This is the way the world ends..., CF 100 RP, Project 1

[Der Fuhrer Dyszel]

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

-T.S. Eliot "The Hollow Men"

Sitting amid the ruins of the devastated city, Helios stretched out his arms and legs, relaxing from a long hard day of work. All around him, people still scampered in constant state of unrest, skittering among the ruins of the city like mice rustling through an old building.

Looking about him carelessly, he watched frightened and panicked people hurry to what they perceived as a nearby shelter. Each and every wide eyed person surveyed their next move before quickly dashing to their next hiding place. Helios almost laughed at the pathetic nature of their kind.....such weak vile creatures, too fragile and frightened for their own good. Vermin...that is what they were; all of them expendable creatures that were getting in the way of their progress.

He stood from the fallen support beam he was resting on and watched as a dozen some people immediately froze in paralyzing fear at his presence. If their eyes could grow any wider, they did with the sudden realization of who was standing before them.

The words need not have been spoken; Helios had heard them all already. With a grin, he extended his hand toward the heavens, appearing to suddenly be calling upon powers from above. A simultaneous flinch and shudder moved through the stilled crowd. He watched with a malicious smile as a mother embraced her young son, holding him in their last final moments of life as if to tell him one last time that she loved him and wanted nothing more than to protect him from the evil before them.

Laughing loudly, Helios let out the evil maniacal sound from the depths of the man's soul, if he even had one any more. He lowered his arm and continued to laugh at the pathetic creatures cowering from his every movement....as if he needed such a dramatic response to use his powers anyways.

Closing his eyes, he sensed each person's energy. Despite the fact that his eyes were closed, he could still see their shadows as light waves bent and twisted off of each person. Allowing the malicious smile to spread further across his lips, he willed their energy towards him. He seemed to become brighter as he pushed himself off the ground. With arms extended, he appeared more as an ethereal angel as the aura of light around him brightened.

Still with closed eyes, he focused on each person around him. The dozen or so people scattered about him remained motionless, too afraid and lost in awe to run. The woman seemed the only one who grasped the reality of her fate as she embraced her child to protect him from the monster before her.

As Helios ascended several feet above the people, he watched through his closed eyes as their bodies began to be pulled towards him. Focusing harder, he continued to pull them closer against their very wills. Finally, the frozen bodies began to sense their imminent demise too late. Several tried to run, fighting against the sudden gravitational shift towards Helios, holding onto anything that would keep them from being drawn towards him. As they neared closer, Helios forced the light around him into a concentrated form begging to break free, and with a sudden blinding wave, he released the wave, atomizing the people around him.

And just like an angel, he gently touched down on the ground, the aura around him fading as he did so. He stopped to carelessly observe the remnants of where the people had previously stood in a circle around him. The light wave itself burned into the remains of the destroyed city in fifty foot radius from where he was, his personalized trademark announcing to the world Helios was here.

Too easy, he thought with a grin to himself. These people died way too easy. It almost was not fun.

He continued to stand there for a moment, appearing to be in silent contemplation, but was rather devoid of any feeling. That was until he heard the vicious loud screams of a nearby fight that sparked a mild curiosity within him. His work here was done for the most part, the others had moved in to finish off the resistant super powers. This pathetic city was just another in the grand scheme of things, and it all too easily fell ruin to their devastation. Why these pathetic humans with their super powered "heroes" still clung to the ruins as if it were a salvageable home baffled him, but he shrugged off their mediocre existence as he casually slid his hands into the pockets of his fine overcoat and slowly yet purposefully walked towards the nearby fight to examine how the others were doing.


OOC Note: Teaching/OOC Thread Link for this RP

[Terasu]

Better to be an animal than a man, an insect than an animal, a plant than an insect, and so on.
Salvation? Whatever diminishes the kingdom of consciousness and compromises its supremacy.
- E. M. Cioran

Thanatos sat in silence, crossed legged, on the cold, linoleum floor.

Around him the lifeless bodies of the staff and patients of the Hope Wing lay peacefully. Most of the patients were still in their bed, the staff had simply stopped what they were doing and died. No struggle, no mess. He'd never killed so many with so little blood shed. It was his masterpiece. He envied them.

The ward was dark, occassionally one of the flourescent lights would crackle and flash for a moment before returning the place to eerie twillight.

