Flashback horac ageless the seventh.

[Eridanus]

Day 80, Winter of 416 AV
Late Morning
The Docks

"And so we have arrived!" Coinsmith declared, the youngest man in the team who was bursting with enthusiasm when he heard that their next location was Zeltiva. He had been born and bred there before he joined The Organization, and had certain familiar ties with the city.

They could only secure a ship to Zeltiva after quite a few days of information scouting and bargaining, which suited them quite well for it was pointless to travel with a weakened Middleman who could barely stand on his own. After several days of rest the nuit had slowly begun to regain control over his new body, and then they were only ready to travel.

Silently but in a team, they proceeded straight to the unsavory East Street where they could more properly seek privacy. Getting a room in one of the more shady inns proved to be easier than they thought, and the improved infrastructure over their dilapidated hideout in Sunberth protected them from the cold. It was overall a much more comfortable place to rest in. They had opted for two rooms that were connected by a removable flap in the wall, which was precisely what they did to obtain a larger room where they could plan their next movements together in peace.

Day 82, Winter of 416 AV
Mid Afternoon
Random Inn at East Street

"Gentlemen, I have news," Voodoo announced, gathering the group together in their room as they woke up groaning and muttering. It had been the most comfortable night they had in quite a while, with proper beds - even if old and filthy - and everything. It was great to wake up without shivering and freezing for once.

"I believe that Horac Ageless is now masquerading as a teacher in the University in the course of magical ethics. I find it particularly ironic," Voodoo stated. "In any case, we are looking for a certain Mister Bargan Vin. Indeed, he simply transferred over to Argus Vin's hapless brother upon the expiration of his own body and traveled to Zeltiva to avoid raising too much suspicion of himself. Bargan Vin looks like his brother, except for his squarer jaw and the scar mark of a bear's claw upon cheeks with a nose perpetually in a broken shape."

"What do we do this time?" Eridanus raised his hand.

"Good question, Redeemer. Tomorrow, our little Bargan Vin - or the insidious Horac Ageless - will be departing on a short field trip with his class to a certain rock formation a little out of ways of Zeltiva and into the Wildlands. I believe that a certain... bandit ambush would fit in perfectly here. After all, bandit attacks are so awfully common these days in such desperate times, aren't they?" Voodoo snickered.

"I will leave Middleman to brief all of you regarding the details of our plan. I will need to procure some supplies before the shops close," He continued.

"You fighting with us, Voodoo?" Yeller inquired.

"Damn right I am. I'm going to pay that bastard back for what he did to my team," Voodoo growled with a sudden air of vengeance. It was only a split second of rage, however, that disappeared almost immediately upon appearing. With that, he left the room in order to procure whatever supplies he claimed he needed.

"Alright, before I begin, does anyone have anything else to do?" Middleman's raspy voice broke the silence. It seemed that due to the heavy poisoning his body took due to leeching, his voice was always raspy no matter which body he shifted to. The way he spoke was like having a permanent sore throat.

"Does everyone have their special equipment with them?" Eridanus stood up, his eyes surveying the room as he visually inspected his comrades for the enchanted weapons he made for them in Sunberth.

Amidst a collection of agreement and affirmations, Yeller spoke up, "Do we bring out original weapons as well?"

"Yes. Medal is not affected by this, since his special weapons are additional. Coinsmith should be fine as well, though I recommend not using the spikes to punch any other targets other than Mark Seven. Yeller and I will be bringing our original weapons - Yeller with his spear, while I will bring only one longsword instead of two to complement my bone longsword. Remember gentlemen, your special weapons are crudely made - that's what I'm capable of doing now. Don't use them on any other targets other than Mark Seven. That's what they're designed for." The vantha took one more cursory glance to make sure that everything was in order, then he nodded to Middleman to signify that he was done and sat down.

Next, Middleman stood up and unwrapped a large scroll that he plastered onto the wooden wall by sticking two daggers in the upper two corners of his scroll that held a variety of words and diagrams.

"Now, pay attention, Seventh Order. This is how it will begin..."

[Eridanus]

Day 83, Winter of 416 AV
Early Noon
The Wildlands

The Seventh Order was already in position at various places around the misshapen rocky formation that a certain class from the University was meant to visit. Despite the winter cold, the sun was still up and the scorching heat amidst the environmental chill made for a very strange contradiction of feelings upon the skin of the agents.

