User blog:Apollo42/The Underland Saga: Part II: Out of the Fire

Hey, everyone! I know it's been a while, but... Here's the second chapter of the Underland Saga!

And, erm, see if you can guess who all the fighters are. :P

Arik whipped around, his hands wrapping around his ethereal sword once again. He turned to see a rather handsome man there, with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. “Yes… Something irreversible…”

“What do you mean?” Arik snapped, his mind immediately coming to attention and instinctively reaching towards the man. For some reason, he was being blocked…

“Well, obviously, killing someone is pretty irreversible.” The man laughed, coolly. “Honestly, you’d think that someone with your genes would be just a bit smarter.”

Arik ignored the shot at his intelligence, instead focusing on what the man was doing here. “What do you-”

“Well, irreversible for someone as mediocre as you.” The man interrupted him, laughing. “For someone like me, however, the task is rather easy. A very simple spell, actually.”

“Tell me it!” Arik exclaimed, hurriedly, his eyes drifting over to the body of his deceased lover, Kara. Her body lay at a rather odd angle, and the blood was flowing from her belly… The Imperial Mage quickly averted his eyes, the image becoming engrained into his memory… But looking at it was just too hard to bare.

“Of course.” The man chuckled, taking a step toward Arik, quietly. The Imperial almost didn’t notice it, but he luckily did, quickly recoiling and raising his blade.

“You have good instincts.” The man mused, lazily moving to his side. “This gives me an idea… A very good idea…”

“What is it?” Arik asked, quietly, fearing the worst.

The man turned his almost-neon blue eyes on him, coldly. “If you survive my little test, I’ll give you the spell, and you’ll be able to resurrect your whore.”

“She’s not a-” Arik sighed, realizing that train of thought would be useless, and so would trying to argue with the man. “Fine. Do what you must, Mr…?”

“Zane.” The man replied, before stepping forward once more and reaching out, grabbing Arik’s wrist. The two men’s eyes locked, blue meeting green.

Arik instantly blacked out.

When he awoke, he instantly sat up, making sure that he had a sword and his axe. He glanced around, not really knowing what he saw.

The area resembled an arena, from what little he had seen of such things. It was, in fact, a coliseum, made of black marble. It had skulls embedded into the tops and the bases of columns.

An opaque curtain separated the Emperor’s box from the rest of the seats, but Arik could still make out the figure of Zane as he sat there.

“What is this?” Arik called, angrily, wishing to know what his little task was going to be.

“This is an arena.” Zane’s voice replied, magically amplified so that it filled the entire arena. “The world is undergoing change, Arik. People are growing more powerful. You, Agatha Tira, Dunlammus Tyrael… You three are too powerful. Simply being in the world has caused changes… You think it was simply coincidence that not one but two major villains have appeared during the lifetime of Agatha Tira and yourself? More and more villains will appear, so long as at least two of you live…”

Arik wondered who this ‘Dunlammus’ person was, but he was interrupted by Zane continuing. “I’ve looked into the future… and the Past… I have replicated some of the villains that have been, are, and will be.”

The gates directly across from Arik began to slowly open…

“You’re going to have to duel each of them, to prove that you’re strong. If you die, well… that’s one problem solved for me. If you survive through the ordeal… Well… I’ll give you your spell, and you can go live with your girlfriend and live in peace.”

Arik drew his weapons, staring at the gate, coldly. Before the gate was even fully up, a glob of black tar hit the Morgan square in the face.

“Prove that you’re worth it, Arik Morgan.”

Arik cursed under the suffocating black goo, using his power over the wind and storms to dry it, and then peeling it off. He looked up, seeing a familiar face. “Mactan.” He hissed, angrily, instantly throwing his axe.

The Breton-Daedra half-breed leaped up, over the axe, and towards Arik Morgan. Arik was too stunned that the man was here to do anything but watch as the shape hurtled down towards him…

Arik was slammed into the dirt as the creature knocked into him. It clambered unto him, laughing with manic glee. He drew a dagger and raised it to plunge it into Arik’s chest. At the very last second before it was driven into his heart, Arik used the wind to knock Mactan off of him.

Arik clambered up, and Mactan leaped away, still laughing with pure insanity. He spewed tar from his mouth, leaving puddles of it all over the floor of the arena.

