Vrudel

Vrudel is a kingdom that borders both the bay of Tira and Thelia to the east, and Sotus to the north. It is ruled by a king who seeks power and territory, as it was decreed by his deity. Upon learning of the appearance of the legendary island of Tira, he invaded Sotus seeking the power he needed to claim the island before their rivals Thelia. The kingdom is locked in what appears to be a neverending conflict with their neighbor for control of the sacred island. It's cities are in bad condition, and quality of life is poor due to the king's army treating cities as their playground, and the high crime rate which the local government does nothing about. The kingdom suffers from the lack of agricultural prosperity, as it's crop season is very short and a taxing job to maintain. However, after conquering Sotus, new goods have been brought in, and the kingdom is gearing to become a machine of industry. Vrudel ultimately seeks to take the prosperous habitat away from it's neighbors, and reach success as a kingdom. Vrudel is unaware of "The Fracture", and has not come into formal contact with any other fractures as of yet. It believes "Null Space" to simple be water corrupted by the rage of their deity, and their people do not have the strength needed to cross it, as the Shusal Fracture borders a magical fracture to the west, who's laws of physics defy those found in Vrudel. Current residence of Ayris.

### Sotus

Although it has not been absorbed, Sotus is currently under the control of Vrudel. Any of its habitants that have bee found are forced to work for Vrudel, either by farming, mining, or military services. All resources and profits go to Vrudel. Birthplace of Ayris.

## RP Area

Deep inland on the continent of Vrudel, in a city close to it's capital, Ayris and his squad members were resting in their barracks waiting for further instructions from their higher ups. The gang never spent much time outside of their barracks, pardon the occasional assignment, so they dedicated themselves to become the greatest squad Vrudel had seen in order to escape living in the shadow of their rival squad, who had much favor with the king. Ayris squad was reduced from conquering land to performing missions that were so simple, any man who could pick up a sword could accomplish. It was tiring, but like the rest of his life, he accepted it as his fate. One day while training, three of his squad members; Gazzak, Gomer, and Bathys discussed what possible lands and treasures could lay beyond the Null Space they referred to as the western sea. Against the advice of Reynard, their advisor, they escaped from their barracks and headed for the sea hoping to claim new treasures. Ayris once again accepted their fate as part of destiny (besides the fact he despised these three and their frequent bafoonery), and turned a cold shoulder, until his squad was ordered by their general Orridyon to chase after them, after they were decreed defectors from the Vrudelian army that must be swiftly punished. Reluctantly, Ayris hopped in a caravan, and started making his way to the eastern sea.

Meanwhile, at the border of Null Space, the entity known as Khamael emerged - simply walking up and surfacing from the sea, soaking wet and bloody furious. "That's the last time I explore the Fractures without a map..." He grumbled to himself, having arrived at roughly the same time the caravan did. Spotting the group, he let out a sigh. "And the locals are here..." A small aura of power enveloped him, evaporating the excess water and smoothing out his outfit.

The caravan stopped as the horses resisted moving towards this "Khamael" being any further. They broke free from their ties and started to run away as far as they could. Ayris noticed the strange feel Khamael emitted. His attire was nothing he had ever seen before, even in comparison so the rich robes of Thelia. He slowly approached the being in complete silence, until they were standing face to face. The first contact between a Vrudelian and a member of a neighboring fracture had occurred , and it started with a stare-off that didn't seem to be breaking anytime soon.

Khamael arched a single eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in an amused smile as he leaned against a nearby tree. After a moment of silence, he spoke up. "Is this how you greet all strangers?"

Ayris squinted harshly at the cocky attitude of the mysterious person, before replying "Usually not, but I can tell you are no ordinary stranger."

"Oh? Is it that obvious, Ayris?" He spoke, brushing out a few remaining creases in his outfit, leaving it perfectly-kept. The faint aura - seemingly magic, though it seemed...*off* somehow, likely because it was from another Fracture - vanished.

"Quite. Even moreso when you know my name, even though I've never met you before." Ayris said, unwavering from his stance.

"I suppose you could say I do that sometimes." Khamael's amused expression shifted into a smirk, his eyes examining Ayris. His stance, his build, likely analyzing how dangerous he would be in combat. "I suppose I should introduce myself. Khamael. Just Khamael, mind you."

