Based on the insightful comments of Chrispenycate & Timelord, I made some useful revisions to this draft. Comments, any will be wellcome.
Prologue
Nine years before Daristoth’s Ascension (DA), 309 years after the fall of the Tyranny.
In a realm far from the normal world of mortals, the invader strode up a hill; his joined eyebrows, one long determined frown. His tall form cast no shadow yet his vortex was mighty. Gore from the slaughtered covered his arms and legs and dripped along his sword.
He was in a sunless and windless realm of total, eerie darkness; theland, desolate and barren. With his normal sight impaired, he cast a clutch of spells whose resultant hex made him ‘see’ by sound like a bushprowler. With a perpetual chirping spell, he quickly built up a picture of his surroundings. Thus, he could see yet there was no light, but the sound illumination in his mind’s eye allowed him to see in a strange penumbral way. The closer an object the sharper it seemed.The denser an object the clearer it looked.
Awful odours permeated the air, the scents of rotting and mummified bodies, pestilence, and death. He crested the hill, arriving at a plateau, whichseemed dead and lifeless.
Suddenly, the ground ahead rippled and folded. A rock-like edifice went up as if aloof from the vistas of this realm.
His frown deepened and he paused.
Less than sixty paces away, a fence made up of different bones surfaced. Assorted skulls adorned its top. The gate followed, a queer montage of grotesque bones. Like a large ship appearing on a small lake, the fenced castledominated the plateau.
He stood agape asit beckoned.
Life pulsed and echoed through its walls; powerful, primordial. Yet the invader also felt a whiff of uncertainty emanate from those walls.
As he took a step, little buds of activity sprung up in the field before him. First a few twists, then hundreds, finally a multitude. The invader paused: another group offered for slaughter, well he would oblige them.
Strange beings, opaque and vague constructs of shadows and shades arose. As the throng grew, the castle began receding like a ship riding the tide. The field bubbled with writhing shapes and each sheered into a solid being; each unique, all monstrosities. The assembled demons hissed as the castle became a sunken feature in the distance.
The intruder gripped his sword, and advanced. A commotion appeared among the assembled and their eyes sprung skyward. Halting, the invader did likewise. A meteor fell from the sky, crashing amidst the multitude. The ground trembled, yet there was no dust cloud. The ranks parted and the new arrival, its vortex rising to the sky, was a behemoth among pygmies. Bigger even than the invader.
"Enforcer," the Archdemon said as it approached, "why indulge in futility?"
"You will not stop me," the Enforcer replied, but he trembled. The castle began to return.
"Your quest for vengeance has made you unmindful." A Regnant is impregnable in its own realm." The Archdemon stopped several paces away, yet its presence dominated proceedings; immense, brimming with vibrant, malignant power. A huge bear-like body, legs of tree-trunk girth, a chest so deep it seemed square-shaped. The head had a melon-shaped face with a curved horn on the forehead and crowned with a deep thick mane.
"Not true."
"Perhaps, but we are here to make it true, to slow you down and weaken you."
"You will do what you must, as will I."
"Old was I when your ancestors first espied your planet. Let us talk."
"I am not here for that."
"Fight here and your destruction is ordained."
"Then why parley?"
"There are always reasons for that."
"I can beat you!"
"Your thirst for vengeance, your will, your power; all these make you strong and yet strength and emotion can only go so far. You will lose, but even if you prevail, these hordes are here to pick off the weak and injured. Behind them, stand the Regnant's beasts, a pack of six and behind those, the Dark One of Death herself. For either you will need to be at your peak. A contest between us will preclude that if your earlier exertions have not already."
"Why tell me all this?"
"Our kind hates futility. If I beat you, you will have failed, but more importantly, I will be weak and devoured by the pack. If you beat me, the obstacles in your path already mentioned will guarantee your failure."
"I want my vengeance."
"That you might have, but not in this realm, not today."
"You talk in riddles."
"The primary tool the old use to befuddle the young."
"It will not suffice."
"Look into these eyes and see what might."
"To look into the eyes of a demon is to lose one's soul."
"Surely not one as talented and as strong-willed as you, Enforcer?"
