Eleven year-old Timothy Gaines had just seen a ghosty. It was his first year at Firefox, first year amongst the wizarding world, and he was already scared out of his mind. The chubby little boy ran as fast as he could through the school, one shoe missing and letting his bare foot make a horrible slapping noise on the stone floors. Panting hard, he finally came to the statue which guarded the headmaster's office.
"HELP!" he yelled, his breath coming difficultly through asthma. He knew this statue led to the Headmaster, he had been shown it on his tour, but he had no clue how to open it. Tears running down his eyes, sobbing and almost choking, the poor little prepubescent, chubby Hufflepuff student stared at the statue without any clue of how to get past it.
"P-p-please, statue!" he cried out to it, pleading, "L-l-l-let me-e-e in! I s-s-saw a g-g-g-ghosty!"
Resorting to flat out crying, he began wiping at his eyes with his dirty sleeves, having fallen in the mud outside. It was only a little past noon, the boy out in the grounds for a bit of fresh air, when he saw something approaching him. The thing, having been absolutely devilish, scared the shit out of him (quite literally, if you sniff around), and so he ran.
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 14:21:17 GMT -5
As the young boy had addressed the statue as if it were a living creature - despite the fact that the Phoenix itself would take a bit of offense to the student's calling him "statue" - the statue stood aside to allow the boy through the door of the Headmaster's office. As it was, Talon had just been heading out, so the door opened almost immediately afterward.
Standing in the hallway, his purple robes swinging around his ankles, the Headmaster looked down at the dirty little boy and had to resist contorting his face at the smell of the dung hanging in the boy's trousers. It had been years - before the Headmaster was born - since dungbombs went out of style, and therefore the usual acute wizard ignorance to the smell of excrement had gone away.
"What's wrong?" Talon said, leaning against the side of his door, knowing this might be a bit more important than whatever he had intended to do.
Headmaster Windwaltz's prompt arrival had stopped the boy's crying for a moment, though the sobbing continued all the way through his speech.
"S-s-sir, I s-s-saw a g-g-ghosty outside and he was all scary and he cameoutofnowhere! H-h-he looked like the the the g-g-grim reaper! H-he was all b-b-black and b-bony and he tried to g-g-get me! H-h-he s-s-said s-s-something when I r-ran t-t-too."
The boy stopped and tried to remember the moment in his head, trying to recall what the shadowy figure had said to him while he ran away. He began to cry again, big sobbing whelps.
"S-s-sir, i-i-it s-s-s-s-said i-it was f-f-following me!"
The kid, on this realization, bolted into Talon's office and tried to hide behind some of the clutter, wailing at the top of his lungs. Like most scared children, he had balled up into the fetal position and was saying something about his mommy.
"DON'T LET HIM GET ME!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, "DON'T LET THE GRIM REAPER GET ME!"
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 14:45:16 GMT -5
Talon was concerned now. A ghost? Certainly there were ghosts in the magic world, but they'd been decreasing in number lately. Was it some kind of vampire? He knew there were vampires in the area - no matter where you go, there are always vampires. A lycan wouldn't look like a ghost...besides, it was the middle of the day, a vampire couldn't be waltzing around in the sunlight.
Okay so what if it was a ghost?
The Headmaster sighed and followed the boy back into his office. He waved his wand at the Phoenix statue and it shut behind the door. "It won't get you now," Talon said, coming over to the boy and once againt tried to stop himself from contorting his face. The kid really needed to bathe or something. "You said he was all bony, but ghosts usually don't have physical forms. They're see-through, and usually some kind of pale blue color. Did it look like that? Or was it really like a skeleton?"
If it was, thought Talon, he had no idea what this mysterious entity on his school grounds was.
"W-w-well, Headmaster," the boy started, calming down a little, "the thing sorta had bones for hands, like these."
The boy held up two chubby hands which then seemed to melt away into blood, revealing two polished white skeletal hands. The boy stood and the rest of his body fell away into a pool of blood, leaving a skeleton which was actually larger than the boy's body was at first. The sickening smell of dung passed and was replaced by the overpowering stench of blood.
"A-a-and," the voice of the child came out of the skeleton's mouth, "h-he was wearing a b-black robe, l-like this one."
The boy's hufflepuff robes, still hanging from the skeletal figure, ripped themselves up, then flew into the air like some sort of twisted confetti. The skeleton was surrounded by black silk robes, a length of it wrapping around the skeleton's head. then the hood of the robes went over that. A faint blue glow came from where the robes and cloth did not cover bone entirely.
