The Price of Power (Mahes666 & Silk Satine)
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Exotic Solos =&gt; Topic started by: mahes666 on 13-02-2009, 18:56:16</h2>
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				Title: <strong>The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>13-02-2009, 18:56:16</strong>
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				(http://www.designyourway.net/artists/the-new-emperor.jpg)<br><br><em>A century has passed.</em> <br><br>The thought jumped to the front of him mind as Adamus chewed on a plate of blue berries and pineapple.&nbsp; As usual the fruit was fresh and succulent, the juices pleasing and nourishing.&nbsp; Normally Adamus did not focus on such comforts as eating a plate of fruit.&nbsp; As emperor of Adamor, comforts of every sort were expected.&nbsp; Even so, after a century of bringing prosperity to a savage land, Adamus couldn't help but think of the fruit plate as a reward.&nbsp; Peace had finally come.&nbsp; There were no more rebellious tribes, vengeful royal bloodlines, corrupt nobility, or rival nations to threaten his power.&nbsp; Adamus liked to believe that his policies were the main cause for all that, rather than his military might.&nbsp; True, his army would conquer those who resisted.&nbsp; But once resistance was removed, he would institute mandates on the populous for education, advanced irrigation and agriculture, industry, shipbuilding, trade, banking, architecture, medicine, music, and art.&nbsp; At first there were those who fought such mandates, but after a generation lived under his improvements, the resistance vanished.&nbsp; This model of conquer and prosper had served his empire well, and now he could truly enjoy the fruits of his labor.<br><br>Today marked the celebration of his 100 years of rule over Adamor.&nbsp; In that time, Adamor had grown from a small council of villages, to an empire spanning an entire continent.&nbsp; Powerful cities, brimming with culture and trade, now dotted the landscape.&nbsp; Armadas of merchant ships tore through the seas and rivers.&nbsp; Sometimes Adamus contemplated crossing those seas to conquer lands beyond, but not today.&nbsp; Today, he would give thanks that the gods had given him the wisdom to see his empire through to such a historic day.<br><br><em>And the power, don't forget to thank them for your power.</em><br><br>Adamus had almost gone the entire morning without thinking such a thought, but it couldn't be avoided now.&nbsp; Magic.&nbsp; Magic was the true reason he now had what he had.&nbsp; Magic was common enough throughout the world, but came with great price.&nbsp; A sorcerer was forced to reach into his own life force to bend reality against its natural laws.&nbsp; As a young man, Adamus had been better than most at manipulating such forces.&nbsp; But using the power had brought him pain, sickness, and frailty even at a young age.&nbsp; Like most sorcerers, he should have died before ever reached 30.&nbsp; Instead, he discovered the ancient remains of dragons.<br><br>Dragons and man had never lived side-by-side.&nbsp; Scholars wrote that the death of dragons marked the birth of man.&nbsp; One great race passing to make room for the next.&nbsp; But evidence of their passing could always be found if one dared to look.&nbsp; Adamus had done more than look.&nbsp; He had taken.&nbsp; The search had been long, and the process had been difficult, but he had found a way to tap into the hidden power of dragon remains.&nbsp; Fossilized scales, bones, and blood brimming with power.<br><br>All sorcerers lived by one rule, power always has a price.&nbsp; But Adamus believed he had found a loophole.&nbsp; The dragons he stole magic from were already dead, so he was causing no harm to them.&nbsp; Also, no other dragons lived to exact vengeance for what he had done.&nbsp; With the power of the dragon remains, he granted himself eternal youth and unquestioned power.&nbsp; But rather than use such power to take what he wanted, he used it to serve and advance mankind.&nbsp; He did this so that the gods could measure his deeds for mankind against his sins to dragonkind when death finally found him and the gods passed judgement on his soul.<br><br>But today was not the day to dwell on eternity.&nbsp; Today was the day to celebrate.&nbsp; No doubt the people were awakening across the land, filling the streets in anticipation of celebration.&nbsp; Here in the capital, performers would fill the squares, ale and wine would fill the inns, and feasts would fill the tables.&nbsp; This would be a day to remember, a day for Adamor.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>21-08-2009, 00:00:01</strong>
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				<div align="center">(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/aag567/Role%20Playing/1061094.jpg)</div><br><br>Seven hundred years of slumber… and the awakened dragoness felt every one of those years of rest flood her limbs with vitality and vigor.&nbsp; Slowly, experimentally, she rose from her bed of&nbsp; jewels and stretched her long, serpentine neck sinuously until her gracefully formed head nearly touched the craggy ceiling of her dark cave.&nbsp; Standing on her rear legs, she held out her smoothly scaled arms in wonder, marveling at how much longer they had grown.<br><br>She felt so… different.&nbsp; Very clearly, she remembered the day she had gone to sleep.&nbsp; She had been very young, barely able to feed herself on the fauna of the island.&nbsp; Before that, she remembered mourning everyday over the bones of what she knew instinctively had been her mother, the remains of her hatched egg scattered next to it, along with other sets of bones protruding from the side of the lush green mountain that hid her cave.&nbsp; How had they died?&nbsp; Were there no more like her?&nbsp; When she had been old enough to fly, she had searched the island… and in the depths of her being she knew, without doubt.&nbsp; She was the last of her kind.<br><br>She had lived on the island three hundred years alone.&nbsp; Sometimes… she would venture from her island and fly to the continent, always staying well above to prevent being seen or at least be mistaken for a large bird, and she had seen with her sharp farseeing vision the beings called humans from her hidden perches in the towering trees.&nbsp; Studying them from afar, she had not liked what she had seen.