Kazen

Kingdom Hearts -- AD

----Traverse Town; Small House-----

Kazen slumped into the bed and leaned back into the pillows.
"Hinting a Heartless, and..." He groaned as he picked up his arm and laid it over his chest.
"I can only guess it was the Master of Masters. He struck me down, I guess I got too close." He said as he dug a lighter out of his pocket and flipped it open. He raised a cigarette to his lips and inhaled deeply.
"It was so fast. I could react, he cut my blade in two and shattered my armor. Thankfully though, somebody left me a gift." He said as he summoned his new blade and leaned it against the bedside table.
"I just hope it will be enough." He said as he laid back.
"After Sora disappeared we got a massive surge of new Heartless; some of them bearing Keyblades of darkness. It hasn't been an easy fight, but few of them have survived our hunt. We believe them to be Revenants of fallen Keybearers. Whatever the case, Th King and I decided to investigate while you were off training with Merlin and Yen-Sid." He coughed a bit and took another drag on his cigarette.

"We didn't think to bother you with this knowledge. We thought we could handle it." He said as he closed his eyes and exhaled the smoke.
"I'm sure it's him though, Luxu would have stopped to talk trash, not this guy. It was almost as if he was angry. Probably pissed that I took out his Revenant."

Kingdom Hearts -- AD

Kazen groaned and struggled to raise his blade after it was frozen to the ground.
"Gaaaaahhhhh!" He cried out in frustration before charging the blade; in seconds it was red hot again and he wrenched it free from the ice with a shattering crack.
"If you're really Soren, then why attack me?" He demanded as he dispersed his Keyblade and dropped to his knees.
"Fuck this, man. I'm tired...if you're part of the shadows, go ahead. But my arms broken, I'm bleeding all over the damn place, and I really need a goddamned cigarette." He sighed as he watched the shadows for proof of his friend.
"If you've got a way outta here, then let's use it. The longer we're down here the faster time passes up there." He said with an exhausted sigh.

Kingdom Hearts -- AD

-----DarkWorld-----

Kazen stood sneakily to his feet, he picked up his blade and in his confusion he swung it upwards, deflecting Soren's blade with agile efficiency. Red and black sparks of light shot from the blade as it glowed red hot as it sliced the air.
"You can't be here, so you must be an illusion!" The young man said sharply as he readied his blade as best he could with one arm.
"I may be trapped here, but I'll keep fighting." He stammered out as he steadied his feet and swung his blade again, instinctively he slammed the Key into the ground and a shockwave erupted from the blow. His enemy was knocked back several feet, and landed with a thud in the shadows.

"Show yourself!" He cried out as he clenched his blade tight. He could feel light coming from the figure, he thought it held a blade, he thought he could hear his name being called. He dismissed these thoughts and readied himself for combat. This place was nothing but deciet, it bent the mind to fool its victims into submission. He chose to fight, he would ask questions later.
"Enough of your tricks! I'm done with this, come out and fight or leave me to the abyss. Either way we're both trapped here." He said into the shadows as he held his blade out in front of himself.

Kingdom Hearts -- AD

----Dark Realm----

Kazen stood up slowly as he sensed a light in the distance. He wiped his face and took a few steps forward; his Light Armor crumbling away around him as he went. He left pieces of himself in his wake as he went, he dragged himself step by step through the darkness.
"....Anybody....somebody..." He muttered out as he looked over his shoulder; his armor was flittering away into the darkness alomg with the remains of his Keyblade.
Or was it his? He was struggling to remember.
"No...there's no escape from this place..." a shadowy voice whispered across his weakened mind.
He shook off those thoughts and soldiered on. He didn't have much in his inventory; the impact had shattered his gummiphone and most of his gear. He had no armor, no weapon, and worst of all; no way out.

