First Bolt Shell: Legion of One

[greyerrant]

Characters: Garviel and you
Setting: Multiple floors
Format: Prose
Summary: Garviel wanders the tower doing various things including kicking butt
Warnings: Anything is possible including a heck of a lot of violence. Definitely descriptions of blood and war.



Floor Fifty-Six:

A huge armored figure is wandering the strange hospital ward, as if seeking something he has forgotten. He calls a name every now and then.
"Ferrus? Samus? Aqua? Nikolai? Arturia?"

Nothing but silence greets him. Lights flicker as he moves from room to room, a grey ghost of a battle that was fought in this very tower, and on a thousand other worlds as well. And yet... there is something plaintive in the sounds of the names he calls out in this place.

Floor Sixty-Seven (NIGHT)
The strange twining staircase has become a veritable waterfall of gore, blood and ichor slicking the steps from iron to light in all hues as the sound of battle crashes higher up. It would appear Cerberus set upon a band of orcs at night, or the band set on him, and he decided to single-handedly re-enact the battle of Ullanor. He holds one aloft, just over the edge of the stairs, his armor scarred by their cleavers and bows, then casts it down, smashing it into a pulpy, broken mass onto the stairs itself. His armored chest heaves, and he turns, growling in an almost-feral manner as he continues his ascent. Dare you approach?

Floor Twenty-Five: The grey knight stands vigil in the meadow, his massive form suggesting a grim sentinel in an otherwise beautiful place. He appears to be... shocked by it. Completely at a loss of what to do in a place of undespoiled natural beauty which has not been touched by war.

Floor Fifteen: A pale-skinned man one size too large to be human appears to be working dents out of a breastplate using the tools available in the workshop, hammering away at them in a less then adept manner. It would seem he has only enough skill to effect the most basic repairs on his own armor. Care to offer him some advice?

Comments

[chevalier_mal_fet]

That it does.
Many such fields have I seen-- salted with blood, rutted and scarred.

There is little solace here. Take freely of it, even if you do not crave it.

[Lancelot glances upward to the Knight's Helm.]

We have spoken of this weariness, you and I-- that of service and duty.
In this place, you need serve no one but yourself, if you wish it.

Though we have spoken, I never learned your name, nor gave you mine.
I am Lancelot, Knight of the Lake-- also known as the Servant Berserker.

[greyerrant]

My name is Cerberus.

[ He'd like to say his true name. Truly he would. But this wasn't quite the same as the situation with Saber, and all the strange emotions there. ]

I will -always- serve humanity and the Emperor.

[ He almost snarls. ]

I will never forsake my oaths, even when my own father and brothers turned against me I did not. Do you think I'd do so merely because of a change in where I am?

[ Wow that really set him off, Berserker. ]

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Lancelot doesn't give any sign that he is troubled by the outburst. To the contrary, he seems oddly satisfied.]

I am pleased to hear it is not thus with you-- as I know you more by your sentiments and oaths than I do by that name given in such a voice.
It is good to have oaths to hold to in this place. Those without are weakened by the lack.

I have met others of your "world" here, some time past. Tell me, how much of the Tower have you traveled-- I know not how recently you have arrived.

[greyerrant]

I have hunted a fair amount of it, in both my first sojourn here and now this one. I do not think where we found the Daemon will be so easily found once more, however.

[ He meets Lancelot's eyes with red slits.]

And what do you know of those from my world?

[chevalier_mal_fet]

I doubt it also. Much has changed since you last were here.

[Lancelot raises hand in a kind of vague gesture.]
Not over-much, save that they share your distaste for Magic.
They seem as bold and strong as they may, though we have not fought together.

Are they known to you then?

[greyerrant]

Of course.

[ He clenches a fist, albeit briefly. ]

What has changed? And who stands against the... people who run this foul prison?

[chevalier_mal_fet]

One of those called the Administrators has been slain by another-- by all understanding the one slain was the more merciful gaoler of the three.

Since that time, there has been more suffering and cruelty-- perhaps in reprisal for the efforts of those who seek to subvert the power of the Administrators.
[Lancelot, having put to his sword a few of the suffering, and having been just lately resurrected himself, seems burdened with the telling.]

Still, a resistance persists, I believe-- should you wish to join its ranks.

[greyerrant]

Why would I not? Mankind should never kneel to those not human. It is an abomination.

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Lancelot is not particularly a "joiner".]
Some prefer to work at their own purposes-- or have burdens other than their own safety.

Some few here do thrive on the chaos of this Place, but even the Corrupt and outright Evil seem to wish to be gone-- though they are loath to band together with the Resistance.

[Lancelot pauses.]

It is an abomination then, to kneel to the Divine? Should such a thing exist?

[greyerrant]

I am not of those, for I oppose Chaos in all its various incarnations.

[ Regarding the divine. ]

Without question. We have seen behind the stars and there are no chariots drawing them. To give credences to superstition and old magicks are to give them power, and they operate on the strength of our fears. That is why I was made without fear, so that we might bring secular enlightenment to a benighted galaxy. My brotherhood and I traveled the stars casting down god-kings as we found them, and left worlds that we brought to compliance better than when we arrived.

[ Minus a lot of dead people of course. ]

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Lancelot nods in wry understanding.]
I had not thought so of you. Perhaps you will bring them more success in their efforts.

As a Spirit once a Mortal man weaned on the Magics of the Old and Fair Folk of my Land-- I cannot say that the Old Ways held sway through fear. That was brought swiftly enough by Invaders and their new Gods.

Those who conquer often hold themselves Enlightened.

[greyerrant]

[ Loken seems to get even more displeased by this turn. ]

We were adults saving drowning children, whether they resisted us or not. Those Old Ways are the ways of the past, and by practicing them men destroyed the future, the Golden Age that was to come. I saw a galaxy burn.

[chevalier_mal_fet]

One man's Golden Age may be another's Dark Age, Knight.
For myself, I have seen a Bright era die an ignoble death at the hands of those who thought they had the Right to Rule.

[Lancelot waves a conciliatory hand. He has no wish to antagonize the Knight, but neither does he fear the man's displeasure.]
I mean no insult to your Knighthood, and cannot judge your War, but I fear the Justification of Slaughter has ceased to interest me overmuch since my Death.