&nbsp; They were savage and brutal creatures, relishing in the blood of their kind as well as the hapless animals they hunted.&nbsp; Only one might have redeemed humankind in her eyes--- a beautiful barbarian queen who had tried to rule benevolently, compassionately… but in the end, the murderous violence of those around her had overwhelmed her and she had been forced to go to war, to be murdered herself by traitors in her midst.&nbsp; <br><br>Mourning yet again, Angwynophidiacolubrina had decided that humankind was not for her, and had returned to her solitary island… never to venture forth again.&nbsp; Eventually, her profoundly lonely isolation had driven her to hibernate for centuries.<br><br>Now, roused from her long sleep, she could almost touch the ceiling with her nostrils.&nbsp; She had grown and filled out in every way.&nbsp; She felt stronger, her blood rushing potently through more veins, her iridescent scaled body taut with more sleek muscle.&nbsp; And the color of her body had deepened from the delicate blue of a hatchling to vibrant hues from sapphire blue to Tyrian purple dappling her long, supple body.&nbsp; In the darkness, her large,&nbsp; tear-shaped amber eyes blinked as her vision strengthened, and she turned her head in a half-circle to study her cave.&nbsp; It was exactly as it had been when she had begun her slumber.&nbsp; <br><br>What had awakened her?&nbsp; She had not wanted to end her sleep.&nbsp; She knew that loneliness awaited her on the island, and she would have slept for eternity in blissful oblivion if she could.&nbsp; <br><br>She closed her eyes, remembering. She had sensed, adrift on the mystic sea of her dreams, voices calling, demanding.&nbsp; A strident call from the spirits of the bones, not just on her island, but elsewhere, wherever dragons lay in their ancient graveyards.&nbsp; A call to the last dragon in the world to avenge their desecration.<br><br>For the first time in her life, the dragoness felt new purpose surge through her blood.&nbsp; A keening sound, somewhere between a wail of anguish and a roar of outrage, trembled and echoed from the walls of the cave, then she dropped to stand on all four limbs, turned and moved towards the single entrance to her chamber.&nbsp; A lissome shadow, her form stalked silently through the tunnels of the mountain, up, always up the path that she had taken many centuries ago.&nbsp; Eventually, she reached the summit of the mountain at a rocky opening now overgrown by vegetation, and with a wispy, fiery exhalation, she burned it all down and emerged into the sunlight, wings unfurling to their full width.&nbsp; <br><br>She was a spectacular sight.&nbsp; Light caught and shimmered in the large, blinking gold eyes, while the jeweled stones encrusting her belly sparkled and gleamed, and ripples of shadow and reflection undulated along the luminescent scales of her long, flowing body.&nbsp; Slowly, her wings tested the breeze atop the mountain, gently flapping to build resistance, while her eyes surveyed her island.&nbsp; It was as it had always been… verdant and luxuriant, the thick impenetrable jungle embracing the mountain’s feet all around.&nbsp; <br><br>But still lonely. <br><br>Nothing, she thought, had changed in the world after all… except for the sacrilege and dishonor to her ancestors taking place on the continent.<br><br>With a powerful flapping of her indigo wings, the dragoness rose up on her legs and caught the wind, swiftly riding it all the way to the continent.<br><br><br><br><br><div align="center">~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</div><br><br><br><br>Angwyn was aware of the stares.&nbsp; Perhaps she had picked the wrong mortal form, but it was the only one she could identify with.&nbsp; The barbarian queen of many centuries ago had pleased her sense of aesthetics and so she had picked that body for herself now, claiming it for her own human persona.&nbsp; <br><br>Long black hair of lustrous, silken smoothness flowed around her bare shoulders and framed a face of deceptive fragility, soft, dewy skin stretching firmly over a delicate bone structure that was both regal and vulnerable at the same time, flesh of milky whiteness tinted with a slight golden tan.&nbsp; There was much of that flesh exposed in the barbarian queen’s attire… full, ripe breasts barely contained by scanty leather cups and strategically placed patches held up by thin leather straps wrapped around her gently flaring hips.&nbsp; Long shapely legs, strong and graceful and lithe, walked confidently on slender feet swathed in leather strips twining around her ankles.&nbsp; At her side, her bejeweled sword swung from its scabbard as she walked.<br><br>With the voluptuous beauty of the barbarian queen, combined with her striking golden coloring and the large, almond-shaped golden-brown eyes, it was not surprising that the dragoness’ human form drew stares everywhere she walked in the city.&nbsp; <br><br>Fortunately, her unusual presence was not enough to cause alarm.&nbsp; She might have been one of the many thousands of visitors who came to celebrate in Adamor, and most everywhere her thoughtful gaze rested, people danced and laughed in revelry on the streets, eating and drinking and toasting the next hundred years.&nbsp; <br><br>It had not been this way so many centuries ago.&nbsp; The continent had changed, drastically. The city was a marvel of progress, spires twisting and soaring into the sky from large marble temples and alabaster buildings of unsurpassed beauty.&nbsp; The streets and parks of the Acropolis, the nexus of this great empire, were its jewel and pride, fountains adorning the teeming plazas, imposing statues of heroes and gods of old towering over the crowds.&nbsp; And its people…its people were unrecognizable from the savages who had once darkened the ground with blood.&nbsp; Now they seemed happy, content, healthy… and apparently, it was all the doing of their revered, illustrious Emperor.<br><br>As Angwyn explored the Acropolis, she was still gaped at but largely overlooked as the excitement hummed around her.&nbsp; Then she heard someone say that the Emperor was going to speak from the palace, so drawn by her own burning curiosity, she was momentarily diverted from her call to vengeance and followed the course of the crowds towards the vast courtyard in front of the magnificent Imperial palace, where its gleaming, graceful white spires rose into the vivid blueness of the sky and the Emperor’s colors fluttered from every point.<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>21-08-2009, 02:49:32</strong>