Eridanus lay a distance away from the path, lying on his belly. He was covered by various shrubbery transplanted over here to cover his body, and his companions even helped to heap now onto the foliage to add to the authenticity. Due to the piercing heat some of the snow melted and dripped steadily onto the agent's back, which somehow annoyed him to no end. Yet, his camouflaged position was tight enough that he could not afford to move or possibly spoil his concealed position. On his back was his weapon harness in which a longsword was sheathed, and in the other leather holster lay the primitive weapon he made out of bone.

In other similar concealed positions his comrades lay as well, silently squirming their toes within their boots to keep from falling asleep as they awaited their prey.

Moments passed by without incident, until the distant sound of thundering hoofs began to break the silence.

They're coming!

The team awaited with anticipatory hearts as the approaching sound of carriages got louder, and from a distance in the direction of Zeltiva came three carriages that were headed straight to the rock formations.

Near one of the trees there was a slight movement as Voodoo broke his cover, throwing what seemed to be a small vial towards the first carriage. Upon impact with the cloth covering of the vehicle, the glass container shattered and all of a sudden a conflagration of fire exploded. The driver yelled in surprise as he tried to control his spooked horses, causing the second carriage to collide into the first and overturning. The third managed to stop in time.

Panicked people began to stream out of the carriages, and from what Eridanus counted, there were a total of six people in each carriages, excluding the driver. Six people jumped out of the third carriage, looking about in anxiety while only four emerged from the second. From the outstretched limbs from below the overturned carriage, it seemed that two of its occupants had been crushed. The fire burning in the first carriage was suddenly tempered by a shower of sand that materialized above it, and only one man emerged from it, wearing the noticeable robes that University professors possessed. His head was covered in the hood that emerged from the robes, and he was waving his hands at his students in order to calm them down. Eridanus could only assume that the other five died in the fire, collision or from being crushed when it overturned.

Medal slyly revealed a bit of himself in order to gain better line of sight as he focused on their target. Professor Yemen Lockley of Magical Ethics of the University of Zeltiva East Wing. Otherwise known as Bargan Vin, or more correctly, Horac Ageless. The additional appearance of the conjuration of soil that snuffed out the fire as he emerged was evidence enough.

Yeller had already appeared from behind, breaking his cover as he yelled incoherently, stabbing the panicking students as he swathed a bloody path towards the hooded mage. Some of them looked fresh into adolescence, and proved little more than hindrances to the muscular man as he ruthlessly murdered student after student with his beloved spear.

Coinsmith broke his cover as well, running straight towards the second carriage as he caught the flank, grabbing a boy no older than fourteen and smashing his skull onto the floor with relish.

"It's smashing time!" The athletic brawler equipped as he kicked at another student trying to escape, striding over and stomping his boots onto his neck with a great force that snapped it instantly.

The scene played out as the team murdered one student after the other. It was a massacre.

An earth spike materialized from the ground, slamming upwards towards where Coinsmith was standing had he not been running. Medal had one hand before him, on which the multitude of bone shards were resting in his palm. His other arm hung loosely by his side, and the bone shards began to float from his body, heading straight towards the robed wizard.

Suddenly, Medal launched a large number of bone shards at the wizard, several of which missed but about five hit, striking him in his robes. Eridanus silently cheered as he silently awaited for the moment when his target's back was faced to him so that he could lay the lethal strike.

It worked! My magic worked!

Another earth spike grew from the ground, this time piercing into Coinsmith's leg as he yelled and stumbled over onto the ground. Yeller roared and ran straight towards the robed man, jabbing his spear into a student foolish enough to be nearby and pinning the boy onto the ground like a morbid spear-holder. Reaching onto his back for the bone spear, he threw it with great force like a javelin, spearing the man straight through the chest and stumbling him back.

The hood fell back from the impact, and Eridanus felt his heart drop.

He does not look like Argus Vin at all.

Yeller grinned in triumph when an huge ball of stone materialized from behind him, slamming into his back and fracturing a few ribs as he fell face first onto the ground.

"Wrong target! He is the wrong target!" Eridanus called out, scrambling from his foliage as he tried to save his colleagues.

"Mark Seven! Mark Seven is-" A gargled cry came from Medal's direction when a huge stone spike emerged from his belly, tearing a gaping hole into his body as he coughed out blood and dropped onto his knees.

"Medal!" Eridanus cried out, drawing both his swords as he surveyed the scene for a better understanding of the chaos.

"Rosebud?!" Voodoo shrieked hysterically as he pointed at one of the students who also had his hood down, revealing his face. "Dammit, you are no Rosebud. We have been fooled!"

"Why yes, 'Voodoo', I am Rosebud," The young man commented sardonically as he walked towards the cowering poisoner. "Or should I say... Gorhan Vilictus? Your comrades were pathetic, to say the least. At least this one served me well in his death. It is apt too, considering his abilities as an earth reimancer as well. I find it easy to adjust."

