Smoldered Faith, part one.

[Vincent Redfield]

OOC: Right, so I'm already missing UO, but not ready to come back just yet...so, I've decided not to completely kill off Vince. In the mean time, you get to read my  multi-part alibi of where he went!

/OOC

Fireflies silently fluttered about in the spring solstice night air, illuminating the lush countryside of Cove. A marked man, Vince dashed through the trees, only his so-so sense of direction and the fireflies to guide him. The thick platemail armor he worse slowed him down, but his natural speed allowed him to evade the persuing Covian guards who beckoned him to stop, and return with no concequences; Vince had been thrown out or left more armies than one can count on two hands, and this was a tactic well known to him--so even his allies would lie to him. Seeing nowhere else to run, he attempted to escape to the haven of Swaggers.

"Come back, Vince! We just Wanna talk!"

The sprint had worn Vince down, and he was visibly tired. Impaired, he never saw the rock in front of him. Flat on his face Vince went, ans scrambled back to his feet, the Covians now closer than before. Ahead, he could see a moongate open, and seeing no other option, picked up the pace ever so slightly and dashed, leapt, and finally landed directly into it, leaving time for only one Covian to jump in after him before the gate closed.  Since Redfield was in first, he had but a second to look around; he immediately recognized the surroundings as Delucia in the lost lands. It was a Junior who managed to persue Vince, and with a grin on his lips, began battle.  Vince knew he couldn't attempt to make a good showing in his tired state, and foolishly took the fight out of the city limits, to a nearby Paladin holding.

The offending Junior called out to one of the paladins..

"This man is a felon! A deserter! Aide me!"

"Deserter...
Deserter..?
DESERTER?!"

The redheads ears had heard that for the last time.  Though cuts and scraped appeared on both men, in a fit of rage Vince swung his mace with a backhand, catching his off-guard opponent in the neck, followed by a wet crunching noise, and the sound of a now-lifeless body slumping on the floor. Huffing and panting, he turned to the paladin, whos sword was already drawn.

"W..Wait, I can expla--" began Vince, but was cut short by the booming, and demaning voice of the Knightly figure.

"I've seen enough!" Boomed the Paladin, whos massive shield and thick armor shined even in the night. "Deserter or not, whatever your past crimes are, I've witnessed you take the life of another who cried for help. You shall suffer for your wrongdoings!"

Vince could only defend himself, poorly as he may, against the zealous paladin, whos pefectly vertical and horizontal slashes fell upon Vince as fast as they were devestatingly powerful. For the third time, Vince took off running...

Into the night he ran, over hills and leaping over streams, never once looking back. Finally making it to the unusually  large summit of what seemed to be a small mountain, he stopped for rest. Not a moment later, could he hear the familiar neighing of a horse. "You've got to be kidding me" rang through Vince's head as he turned to see  the Paladin mounted upon an equally armored stallion.

" No creature shall escape the Righteous Hand of the Avatar. So it is written, so it shall be done!" The Knight went on to recite other verses from the Book of the Avatar, as the Covian weighed his options. He peered over the side of the cliff to find not only was it so deep, the shadows wouldn't allow him to see all the way to the bottom, but he heard the malicious  cackles and howls of orcs, ratmen, and an assortment of giants and other magical creatures.

"Ah, but you've never met a creature like me, Paladin! You must not know who I am. I am Vince, The Scourge of--"

"Enough!"

The paladin leapt from the steed and engaged Vince. After several evenly matched strikes, Vince managed to repel the Paladin.

"Concecrus Arma!" Cried Vince, raising his mace to the air, expecting to feel some righteous and sacred power course within him...but nothing. "Eh..!? Why can't I.."

"Only the Holy and Pure of Heart may use the abillities of a Paladin! Divinim Furis!"
Answered back the Knight, and immediately he was egulfed in a  cloud of what seemed to be floating gold. Charging again, he swung and knocked the mace from Vince's hand, into the depths below..the Covian backed up to the edge, eyes wide now, his combat sense failing him. Another thrust from the Knight's sword, and Vince's breastplate was peirced, as was his flesh. Blood poured from the Covians chest, and though his mouth was open, there was no words. 