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				Adamus heard the roars of the crowd outside. The screams of forty thousand people gathered in one place just to hear him speak.&nbsp; He wanted to believe that after one hundred years as an Emperor, he would become used to such public adoration.<br><br><em>I almost regret the days when I had enemies.</em><br><br>Enemies. The word seemed so strange to him now. A century of peace and prosperity left little reason for anyone to dislike him. Those sore about having their kingdoms conquered were long dead, and their children all seemed content with his rule. He had long ago gone beyond a ruler, even beyond an Emperor. He knew many saw him as a God, and he couldn't blame them for the error. What were simple people supposed to think of a man that never aged, performed brilliant acts of magic, and transformed an entire civilization?<br><br>None of them understand the price of what I've done. I suppose they never will.<br><br>"It is time my lord," his viceroy pronounced.&nbsp; Adamor was woken from his thoughts, and ran his hands over his face.<br><br>Adamor walked toward the balcony and took a deep breath. The roar of the crowd strengthened with each step. He heard the blast of trumpets and the cacophony of drums that were meant to herald his appearance. The crowd chanted in time with the beat of the drums.<br><br>"Ad-amus! Ad-amus! Ad-amus! Ad-amus! Ad-amus!"<br><br>Adamus no longer just heard the crowd, her felt their voices. The noise shook him down to his very bones. He didn't want to have to face his people. He didn't want to pretend he was happy with all he'd done. But he had done it, and he owed it to them to play the part. To be their symbol.<br><br>The curtains parted and he emerged to the sight of the crowd. The noise nearly knocked him back.&nbsp; He appeared before them dressed as he thought they would appreciate. He wore samite black pants, with a white shirt covered by rich red tunic. Wrapped around them all were resplendent robes, a swirl of red and purple. They gave an arcane appearance, while still befitting the might of an Emperor. His long, dark hair was slung into an elaborate braid that fell behind his back, while a crown of platinum, gold and ruby sat upon his head. His deep blue eyes surveyed the crowd for a few moments to take in the scene.<br><br>Then, with a great wave of his arms, he used magic to fill the sky with bursts of colorful light. The crowd erupted in joy at the display. He allowed them to cheer for a few moments more, but then gave the gesture for silence. Even after a century, it still amazed him how quickly they obeyed.<br><br>"People of Adamor!" he spoke clear and loud, and used magic to carry it all across his kingdom.&nbsp; Every citizen of his Empire would hear his words.<br><br>"I hear your joy for this day of days! And I share it with you, proud to call myself your Emperor!" Adamor heard the crowd cheer, but urged them to cut off so he might continue. "Perhaps you also celebrate my rule..."<br><br>The crowd broke out into a new frenzy of cheers.<br><br>"But I wish you wouldn't. I wish instead, you would celebrate all that you and those that came before you have done. It was not I who built this kingdom stone by stone. If you wish to thank someone for all that is, look to your own friends and neighbors. Look to your own hearts, and take pride in the good people you are! Celebrate <em>your</em> lives, and your strength. For that is the true strength of Adamor.&nbsp; <em>That</em> is what I choose to celebrate this day!&nbsp; You, my people... my friends... my family!"<br><br>The crowd roared.<br><br>"Celebrate my people! Take our peace and prosperity into the next century!"<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>21-08-2009, 19:19:45</strong>
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				<em>“Adamus.”</em>&nbsp; <br><br>The name pounded in Angwyn’s ears, the beating of the drums and the roar of the crowd a cresting, stormy sea of sound that churned and swirled around her regal, motionless form.&nbsp; She alone remained silent… watching, listening, not just to the crowd, but most especially to the spirit voices of the bones of her kin that resonated passionately within her own bones.&nbsp; The voices cried out loud to her above that din of humanity, drowning out its thunder.<br><br>Her large amber eyes darkened as they focused on the balcony from that distance, and the man on whom all of Adamor doted as a God stepped out in all his glorious resplendence.&nbsp; And suddenly, her human heart thudded with a very human emotion, one that she did not recognize yet, but from which sprung new doubts.&nbsp; Was this the man who had desecrated her ancestors’ bones and on whom vengeance must be carried out for what he had done for the good of his people?&nbsp; &nbsp;The one who had transformed an entire continent from savagery to the shining beacon it had now become?<br><br>Then she felt the drain from her bones, mystically connected to those in the graveyards, as the sky exploded with a dazzling show of incandescence.&nbsp; Magic… the man had stolen magic from her kind.&nbsp; And the voices redoubled their urgency and appealed to the dragon half of her mind.&nbsp; Did it matter what his motives were?&nbsp; Was it not enough that he had committed this grievous crime, violating the eternal rest of her kin and profaning their sacred bones?<br><br>“…That is what I choose to celebrate this day!&nbsp; You, my people... my friends... my family!"<br><br>She listened to his words, her mind startlingly torn between the tugging of her human heart and the voices in her head.&nbsp; Once she had taken a mortal form, it had become a part of her, every strange human emotion and thought and sense at her disposal.&nbsp; But she was still a dragoness, and the sense of outrage over what Adamus had done rose in indignation… and so did her wings, as suddenly she transformed in the middle of that throng, scattering shrieking, terrified citizens from her rearing, growling form.&nbsp; <br><br>With a great fluttering of her wings, Angwyn soared into the air and shot straight as an arrow to the Imperial balcony, descending swiftly in front of the Emperor before his personal guard could react.&nbsp; She transformed back once again to her human form, golden eyes blazing so close to the deep blue pools of the Emperor, her sword drawn and the sharp edge resting with exquisite control against his throat.