Red Hand Pilgrimage: The Second Age of Darkness.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Moderator note takes place approximately a Month after the destruction of Valinatal (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=9041) and Rise of the Red Hand (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=8720)))



November 18th CP 1805
12:30P.M.






Lorenor's journal


Long live the Red Hand. It was the saying that Sorahn taught me during our stay at Salvar, it seemed now like a lifetime ago. After the fall of King Iorlan Rahaxea the Red Hand gained significant influence with the new King Lemmerz Xer'Xan. Having the same nightmare image of a dream for almost a week, I had the strange feeling that my Maester, N'Jal had returned from her celestial prison. Hearing the call of N'Jal, I suddenly had the urge to visit Raiaera, the land of the Elves. Little did I know that other events were occuring that would make me meet my destiny. I gathered my supplies and planned for the long trip ahead. It was a long trip from Corone to Anebrilith.

This was my first pilgrimage to Raiaera. I felt anxiety entering the land of the Elves for some reason that was unknown to me. Stepping off the boat, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was much shorter than the rest of the throng and I made my way casually to purchase a horse for my travels. Getting a map of Raiaera was the next thing. Word quickly spread about the destruction site at Valinatal and this confirmed the horrible truth; N'Jal had returned. Althanas' moon no longer rested in her sky.

Traveling towards Valinatal, I made my way towards the crash site without a hitch. I fought some stray zombies on the way that attempted to waylay me for a quick meal, I wasn't having any of that. After quickly defeating the strays, I soon found myself at the crash site at Valinatal...

Yours truly,
Lorenor V'Halkulus



Seeing the gaping hole where once there stood a proud Elven City, Lorenor sat atop his mount. It was an Elven mare raised for a life of servitude and burden. Lorenor purchased her for the simple convenience of having an extra set of legs. Horses could move much faster than humans could with their powerful muscles. Her tale swung from side to side lazily in the breeze as it swished away at flies that decided to come too close. She was a chestnut colored mare that was well aged and experienced. Lorenor quickly developed a rapport with the horse. Deciding that he liked riding horses, the ghoul made it a point to eventually train himself to become an expert rider...but now was not the time. Now, the hill lurked beneath the duo. His horse was named Sheena. The stable boys at Anerbrilith told him so. The trip from Anerbrilith to Valinatal took a few days on horseback, and would have taken much longer on foot. Lorenor was glad he had the good instinct to visit the stables at Anerbrilith before he headed out. Except for that battle with the strays, Lorenor had not had a run in with any of Xem'Zund's rumored forces. He knew battles were taking place all over Raiaera with the enemy.

So long as they didn't bother Lorenor, the ghoul did not place himself in the affairs of Raiaera. He could care less about the Elves unless they were connected to the Red Hand somehow. These Elves weren't. They looked upon him with disdain despite his well dressed attire and good manners. He knew that being a ghoul was not an easy existence and there were those who would attempt to kill him on sight.

Long live the Red Hand. Lorenor clenched his fists tightly around the reigns of the horse. N'Jal called him and he heard the call. There was a mysterious noise in the air that only those with senses like the ghoul could hear. Lorenor felt the vibration in the ground more than he actually heard it!

With his emblazoned cloak flowing in the breeze, Lorenor signaled for his horse to move forward. She neighed in protest upon sensing the dangers that lurked in Valinatal, but Lorenor pushed anyway. The horse reluctantly obeyed her master. She marched slowly towards Valinatal's destruction site with a somber expression on her long face. Lorenor frowned as they moved forward. The smell of recent death touched his sensitive sphere, perking up his senses. He heard the rumors of the destruction at Valinatal but didn't actually believe it until he saw it for himself. He made his way towards the crash site...

[MetalDrago]

The stench of decay was almost overwhelming. MetalDrago pulled his cloak tight over his mouth as he let himself take in the sights of the fallen city before him. Perhaps the word city didn’t apply so well anymore. There didn’t appear to be much of anything left. Perhaps the name Narenhad, “the Burned Place,” was a much more appropriate name than MetalDrago had considered it to be when he began his journey to this place. He’d thought all the rumors were false, or exaggerated, but he was wrong.

