ground, refusing to lower himself to face Sytus on the ground of mere mortals. And his expression did not change. Not when Sytus charged him, and not when he simply levitated straight upwards into the air, dodging Sytus's clumsy attack.
Sytus flapped his wings furiously but there seemed to simply be no way to outmaneuver the opponent he had challenged. That's when the hail started. Sytus payed it no mind at first, as the little balls of ice bounced harmlessly off of him barely stinging him in their effort. But the balls continuously got larger and more annoying to the point that they were the size of fists, and Sytus had to focus desperately just to avoid the continuous onslaught. The Zuwadza fighter almost screamed aloud in outrage as the pummeling continued unabated and with increasing intensity. Each bit of hail was now the size Of Sytus's head and absolutely impossible to avoid due to sheer numbers.
Once again Sytus was forced to abandon his pursuit of the god and turn his thoughts toward his own safety. Fuujin overlooked the scene callously, supremely confident in his own superiority as The Zuwadza folded his wings around himself and hit the ground hard, but not as hard as he should have. He made use of the pendant and the sword well, judiciously using both as the situation required but relying too heavily on neither, Fuujin noted. A pity that he'd turned down the generous offer.
Sytus reached into his satchel and threw some pellets on the ground. The pellets hit and exploded instantly, creating a thick gray smoke and concealing the warrior from Fuujin's view. 'A truly pitiful attempt.' The god thought, summoning a wind to blow the smoke away almost as quickly as it had appeared. Sytus was nowhere in view.
Fuujin did a double take, a truly remarkable occurance for him and he flew in a wide arc, staring at the ground uncertainly. How had he done that? No matter. He could feel no disruption in the air which meant that the fighter was still earthbound. He'd need to reveal himself eventually.
Two minutes passed. Then Ten. The god was beginning to grow concerned. Had the fighter actually escaped his wrath? Had he been outwitted by a mere mortal fool? Fuujin spun in the air suddenly, feeling a disruption in the air behind him. Sytus solidified from thin air and lashed out his right hand, locking fingers with the god's own right and smiled grimly.
"Impossible!" Fuujin cried, deftly drawing his Sai with his left and drawing his arm back in preparation for a stab, the only defence he had when so close to an opponent. He hadn't used such a move in ages. Sytus knew he'd only get this kind of chance once and jerked his right arm harshly to his right and upwards. The God's arm followed and his own body was blocking his attempt to strike. Sytus stepped under the arm, turning as he did so and jerked the arm he was holding downward. A satisfying crack reverberated through both opponents as Fuujin's arm was broken at the elbow over Sytus's shoulder.
Sytus felt the sai stab deeply into his left calf muscle, though more from coincidence than design on his opponent's part. Sytus grunted away the pain as an acceptable outcome to bringing the man down to his own level. Fuujin's face was contorted with pain and shock as he was forced to stare at his arm bent at an unnatural angle. His eyes hardened from surprise to cold fury before Sytus could press his advantage and he was flung back by winds of fury that seemed to emanate from the creature he had so humiliated with his touch.
"YOU HURT ME?!" If Fuujin was upset before, not he was positively livid. "YOU. HURT. ME?! I'M A GOD YOU INSUFFERABLE WRETCH!" Sytus managed to stay airborne using the Tempest blade, but it was hardly an easy process. The god's might sent virtual shockwaves of solid air pulsating from his form in every direction. A physical manifestation of his fury.
"Memo to self. Don't Piss off gods." Sytus muttered to himself, trying to use the humor to keep himself focused and unafraid. It wasn't working as well as he may have hoped.
"YOU CARE SO MUCH FOR EQUALITY? THAN ALL MORTALS SHALL SUFFER MY WRATH EQUALLY!" The dark clouds in the sky expanded at his words, and stretched past the horizon in every direction Sytus could see, spouting off lighting, hail and tornadoes in random patches everywhere in sight. "This is not good."

"THE ENTIRE PLANET NOW SUFFERS FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSION, OUTCAST!" Fuujin now never stayed in one place transforming himself into living lightning every few seconds and seeming to teleport haphazardly above the city. Sytus never had a chance to get close.
"How strong is this guy?" Sytus noticed a dome of webbing over part of the city and appreciated Agrarian's quick action and briefly admired the strength of the webbing as it seemed to repel every attack the weather inflicted upon it.
Sytus kept up his random attacking pattern, completely at a loss for any strategy to get close enough to his opponent. He almost praised his good fortune when Fuujin stopped moving for several seconds, and didn't seem to be interested in moving anytime soon. Sytus's phantom pendant activated, allowing him to ignore the hail and wind as he bared down on his opponent. A course of action he questioned instantly as arcs of lighting struck the god, lighting his body and distorting the space around him.
