Music in my life.

Everyone ought to have their favorite kind of music, and also their least favored music genre/s.

"Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River"

Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver

While I listen to almost all genres, I prefer country, like John Denver, Faith Hill, Shania Twain's songs and more. I also love pop songs, like Kelly Clarkson's and pop rock Kris Allen's songs.

These people that I favored their songs so much is because they have unique voices, voice that could make them a real singer. Michael Bublé and Adam Levine of Maroon 5, have that unique voices that made their singles and songs a hit worldwide, Celine Dion and Faith Hill have that strong voices that went perfect with "Because You Loved Me" and "There You'll Be' respectively.

"In my dream I always see you soar above the sky
In my heart there always be a place for you for all my life"

There You'll Be - Faith Hill

But lately, our radios are filled with songs from new artists, singers, and the likes. What I noticed is that, most of these songs are popularized not due to the quality of their voices that are equal or better than the artists I've mentioned above, but rather due to their catchy lyrics and beats. Rarely did I found new new singers with great voices, saves for Kris Allen, Susan Boyle and David Cook.

Some, like David Archuleta, has a great voice, and probably could be a phenomenal singer. Just listen to his performances in American Idol, and you'll be mesmerized. But after American Idol, try to observe the songs, singles, and debuts he did. It just doesn't appeared as appealing as the songs he sang during American Idol, well at least to me and my mom, though.

Judging on other than the song itself, newbie singers mostly doesn't have a good voice. Try Akon. I mean, seriously, even that not-so-great voice of his, he's famed worldwide for his songs. Try Iyaz of "Replay". For me, he has a nasal voice. While it does appeared as favored by, I dare say, the majority of the world, probably due to his catchy lyrics and "cool" beats. But in the mean time, I beg to differ. Justin Bieber, in one case, I think he's too young to be singing. I mean he's 16,and even with that age, he has voice sounds like a boy under 10. People probably likes him due to his appearance, as he does has a decent looks, and once again, catchy lyrics and funky beats.

Well, all in all, I think that everyone has their own perception when it comes to music. Its just matters of different preference towards different genres of music. I did not mean to criticize those mentioned above, but rather just expressing my opinions about them. No hard feelings intended.

That's all from me. Cheers !

Thank you for the music
The songs I'm singing
Thanks for all the joy they're bringing
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty ?
What would life be ?
Without a song or dance what are we ?
So I say thank you for the music
For giving it to me

Thank You For The Music - ABBA

My Life, My Time, before, during, and after Eco-Bio

Before the trip

I was told there would be a camping trip for four days and 3 nights held by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). I didn't get most of the details, but someone mentioned it would be in Ayer Hitam. I wondered, "Ayer Hitam Johor ke ?"

Then, Jibrail came to my class, politely asking the teacher's permission for me to leave to meet Puan Zawakhir, the Guru Penolong Kanan of Curiculum, briefing us of how we should behave and shows the other elite cluster schools of how the students in King George V (KGV) are. Then, Jibrail started to panic. Pressured from Puan Zawakhir's speech, as he is the leader elected not formally to for our school :P. I sighed in relief, as knowing that there would be two teacher accompanying us, Cikgu Hazlan the hype/sporting teacher, and also Cikgu Khadijah, the new, yet kind and caring teacher.

Its been a long time since I last went to a camping trip, to be specific, it's like, 6 years ? I couldn't recall exactly. So, when packing, I went like "Allah ! Apa aku nak pack ni ??!!!" Almost panicking, I remembered Jibrail. He's used to go to camping, so I contacted him. I've bombarded him with tons of questions regarding what to pack, either thru the phone, Facebook (FB), or Yahoo! Messenger(YM). Thank God he was there for me, if not, I could have used up the same clothes again and again.

Even with Jibrail's advice and guide, I packed most of my attires at the last minute. My parents and the other siblings went to Kota Bharu, Kelantan for my aunt's wedding, so I was alone at home for 3 days. Good thing that there's my cousin Kak Syida that helped me to go to school, if not, I would've missed the whole trip.