"I'd say repent..." The Paladin Began..
"But your end is nigh." With that, the Paladin recoiled his blade, which was one-fourth burried within Vincent's chest, and promptly, the Covian fell back, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, falling over the cliff...but to what fate?

OOC: Questions? Comments? Haiku? Post!

[Delcarakdur]

[OOC: OMGS Have Vinceent Finally been beaten?!  Great story man![]

[Jack Sinist (•̪●)]

[OOC: You know I enjoy your writings. I liked it, and now i have to prospone my own, can't have two at the same time ; )

One downer tho, It's a bloody cliff hanger, I'd like to be certain he really dies Good story tho, good read]

[userjosh5368]

[OOC Great story mate much enjoyable shame you were beaten though
Like the nice cliff hanger you did ]

[Vincent Redfield]

Silence. Darkness. Strange as it may seem, the silence was deafening, and the Darkness was no less than blinding. Miscolored eyes fluttered for a moment, before blinking open; the left occular green, the right blue. Something was immediately wrong, Vincent sensed, he could tell he was alive. With clouded vision he glanced about; He was lying on a cold, stone table, surrounded by various shaped vials filled with different color fluids, some bubbling, others steaming. He went to move, but his motor skills failed him, and only his neck was mobile. Every inch Vince strained seemed like he was being pushed to astral limits, and after holding his head up for a few moments to get a better scope, he quickly fainted again, gasping for air.
 
--------------------------
 
No visual skills were available, but his audio skills seemed alright. He could hear Two contrasting voices, one more familiar than the other. The first voice seemed monotonic, as if the keeper of the voice was reading off of something...
 
" Motor skills at almost complete failure. Internal structure heavily damaged, most notable the lungs and breathing mechanisms. Cranium wounds significant to a fall. Overall life functions are at.." [/ A pause. " 17%."
 
Vince attempted to speak, but he couldn't so much as force open his mouth. The more familiar voice came, then...

"We've got no other options. He's too expensive to toss away. It'll take too much time and resources to create another one...We'll have to do what we did with the other one."
"Created?
Other one?"
Vince couldn't help himself now, and with all his might, managed to force open his left eye. The light stung it, and his pupil contracted, however, he managed to steal a glimpse of one of the speakers..a tall being with an elven hooded shroud. He couldn't make out his face, only that he was clutching a small, greenish tome. Right before his lost consciousness, he recognized the script on the tome--one of the words seemed to spell "Collegium".
-------------------------
Slipping in an out of consciousness was taking its toll on Vince. He had no conception of how long he had been here, but every second spent awake was a luxury. This time was different, however. He woke up, and he wasn't tired or taxed. He managed to sit up with relative ease, which was quite surprising..However, almost immediately, he wished he didn't. He couldn't move anything below his waist, and there were tubes everywhere, going every which way, stuck in him. In his throat, his chest, his legs, his arms--his arm. He could only move one arm, the other was in some sort of cast.  He reached up with his left, good arm to take hold of the tubes invading his body. He began to scream as he tried to pull them from his body, the wires and tubes only budging ever so slightly, blood leaking from where they connected to his flesh. He looked down..there was a large incision in his chest. An open wound...He could see his own heart beating through the cavity in his chest, and immediately began to scream louder, as shock overwhelmed him. He then became aware of two figures standing at the foot of his 'bed'. They both wore cloaks with hoods, so no figures were discernable. The Covian began to shout and bark incoherent orders and demands, questions as to where he was, and what is going on, who they where, and a myriad of others, and through his words were slurred, it didn't matter. They both simultaneously outstretched their hands, and a white, pale light suddenly swarmed Vince. The feeling was irregular--first calmness, then searing, unbearable pain. Vincent screamed even louder, be it for just a second, before his time spent awake was tragically cut short; backwards he collapsed, his head smashing hard against the stone table, and out he went. One of the men slipped around the table, to where Vince's head was. Over his head they placed a bowl-shaped object, with a single, thick wire connected to it. Vince never felt a thing.
------------------------
During his time here, wherever here was, Vince hadn't dreamt in his time spent unconscious. The state he was in now, he couldn't be sure. Here he stood now, seemingly fine, unharmed, and fully armored, save for his mace and shield. The area he was in was completely black, yet he could walk in this strange dimension. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure---was it--Dell! John Dell, he recognized the figure as. As quickly as he could, he dashed through the darkness. "Dell!" He cried. "You've got to help me, I..I don't know--" CRACK. The Merryman sent a high-kick that connected with Vince's jaw, sending up sprawling backwards, crashing hard onto the floor. He never remembered Dell to be that flexible..or even hold that much animosity! Scrambling to his feet, he realized the figure was gone, but a new one was only a few paces away from him -- Hoagie. As he made his way over with just as much enthusiasm as he had rushed to Dell, he was met with the same response. A cold countenance upon Hoagies face, followed up by a swift backhand connecting with the redheads temple, again, knocking him back. He couldn't understand it, as he lay on the floor for a second longer than usual. Again he made his way to his feet. A third figure, this time--Joey Lanai. This time, he didn't so much dash towards the figure as he felt he was being drawn in--and invariably met with the same response. A sharp elbow to the chest. He was angry now, and once he was brought to his feet, he started swinging wildly--at nothing. None of the figures had spoken, or so much grunted as they leashed out, so when Vince heard a voice, it was almost alien to him...but it was the familiar voice. He turned, to see the cloaked figure in the elven shroud, clutching the green tome. "Vincent Redfield, offspring of Chaos."He recognized the voice and figure to be his cousin, Aeron, the half-elf.
"You're not well, cousin." Aeron spoke. "Let me help you. You need only say the word."A feeling of helplessness washed over Vince. It was uncommon to him, something never felt before. He immediately collapsed to his knees, and hugged the leg of the robed one.
 
