Self Comments Comments on self
//nothing to see here move along
//please
//don't scroll down
//so embarassing
It was a bleak period in time. Marind bell had not even existed back
then. There was only the ancient forests of loreroot to the north, and
to the south there was the land of necrovian. The two factions were
deep into heavy conflict over the land of golemus golemicarum and the
insurmountable resources locked within the mountain. The conflict
reshaped the landscape. Rolling hills were scorched and leveled. Once
proud and modest towns were obliterated by dark magic that is
considered unspeakable today. The great wizard Marvolo himself even
carved a great canal into the earth, separating the immense mountain
from the continent. The world was in absolute chaos. This is where I
came into existence.
The necrovians were very resourceful at that time. They needed to be
in order to compete with the ancient magic the loreroots had. It was
during this time that necrovian archivists had discovered a method for
achieving great power. A way to splice shades and creatures in to one
entity. A chimera. Such a being would have immense power capable of
decimating all who opposed it. The archivists experimented endlessly
trying to perfect the method. They tortured thousands of souls, shades
and creatures alike. It became a sport to hunt shades and creatures as
such acts were well compensated by necrovian. It was sheer madness,
the horrors those archivists must have witnessed. The ghastly screams
still haunt that place.
After many years of experimentation they had finally done it.
They had created a perfect chimera. It was of an aramor and a low level shade.
It became as powerful as an ansien. They were astonished and so was
marvolo. He personally went on a hunt for a creature he could use to
create the ultimate weapon.
Marvolo decided to seek such a creature in the heart of loreroot. He
knows it is a great risk but the power he could receive from the
creatures of old was nearly infinite. He staked out the
entrance and under the cover of darkness killed both of the tree
guardians with a single blow. He then slipped through a few villages
and towns and made his way to one of the oldest forests in the realm.
After a few hours of searching he felt something odd. A great presence
that he had not felt before. He was drawn to it. Needed it. It's power
was unquestionably the greatest he had ever witnessed. He ran to meet
it and as he entered a clearing he saw it. A White Drachorn. It's
scales shimmering in the morning mist, beating it's wings above so
effortlessly, it seemed as if it were only breathing, as if the wind
itself were it's servant. He had only heard of such creatures in
children’s tales but he had never imagined such a thing actually
existed. He breathed in as if to take in the enormity of it. The scale
at which he was experiencing. Then he realized that he had no clue how
he would go about capturing it. He decided to just observe it's habits
for now.
After a week or so of following the creature he believed he had a
plan, but he had seen LR guardians searching for an intruder. He knew
he would have to capture the creature quickly and without destroying
half the forest. He discovered that the creature hunts in the forest
and actually lives a few miles east of the forest. Like most
creatures, this drachorn was inactive at night and the guards were
always sloppy if they got too tired. So he decided to move in under
the cover of darkness, one of his greatest weapons...
The drachorn lived on a large rocky hill
He used magic to carve handholds into the rocks as he climbed.
He reached the top and saw that the drachorn was not there. This was
perfect, he could execute his plan immediately.
Marvolo designed a very clever trap in the drachorn’s nest. It worked
exactly like a venus flytrap. He took nightshade, which has an
irresistible scent when ground, and sprinkled it into the nest, to be
certain it wouldn't leave before he could catch it. Then he drew a
giant summoning circle around the nest and waited. After a few
hours the white drachorn came back and was enthralled by the
unfamiliar scent. Marvolo then jumped out of hiding and activated the
summoning circle. There was a blinding flash and then the world turned
a deep red. He had summoned a dimensional gate underneath the nest.
The drachorn tried to escape but it was futile, the creature lost it's
will and was sucked into the gate. The gate then slammed closed and
compressed into a small glowing sphere. Marvolo picked it up and
marveled at it. But then a cry in the distance shattered his calm.
Someone had discovered him. He had to flee. No one was to know of his
doings here. The consequences would be disastrous. He moved with
blinding speed, and jumped off of the sheer rock face. He glided down
aided by an unknown force and sprinted away. Magically enchanting his
appearance to look like a loreroot guardian, he sprinted through miles
of enemy territory, startling quite a few citizens on the way. When he
got to the gate he said that he was going to scout a section of the
perimeter, there have been some reports that marvolo himself broke
into loreroot. The guards promptly let him pass.
He had done it. Marvolo had single handedly infiltrated loreroot and
taken a creature of power on a grand scale. The archivists held a
great feast in celebration. Plenty of mead and laughs all around, all
to distract from the great challenge ahead. Collecting a shade to
match such a creature...
It was nightfall the next day when the archivists finally acknowledged
the issue at hand. Shades of the caliber they needed could only be
found in one place. The Abyss.
The abyss was the most treacherous terrain in the entire realm. For
there was no light that could penetrate the pain and death which
surrounded it. It was an evil place, it harbored no mercy, no decency,
no hope. There was only blackness.
