Rage Era

[Veli Alvar]

Chapter 1: Snake Blight

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Zmeya Forest, Russia (Present-day Siberian Lowlands)
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Chunks of scale and flesh were being ripped from the Nagah's back as it writhed in pain, its enormous, scaly tail flailing about the cave interior trying to take the giant armoured crinos form latched on to its back. After ripping out large chunks of its back with his monstrously powerful jaws, Kaalevi reached for the black scythe on his back, a weapon as fearful as it was elegant, crafted by none other than Kaalevi's own squire and trusted brother as well as blacksmith, Arden Shaw. The snath was a bit thick and all black steel with a speartip atop next to the blade; the blade itself was a glossy white steel, still shining from the whetstone with onyx jewels embedded into the belly of the blade, indeed it was a masterful creation. In crinos form the weapon grew proportionate to the towering Kaalevi, making it beastly in size. He hopped from where he stood on the snakes back to the top of its cobra hood, taking a mighty two-handed swing downward onto the snakes head and raking the blade towards him. The blade had cut the snakes head right down the center, the raking motion making the cut much longer, down to its neck. The giant cobra dropped like a dead weight onto the ground as Kaalevi hops off just in time to land by its head as it rumbled the cave.

The Fenrir landed gracefully and put his scythe on his back again. Kaalevi wore a full set of red steel plate armour with black trim, his head exposed. On his shoulders were two mid-size white-gold hispo wolves which were also used to strap the red cloak on his back which bore the black glyph representing the Garou Nation. In addition to the scythe on his back, Kaalevi had two mjolnir-style warhammers on his waist, held in place by a clip at the top of the greaves. The hammerheads were perfectly rectangular black steel with red markings at each end of the heads, flyphs of Fenris. The handles were also pure black steel, shimmering still even in dim cave light. Kaalevi's crinos form had long hair that flowed down to the Fenrir's elbows, contrasted with the white of Kaalevi's coat. Intense grey eyes like tornadoes and various slash scars on his face with a dominating posture made Kaalevi a force to deal with before even beginning combat; more fear him than not.

Behind the freshly fallen Nagah laid its brothers, sisters, companions, slaughtered in a line leading to the current spot. The damp cave became even more so with all the blood spilled which unleashed a disturbing odour of iron. As the blood dried the cave interior would be stained with red all over. This is a Nagah's underground den. It was being used as some sort of head base, or something to that notion unique to the Nagah. The snakes weren't known to be very social unless they shared a strong cause. To find so much of them in one place means the place had to be crucial. Outside on the surface, the elite packs of Kaalevi's Knights Sept were ripping away into Nagah forces outside. The entire area surrounding this underground cave was infested with the Wyrm-kin and Kaalevi had crucial orders to come here directly from the king to wipe out this strong point of Nagah.

Months prior, Milos Voronin, son of the Garou Nation King Aleks Voronin second of his name, had been assassinated by a gang of Nagah who believed they were doing Gaia's work. The snakes believed themselves to be judges for Gaia, eliminating those among the Fera judged to be against Gaia's interest. The truth was the snakes serve absolutely no purpose within the Fera; nobody likes them and too many of their targets are questionable. With the death of Milos, King Aleks ordered Kaalevi that every Nagah alive was to be crushed; their species was to be eliminated for no further generations to ever hope to extend any bloodlines. It was extermination and nothing more. Kaalevi followed his orders without hesitation. He was a Get through and through; King Aleks had proven to be a very strong king and so Kaalevi follows without question.

"I. . . I. . . Can tell. . . You who was. . . Was. . . Respon-. . . Sible." Uttered the mangled cobra head, somehow still fighting the will to die. The speech sounded otherworldly, the Nagah's head split in half making it difficult to speak anything at all. Kaalevi gave the Nagah a sharp stare, baring his teeth slightly and looking over to Arden Shaw, his squire who stood just a few feet away from him. His look returned to the Wyrm-kin. "I do not care. You are all to die, the King cares not about personal responsibility. It is time to bury your kind." The cold and cutting Fenrir spat. "Arden, finish him." Kaalevi said, his crinos form walking nonchalantly towards the opening to the next room, where they may find more of the snakes to eliminate.

[Ghaz]

Arden watched as his alpha Kaalevi attacked the snake with the weapon Arden had made him. Arden wore steel plate armor with black trimmings and with bear fur around the neck. He wore a helmet in the shape of a wolfs head He had a black cloak with the glyph of the shadow lords on it. He held in his hand a great sword with the writing oath keeper on it and the pummel of the blade was a wolfs head. On his belt he also held a sword with the glyph of the Shadow Lords on it and on the other side of it was the glyph that represented Garou Nation. He stood up tall at 6'4 but still wasn't as tall as his alpha now would he be close to matching his strength.

