Post by Kwan on Jan 16, 2012 16:07:43 GMT -5
* * * Entry One * * *
Tales of Ruttakia
Chip Mannington held Princess Arkaya close with one hand, and gripped his neutron saber tightly in the other. Beneath his feet, the vitreous floor of the Fluted Palace bucked and trembled under the continued violence of the Bonemonger assault. A crystal spire, blown free by the impact of a fission charge high above, came through the throne room's ceiling like a mighty spear, and the Princess swooned against Chip's side. The sudden wailing of a battle horn announced the arrival of a Bonemonger cavalry brigade, wielding obsidian halberds from the backs of their Terror Lizards. Chip tossed the princess to one side and drew his second blade, then leapt into the saddle of his own snarling mount. With a roar and a throaty huzzah he urged it forward straight into the mass of undead soldiers, laying into them with reckless abandon.
Chip’s sabers bit through the decaying flesh of the undead, tearing what little muscle remained from bone and cleaving through limbs as easily as butter. A path of carnage was left in his wake, and any of the Bonemongers fortunate enough to escape the reach of his sabers were crushed under his mount’s hooves. A halberd flew toward his face, but Chip knocked it away with ease. The soldier that swung it was not so fortunate when the hero’s sabers found him.
Another horn sounded as the Ruttakian forces charged to meet the Bonemongers. The sounds of war rang out throughout the battlefield as sabers and shields collided. Chip inhaled, the smell of death filling his nostrils. He blocked the assault of another walking corpse and swung. Its head landed in his lap. The hero pitched it at the head of another nearby soldier.
The Ruttakian forces let out a loud roar. Inch by inch, they were pushing the Bonemonger assault back. Chip took up the call and urged his mount even further behind the enemy lines. His sabers kept cutting, their lust for Bonemonger flesh growing more and more with each cut.
A fission charge erupted in the middle of the Ruttakian forces, spreading death and dismay among the men. The morale that had built up so quickly was evaporated instantaneously. Men dropped their weapons and retreated or were cut down by the Bonemongers. Chip looked for the source of the charges.
Toward the back of the enemy lines, a fission cannon was raining down hell on the Ruttakians. Chip Mannington let out a mighty roar. Seeming to sense what he was thinking, his mount pushed forward of its own accord. The beast trampled over a line of the undead soldiers and Chip cut down those foolish enough to try and stop their advance.
Chip dismounted and sprinted toward the fission cannon. A giant abomination of flesh was guarding the cannon. It was stitched together from the parts of other corpses and wielded an obsidian halberd in both of its massive arms. Chip smirked and nodded, grateful for the chance to face a formidable opponent. He charged at the behemoth, ducking under the reach of one of the halberds.
The hero swung one of his sabers at the leg of the beast. It bit into the grey, decaying flesh of the monster, but the abomination seemed not to notice. Chip pulled it out and dodged another swing of the halberds. He swung again, this time aiming for the stomach. It was cut open, red guts and green ooze spilling out onto the ground in front of him. The behemoth swung and hit Chip in the torso with its arm. He was easily tossed to the side.
Chip got up off the ground and dusted himself off with gritted teeth. He ran back at the behemoth and swung at the cut he had left in its stomach. The saber lodged itself in the abomination. Chip left it there and blocked a vicious swipe with the other. He hacked at its leg again, this time nearly cleaving through the appendage. One more cut was all it took to send the behemoth toppling to the ground. He ran to its head and severed it with one mighty swing. Grabbing his second saber from the beast’s stomach, Chip turned his attention to the fission cannon.
The cannon was being manned by a single Bonemonger soldier. Chip disposed of it with ease and turned the weapon against the invading forces. The charges threw the walking corpses left and right; bits of Bonemonger rained down through the air. The Ruttakian forces looked upon the chaos and started their charge anew with a might roar. With a mighty swing, chip embedded his saber into the cannon, ensuring the weapon could not be used against the Ruttakians again.