&nbsp; <br><br>“You celebrate your <em>family</em>?&nbsp; What of <em>mine</em>?”&nbsp; Her voice, despite its dulcet softness, hissed like an angry snake’s so close to his face, her breath hot and furious on his skin, as she pressed both her body and sword against him.&nbsp; “You take from them, and do not bother to celebrate what was not yours to take? Today, human, you will celebrate one way or the other.&nbsp; Today you will beg with your voice, you will raise it in pleading to those whose spirits you have drained… today you will give your defense and I, Angwynophidiacolubrina, will pass judgment on you.”&nbsp; <br><br>Then she was once again the dragoness, her large clawed hands grasping his waist and lifting him up into the air as her wings beat powerfully through the air, higher and higher until the dragoness and Emperor were mere specks against the cerulean blue sky to the stunned, bewildered people of Adamor.&nbsp; <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>21-08-2009, 20:53:50</strong>
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				At first Adamus could not help but wonder if he had gone mad.&nbsp; For over a century he had channeled foreign power no mortal man was meant to touch. He had also been forced to deal with the guilt for doing what he knew was wrong.&nbsp; The combination of both had finally started to manifest in the form delisions.<br><br>Toward the end of his speech, he swore he saw leathery, indigo wings sprout from the back of a person in the crowd. When the screams began, he realized that the situation was far worse than madness. He felt a wave of power push against him like a fierce wind. It pushed him to the ground of the balcony and sent his head into a spin. He recognized the power to be from the same source as his own magic.<br><br>A dragon.<br><br>Adamus pushed away attendants that tried to help him to his feet, and stood on his own instead. He rushed to the edge of balcony to see the final moments of a dragon's transformation.&nbsp; The beast must have been in a mortal disguise, and had chosen to reveal itself in a moment of fury.&nbsp; Adamus felt the fury deep within his bones.&nbsp; It was powerful, savage... and righteous.<br><br>Adamus watched the dragon launch into the air like something out of legend.&nbsp; It was a magnificent and terrifying sight. Adamus guest the beast was 30 paces long, with a wingspan twice as wide. It's body was a dazzling display of membrane, muscle, teeth and scale. The scales were iridescent plates of blue and purple that reflected the light of the sun into Adamus's eyes.<br><br>The dragon reached the balcony with blinding speed, and transformed the moment it's scales touched the floor. The transformation occurred in one smooth motion, a graceful display of muscle and magic. The beast became a mortal woman with beauty to match the beast within.&nbsp; He did not dare move or speak as the dragon moved against him with a sword drawn against his neck.<br><br>“You celebrate your family?&nbsp; What of mine?”&nbsp; <br><br>The dragon's heat and breath assaulted his senses, which only caused his vertigo to return. His throat became dry and his chest became heavy as her power and beauty overwhelmed him. His honor guard raised swords and crossbows at the sight of their Emperor so threatened. Adamus raised his hand to stay their hands.&nbsp; As usual, his subjects obeyed.<br><br>“You take from them, and do not bother to celebrate what was not yours to take? Today, human, you will celebrate one way or the other.&nbsp; Today you will beg with your voice, you will raise it in pleading to those whose spirits you have drained… today you will give your defense and I, Angwynophidiacolubrina, will pass judgment on you.”<br><br>The words struck him as only justice could. There was no doubt this was a dragon, and there was no doubt the dragon deserved to take justice for all her kind. When she shifted back into dragon form, he did not resist her as her claw wrapped around his body and lifted him into the air.<br><br>He looked upon the crowd of people below and heard their cries of anguish. He shut his eyes, unable to fathom what it might mean for them to see their Emperor ripped away. Instead, Adamus's thoughts focused on the dragon that carried him west toward a destination unknown. Upon his arrival, a long overdue judgment would be upon him. <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>23-08-2009, 05:07:39</strong>
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				Angwyn cleaved the wind high above the seas with her captive held securely in her claws against her jeweled belly, the deafening thud of her wings echoing the pounding of her dragon heart, the fervor of her mission lending her speed and endurance.&nbsp; When the soaring airstreams flowed just right, she rode the thermals with unsurpassed joy, the long, fluid grace of her body making her the utter mistress of the skies.<br><br>But this time, however, she did not bother hiding from the vessels that plied the ocean, and she would sometimes plunge dizzily from the great heights to skim and glide over the ocean and be doused exhilaratingly by salty spray, so close that her prisoner would be able to see, at times eye to eye, marine creatures of all kinds under and over the waves, dazzling colors and shapes glinting in the sunlight. Along the way, Angwyn fed on fish, her neck swooping and jaws scooping up her nourishment with unerring accuracy, and if the sailors on the vessels were witness to this amazing sight, she no longer cared.&nbsp; By this time, all of Adamor would know that there was a dragon in the world, and no doubt legends would spring from the terrible fate that had befallen their precious Emperor that day.<br><br>Then there were no more vessels on the vastness of the ocean.&nbsp; Only the dragoness and the Emperor remained as she arrowed towards her island, and soon its verdant, mountainous outline rose out of the fog to meet them.&nbsp; <br><br>Her wings folded tight to her body, she dropped like a rock from the sky towards the peak of her mountain, a rapid, precipitous descent that would seem to have as its conclusion an inevitable collision with the ground… but mere seconds before she would have crashed on an outcropping of large boulders, she pulled up short as her suddenly stretched wings beat powerfully against the air.&nbsp; <br><br>If the Emperor suspected that she was tormenting and playing with her captive, then he would not be far wrong.