The shadows began to stir around him as he moved through the endless wasteland. As he ventured he would come across the shattered remains of some poor World. Nothing ever useful, a few sprigs of wood and a broken music box. Roofing tiles scattered everywhere, along with other random debris slowly sinking into the darkness.
"This place is...claustrophobic..." He sighed as he collapsed against a mangled light pole. There was what remained of a street corner, the pole he slumped against was curled and twisted from whatever force rendered it here. He looked up into the 'sky' and let out a long breath.
"There's a light somewhere down here...but it's small and so far away..." He said as he looked to his right; he could feel it there. A familiar light; he wondered if it was Soren. But those thoughts faded as he gazed into the distance.
"It's probably just this place trying to confuse me..." He said as he pulled himself to his feet and continued on towards the light.

"Whoever you are...hold on. I don't know if I can help, but if you're down here too...you shouldn't be alone." He stepped uneasily through the dark, holding his left arm at the elbow; it was broken and ached steadily now that he was moving again.
He felt a wet spot on his head, trickling down his neck. He 2asnt sweating.
"Damn..." He winced as he touched the wound and tore part of his sash from his belt and tied it around his forehead as a bandage.
"Come on...come on...give me an ether. I'd settle for a potion!" He cried out as he tripped over a treasure chest.

The box was small and terribly worn and bore the seal of Master Eraqus. It wasn't locked, much to his surprise. He lifted the lid and removed the item inside.

"A dark light, for those trying times...A gift, for those you've liberated. Your Derelict Testa shall be your retribution...go forth..." a voice whispered into his ear as a blinding light burst forth from the chest.
As quickly as the light erupted it was squelched out by the darkness.

"Remember; let your heart be your guiding Key
" the voice faded away with the light.

Kazen felt a surge through his heart and he dropped to his knees as the warmth spread down his right arm and into the palm of his hand.
His arm moved of its own will and seized the hilt of a keyblade the emerged from his chest.

"Aghh!" He cried out as his hand clenched the hilt tightly and ripped it free from his heart. As the haziness faded and his vision returned he stood wide eyed.
In his hand was a Keyblade; the hilt was bright red and the blade bore a slight resemblance to his original key; but with darker colors and a large Emblem Crown settled at the top of the blade.
The key felt heavy in his hand, but this moment was cut short as Heartless began to appear.
"H-here we go..." He said as he let his left arm hang limp, he shouldered the keyblade on his right arm and prepared himself for a fight.
"Come on...come on!" He growled into the shadows as he steadied his tired feet. He moved instinctively, allowing the keyblade to find its target. As he swung his new blade it cleaved the darkness in front of him and cut down wave after wave of the Heartless.
The shadows kept coming, and soon enough he was dealing with a Demon Tide.
The swarm of shadows arched up and slammed him into the ground. Kazen coughed a spray of blood and wrenched from the impact as the Darkness moved through his form, tearing at his core with every second as the wave passed through him.
He tightened his grip on his blade and raised it in defense.
"Hhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" He cried out in fury as he struggled to withstand the torrential wave of heartless.
"You'll not snuff out my LIGHT!" He declared with rage as a large beam of light erupted from his blade and slaughtered the Demon Tide.

He dropped his blade and collapsed next to it.

Kingdom Hearts -- AD

----Dark World----

There was a flash of light that tore through the darkness and slammed into the crust of the Dark Realm. A second smaller glimmer sliced through and embedded itself in the small crater formed by the impact.
Darkness swirled in quickly, sealing the breach between realms. As the smoke and dust faded into the darkness, all had settled.

In the crater lie a young man; he was battered and broken. His Light Armor was cracked and worn from battle after battle. There wasn't much left in the boy, but his will endured and held him there.

----Some Time Later-----

Kazen stirred slowly, opening his eyes to nothing but pain. He tasted that thick copper taste; and knew it was blood. He tried to rise, to sit up even but it was no use; he mustered his remaining strength and managed a half-assed Cure spell. He groaned as the white magic worked its way over his beaten body. In a few seconds he slowly stood up.
On shake legs he took in his surroundings; it wasn't good.
"Oh man..." He groaned as he found his keyblade; The Convergent Fate snapped in two, it was slowly fading into nothing. He felt a twinge of pain shoot through his chest, and a tear creep into his eye. That blade had been forged from his heart; and now it lay broken as his feet, just as he now lay broken. Lost within the Dark Realm.

