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Outside the Cycle

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As I promised in my conspiracy thread, I wrote a story of the Ancient War and its potential outcome. I know I'm going to receive some criticism for the choices I made in the plot, so I'll explain them before I actually start.

Why did I use a Hero I'd created as the main character? Part of it was to avoid favouritism - if I picked a certain Hero I would imagine a number of people would criticise me for not picking another. Hence, I used one I had created, and besides, he fits the concept really well. Another reason was that I couldn't think of a way to connect a specific Hero to the plot - none of them, save perhaps or fit what I was looking for in my protagonist, and a story with Skywrath lead would be all about Venge which obviously would detract from the plot, and having Invoker as the main character would probably be unpleasant to read based on personality. However, both of these will make a major appearance.

So many kills o:o
I had to narrow down the 107-o…
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Outside the Cycle - Act II

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Act Two: It Rises to the Surface

Morning came, and the storm abated.

Arash hadn't slept - he rarely slept, save for when physical exhaustion demanded it. A knock upon the door roused him from his trance.

"Who is it?" he said, feigning innocence.

"You're being moved," said a voice Arash recognised as Chen's. "Come now."

He shrugged, and did as he was bid. The Radiant fortress was sickeningly bathed in golden sunlight, a far cry from the hopeless twilight he felt at home in. It was as if the sun was scouring him, a dark thing that did not belong here.

It was then that he caught a glimpse of the Radiant Ancient.

It was exactly what he thought it would look like - a grand edifice of Radiant Ore and natural life, protected by two titanic towers locked in eternal vigilance. Arash felt its touch on his mind, and it was a touch he had felt before - at the Dire Ancient, when the Shadow Fiend had forced him to take a side in a war that was not his.

Both sides are the same, he realised. I…
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Outside the Cycle - Act III

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Bit early, but I had it done early so yeah.

Act Three: Too Far Fallen

Kardel gazed down the barrel of his sniper rifle, looking for the perfect shot. From his vantage point, a ridge above the middle lane, he could see over a large stretch of river, and all he had to do was wait until some unfortunate Dire hero appeared, and their head would become a red mist faster than they could comprehend their death.

A pale horse emerged from the fog of war, its rider shrouded in black robes and even darker mist. He wielded a titanic runeblade with effortless ease - not that it would help him.

Kardel smiled, and fired.

The line was perfect - the bullet sailed with sublime precision to strike the head of the rider. The horse reared back, and both steed and rider vanished as if they had never been there.

"Illusion rune," said a murky voice behind the sniper. "Barely a fraction of the true Lord, but it served its purpose."

Kardel whirled back to find the rider staring down at him, his face cove…
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Outside the Cycle - Act IV

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Act Four: In the Shadow of Self

"Pawn takes rook."

"Knight to E5. Check."

"Remind me again where we are going," Lanaya said, interrupting. Arash turned from the game, Dragonus still studying the board intensely. The Assassin was sitting on a windowsill, passing the time with a book of some kind. He couldn't blame her for being relatively anti-social, considering how comparatively terrible she was at chess to the two locked in furious combat.

"You wanted to see my past," Arash replied. "We are going to it."

She raised an eyebrow. "At the start, your vagueness was almost enticing. Now, it's just irritating."

"There are bad memories at this place," he said gravely. "The less I speak of it the better." His response was met with a shrug, and Lanaya returned to her book. The carriage they travelled in rolled smoothly along the roads, dragged along as it were by two steeds of Avernus. Abaddon hadn't trusted anyone else to drive them, so he had done so himself.

It turned out that the Sk…
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Outside the Cycle - Act V

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Yep, laptop still broken and my files were unrecoverable so I had to start again. Really sorry for the long wait, couldn't be helped.

In this Act the plot takes a darker turn as the Heroes find what they were looking for, and Arash moves one step closer to his dark destiny. For added effect, listen to this with some creepy orchestral music in the background. Probably by Two Steps From Hell. Mmm.

The steady rocking of the caravan over the ground suddenly changed to a jagged series of bumps and jolts that quickly woke Lanaya. Grimacing at her aching muscles, she staggered upright as best she could. Abaddon and Dragonus still slept, but she sensed them stirring.

Act V: The Black Rook

She moved to the compartment at the front, where Arash was steering the horses. They'd moved off the road and onto overland terrain - they were somewhere in the highlands.

"I thought Abaddon wouldn't let anyone touch his horses," she opened. Arash shrugged.

"He was tired, and I wasn't."

"How much did y…
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Outside the Cycle - Act VII

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Now I'm giving people presents on my birthday! I might do a Christmas special outside of the main plot.

Bah, humbug.

Act VII: Agents of the Primordials

Abaddon collapsed, and the shield faded. A few of the smaller rocks from the broken ceiling fell harmlessly around the four Heroes. Through blurry eyes, he saw Lanaya stagger upright.

"Well done," she gasped. "I didn't know you had that left in you."

"Nor… did… I," the Lord whispered, feeling weakness close over him. "Something, briefly, empowered me.."

Dragonus was still unconscious, and Arash was lying strangely comatose. Lanaya followed his gaze to the Psychomancer.

"He looks almost peaceful when he's sleeping," she remarked, smiling slightly. Abaddon grunted, unable to do much more.

"Should we do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Kill him. Remember, for all his facades he's still an abomination."

Abaddon shook his head. "We still need him. Besides, he is struggling, trying to remember that he is human. I suspect that he may…
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Outside the Cycle - Act VIII

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Another day, another Act. The plot thickens from the consistency of apple juice to a tomato soup.

Act VIII: The Threads Frayed

Abaddon had left not long after they had departed Vo'hollom Domosh, destined for his ancestral home. What he had seen disturbed him, and he had to return to the Font to reconcile his discovery. Arash understood, and he thought the others did too. Dragonus had also taken that opportunity to leave, carrying a tome of magic that would help him restore his beloved to the throne. The look of immense mistrust Arash had received before the Skywrath took off suggested that he'd found something else in the doomed tower, but what it was nobody knew.

This left just him and Lanaya to return to the Ancients. He was somewhat disappointed she hadn't gone, as he had a feeling she would get in the way, but the company could've been worse.

The pair had made good time and had just entered the woods on the outskirts of the lanes. At this rate, another day and the Ancients woul…
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Outside the Cycle - Act X

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Sorry for the extra week, I was on holidays.

Act X: It All Comes Together in the End

Her rage had burnt down to smouldering ashes but her hatred remained a blazing inferno.

It had taken the two another day to reach the Dire Ancient, and over that time, Lanaya had seethed. She could never bring herself to forgive Arash for what he had done. To think she had once pitied him. She could picture it already, him bleeding, broken on the ground, in hundreds of pieces. The image was burnt on her brain. It was justified, but more than that-

It was… glorious.

He would burn- no. She would drag him before the Hidden Ones and enact their lethal judgement. Painfully, of course. But no less honourably.

She could see the walls of the fortress in the distance, and wondered what Arash was planning.

"Oh, of course!" he said suddenly. "You're my prisoner now, aren't you?"

He turned around, drawing Orchid Malevolence and striking her with it. The staff struck her on the arm, and its silencing effe…
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Outside the Cycle

Outside the Cycle - Act II

Outside the Cycle - Act III

Outside the Cycle - Act IV

Outside the Cycle - Act V

Outside the Cycle - Act VII

Outside the Cycle - Act VIII

Outside the Cycle - Act X

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