&nbsp; <br><br>For a few moments the dragoness dangled him above an enormous boulder, a large one from which there would be little chance for escape unless he dashed himself down to the steep rocky slopes below… then she laid him with surprising gentleness upon its surface.&nbsp; Her own rear clawed feet touched the boulder not far from him, and after a last fluttering of her wings, she tucked them to her side and gazed down at the Emperor with lustrous golden eyes, studying him as one would study a new toy.&nbsp; <br><br>“There is no escape from my island, human.”&nbsp; Her dragon voice was like the wind on the mountain during a storm, a growling roar tempered by deep sighs rising out of her chest.&nbsp; “Unless death is your escape.&nbsp; But you are not to die yet.&nbsp; That is not my way.”&nbsp; She had never met a human face to face, let alone killed one, so she was being perfectly honest.&nbsp; She settled down on her haunches and tilted her head to the side to eye the Emperor severely.&nbsp; “Well, Emperor of Adamor?&nbsp; What do you have to say for yourself?”<br><br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>24-08-2009, 05:32:06</strong>
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				The journey to the Island passed like something out of a dream. The dragon did not simply fly, she seemed to ride the ley-lines of the arcane.&nbsp; It allowed her to fly beyond the speed of any natural creature.&nbsp; Adamus could not even guess the distance she was capable of traveling in a day.<br><br>Sometimes her speed reduced enough for her to amuse herself by skimming the ocean floor, or to pluck dinner from the depths. Despite the guilt and fear that filled his mind, Adamus found himself enjoying the ride.&nbsp; He had spent a century living as the most powerful man in the world.&nbsp; Now he was in the grasp of a superior being with the world passing below him. His heart raced the entire journey, and adrenaline pumped into his veins.<br><br>Adamus's indulgence ended when a mountainous terrain appeared from within a dense fog. Adamus doubted that any human eyes had gazed at the Island ever before.&nbsp; It was a symbol of natural beauty, unmarred by human influence. The aerial view ended soon after as the dragon descended onto the ground.&nbsp; The dragon gave him a scare for a few moments when she plunged his head a scant few inches from a boulder, but then he felt himself lowered gently to the ground.<br><br>“There is no escape from my island, human.”<br><br>He wondered if she realized the extend of his own power.&nbsp; What was to stop him from just flying away?&nbsp; He supposed that she would, but could she guard him twenty four hours a day? Of course, that depended on whether or not he would live twenty four hours more.<br><br>“Unless death is your escape.&nbsp; But you are not to die yet.&nbsp; That is not my way." <br><br>He believed that she was a noble creature, but he didn't doubt her anger either.&nbsp; After all he had done against her kind, he wouldn't put it past her to squash him like a bug.<br><br>“Well, Emperor of Adamor?&nbsp; What do you have to say for yourself?”<br><br>Adamus took a deep breath, thankful that he could at least express what he had wanted to say for over a hundred years.<br><br>"I'm sorry.&nbsp; I want to start by telling you that.&nbsp; I couldn't be more sorry.&nbsp; I've spent a hundred years living as an Emperor, and I've put on a happy face for my people, but I haven't been happy a single day.&nbsp; When I found the first dragon burial ground, I didn't touch it except to bow in respect. But then...circumstances...became brutal in the world around me.&nbsp; I was a talented sorcerer even then...but I wasn't strong enough on my own. I needed something more." &nbsp;Tears came to his eyes. The last time he cried was a very long time ago.&nbsp; He thought about telling her the details of all that drove him to the choice, but she deserved better that excuses.<br><br>"But why doesn't matter. I did it.&nbsp; Just the same as a murderer stabs another man in the back, the reason doesn't matter.&nbsp; I did it..." Adamus sank to his knees and bowed his head. He just wanted her eat him alive and end the guilt for a moment.&nbsp; It would only be for a moment though.<br><br>The moment after, he would awaken in hell where he belonged.<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>25-08-2009, 14:34:49</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				As Adamus began to speak, Angwyn curved her long neck down to him, lowering her head to stare into his face, her eyes so close to his that he would see every golden speck in hers.&nbsp; She had never been this close to a human before, and she found she needed to watch his expressions, trying to fathom the depths of his complexity.&nbsp; <br><br>“…But then...circumstances...became brutal in the world around me.&nbsp; I was a talented sorcerer even then...but I wasn't strong enough on my own. I needed something more."<br><br>The tears startled her.&nbsp; She had wept and wailed often enough over the bones of her mother to know what they were… but to see it in the blue eyes of the desecrator affected her much more than she cared to admit.&nbsp; Being still innocent, she did not think to suspect that humans could dissemble grief, but there was something about him, about the anguished expression in his eyes, that told her of the sincerity of those hot tears dampening his face.<br><br>"But why doesn't matter. I did it.&nbsp; Just the same as a murderer stabs another man in the back, the reason doesn't matter.&nbsp; I did it..."<br><br>Urged by the voices of vengeance, Angwyn brought her mouth right above his head, over the back of his neck.&nbsp; He had confessed.&nbsp; What more did she need?&nbsp; It would be so easy to snapped his neck in two as she had often done to her prey on the island before devouring them… but this was different.&nbsp; She was going to kill a man in justice, in reparation for the grievances against her kin.<br><br>But was this justice?&nbsp; ”His heart is good,” she cried out loud in sudden realization to the voices, her spirit pleading with theirs.&nbsp; “Do you not see what he has done for his people?&nbsp; I saw… I see what from what depravity he has pulled his people from.&nbsp; If he had but lived earlier, my barbarian queen would have lived too.”&nbsp; Her fondness for the queen was an affection for all things good and noble that she had symbolized, and which had called to her kindred spirit.