"No..." He managed to say as he picked up the hilt of his blade and felt it strain against the darkness before it shattered and floated upwards out of his hands.
"I'm...lost..." He said as he fell to his knees and wept.
"Raslan...The King...everyone...I've let them down..." He screamed into the black.

He had been fighting a new foe; a Shattered Remnant; something that was dredged from the depths of the Keyblade war's carnage. He could remember hunting the Heartless down; it was rumored to be in Scaela Ad Caelum. So he had ended his long search there. He slew his enemy after a long battle, but at the cusp of victory; his true enemy had struck.
The man wore a Black cloak and had cut through everything in Kazen's arsenal like tissue paper. Nothing worked, and it was as if this foe knew his actions before he made them.
It wasn't until the man drew his blade; Kazen didn't even see the thing it was so fast. He had been drawn and quartered, the force of the blow had shot him straight through the veil between realms, and left him broken against a cliffside. There would be no more adventures for him, all was lost. Or so it seemed.

Neo-Raslan

The Mermaids Father

Kazen removed his backpack and unzipped it.
"Your 'Master' was one of my bigger allies. We go way back." Kazen said as he tossed a bundle of envelopes over to Soren.
"He knew me, when I was still; human." He said with a slight chuckle behind his mask.
"But, then again. He also gave me this;" he said as he removed his mask.
On his face was a scar; it ran from the left corner of his mouth up his cheek, pulling his face into a mocking grin.
"My gift for leaving his tutelage. But that's a story for another time.
He lit a cigarette and eased back on his barstool.
"Roland, get me a whiskey would ya?" He asked as he adjusted his mechanical arm.

Roland poured Kazen his drink and motioned for Siren to place an order.

Kazen stared his new ally down. He definitely had all the touch of Argus; he was his type. But he didn't know what else to think; it had been a long day. He was tired, but there was so much to do!

"This war, isn't just a war. It's more than that. Its more than just freedom. This. This is revenge." He said as he looked to Siren with that half-grin.
"Your master and I did not part ways on good terms. If he sent you to me, he made no mention of it. It truly must mean he was desperate." He said with a sigh and a drag from his cigarette.
"This?" He motioned to the room.
"This is the resistance, Kid. The only thing we can really do is steal what we can. Fight when we can. And plan, when we can." Kazen stood up and tugged off his shirt. He was wrecked with scars, old wounds, current wounds and surgical modifications.

"I'm a disgraced former soldier. A forgotten relic from a time long gone. There was more of me then, but not now." He explained.
"Roland there? He'll tell you. I met him when his father's father ran this tavern." He stated flatly.
"They did this to me. They put their codes in my skull, scooped me out and put something else in here with me. You wanna fight Heaven's Gate? Good luck kid. The Resistance is a fairy tale built around my own selfish needs and desires." He coughed out.
"Roland I need an infusion." He muttered.

"Aunora should have the room ready now." He said as he poured his friend another shot.

"This arm of mine burns cores. It consumes relics in exchange for power. Heaven's Gate found a way to bypass magical focus requirements but the offset burn would obliterate the average human. Not me." He explained as he turned around and tapped a cluster of metallic nodes at the base of his neck and spine.
"I was a young man almost a hundred and seventy-five years ago. The Gate took me from the state, trained me, taught me to fight. Brought purpose to my existance. I killed for them. I grew strong, over time I became the best. Eventually the department expanded with further technomancer developments. The Heirarchy had its demands. They desired a combat unit that could stop any threat. They needed a ghost, a spook. Someone to move unseen to further their agenda. So they made it. They made me, I can tell you stories, kid. Sure, it started slow. The transfer, first it was just a health monitor. Then it's retinal enhancements. Now they've got your eyes. Then communications implants; your mind. Finally; nervous system replacement. They can puppeteer their soldiers. Half of em don't even realize it. I've had Over three hundred individual surgeries. Zero anesthesia. No consent. My entire nervous system was replaced. The arm? It was their doing. Sure, my left arm wasn't much use to start with. Doctor Wenright decided it wasn't worth keeping."
"Oh, but this?" He points to his 'smile'.
"This one he left alone. He enjoyed seeing a smile as he mutilated me, just to send me out to slaughter civilians. Political ambassadors. Mages like yourself; they were the most fun. Oh I remember it all, each one. But there's not a thing I can do about it." He knocked back the shot of whiskey and finished his cigarette.
"There isn't much hope for us now, they run everything. Aside from these few meager towns. They only come round WHEN they see her; he motions to the back room where Aunora went.
"Or of they know I've been picking off their scout patrols. They know I can't function properly without regular relic infusions. So I stay here, I kill them, I steal what I need, and I try to stay hidden. I try to protect these people, because of what I have done to them in the past." He said as he sighed.
Kazen flexed his mechanical arm and removed the canisters from his bag.
"Take these to 'Nora and have her get the rest ready. I'll be there soon."