He walked towards Kaalevi when he heard the snake spit out that he could tell us who was responsible for the assassination. He quickly looked at Kaalevi before looking back at the snake. He heard his alpha tell him to finish the snake off so he turned and said "I'm going to enjoy killing you and your friends." He swings his great sword decapitating the head of the snake then turning to his Alpha saying "Lets finish the scum off before anymore of them try to escape." He began to walk towards his alpha with his great sword in his hand.

[Veli Alvar]

"There is no escape, Arden. They will not pass through us and outside they are being decimated." The Fenrir was like the living manifestation of fear itself. As a homid Kaalevi is 6'7" tall, a monstrous individual indeed long and thick limbed. In war form the knight was 10'2" in height; enemies are often beat just looking at the Fenrir, they wonder how they will defeat such an enemy. That's when they find out. . . They don't. At 28 years old Kaalevi is one of the youngest ever to attain the rank of Elder. Age did not determine your rank; however an older garou generally has more experience, more knowledge gained through time. Kaalevi is an absolute phenom, one of the greatest born soldiers, warriors, of Gaia. He was born to fight, to live and die on the battlefield.

"It looks like this area may be the last." Kaalevi said as he started to walk deeper into the underground cave. He had chosen for only Arden to accompany him inside the Nagah's den, these nasty creatures. Arden was his squire and most importantly, his brother. Kaalevi had molded the boy into a true warrior of the Get calibre; the Shadow Lord had surprisingly picked up easily on the Get style of combat. If he had to leave his life in anybodys hands it would be the Shadow Lords. He would be a knight right now if he weren't Kaalevi's squire. Both warriors had waltz into the snake pit, tearing the creatures apart as they came. The snakes were no match, for the lack of optimal space for their enormous war forms crippled them and made them easier targets. Some even got tangled with others during combat.

Didn't take long for the werewolves to dominate them. The snakes were very powerful indeed but they move very oddly and don't possess the mentality for all out, let-loose warfare, a garou specialty. As Kaalevi made his way deeper in he could see glyphs and paintings on the walls. Nagah glyphs are considered markings of corruption; this cave had to be closed after evicting the denizens. Such a cursed mark should be buried where it belongs; in the dirt, to never be seen again. Flags, of royalty it seemed, were hoisted along some of the walls. Those should be torn down as well, King Aleks was the only true king.

Ahead there were torches lit and what seemed to look like the end of the cave. A hooded figure could be seen holding up one of those torches and as Kaalevi got closer he could see 5 others standing to the right and left of the hooded figure. They were dressed in light black leather except for the hooded one whos face could not be seen and wore instead a dark green overcloak. The cave was near silent, the only sounds you can hear being the fire cackling from the torches and Kaalevi's armour clanking as he walked, reaching to about the centre of the room before standing off with the group in front of him; the hooded one broke the silence. "You so brazenly walk in, as if there was nothing to fear. Before you are 6 snake beasts and yet you act carelessly."
"Because there is nothing to fear." Kaalevi spat.
"Indeed, for The Iron Reaper. . . Not even death can shake." The hooded figure pulled it back a bit, revealing his beady facial features. Eyes emotionless with a look a boredom on his sharp features. Nobody could deny he was a worthless snake. "So you've heard of me, Wyrm-kin? Too bad you won't be hearing anything more of me. Perhaps others will hear of you, because of me." Kaalevi said, a wolfish grin forming.
"The Nagah know near-all. I know who is responsible for the death of your prince. I knew you were going to come here. I made a grave error in thinking I could hold down this area against you. I laid out all kinds of traps and defenses.. I just did not account for the sheer ruthlessness evident in all of you wolves. One on one we Nagah stand a chance. . . Or so I thought, until you two came in and wiped out the 10 most powerful assassins I had. We surrender, for if we are gutted then that would serve-"
"The King will take no quarter nor accept a surrender. You will die here and you will be forgotten." retorted the Fenrir, cutting the snake off.

The hooded man looked at Kaalevi and Arden with sheer contempt. The Nagah were perhaps the worst at showing emotion and even so it was clear the hooded man despised the two wolves in front of him. The snakes around him gave the wolves similar looks but they were almost shaken with fear to even take seriously. "A pack of 3 Nagah murder a Garou prince and the reaction of the King is to annihilate any and all Nagah in return. We have nothing to do with this predicament. We do not wish to engage with Garou and would rather be left alone. Not only does the king make this order.. He sends The Iron Reaper with his squire and entire Knights Sept. The slaughter that is ocurring outside. . . Do you believe this is right? Do you truly believe you are doing right by killing those who had nothing to do with a wrongful murder?" the hooded man asked both wolves, looking back and forth between them. Kaalevi could only scoff.

"You snakes have been wrong on more than one occasion. You do not deserve to be Gaia's children, for you are messing up the only job she put you here to do. For that, we will be the new judges and fulfill the role. The King is bringing justice by ordering your destruction." Kaalevi said, near the point of laughter as the hooded man glanced towards Arden.