-------------------------
The tubes around Vince all lead to vials filled with liquid. He was unconscious, but the fluid in the vials immediately began to bubble and fizz. One of the men 'overseeing' the process took note of the effect and immediately turned on his heel and continued down a corridor. He passed several doors and hallways, until he made it to a balcony with two chairs on it, one occupied. Without a word, he passed on the small parchment to the figure in the chair, who had his back to the 'overseer'. Without a word, the figure stood up and turned...it was Aeron, from Vince's dream. Looking over the paper, he began to nod. "Then it's ready." Was all he said, and the paper was tossed over the balcony, and whisked away by the wind.
 
 

[Nicholi Ravnthorn]

[OOC: Some freaky Sci-Fi sheet going on her Vince, but Great story so far! go on!]

[Delcarakdur]

[OOC: looking forward towards that scenario ]

[userjosh5368]

[OOC Nice second part mate was reallt enjoyable to read a m looking forward to your come back scenario keep up the story  ]

[Vincent Redfield]

It is said a world's government is roughly 50 years ahead of the common people. A government's technology, most times, vastly exceeds the "state of the art" technology available to its people, in the fields of communication, warfare, entertainment, and medicine. Sosaria is just one world in the multiverse, and of course, is no exception. However, it is not only governments that have access to the extraordinary...
 