Neo-Raslan

The Mermaids Father

Kazen removed his backpack and unzipped it.
"Your 'Master' was one of my bigger allies. We go way back." Kazen said as he tossed a bundle of envelopes over to Soren.
"He knew me, when I was still; human." He said with a slight chuckle behind his mask.
"But, then again. He also gave me this;" he said as he removed his mask.
On his face was a scar; it ran from the left corner of his mouth up his cheek, pulling his face into a mocking grin.
"My gift for leaving his tutelage. But that's a story for another time.
He lit a cigarette and eased back on his barstool.
"Roland, get me a whiskey would ya?" He asked as he adjusted his mechanical arm.

Roland poured Kazen his drink and motioned for Siren to place an order.

Kazen stared his new ally down. He definitely had all the touch of Argus; he was his type. But he didn't know what else to think; it had been a long day. He was tired, but there was so much to do!

"This war, isn't just a war. It's more than that. Its more than just freedom. This. This is revenge." He said as he looked to Siren with that half-grin.
"Your master and I did not part ways on good terms. If he sent you to me, he made no mention of it. It truly must mean he was desperate." He said with a sigh and a drag from his cigarette.
"This?" He motioned to the room.
"This is the resistance, Kid. The only thing we can really do is steal what we can. Fight when we can. And plan, when we can." Kazen stood up and tugged off his shirt. He was wrecked with scars, old wounds, current wounds and surgical modifications.

"I'm a disgraced former soldier. A forgotten relic from a time long gone. There was more of me then, but not now." He explained.
"Roland there? He'll tell you. I met him when his father's father ran this tavern." He stated flatly.
"They did this to me. They put their codes in my skull, scooped me out and put something else in here with me. You wanna fight Heaven's Gate? Good luck kid. The Resistance is a fairy tale built around my own selfish needs and desires." He coughed out.
"Roland I need an infusion." He muttered.

"Aunora should have the room ready now." He said as he poured his friend another shot of whiskey.
"This arm of mine burns cores. It consumes relics in exchange for power. Heaven's Gate found a way to bypass magical focus requirements but the offset burn would obliterate the average human. Not me." He explained as he turned around and tapped a cluster of metallic nodes at the base of his neck and spine.
"I was a young man almost a hundred and seventy-five years ago. The Gate took me from the state, trained me, taught me to fight. Brought purpose to my existance. I killed for them. I grew strong, over time I became the best. Eventually the department expanded with further technomancer developments. The Heirarchy had its demands. They desired a combat unit that could stop any threat. They needed a ghost, a spook. Someone to move unseen to further their agenda. So they made it. They made me, I can tell you stories, kid. Sure, it started slow. The transfer, first it was just a health monitor. Then it's retinal enhancements. Now they've got your eyes. Then communications implants; your mind. Finally; nervous system replacement. They can puppeteer their soldiers. Half of em don't even realize it. I've had Over three hundred individual surgeries. Zero anesthesia. No consent. My entire nervous system was replaced. The arm? It was their doing. Sure, my left arm wasn't much use to start with. Doctor Wenright decided it wasn't worth keeping."
"Oh, but this?" He points to his 'smile'.
"This one he left alone. He enjoyed seeing a smile as he mutilated me, just to send me out to slaughter civilians. Political ambassadors. Mages like yourself; they were the most fun. Oh I remember it all, each one. But there's not a thing I can do about it." He knocked back the shot of whiskey and finished his cigarette.
"There isn't much hope for us now, they run everything. Aside from these few meager towns. They only come round WHEN they see her; he motions to the back room where Aunora went.
"Or of they know I've been picking off their scout patrols. They know I can't function properly without regular relic infusions. So I stay here, I kill them, I steal what I need, and I try to stay hidden. I try to protect these people, because of what I have done to them in the past." He said as he sighed.
Kazen flexed his mechanical arm and removed the canisters from his bag.
"Take these to 'Nora and have her get the rest ready. I'll be there soon."

