The Keeper's War

[Talwin]

Here's a little story. It's about the ancient War of the Keepers, or the Keeper's War. It's goal is to create an entertaining short "series" about Keepers (Mods) and Gods (Devs) fighting the war against the ruthless Human Flamecasters, the rare but deadly Undead Necromancers, and the wild Trolls. The three factions are the remnants of the Army of Zerk, and they have come to be known as the Zerkians.

You will travel along with a new Keeper, named Talwin Hawkins, pulled right from the world as he knew it and thrown into chaos. Please turn your lights down, do not throw popcorn, be silent, keep all appendages inside the vehicle, and enjoy the story.

Note: For safety reasons and fear of identities becoming known to the Zerkians, all names except Talwin have been changed for the Keepers.
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His sensations were confused. He felt sound, heard feelings, and saw thoughts. Every color of the rainbow, and more, flowed past in a swirl of motion. Seconds felt like hours as his very essence felt as if it was being torn apart, as he shot through the space in between worlds.


~~~Seconds, minutes, hours later he awoke in a large room. It was a round room, with markings on the floor resembling runes and circles. As he attempted to stand, he realized he knew nothing of this place or how he got here. The last thing he remembered was being shoved through a round glowing hole in the air. He suspected this was some sort of portal, but these things were myth in his world.
~~~He stumbled, trying to gather his senses, as a girl walked in the room, dressed in simple blue robes.
~~~"Follow." she commanded. Without waiting to see if he followed, she was halfway out of the room. She was tall, fair, and full of power. For some unknown reason, he felt fear for the first time in his life.
~~~He almost laughed, as he realized he doesn't even remember his life, but thought better of it. He knew nothing of this girl, and feared she might think he was laughing at her. He wondered if she might be able to tell him what is going on.
~~~"Where am I? Who are you? Why don't I remember anything?"
~~~"Well, someone is full of questions." she said mockingly. "You're here to be a part of a secret organization, called the Keepers. We were created as a special squad to hunt and destroy the remnants of the Army of Zerk. The Zerkians consist of Trolls, Human Flamecasters, and Undead Necromancers.
~~~"As to where you are, you are still on Earth. The only difference is you are now allowed to see what you only dreamt of in the past. We call this 'side' of the world, for lack of a better term, Nave."
~~~"What's that supposed to mean? And what about my past? I don't remember a thing." he asked, as they continued down a long corridor. As the light was dim, the only things he could see were occasional torches held up on sconces to light the way every three yards.
~~~"Your memories will come back to you, but for now it fits our purpose better if you think a new way, and see things differently. By the time your memories return, it will no longer matter, and your teachings will be done."
~~~He wanted to continue asking questions, but thought better of it when he noticed the girl in front of him become tense.
~~~"We're almost there", she said, as they approached a large wooden door.
~~~As the girl opened the door, the nameless man blinked. It was a beautiful temple, with a large pond built into the stone in front of them. Odd, but beautiful birds flew above. Trees that curved in and out of other trees decorated the template, with its tan colored bricks and alien design.
~~~Monks walked by, ignoring the two. They wore simple yellow and red robes, bald and well shaven. One of them, wearing a yellow, red, and purple robe, slowed down and nodded towards the two.
~~~"Welcome back, Miss Iris." the monk said, in a misty and comforting voice as he continued walking.
~~~The girl called Iris simply nodded with a smile, and turned back to the nameless man.
~~~"Welcome to Keepers Headquarters. We live here with the monks. It is our hiding place, and it is also our protection. No one dares invade a temple."
~~~"How come?"
~~~She looked at him oddly, and then replied "Because, the Gods are on our side. No one angers the Gods. Everything will be explained later. They're similar to the ones you're beginning to remember, but they are a bit different."
~~~His memory had been jarred, and he began to remember a little about going to a church for a god. How she knew this, he did not know. He began to fear her, and this world, more and more.
~~~"What is my name?"
~~~"Your old name is of no use to you here. Even beginning to say it would make you forget what you were doing. There are wards against finding our identities, and they have never failed us.
~~~"Your new name shall be Talwin Hawkins. You may call me Iris, Talwin."
~~~He felt a little better. Having a name seemed to solidify his thoughts.
~~~As they walked down some steps, turned a corner into another corridor, and entered a small room to the left, he began to feel happy. He did not know why, but the minute his foot stepped across the border to this room, he no longer felt worried or uncertain.
~~~The room was smooth, Grey brick, with no decoration.
~~~A man sat upon a dais, in a throne set in gold. He had no features, yet looking at him still felt like looking at a normal looking human. He had an odd color of hair, which was spiked, and wore golden armor which seemed to glow and light the torchless room.
~~~"This man is a God. You will treat him with respect. He is one of many, and no less powerful then the rest. Here, you will swear service to the Gods."
~~~"And if I don't?" he asked.
~~~"You'll die." she responded, without a hint of emotion.
~~~Thinking it the best way to figure out what is going on, and being his only option, he nodded.
~~~"Repeat after me..."