"I would introduce myself, but it seems you've taken the honor of doing that for me." Turning back to see the coach of his caravan cowering behind a tree, and his horses nowhere to be found, Ayris lets out a sigh. "It looks like I've nowhere to go for the time being, and the fools headed to the eastern sea have probably already died by now."

"What, from Null Space or on the way?" Khamael asked, tilting his head in curiosity. *Might as well learn everything I can,* he thinks to himself.

Khamaels statement certainly caught Ayris off guard and raised a brow or two. "I'm not exactly sure what this 'null space' is, but three defectors were heading to the eastern sea, in hopes of crossing it to find treasures. The fools. They know those waters are perilous, yet they still attempt to cross the deadly tides. They've most likely already been swallowed by it's power."

"So Null Space, then." Khamael replies, amused. "It's what you people call the sea. It separates the many worlds, the Fractures. But nevermind that. So you were here to find them? I can safely say that I didn't encounter anyone while coming here."

"As I was ordered to by my commander, yes. Those three are defectors from the kingdom of Vrudel, and are ordered back to the capital for their punishment. I was sent out here to capture them, as is all I'm good for anymore in the kings eyes." Ayris says with a hateful expression on his face.

"Perhaps it is time for a few new options, then?" Khamael retains his amused look. "If you don't approve of what your king is doing...well..." He shrugs. "There's always plenty of options. I might even be capable of helping."

"I have no intent of taking initiative in any sort of coup. If the king is meant to be overthrown, it will happen without my interference. If I become involved in it, so be it. I will not do what fate hasn't lead me to, I learned that lesson the hard way years ago..." Ayris stares at the ground for a moment.

"Really, now?" Khamael spoke up again, "Sounds like the coward's way out, if you ask me. Got something wrong with the system, and you're not trying to fix it? You're just gonna sit back and let it happen?"

Ayris looks to the sky. "I'm but a pawn in a world full of kings, Khamael. I can't run from whatever life hands me anymore, I must face it, knowing that this is the life given to me. If I die performing a simple task such as putting out a fire, or taming wild dogs, then that is how I was meant to go. I will not interject my flame being snuffed out by whatever breeze decides to blow it away. After all, I was born into this mess. It was never meant for me to be the bigshot." He stared at Khamael. "You can call such a view on life cowardice, but I call it amenable."

"Well, I suppose that's fair enough." Khamael said with an indifferent shrug. "I suppose you could say I have my sights set on something much greater than simply...shall we say, going with the wind? I'd rather go against it."

"I've no idea who you are, or where you came from, so I won't judge your decision." Ayris adopts a puzzled look on his face after a few moments of pondering. "You mentioned something earlier about 'fractures' and 'null space', I ask that you explain."

"It's not really that hard to explain. Something broke the universe and a whole bunch of different worlds merged. Each section's called a Fracture, and the division is known as Null Space." Khamael replied, almost sounding bored.

"So then you've come from a parallel world? I then ask, is our situation here better or worse than your reality?" Ayris asks.

Khamael shrugs. "There's a bunch of parallel worlds, and I'm not going anywhere near my original one. This place does have the problem of being completely surrounded by Null Space, though..."

"Is that nescessarily a bad thing?" Ayris says in an inquisitive tone. "I'm more than sure in one of these "fractures" lies a kingdom of sorts that seeks only domination."

"You think people haven't tried? The Order of Unity deals with that." Khamael replied, raising an eyebrow. "And given their founding members, I'm not surprised the wars stopped."

"Order of Unity?" Ayris chuckles. "Clearly, there's much to this new world we have yet to understand."

Khamael chuckles, "As far as I'm concerned, the whole Order's bullshit anyways. They're not there to stop conflicts, they're just the ones who took over." Khamael pauses, "...Well. From what I've seen, at least."

"Interesting..." Ayris zones out in the sky, and starts talking as if he's in a monologue of sorts. "When I came out to find these defects, I knew something would happen. I had no idea what it would be, maybe a battle with a fearsome beast in this sea of "null space", or perhaps actually reaching new land while chasing them. Then you walked out of the waters. I feel that this meeting was meant to happen; that you were meant to show up here. I don't know if you hold any place in the future of our nation, or this "fracture", but I know that this occurance will forever alter the fate of this land....."