Neo-Raslan

[color=ed1c24][/color]Neo-Raslan

Kazen took a lomg drag on his cigarette as he looked around at the numerous dead soldiers.

"They're filth. Simple as that." He said bluntly as he shouldered his rifle and panned over the corpses once again. He flipped up his goggles and ran his hand through his long brown hair. It was twinges with grey at the temples; but much too early for a man of his apparent physical age.

"Yeah, you could say something like that." He said in response to the man's questions about his arm.
"It was partially them, partially myself."
He said as he tightened the strap that held his backpack in place and turned to approach the bar.
He watched curiously as his new companion manipulated the tank and reprogrammed it.
"Clever." He muttered to himself.

The Mermaids Father

There was a great commotion outside the bar and Roland held firm to his rifle as he waited the battle.
It seemed like a lot of action in such a small timeframe, but all at once the battle stopped.
Roland guarded his daughter as he held firm to his stance. His gun wad trained on the door and ready to fire.

Kazen stepped quickly and placed his hand flat against the door as Soren attempted to open it.
"Hold, there, 'Friend', why are you here? What interest do you have in the resistance?" He asked as he drew a blade and held it to his throat.
"Speak any ilk and I'll cut your tongue from your neck. There is little time, and I have zero patience for smug zealots." He spoke quickly and direct.

"They've sent your kind before." He said as he knocked on the door in a rapid pattern with his left hand.
"Roland. Open the door, we've got a Murder-Mage that needs a drink." He then drew his side-arm; it was a modified Heaven's Gate repulsed rifle. He had shortened it down to a hand-cannon, it had enough firepower to liquid the Mages organs before he could attempt a counterattack.

Roland looked to his daughter.
"It's Kazen; hurry now. Go get the chambers ready." He whispered to her as he began slowly moving toward the door.
The girl got up and disappeared through the back door of the tavern.

"Didn't know we was takin in strays." Roland said as he opened the door to see the two men. Kazen held a knife to the mages throat and a pistol in his left hand; pressed firmly against the other man's vitals.

Kazen moved quickly and withdrew his weapons, he then sidestepped and shoved his companion into the tavern.

"Welcome back! Now, let it be known to ye; try any of your spells in this place? You'll only harm yerself." He said as he pointed at the ceiling.
All along the walls, the ceiling the floor, every window and doorway was covered in runes.
"Your pagan rituals stay outside of my doorstep." He had bound the entire tavern and it's foundations in protective runes from his homeland; his people were naturally resistant to magic and it's properties hence why Heaven's Gate sought war with his people.

Neo-Raslan

Neo-Raslan

The Mermaid's Father

"Traitor! You will be executed at the Lord Marshall's feet for your crimes." The lieutenant shouted as he shouldered his rifle and fired a burst shot at the assailant. The other troops readied their weapons in response to the mage and the traitor in their midst.
"Keep your guns up!" He ordered

Kazen turned to see the Spellbinder utilizing his own skill set to maim a few of the troops.

He spun on his heels in response to the rounds that had slammed into the back of his left shoulder. They bullets ricocheted off of the metal plates of his arm and he grinned beneath his mask.
'Thank you for giving me a reason.' He thought to himself.
"They had their chance." He said as he drew his rifle and began executing the soldiers with precision shots. His movements were superhumanly quick, each round impacted within seconds of the first. In a flash the remaining soldiers lay dead; Magitech rounds embedded in their skulls.