The Enforcer cast a simple anchor spell. Gripping the rune-inscribed sword upright, he gazed into the well pools that were the Archdemon's eyes. The pools expanded, and time seemed to jump in all directions as he felt drawn in and swallowed. Enmeshed in different threads of the future, he soon concentrated on a few, then one. Buffeted like a canoe in choppy waters, he began to lose his bearings.
A massive jolt swept through him. He broke from the demon's eyes, and tightened his grip on the sword, which now pointed to the ground. Again, the sword pulsed, this time a slight tremor passed through him. He swung his sword. The closing horde fell back in alarm, but the Archdemon had not moved. Two hundred paces away was the castle; large, motionless, and foreboding.
"An interesting spectacle you have shown me."
"The threads of the future are always interesting."
"Will it come to pass?" The Enforcer asked.
"Who can trust the future?"
"No one. Can she also see this?"
"Of course. The Dark One shall battle against those threads that are unfavourable as will others. It was ever thus."
"Then why show me?"
"The future is not set, but a cesspool of conflicting interests. So anything can happen, but today death in futility is the only certainty."
The Enforcer lowered his sword, easing his stance. "Another day, another time. What is your name?"
"What is your weapon's name?"
"Why do you ask?"
"A name for a name, Cromenursus."
"But you are not aligned to this Regnant."
"Alas, an old debt had to be paid. Live more of your millennia and you will see. When you get to my age, debts and favours blossom like anthills in a field."
"But what will your Possessor say?"
"This debt predates his, and has now been fulfilled."
"What was your task?" A shadow of a smile crept around the corners of his lips as the Enforcer started thought-casting a hex. As he recited each component spell, he had enough capacity to reflect on the ongoing converse.
"Bar your way." The behemoth shrugged. "Thank you."
"No, thank you."
"For what?" The Archdemon seemed to be smiling.
"Showing me another way," The Enforcer said, "Doom-bane."
"I thought so. How did you…"
"A long story which I am not inclined to repeat."
"Then I am thankful."
"Why?" The Enforcer asked.The last spell of the hex flashed through his mind and a slight tug arose on his back.
"Another place, another…" Cromenursus's voice disappeared as the Enforcer felt a strong lurch, and a mighty vortex of energy burst out engulfing him. Snatched with an imploding pull, his body seemed to collapse as it soared to a great height into a portal of swirling winds, which drew him up into its comforting embrace...
Prologue
Nine years before Daristoth’s Ascension (DA), 309 years after the fall of the Tyranny.
In a realm far from the normal world of mortals, the invader strode up a hill; his joined eyebrows, one long determined frown. His tall form cast no shadow yet his vortex was mighty. Gore from the slaughtered covered his arms and legs and dripped along his sword.
He was in a sunless and windless realm of total, eerie darkness; theland, desolate and barren. With his normal sight impaired, he cast a clutch of spells whose resultant hex made him ‘see’ by sound like a bushprowler. With a perpetual chirping spell, he quickly built up a picture of his surroundings. Thus, he could see yet there was no light, but the sound illumination in his mind’s eye allowed him to see in a strange penumbral way. The closer an object the sharper it seemed.The denser an object the clearer it looked.
Awful odours permeated the air, the scents of rotting and mummified bodies, pestilence, and death. He crested the hill, arriving at a plateau, whichseemed dead and lifeless.
Suddenly, the ground ahead rippled and folded. A rock-like edifice went up as if aloof from the vistas of this realm.
His frown deepened and he paused.
Less than sixty paces away, a fence made up of different bones surfaced. Assorted skulls adorned its top. The gate followed, a queer montage of grotesque bones. Like a large ship appearing on a small lake, the fenced castledominated the plateau.
He stood agape asit beckoned.
Life pulsed and echoed through its walls; powerful, primordial. Yet the invader also felt a whiff of uncertainty emanate from those walls.
As he took a step, little buds of activity sprung up in the field before him. First a few twists, then hundreds, finally a multitude. The invader paused: another group offered for slaughter, well he would oblige them.
Strange beings, opaque and vague constructs of shadows and shades arose. As the throng grew, the castle began receding like a ship riding the tide. The field bubbled with writhing shapes and each sheered into a solid being; each unique, all monstrosities. The assembled demons hissed as the castle became a sunken feature in the distance.
The intruder gripped his sword, and advanced. A commotion appeared among the assembled and their eyes sprung skyward. Halting, the invader did likewise. A meteor fell from the sky, crashing amidst the multitude. The ground trembled, yet there was no dust cloud. The ranks parted and the new arrival, its vortex rising to the sky, was a behemoth among pygmies. Bigger even than the invader.
