The 1st Light of Dawn Tournament | Labyrinth of Champions | Phase 1 | Entrant #2 - Ziio Aarushi

Ziio laughed at the luck. She was used to hunting the fiercest of wild beasts out in the frozen, icy tundras of the North Pole. She knew ice like she knew animals. Standing on the ice was a breeze, she only faked it to throw I'm-kala off guard. When the wing'd Queen rushed in for the kill, Ziio immediately countered her attack. When I'm-kala was too close to dodge, Ziio stood and loosed another arrow at the Queen. This time striking her in the shoulder.

I'm-kala passed by her before she felt the arrow hit her, and screamed in such howling pain Ziio had to cover her ears. She smiled through the audible pain. With I'm-kala's back turned to Ziio, the Avatar raised her bow again, and this time, with I'm-kala's exposed spine in plain view, unobstructed partially by the crippled wing, Ziio had a clear shot and she took it.

Attack Accuracy

Random number (1,10) :

3

Attack Strength

Random number (1,10000) :

9260

The former Queen screams in excruciating pain as she dies. Her body disappears into a fog of shadow. She was unaware that her inability to take this battle seriousl may soon come back to bite her.  That her playful nature and overconfidence may yet be her undoing.  It was once before.

When she was a beautiful Queen, and in her lust for power she did the unspeakable.  She forced her husband to go as far as murder and genocide for power.  To give the Kingdom over to the Ancient Ones.  The Old Gods.  Egged on by promises of unlimited power and beauty by their royal advisor, Verimethras, and the Court Enchanter and Seer, Thrangr Zim'gar-gul.  That was the beginning of the end.  She could still remember it like a whisper in the back of her mind.  

"You will not regret this, your majesty...you will have unlimited power.  Your Kingdom will rule over the whole world.  It will span continents.  My...powers...they tell me so."

The old Enchanter, with his missing eye and deformed, hunched features toiled over the sacrificial table.  Bodies were piled up in the room by the hundreds.  It smelled of rot and decay, there was not a single floor stone that was not covered in blood or gore.  Yet it was still not enough.

"And what, Enchater, must we give in return?"

The old Enchanter gave a cold, dark laugh.  He turned towards the Queen, removing his black, moth-eaten hood.  His eyes glowed green with a dark, corrupted power.  Blood covered his robes and plastered his arms up to his elbows.

"Everything."

These visions flash in your mind as well, Champion, for reasons you are unable to explain.  Slowly the story of Drak'Tharon unfolds itself to you.  Slowly you begin to understand how this place came to be so accurs'd.  So warped and twisted and evil.  Power, and the lust for it.  It was the downfall of everyone here.  Not just any power though; the kind that can only be granted by a God.  A False God.  An Old God.

I'm-kala is gone, at least in part. One third of her soul has gone to rest. You have given her part of the peace she requires to progress. Now you must press on Champion. There is no time to dally.

As I'm-kala died away, burning up and exploding into a pile of unrecognizable ash, Ziio felt the Holy Light pass over her. It blessed her, healed some of her wounds and allowed her the strength to carry on. Yet, before she could press on through the only entrance available, east, she was shown flashes of memory, visions. They spoke to her, told her, showed Ziio what had transpired here in this kingdom long, long ago.

She shuddered. Zim'gar-gul was the cause, the origin, and everyone after he came to power were his puppets. He brought the Old Gods to these lands, and corrupted the people and killed them, and turned this place into a barren wasteland. Why? What would the Old Gods gain by murdering everyone and then abandoning them after turning them into their servants? An army of undead demons was raised here and just abandoned. For what sick cause? That is what Ziio wondered.

Determination filled her. She needed to progress alone. Things would get dangerous. She motioned to her wolves. Commanded them. Using her mind Ziio told them to retreat the door they came through. Wait there. The Crusade would no doubt let them through. As the Avatar, Ziio wanted to go alone. She had a feeling Zim'gar-gul was still inside that tower in the middle, and he would be waiting for them to show up. She was going to kill him. If it was the last thing she did, she would give rest to the poor people of Drak'Tharon. Peace and rest. It was her duty. She understood now. Time to head east.

You walk to the east, the only path available. You find this time, that the width of the pathway is wider than most. Double wide as it usually is. He enjoy the extra room, but frown as you notice the farther you progress, the worse things seem. Scorch marks on the wall. Bodies burning against the walls, or in piles on the ground, covered in emerald green flames. The wall torches seem to be burning green flames as well. You know in this place, that Emerald Green is not a good sign.