During the trip to UPM, a lot of funny moments happened, especially during our breakfast at one of the Rest & Relax (RNR) stations. Cikgu Hazlan asked Jibrail to buy a cup of "tongkat ali" for Cikgu, but Puan Zawakhir mistaken that Jibrail was going to drink the tongkat ali, instead of Cikgu Hazlan. Haha, up until then, the "tongkat ali" incident was mentioned thru most of the time during camping :P

During the camping

We were the first school to arrive. Hehe .. and we were greeted warmly by the Faculty of Forestry's staff. Then, the other schools arrived. I had a first impression that they would be like, as typical elite school students with rich parents and families, they ought to be snobbish. Well, it was proven wrong.

During the first briefing, they were cool and friendly. After our briefing about UPM and the Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, we were divided into groups of three, comprising with Afiq, Fatimah, and me from KGV and 8 others from those three other schools, Sekolah Sri Puteri Cyberjaya, Sekolah Menengah Aminuddin Baki, Kuala Lumpur, Sekolah Menengah Convent Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur. We were then sent out for ice-breaking event, and from that moment, Terra QuaDiez was bornt. Terra means the earth in Greek, resembling the program's objectives of nurturing and teaching us regarding the forest, Qua, short form for quartro, number 4 in Latin, meaning 4 facilitators that would guide Terra QuaDiez along the way which consist of Abang Khairul, Kak Jalilah, Kak Laili, dan Abang Zul, and Diez means 10, although our members were in total of 11, which is Once in latin, we decided we would best go for Diez =).

We were given chalets to stay. Boys, mostly from our school and one more, Naquib, from Aminuddin Baki, the abang2 facee, stayed at Rumah Palas, name taken from Pokok Palas, as well as other chalets, that is Rumah Kelubi, and Rumah Bertam ( thanks Fini =D ).

Food is served almost every 3-4 hours intervals during the camp. Dah la sedap, tambah2 lagi :P.. naik 3 kilo pula !! haha.. The first day, at night, we have an activity where each of the students, facilitators (facee) and teachers to show off our unique trademarks. Mine was "Hobin Jang Hobin!", the Negeri Sembilan's football team's trademark. I don't know why exactly I picked it, as it was a random ones. But the most memorable trademark was a boy from SMK Aminuddin Baki, Naquib's "saya masih single" We laughed out loud, as it was accompanied with a funny and sly tone. That still lingers in my mind and I couldn't stop laughing every time I remembered that :P

For the second day, in morning, we were asked to gather at the Dewan Serbaguna, around 5 minutes walk from our chalet. For our first activity, we were told to picked up three various leaves, each differs from the others and asked to draw and listed out the characteristics of the leaves. Then, for the next activities, we were separated by our given groups, Evo Rangers, Terra QuaDiez, and Bugs Bunny, to walk around the nearby forest to identify various types of plants, leaves, and woods. It was a useful information, as before that, we would all look at the leaves, and say " Semua nampak sama je..", but after that, we could recognize a slight difference between leaves of different trees.

During the afternoon, in our own groups, we went deeper in the forest, where we were tasked by the usual students of the faculties did, to profile and mapping the given plot about the locations, diameters, types, etc etc of trees. For our standard, we got a 10 x 10 plot. We split works, Tara for profiling, Timah, Afiq and me for mapping and the rest did the calculations, and others while our facees guided us throughout the whole process. It was fun, as Timah and Afiq continuously arguing, where Afiq would go for a round-up number of the distance of trees, example 6.5, 7.0, and 3.5, and Timah would be more accurate, example 6.8, 7.2, and 3.7. This sparked out arguments, which I found it funny as I was observing them from down the slope. Moreover, those two also love doing the job, when I said finish, they told me "Zul, lagi satu pokok, lagi satu pokok !"

After that, we went on for the next activity, where we were asked to create a unique and useful handcraft from the given bamboos and I think some bertam trunks and leaves. We managed to build a mini camp with various purposes, and readied it for our oncoming activity of promoting it.

Third day, we visiting different faculties, including the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Engineering. The brief from the Professor at the Faculty of Engineering was a blast, as the Professor there is hip, cool-headed guy despite the graying, or I say, white hair indicating his old age. And along the way, we got goody bags ! and nice treats (again, even with roti telur and karipap sardin, I'm getting fatter !) ! ;=P When the trip to faculties for that day finished, we were going for our buses, but suddenly, the common incident of "he" appearing. My sight was spinning LITERALLY, and my legs were partially numb. I hasten my steps towards the bus, and when we reached our chalet, the feeling gradually fading, and sitting on my bed. It was still a bit blurry, and a friend of mine, I couldn't recognized who, called out the facees for help. Tension and worries arose. I could not speak or response, so I could just nod and such. People are worried and curious of what happening to me, but it was rather embarrassing to tell. Sometimes, I would like to talk about it, but words just won't come out from my mouth.