"Fate? Don't get me started. Fate doesn't exist." Khamael said with a scowl, "I choose my own path. It is mine and mine alone, and no force in this universe can take that from me."

"If a bolt of lightning were to fall from the sky right now, could you stop it from striking you down? If the mightiest general in this new earth chased you down to the point where you couldn't stop him or run any further, could you avoid being impaled by his blade? Anything you don't do or control is manipulated by the hand of fate." Ayris resumes to the blunt stare he obtained when he first set eyes on Khamael. "Believe what you want, but you can't run from what's coming for you."

Khamael openly laughed, "The elements have no hold over me. Lightning flows throug my body as water does through yours. No general could hunt me down, for I walk those hidden paths between worlds. Even death has no claim over me, for I have died long ago, only to rise anew. Fate doesn't exist." He paused, "There is no force guiding my hand but my own, and those around me. Fate may not exist, but destiny certainly does."

Ayris ushers a quick shrug "Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it. I have a good feeling this will not be the last time we meet, and the first of many times my kingdom feels your embrace."

"I'll be sticking around for a bit. No sense in wasting my time, after all, by leaving right away." Khamael replied, "As for whether or not I decide to bother with your kingdom...that remains to be seen."

Ayris smirks. "In that case, would you like to come back to the city? I'd say my trip here has come to an end, as I'm sure that those three defects have already died to this 'Null Space.'"

"Why not? I'm here to explore, after all. Of course, your, uh, horses would probably disapprove." He glanced at the caravan, briefly.

"Hmph, I always prefered walking by foot; Keeps you from getting slothful." He says proceeding in the direction of a Vrudelian settlement. "Last thing you need in this kingdom is to fall behind."

"I prefer flying." Khamael replies, following along at Ayris' pace. "And I refuse to fall behind. Especially if it's because of terrain."

"Flight, huh." Ayris smirks. "This might be the perfect chance to test my limtis...you up for a challenge?"

Khamael stopped, and a moment paused before he smirked as well. "You? Challenging me? Are you trying to insult me?" He said with a light tone, "Perhaps I need to show you just where your limits truly are." Khamael finished, cracking his knuckles.

"I have no intentions of testing your combat abilities, that would be foolish of me. But since you have the mystical ability to fly, this would be a good opportunity to tes my speed." He reaches into an inner fold of his jacket and pulls out a map of Vrudel, marking down their current location and the capital city, and tosses it to Khamael. "I want to see how fast you are, is all. First to the capital wins."

Khamael tilted his head, amused, glancing down at the map. "...Very well. Seems simple enough. I'll give you a head start."

"How am I supposed to test myself if you're giving me vantage?" Ayris picks up a small stone and tosses it in the air. "When it hits the ground, start."

Khamael raised an eyebrow, waiting for the stone to strike the ground, and when it did, he *moved*, suddenly leaping into the air before a number of strange, bladed drones emerged from his outfit, floating around him. A jet of energy trailed behind him as he shot through the air, cutting through it as effortlessly as any aircraft would.

As Khamael looked back to the starting point, all that could be seen was a long red phantasmal trail leading being Ayris. He was fast, but not as fast as Khamael. Suddenly, Ayris headed north instead of directly east, and Khamel lost sight of him.

Khamael raised an eyebrow, simply moving in a straight line through the air towards the capital. Closing his eyes, he focused his other senses, reaching out to sense where Ayris was.

As Khamael fixated Ayris through his other senses, he also noticed a similar presence directly below him, and it looked exactly like Ayris. Then another one far south of him, one trailing him him from behind, and finally one shortly ahead of him.

"Hm, clever..." He shifted the flow of power in his body, opening a few extra seals in the Well of Power and closing others, shifting power to Binah and Yesod. He focused this newfound power, his gaze piercing through the world to reveal the truth - to see which one was real, or if all were, and so and so on. The power he diverted to Yesod was intended to speed him up.

All five images of Ayris were true materializations, but they were soulless, and only the one in front of him contained a spirit.