-------------------
There was a mask around Vince's face, covering from his jaw to just below his eyes, and over his nose, with a large, hollow and flexible tube leading somewhere towards the ceiling. He was in the same place as always, however now the table was tilted at a 45 degree angle, and he was secured by his arms, feet, and neck. Vince recognized one of the men under Aeron's orders, however they still all wore the same uniform; full, dull-copper ringmail suits with black sashes, boots, kilts, and belts, yet instead of hardened ring gloves, they wore softer leather ones. Vince appreciated this small blessing. In any event the man faced Vincent now, Aeron not far behind, in the shadows. Vince's eyes were open, yet half-lit, and was aware of his sedated state. The reason for the mask over his face became instantly apparent, as he could feel he'd be too tired to even breathe without it. At least, that's what he thought. He heard Aeron's voice whisper some order, but he couldn't hear exactly what was said. He tried to look shocked and surprised when the man in front of him lifted out some contraption with what appeared to be a spinning, round saw on it, but the medication simply wouldn't let him. Vince never saw anything like it before in his life, but he could tell it was something sublimely foreign. It seemed to be powered by two gears in the center, meshed into a pulsing, purple crystal. All Vincent could do was watch at the spinning 'saw' was placed over the open cavity in his chest and slowly pushed in. He couldn't feel any pain, but he could, however, feel his flesh seperating. The 'doctor' made a few incisions, and put the contraption down, for which Vince was relieved. He could, however, feel something was altered; he just didn't feel right. The man then grabbed a smaller gear, similar to the one he saw on he saw, and inserted it into the chest cavity, followed by a slightly larger gear, and then a sort of a band, like a conveyor belt. The doctor then began a process of removing tissue, and inserting small, different shaped and sized pieces of what looked to be metal, or some type of plaster. This continued for hours and, in true form, Vince began to get bored. His eyes wandered around the room until he came to spy a group of people hovering over something, but he couldn't quite make out what. It appeared to be some sort of metallic statue. They would take a small bit of it, and place it near where the one who was operating on Vince was drawing his 'parts' from. That was the last thing Vince saw before loosing consciousness.
--------------
In his unconscious state, the doctor did more than what Vince saw. It would be eight hours of work before he was done; The finished product was yet to be beheld. Vince's eyes fluttered open, and he was back on the flat table. He thought this could be another dream, but it was not so. He sat up, and saw no sight of anyone. He rolled his legs off the side of the table and stood, for the first time in what seemed like years. He wobbled a bit, getting used to standing on his own feet. He felt the urge to shout, but ha urge was somehow repressed almost as quickly as it had come. He checked his body over-- He was only wearing short pants. A sewn up scar over his heart; another one under his left knee; another going the circumference just below his right elbow, and finally, the source of his headache, a small one in the back of his head.  He walked along the cold hard floor, he wanted to shiver, but something just wouldn't let him. Noone was around, he knew. He couldn't tell how exactly, but it was like he could feel that no one was close. It was fifteen minutes or so of searching through this strage compound until he hit gold. Aeron stood, with his back to Vince, facing a door. Immediately Aeron spoke.
 
"You're awake. About time. It's time for your first test." Was all the half-elf said, before stepping aside. Vince instinctively opened the door and stepped inside. There were two suits of armor hanging on a wall, next to another door. One was Vince's old Cove uniform--though slightly 'modified' and repaired, and next to it was another familiar suit. Vince recognized it immediately, though his facial expression did not change. It was the suit the Paladin wore, when Redfield was defeated. Same emblems, and the same small knick in the arm where Vince managed to land a strike. It was the exact one, all right.
"Hurry up!" He heard Aeron. He got dressed into his Cove uniform, sans the kilt and sash, and stepped through the next door, which appeared to be a huge arena. As a note, Vince hasn't seen sunlight since he fell off the cliff. All the rooms he'd been in have has ceilings and no windows, and only artificial light scources. Though it was a large, cold room, for some reason it wasn't the least bit dark. It was as if someone had cast Nightsight on the room itself, rather than just Vince. No matter. As son as he was armed, a door at the far end opened, and six of the 'doctors' from before stepped out. They were all exactly the same height, had exactly the same body structure, and used the same weapon--Agapite Broadwords. Wordlessly, the six charged at Vince, thought it would be several seconds before they reached him due to the sheer size of the arena. Vince glanced back at Aeron, for 'approval'.
 
"Kill these failures, Vincent."
 
Vince turned around and waited for them to reach him. Aeron hadn't so much as turned around to watch  before two were decapitated, one legless, and three battling valiantly with Vince. For whatever reason, they hadn't included his helmet in the suit, so Redfield fought with his face unprotected. Though he swung hard and jumped from place to face, exerting tremendous energy, his face never once changed expressions, nor did he grunt or pant as he did so. Aeron even looked shocked at the way Vince moved--precisely, deftly, mercilessly. Suddenly, one of the men had a mace completely impale them. Retracting it, Vince  carried its momentum to strike both of the remaining two at once, followed up by crushing one's helmet with the mace almost completely, and striking the neck of the remaining one so that it collapsed. There was one man, or half a man it should be noticed, screaming and crawling, writhing on the floor, legless.  Vince soon put him out of his misery, and looked back to Aeron, blankly, for further instruction.
 