Sytus pulled his pistol out of its holster quickly, and turned solid the fraction of a second required to fire. The bullets hit the oddly distorted space and bounced off harmlessly into the maelstrom that seemed to cover the entire planet. Changing tact, Sytus transformed himself into the same metal the pistol was made of and charged Fuujin recklessly. His form amplified his strength and weight and he pounded on the distorted space with all his might, his fists bouncing off as though he had struck rubber.
Fuujin's face held no mirth, his arm dangling uselessly at his side as he outstretched his hand in Sytus's direction. "Die."
"No." Sytus instantly replied, an instant before his body became filled with stinging white pain as the lightning hammered into him fiercely. It was a different attack than before, the lightning never ceased and struck him from all directions, emanating from his opponent's body, as the god teleported around Sytus tauntingly. Always out of reach, always changing to damn lightning before any action could be initiated against him.
Changed... into... lightning?
At the realization, Sytus dropped his metal form and changed into the very energy that was so harming him. The lightning now passed him by, it's very movement slowed in Sytus's perception and he avoided it easily, directed as he was by conscious thought.
Fuujin's eyes widened. Though in fear or disgust is anyone's guess. "You mock my abilities through crude imitation?"
Sytus found that he didn't know how to speak in his current form and he charged at his opponent, this time certain he'd bypass the odd space protecting him.
He did and he felt himself surge through his opponent's body, activating each pain receptor as he went, shaking the man to his core, before exiting. It was not a pleasant experience for either party. Sytus barely managed to hold on to his new form, electrocuting a god had proved to be unbearably taxing.
Fuujin transformed himself to living lighting as well and Sytus gave chase. Even with equal speed, it seemed Fuujin's experience with the form was simply too large a gap for Sytus to cover. He needed to end this quickly, and check to see if Talia was alright. What was faster than electricity and available to touch?
Duh.
Sytus dropped out of his form and waited for the god to do the same. His phantom pendant glowed dully, once more rendering the weather an ineffective factor as the two faced each other, well over two hundred meters apart. The god regained his true form and faced his infuriatingly adaptable opponent. The god opened his mouth, and Sytus maintained a secure grip on his gun before transforming.
Time itself seemed to stand still in his new perception. The lightning itself moved at such a sluggish pace it was hard to tell if it was moving at all. Sytus stood and took the time to examine his new body. It wasn't visible to his eyes.
'Figures. I'm moving too fast for the light to reach my eyes.' It made sense givin his new form WAS light. Sytus almost felt sorry for Fuujin as he positioned himself high overhead of his godly adversary. Then Sytus remembered what the insane man had done to the world simply because he had been brought to equality. The pity left Sytus immediately at the sobering thought, and he flew down at his opponent at much less than full speed. still ten meters above him Sytus switched to the metal form his gun allowed him to possess.
The general had no time to react as Sytus's heavy form hit him brutally from overhead moving at a speed better measured in miles per minute than miles per hour. The two hit the earth savagely, creating a crater where there was once lush landscape and digging a wide trench that stretched twenty meters or so. Sytus's metal form heated dangerously, and flakes chipped off of his metal body's exterior so severely he wondered if he'd posess any skin at all when he turned back.
The form underneath him was not so lucky. Fuujin's spine had been obliterated at the initial impact and the man hadn't had time to even contemplate his oncoming death as he crashed into the earth. What was left of his body was now a large red streak trailing the inside of the improperly dug trench.
SYtus didn't even attempt to move even as the sky cleared up. He didn't move as several hours passed. That had been a truly desperate move. Had he hit at the wrong angle or in a different form, he would most likely have shattered into a thousand pieces.
He lay there for a time, he didn't know quite how long when a familiar voice graced his cold metal ears. "You really did it this time, mate."
Sytus was so relieved to hear Agrarian's voice he transformed back to his original form. As he had suspected, most of his skin had flecked away and it was quite painful to move. "Talia?" he managed to croak out.
"No. Agrarian."
"No, Talia. Is she...?"
"You think a bit of human-sized hail would stop that woman? And here I thought you trusted me to protect her." Agrarian feigned annoyance. "She's fine. The second your fight started I had the males whip up some cover for the humans you sent me, (We need to talk about that by the way, you really overstepped your boundaries on that one) and I went to give Talia cover. Your tent got trashed though."
"Good."
"Not good. You promised her no serious impacts, remember?" Agrarian said with a laugh. "She's going to kill you. I would have been here sooner, but I had to retrieve this for you."
Agrarian ripped the chest from her back where it had been securely webbed. "Thought you might find some use for it."
Sytus lifted one arm wearily and undid the clasp. When he opened the chest he found...