&nbsp; Her death had killed all her hope for humanity… until Adamus.&nbsp; Despite herself, secret admiration had sprung inside her for all his accomplishments to better his people.&nbsp; “And he has not fought me… I feel his power resonating within my very bones, and I suspect he can escape me if he wanted to.&nbsp; Now… now I feel his need to make it right…”<br><br>She found her face nuzzling all around the Emperor’s head, her nostrils breathing him in and familiarizing herself with his scent.&nbsp; With a gentle nudge, she raised his chin up so that he would look into her eyes and she could search his.&nbsp; “Yes, justice will be done,” she said softly, or as softly as her dragon voice can achieve.&nbsp; “The price for your power must be paid.&nbsp; But I cannot kill you, Adamus.&nbsp; Somehow, you have become like me… like one of us.&nbsp; To sever your life would also sever this flow of power and life that remains from my kin.” &nbsp; <br><br>Then she transformed before his eyes to her human form, standing before him in all her beauty with her hand on his shoulder.&nbsp; “You shall pay the price by serving the last dragon.”&nbsp; &nbsp;Now her voice was truly soft, yet with firmness and determination behind it.&nbsp; “But I no longer hope to be the last.&nbsp; For the power he has taken from my kind, the Emperor of Adamor shall father dragons until the skies are no longer silent and empty of the beating of dragon wings.”<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>26-08-2009, 03:09:04</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Adamus felt hot breath as her pour over him from above. He saw the shadow of the dragon's maw below him and knew the moment had come.<br><br>”His heart is good.&nbsp; Do you not see what he has done for his people?&nbsp; I saw… I see what from what depravity he has pulled his people from.&nbsp; If he had but lived earlier, my barbarian queen would have lived too.”<br><br>Adamus couldn't be sure who the dragon spoke to, but it was not him. He lifted his head, and watched her sway her head this way and that as she spoke.<br><br>“And he has not fought me… I feel his power resonating within my very bones, and I suspect he can escape me if he wanted to.&nbsp; Now… now I feel his need to make it right…”<br><br>He could not help but disagree with her words. He doubted he could escape such a beast's grasp for long. He had spent over a century using dragon remains to power magic, and before now could only fathom what a living beast was capable of. But it did not matter whether her words were true or not, her attention remained focus somewhere else.<br><br>The dragon's face snapped back to Adamus, and he held his breath as she sniffed, nuzzled and nudged him. Her smooth but solid scales felt like heated metal against his skin, and he did not dare move. She used a claw to raise his chin. She had been gentle, but her strength still caused his neck to strain.<br><br>"Yes, justice will be done...the price for your power must be paid.&nbsp; But I cannot kill you, Adamus.&nbsp; Somehow, you have become like me… like one of us.&nbsp; To sever your life would also sever this flow of power and life that remains from my kin.”<br><br>Become like her? Kin to her and dragonkind? What could be further from the truth. He had leached upon the remains of dragons, but to suggest he had joined with them as a result...he did not want to fathom it. <br><br>When she transformed to a human, it was all he could do not to melt into the ground. Once again, her beauty caused him to become transfixed with awe.<br><br>“You shall pay the price by serving the last dragon. But I no longer hope to be the last.&nbsp; For the power he has taken from my kind, the Emperor of Adamor shall father dragons until the skies are no longer silent and empty of the beating of dragon wings.”<br><br>Adamus jumped back. Nothing she could have said would have shocked him more.<br><br>"You can't mean..." he mumbled. Even if there was a way to make it a physical possibility, the sheer suggestion left a bad taste in his mouth. He had desecrated all dragonkind. What made him worthy to bring them into the world again? "Great dragon...is this some cruel jest? Do you wish to shame me? I am deserving of it, do not doubt...but if you must have me suffer, I implore you to torture me."<br><br>He held up his hands, "Cut off my hands, these hands that have sawed, carved, and crushed bones to power my spells. Rip out my tongue, this tongue that has spoken the spells from energy that was never mine to speak for. Take my heart, this heart that has beat a century longer than it should ever have because of what I stole. Please take it! Just end this!"<br><br>He pleaded from his knees, his voice filled with shame and desperation.&nbsp; Adamus did not understand what game she played with him, but if she wanted his dignity, she could have it.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>31-08-2009, 19:48:20</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Angwyn’s eyes blazed as she drew her sword and placed the tip of it on his chest, just above his heart.&nbsp; “You dare to tell me what I must do?&nbsp; You demand of me swift retribution in moments to appease the guilt of a hundred years?&nbsp; It is not as simple as that, human.”&nbsp; She slashed the front of his kingly attire until the sharp gleaming point could rest on the bare skin of his chest, cutting slightly until small rivulets of blood slowly trickled down.&nbsp; Her eyes dilated slightly at the sight of the dark red trail. “Yes… it would be so easy to cut you to the source of your lifeblood, and spill your vitality until you are spent. But perhaps you consider joining the fruit of your loins to that of a dragoness even more shameful.” &nbsp;<br><br>The thought that mating with a dragoness disgusted him filled her with a powerful emotion she could not quite name.&nbsp; She thought it might be fury or hate, and raised her sword high to strike him down… but she could not do it.&nbsp; <br><br>Her bosom rose and fell with the tumult of new emotions in her still untrained human form.&nbsp; “In that case, human, a quick death is not your propitiation.&nbsp; Perhaps another hundred years of shame is no more and no less than the punishment you deserve.