~~~"Say it again."
~~~Talwin had been learning the rules of the Keepers for a week. He had been given a small room, with a sliding door and a pallet to sleep on. The meals were nothing magnificent, containing soups of various types, a roll, a few different meats, and fruit flavored water. He had only been allowed to explore once, with a guide.
~~~The temple was what one would expect. However, the outdoors were outlandish. When he had inspected the large pond, he found fish large enough to swallow him whole. The pond also seemed endlessly deep, causing the fish to be even more mysterious, when they would start to swim downward and disappear almost instantly in the dark water.
~~~The sky was not any less mysterious. Birds the size of nuts flew around him, while larger birds the size of elephants dived at other birds. If they could be called birds, that is. Some had horns, others had scales, while some had smooth looking skin. One particular specimen flew by exploiting hot air pockets in the sky, according to his guide, to glide for miles without flapping their weak wings.
~~~Now, however, he was once again in his room, with his instructor, Iris. The odd girl had been forcing him to repeat the rules ever since he began to memorize them, three days prior.
~~~"I will remain calm at all times. I will be in control of any and all situations. On the battlefield, I will hold my ground and obey all orders of the Guardian Keepers. I will kill all Flamecasters, Necromancers, and Trolls I see, or die trying."
~~~As he went on, repeating the lengthy rules he memorized like the back of his hand, his gaze traveled to the girl in front of him. After Tal had sworn service to the Gods, the girl had immediately taken him to his new room. Ever since, their relationship seemed strictly instructor and student, even after his attempts to get to know her better. He still feared her, just not as much. The more he was around her, the more Tal began to think his instructor was simply a Human with secrets.
~~~"Very good. At this rate, you may be in the field within the year", Iris told him.
~~~"A year? What am I going to be doing all this time? Surely not repeating rules."
~~~"Oh, no. You'll soon begin your training with weapons. In three months time, you will chose your primary weapon, and begin training magic. Once you have mastered fighting with magic and steel as one, you will be tested on the field."
~~~He was going to spend a year learning to fight and use magic. Things Talwin had only dreamed of when he was on Earth. Then he was going to war.
~~~He knew it was going to be a long year.