MetalDrago could still hear the echoes of the screams of the fallen, pushing him down with the weight of their anguish. A wind brushed by him, bathing him in ash. He sneezed and cursed softly at the wind, knowing it to be merely in its nature to blow things around. It may not have seemed so at the time, but later, he would realize that Narenhad was going to become a place grown thick with vegetation. It would take many long years, but eventually, Nature would persist and flourish. From the ashes of the fallen rises the nourishment for that yet to come. The maddening anguish of the land might make the land become twisted and dark, but that would only be if it persisted. Eventually, all things would fade, including the memory and effects of this war.

“There it is.” MetalDrago said to himself. The shadow of despair that he sensed all the way in Corone came from this place, the city once known as Valinatal. If anything could retard the recovery of this land, and anchor the despair and anguish of an entire continent, this would be it. The asteroid had made contact here. The black pall cast over an entire world was centered here, in what had been created as a prison for N’Jal. Of course, MetalDrago did not know this, and only knew that this giant rock was emanating a force unlike any he had ever felt in all his years.

The exterior of the asteroid was craggy. Indeed, there were so many fault lines upon it that it looked more like a sad attempt at a giant tiger sculpture than an asteroid. The closer MetalDrago got to the asteroid, the less he saw. Further away from the bulk of the asteroid, he might have found a standing wall or two of a house, but the closer he got, the less there was left standing. MetalDrago felt that if he stood within one hundred meters of the asteroid, not even a brick of a wall would be anywhere in sight.

About a kilometer away from the asteroid, MetalDrago halted in mid-stride. He couldn’t will himself any closer to the asteroid. The force of the pall sent forth from its center was holding him back. He couldn’t move any further forward. He paused and thought about it. If I can’t get any closer than this, I should probably pull back and survey the situation a little more carefully. This force… I don’t know whether or not to call it evil… It doesn’t want me to come any closer than this. There must be a reason. I’m sure that if I pushed any further forward, I’d be driven to madness by this power.

Back at the camp he’d made outside of what used to be the city proper, MetalDrago was making himself a nice, hot soup from some vegetables that he’d brought with him from Radasanth. He’d been sure he would have been able to hunt at some point in this region of Raiaera, but he’d been wrong. “What I wouldn’t give for a nice rabbit or a deer right now.” MetalDrago said solemnly. Almost imperceptibly, he heard a sound off in the distance. He scanned the area around, but he couldn’t see anything. All the ash that would randomly get stirred up wasn’t helping much, either. He felt the presence of someone nearby, but he couldn’t place it. It seemed somehow… familiar.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

The Elves were suffering greatly. Lorenor wore a grin on his face as he considered this systematic extermination of the Elves. There was a rumor spreading that Eluriand fell around the same time that Valinatal fell. Now only a few major cities were left that held any of the power that the Elves formerly wielded. Despite that, Lorenor found himself feeling at least a little sorry for the Elves. Xem'Zund posed a threat to the greater Althanas if he had his way with Raiaera. But Lorenor was not there to involve himself in the conflict of the Elves, his hated enemy. He was there for N'Jal. Lorenor wanted to be the first to see the great Spider Queen.

Standing at a short stature, the ghoul was a lot shorter than most of the warriors of Althanas. Built for agility and speed, the sneaky bastard relied on his craftiness and dirty tricks to survive. He was a derelict ghoul. Wearing an outfit of full black, the ghoul wore baggy leather pants, a black vlince cloak, a black shirt made of the same material, all embroidered in a fashion style common to Salvar, though he was a native of Haidia. His trip to Riaaera was from the Northlands of Salvar. He'd come on an impulse to explore the crash site where the asteroid now lurked. Lorenor wanted to see the devastation firsthand.

Such cruelty and suffering kept the smile on his lips. Former Valinatal's site was now all but abandoned. Only a few guards remained that warned citizens of the danger within the place. The skeletal remains of buildings marked the few surviving structures of the once proud city. Lorenor's cloak flowed in the ash-filled breeze. It was hard to breath, but the ghoul was willing to take that risk to be reunited with The Mother. Lorenor's Mother.