"You-you monster!" Voodoo panted, scrambling at his belt and whipping out a dagger. At the same time, thin strips of earth came from the ground, slamming into the man's knees and forcing him to the ground, strapping his arms to the dirt floor.

"Oh am I so going to enjoy toying with you, Gorhan Vilictus. You and your... damned organization have been plaguing me more times than I cared to remember. This ends now."

"This ends now," Eridanus stated clearly, his voice silent in a maelstrom of white-hot rage at the fate of his comrades.

"Oh, we still have one more rat hiding here?" Horac Ageless raised a brow, turning to face the vantha. "Wait don't tell me. Two swords, vibrant colors in the hair and eyes. Redeemer, isn't it? Your beloved organization's newest member?"

How did he know?

Upon seeing the confused expression, the nuit continued, "Don't think you are the only ones capable of retrieving information. You may think yourselves the hunter, but in reality I am the hunter, and you are my prey."

NPC Enemy :

Name: Horac Ageless
Race: Nuit
Skills: Reimancy 55 (primary element Earth), 30 Dagger

NPC Permission granted by Paragon.

[Eridanus]

With a gesture, the ground before the nuit shook as several earth spikes flew out, heading straight towards the vantha at frightening speed.

With a jerk, Eridanus' body simply moved out of simple reflexes and combat experience, side stepping the spikes as he subconsciously calculated the trajectory of the projectiles in order to avoid them.

Horac continued to gesture as he secreted what seemed to be dark green substance from his body that began to coat the land around them. The inherent magical senses with Eridanus began to tingle, but he could not quite place his finger on that feeling, other than the fact that it was a bad omen.

Grasping at the flux threads within his body, he placed full command upon the astral structure of his soul. The wizard pumped a fist upwards with a vicious grin, and the earth began to rumble as dangerously sharp spikes began to shove up from the earth, increasing in a radial pattern with Horac as the source.

Without thinking, Eridanus desperately pushed all the flux strands that he could lay his hands on to his legs, fortifying his ankles, his thighs and his calves. Crouching slightly, he exploded upwards in an impressive combination of athletic and magical strength, narrowly avoiding the earth spikes that came from beneath his feet with his altitude.

More of that dark green substance began to float about as the nuit frowned, and even while in the air several earth spikes flew towards the vantha. His mind did not blank out even while he was in mid-air, slashing away at the earth spikes with his blades as he landed on the parts of the ground where there was no rocky spikes. It was harder to run due to the rocky terrain, but he made use of his enhanced flux strength and acrobatic maneuvers to navigate the rocky terrain, heading straight for the sorcerer.

More earth spikes came at him and and he side stepped them with his mobility, flipping as he did a brief horizontal run alongside one of the raised spikes and slashing away at the rest with his blades. The proximity between the two began to decrease, and as Eridanus reached for the wizard a sudden wall of earth came up between them.

It did not stop him, and instead of running around where the wizard might be prepared for him, he channeled flux to his lower torso, giving him the increased muscular leg strength he needed to vertically run up the wall of earth and leaping over.

Indeed, Horac had a dagger withdrawn, his eyes ready for his assailant to make a round around wall when he discovered the flying projectile that was Eridanus too late. With a yelp, he batted away reflexively at the vantha who had tried to strike the man with his longsword, only to find the blade being flung to the side with no damage.

Dammit, should have attacked with the bone weapon.

More earth shards materialized in the nuit's other hand as he flung it towards the vantha, who raised his leg and kicked them to the side. Horac swung his dagger at the mercenary, and Eridanus parried it with his longsword in one hand, using the other for a wide-range, horizontal slash with the spine sword.

Horac grinned in triumph as he used his other hand to bat away the spine sword. Well, that was what usually happened, but the weapon dug into his flesh, and the spiked segments of the bone sword's edge tore away at his flesh, he screamed in surprise. Using that opening, the agent chopped down with the steel sword which cleanly severed the wrist holding the dagger. It seemed that the man's unnatural armor had somehow been lowered somewhat with the attack, and he kicked forward, stumbling the mage further as Horac cursed.

"What sorcery is this? Damn people, damn organization, damn-" His anguished face was frozen in mid cursing as Eridanus swiped his spine sword and decapitated the wizard at the neck. White ichor sputtered from the stem of the neck, and the body even paced backwards a few times before it collapsed.

It is... over...