"Windwaltz," a new voice, one that hadn't been heard by Talon for quite some time, came from the skeletal wizard, "will you p-p-please keep the grim reaper away! I d-d-don't want him spoiling our f-f-fun."
The robed figure moved towards Talon's desk, never removing the eyeless gaze from the headmaster himself.
"Tell me, Windwaltz, where you keep them? On your bookshelf? In a locked drawer? Perhaps, perhaps indeed, you keep them on your person. Where are they, Windwaltz?"
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 15:14:35 GMT -5
"You..." Talon said, eyes fixed on the wraith that stood before him, "You survived too, then." Yes, the Headmaster had seen enough terrifying, utterly disgusting things - like this wraith's facade, indeed he'd seen Azrael Jeremiah himself use it once within the Crypt - not to fall over in fear at the sight before him. The skeleton's true identity, whom the Headmaster recognized by his voice, was that of an old enemy, and a surprising ally, of Talon's.
If it hadn't been for the skeleton before him, Firefox, and indeed all of Spain, would be under the dominion of the Society of Shadows, and what would be King Robinson Antares Scorpius.
"A bit worse for wear, I'd say, than the Count," the Headmaster said, his wand gripped in his hand, his sapphire eyes hesitant. He knew that this former Shadow was one that worked in dark and terrifying ways, but he also knew that this Shadow was the only one who never really had a cause for the destruction he did. He simply existed. "I don't know what you speak of, but before I tell you anything, you are going to have to answer some questions first."
"Oooh," the Shade sat on the edge of Talon's desk, "how delightful. Sure, fire away with your questions, Windwaltz. But it would hardly seem fair if you asked me some questions, and I didn't get what I wanted. So, let's make a deal then."
The robed figure raised a skeletal hand and, almost awkwardly, summoned his wand from someplace. The long ashen wand was as white as the bones that held it.
"So, dear Headmaster, how does this sound for a deal. I will never once lie to you, ever, if you tell me where I can find what I am looking for. I'll even swear on it."
Like a magic word was spoken, his wand began to glow a faint purple.
"If you accept those terms," the Shade began, "you will never once hear a lie come from me, and I will only speak the truth. In return, you will tell me the current locations of all of the Zodiac book that you know. Do we have a deal, Headmaster?"
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 15:32:48 GMT -5
Talon was usually up for deals. It was deals that got him stuck with the Angelus Morti for a playmate. It was deals that landed him with a dead ministry. It was deals that left the person trying to make this deal with him the only thing standing between Scorpius and total domination. The Headmaster's eyes narrowed at this one, however, for this one was not simply a matter of his school or his life, it was a matter beyond human comprehension.
"No deal," Talon said clearly, "I don't want questions out of you that badly. Besides, you've already answered my first question. You want the Zodiac Books." The Headmaster's wand hand moved swiftly to point at the wraith threateningly. "You will not get them. You can tear this school apart and kill me, every teacher, and every student and you will not find them. You're dealing in things you have no comprehension of."
The Shade simply laughed at Talon's threats. Of course, the laugh was magically created and thus had no real substance to it, but the thought was still there.
"Don't you dare try and tempt me with your talk of killing every man woman and child in this school," the wizard began, and though he had no eyes and no eyelids, it was as if he winked, "I may have to take you up on that. What I did that day during the war was to protect the school, not the students. For all you know, dear Talon, I could have people inside the palace right now, ready to carry out a mass genocide like you have never seen before..."
He stood from the desk and twirled his hand, making his wand disappear.
"...But I wouldn't do that, would I? You don't think I'm the kind of man who would, say, kill an innocent family in Drakborough and steal the robes of their son, or, say, call an attack on the Triangle Tunnel just so I could get my hands on one of your friend's greater Inferi. I would never do that, would I?"
Unknown twirled his hand again, and this time a small silver dagger appeared in it, blood still crusted on the blade.
"Headmaster Windwaltz, what makes you think I wouldn't kill a small child and use his body as my ticket into your office?"
His voice took on a very serious tone, almost angry.
"And what in hell makes you think I wouldn't know what I was doing? I was alive when the Great Library burned, Windwaltz! I know exactly what those books can do! Do you think I'm some sort of idiot!?"
Unknown stabbed the dagger into Talon's desk with a loud cracking thud.
"Besides, they aren't for me, they're for a friend."
And he laughed.
"Go ahead, though, ask me your questions before I get the locations of the books out of you. I may not be able to let you ask your questions after I'm done with my fun."