There were many brave mages in the land. Some were legends and had
faced great peril in their lives. But there were merely four who could
allow themselves to venture into the abyss.
They were told to travel into the heart of the abyss and capture the
most powerful shade they could find. They were given specialized sonar
equipment to allow them to see where there is no light and a talisman
that could detect the presence of shades. They would be let down on
enchanted ropes. They were told that if they needed to be evacuated
they could send some of their vital energy through the ropes and it
would alert wizards who were standing by to summon them back. They
were ready. They had taken every conceivable precaution. It was time
to send them to hell...
As they were lowered down, the air became caustic and black. The men
could barely breathe in this place. Their equipment could only make
out vague outlines of the jagged rock face. But with these obstacles,
they soldiered on, for they were strong and would not be deterred by
any evil. Their feet touched ground and they were relieved. They
started examining the floor and realized it was entirely made of human
bone. Thousands of skeletons fused into a solid mass. It was gut
wrenching. And then, the talisman started shaking and felt warm.
"SHADES!" one of them yelled. They all spun, searching for the shade.
But they couldn't see anything. Then they realized that they were
completely surrounded by shades. A huge mass of them, circling the
mages like a vulture waiting for it's prey to die. The fight began.
One of the mages called forth a massive bone dragon from the floor of
bone beneath them. The dragon devoured the shades with great ease as
the others summoned fire and flood to vanquish the rest. And though
there were many hundreds of shades they were all soon slain. But none
of them had any real power. The mages continued deeper into the abyss.
There were a few more shade encounters but each were as pitiful as the
last, and then they came to a great cave. All of them froze as they
peered inside. It had a creature like shape, as if something had just
walked through the rock face, with no resistance. Then, the talisman
started shaking violently, and they heard a scream that pierced all of
the darkness. The talisman shattered. And from the cave, a demonic
figure came forth with blinding speed. Cackling as it floated above
them. It's mere presence was suffocating, it seemed to consume all
happiness and hope. The mages were convinced they were going to die.
The shade held no concept of mercy. He held one of them down and
slowly carved them with his arm that resembled a blade. He devoured
the mage's organs and tossed the carcass aside. The other mages were
powerless to stop the madness. They couldn't even get close before
collapsing under the sheer weight of the shade's power. The shade
killed another mage, knawing on his bone to sharpen his unholy fangs.
The third mage tried to run, blindly sprinting into walls, his
vitality had been drained away by this creature. He could not escape.
He finally tripped and his limbs were slowly torn from his torso, and
his heart was ripped out of his chest. The last mage felt the shades
power over him weaken as it pursued his comrade. He was able to force
his limbs to move and reached for his sheath. The shade was
approaching fast. It was upon him. And as the shade raised his arm,
in one last effort, the mage stabbed him in the chest. A crystal in
the hilt shined a great light, and then the shade was gone. The mage
was too terrified to remain there any longer, so he used all of his
remaining strength to alert the wizards on the surface and was
magically teleported back. He woke up in the hospital. Still thinking
he was in the abyss he started thrashing in his bed and was promptly
sedated. A few hours later he awoke, much more calmly than before, and
asked one of the nurses for his sword. They told him that all that was
left of his sword was the crystal imbedded in the cross guard. He had
remembered that marvolo had added that to his blade for good luck. He
would be forever indebted to him.
He went to see marvolo and apologize for not capturing the shade the
next day, and after learning of how the mage managed to survive
marvolo immediately snatched the crystal from his hand. He examined it
and sure enough he found a wisp of shadow contained within the crystal.
They had their shade…
There was a storm, a storm to be remembered for all time. A storm of pain
and misery. A storm of death. Thrown to the storm were the drachorn and
the shade. The torment grew, until the earth could not bear it anymore.
And then there was nothing. No more pain or suffering, he had taken it all,
he who was born of chaos and order. He who was born of balance.
The shadowy figure stood, his body still forming. Wings and claws summoned
from the shadows surrounding him. Building him. Giving him life. He marveled
at his form, watching his fingers leave short trails of darkness as they moved.
Hovered for a moment testing his wings. Then he felt a sharp pain. One of the
researchers had shocked him with an electric rod. He instinctively moved away
from the shock but more came. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by these shocks.
He tossed one of the rods aside, and it was matched with a torrent of rods.
The pain was suffocating. All he wanted was calm. But calm would not come.
He became filled with rage. With every passing moment his anger grew. And then
he was hit with a great blast of energy from behind. That had done it. His claws
blindly slashed through flesh and bone, blue flames pouring from his snout on to
his enemies, slowly reducing them to nothing but ash. There was a deafening roar
and then all was silent. He had killed them all, the blood dripping off of his claws.
And he became euphoric. It was thrilling to kill, magical even. His innocence was
now erased. He was a demon. A killer. And so it would remain…
He fled that place, never to return. But before he glided off, he scratched a message
for all of necrovian on a slab of stone. The message was signed, Ærø.