Chip ran back to the battle, looking for his mount. Bonemongers were being cut down around him, the Ruttakians easily taking dozens of feet of ground from the zombies. A Bonemonger that was pushed into Chip lost its head in a flash. A loud cheer erupted nearby. Chip turned to look and saw the Ruttakians cheering on his mount. The horse had trampled a Terror Lizard and was now tearing at it. Bits of the lizard’s flesh were hanging from the horse’s mouth and the bloodlust in its eyes was fierce. The lizard was squealing and trying to wriggle its way free of the equine’s grasp, but to no avail.
His mount tore off after another Bonemonger soldier, and Chip had to leap in the saddle before losing the horse amongst the chaos. He urged it back toward the Fluted Palace and heard the snaps of bones being crushed under hooves before it turned back to the Palace with a loud, hoarse whinny. The Ruttakians continued to dismantle the Bonemonger forces with a ferocious vigor, renewed by the lack of a super weapon raining down upon them.
The inside of the Fluted Palace was decimated. Crystal spires were impaled into the floor with giant cracks spreading out throughout the hallways and rooms. Princess Arkaya was right where he left her, now surrounded by a small guard of Ruttakian forces.
“The next time I have to do your job for you,” Chip growled in a low, throaty voice, “you’ll be lucky to keep your heads.” Several of the guards gulped down their fear, and one trembled for a second. Chip smirked. “Stay your fear, lest you want to get me riled up.”
“And just who are you, sir?” the Captain of the Ruttakian guard asked. Chip knew him well enough. He had fled at the first sign of Bonemonger assault, abandoning Arkaya and the Fluted Palace. Chip had taken up command of the force, leading from the throne room while keeping the princess safe from the walking devils. When the battle had taken a turn for the worse, Chip knew he had to intervene. “If you think you can just walk into the throne room and threaten my men and Princess Arkaya…”
“Oh, shut your mouth Fran. You know damn well who I am.” Chip turned to the Princess. “Princess Arkaya, we must take you to-“
“You shall not be taking her anywhere, Rilgorn,” the Captain interrupted. “And you shall give me the respect I deserve. I am Captain Fran’kyr, of the Ruttakian force, and I shall not be talked down to by the likes of you.”
There was a tense silence as the Captain and Chip Mannington glared at each other. It lasted only a few seconds before Fran turned his head away, his eyes lowering to the ground and his hands shaking. Chip laughed. “You’ll get all the respect you deserve, Captain,” he said, straining the last word as much as he could. “A Captain who flees in the middle of battle deserves nothing better. Perhaps I should have your head.” The Princess was about to speak up, but Chip cut her off. “No, I know Princess. I shall not harm him.” He glared hard at Fran. “For now. See to it that you don’t abandon your station again, or I will have Princess Arkaya find a more courageous Captain. Now, Princess, we have to get you somewhere safe.”
Princess Arkaya rode with Chip at the middle of her guard. The Ruttakian soldiers were escorting them to a nearby port. “It would be wise of you, Princess, to tell me everything now.” Princess Arkaya nodded and spoke in a soft voice.
“The Bonemongers appeared several months ago. At first, they appeared peaceful.” Chip gritted his teeth. The stories often began this way. “They sent emissaries to the palace, saying they had landed in a nearby wood. The emissaries spun a wonderful tale, telling of their being forced from their home-world and having to trek across the galaxy before finding Ruttakia. They claimed to be representatives for the last of their race and begged for help restoring their people. I could not refuse them.” She looked at Chip, her eyes begging his understanding. “Of course I knew the reputation they had developed. But I believed they were in dire need of help. I was in a position where I could afford to give them that.” She looked down as they marched on. “I thought I could tame them.”
Chip sighed. “Your innocence may have doomed your people, Princess.” Chip would not sugarcoat the truth. The Bonemongers were relentless once they began an assault. They would travel from planet to planet, weaving a new tale every time, always based on their latest triumphs. Every new planet would welcome them in and offer them their hospitality. The Bonemongers would always repay them the same way: the annihilation of their people and the stripping of the resources of their planet. He had seen this pattern far too many times.