&nbsp; I will not cut off your hands, but instead they will serve me as I see fit, nor will your tongue leave your head unless it is for the purposes that I dictate for it, nor will your heart lie uselessly on the ground and be devoured by carrion birds… but it will beat and labor for its mistress, in service to the one you hate so much that you desecrated her kin.”&nbsp; <br><br>With a wave of her arm, she commanded a powerful gust of air to push him down to the boulder so that he lay on his back, pinned there by the weight of her magic.&nbsp; She strode to him and lowered herself to straddle his hips as she had seen humans do to each other, one hand splayed on his chest through the tattered hole she had made with her sword, the other holding the sword against his throat.&nbsp; She said softly, although with the tremor of anger behind it, “Thus shall you be my slave and serve me, Emperor of Adamor.”<br><br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>31-08-2009, 22:04:34</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Adamus felt the dragon's anger as she spoke.&nbsp; Even in human form, her power radiated an aura of command and arcane strength.&nbsp; When she drew blood through his robes, he started to believe she would cut out his heart just as he asked.<br><br>Then he saw new fury flash in her eyes.&nbsp; The dragon meant no jest when she demanded a joining of flesh.&nbsp; She spoke true, and his response led her to believe the idea disgusted him.<br><br>Before Adamus could even think to respond, he felt the arcane threads of magic respond to the dragon's call. The wind itself surged upon him and forced him to the flat surface of the boulder. The wind relented after he fell, but a force still remained to keep him prone upon the ground.<br><br>The dragon stepped over to him and straddled his hips. Her deceptively delicate hand pressed against his chest and her sword rested against his throat. The sensation of her legs wrapped around him forced blood to rush through his head.&nbsp; The scent of her entered his nostrils.&nbsp; A combination of leather, steel, jasmine and arcane energy. The mixture worked like a pheromone, and his vision became cloudy with lust when he looked upon her curvaceous form poised above him.<br><br>Adamus did not know what to say or feel. He never before knew such an attraction, but his shame for what he had done fought against the primal urges.&nbsp; Adamus had not coupled with a woman since his wife died over a hundred years ago.&nbsp; He always considered it a penance for what he had done.&nbsp; During the first few years of his rule, his court tried to insist that he take a wife. But after enough time went by, they began to see Adamus's refusal to take pleasure of the flesh as a part of his legend. When the idea of his immortality began to sink in, they no longer worried about the idea of an heir to the throne.<br><br>Now Adamus remembered desire, and a hundred years of repressed energy surfaced at once. His breathing became labored, his skin became numb, and his manhood became erect. He was thankful his limbs could not move, because he did not trust what they might do to draw the dragon's ire.<br><br>"Great dragon..." he struggled to say. "If you wish me to serve, I am yours to command.&nbsp; But surely...surely I'm not worthy of what you ask.&nbsp; I have not known a woman's touch in more than a century."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>03-09-2009, 05:50:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Angwyn’s human shape, while mimicking movements she had seen humans do centuries ago, was still very new to her.&nbsp; Where her scaled dragon skin was tough and impervious to sensation and nearly impenetrable, her woman’s body was soft and yielding in too many places, and if not for her power which remained intact during the transformation, she was certain she would utterly dislike the vulnerability of such a smooth, unprotected shell of a body.&nbsp; But it was the form she needed to interact with him, so she was determined to fill the silky confines of the barbarian queen’s skin with her dragoness self and struggle with unfamiliar sensations and thoughts and emotions, and somehow become accustomed to the softness and incredible sensitivity of every inch of her flesh.<br><br>And yet another strange sensation assailed her… and it was her prisoner’s hardening&nbsp; bulge of flesh between her thighs as she straddled him, prodding that most tender and moist of her human form.&nbsp; She was still innocent of the male body’s uses although she had seen many unclothed… but it was her reaction to the sudden pressure on that exquisitely sensitive area that startled her.&nbsp; Not knowing what the sensation was, she jerked away from him, jumping to her feet and taking a step back with her wide golden eyes fixed on that part of her captive’s body, seemingly growing and alive, that had so shocked her.&nbsp; <br><br>Keeping him pinned down by her magic, she studied him carefully as he lay there, her senses absorbing details about him that she had not noticed before.&nbsp; Her eyes instinctively judged him to be pleasing in shape and appearance as a male, strong and virile and capable for the task ahead of him, and his voice oddly pleased her, holding a deeply resonant command and power suited for the leader of his people.&nbsp; Her prisoner he may be, but she decided that he was as excellent a specimen as she had ever laid eyes on.<br><br>“It is not your worthiness I seek,” she spoke haughtily.&nbsp; “I am the last dragon in the world… and it is my desire that my kind will not die with me.&nbsp; If a man is to father the next generation of dragons, who is better fitted for the role than the Emperor of Adamor, the king and father whom his children look to for guidance?&nbsp; And experience is not necessary…”&nbsp; Her voice faltered ever so slightly, and she frowned without realizing it… a thoroughly human and very feminine emotion of doubt and uncertainty flickering across her expressive face.&nbsp; “You.. have more experience than I if you have touched even one woman.&nbsp; I am… untouched.”&nbsp; The loneliness of the word echoed in that sudden whisper.&nbsp; Alone in the world for many centuries… deprived even of a mother or father’s care… <br><br>Then she drew herself up, the regal dignity of the barbarian queen in every line of her statuesque form.&nbsp; “You will do for what I intend for you, human, worthy or not.&nbsp; Your revulsion for me will be your burden and your punishment.&nbsp; It is not your affection I want, but something much more tangible.”&nbsp; Her gaze drifted pointedly to his loins.