The Imperial threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the Daedra, but the creature easily avoided them, leaping away.

Arik was getting rather frustrated, before attempting to attack the creature with his mind. For some reason, just as it had been with Zane, his telepathy was blocked.

Mactan clung to a wall, still cackling. He opened his mouth, looking ready to bite Arik if he could get close enough. He leaped…

The Morgan, in desperation, flung the winds out, entrapping Mactan in a swirling vortex. The creature was flung around, unable to get out and do anything.

An idea came to Arik, though it was rather ridiculous. He had seen the Daedra survive much more than that, but he was becoming desperate…

With a hand motion, Arik drew the oxygen out of the vortex, leaving behind a gasless void for the Daedra to try to survive on…

Luckily for the Imperial, the Daedra appeared to be struggling to breathe, due to his Breton heritage. Arik laughed, sending a lightning bolt into the vortex, striking Mactan between the eyes. The creature dissolved into ash, and Arik dispelled his twister.

He put his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath. The fight hadn’t been too hard, but it still left Arik breathing heavily.

“Was that it?” He called, after a few moments of catching his breath. He knew that it was foolish, but he dared to hope…

“Of course not.” Zane replied, harshly. He sounded slightly disappointed-maybe even angry-that one of his creatures had been so easily dispatched.

The gate opened once more, and a nobleman walked out, carrying papers under his arm. “I am Telemachus Di-”

Arik zapped him, and the villain crumbled to ash instantly.

“Next?”

Arik heard a bit of grumbling from Zane, as the next gate opened, even slower than the two before it. “This one is going to have special significance to you in the future, Morgan…”

The next gate began to open, letting a Dunmer in armor step out. He blinked in the light, before his beady eyes focused on Arik. “She’s mine!” He snapped, drawing a battleaxe and lunging at the Imperial Mage.

Arik was barely able to get his blade up in time to stop the battleaxe from cutting him in half, and Arik’s heart fell. This Dunmer was a far better warrior than he was…

Arik scrambled away, firing a bolt of lightning as he did so. The Dunmer took it in the shoulder, but he continued his stride after the Imperial. Arik desperately tried to suffocate him as he had Mactan, but the Dunmer kept his feet planted on the ground, and walked through the vortex, calmly.

He caught up to Arik and slashed it across his chest, leaving a deep gash. Arik lunged away, blood leaking out of his chest.

The Morgan was breathing heavily, his vision fuzzing every few seconds. Shakily, he raised a hand to his chest and began to heal it, trying not to black out as he did so. The bleeding stopped, and the wound slowly closed…

“Asshole!” Arik called, blasting him with lightning again. As expected, the Dunmer kept walking at him, taking the bolt like a champion.

The Imperial mage stumbled away, desperately trying to keep out of reach of that massive axe.

“Stop! Please!” He choked out, trying to contact Zane to get him out of there.

“No. You agreed. You either die, or you live, now, Arik Morgan.”

Arik threw an icespike at the man, which impaled him in the shoulder. The Dunmer winced and broke the spike off, but a small shard was left over. Judging from the redness around that area, Arik could tell that the man was in a great deal of pain.

The Future Black Dragon raised his hand, using his power over the winds to drop the temperature around them to a freezing level. The Dunmer groaned, falling to his knees and shaking.

Arik sprinted forward, skidding to a stop before the Dunmer man. “M-mine…” The Elf muttered again, staring up at the Imperial coldly. Arik raised his hand, placed it to the villain’s head, and shot an ice spike straight through it.

The Dunmer dropped to the floor, before slowly crumbling into dust…

“Are we done now?” Arik demanded, healing himself up.

“Of course not.”

The gate opened once more, but Arik truly couldn’t make out who he was going to face next. All he could see was a sword…

A disgusting, diseased sword that was dripping with something… Was it blood?

The figure stepped out, face covered by a just-as disgusting helmet. His armor was diseased… sick… blighted… It inspired fear in Arik, causing him to instinctively shy away.

“You’re the next fucking victim?” The Knight called out, his voice slightly muffled by the helm. Arik guessed that he was a Bosmer, given the height. He could also have been a Breton, though…

“I guess so.” Arik replied, trying to remain calm. He summoned his sword and drew his Ebony axe, getting into a ready stance.