N'Jal the Spider Queen. The ghoul's face was horribly scarred. A terrible scar ran down the center of his head and towards the upper portion of his throat, especially intricate on the area of his maxilla. His eye sockets were devoid of any eyeballs but exhibited a supernatural purple glow. Atop his head, was crowned a series of thickly dreadlocks colored black. The ghoul's boots crunched against the charred earth. Bastards got it bad from Xem'Zund's forces this time. Don't you think? He thought to himself as he turned towards his horse. The horse neighed in protest changing the ghoul's already twisted expression towards one of concern. "You lousy beast, be that way." Lorenor let the reigns of the horse go.

She ran off into the wild on her own. Lorenor could find her later. A particular scent caught his attention. The ghoul turned in the general direction of MetalDrago, who was resting in a camp on the outskirts of town apparently. Though the ghoul would not know this. The scent caught his attention for it was draconian in nature. Staring in that general direction, Lorenor decided that N'Jal could wait a little longer. He started to slowly walk towards MetalDrago's position. His posture was upright and completely confident in his own ability.

[MetalDrago]

ostWhy did I decide to come here in the first place? MetalDrago asked himself. Oh, right. He unhappily remembered the entire reason he had made the trek to Raiaera in the first place. Being the good person he was, he’d volunteered to go on a goodwill mission to Raiaera. He’d been assigned to help the people of the former city of Valinatal.

It appeared, however, that they were all gone now, at least for the most part. There was no chance of rebuilding the city. Basically, the contract was null and void. This meant no reward. I should have listened to the rumors. he thought bitterly. The rumors of the city’s complete and utter destruction still rung in his ears, but didn’t hold a candle to the reality of it. The city had been crushed completely. It was a sad state of affairs. Bards would be singing requiems for the fallen city for centuries to come.

A crunch of earth beneath someone’s feet met MetalDrago’s ears. He turned his head and was utterly shocked by the sight that greeted him. “You…” was all that he said. Before him, in all his ghastly glory, was Lorenor. He looked different; a lot different, in fact. He was more like a ghost than he was the vampiric mercenary he had been when MetalDrago had last seen him.

Lorenor had been a mercenary in the employ of Terramat, a Dark Elven Lord, more than a decade before. Though powerful then, he’d agreed to a duel with MetalDrago. It had ended in a draw, but MetalDrago couldn’t forget the way that the mercenary had played with him. Lorenor had baited him, beat him seriously, and continually wore away at the dragonian’s pride. The only way MetalDrago had managed to bring it to a draw was through trickery and a little luck. He'd escaped with the Dragon's Honor, but Terramat had stolen almost all of its mystical energies, using them to make himself more powerful. MetalDrago could still feel the bitter hatred he'd felt for Terramat when he'd found out that the Dark Lord had won again.

“I’d never have thought you were still alive.” MetalDrago said, eyeing Lorenor critically. “But, then again, I suppose alive is a bit of a stretch, huh?” Of course, MetalDrago harbored a few hard feelings against Lorenor, but mercenaries were paid to do what their masters asked. It was foolish to harbor any ill will toward someone who thought of it as just another job. “Well, anyway, if you want to, grab a seat. I don’t have much, but… Whatever I have is yours to share.” It was hard to be nice to someone who beat the crap out of him, but he’d been on good terms with people who had beat him worse than Lorenor. Xanith Trailweaver, master of the Citadel, was a prime example of this.

MetalDrago waited for Lorenor to say something in response to his surprise. He did not expect the former mercenary to say much, but he was curious to see what he was here for. Perhaps he even had something to do with the force within the asteroid.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Strange scents circulated about the ghoul's sensory array. Taunting him, tormenting him with memories of the past. Something about the stranger before him seemed excruciatingly familiar to Lorenor. Distant visions of memories of a former life tormented the ghoul. Nothing concrete came forth from his memories, only minute visions and flashes. They felt far away to him, and he tried to make sense of what his past was saying. Lorenor attempted to grasp the memories that were popping up, but they were like sand in the wind. Here one moment and gone the next, possibly for all eternity. The endless taunted the ghoul with the visions that it was throwing out. He has answers you need. Answers of your past. And a mission for the future. The whispers were cryptic and the ghoul didn't understand what the endless meant by it.

Listening to the clues that were given to him, the ghoul decided it best to take up the apparent youth's offer. Amidst the chaos of former Valinatal, the ghoul and his companion seemed like an odd sort of duo. Lorenor suddenly realized that as he sat upon a nearby rock with a casual position. He slouched forward, completely relaxed and sure of himself. Both of his hands were clasped into one another and rested underneath the Spider Magi's chin.