At that night, we're on for promoting our handcraft. It was fun ! Naquib managed to pull it off, earning him the credit of several positive reviews towards our humble yet useful product :P.. useful la sangat :D.. then, we're on to our persembahan.. The first group did a tv reporting session, where Jibrail and Ricky's "ghayness" acts earned bursts of laughter from all of us. The third group did performed second, making a quiz where their members react on the facee's memorable moments, and asked us which facee did the mentioned acts. I managed to get most of it :P with the help from my group members, of course. Then, we were up next, and performed a small acting scene.. it was horrible ! People were almost going to die out of boredom,so we quit the acts, and Naquib suggested that all of us did the train dancing.. It started slowly, but eventually all joined us, and Naquib managed to pull it off for the second time.

Next was the teacher's time to perform. Cikgu Hazlan representing the whole teachers from other schools, mendeklamasikan sajak, where the choice of words and how Cikgu Hazlan mendeklamasikan the sajak made me laugh so hard my stomach aches. Then, Abang Zuhir and Zulfadli came in, saying that their money and belonging was stolen. I was crushed down. People closed to me knew that I took a trait from my mother, where when situation gets bad, all of my mood to have fun gone. I was wondering "Astaghfirullah! Siapa lah yang buat tuh ??!!!!" I almost cried. Yala, abang2 and kakak2 ni dah baik dengan kita, bantu kita. I respected all of them. I felt like they are my older brothers and sisters which I never had, since I am the eldest of my siblings. Sometimes, I want to feel how it's like to have someone older than me to help me out thru life. And once I got that feeling in this camping trip, some shit like this happened. I worried sick, and wondering what would they feel after this. But suddenly, one of them came in, bringing cake and candles lighted. I realized it was a gimmick, as that day was Afiq's birthday. Others were surprised with joy, but me, my mood had gone. While other peoples celebrating and singing, I just stand there, dumbfounded. Then I headed towards my chalet to relax my mind for couple of minutes.

After having some midnight snacks, I went out of my chalet, and sat at the pathway, watching and admiring the works of God, the beautiful nature where it couldn't be found in where I'm living currently. Took pictures, and abang Amir approached me, engaging conversations about his life and background, and so did I. I wanted to tell him of part of my life, parts which made my life so complicated, yet to no avail. There are urges to speak, but the words just won't come out. I don't know. But it's common for me, and maybe that's why I'm not that talkative in school. I would prefer typing than saying because of that particular reason.

On the fourth and final day, we visited the Faculty of Veterinary and the Faculty of Science. Nothing interesting, as I have less interest in those two subjects. Then it came to my most dreaded moments during the camp, the official closing event, meaning that the program would come to an end soon, but before that, all of us took the free time to note down all of our emails and telephone numbers, including the facee's so that we could contact each others in the future. During the closing event, bla bla bla, it's officially closed.

I was going home with my mother. After saying goodbye to all of my new found friends for the time, I sat around the area of the faculty. Before I knew it, tears are flowing from my eyes thru my cheeks. I watch around, as it would be my last time around here. The trees, the fresh airs..

Then my mother arrived, I said my goodbyes to Abang Amir, Abang Sham, Abang Farhan and others before heading home.

After Eco-Bio

During the ride towards home, I remembered our moments during the camping. Everything of it lingered in my mind. At night, before I sleep, I cried again, wishing that it would not end this soon, but like Abang Amir once said to me, "setiap pertemuan ada perpisahan". I understand, and I'm hoping to cope with the "rindu-ness".

Thanks

Special thanks to :

Abang Amir Affan
For helping me out when I'm not well, kerana sudi berbual dengan saya, and for taking care of me, and all of us during the camping, and for being like an elder brother I never had... Thanks a lot. I will heed the advices given. Once again, thank you very much.

Abang Khairul, Kak Laili, Kak Jalilah, and Abang Zulfadhli
For being the Terra QuaDiez's facilitators, for all your help, guidance, and assistance throughout the whole program, dan kerana sudi menjaga kami sepajang program. Terima kasih banyak-banyak. *senyum mata hampir tutup* Ape name .. haha.. trademark abang Khairul.