&nbsp; <br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>04-09-2009, 05:36:48</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				When he felt the pressure of the dragon's human form leave him, his limbs wanted to reach out and pull her back down. He found himself thankful her magic still restrained him.&nbsp; Adamus bit his tongue to avoid the temptation to say something unfitting of a gentleman and head of state.<br><br>“It is not your worthiness I seek. I am the last dragon in the world… and it is my desire that my kind will not die with me.&nbsp; If a man is to father the next generation of dragons, who is better fitted for the role than the Emperor of Adamor, the king and father whom his children look to for guidance?&nbsp; And experience is not necessary. You will do for what I intend for you, human, worthy or not.&nbsp; Your revulsion for me will be your burden and your punishment.&nbsp; It is not your affection I want, but something much more tangible.”&nbsp; <br><br>Adamus took several deep breaths and calmed his lust.&nbsp; It helped tremendously to no longer be in contact with her, and the wind served to keep her intoxicating scent at bay.&nbsp; Granted, Adamus still could not avoid the sight of her.&nbsp; A sight that would drive the most modest of men to the breaking point.<br><br>"Your demand, though your right, is a difficult one to adequately serve.&nbsp; You're right, experience is one thing that can be overcome.&nbsp; Farmer's sons figure that sort of thing out in the loft of barns all over the world.&nbsp; But from what you say, I am more than just breeding stock to you.&nbsp; You want me to serve as father to a race that is not my own.&nbsp; A race I have violated. I could no more look them in the eye than I can yourself."&nbsp; Adamus shut his eyes and braced himself to say the next words.<br><br>"And in regards to revulsion, you couldn't be further from the truth. No man on this world could be repulsed by the sight of you, even with the knowledge of your true form, which is majestic in its own right. My revulsion and my shame lies with myself.&nbsp; I've gathered you are the last dragon alive.&nbsp; There is nothing else, living or dead, that holds more value.&nbsp; You are a living treasure that even the greatest man would not be worthy to touch.&nbsp; The sight, smell and feel of you demands my worship. Even if I wasn't beholden to you, I would serve you simply for what you represent.&nbsp; But when I imagine my hands touching you... I can't help remember all I have done. I can't help wondering that the blood of my hands will somehow diminish all that you are. I form a cold sweat when I try to imagine what sort of children would be borne to one such as I.&nbsp; If I raised them right, they would hate me for what I've done, as you do."<br><br>Lost in his shame, his lust buried itself again. Tears welled again in his eyes.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Solaine</strong> on <strong>09-09-2009, 04:05:56</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Angwyn’s mortal heart contracted strangely.&nbsp; She was suddenly confused by his words and the tears that accompanied them, and for a moment she was tempted to nuzzle and sniff to determine his sincerity until she remembered she was not in her dragon form.&nbsp; For now, she would have to rely on her mortal senses... and with a woman’s instinct both her sight and hearing assured her that all he spoke was the truth. <br><br>”You... are not repelled by me?” she said softly.&nbsp; She took a step closer to him, using her golden eyes to fathom the depths of the man through his own eyes.&nbsp; There was so much expressed in those blue pools... so much that she did not understand and which she was tempted to explore and discover... but for now she needed to wade through the thick, agitated current of a hundred years of guilt and shame rippling resistantly over the azure surface.&nbsp; Her dulcet voice continued slowly, “It appears, Adamus, that you have punished yourself... is that why you have not touched a woman in a hundred years?&nbsp; I suspect that is punishment indeed among mortal males.”&nbsp; She nodded to herself, then she stepped even closer, giving in to the temptation to touch him.&nbsp; It was the briefest and most delicate of touches... a slender arm outstretched, fingertips brushing across his cheek to feel the moisture of tears on his skin.&nbsp; Then she brought her fingertips up to her lips to taste the droplets she had scooped up.&nbsp; Salty, like the ocean... and from a well of remorse just as deep.<br><br>She gazed down at him as he knelt.&nbsp; Her mortal eyes studied every feature of his face, an innate woman’s intuition telling her that each masculine angle and ridge denoted strength of will, each agonized line tracing a map of suffering.&nbsp; It was the first time she had studied any creature’s face so long and so intently... even hers she had avoided in the reflection of quiet drinking pools on the island, for it only reminded her painfully that hers was the last dragon’s face left in the world.<br><br>“Adamus...”&nbsp; Her voice was quiet now, almost thoughtful.&nbsp; “...you may punish yourself as you wish.&nbsp; But you will not let your shame be an obstacle to that which I desire.”&nbsp; This time her touch was bold on his face, soft palms on each cheek lifting his face up, long fingers curving gently over his jaw.&nbsp; “I remember what you have done for your people.&nbsp; You have given them happiness at the cost of your own... peace at the price of your own.&nbsp; For such a father I would have given half my life to experience.&nbsp; While I do not condone your deeds against my kin, I understand what drove you it.&nbsp; And true justice must take that into account.”&nbsp; Seemingly with a life of its own, her thumb brushed over his lower lip.&nbsp; “Our children will be half dragon, half human.&nbsp; They will be the scion of both worlds... and they will learn to understand and forgive.&nbsp; As will I... if you do what your mistress commands.”<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Price of Power (Mahes666 &amp; Silk Satine)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>mahes666</strong> on <strong>16-09-2010, 22:58:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div align="center"><strong>Sadly, this RP ended abruptly a while back.</strong></div>
			</dd>
		</dl>
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