Thanatos exhaled uneccesarily just to watch his breath turn to steam. It was always cold around him. It wasn't that he sucked the heat from the area, it was more that the heat fled from him. Or atleast people said it did. They always spoke of the cold. Maybe it was just the rambling of soon-to-be-dead people trying to stall for pointless extra minutes of living.

He slowly got to his feet as a flash of light permeated the darkness of the room from somewhere outside. Thanatos sighed. Helios' methods always struck him as heavy handed.

[Lazlow]

We are ready for any unforseen event that may or may not occur.-Dan Quayle

Sleeping for millennias burried in the earth of the mountainside was Gaos, a dinosaur like monster. He lied there, waiting for his time, to come out and strike again the feed on the human's blood.

As a matter of fact, he didn't wanted to come out yet, but some unknow force commanded him to do it. He streched his wings and throw off the earth from his back, killing some turists in the process. As he reached the outside world, he immediately shrieked in pain. The sun was high in the sky, blinding him. Gaos felt as he grew weaker and weaker. He shielded his eyes with his wing, than he started to emmit green clouds from his armpits. The clouds immediately hid the sun, so Gaos looked around. He noticed that the mountain was in fact a dormant volcano and he was actually burried in a cave. He quickly went back to the cave and waited until six p.m., when the sun started to go down, and the light level went down enough for him to safely go out.

Outside observers thought that the whole thing was a sudden explosion of the volcano.

As the sky turned orange from the setting sun, a small plane flew over the crater that Gaos made.

"-Yeah, it looks like it was an eruption. I wonder why now? Nothing indicated it will happen. And what is more odd, why there were no further eruptions."-said the pilot into the radio. Suddenly a bright ray came out from the crater and split the plane into half. The pilot plunged into his death as the half plane crashed. Gaos emerged from the cave and set his sights towards the big city.

[Der Fuhrer Dyszel]

Pandora pulled her hijab tighter around her face as she sat on the edge of a fallen sky scraper eighty some feet from Helios's attack. As much as her heart panged with sorrow at those innocent lives' taken away, she knew they were dead the moment Helios decided to reveal his presence. She watched him closely since they first moved into this city. He was different from the others, his unusual powers unparalleled, yet part of him seemed disconnected, as if something were missing.

The residual heat from Helios's blast still warmed Pandora, yet she covered herself more securely with her garments. The black hijab was lined only with a small ornate pattern of silver, which when looked at more closely appeared to be tiny fairy looking creatures. Her own unique touch of personality.

Pandora lingered a moment longer to watch Helios stand in silent contemplation appearing as if perhaps for a moment he might have regretted what he had done. Hope filled her; if Helios could feel remorse, perhaps they could be saved. But not much longer, no more than a minute, did Helios turned away; his casual and careless motion crushed Pandora's heart. Still, she held onto the faint possibility, that brief moment of stillness, for hope....hope that Helios could care.

Sliding down the fallen building, Pandora lightly stepped. With Helios on the move, she had to hurry, perhaps find where he was going to stop his path of destruction. Always in the shadows, her step light, Pandora rushed along until she pressed herself against a side entrance to a hospital. Coldness permeated the building, coldness unlike that of the falling night around her. She looked up seven stories to the darkened windows of the hospital. There was an insidious evil she had not felt for a long time. She shuddered momentarily, her body beginning to question life.

But she did not need to see the hospital to know there were many dead people there now. That type of coldness only meant one thing.....Thanatos. He was here too? The question brought fear to her mind. With both Thanatos and Helios in this city, they barely stood a chance. Still, she had to continue to hope, hope that they could win the battle for their lives.

She slid away from the building; the more distance she put between herself and Thanatos the better. She knew without question that if Thanatos knew she was here, she may very well have a great reason to fear for her life. Running along the remains of the streets, she skidded to silent stop at the sounds of the nearby fight; here was more struggling and even more death.

Slowly, she reached into her garments and touched the ornate box, a box that preceded most of their times on this planet. Over the centuries, she mastered that box's powers....after all, curiosity got the better of her and she failed to understand it the first time she opened it the box. The world still cowered beneath the diseases and plagues released. But not now.....now she understood how it worked, how to fully utilize the box to its utmost abilities.

She was about to remove it when she caught sight of movement nearby. The figure walked slowly, appearing to be observing the fight before it. His stark black hair and that slow deliberate walk gave him away instantly. She shrunk back into the shadows, avoiding sight from Helios. She could not take him yet, not until she understood him. Still, she could not bare the thought of losing more innocent lives.

