Mystery of The Endless. ((Solo Quest))

[Mutant_Lorenor]

(Moderator note this takes place after my Solo Quest thank you )

****Prologue****

****Re-cap****

It all began with The Endless and will end with them. Moons ago, a race of sentient machines calling themselves the Golems revealed their existence to the boy. On a whim, the boy left the comforts of Haidia's dangerous wilderness to travel to the surface world. Searching for a man named Ranger Nailo, The Endless told the boy that a group calling themselves The Gol'Bron needed his membership. After joining, a man named Nocks Gilderon began the boy's rigorous combat education.

Prior to that in Haidia, the boy formed an adventure party with a group of strangers in order to invade a temple hidden deep within Haidia's wilderness. This was how the boy ended up on the surface world by finding a newly discovered teleportation ring leading near to the spot where the Gol'bron made their town. Finding a hidden temple to a dark enemy named N'Jal very near to the teleportation ring, the boy had himself a deep adventure with Ranger Nailo in that same temple. The temple ultimately might become a safe haven for those members of the Gol'bron opting to worship N'Jal in peace.

After his run-in with the Golems, an individual Golem named Number 0300 left Number 5,325 under his care for crimes committed. In essence, becoming an exile like the boy. Revealing himself to be the boy's son (In retrospection) Number 5,325 opted to become his Father's care-taker. With a small group of Agents from the Golem society joining Number 5,325, they settled easily into The Gol'bron's emerging town.

************************************************

Several months ago everything changed for the boy. A faithful trip to a temple in the depths of Haidia ultimately lead him to the Gol'Bron. Training with them now the boy acquired considerable combat skills. Every day and every night the boy spent hours of his immortality training to become an effective living weapon for the outfit. At first, he made no progress, but in due time once he began to overcome mental blocks, the boy started to become a fearsome warrior.

On this night, a group of newcomers observed the fight between the boy and one of the Monks of the Order. The newcomers were really in their disguised identities fashioned for surface life on Althanas. The Prime Directive--something the boy began to follow on his own as well, forbade the Golems from revealing themselves in their natural state to under-developed peoples.

A modified dojo surrounded the warriors now. Taking notes, a panel of the Warrior Monks furiously jotted down all of the boy's pertinent growth. In a short period of time the lad overcame a lot of personal short-comings. He desperately wanted to be accepted as a useful member of the Gol'bron. Right now, his fighting education mattered the most. Eventually, the Gol'bron might wage war against other rival Power Groups.

The boy needed preparation. As the battle heated itself, the older warrior unleashed a flurry of attacks. The boy instinctively reacted allowing himself to parry the attacks one by one. The loud sound of heavy wood clanking against heavy wood vibrated throughout the dojo. The gathered monks observed in complete silence. The Eldest Monk, Nocks simply nodded every so often.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Keeping his concentration on movement, the boy utilized his newly found combat skills aggressively now. Though they took time to manifest, the boy knew it was important to keep aggressively learning. Forcibly dodging two more parries the boy worked to keep his anger at bay. Attempting to remained focused now, the boy remembered all of Nocks teachings.

If he failed now, he might have to start all over from the top of his basic studies. He couldn't afford that now! Making significant progress in a previous adventure, the boy knew how to switch from defensive mode, to aggressive mode. Creating an opening with a parry, the boy quickly altered his forward momentum shifting his body weight naturally. The trickiest thing about learning the arts of that the Monks of the Order taught, was learning to move one's body in full control.

Not reactive or instinctive. But full, conscious control of thought to the point where things became memorized, like a painter. Every movement purposeful and having meaning. Thrusting his body weight forward with a certain acquired grace, the boy broke through the warrior's feeble counter attempt. Parrying with one arm and attacking on the other, the boy suddenly hit the other lad's neck skillfully. There was no worry that the boy might break his neck.