Vince thought he heard a mumbled "Good God".
 
-----------------------
 
Vince was taken to a small chamber and fed. Wordlessly, he took whatever miscellaneous food was passed his way. In the back of his mind, he felt the urge to say how disgusting and terrible the food was--but as before, all desire to speak was washed away. Right after 'Dinner', two of the men under Aerons control led Vince back to the same chamber.  The bodies were gone, but there were still stains of blood on the floor.  As soon as he entered the arena, the door behind him was shut. On the far end, his opponent emerged--The Paladin. This time, there was no explanation needed. Vince took the initiative, and walked--calmly-- at the Paladin, who was by this time sprinting. When the two met, the Paladins heavy sword came crashing down upon Vince--well, Vince's mace. While the Holy man struggled to push down his blade onto someone who barely seemed to be trying, Vince swung his shield into his opponents head, sending him crashing to the floor a few yards away. While the Knight was getting to his feet, Vince heard an unfamiliar voice call from what seemed to be the ceiling...
 
"Use your abilities! They'll work, now!"
 
Without so much as acknowledging he heard this, wordlessly, Vince raised his mace into the air. No motions, or even speech was necessary, for the mace was surrounded in the pale blue light he had utilized so many times before. Wasting no time, Vince swooped upon the weakened Paladin like a bird of prey, and, with a quick stroke of a mace, ended whoever was in the suit's life. Before he could even look around for approval, the door on he far end opened again. This time, a single being emerged. Vince thought he recognized him, but he wasn't sure. This being resembled Aeron only slightly, only in that he had elven features. But then he noticed the creature's hair--red, bright red, like his own.  For the first time, Vince was fighting someone that, like he, had no facial protection. Full, elaborate platemail armor, and armed only with a scythe.
 
"Begin." A voice boomed.
 
Even Vince was not prepared for what came next. His opponent didn't advance, but pointed his Scythe at Vince. Immediately, Spikes rose from the stone floor, breaking it apart, as if an earthquake had erupted, and was aimed only at Vince. The Covian leapt this way and that, narrowly missing the spikes from under him. When it ceased, the two only stared at each other for a moment, before both breaking out in a full-sprint charge. Redfield recognized this magic--it was Necromancy. as the two were running, the Elven threw bolts of green needles, which Vince ducked, dived, and weaved in and out of. One connected with Vince's shoulder, however, and armor and flesh alike were ripped apart. Even still, Vince's facial expression didn't change, nor did his stride break. The two finally clashed, Every attack and parry was met equally, the fight was balanced as could be. As they exchanged blows, the arena thundered and echoed the sounds of clashing metal. Vince, having only flinched slightly, managed to activate another 'Paladinic' technique; He was surrounded by shining gold, and his actions were visibly quicker. The elf swung his scythe deftly, but missed, and Vince moved in, and his mace hit its mark on the back of his opponent's head. Unfazed, the elf leapt to his feet, and, having pointed his hand towards Vince, released some sort of energy that closed around the Covian, restricting his movement. As the elf moved in, Vince's face changed for the first time, as he gritted his teeth and was freed from his metaphysical prison, thanks to sheer will. Vince dashed in to the stunned elf, and again clashed his mace, this time harder,  into the elf's chest plate, shattering it into shards. The Covian's Chaos Shield was discarded, broken by a previous attack. Both warriors were wounded, and had the marks and scars to prove it, but Vince had come out on top. As he was about to strike the killing blow, he grabbed the elf's neck...but something stopped him. As he gazed into the elf's equally blank and cold eyes, he felt something. Though he had never seen this creature before in his life, he felt it was familiar, something close to him.. a relative...a brother perhaps? No, it was much closer than that. Vince felt that this creature was a part of his being, an extension of himself, like a limb or an organ. He released the elf's neck, and they both stood, exactly equal in height. Though they said nothing, they stared at each other, and seemed, somehow, to be communicating without words. It was then that Aeron burst through the doors and cast his cold glance towards both of them.
 
