[Wargamer]

Prologue:

The southern jungles of Karamja echoed with the feral roar of the Black Demon Jax'dzar.

Lylax ran, panting hard, risking glances over his shoulder as the monster closed in on him. He ducked and rolled, barely escaping a blow that smashed a tree in two.

He rose and turned, raising his gold-trimmed shield. "Saradomin protect me! Guide my sword! Give me-" Lylax was interrupted by a hammer-blow punch, and cried out in pain as the impact sent him flying into a rock face, crashing through the stone like a cannonball and causing a cave-in to seal him from view.

Jax'dzar howled in triumph, striding forwards and hurling a cart-sized boulder clear. There was no sign of his opponent.
"Where are you hiding, worm!?" The Demon roared, clawing through the rubble, "You thought yourself strong when I was weak, but now you hide from me!? What manner of 'legend' are you!?"
The Demon rose, snarling, dark eyes hunting for any sign of his foe.
"Come out, Deathquestor! Meet the end you have sought for so long!"
"As you wish," Lylax replied, leaping from his hiding place, and sundering the Demon's skull. The Dragonsword of Zanaris cleaved the beast from head to toe, and the Demon fell to the ground, sickly green light shining from the wound.
"This... is not... the end..." the Demon hissed, "I shall... return... and then... I shall..."
Lylax snarled, "you talk to much," and sliced Jax'dzar's head from his shoulders.

Silence followed. There was no sound, as if the whole world had paused to witness the death of the Demon. Lylax raised his sword, and howled in triumph, and his cries were matched by the tribesmen who emerged from the woods. He had succeeded. All that awaited him now was the journey back to Ardougne... back to the Guild. He was a true hero now... he was a Legend.







Locke and Galmer struggled with the large, heavy chest, grunting and groaning as they hauled it into the cart. The burning sun of Al Kharid didn't make their task any easier. The pair hauled the chest onto the cart, and Locke wiped his brow, his oak-coloured hair matted with sweat.
"Thankyou, sirs," the female merchant bowed, "I don't know what I would have done without you..."
Galmer tipped his hat to her, "It was a pleasure..." the wizard paused, looking at a running figure in the distance. "Locke, look there."
The runner approached, and fell to his knees, panting. "A Demon!" he cried, "A desert cult is seeking to summon a Demon!"
Locke's eyes shone, "Oh-ho! Seems we've found the adventure we've been looking for, eh Gal?"
Galmer seemed less excited than his companion, "What manner of Demon is this?"
The figure rose to his feet with the help of the mechant, "An ancient evil... it was banished once years ago by Lylax, but the cult seeks to make a new Avatar for the beast!"
Locke lost some of his confidence, "Lylax of Legend? The Paladin of Saradomin?"
The man nodded, "yes, though he was neither Legend nor Paladin back then."
"Regardless," Galmer interrupted, "This beast must be defeated. Locke, let's head to the bank and gather supplies. We'll take a look at this Cult first-hand."

[Mavfreak]

Great beginning! your RS stories are always good, and this looks like another great! Can't wait till the next installment...

...Grrr, Saradomin.....

[Wargamer]

Lock and Galmer crept forwards, keeping low to the dunes and peering over the desolate ruins. A dozen or so figures in brown robes that seemed stained with blood wandered between the abandoned buildings. Most of the activity came from the main structure.
Galmer shuddered, "There's some form of powerful spell in progress there... looks like we're almost out of time..."
"In that case, we'd best get in there fast... wait, what was-"
Galmer and Locke rolled as a crossbow bolt slammed into the dune, two others following quickly. Galmer levelled his staff at the attacker, and unleashed an Earth Blast that struck the first attacker in the chest, crushing his ribcage. The second snapped the victim's neck. The third dove for cover, though was killed when he rose to fire again.

While Galmar was engaging the crossbowmen, Locke rose and found himself locked in a sword-fight. The first opponent charged, scimitar raised high. Locke parried, throwing a shield-bash to knock the charger off centre, then turning on his team-mate. The cultist thrust with his spear, but Locke dodged, thrusting a kill-strike. As the scimitar-cultist charged again, Locke turned fast, smashing the blade-strike aside with his shield, then swinging for a decapitation.

The whole fight lasted just a few seconds, leaving five dead bodies in the sand.