It was a perfectly controlled sparring strike. Landing another struck further down his trapezius muscle, the boy continued the striking pattern. His hand moving quickly following the specific tactical chain of movements. Applying added force into each hit the warrior monk's eyes went wide with shock. Continuing the combination move, his hand flowed down piercing the pectoralis major and striking with full force now. Within a matter of moments, the older boy was on the floor. The small warrior retained his discipline in front of the Master Nocks and helped the larger warrior stand up.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Extending his left arm forward and helping the fallen warrior stand up solicited some applause from the gathered audience. The boy helped his opponent stand and bowed deeply to him. Then, he bowed deeply to the Elder Monks gathered before him. The boy took time also to educate himself in the matters of protocol used by civilized warriors. At the end of the spar, Master Nocks approached the boy. Night fell outside in the sleeping world. Dreams filling the heads of those who worked in the day. The boy and others who were up long hours in the day and well into the night, walked outside.

It was a warm evening in the late summer. The shrubbery and local plant-life was still wet from a previous rain-storm earlier in the week. Lorenor looked up and saw a pregnant moon her lovely bosom lighting up the world below with its unique glow. The boy nodded to the move. Somewhere, he saw an angry red star knowing that was the prison of the Dark Mother he loved so dearly.

The Lady of the Night's domain embraced them all now. Leaving the training building, the boy carefully followed Master Nock's much larger presence. He eyed the man for a moment. The man was a large sapien as far as they went, he guessed the man at having some sort of Salvar origin, atop his head was a long flowing silver main, he donned a fu-man-chu at his chin long and flowing, his eyes were a piercing grey, sort of like a chain of storm clouds, and his face had intense depth to it. It fit the apparent age of the old man. He'd become friends with Nocks over time. At first, the boy thought Nocks had it in for him. But once the boy started to overcome his personal weaknesses, Nocks took a liking to the apparent hard-worker.

Standing side by side, the boy and the Monk walked through the emerging town of the Gol'Bron. Nocks said previously that he wanted to speak to the boy about some special matter so the lad was curious. Still, he allowed the older man to gather his thoughts at this point. He knew better than to pry in the Monk's personal matters. After about ten minutes of walking into an isolated clearing with some benches in it, the Monk sat down and motioned for the boy to sit there next to him. He did so without question.

"There is something I want to discuss with you. You've done a fine job with your training Lorenor." Nocks began. "I see now the strength that Ranger Nailo saw in you. I was blind to it before and for that you'll have to forgive me." The boy nodded. "Everything that you've worked so hard for you've earned of your own free will. There is a matter I want to discuss with you and you have to promise not to mention it to no-one do you understand? Can you keep a secret Lorenor?"

The boy pondered this seeing a serious expression fall across the man's face.

"Yes, my Master." The boy responded.

"Good. Long ago, a certain individual was banished from the Order. A man calling himself Nenkulor Couerseux. This man was my Brother once. Before he started to use his gift for ill. You see the man was born with the gift of Prophecy. He can see into POSSIBLE Futures. This gift corrupted him and he started to use his gift for personal gain. Long ago he attempted to use you for his personal gain. We have reason to believe he has a hand in Corone attempting to become an Empire. He has a hand in all things. More of a demi-human now than a mortal, the man who was once my brother has forsaken our people's ways. Lorenor. He may attempt to contact you again and use you again." The man suddenly handed out a package and handed it to the boy. "By taking this package you are now binding yourself to the Order of the Monks of Ai'bron. Do you agree to do this Lorenor?"

"Yes I do Master." The boy said for the second time.

"Good. Take the package and look it over in your time. It contains your files from the Order of Ai'bron. It has everything we were able to find about your past incarnations. After a time you stopped using The Citadel for the obvious reason of corruption within the ranks of the Order. But Nenkulor kept on manipulating you. We have detailed information on his dosier in there too. I am going to ask you for a personal favor Lorenor. When you are strong enough to deal with him, we will need you to take him out. Do you agree to this?"

The young assassin thought carefully about what was being asked of him.

"I do agree my Master." He said for the third time.