Remaining the shadows, she watched as Helios seemed to stop and watch the ensuing fight with a vague interest. He was different, that much was certain. But now was too early; those villians could not yet know she was here.

[Todd McCloud]

"Silence!" A middle aged man in a metallic-like business suit shouts as he pushes up his thick-rimmed glasses. "This bank is foreclosed! It's long overdue and needs to be audited NOW!" Holding a gun, he motioned for his henchmen to keep watch over the citizens in peril as he stepped up to the bank vault. Holding up a device from his wrist and, with a slight smile as the fluorescent lights gleamed in his thick lenses. "No refunds this time!" He clicked his wristwatch as the heavy door unbolted from its frame and slammed onto the ground next to him, out of harm's way, of course.

"Now where was I? Oh yeah..." whipping out his adding machine, he crunched a few numbers into it. "Let's see... faulty doors, bad security, customers in constant dissatisfaction... I think it's high time I cut this branch's funding down to... ZERO! Take it away, boys!" More of his henchmen walked into the vault and began loading up the truck out back as the leader walked up to the branch manager, who was huddled in front of two of the leader's henchmen.

"Who... who are you?" the old man asked.

"What, you haven't figured it out yet? I'm the Taxman!"

"The Taxman?"

"Well, most of the good names have already been taken, and..." he looked down at him. "Well the point is I'm really good at math, so..." he paused. "It doesn't matter! I'm the Taxman, and I'm here to take what's due to me!" He pulled out a stamp and accompanying stamp pad. "Now it's time to finish the deal!"

"Nooo!"

Quickly, the Taxman stamped the man's forehead with the stamp. "What does it read?" He asked.

"Audited. Of course. It's only a matter of time before you join my ranks now!" He nodded to the henchman to his left, who pulled up his skicap with the word 'audit' on it."


"ARRRRGHH!!"

[Terasu]

"Excuse me Sir..."

Thanatos slowly turned, tracking the the voice.

A young girl stood in the darkness wearing a hospital gown and rubbing her eyes. "Where did everyone go?"

"A better place." Thanatos' stared at her emotionless. "How are you still alive?"

The girl looked confused. "That's a silly question isn't it?" She took a step forward and peered through the gloom at Thanatos' outline. "Are you a Doctor?"

"Depending upon your definition of 'Doctor', one could say that." Thanatos took a step back away from her.

"I think you're probably a doctor, you sound like one." She took another step forward and held out a hand towards Thanatos. "My name is Olivia.

"I see." Thanatos remained still. "Where did you come from? You weren't in the building."

"A lady took me outside and told me to hide but I don't like hiding so I came back here. I'm not a little kid you know."

"You look like one." Thanatos replied coldly.

The girl blew a raspberry and giggled. "Will you help me or not?"

Thanatos took a step towards Olivia and held his hand out towards hers. "That depends upon your definition of 'help'."

[Haor Chall]

“Alone he rides, alone,
The fair and fatal King:
Dark night is all his own,
That strange and solemn thing.
Which are more full of fate:
The stars, or those sad eyes?
Which are more still and great:
Those brows, or the dark skies?”

From By the Statue of King Charles at Charing Cross, Lionel Johnson


From the top spire of the cathedral most of the city could be seen, falling away into dusk. The orange glow of the fading light made the winding river glimmer with a golden sheen as it left the high-rises behind and meandered out into the countryside. On the far side of the city smoke rose into the air, from a distance it looked almost peaceful, serene. On the edge of hearing, however, the wail of sirens could be heard, an omen of a less quiet nature.

Anael sighed deeply as he looked out across the city. Darkness was descending upon them. Far beneath his feet the people of the city scurried about their business blind to the future and unconcerned about the waning light. Anael was not so blinded, he knew that evil was afoot in the city. As surely as the setting sun its corruption was spreading below him. Up here, alone, as the dark of night swelled across the city, it was almost as if he could watch it happening.

If any in the crowded streets below had looked up at the secluded figure, sat upon the tallest tower of the cathedral, they could have easily mistaken him for the work of a renaissance sculptor. Underneath the golden locks of his hair, the perfect beauty of his face was cast in a look of deepest sadness. A single tear rolled down his cheek.

With a sudden cry Anael spread his wings and jumped from the tower. The white feathers beat softly in the night air as they carried him away into the darkness…