"What is this?! Don't tell me you're both failures...Kill each other! Only one can be perfect!"
 
A moment later, the two, in perfect unison, turned to face  Aeron, who, upon this gesture, looked somehow confused. He was undoubtedly superior in power, but something bothered the half-elf, something wasn't right here...
 
And for the second time since the operation, Vince's facial expression changed once more.
 
 
He Smirked.

[Nicholi Ravnthorn]

[OOC: Wow, niceness, please finish!]

[Vincent Redfield]

The first time Redfield has seen light in weeks is after 'the rebellion'. It wasn't so much a rebellion as it was a revolution. The entire arena, and surrounding huge corridors were completely destroyed. All that remained is an outstandingly huge pile of stone and miscellaneous other matter in the middle of the Minocian Plains. Now, only three beings were present; Vince, next to Drakkon, as he'd come to name him, the elven who he had fought only hours before, and in front of them, Aeron. Both Vince and Drakkon's armor was nearly completely destroyed, gaping holes and components missing, it could hardly even be called armor anymore. Both had cuts, scratches, open wounds, and even burns and some were beginning to scar. Be that as it may, it was Aeron who looked the worst. He was on the floor, in a semi-fetal position, covered in blood, his cloak removed. Both of his eyes were missing, though this was not because of the battle, as the wounds were long closed.

"You...threw...everything away...you were the son...of Ch..aos! You...were the only non-failure..!!" Choked out Aeron from the floor, not even attempting to move.

Vince spoke now, but his voice was...different. It was the first time he spoke in four or five days. His voice was deeper, more deliberate, and a hint slower than normal. It was as if every word had to be the perfect fit to say in that exact instant in time.
" Chaos is dead. I never considered him my father. Worship him as you will, I'm going to find out the truth. I'm going to where it began. I don't suggest you follow."

With that, Vince quietly walked off, the silent Drakkon following. After a few moments, a smirk came over Aeron's eyeless face, and even a small chuckle through a cough.

"Like Clockwork."
((OOC: Okay, for those who haven't been following, this is pretty much, in a nutshell, what happened. Vince somehow got in trouble with Brigands, and forced them to attack Cove. After which, he was driven out, and escaped to Delucia. Aeron, his seer-like cousin sent  one of his uber-warriors, dressed as a paladin to intercept. Vince was defeated, and fell quite a ways. He was taken back to Aeron's 'lab', and, after being mentally broken down, the only way he could physically survive was by transplanting several 'parts'. Aeron, being a genius and a scientist, removed half of Vince's heart, and replaced it with gears (Ala "The Clockwork Knight"), and also spread shards of power crystals around various parts of his body. OOCly, Vince is just a puppet, a creation of Aeron (thought he does have biological parents, he was 'altered' at birth), though he doesn't know it. All the people he fights are failed creations of Aeron. So, after his moves are perfected via the crystals, gears, he encounters Drakkon,  a creation who had exceeded the prowess of the others, but still wasn't quite perfect. However, because they were both altered the same way, they feel as if they're a part of each other, and thus, turned on Aeron. For referance, 'Chaos' is Vince's biological father, the omnipotent, extremely powerful, dead (or is he?! Muahaha!) mage, who Aeron has modeled himself after. He was always secretly jealous of Vince, because he had Chaos as a father and chose not to be a mage, where Aeron thought himself more worthy. Anyway, now Chaos and Drakkon (who, btw, is a mute) are going to the birthplace of Chaos to 'find the truth' about themselves. However, that part won't be chronicled due to my laziness . Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story, and hopefully, Vince v2.0 will be in game soon ))

[Jenifer Feather]

[OOC] Awsome shizzle matey! It will be excelent to have you back! we need as many men as possible =P [/OOC]

[userjosh5368]

{OOC; excellent story was really enjoyable matey hope your back soon}