Abang Sham dan Abang Farhan
Kerana sudi berbual dengan saya, dan mengajak makan bersama2..

Tak lupa juga kepada abang-abang dan kakak-kakak facilitators yang lain kerana bantuan dan pertolongan yang diberikan. Terima kasih and one last word, "KEEP UP THE COOLNESS YAH !! haha

And lastly, I'm sorry for making everyone worried during the camping. I didn't mean to. And I appreciate all of what I had during the program. Kalau ada terlajur kata harap maaf, kalau ada tersilap ejaan nama harap maaf, tidak berniat, dan kalau ada saya buat sesuatu yang menyinggung perasaan dan sakit hati, I'm really really sorry.

All of this written based on truly what happened but not chronologically. I may have missed out someone, an event/s or so, and I apologize. And note, there aren't any exaggerations written here. All based on true story and honestly written.

Last but not least

Takkan dapat ku lupakan,
Takkan dapat ku lukiskan
Takkan dapat ku gambarkan
Hanya dapat ku kenangkan

Well, I think that's all from me. Cheers !

2010...

New year has come ! Goodbye 2009, welcome 2010 ! Hahaha... 2009 had been a blissful year, although the ups and downs were there, but it's life, right ? But how about 2010 ? Who knows.. Well, like Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why its called the present." So, happy 2010 everyone !

I sent a new year greeting to over 500 contacts through Yahoo!Messenger and Windows Live, and all of the replies were the same, friendly greetings of New Year, but one of them really piqued my interest. Lemme share it.

"PERHATIAN WAHAI UMAT ISLAM..!! Bila smpi 31 dsember,brape rmikah yg brsedia mraikn thn baru??ttpi sdrkh mreka bhwa tlh difatwakn oleh Sheikh al Azhar,Sheikh Tantawi,Sheikh Yusof al Qardhawi..dan ulama2 kontmporary bhwe myambut Thn Baru bererti mymbut ulangtahun hari jd tuhan yahudi & kristian.Bagi mrk yg x tahu,hukumnyer fasiq(dosa bsr),ttpi bg yg dh thu..hukumya MURTAD.. Astaghfirullah.."

When I read this, I went like "What the ****?" Was this fella serious ?

First of all, we, the people around the world use the Gregorian Calender, the 12-month based calender, since it was accepted worldwide, and plus, the Muslims also use the Islamic calendar.

The person who sent me the above message is seriously narrow-minded. Did he seriously think that we celebrated the New Year based on the Christian and Jew's belief ? No, we celebrated the New Year because it means the coming of a new year, in this case, 2010. We're living in a world based on the 12 months calender. We do activities, work, daily routines on a 365 / 366 days, but in our heart, we're Muslim, we pray, we fast in Ramadhan, we celebrate Eid, Maal Hijrah cause that is who we are. For me, never in my mind I celebrated New Year for the sake of Christian / Jew's belief, but for the coming of a new year, schooltime, and who knows what more to come. We celebrate to share the joy of the celebration, just as the other religions did with us during Eid-ul Fitr, and just as we did with them during Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Deepavali. We celebrate those festivals because of the joy it brings, the unity amongst ourselves, especially in Malaysia, where different races live in harmony. Not because we Muslims worshiped their God/s and follow what they preached. There are some Muslims that despise their brothers and sisters of Islam who join the other to celebrate religious festivals, but they need to note something, like during Christmas, not all Muslims, at least for me, was celebrating as a remembrance for Jesus's birth, but to join the joy the festival brought. What I like about Christmas are the songs played on radios, the movies with deep moral values, and also the decorations in malls and shopping complex, and not religion-based interests.

Right... This is just an opinion of mine. Being my second language, I don't think I represent my opinion smoothly, but you might as well roughly get my idea. If any of the words might upset, disturb, or hurt you, I'm deeply sorry in advance, but this is my own words and I stand strong by it.

Well, that's all for now. Cheers.

Photoshopping...

Did a simple repairing, cosmetic fixing, and coloring with my Photoshop :D

One of my hobbies

I really love to draw cartoons, anime and the likes, but ideas sometimes really come out of the blue... But whenever I got the urge to draw, I take my blue Pilot Shaker 0.5 Shaker and my black Pilot 2020 0.7 Shaker, an eraser, and start drawing and sketching that some may take up to 3 hours to complete, working like there's no tomorrow xD

Some of my sketches I didn't colored yet



Did a mini-portrait cartoons of my friends :D

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Some random dude... The scruffy hair was intentionally, as, well, it does look nice that way

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My Ragnarok Online in-game pet...