~~~The courtyard he had been led to was of medium size, just enough to avoid being small or large. It was clearly a training area, as there were weapon and armor racks along the edge of the yard. The majority of the center was tiled, to allow easy traction when fighting.
~~~Mere minutes before, Iris had led him to this courtyard, telling him he was to meet his Fight Instructor here. As the wind blew, he looked around, hoping to find the person who was supposed to train him. Something caught his eye.
~~~A sword flew at him, hilt first. As he reached out to catch it, Talwin realized time slowed. The second his hand gripped the hilt, time was normal. Before Tal could not even begin to question this odd thing, a man yelled.
~~~"Defend yourself, fool!"
~~~As Talwin turned to face the man, sword in hand, his eyes grew wide.
~~~The man, probably in his middle years, was racing at him, sword raised. He had been hiding behind a pillar, Tal expected, and moving as fast as he had ever seen any man move.
~~~Talwin raised his sword to parry, and was nearly knocked off his feet from the force of the attack.
~~~"That's not a good start. Don't you have any muscle, lad?"
~~~"I guess not." he said, a little hurt at the truth.
~~~"Well, we'll work on it. I'm your trainer, Artimeuso McFlabberhagon, but ye' can just call me Artie. We've got a lot of work to do, it seems. Come on, that's it, bring your sword up, lets try this again."
~~~They trained for three hours without pause. At the end of the day, Tal collapsed on his pallet. It was going to be a very long year, indeed.

~~~Three months later, Talwin had made progress in his fighting. He preferred using two Katanas, compared to the traditional Hammers or Greatswords. He had learned to use them as an extension of himself. Soon, he would properly learn 'Akti'to', pronounced awk-tee-toe, as they called it when one merged magic with sword. Young Talwin would then be able to merge his Katanas into a deadly weapon in one instant, and unmerge them into swift duel-katanas the next. The magic would also allow him to create poison, ruthless spells to do extra damage, and much more.
~~~Iris continued to be her usual isolated self. After another month of trying, he all but gave up on trying to become friends. He was beginning to like Artie very much, as the strange man knew when to push him and when not to. He also had a knack for witty humor. Besides the two, he had still not come to know anyone else in this strange world. Or rather, this 'side' of the world, as they called it.
~~~Currently, Hawkins was walking to his first Akti'to class. Iris had informed him his new teacher might disturb him. Tal walked quickly, as he was very curious to see why. As he turned a corner and tripped on an upturned stone, he remembered the old saying, 'Curiosity killed the cat'.
~~~The clumsy student looked up, and noticed he was there. The room was medium sized, bordering on small. He suspected it might be much larger if the walls were not covered in shelves. The shelves seemed filled with all kinds of things. Herbs, horns, teeth, skulls, bones, sticks, dried flowers, dried eyes, containers filled with anything from eyeballs to what looked like the fetus of a sloth mixed with a dragon. His stomach churned, and he thought he might be sick.
~~~"You'll get use to it. It's all here for a good cause."
~~~The voice came from in front of him. What he had not noticed before, was the grey-haired old man standing in front of him. He was small, around five feet tall, and hunched over. He used a simple wooden cane to help support his weight.
~~~The most disturbing fact, was that this man was his grandfather.