Wait, there were at least two more students who survived! Eridanus quickly looked around, despite the high fatigue in that intense battle when he found two of them writhing before a robed figure close to the rock formations.

Middleman held each child in a vice-like grip, his hands grasping at their necks with a choke-hold, and there was an expression of ecstatic pleasure on his undead face as he leeched the life essence out of the students. They shrieked and writhed, but lost energy as they struggled and finally laid limp when their bodies violently overgave and ruptured from a severe lack of djed to sustain life.

"No survivors, no witnesses," Middleman whispered as he strode forth from his hiding place. Voodoo had been gibbering as he freed himself from the now limp earth whips that held him when Horac was killed, heading straight to aid the rest of the team.

From the moans that came from Coinsmith and Yeller, it seemed that they were injured but still alive. Eridanus ran straight to the projectionist in the woods, slapping the man's face as he tried to induce consciousness into the mage.

There was nothing. No movement, no groans.

"Medal! Medal, wake up dammit! Medal!" The vantha called out helplessly as he continued to shake the limp body. Blood continued to spurt from the hole that was in the man's chest, and Eridanus realized with horror that there was a hole where the heart was meant to be. The earth spike that rammed Medal through had disintegrated into soft soil, leaving the noticeable gape in his chest.

"He's gone," Middleman said softly, having followed Eridanus to the spot in the forest where Medal had been hiding. If there was any sadness at losing his second in command, there was no sign of it, and the nuit's visage remained inscrutable.

Slumping his comrade's body over his shoulder, Eridanus trudged back to the rest of the group with a heavy heart.

"Eighty-third of Winter, Four One Six years after the Valterrian. Operation Lucky Seven while acquiring Mark Seven," Middleman began in his signature hoarse voice, drawing the attention from the rest of the team. "Agent Medal - Killed In Action."

There was a silence as this information was processed by the rest of the team gathered there, and Yeller was the first to respond by slamming his fist onto the ground despite the pain brought to him by his cracked ribs. The hulking man was usually a man of action - and that action usually meant brutal combat - but his soft side was revealed as he pushed back his head and let out a cry of anguish. After all, the closest agent to Medal was the spear-wielding brute, and the two of them had been the first members of the Seventh Order before Coinsmith joined, then Eridanus as the Agent Redeemer.

Coinsmith simply glared at the floor as he tried to resist the pain that came from his bleeding leg, while Voodoo patted Yeller's back, whispering soothing words as he did so. Eridanus continued to cradle his dead comrade with a blank expression of shock, just standing there without movement.

It was Middleman who first broke the silence, and what happened next occurred in a blur. The team handler had taken charge of the situation, and the rest of the team sprung to work automatically, following orders. Yet, it was clear that though their bodies moved their minds were shell-shocked and their souls dead as they tried to comprehend the situation. People die everyday, and death constantly surrounded the team. One could even go as far as to say that death no longer mattered to these agents. Yet, they had never considered the idea that one of their own would leave them and depart from this world.

It was this event that planted the seed of self-doubt within young Eridanus about the ruthless and cruel methods of The Organization that he worked for. It was this event that took root within his heart to question himself whether disregarding the sanctity of life could sit well in his conscience. It was this event that made him to begin questioning The Organization's methods and missions, sometimes putting himself in the shoes of the victim and understanding what death meant for the other side.

But that was all in the future. For now, the group blankly arranged the bodies to make it seem more like a bandit attack, flattening the ground to remove traces of magical activities. Using their own carriage hidden in the woods, they hauled the body of Rosebud whom Horac Ageless inhabited onto the wagon. The rest of the journey passed in silence as Middleman wordlessly took the reigns, understanding the shocked state of the team in his charge.

He knew death. Oh yes, he truly knew death, and he understood what it felt for a comrade to die. How it felt for himself to die, for he had indeed died once. This team was still new, still fresh, and he knew what they were going through.

People often say that it was easier to die than to watch someone die.

That was the truth.

That was the reality.

Fin.

[Eridanus]

Skill Requests

• Camouflage
• Flux
• Dual Wield
• Acrobatics
• Bodybuilding
• Leadership

Lore Requests

• Medal's Death
• Lucky Seven Milestone: Horac Ageless (seventh)

[Cloud]

XP Reward!

From the sky falls your reward!

PC Name: Eridanus

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Camouflage	+2
Flux	+3
Dual Wield	+3
Acrobatics	+3
Bodybuilding	+3
Leadership	+2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Medal's Death
•	Lucky Seven Milestone: Horac Ageless (seventh)

Fantastic story! Grading these series has been an honor Eri, truly a interesting history for your pc. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to send me a pm!