Out of boredness

Well, of course, first of all, I'll be playing games on the PC or PSP, but I do sometimes sketch, or write something interesting.

Here's one of my writings which I deemed to find interesting to read when I have nothing to do, well for me, at least. Seems like there's a lot of grammatical and vocabulary mistakes, but I try my best to narrow it down.

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Gazing towards the sky, Xylos let out a weak frown. It’s unnaturally red. Even when it’s not dawn yet. Perhaps it was tainted by the coming of the Burning Legion to Rune-Midgard. They are an army of demons, first appeared up north in Rune-Midgard. At early stage, they seem to be like some of those pesky demon raids, but soon the defenders of the north realize that they were only the scouts sent to gather intel on the northern cities. Thereafter, swarms of demons appeared out of nowhere. Though the defenders of the cities on the north put out a valiant fight, but soon fell by the might of the Burning Legion. One by one, the majestic cities fall. Yuno and Alde Baran had been decimated, Lutie had been laid to waste, and Amatsu was fully obliterated.

Now only the magical city of Geffen and the capital city of Rune-Midgard, Prontera, remain strong. The village of Payon was ravaged weeks before, and Morroc remained unheard, but some refugees from Morroc who sought shelter here said that the coming of the Burning Legion has awaken an ancient evil that was slumbering deep inside Morroc, and it seems that Morroc was considered destroyed too.

“Hey! Xylos!” Xylos’s gazing was interrupted by a familiar, elderly voice.

“Oh, it’s you. What is it now?” replied coldly by Xylos towards Axela, a colleague of him and one of the members of Kirin Tor, the governing body of Geffen.

“You don’t have to be that harsh, you know. I came here by the words of the Kirin Tor, by Antonidas himself. He asked if you would come to the meeting at the Chamber of Magi, on top of …”

“I know where it is, and I’ll be there.”

“Sheesh, being an arch mage in a very young age really got you arrogant, did it?”Axela retorted.

“Quit babbling and let’s go. We don’t want to make that old man waits till death, do we now?” Axela glanced at Xylos, but said nothing, as she was used to Xylos’s sarcasm. He took out his staff, and knock the staff’s tip twice, and the two gone within the thin air.

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Xylos and Axela appeared in somewhat seems to be like a room covered with magical darkness. Nothing can be seen; even Axela, but her spiritual power, and the other spiritual powers can be felt.

“Now that everyone has arrived, let this veil of darkness be lifted” said an elderly, raspy voice.

A minor clap was heard. The darkness soon dissipates, revealing the chamber, with elegant elven architecture, and three other magi, sitting on ethereal chairs, surrounding a huge round wooden table. The magi who are attending are the head magi of Kirin Tor, Antonidas, whose age and wisdom are far beyond comparison, the handsome elf mage Qiel Farfalla, the Loremaster of Geffen, the cold and calm slender mage Dionne, who’s perhaps the most powerful sorceress alive, and Axela and Xylos himself.

“You are late, as always” stated Dionne, whom Xylos known for having little patience. Xylos, however, remains silence, not because he is scared of her prowess, but rather, he is lazy to have any shows of rudeness around his colleague.

“Now, now Dionne, at least this time, he is here, in time. “ Antonidas chuckled.

“Now, for the serious issues. The King of Prontera had requested further aid from us. Although we’re busy dealing with this menace the Burning Legion has brought onto us, we cannot ignore plea for help from our ally. Axela, assemble a five-member team of the best magi out of the Arcane Sanctum and head towards Prontera to help.” said Antonidas.

Good riddance …. Xylos thought

“And you Xylos, I know what you are thinking. I have a task for you too. You ought to go work in a pair with Dionne to investigate the ruins of Payon, to search for any clue of how to counter these demons’s foul magic.” Antonidas’s sudden statement made Xylos grunts. Dionne, who has never like Xylos due to his laziness, glanced at Antonidas.

“Oh, you two shall get along just fine” mocked Qiel.