"Enforcer," the Archdemon said as it approached, "why indulge in futility?"
"You will not stop me," the Enforcer replied, but he trembled. The castle began to return.
"Your quest for vengeance has made you unmindful." A Regnant is impregnable in its own realm." The Archdemon stopped several paces away, yet its presence dominated proceedings; immense, brimming with vibrant, malignant power. A huge bear-like body, legs of tree-trunk girth, a chest so deep it seemed square-shaped. The head had a melon-shaped face with a curved horn on the forehead and crowned with a deep thick mane.
"Not true."
"Perhaps, but we are here to make it true, to slow you down and weaken you."
"You will do what you must, as will I."
"Old was I when your ancestors first espied your planet. Let us talk."
"I am not here for that."
"Fight here and your destruction is ordained."
"Then why parley?"
"There are always reasons for that."
"I can beat you!"
"Your thirst for vengeance, your will, your power; all these make you strong and yet strength and emotion can only go so far. You will lose, but even if you prevail, these hordes are here to pick off the weak and injured. Behind them, stand the Regnant's beasts, a pack of six and behind those, the Dark One of Death herself. For either you will need to be at your peak. A contest between us will preclude that if your earlier exertions have not already."
"Why tell me all this?"
"Our kind hates futility. If I beat you, you will have failed, but more importantly, I will be weak and devoured by the pack. If you beat me, the obstacles in your path already mentioned will guarantee your failure."
"I want my vengeance."
"That you might have, but not in this realm, not today."
"You talk in riddles."
"The primary tool the old use to befuddle the young."
"It will not suffice."
"Look into these eyes and see what might."
"To look into the eyes of a demon is to lose one's soul."
"Surely not one as talented and as strong-willed as you, Enforcer?"
The Enforcer cast a simple anchor spell. Gripping the rune-inscribed sword upright, he gazed into the well pools that were the Archdemon's eyes. The pools expanded, and time seemed to jump in all directions as he felt drawn in and swallowed. Enmeshed in different threads of the future, he soon concentrated on a few, then one. Buffeted like a canoe in choppy waters, he began to lose his bearings.
A massive jolt swept through him. He broke from the demon's eyes, and tightened his grip on the sword, which now pointed to the ground. Again, the sword pulsed, this time a slight tremor passed through him. He swung his sword. The closing horde fell back in alarm, but the Archdemon had not moved. Two hundred paces away was the castle; large, motionless, and foreboding.
"An interesting spectacle you have shown me."
"The threads of the future are always interesting."
"Will it come to pass?" The Enforcer asked.
"Who can trust the future?"
"No one. Can she also see this?"
"Of course. The Dark One shall battle against those threads that are unfavourable as will others. It was ever thus."
"Then why show me?"
"The future is not set, but a cesspool of conflicting interests. So anything can happen, but today death in futility is the only certainty."
The Enforcer lowered his sword, easing his stance. "Another day, another time. What is your name?"
"What is your weapon's name?"
"Why do you ask?"
"A name for a name, Cromenursus."
"But you are not aligned to this Regnant."
"Alas, an old debt had to be paid. Live more of your millennia and you will see. When you get to my age, debts and favours blossom like anthills in a field."
"But what will your Possessor say?"
"This debt predates his, and has now been fulfilled."
"What was your task?" A shadow of a smile crept around the corners of his lips as the Enforcer started thought-casting a hex. As he recited each component spell, he had enough capacity to reflect on the ongoing converse.
"Bar your way." The behemoth shrugged. "Thank you."
"No, thank you."
"For what?" The Archdemon seemed to be smiling.
"Showing me another way," The Enforcer said, "Doom-bane."
"I thought so. How did you…"
"A long story which I am not inclined to repeat."
"Then I am thankful."
"Why?" The Enforcer asked.The last spell of the hex flashed through his mind and a slight tug arose on his back.
"Another place, another…" Cromenursus's voice disappeared as the Enforcer felt a strong lurch, and a mighty vortex of energy burst out engulfing him. Snatched with an imploding pull, his body seemed to collapse as it soared to a great height into a portal of swirling winds, which drew him up into its comforting embrace...
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