"Very well, that's three times you promised to keep the oath." And suddenly, the Monk smacked Lorenor hard across the face permanently scarring his cheek. "That is so you never forget your induction into the Order."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor wondered why the master asked him such a thing. His hand instinctively went towards his face where the Master hit him. He nodded though his acceptance of whatever task that the man handed to him. He even accepted the pain associated with it. Taking his hand away from the bruise that most surely might scar up on his face, the lad awaited the next part of his Master's instructions. Nocks went on.

"Nenkulor is a man that our Order has been keeping our eyes on for a long while. His activities are very dangerous to the well being of Althanas. It has come to our attention that he is attempting to bring about a very dark future. One of many possible time-lines that haven't yet quite come to pass. Scrying is a very dangerous art. It is one of those things that allows one to cheat fate. As such it has been decreed a Forbidden Art by the Corone Government. The Order thinks that this should not be the case since Prophets exist in Corone all the time and do well for themselves, using their gifts for the betterment of mankind. However, sometimes, prophets go bad like Nenkulor. Except he is the worst of the worst."

"He's been manipulating events so that he gains his own personal favor. That's what we've been finding out. Like I said there is a possible future he is attempting to bring about. I would never ask you to attempt to destroy such a wicked Devil because you've become a son to me Lorenor. Instead, I want you to keep an eye on him for me. There will come a time when he comes calling you. Listen to the Siren's Song as they say. But report back the intelligence you find out to us so we can monitor his activities. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded. At that point, Nocks handed Nenkulor the package.

"In that package is the means to spy on our enemy. Also, it is a detailed dosier on him and what to expect. He has information on you Lorenor that no other individual has. He's been collecting it since his days as a Monk of the Order for his own personal amusement we believe. He has gone to great lengths to secure information about you Lorenor this much we know for sure. Within the Order there are servants who follow him at the risk of their lives! This traitor must be stopped."

The boy took the package in his hand, it weighed quite a bit more than its size lead on. The boy held it under his arm still listening.

Nocks went quiet at that point as if collecting himself.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

the boy ingested everything he'd just been told. In one moment he'd learned things about his past he'd never learned before. The information the Monks had access to was thorough and there could be no arguing. The boy understood the nature of the truth behind the words Nocks spoke. There was no need to doubt him. The Monks quoted from their own carefully collected records. They had the largest information data-base anywhere on the world of Althanas.

The boy thought how easy it must be to become corruptible at that point. When one had access to all of the warriors on Althanas. Looking up to the Corone sky for a moment The Boy thought about his cave wilderness of Haidia. He missed it sorely now. Things were much simpler back then, all he had to do was survive on a nightly bases. NOW however, he was forced to take on the Power Group's various issues, the Gol'bron.

A part of him regretted joining the group of warriors but he knew it was for the better in its own ways. Alone, he could only do so much. A cold wind blew as the two of them sat there for a long time the other waiting to say something.

Lorenor sighed and broke the silence first.

"I agree to what you're saying but I feel like there is something else you want to tell me Master Nocks." The boy asked.

The older Monk responded after another five minutes passed.

"There is something. I want you to make a trip into Haidia for me. There is an object we require."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

At the thought of returning to Haidia for a mission once more, the boy practically lit up at the opportunity. A formal request from the Monks of the Order meant he might be outfitted well for the mission. It also meant a certain level of danger to his person. The Haidia wild was never to be taken lightly even by one as experienced as he. In the under-world certain threats lurked native only to those vast caverns. Somewhere in those caverns awaited The Endless. The boy looked up at the flaming red star he knew to be N'Jal's prison and gave the Dark Mother a subtle prayer of thanks for such good fortunes.

"The instructions are in the package. You are to go at once after you've taken a trip ot the Armory. I filled in a special order for you just for this trip."

********************

Standing in front of the Gol'bron's growing armory, the boy nodded to the men, already familiar with the young immortal from a previous visit. A man handed the boy a series of packages. One again, the youth went into a nearby changing room and put the new equipment on. Exactly like his leather outfit, Lorenor saw a note that said Plynt. The boy immediately understood that for the Gol'Bron operation better equipment was needed. He put on the new pieces of equipment feeling how light-weight the Plynt material was when it was laced into the leather fabric. His shirt also had Plynt inside of it. Already wielding a steel long-sword, they added a Plynt short-sword ot his growing collection of weapons. The boy was already familiar with the weapons from his training.