Kazen shouldered his rifle and stepped down off of the tank. He removed his mask and looked to his new ally.
"Sometimes grease is grease. Sometimes it's slime." He said as he spit on the ground and lit a cigarette.
"They will be back, but we won't be here long."

Neo-Raslan

Location: Mermaids Father
Interior

Roland shouldered his Must rifle and aimed it at the door. He wasn't as good a shot as he used to be, but his bar was lined with three inches of granite. Sure to stop most bullets. They would be safe; for a while. He just didn't like the waiting.
It was always the worst part; the wait before battle. He hated it, and he flashed back to his time in the SkyBound wars. That conflict raged and raised nearly every major settlement in his homeland of Voltweave.

"Aunora, you must be careful. We don't know what is to come of this; Argus hasn't reached out to us in months. The resistance has been crippled; and we've already lost Sabre the Red. I won't lose you to this too." He said flatly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Aunora nodded at her fathers words.
"Yes sir." She said in response.
She had so much more to say but decided to hold her tongue. She heard the sounds of war approaching. Along with that strange twinge filled clicking of a smaller machine. Papa had called it a 'motorcycle but what was it? She would soon find out.

Location: Raslan City
Highway

Kazen rode his motorbike down the highway and looked around cautiously as he waited to see if th ey were still on his trail.
He heard the tank in the distance and his radio scanner chartered to life; they were close but still far enough his plan might work.
He stopped his bike and flipped it's kickstand out. He slid off the bike and unshouldered his backpack.
"Let's bend the rules." He said as he removed a few devices and began quickly assembling them. After a few moments a functioning droid was assembled. He switched it on and when it didn't quite fire up he smacked it. The bot clicked to life and sped off down the road.
As it left the holoprojectorclicked on and shrouded the droid in a silhouette of himself. Once the hologram was fully formed the new 'Kazen waved at his former self and sped off down the highway to distract the tank.

"Godspeed, little friend." He said in Techno-Cipher as he watched his machine do his bidding. He mounted his bike again and raced off towards the rendezvous point.

It wasn't far, and in moments he arrived. He rode up and parked his bike around back. He checked his gear and stepped over to duck behind a stack of crates. It was then he realized his spot was already taken.

"Hey, you should probably get outta here pal, things are gonna heat up." Kazen said as he slumped down with his back against the crate and began checking his rifle. It was at this point that he noted his new acquaintances' garb.
'He's A goddamned spellbinder.' He thought to himself as he shifted his weight and slid his suppressor mask over his face and put on his tracking goggles. The mask protected him from mental attack as well as spoken spells. The goggles filtered out most other magical influence. Kazen used some of their skills; but he never required a focus. His own arm was his focus; surgically grafted to his body during numerous Heaven's Gate experiments. It allowed him to use their abilities against them with none of the drawback aside from manaburn.

"What's your business here, friend? We don't have much love for your type around here; Murder-Mage*." He said as he looked over the crates and saw his hologram ride by the front of the bar.
"Too late. You'd better be against them; if not you're in my way." He said as he turned and leapt over the crates just in time to see the tank rumble past. He fired several rounds at it as he prepped a teleportation spell and triggered it.

Kazen left arm opened it's vents as it released its energy. The turbine on his forearm began to rotate. As he sprinted towards the tank firing his rifle there was a flash of light that emitted from his arm and he vanished.
He reappeared on top of the tank and kicked a soldier from his perch at the cannon.
"You're no longer welcome here!" He said as he drove his blade through the man's chest. There was a spray of blood as the man groaned. His armor cracked and gave way as the blade split his chest.

"W-what...are you..?" The soldier gurgled out.
"A mistake." Kazen replied as he drove his fist into the man's helmet, destroying his surveillance unit. He tore off the man's helmet and threw it aside.
"You'll look upon my face as a I send you back to your precious Gate." He said as he forced his sword deeper into the man's chest, turned it and raked it downward, tearing through him.
"All of you, you've over stepped your bounds. Heaven's Gate has no purpose here, leave us and you will be spared. Otherwise; well, your commander seems to have met my demands niceley." He said as he hooped down from the tank. In the midst of his attack the other soldiers had been caught off-gaurd; as most were when they saw his skills.