Chip Mannington was the last of the Rilgor, a warrior race that had opposed the Bonemongers throughout the galaxy. For several decades they had held back the tide, until the Bonemongers had shown up on their planet. Chip had been on Ruttakia at the time, barely avoiding the destruction of his planet. It was rumored that the Bonemongers had appeared with a new weapon. Whatever had been powerful enough to destroy the Rilgor was something the galaxy had not seen before. Chip planned on finding that before the Bonemongers could deploy it on Ruttakia.
A loud roar erupted from nearby. Several of the guards turned quickly to find the source. “Stay with the Princess! See her to the port and see her to safety!” He pointed at one of the guards he did not know. “You! If the Captain runs, cut off his head. You shall take his place.” The guard nodded and Fran glared at Chip. The hero and his mount were already moving toward the source of the roar.
Another roar broke through the air as Chip took off from the road. Whatever kind of beast was making that noise was in the nearby wood. Chip hoped it was some Bonemonger device. It had been far too long since the battle.
His horse whinnied back as yet another loud roar sounded from deep within the forest. Chip drew his saber from its sheath and slowed his mount down, proceeding forward with caution. The rumors flew into his mind. He was the last of the Rilgor, but this could be the beast that had destroyed them all. If so, he alone would stand no chance.
Footsteps thundered throughout the forest as the trees grew thicker and thicker. The roars had stopped, only to be followed by loud breathing and heavy panting. It was a monstrous sound.
Chip’s mount began to grow more reluctant as the footsteps grew louder and heavier. The ground around them was shaking as the beast approached. Chip looked around in all directions, looking for the monster.
All noises stopped. A heavy silence fell upon the woods. Chip’s mount started to back away slowly, and Chip had to steady the horse.
An ear-shattering roar broke the silence and a huge force threw Chip and his horse to the side. Chip slammed against a tree and felt several of his ribs crack as his horse slammed into him. Darkness broke the outer rims of his vision, creeping further and further into his eyes as the beast finally stepped into sight. His
eyes went completely dark.
Chip weakly through his saber at where he had seen the beast before going limp.
The last of the Rilgor was dead.
* * * Entry Two * * *
The Glorious and Virtuous Adventures of Chip Mannington and his Trusted Steed, Buttercup Fluttershy
THE BONEMONGER - LORD OF THE STARS
[/center]THE BONEMONGER - LORD OF THE STARS
Chip Mannington held Princess Arkaya close with one hand, and gripped his neutron saber tightly in the other. Beneath his feet, the vitreous floor of the Fluted Palace bucked and trembled under the continued violence of the Bonemonger assault. A crystal spire, blown free by the impact of a fission charge high above, came through the throne room's ceiling like a mighty spear, and the Princess swooned against Chip's side. The sudden wailing of a battle horn announced the arrival of a Bonemonger cavalry brigade, wielding obsidian halberds from the backs of their Terror Lizards. Chip tossed the princess to one side and drew his second blade, then leapt into the saddle of his own snarling mount. With a roar and a throaty huzzah he urged it forward straight into the mass of undead soldiers, laying into them with reckless abandon.
Crystal spiralled through the air; cutting through the bones of the undead and Terror Lizards alike as Chip hacked and sliced in harmony with the muscles that rippled down his arms like a glorious wave. Neutron sabres slipped through the enemy as if they weren’t there; the glorious vibrations of battle causing the Fluted Palace to sing. The crystal of the building began to shake and hum perfectly in tune to an ancient, classical Italian overture. With the palace itself urging Chip on, he leapt from his mount to decapitate an undead general’s head clean from his shoulder. Perhaps, Chip thought as he took the legs off of an encroaching Terror Lizard, it wasn’t so bad that the King had taken his ship. The Bonemonger was a fierce opponent and had said to have defeated numerous planets and moons. He might just be worth fighting.
Roaring triumphantly, Chip flung his sabres at the incoming horde; grabbing the two nearest enemies and ripping their arms from their decaying bodies. Wielding the two long, sharpened bones, he charged forward once more with his mount racing behind him. The siren song of battle purred seductively in both of their ears. The lumbering black stallion snapped at the encroaching undead; its teeth jagged and sharp with eyes as red as the blood that thundered through Chip’s body as he dropped to the floor to avoid a flaming sword. Rolling upon his stomach, the great warrior took the legs out from beneath his attackers and sent them clattering to the floor.