“Good.” The Bosmer replied. “I’m very ready to kill anyone who even resembles that fucker Aratius.”

Arik’s eyebrows rose, before he lunged forward, stabbing his sword into the Knight’s chest. The Bosmer simply looked down, staring at the blade that was impaling him. Then, he began to laugh.

“Dumbass.” He chuckled, before knocking the mage away from him and pulling the sword out of him.

Arik landed on his rump, staring up in horror at the Diseased Knight that stood before him. “What… What are you?”

“Something awful.” The Sick Knight replied, raising his dripping sword and swiping it across Arik’s cheek. Arik cried out, as the liquid that resided on the blade burned his skin, as if it was acid…

Acid. Of course.

Arik scrambled away, trying not to scream again as the acid infected his wound and burned it, again and again and again…

He raised his shaking arms and let loose a stream of fire, keeping it on until a wall of flames separated him from the Blighted Knight.

The Imperial paused, his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. He had no idea if the Knight had been incinerated in all the flames that had washed over him, but he prayed that the Bosmer was gone…

He stared at the fire, intently, not noticing that the ground was becoming diseased and desecrated through the blaze…

Arik gasped aloud, as he saw the figure moving through the fire, towards him. “I thought that you were smart enough to realize that I can’t die, asshole.”

The Morgan scrambled away, desperate to get away from the creature. “Leave me alone!” He demanded, throwing a fireball at the Elf once more. “Come closer and I… I’ll hurt you!”

“Oh, please.” The Knight laughed. “No one can hurt me.” He continued, coming closer and closer… He raised his two swords, getting ready to decapitate Arik…

Arik used his power over the winds to knock the Blighted Knight a few feet away, giving the Imperial enough room to get away from him and prepare for the next assault.

The Bosmer ran at him, swinging at Arik with his swords. The Morgan deflected one sword with is own blade, before yelping and ducking under the other one. The Bosmer was a good swordsman, he had to give him that…

Arik hopped up and slammed his sword into the Knight’s arm, severing the muscles. The acid-blade arm hung uselessly at his side, unable to help him anymore. The blade fell from his grasp…

The Imperial Mage lunged for it, his hand wrapping around the blade. However, even the handle burned his hand, and he was forced to give it up. Instead, he kicked the Knight’s legs out from under him, forcing him to fall to the floor as well.

Arik got up as quickly as possible, before sending fireball after fireball at the figure on the ground, quickly following it up with some stabs and cuts at his back.

It didn’t truly seem to affect him, as he got up once more, his katana in his hand. He and Arik clashed swords once more, Arik appearing to be even more determined to win than his opponent was.

Arik swung at his opponent’s midriff, slamming his blade into the armor of the Knight. Sadly, his sword got stuck, and he was forced to leave it behind as he rolled away from one of the Knight’s attempts at decapitation.

He drew his axe, before realizing that he would be unable to block any of the next few strikes from the man.

Arik had to end it, now.

He slammed his axe into the forehead of the Knight, before ripping off his helmet. He was not truly surprised to see a scarred Bosmer who glared at him with hate-filled eyes. He blasted fire into the man’s eyes, blinding him, before he was shoved away.

Arik grinned, pulling himself up from the floor as the Bosmer stumbled around, unable to see. He grabbed his axe’s handle, and slammed it into the man’s head. The Bosmer soon crumbled into ash…

“Phew…” Arik sighed, healing the wounds he had gained from that fight. “Are w-we… Are we done?”

“Why do you keep asking that?” Zane replied, with a sigh, as a stamina potion, a magicka potion, and a health potion all appeared before him. Arik downed all three, as Zane continued, “I’ll tell you when you’re done.”

Zane sighed, as if trying to calm himself done. “So, anyways… I think that this next person is going to be rather significant to you in the future, Morgan.”

A middle-aged man in black robes stepped out, his hands clasped in front of him. Despite the graying hair and the full beard, he looked very much like Arik Morgan himself.

Arik went on the attack, leaping forward with a fireball in his hand. However, before he could actually release the magic, a wave of telekinetic energy burst out from the man. Arik hit the wall, staring at the man in a daze. The man hadn’t even moved…

“For the famed Black Dragon, you sure aren’t much.” The man said, coolly, taking a calm step forward. “I’m afraid that you aren’t going to make it out of this arena, Dragon.”