Before they could press on, a great storm engulfed the ruins. Galmer winced, feeling the sheer arcane force that had been unleashed.
"That storm..." the wizard sighed, staring at the black sand that screamed through the air, "...there's no way through that."
Locke swore, kicking one of the corpses hard. The body rolled, and a trinket fell from within the bloodied robes. Locke knelt and picked it up, staring at it curiously.
"Gal, what do you make of this?"
Galmer studied the item, "It's a fetish of some sort... runic script... I think it's the name of a Demon."
"What Demon?"
Galmer shook his head, "I do not wish to say... especially here. However, it is indeed the beast Lylax faced."
Locke took a swig from his hipflask, "Let's get moving. Our only hope now is to find Lylax..." he offered his flask to Galmer, who took it gratefully, "any idea how?"

* * *

"Lylax? Yes I see him from time to time... he was here not long ago, in fact."
Galmer smiled, "I am relieved to hear that, sir... do you know how we can contact him?"
The Duke of Lumbridge nodded, and waved them over to a teak box on a stand in the corner of the room. He opened the box, revealing a large pearl surrounded by gold rings.
"Orb of Clairaudiance, I wish to speak with Lylax of the Legend's Guild."
The pearl rose, and turned black. As it rose, the gold rings rose with it, and began to rotate and spread, forming a complex web of twisting, spinning rings. A strange humming sound began to emit from the arcane device.
"Hmm... no visual signal... it must be connecting to his personal scry-disk..." the Duke turned to the duo, "Most Guilds, banks and other important organisations, as well as rich individuals, have an Orb like this... or a smaller version called a scry-disk. The Scry-disks do not allow visual transmitting, just audio." Galmer nodded in understanding, Locke just looked blank.
"So... what's taking it so long?" the young warrior asked, peering at the device.
"Oh be patient!" the Duke snapped, "honestly, it's trying to find one man out of the whole world! What do you expect!? It should only take a few-" he was interrupted by a sudden shrill whistle, "aha! It's got him! Now we just wait for him to pick up..."

* * *

Lylax slammed his sword into the wall, the blade cleaving through the soft rock with ease, totally failing to slow his fall. The steep slope turned into a vertical drop, and Lylax plummetted into the darkness. He hit the ground hard, and cried out as he felt his ribs crack.

He pushed off the floor, and heard class tinkle. He looked down.
"Oh my god..." his fingers felt warm, stickly liquid, and he knew he was in trouble. "Great, now I've got no serum..."
twee-whee! Twee-whee!
Lylax rolled onto his back, groaning as he did so. He examined his armour, but the runite had held perfectly. He was certain that, without it, he'd have fared a lot worse.
Twee-whee! Twee-whee!
The whistling was starting to annoy him. Lylax fished out the scry-disk, and held it flat in his palm. It was about two inches across, and made of what looked like black marble.
"Answer."
The disk rose, hovering an inch from his palm, and began to spin at speed.
"Lylax... can you hear me?"
Lylax smiled, "Hey Duke, nice to hear from you. Not a great time, mind..."
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Paladin, but I have a wizard and an adventurer here with grave news... the demon Jax'dzar has returned."
Lylax groaned, "Thank you for the good news... but I'm not in a position to deal with it right now."
"Then what are we meant to do!?" this voice Lylax did not recognise.
"Forgive my friend," said a third voice, "Locke is somewhat impatient. My name is Galmer. If you cannot face the Demon yourself, can you give us advise as to what course of action to take?"
Lylax looked around the cave. He could swear he'd heard something crawling around in the dark. He picked up his lantern, and sat upright, raising it high to pierce the darkness.
"Go in, hack them up."
"We tried that," Locke replied, "They summoned some kind of black sandstorm!"
"Black Sandstorm?" Lylax echoed, eyes hunting the shadows. Something... probably several somethings, was down here with him, "That sounds familiar... You'll need to speak to Varrick in the Wizard's Tower, he knows about that spell."
"I know him. Once we get through, however, the Demon may have been summoned already..."
Lylax got to his feet, "I doubt it. He's as good as dead... no physical body remains... look, I can't talk now. I've got to go. Get the Duke to give you his scry-disk, and contact me later."
Lylax closed his fist, and the link was severed. He pocketed the artifact, and readied his sword as the first Kalphite leapt from the shadows, venomous fangs exposed, hungry for blood. Lylax span, slicing the beast in two, then killed a second with a perfect strike to the head.

From the shadows emerged four more, and behind them the towering form of a Soldier. By the sound of the chittering, there were plenty more to go...

Lylax took a fighting stance, and charged into the blackness.

[Mavfreak]

Where did the Kalphites come from all of the sudden? Is he going after the queen? I am very curious to see what happens next...

[Black Behemoth]

Very good. Very good indeed.

You have inspired me to continue my long forgotten Runescape story.