He stared at MetalDrago's person. The apparent youth seemed very familiar to him now that he was up close to the lad. Staring from beneath a vlince hood, the ghoul listened to the words that were spoken. Revealing is it not? The thoughts passed through the ghoul's thick skull. So much of his past was still a mystery to him. The important questions of philosophical life lacked crucial answers. Who was I? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing? Those questions plagued the ghoul with the promise of an identity, plagued him with the promise of a future.

Until then, he had to unravel the mystery as the pieces of the puzzle came together. Right then, he had the Golems, he had his data cube, he had two pieces of the Necronomicon and was scouring the globe of Althanas trying to find the third book. Those devoted to the cult of N'Jal required the passages and verse written in human blood and written on human flesh. Lorenor could feel the power of the two books even in his travel packs. They promised to shed even more secrets to the ghoul.

Words flowed from the lad's lips. They were like honey to his ears. He found the youth extremely attractive and could see the energetic aura that he gave off. Somehow, his companion was able to affect the very air around him with the power stored within his vessel. Lorenor was no punk either, the two individuals gave off tremendous amounts of energy. Lorenor's dark aura gathered about the ghoul giving him an even more menacing presence.

As Lorenor pondered these matters and felt the texture of the stone against his bottom, he realized a full ten minutes passed. He'd not presented any sort of answers to the boy. Thinking about his apparent rudeness, the ghoul chuckled loudly for a moment. As a Salvarn Lord, the small warrior needed to be on his best personal representation at all moments. He adjusted his cloak for a moment. He missed the weight of the thick hides commonly worn in Salvar due to its harsh Winters. Lorenor finally responded to the youth.

The raspy verse touched the air and would sound unpleasant to most.

"It seems that my reputation exceeds me. I'd only recently obtained the mantle of lordship. So forgive me if I'm still adjusting to the various traditions and customs of royalty. I came from rags after all.." Lorenor chuckled again as he revealed some of his mysterious past. "I picked up some food on the way from another city a time ago." Lorenor dug into his packs and removed some rations of beef and fruit. He also had a skin containing fresh water. These materials were not for him, they were courtesies just in case he found other travelers on the way to Valinatal. They were mere formalities. He stood up and handed MetalDrago the rations and water skin. They were placed on the ground nearby to the youth. The food was wrapped in a protective bundle and well preserved.

The water skin was a thick cow hide apparently. He went back to the rock he was sitting on previously and sat back down. With an expression that suggested he was deep in thought, Lorenor returned to his staring at that strange boy. While he waited for the youth, the ghoul removed one of the books in his possession. He began to read the strange symbols and incantations written in either of the tomes in his possession. The books of N'Jal were not meant for the realm of the living. He looked at the book for a moment, reading its passages and then quickly returned it back into his packs after he got to a certain page. Afterwards, he returned his attention to MetalDrago.

"The name is Lord Lorenor V'halkulus." Lorenor said, introducing himself. He then extended his hand towards the youth for the lad to shake it.

[MetalDrago]

So… he doesn’t remember me. That’s not really a surprise. MetalDrago thought dismally. He accepted the rations from Lorenor with gusto. He immediately began dicing the meat and placing it into the pot. The pungent aroma filled his nostrils and made his mouth water. “You have no idea how big a favor you’ve done for me.” he said.

He noticed that Lorenor seemed to be brooding over something, as if trying to remember something important that he could not recall. MetalDrago smiled slightly as Lorenor spoke of his newly attained status as a Lord of Salvar. “You’ve made quite a name for yourself, then?” he asked, Lorenor seemed to be a much nicer guy than he had been before, but appearances were often deceiving.

“You honestly don’t remember me, do you?” he asked seriously. Then he smiled. “It’s alright. The last time we met, you were a mercenary and not quite so… I guess ‘decayed’ is the proper word.” MetalDrago sighed at the thought of the fight he’d had with Lorenor.