Felfire. A side effect of Fel Magic. Things could only go downhill from here and you prepare for the worse. You're ready to fight anything that comes. Your weapons are drawn, and though you're alone, you know that you are guided by all of your past lives. Even the ones that are older than time, the ones you can no longer remember. Hundreds, thousands of Avatars and all of their wisdom, knowledge and power are available. You just need connect with that side of you. Soon preferably, but for now, you should be okay. Keep going Champion, you're doing fine.

Ziio walked towards the east. She went in through the narrow entrance and found it was almost triangle shaped. While the hallway started out narrow, it widened out more and more as it proceeded further. Ziio didn't know what to expect when she reached the next courtyard, but it was probably going to be something horrible and twisted and dark and evil. Some warped demon that once served this kingdom in life and now served it in an unholy death. Some sick, rotting beast that was responsible for the pain and anguish of so many.

Either way, no matter what history the twisted beast had, or what it was capable of, Ziio would take it down. She would rip it apart with her own hands if she needed to. Whatever it took to free this cursed kingdom from its dark overlords. Even if it cost Ziio her life. It would be a worthy sacrifice. For as Ziio got deeper into this labyrinth, the more her past lives could FEEL the suffering that took place within these lands. It almost made Ziio want to throw up. Wait, no. Too late. She vomited all over the stone ground.

After a few minutes of yakking into the corner, Ziio wiped her mouth, regained control of her senses, and pressed on through the doorway. On to her next target. She had more rage fuelling her now. Only she knew not where it came from.

You press onwards.  You squeeze through the extremely narrow opening, sidling against the wall as the hallway starts to open up more.  You see the poem that graced you before grace you again.  This time it is carved into the wall in fancy runes that you can slightly understand.

The last one was drawn in claw marks.  In desperation.  Probably copied from hear by the hand of a dying adventurer.  Unfortunate for him, but not for you.  You reread it, and reinterpret the meaning to aid you.  Lucky.  You press onwards, the way getting larger, opening up more.  Now you've in a hallway three times the width of the biggest trees you've seen in the Spirit World.  Parts of this labyrinth were built in a hurry, as you seen from some of the shoddy stone work.

The innards were built to buy time.  The outer sections, however, were built to be secure, and hold in whatever was in this labyrinth.  From what you can gather, the insides were made only to confuse whatever the labyrinth was trying to keep in.  Walls get thinner here, stonework gets a bit more shoddy.  Typical signs of bad work or rush work.  Either way, the labyrinth was built with purpose.  Purpose with which you now understand.

You continue through the hallway until you emerge in yet another courtyard.  This one is filled with massive hawks of flame.  Birds of spirit normally, but these ones were corrupted.  Non-corrupted Fire Hawks are still dangerous, serving Magmaros and his Burning Legion.  These ones?  Corrupted by the Old Gods.  Their emerald green flames and undying bloodlust that out-rival their original master, are a tell tale sign of this.

Before you can retaliate or prepare they swoop at you.  Cawing, clawing, raking, scratching, hacking, biting, gnawing, crashing, burning!  They want you dead Champion!  Fight hard!

Attach Accuracy
7

Attack Strength: x4 Multiplier
2142

Ziio stood planted firmly in the ground.  She waited for the Fire Hawks to get close--too close to dodge her counter attack.  With her bow already pre-strung, Ziio raised it at the last minute and caught the Fire Hawks right in their flaming wing-joints.  The green, flaming birds let out a screeching howl of pain.  While the flames burned away the arrows lodged in their wounds, it did not negate the fact that they were hurt and in pain.  They seemed to be having trouble flying, but they pushed through.

They were slaves for their masters.  Mindless beasts pushed forward by their masters to destroy everything.  Thousands of years of being warped and twisted left them like this.  It was sad to see such majestic creatures act without dignity, but now was not the time for pity.  Now was the time to defeat one's enemies.  Ziio was not going to relent against these creatures, even if she did feel sorry for them.  Ziio prepared another volley of arrows.  With limited water she did not have much choice.

Thank the Gods she carried four quivers.  One at each hip and two slung across her back.  Years of hunting in the tundra for days on end had made Ziio careful, and had given her the wisdom to stock up.  It was better to be over prepared then run out of arrows in the middle of a winter blizzard and go hungry because you cannot kill your prey.

Attack Accuracy

Random number (1,10) :

8

Attack Accuracy

Random number (1,10000) :

7002