“Seven-ten split,” Chip growled, leaping to his feet and seeing an undead warrior on either side of him still standing. His mount neighed in approval at the joke before charging forward with smoke billowing from its nostril. Chip tore bones from the body in front of him as his horse trampled the other skeleton, hooves turning the reanimated corpse into finely sifted dust. It was all too easy to fall back into their routine.
“Looks like they’re getting angry,” Chip whispered to his mount, backing up against the horse that had reared upon onto its hind legs. “Ready?”
Decaying flesh rushed at them from all angles as Chip pulled two mammoth tusks from his loincloth and readied himself. The first of the Bonemonger’s army reached him with a guttural cry that was silencing with a tusk to the knee, sending the undead crumpling to the ground. Catching the next attacker with a kick to its ribs, Chip swung around and head butted the third assaulter; the skeleton’s skull exploding into a million pieces. Behind him, the warrior could feel his mount biting and kicking away at the incoming army that was struggling to fight back against the beast’s fury. Good old, Buttercup, he thought, hacking a Terror Lizard to the ground.
Sickly, green necromantic fluid was wiped away from his forehead with a flick of his hand as skeletal remains and fallen Lizard corpses cluttered the ground. The Fluted Palace was almost buckling under the weight of Chip’s vanquished enemies. Princess Arkaya was still swooning from where he had thrown her, gazing with her wide-eyes as he turned to face the remains of the army that had attacked the throne room. They were nervously inching back, afraid that any sudden movement might alarm the beast that they had discovered during their search for the Princess. Towering amongst them, clad in thick, obsidian armour stood the Bonemonger himself. At least nine feet tall, The Lord of the Stars had come to do mortal battle. He stood with two laser axes in his hands as Chip scooped up the neutron sabres that buzzed beside a pile of fallen corpses.
It was said that the Lord of the Stairs was a god that had descended down into the universe at anger of his creation. He had ransacked numerous planets with his army of undead creations and navies of high-powered ships. Chip had a vague idea that the Bonemonger was after the Princess, trying to stop a marriage that would unite an interplanetary army against him. Specifics, though, bored Chip.
“BONEMONGER!” Chip Mannington roared, the roof exploding into crystallised dust, which lightly rained down upon them.
“Give me the Princess,” the Bonemonger whispered, his voice carrying easily across the throne room. “That’s all I’ve come for. Give me the Princess and I will call off my attack.”
Looking down at his bloodied chest and the fallen bodies around him, Chip laughed heartily. “I think they’ve already got the message.”
“Don’t be so foolish. I have battleships floating in the air above this very castle; I could kill you all with a simple order.”
“So it sounds like we’re in a similar position,” Chip smiled, holding the neutron sabres out in front of him. “Let’s test who’s right.”
The Bonemonger accepted his offer without question, charging across the space that existed between them. Obsidian cracked the crystal floor beneath them, the axes swinging through the air as the Lord of the Stars attacked Chip Mannington. Electricity screamed as neutron sabre met laser axe, Chip parrying the first attack through brute strength alone. Rolling his shoulders, he dodged the second strike before bringing his sabre down against the Bonemonger’s leg, a chunk of obsidian flying through the air. It was hardly a fair fight. The Lord of the Stars was wearing eight inch thick armour. Chip was wearing a loincloth. He almost felt sorry for his opponent.
Ducking under another swinging axe, Chip struck at the armour of the Bonemonger once more, removing another chunk of his enemy’s armour. Like a butcher, Chip carved away at his opponent, slicing off armour at will while dancing around the searing hot lasers that nipped at his skin. The undead army and Princess Arkaya alike watched in awe as the two warriors waltzed around the throne room, only Chip’s mount seeming thoroughly uninterested. Buttercup was tearing away strips of meat from a fallen Terror Lizard.
In a burst of light, the Bonemonger’s axes tore through the handle of the neutron sabres, narrowly missing Chip’s fingers. The weapons fell helplessly to the floor, ringing out an apology to their owner for their uselessness. Snarling, the Lord of the Stars swung his axe high into the air in victory and brought it down upon Chip’s torso. Princess Arkaya screamed. Chip Mannington laughed. The laser came away from his six pack of abs without leaving a single ugly red burn.