[Ghaz]

Arden grew a big smile when he heard Kaalevi say they wont be able to escape. When Arden and his Alpha Kaalevi slaughtered their way through the Nagah's den Arden couldn't help but smile under is helm. He enjoyed killing these Wyrm-kin but most of all he enjoyed killing his enemies. Arden was ruthless when it came to his enemies he made sure they would suffer before finishing them off but when he was with his pack he did what had to be done. When he approached the hood figure with Kaalevi he listened to them talk. When he saw the hooded figure reveal itself slightly Arden looked to Kaalevi before looking back to the hooded figure. He listened to Kaalevi and the hooded figure talk and he soon thought 'Hes just trying to stop the inevitable but it wont work.'

When the hooded figure began question what the king was doing was right Arden was about to talk when he heard his Alpha scoff. He listened to Kaalevi talk to the hooded man and when he saw the hooded man glance at him, Ardon looked at him intently and said "We will bury your kind and make an example of you so everyone who wrongs us again will know that they will face the same fate as your kind!" Arden grips him weapon tighter with anger and eagerness preparing to end this confrontation.

[Veli Alvar]

The hooden nagah could not find anything to do other than shake his head. "Dogs.. You think you can just do whatever you want. Being Gaia's warriors does not give you the right to impose your will on her other offspring."
"Wyrm-kin such as you and your kind I doubt she will miss. Perhaps even She knows she made a mistake in spawning you. The time for words is over; your bodies will soon be left here to rot, never to be seen again. Go ahead and kiss, hug or whatever it is you do with your slimy selves before we bury you." Kaalevi spat at the Nagah who was now fed up with the wolves' behaviour. They were not going to see reason, they were not going to see anything other than they were ordered to do so. The Iron Reaper and his squire were merely machines doing what Gaia wills as ordered by the King of the Garou Nation. Gaia's Sword, Kaalevi's pack, was not sent here for diplomacy, only elimination. The hooded Nagah's free hand curled into a fist.

"You will not see the error in your ways, the error in your judgements when we, the rightful judges of Gaia have been doing this since birth of our Fera. This brand of judgement is far too black and white; it is not effective, it is only going to do more harm than good. Do you truly wish to wipe us from the land? Gaia will not forgive your folly and nigh-treason committed against her children. You suffer from this delusion that you are the Mothers favourite; she has none." The wereserpent hissed as he raised his torch in the air, the group he was with doing the same. Kaalevi's hand went for the hammer on his left side, gripping it but not yet unclipping it. "They have said their farewell, Arden, now feed them to the dirt."
"We will not be undone by you dogs! We decide our own fate now! Begin!" the Nagah snapped back as they all brought the torches down to their own garments, setting it ablaze in an instant. Kaalevi's single track mind did not take the time to realize the faintly fishy smell and the fact that the clothes these Nagah wore were dripping beforehand; they had dipped their clothes in fish oil and also spread that same oil around the entire underground cave.

Kaalevi hopped back as a fire started blazing right in front of him. Soon the whole cave was lit with lines of fire acting like roads of flame. "Weaklings! They outnumbered us and still took the cowards way out! We need to fall back hard and fast before the flame becomes too wild!" Kaalevi roared as he dashed in the direction toward the entrance of the cave. There was fire lit almost everywhere and some Nagah corpses became like pyres. The Fenrir pushed hard through the cave, reaching supernatural speeds as he jumped over pools of flame, running along walls on all fours using his powerful claws to clamber along and even straight up just dashing through walls of fire quickly as his armour shielded him from the flame and while his cloak was an easy target, Kaalevi's speed would stop a fire lit on his cloak before it could even spread.

Surface light was just 6m away or so and the cave fire was weaker as Kaalevi got closer to the surface. The path to the surface was elevated and form almost a small hill towards the top; the Fenrir picked up more speed, moving more aggressively as he forward lunged his way to the surface, crashing a few 4m away from the cave mouth. He turned around to see if Arden has made it through.

[Ghaz]

Arden Shaw listened to the Nagah speak to him and his alpha but Arden turned to his Alpha and listened intently waiting for the moment he could tear these snakes apart. When he heard Kaalevi speak the shadow lord began to wonder if these snakes would be a challenge but he didn't hold them high enough to consider them a threat to him and his alpha after all they did just slaughter most of them that got in their way. Before he got the chance to charge the snake began to speak again but to Arden they were just trying to avoid the inevitable.

When he saw the snakes ignite themselves on fire he as he watched the snakes burn he could fell his anger grow slightly. He felt like they denied him the combat he wanted the combat he deserved. He watched his alpha Kaalevi run in the direction they came before Arden quickly followed. While Arden was running towards the exit he looked to see how fast the fire was spreading. He could see the dead snakes corpses light on fire as the fire spread all over the cavern so Arden began to speed up slightly. He watched as his Alpha made it out and then a little after before the flames could hurt him Arden leaped out of the cave looking back at it then to his Alpha saying "Those cowards I wish I could have torn them all apart instead they do this!"