~~~"I...I thought you died, Grandpa." He couldn't believe his eyes. His grandfather had died over twenty years ago from kidney failure. Yet here he was, standing in front of Talwin.
~~~Taken by sudden emotions, Hawkins ran forward to embrace his long-lost grandfather. As he wrapped his arms around the hunched over old man, he felt a sudden electric charge, as if he was collecting a lot of static. Suddenly he felt pressure on his chest.
~~~The air cracked with energy, and a blue light danced off the walls.Talwin was shot backwards, crashing through the wooden door and into the hallway from where he came. The pain on his chest lasted for only second, yet it burned like laying on a fire. The pain in his back from crashing against a brick wall didn't go away so easily. As the old man walked over the shattered door into the hallway, he made a moderately amused face.
~~~"Oh, I'm not your grandfather, or whoever else you see in front of you. It's a defense spell, which I use on myself when I'm in battle, or want to catch my students off guard. The spell invades your memory, picking a loved one at random. It then changes what you see. For some, I might look like a mother, a girlfriend... or a sister. I specialize in shapeshifting spells, so no matter what you find in here, if it moves, it's probably me.
~~~"And if you ever try to hug me again without my permission, I will use something much more painful."
~~~"You're sick!" Talwin screamed, as he charged at the old man. The anger he had felt for the last few months since he came to this side of the world was begging to be unleashed, and this was the trigger. As the world slowed down around him, he noticed the old man slowly firing another blue lighting attack.
~~~The blue bolt shot towards him. Inches from reaching Talwin, he flanked to the left, and drew his Katanas. Hawkins did not know how he knew, as he hadn't even began to train in magic, but the angry student directed energies to the swords, making them glow with a red hue.
~~~As he made the final jump to the old man who looked like his grandfather, he began to bring his swords down as one. The magician brought up one hand to block, at an impossible speed, and the swords shattered on the impact of an invisible barrier.
~~~The man's gaze shot towards Tal as he felt pressure on his shoulders. Suddenly he could not take it any longer, and he fell to the floor.
~~~"I don't suggest doing that again. I also use this spell to see if I can easily awaken the power in each student, through anger. It seems it was a close call, this time. You've got extraordinary power for someone who has no training. I also saw that you've the natural ability to slow down everything around you.
~~~"This is actually an ability to speed up the mind. You will be able to make quicker decisions and actions, even though everything around you is going at a normal speed. I apologize for angering you, but it was necessary. Now, get up, and let's begin your training."
~~~Talwin's anger was beginning to subside. He wondered if the old man had used a second spell to increase his rage, as he had no idea where the madness had come from. He was beginning to stand up, and as he faced the door and began to walk back in, a female voice came from the room. It was the most feminine voice he had ever heard. It sounded as if a goddess had appeared in the room.
~~~"First we'll begin with simple spells, such as manipulating fire or wind. That will be the easiest place to start, but I'm sure you will progress swiftly."
~~~As he stepped over the shattered wood of the door, he saw the prettiest girl he had ever seen. At least, he thought so, as he did not remember much before coming here. His memory was coming back in some areas, but only a little.
~~~"Where did the old man go? If you're my teacher, who was that little demon?" He was uncomfortable around such a beautiful girl, which caused him to stutter a little.
~~~The girl giggled, the most beautiful sound he ever remembered hearing, and replied "I'm him. Or, rather, I'm her. What gave you the impression I was really a guy? Like I said, I shapeshift a lot. This is my true form." as she looked him in the eyes, she continued "I hope it doesn't distract you from your work."
~~~He realized he was staring, and began quickly looking around the room, as if he was suddenly fascinated by the skeleton of a small looking humanoid in the corner.
~~~"Anyway...sorry for making you angry. I needed you to believe I was a cranky old man for it to work. Though, I do have my evil moments." The girl smiled, almost making Talwin stumble into a rather nasty looking bucket of something orange. If she was beautiful simply standing there, she was amazing when she smiled.
~~~Suddenly he heard himself ask, "Are you an angel...". He stopped himself from saying more, and glanced at the girl as his eyes grew and he blushed.
~~~She blushed at the unexpected question, and responded,"Well, technically, yes.
~~~"I'm one of the Guardian Keepers. We're basically the commanders of the Keepers. Since we're the highest rank below the gods, we are essentially the angels and demons doing the gods and goddess's bidding."
~~~"My name is Feyja Ishtarok, by the way. You can call me Fey."
~~~They began the lesson, first manipulating candles and blowing small objects off of shelves with wind, to working with large fires and blowing over trees in the first lesson. She kept her amazement to herself as he went through five lessons in one.
~~~He was enjoying magic, and enjoying his teacher even more. They seemed to get along perfectly, at least as student and teacher. He truly hoped she wouldn't be as distant and unfriendly as Iris had proved to be. As he continued to stare into her pale blue eyes, he wondered how dangerous she really was.