“I’m not a dragon, you twat!” Arik snapped, launching an ice spike at the Imperial, leaping up and quickly following it up with a bolt of lightning. The man stepped to the side, dodging the ice spike.

He then caught the lightning bolt and threw it back at Arik. The bolt changed in color and grew, slamming into the wall right beside the Morgan. He was thrown away from the blast, rubble and debris raining down upon him as he shielded his head.

Arik got up as soon as he could, staring at the man in horror.

“You’re not worthy of the name Morgan.” The man snapped, coldly, as his body began to morph and change. He was turning into something big… No… Something huge…

After a few seconds, the man had completed his transformation into a massive, black dragon. “I, Aratius Morgan, am the true Black Dragon!” He roared, breathing fire at the sky. Arik’s heart gave a little jolt, as he recognized a very similar name to his own.

Did it mean that he was destined to have another child with Kara?

‘Aratius’ beat his wings, blowing Arik into the wall again. He quickly followed with a blast of fire, which Arik barely avoided. He flung himself out of the way of the deadly blaze, before firing a lightning bolt at the Dragon’s chest.

The bolt deflected off of the ebony-colored scales, slamming into the opposite wall. Aratius breathed fire at where Arik had been, but the Morgan had used the winds to fling himself behind the dragon while it was distracted.

The Imperial Mage clambered onto the dragon’s tail and up onto its back, trying to climb towards its head, where he could stab an eye out, or something like that.

The dragon twisted and shook, trying to throw the Morgan off, but the Mage held fast. He drew his sword, hoping to plunge it into the beast’s neck. However, just as he brought it down, the dragon was gone.

And Arik was falling.

He saw the ground rising up towards him, his heart beating fast. Just as he neared the bottom, he thought quickly and used the winds to cushion his fall. He still hit the ground rather hard, but it didn’t kill him like it would have.

Where the Dragon had been standing, a massive Bear now stood. It roared and charged at the fallen Arik, its massive paws pounding on the ground as it got closer and closer…

Arik scrambled to his feet, sprinting away from the beast. He did his best, but he could hear it overtaking him…

Then, he felt a massive pain in his shoulder as something slammed into it, knocking him to the ground. He used the winds to knock it off of him, flipping onto his belly so he could see what he was facing.

Aratius now stood as a jungle cat, his red eyes glowing. He leaped back onto Arik’s chest, tearing into his shoulder with his sharp claws and yellow fangs.

Arik screamed, feeling warm blood gush onto his chest. He fumbled for his sword, trying not to alert the ravenous creature as he dispelled the ethereal blade he already had, instead summoning a new one into his hand.

He slammed it into the cat’s side, repeatedly, feeling satisfied as it roared in pain each time. Finally, it roared one last time, and dissolved into ash, coating Arik in a fine purple dust.

Arik struggled to heal himself, not noticing that the gate was opening once more…

Slowly, ever so slowly, the ground around him became hotter and hotter, beginning to melt…

Arik yelped and threw himself away, as a splash of lava shot towards him. He landed on the other side of the magma ‘moat,’ staring across at the man who stood across from him.

The man was a mousy-looking Dunmer with white hair, wearing dark robes. He didn’t look too threatening, but appearances were deceiving.

Arik groaned, blood still streaming from his mauled shoulder. He fired a lightning bolt at the Dunmer, hoping to end it then and there so he could go home. The man stood there until the bolt was very close, before raising some form of lava-creature from the ground to intercept it.

The creature took the blow, leaving the Dunmer unharmed. The Elf soon summoned a few more of the creatures that wielded different lava-weapons.

One of them leaped at Arik, its spear blazing with fiery energy. Arik sidestepped, trying not to get stabbed, before focusing the wind on that magma-person. The superheated rock that the man was composed of solidified, leaving him unable to harm Arik.

Arik turned around and barely got his sword up in time to deflect the next magma-person’s blow. He blasted it away with lightning, before turning his attention back to the Dunmer Elf.

He still looked small and unimposing, but now Arik was wary. He fired an ice spike at the man, realizing that fire wouldn’t affect the Dunmer.

The Elf easily deflected the spell, before snapping his fingers. The ground underneath the Morgan began to bubble and melt, and Arik barely had time to fling himself to the side before a jet of lava shot up from where he had been standing.