“Now, Qiel, we should discuss on what more to do with these savages right here…”

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Walking in the forest is never to the liking of Xylos. He tends to get tired so easily, but Dionne realizes this, and ignored it. Born with the arcane power, Xylos rarely walks. Usually he summoned his stead from the Twisting Nether for traveling purposes, but this accursed Dionne somehow forbids it through the use of magic.

“Quit complaining. Payon is just a few hours ahead.” Dionne coldly said. Dionne and Xylos never liked each other. The two are like oil and water. While Dionne is always serious and cold, Xylos is more of a carefree and cheerful person. Maybe that’s what made them dislike each other. But the two of them respect each other, as they know, that each of them is one of the most powerful magi in the world.

Suddenly, they heard a cry coming from the east. Xylos looks at Dionne, and she nods. They rush toward to the source of that cry. Just as they began to make haste, a little elf girl ran towards them. The girl, barely as tall as Xylos’s waist, hugged him closely, and Xylos kneels down and caresses the little girl.

“What’s wrong, girl? Where are your parents?” Xylos gently asked.

“Th-…. They been killed….” The girl weeps even louder.

“By whom?”

The girl twists to show, but gasps instead. Barely unable to speak, she points at the direction she came from.

Xylos and Dionne both look at where the girl points and Dionne curses. There, several yards from them, stand a figure with goat head, humanoid torso, and goat legs. In its grasp is a massive black scythe. Sometime during Xylos studies, he remembered this exact demon in an ancient book he read. This is Baphomet, one of the demon lords of Rune-Midgard. Currently, the demon lords are ally with the Burning Legion, but what remains mystery to the Kirin Tor is what the Burning Legion did to convince them to join their ranks.

Dionne is the first to act. With a swift wave of her hand, blue flames appeared out of nowhere and began to engulf the demon lord. Xylos points his staff towards the sky, and requests aid from the heaven. The heaven answered, and bolts of lightning from the sky lash towards Baphomet. But Baphomet stands still. Although engulfed in flames and struck by lightning, it stood still, as if nothing happens. Then, Baphomet waves his scythe, and the flames and lightning vanish.

“Isss that all the powersss of the Kirin Tor? How disssappointing.” It was Baphomet’s. It’s mouth didn’t move, but the words are on Xylos and Dionne’s mind.

Then, Baphomet lunges his hand forward. An invisible force grabbed Dionne by her stomach, incapacitating her and it began to tightly squeeze Dionne.

“Run Xylos!” Dionne yelled. She thrust her hand forwards, summoning a gryphon out of the sky.

“But ……”

“Run Xylos!” she repeated “We are no match for this demon lord. Run! Take this girl to safety, and report to the Kirin Tor of what happened here”

Seeing Xylos hesitated to leave her, Dionne mutters an incantation, pushing Xylos and the girl from her. Finally, Xylos reluctantly obeys, and mounted the girl and himself onto the gryphon and started to fly away. Then, while on air, Xylos heard Dionne’s scream, and the demon lord, laughing at his cowardice. He had to flee, in order to saves the girl and himself, and also reports this to the Kirin Tor.

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After they both arrived safely in Geffen, Xylos immediately search for any priests around.

“You. You there! Please tend to this girl.” Xylos commanded, ignoring the disgusted face the priest did. The priesthood has never liked the magi. For them, those who gained power other then the Light is considered damnation.

But this is not the time for this. Xylos rushes towards the Arcania Laboratory, place where Antonidas usually had his experiments and studies. But the door is nowhere to be seen. This could only mean that he’s not here.

Then, he remembered the rest of the Kirin Tor. Trying to link his mind to them, he concentrates. Finally, he linked his mind to Qiel’s and started to converse telepathically

Qiel Farfalla! This is Xylos Sunreaver! I wish to know where Antonidas is! It’s urgent!

Oh, it’s you. You’re back early from expected. Where’s Dionne? Replied Qiel.

There is no time for this. Dionne’s dead and I need to meet Antonidas now.

Oh my … Antonidas is among the frontline of the magi defending Geffen, west of here.

Thanks were all that Xylos could’ve said. He needs to report this to Antonidas as soon as possible, seeing that one of the demon lords is wandering around Payon ruins. And now, he needs to search for his superior….