~~~As Talwin's face smashed into the mud of the jungle, he began to wish he hadn't come along on this hunting trip. A monk named Brother Kiuji, along with his teacher Artie had appeared in front of his room earlier that morning. The two had asked him if he wanted to come along for a routine hunting trip, as they were running out of Shanwas to breed.
~~~Of course he had agreed. A chance to get out of his room for a few days and sleep under the stars of this interesting dimension called Nave would be a welcome change.
~~~They had walked half a day, and found their camp site. Nestled between thick woods and a cliff face, it was the perfect spot for what they were looking for. Directly above their camp site was the nests for the Shanwas. A Shanwa is a relatively large bird, with feathers, long wings, and a lot of tender meat. The monks at the temple breed Shanwas as food, and for their eggs when the monks had plenty of meat.
~~~The three hunters had used live snares baited with an odd snake-like creature to capture the Shanwas. Brother Kiuji was a small man, most likely in his late twenties, who spoke fast and always seemed happy. He also made a very good hunter, it seemed, as he had caught twelve of their twenty Shanwas.
~~~Now, the group was heading home. He picked himself up, wiped the mud off his face, and marched on. That was the thirty fifth time he had fell on their journey home. The night before had been a terrible rain-storm. Unlike the thunder storms at home, rain storms simply consisted of rain. Lots, and lots, of rain. At some points, due to the conditions in the sky, rain droplets could form into the size of watermelons, feeling like a bucket of water being dropped over someones head at high speed.
~~~Artie, who Talwin began to think of as a crazy, and fun, uncle, suspected they were approximately a half day from the temple. The walk had been tiring, but Tal could already feel his muscles begin to strengthen. He did not know what he did when he was on the normal dimension of Earth, but he suspected he did not exercise much.
~~~As they crested a hill, they checked their location, and the position of the sun.
~~~That's when they saw the smoke.


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It will be continued with new "scenes" being added daily (hopefully). It is unknown how long this will be. The second goal of this series will be to show how it is from the 'Keeper's' side of the 'war'.

Indentions are currently replaced with the '~' symbol until further notice. If you have any ideas on how to indent this, let me know. Spaces and[indent] do not work. Suggestions on how to make this easier to read on the eyes is also welcome.

Hope you like it so far. Feedback is appreciated. No flaming, trolling or breaking rules in this thread (or any thread, for that matter!). Stay on topic.

NOTE: This is not Mortal Online lore. This is a completely fictional story.

[Amaryl]

You're quiet repetitive in your writing, using the same subjects, again and again.

Originally Posted by Talwin

~~~"Follow." she commanded. Without waiting to see if he followed, she was halfway out of the room. She was tall, fair, and full of power. For some unknown reason, he felt fear for the first time in his life.
~~~He almost laughed, as he realized he doesn't even remember his life, but thought better of it. He knew nothing of this girl, and feared she might think he was laughing at her. He wondered if she might be able to tell him what is going on.

Try to alternate instead of constantly using "she" and "he" in every sentence.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[Talwin]

Thanks for the tip, the two new 'scenes' should be a little less repetitive.

There's also a bit more fluff.

~Updated!

[Talwin]

Updated with a small scene. Soon I'll be added some larger scenes at once, when the action begins, and we truly jump into the story.

Please remember to comment if you like it, or if you don't like it, let me know why.



The evening sky will soon be red.

[kootenay]

Oooo it is getting interesting.

[Talwin]

Updated. Introducing the one and only Feyja Ishtarok, named after the goddesses Freyja and Ishtar. This particular character is not a 'metaphor' for any moderators or developers, simply a made up character.

Hint of upcoming scenes:

The evening sky will soon be read.

[Bruin]

Originally Posted by Talwin

Updated. Introducing the one and only Feyja Ishtarok, named after the goddesses Freyja and Ishtar. This particular character is not a 'metaphor' for any moderators or developers, simply a made up character.

Hint of upcoming scenes:

The evening sky will soon be read.

I'm sure it will be red.

[Talwin]

Originally Posted by Bruin

I'm sure it will be red.

I meant it as a joke, really. It'll be "read" and the sky will be "red". >.>'

[Bruin]

Originally Posted by Talwin

I meant it as a joke, really. It'll be "read" and the sky will be "red". >.>'

Hmm.

The first thing that came to mind to me was Emperor Constantine, who saw red letters in the sky written by god during a battle.

[Talwin]

Updated. I know, I'm skipping on the detail and rushing into the action. Hopefully once we get past this initial and boring beginning, people will begin to post and keep up with the story.