“How?” the Bonemonger asked, staggering back.
“Body armour,” Chip answered. “Disguised as a real body.”
Taking a single step, Chip leapt forward and sent his fist soaring through the air to strike the Lord of the Stars in the face; the walking god collapsing to the floor as his helmet shattered. A scared, vaguely reptilian face stared up at Chip. In the throne room of the Fluted Palace, a god silently begged for forgiveness. Without a word being said, Buttercup kicked an old blaster across the floor to its master, Chip plucking it up from the ground.
“Did you honestly think I only had a six pack?” Chip said, firing a single burst of heat energy. The Lord of the Stars’ face bubbled and melted. Looking up from the corpse of the second most powerful being in the universe, Chip glanced at the army in front of him with a raised eyebrow that clearly asked ‘what are you still doing here?’ They didn’t need telling twice. They hurled themselves out of the palace’s window, plummeting as far away from Chip Mannington as it was possible.
The warrior knelt beside his fallen enemy, pulling free a coms-unit that hadn’t been melted to the corpse’s skin. Reaching out to every frequency, Chip cleared his throat. “Morning, lads. Chip Mannington here. I’ve just killed the Lord of the Stars. Does that title pass onto his next of kin or his vanquisher? I’m just wondering because Chip, Lord of the Stars, Mannington has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Now, listen carefully. Flee. Get your battleships off this planet right now. Don’t make me come up there.”
There was a second of perfect silence. Everything was still. Even the Fluted Palace fell quiet as it waited for the Bonemonger’s army response. And then there was panic. Every battleship rushed upwards into the atmosphere, several colliding with each other as for the first time the Bonemonger’s army tasted defeat. From a window, Chip watched with a smirk as fires exploded out across the sky as giant juggernauts of metal smashed together and dropped like flies to the ground. Shaking his head, Chip walked across the bloodied floor and whistled for Buttercup to follow. Together, the pair strolled over to Princess Arkaya, the woman staring up at them in a semi-permanent state of swoon. Wrapping an arm around her, he leapt up onto Buttercup with the Princess in tow.
“Oooh, where are we going now?” Princess Arkaya said, clinging to Chip’s waist as Buttercup cantered out of the throne room and into the winding corridors.
Staring at the dead bodies that littered the ground, Chip waited a moment before answering. “Back to your father, obviously.”
“Oh. Aren’t you going to have your way with me?”
“No,” Chip grunted. “I’m happily married. Why would I have my way with you? What, just because I’m a muscle bound stud that runs around in a loincloth I have to ravage every woman I save? Can’t I just do a good deed? And anyway, I need my ship back from your father. How I’m I going to do that if I deflower his only daughter days before her own wedding? Chip Mannington, use your brain.”
“I… I just thought… fine, forget I mentioned it,” Princess Arkaya stammered, falling into silence behind him. “Wait, did you just use your own name as a curse?”
Travelling in silence, the trio of Chip, Buttercup and Princess Arkaya worked their ways through the Fluted Palace as they came across wounded and dead alike. The Bonemonger’s assault had been relentless. It would take years to recover. Maybe Chip would return to see how the planet would be like in decades to come. He enjoyed venturing back to former sites of glory, something that he fully intended on doing as soon as he got his ship back. King Merod had commandeered it as soon as he heard the news of The Lord of the Stars’ assault, obviously unaware whose ship he was actually taking.
“Arkaya!” King Merod cried as he saw his daughter, rushing forward to them. Chip leapt from the saddle, dragging the girl with him.
“Merod,” he grunted, wrapping his hand tighter upon the Princess’ arm. “I just saved your kingdom. I saved your entire planet. I’ve kept your daughter from being kidnapped. And I defeated your biggest enemy. So, give me back my ship or I’m going to cut your head off and name myself King Chip Mannington the First of his Name, Ruler of the Aris Planetary System and Lord of the Stars.”
“Umm… yes. Of course. I’ll sort it out at once.”