The boy took a few practice swings with the short-sword in his hand and felt the light-weight treatment once more. They apparently respected the fact of his small size and tried to fashion for him equipment that might be useful for a more stealthy warrior. The leather jacket and his cloak were placed back on his person and he was ready to go. Taking the rest of his things with him, he put the outfit back into storage for another night.

The boy made his way outside the new armory complex. Not quite as potent as the original Pandemonium's Fist, this new emerging building served adequately enough. The basic purpose of arming the Gol'bron's Black Hand warriors and even many of the Red Hand ones. With a more defined purpose, the boy dual-served The Black Hand and The Red Hand. After a short journey towards The Ring, the boy stood and stared in awe at the marvelous object. With his new-found equipment and package in his hands the boy knew what he had to do. His target site was deep in the Haidia wilderness in a temple he'd ventured to for a previous job with fellow Gol'bron member Tyria.

Several agents of the Gol'bron worked at the site of The Ring. Once they saw the boy approaching though, they quickly stopped everything they were doing and moved away from The Ring. The boy moved towards The Ring nodding respectfully to the workers. His cape flowed in the wind. Out-croppings of the Concordia Forest touched Corone even this far North. Finding the sequence required to turn The Ring on, the boy smiled to himself. The Ring spun around rapidly opening the portal to Haidia. Gasps from the gathered group of workers amused the boy. They wondered the secrets of The Ring but it was through The Dark Mother's guidance that Lorenor knew. Stepping into the portal, the boy braced himself for the process of transforming into atoms.

Meanwhile, a third party watched from the distance smiling at the boy's progress.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

In one instant, the boy became nothing more than a shredded stream of atoms flowing across a sub-dimensional gate. Once, The Rings powers were greatly coveted by the governments of the world since they seemed to be unique to Haidia. Still, once it was discovered that multi-location seemed possible the governments of the world vied for control of the Rings. The Ancients built more Rings than just the ones that connected the Surface World to Haidia. The KNOWN Rings were kept a closely guarded secret by the intelligence networks of each government with new Rings found all the time. Sometimes, their secondary obviously lead back to Haidia as their markings suggested. Other times, with bizarre markings, the secondary location of the Rings seemed like a fool's gamble. So experimentation was required.

In this case, the boy discovered a new ring leading quickly back to Haidia and its resources. The Ring on the other side automatically turned itself on to assist in the transport and the boy's person unceremoniously spit itself out onto the ground. After a long moment of puking out his lunch along with some blood, the boy oriented himself quickly to the familiar sights of Haidia itself. Once his eyes adjusted to the infinitely winding caverns, the boy got used to the pain of teleportation. The pain lingered a brief moment more and finally subsided. Once this happened, the young immortal made his way across his native home-land knowing what dangers lurked.

Since the youth had no extra baggage holding him back, he made his way quickly through the under-brush without incident. Not needing to stop for even a few moments this time, the boy made his way quickly following specific paths and short-cuts he knew. Unlike last time, he didn't have a loud warrior to ruin his stealth capacities. The meeting with Linden Crum still made the boy angry at the other lad's sheer stupidity.

Moving quickly, the boy sensed dangers lurking in every angle. Avoiding these threats required skillful navigation of the underbrush. Large out-growth of cave algae replaced the Surface World's grass. Everything in Haidia was unique to a subterranean paradise. The boy soon saw the familiar temple knowing that he was one of the few to attempt to fully explore it. The last time they only scratched the surface of that place. In one of the rooms, wall carvings depicting The Endless showed up. These wall carvings seemed common in the rest of the temple but depicted a particular story in that one room. The room greatly interested the boy.

Against group consensus, he attempted to find something. With limited time, The Endless sang songs of discovery, nothing ever found in that room but in his haste, the boy didn't get a proper chance to explore. Now, he climbed the large steps of the temple making his way into the deeper parts where the inner chambers lurked. Once he reached the main room he saw that its structure remained practically untouched by bandits and rogues. Holy ground to the Endless.