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 15:57:44 GMT -5
Talon could feel his blood boiling inside of him. The Headmaster was a man who could tolerate threats, he'd done so before. He was also a man to call bluffs. He knew there were no men inside the school ready to perform a genocide on his students or teachers. But he knew this person was strange, far too strange, and by his words, one who had lived a very long time.
A long life and nothing gained gradually led to a life of violence. It was why the immortals were associated with evil. An endless life was unnatural, and therefore drove you mad.
All the same, his words made the rage within the Headmaster build up slowly. He was getting answers to questions he hadn't even asked. It was this man who was behind the attack on the Tunnel the other day, where the people went crazy and Azrael lost control of his Inferi. All of this...left Talon with only one thing to say.
The blast of lightning sent the robed flying into the bookshelf behind him, and through passing it destroyed a good number of the books as well. The Shade was left a pile of bones and robes at the foot of the bookshelf, smoke rising from it. For nearly a minute, it was just a pile of somldering remains. Of course, you can't kill something that's already dead.
The pile of bones began to reassemble and connect, the smoking robes covering them. The robed figure was once again standing, this time behind the desk instead of in front of it.
"Wow," the Shade exclaimed, "That was just revolting, Windwaltz. I never laid a hand on you! To shame! I thought we would be civil here, meeting like grown boys! Your choice, though. I always thought you were a lover, not a fighter. God forbid something happens to that huge vulnerable heart of yours."
The dagger on the desk suddenly shot out of the wood and flew at Talon's chest with the speed of a bullet. The Shade came flying at Talon behind it, matching its speed. He would have to force the information out of the Headmaster, then.
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 16:14:37 GMT -5
The lightning blast fired from Talon's wand, the magic weapon serving as a channeling device for the Headmaster's arcane power. The spell seemed to reduce the skeletal figure of the former Shadow to dust, but Talon, having fought this particular adversary on another occassion, knew that it would not be that easy.
And the voice, punny as can be, that followed only proved that Talon was right.
The time that it took the dagger to unsheathe itself from the desk gave the Headmaster enough time to decipher what his attacker meant. The intense speed of the dagger didn't give him enough time to totally dodge the weapon, but instead he shifted his body so that the dagger would pierce through his upper left arm. "Fulmina!" He cried again as the Shade appeared right before him. He didn't know if he'd be so lucky this time - the element of surprise was not with him.
What a one trick pony. You couldn't fool this dark wizard twice, and when Talon tried to blast him away with another shock of lightning, it was seemingly absorbed by a ring on the skeleton's right hand. The same hand grappled on to Talon and dragged him down to the ground with his momentum.
"Look, Talon, not to be a pain in your back," another conjured dagger was then shoved into Talon's back during the fall, "but if you don't just give me what I want, I may have to kill you, and I know there's never been much electricity between us, but I would hate to kill you."
Somehow, the skeleton seemed to weigh hundreds of pounds, magically forcing Talon to the ground and holding him there. The Shade never wanted this to develop into a fight, but he had expected it. Mortals were so stubborn.
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Jul 23, 2008 16:38:03 GMT -5
Talon knew his powers weren't going to work, but given his split second to think, he couldn't do much more than try and blast the skeleton to pieces. Now, however, it was on top of him, and had shoved yet another dagger into his back. Now he had two sharp objects in him, and he was pressed against the floor of his office unable to move himself.
"You...you can't...kill me..." Talon chuckled, "Because I'm the only one who knows where the books are...go ahead and try...you'll never find them..." The Headmaster knew he had the upper hand - so to speak - in this little struggle. After all, Talon didn't want anything, it was the former Shadow who did. However, when it came to deciding who lives and who dies, clearly the other was in charge.
Well, for now. "Levicorpus!" He said, casting a spell to throw the skeleton's body off of him.
The Shade knew he was the one in charge of who died and who didn't in this little struggle, but Talon was being quite belligerent. Of course he wouldn't kill the Headmaster, he was the one who knew where to find the books, but he would come damn close to it and he would enjoy it while he did.
After landing on his feet only a few feet away, the shade shook his head and flipped his hand. He silently cast the Cruciatus curse at the Headmaster on the ground, bleeding through two seperate holes. So stubborn.
"Look," the Shade began, "I can kill you. I could do it right now. I wouldn't have to warn you, I wouldn't have to say anything. You don't seem to understand what I have become. I don't need silly wands. I don't need words or movements. I am a shade, existing within magic itself. At any given time I could be on any side of you, killing you."
He held out his hand and a tangle of ropes shot out at Talon to encase him.
"I don't even have to do it here! I could take you wherever I need you! You lose, Talon. Game over. Just tell me where I can find one book, and I'll be done with you!"
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5