"...Got you." Khamael flew closer to the ground, using gravity to give himself another burst of speed as he flew roughly ten feet above the materialization with a spirit.

Ayris flinched at Khamael's approach, drew his sword, and threw it in the air. His four other materializations were sucked into the sword as it continued to glow whiter. As he sheathed it, he adopted a look of struggle, and pushed himself as hard as he could to move faster, but was losing his lead fast.

Khamael smirked, weaving his power into the air around him, forcing it away as a bubble of energy shimmered into existence - an extremely aerodynamic bubble, massively reducing his drag and causing him to suddenly rocket forward once more.

Noticing the city approaching, Ayris jumped straight up to a point higher than Khamael, started twirling his body around, and become a spiraling rocket falling towards the destination. They were neck and neck.

Khamael focused once more, his motion a blur across the landscape. He aimed towards an obviously-clear landing point, the crackling aura of power surrounding him still visible.

The two were close, but ultimately, Khamael's power propelled him faster to the ground than Ayris could with gravity, and he won the race by a few seconds.

Khamael smirked, flipping onto his feet as he landed with enough force to leave a rather sizeable crater in the ground, uncaring of who was nearby - though no one was injured. "Looks like I win."

As he lands, Ayris plunges his sword into the ground, does a flip off of it landing on the ground, and sheathes his sword. "Heh, Astra needs some work still."

"Interesting technique you've got there." Khamael said, turning to face Ayris. "Almost fooled *my* senses for a moment. *Almost.*"

"First time I've ever used it seriously in an open environment like that. Never have to use it in my mundane tasks around here..." He looks at Khamael, seeing him barely fatigued. "I can tell you've had some practice, though."

Khamael paused for a moment, his stance shifting slightly, suddenly appearing as if he hadn't done anything at all - no sign of exhaustion or fatigue whatsoever. "Just a bit of practice, yes."

As the two were conversing, a group of ten soldiers approached Ayris and Khamael, with a more importantly dressed character standing in the front. It was Xemcel, right hand to the king of Vrudel, and commander of Ayris' rival squadron.

"So, this is the welcoming party, then?" Khamael asked, glancing around at the soldiers. He seemed to hold himself in such a way that made it clear that he considered the soldiers no threat whatsoever - as if he considered them terrain rather than men.

Xemcel approaches Ayris and they share a quick conversation of whispers, and then he leaves as quickly as he came.

Khamael tilted his head, raising an eyebrow as he focused as they spoke, attempting to listen in - if there wasn't anything actively preventing it, like magic, he'd hear it.

Khamael starts to make out the words. "Orridyon is out on diplomacy right now, the king does not care about the fate of the defectors." Xemcel glanced at Khamael quickly, but thought nothing of it. "Do whatever you want with him." Ayris then approached Khamael. "Well, you can do whatever you want here until my superior comes back. Xemcel doesn't mind your staying here."

"Do *whatever* I want? Dangerous words to say." Khamael replied, grinning. "Though I wouldn't mind taking a look around, anyone willing to be a guide?"

"I know all of the capital. The shops, palaces, streets..." Ayris double-takes quickly and whispers "under the streets."

"Well, I've got nothing better to do. Lead the way." Khamael replied.

Ayris walks down an alley until they reach what appears to be a cellar. Upon opening the doors, one can see that it's flooded, and the waters don't look so nice. Ayris nods his head in the direction of the waters, and dives into them.

Khamael grimaces at the look of the waters, before sighing, diving in after Ayris - a small field of his power repelling any filth in the waters.

They eventually come across what appears to be a flooded sewer center, and swim over to a shallow exit, where they then crawl through a shaft, and drop into what appears to be an underground city. This plaza looks like heaven compared to the dusky streets above.

"...I suppose you're waiting for me to ask why this place looks so much better?" Khamael asked, drying himself off with a pulse of magic.

"Hm? I thought it would be obvious, people come down here to escape the streets above. All you can do up top is stay in your home, go shopping to the few stalls open, and work. This is the only place where you can find recreation. The officials and most criminals don't know about this place, so many people see it as a haven." As they look around, they see some more ancient runes and buildings among the modern ones. "It's also a rumor that this was built upon the ruins of an ancient city, but that doesn't mean anything around here."