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Axela is flying above the battlefield outside Prontera using a hippogryph the stable master of Geffen had trained, along with her Crimson Hue squad which she just assembled. Down below, humans, elfs, dwarves, all are battling the demons which seeks to destroy Rune-Midgard’s civilizations. Scores of demons perished by the blades, arrows, and other weapons used against them, but by each demon fell, four to six demons appeared, filling up the gap left by their fallen comrades.

“Now, I want you all to focus on the battlefield, and think of the most powerful offensive spell you know. But don’t tell me what it is. Just release it when I say so!” yelled Axela. She is trying to re-create a grand spell the magi of Order of Yuno died working for. For the spell to be truly devastating to the demons, she requires random spells from each of the magi. Now, she thanks departed souls as their work will not go to waste, and hoping that these magi she picked will not fail her.

The others nodded.

Good. Just a little more …

“NOW!”

The sky begins darkening. Then, bolts of ice and flame fell towards the hordes of demons. Lightning flashes from the sky and struck the demons. Earth begins to melt, swallowing the demons whole. Out of nowhere, explosions occurred here and there. Roots emerged from the land, binding and squeezing the life out of those demons.

Then, a shriek of one of the magi took the attention of Axela from the battlefield. She twists to the left, and see that one of her comrade and his mount, shriveled as if the very water in their bodies are sucked out. Lifeless, both the mage and the hippogryph, they fell towards the battlefield.

Axela tried to locate the source of this foul magic, and instead, stared in horror at a grotesque figure below at the battlefield. It towers most of the demons, as Axela had realized, it was Dracula, one of the demon lords of Rune-Midgard.

“FALL BACK! RETURN TO PRONTERA!” shouted Axela

The others stared each other, confused. They don’t know what had befallen at one of their comrades, as they’re busy casting chains of spells at the battlefield.

Dracula took this confusion to his advantage, and held both of his palms upward. Then, the flesh of the mounts of two of the magi flying above suddenly decayed, quickly turn into bones and dust. The riders scream as they fall high above towards the field.

“Daelin!!”

“On it, mistress...” the mage beside Axela answered. He mutters an incantation, and a portal opened at the direction where the mountless riders fall. The magi fall through the portal, and hopefully, they are safe, wherever the portal might lead to.

“Now, all retreat to Prontera. We have no energy to cast a spell, what more to defend ourselves from the assaults from the demon lord. Make haste!” Axela and the rest of the Crimson Hue fly towards Prontera, and praying that the soldiers of the frontline be saved from the wrath of the demon lord.

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After searching and asking through the encampment, finally a sniper offered herself to lead the way to Antonidas’s tent.

There, Xylos thanked the sniper, and quickly bursts into the tent. Antonidas was testing a few tests and experiments on what seems to be a captured demon. Clearly, he is not pleased with this interruption.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I have dire news. It seems that there is a demon lord, Baphomet in Payon ruins, and seems that it is on his way to Prontera, and Dionne is dead, holding off the demon lord and forced me to report this to you” stated Xylos solemnly.

Antonidas gasps.

“Dionne’s death is not in vain. She did what is right. But what more unsettling is that, I recently had news from Axela that there is Dracula, the demon lord on the battlefield outside Prontera. With your report, we can conclude that Baphomet is bringing reinforcement for Dracula’s troops.”

“Axela survived during the encounter of the Crimson Hue with Dracula, but not without casualties, what more if Baphomet is to be there.” Continued Antonidas.

“Then, what you propose to do?” asked Xylos.

“Young Xylos, you’re always the slow one to pick up. I shall call Qiel to prepare a portal to Prontera. And from there onwards, we will discuss with the Church of Prontera on dealing with the demon lords.”
Antonidas let out a weak sigh “ No matter how much the Church hates us magi, they will listen to this and decisions will be made if we are to save our world from this wretched demons”

“Now Xylos, you seem tired. Go ahead and take a rest” and Xylos obeyed, even he’s in grief and anger for the death of Dionne, he knows what’s best to do, and for now, he’s going to take a rest before heading to Prontera with Qiel and Antonidas.

Ps. I did this all myself, with sources from various games i.e. Ragnarok Online, Norse Mythology, World of Warcraft, and yadda yadda yadda

Inactive ...

Its been awhile since I last posted here. I was really out of ideas of what to write, as I'm not really aware of the current What's Hot, What's Not ..

Maybe I'll start being active again, as I had this sudden urge to start actively posting again, but I do hope it wasn't another "hangat hangat tahi ayam"..