He rolled, coming up facing the Dunmer once more. He fired an ‘enemies explode’ spell, which hit the ground just behind the enemy Mage.

The Dunmer was flung forward, face planting in the dust. Arik could see that he was badly burned in the back, but it wouldn’t affect him due to his Dunmeri-blood. However, he figured that the blows he would’ve taken to the head would at least incapacitate him…

He moved forward, warily, putting himself within arms reach of the Dunmer so that he could finish him off.

However, as he stepped closer, the Dunmer’s hand shot out, grasping Arik by the ankle. He burned the Morgan, before the Imperial Mage could get away.

Arik groaned and raised his arm, throwing down a random spell at the Dunmer so that he could get away. He was flung away by the force of the explosion, slamming into a wall on the opposite side. When he could open his eyes again, he looked over to where the Dunmer had been…

The amount of blood and gore that was splattered all around the site was disturbing. It seemed that Arik had thrown an ‘enemies explode’ spell right into the man’s face…

“Oh, well…” Arik groaned, sitting up. He raised a hand to heal himself, when he felt something pinch his ear…

He reached up and grabbed it, feeling something small and fury attach there.

A bat.

Why was there a bat on his ear?

Arik ripped it off of his ear and threw it. It shrieked, before landing in the lava left over from the previous fight. “Oops.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a whole swarm of bats came flooding out of the lava, slamming into Arik with the force of a bull. They snapped at him, tore at him with their claws, screeched in his ear…

Arik used the power of the wind to blow them away, and it gave him a moment of reprieve. However, almost immediately, the bats came back. He’d need to figure out a way to get rid of them…

He grabbed one and ignited a fire spell in his hand, but the bat simply squirmed uncomfortably and snapped at his thumb. Arik tossed the bat away, angrily, before grabbing another one out of the air. He ignited a frost spell in his hand, and this time the bat screeched in terrified pain. He kept it up until the bat died, before dropping it.

Now, he knew what to do.

He fired a frost storm spell at the center of the bat cloud, watching as it spread throughout them. Most of the bats dropped, but a few got away in time, and coalesced into a single being…

A Dunmer Vampire, it seemed.

“I’m getting really tired of these Dunmer assholes.” Arik sighed, running a hand through his hair and drawing his sword.

“I am not an asshole.” The Dunmer said, coolly. “I am Dunlammus Tyrael. And I…” He raised his arm and fired a spell at Arik. It knocked him back, into the wall. “…Am a god.”

Arik shakily got to his feet, breathing heavily. “You’re not a god…” He called back. “I’ve met gods, and th-they sure are more impressive than you!”

“Doubtful.” Dunlammus replied, though it was obvious that he was a bit miffed by the man’s comment. He fired another spell, but this time Arik was waiting for it. He leaped out of the way, wincing as the wounds he had received from the bats were stretched.

Arik turned to look at Dunlammus again, only to be thrown back into the wall by another of Dunlammus’ spells.

I n-need to be… faster… Arik thought, desperately. I w-wish I could… b-become a cat… He kept thinking that over, and over…

Then, he heard Dunlammus catch his breath.

He looked up at the Vampire. For some reason his vision was sharper, and he was able to pick out a lot more details about the vampire than he should’ve been able to.

Arik picked himself up, using his forelegs to help him get up as his claws dug into the ground, providing him balance-

Wait.

Claws?

Arik looked down, staring at his now-furry front legs. Cat legs.

“I didn’t know that men could be werelions.” Dunlammus hissed, angrily. He fired a spell at Arik, but he was now too fast. He moved out of the way, before sprinting rapidly at the Dunmer.

The Dunmer tried to get out of the way, but Arik’s speed and litheness enabled him to quickly change directions, slamming into Dunlammus and clawing at his chest and arms, much like Aratius had done…

Dunlammus used his vampiric strength to shove the cat off of him and scramble up, pulling the two Daedric Longswords off of his back. He swung one at Arik’s head, but he quickly moved out of the way and clawed at the Dunmer’s legs.

A wave of energy rippled out from Dunlammus, knocking the leopard-Arik away. Arik hissed, and tried to get up, but he wasn’t strong enough to break through the magical energy…

Dunlammus came closer and closer, almost lazily, swinging his swords in circular fashions. “I am the best there ever will be, Arik Morgan.”