Moving towards the control device that lead him to the lower chambers, the boy remembered their encounter with the goblin tribe. A glorious battle ensued and the boy's journey towards The Glory commenced that night. He looked at the familiar ceiling of the entry-chamber. Depictions of Haidia history etched upon the ancient stone. The boy marveled at such a precise artwork from the power of the ancients of Haidia. He wondered if the vampires built this place.

From his knowledge of history, the Dwarves didn't come to Haidia after a long time when the Demon War ended. The Demons and the vampires seemed native to Haidia, all though the vampires had a history entrenched with Haidia's story. The boy used the control mechanism and the alter opened up with the power of archaic forces. The hidden stair case revealed, the boy replaced the particular stone covering the switch and descended into the temple. On its own, the slab closed itself shut and the boy knew he needed to use the other exit he'd found.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

The staircase seemed to go on forever, descending into the darkness. A trick to fool the senses, the boy already knew how to navigate the corridors from a previous trip here. Admittedly though, they'd only explored a small portion of the temple and the object he saw wasn't in that treasure chamber--so there must be others someplace. The Endless guided the boy through the darkness and he listened to their every instruction.

Becoming better at communing with them, the boy found them to be a great guide through difficult situations. Bonded to only one Endless at the time, he knew that the individual itself communed with the Collective Mass regularly to assist the host. Lorenor, considered a Carrier by The Endless, worked to achieve a good relationship with his newfound allies. After all they offered him secrets and protection, the least he might do is offer loyalty. Thoughts of the Dark Mother intruded on that idea and the boy focused on the mission at hand.

He remembered exactly what the Monk sought. A missing piece of the puzzle to the Monks of the Order, an object of great interest lurked in the temple the boy now explored. Moving down the specific paths The Endless whispered he needed to go on, the boy finally made his way towards a chamber he never saw before. Moving into the chamber he saw a sight that at once shocked him and terrified him. A gathering of The Endless lurked here along with ancient corpses secondary to the collective mass that Lorenor knew about.

Though The Endless communed with one another even at this moment, the boy sensed hostility towards these Endless. Hostility towards his person and at once the idea to retreat hit him. Still the boy was bonded by honour to the Monks and would not simply just flee. He bonded to The Endless before, perhaps he could bond with this group as well. It all felt the same to him somehow and he proceeded forward. The living black substance covered most of the large warehouse-like room. Statues and columns jutted out of this secondary collective in various spots. The boy proceeded forward despite songs of anger from The Endless within.

This sparked an immediate reaction from The Endless in the room. The living substance made its way aggressively towards the boy jumping from place to place and expanding its mass forward, hungry for The Carrier. The boy didn't bother trying to fight he knew what would happen. The boy simply stood there, and once the Endless leaped at him in an aggressive sort of way, like a demon from the stories of old, the boy moved into a defensive posture instinctively.

Still, the oil-like substance consume the boy. In a moment he was surrounded by the collective mass of The Endless once again falling across eternity. As he fell the collective binded with The Endless inside of him forcing a painful reaction. As the boy fell across the collective, something happened he didn't expect. The Endless within split into a secondary Endless across time and space. Within that one moment across history, the boy now bonded with not one, but two separate Endless. One calling itself protector, and the other calling itself aggressor. Though young, both of The Endless worked in conjunction with one another communing with this new collective.

Lorenor discovered that this was a piece of the original collective that was sent off on a mission long ago. Finding its way into the temple, they destroyed a once great civilization of the vampire race. The Endless grew into a collective mass of its own and decided to remain within the temple to await the Carrier. At that moment the boy realized that The Endless had its own agenda separate and conflicting from N'Jal's goals. It seemed that isolation from the Dark Mother allowed The Endless to become self-aware and concoct its own schemes. The boy shivered knowing that eventually these two separate schemes might cross-swords someday with him trapped in the middle of the potential war.