He raised his blade to lop off Arik’s head, and the Morgan began to think desperately, ''dragon… Dragon… DRAGON! Now!''

Arik felt himself begin to change, growing into a massive beast. He snorted out a bit of flame, before turning to look at the Vampire in front of him. His eyes were wide, and he seemed a bit scared.

He transformed into a cloud of bats and began to fly away, trying to get over the arena walls and escape…

Arik lunged forward, snapping his jaws.

He felt the bats go down his esophagus and into his stomach, before he began to shrink back into his normal size…

“Urgh…” He groaned, his vision turning blurry as he felt the bat-wounds he had received throb and stretch.

“I will keep my promise.” Zane informed him. “If you wake up, your girl will be there, waiting for you.”

Arik sat up, weakly. “I-if?”

The gates opened once more, and a beautiful young woman stepped out. She resembled Aratius, a bit, but the most disconcerting thing about her appearance was her eyes. One was silver, and one was gold, like the sun and the moon.

She moved closer to him, and Arik felt a small sense of calm. He simply laid there, happily, as the girl walked over, stopping right by him. She raised her hand, and Arik began to levitate, moving higher and higher…

Then, he stopped going up, and started going down.

At a very rapid pace.

He barely survived, because he used the wind to catch him only a few feet from the ground. After a moment, he let himself drop, before shakily getting to his feet. Arik turned to stare at the girl, shocked that she was trying to kill him after the tournament was over.

She threw a fireball at him, and Arik barely had enough energy to roll out of the way of the fiery blaze.

He shakily transformed himself back into a dragon, ready to crush the girl with his tail, or eat her, or do something to end this nightmare…

To his surprise, the girl also transformed, becoming a dragon almost as big as his. She slammed into him, using her teeth to tear into his shoulder. He roared, and pushed back, knocking the woman away.

She beat her wings in his face, blinding him momentarily, before she slammed her head into his. Arik stumbled back, angrily, before blasting fire in her face.

She roared, her eyes being blinded. She turned around and swung her tail, slamming it into Arik’s snout. It was so powerful that the Imperial Mage was left seeing stars…

He blinked it away and leaped on her, slamming her into the ground. The Female Dragon roared, angrily, before the girl began to shrink…

She appeared to become a Hawk, flying out of Arik the Dragon’s clutches. He didn’t know how to follow her, so he simply let fire stream out of his mouth towards her.

It seemed she was too fast, as she easily flew out of its path. She turned in her flight and flew to his snout, scarring it with her talons and beak. Arik roared in pain and transformed into a Leopard, batting the Hawk away with his paws.

The girl became a tiger, giving them similar speeds. However, it also gave her an advantage as she had the size and the strength to win.

She crashed into Arik, using her powerful jaws to bite at his neck. However, Arik was able to hold her off just long enough to move away, only getting a (hopefully) superficial wound on his neck. He leaped up, onto the tiger’s back, and used his jaws to bite at the back of her neck.

Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have time enough to shrug him off before his teeth closed around her neck and it all went dark…

Arik transformed back into himself and lay on the ground, quietly, as everything went black…

When he awoke, he instantly sat up, feeling no pain from what he had just experienced. Where was he? Why was it so dark? What was going-oh.

He looked around, seeing his future wife sitting by one of the Underland’s strange trees, crying. He cautiously stood up, heading over to Kara.

“Kara…? Are you…?”

The girl turned to see him and screamed, drawing her knife. “Get away from me!” She screamed, her free hand closing around her now-empty womb, as if to protect it. “Leave!”

“But, Kara, it wasn’t-”

“No!” She screamed again, lunging forward with her dagger. On instinct, Arik grabbed her wrist and squeezed, causing Kara to release her blade.

“Get away!” She squirmed. “You’re a monster!”

“Kara, please, I…” Arik felt at a loss for words as he released her hand, only able to watch as she went running off into the forest.

Now, Arik knew that he would have to be able to live down here, if only to be close to Kara.

He’d find her, and win her back, eventually.

At least, he hoped so.

Black Dragon of the Underland, huh? Arik mused, walking through the land to see where he could build up his own private kingdom. He hoped to get others down there, eventually, to join him.

Seems fitting.