Lorenor told the Endless what he sought after they'd done their thing to him and gave him a new Endless to work with. The pair worked together in conjunction to plead Lorenor's case to the collective. Once it was decided that they needed the boy for their plans to have an edge against N'Jal in the distant future, the war was decided. The boy became the General of The Endless and its representative ambassador to the rest of Althanas. Though The Endless itself was an aggressive race, it offered mutual benefits to host organisms. The prospect of controlling such a power made the boy feel elation. Though his greed knew no bounds, this was almost too much for the boy. He accepted despite himself, the offer of The Endless.

Once this was achieved, the boy's case was heard. An object within their collective was needed. Helping out the Gol'bron could further the goals of The Endless and it knew this. Everything that the boy knew, The Endless knew just the same. They bonded with the boy, collecting all important information and seeing the young immortal's progress.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

The Endless shifted through their inventory of objects. In one moment across eternity, they located the object they sought. Moving it across the collective, the boy, suspended in time, was moved towards the object as well. He reached out towards it and saw that two objects were handed to him. Two neatly packed objects in separate small packages of wood. The boy nodded his thanks to The Endless and put away both of the objects moving as best as he could against the ocean of darkness.

Though a slightly unpleasant feeling, he got used to The Endless penetrating his every pore. They seemed into ever part of his body to explore him inside and outside. With the task completed, the boy felt like it was time to go. Within The Endless time had no meaning so he wondered how much time actually passed. Slowly, The Endless receded from his person un-sticking itself from the small warrior's body. The boy breathed a deep gulping of fresh air inside the temple as he knelt before The Endless.

They moved at least a few paces back into the large room offering the boy enough space to move about. They didn't reveal anymore treasures to the boy but he decided against pressing his luck knowing it was pointless with The Endless. They had their own agenda. Once again, that thought made him shiver and he now knew conflict with N'Jal was inevitable. Still though, his quest to become a Spider-Magi seemed generally accepted by The Endless as it might make the collective that much stronger. They ALLOWED the boy to proceed with his own plans of conquest.

Nodding to The Endless with deep respect, the boy proceeded to leave the temple before The Endless changed their mind. Within moments, he found himself missing the collective, but decided that he could return at any point he wanted to in order to commune with his powerful ally. Somehow, his Endless called Protector felt a little bit stronger after the time spent with the collective hive-mind. The boy made his way quickly through the temple avoiding anything that might get him in trouble and making his way to the secondary exit he'd discovered with Tyria not so long ago. Somehow, he found himself missing her presence.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Finding his way outside, the boy made his way quickly once again through the Haidia wild. He made sure that the entrance was closed before he moved on through the wild. With his prize in hand, he opened HIS package up and to his surprise saw a large quantity of gold for the mercenary mission. He also saw something that caught his eyes. A bracer made of Delyn. Though not a particularly powerful metal by any means what-so-ever, the Delyn was well-forged by the vampires of Haidia. Markings unique to the vampire culture lurked on the bracer and somehow the boy understood them.

The markings spoke of an Aegis defense system provided by the markings on its surface. Also in his box was an amulet of some-sort with similar vampire markings etched on it. The amulet was a gold chain with a powerful ruby gem-stone in embedded in the center. Both objects glowed with power. The boy placed the bracer on his left hand. Once this happened he felt the thing attach itself to his arm and he screamed in agony for a moment, despite himself, as the bracer ate away the flesh of his arm. The thing BECAME his fore-arm and knew hand at that point.

Despite the loss of his old hand, the boy saw that the bracer still functioned like a normal hand might. Far superior to it as well. The boy closed the box after placing his amulet on. The enchantments on the bracer spoke of some sort of shielding power that came with it. The boy understood what that could mean and accepted the archaic gift. The amulet, had a power to assist in the purification of blood. If the blood was corrupt in anyway, the boy might use his amulet to clean the blood and recycle it. Soon, he made his way to The Ring and back to the Gol'Bron base. Once there he found out from people around him that months had passed. The boy made his way to Nocks' person carrying everything with him.