“Well, then. I guess I might as well refresh your memory.” MetalDrago said, resting his back against a block of wall from the rubble surrounding the ruined city. “About ten, maybe eleven years ago, you were a mercenary in the employ of a certain Dark Elf by the name of Terramat. He hired you to take a sword from the ruins of a temple in Concordia. This sword, in fact.” MetalDrago drove the Dragon’s Honor into the ground before Lorenor. The amber-colored blade glinted slightly in the dull sunlight.

“I took the sword from Terramat, and he sent you to find and capture me.” Lorenor’s speed had been almost too much for MetalDrago. He’d been unable to outrun the vampire no matter what tricks he’d tried to use. “You came upon me and we dueled. My original sword, the Flamingtongue, was lost in the fight. It was shattered by one of your attacks. I had no choice but to take up the Dragon’s Honor in self-defense. I was still no real match for you. You were too fast, and far too strong for me to take you on in a fair fight.” MetalDrago sighed again, feeling the aches and pains of the weeks that followed the fight anew.

“Finally, I was able to temporarily unlock some of the potential of the Dragon’s Honor and drive you back. The two of us attacked each other almost simultaneously. After that, we had no choice but to agree that we were both too wounded to keep fighting. I ran and collapsed a little less than a mile away from where we dueled.” MetalDrago looked at Lorenor with something akin to humor. He smiled widely. “I vowed that I would never pick a fight with you on purpose ever again. Ever since, you’ve had my respect.”

MetalDrago felt a bit better having relayed the story to the only other being who had ever seen or remembered the spectacle of the release of the Dragon’s Honor. He pulled the sword from the ground and sheathed it. “It’s not surprising you don’t remember me. It was ten years ago, after all. Anyway, no formal introductions were ever made. I’m MetalDrago Scorpio, swordsman and scholar. Nice to meet you again, Lord Lorenor.” He extended his hand, hoping to have it accepted by the Salvan Lord.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

In his current state, Lorenor had become a shell of his former self. Potential lurked within that small vessel, potential to become the legendary warrior that once terrified Althanas for a generation. The ghoul accepted MetalDrago's handshake. He seems like a friendly enough individual. He has information for me and it is so forthcoming. I can use someone like that. Lorenor thought to himself as he observed the properties of Dragon's Honour. In another lifetime, that sword would've been his weapon. Lorenor listened to the story that was told. An uncomfortable feeling washed over the ghoul as a sudden breeze washed across the land. The air was thick and hot, filled with a crackling energy that Lorenor's eyes could detect. He guessed that the energy was a byproduct of the asteroid crashing into Valinatal.

Seeing the destruction firsthand made Lorenor think twice about the nature of the world. Everything was give and take. Lorenor's seeds of greed were placed firmly in his heart as he began his journey towards the dark side. With the two books of the Necronomicon in his possession, Lorenor simply needed the third book in his possession. Once that process was complete, he could completely reveal the mysteries of N'Jal to the world as her greatest disciple in history. Lorenor was destined to become N'Jal's Paladin. Thinking on that, the thoughts were oddly stirred by the swordman's stories. Each verse of the tale caused a stranger reaction to occur as memories of former past lives resurfaced. Flashes, like shards of broken glass, here one moment and gone the next, burned across his mind.

The sensations were uncomfortable to the ghoul and caused him to physically twitch as he remembered these faint memories. Some of the images were crystal clear for the briefest of moments. Truth. The endless sang to the ghoul as the memories surfaced. Lorenor saw a void where the shards of glass passed across eternity. Each shard containing a detailed image of a past that was his own. Desperately trying to grasp the memories, the images fell quickly back into the void. Tormenting the small warrior. His hand went to his frontalis muscle, clutching at the forehead for a moment.

A headache went up and down his spine. Lorenor hissed for a moment as he felt the pain pulsate throughout his skull. Friend. Ally. Student. Pass on what you have learned. The thoughts passed through his head quickly, a commanding gospel more than anything else. Lorenor nodded to himself as the pain slowly faded away. Once the unsettling feelings washed through his very core, the ghoul looked back towards MetalDrago Scorpio. "The honour is mine. I am glad to meet one like yourself in this terrain. It is a dangerous place to be with Xem'Zund's forces lurking about. They stormed Eluriand and took it over from what I've been hearing of the locals. To my knowledge, this is the first time I've been in Raiaera. But somehow, things seem familiar to me." Lorenor paused for a moment letting the words pass to the individual. "I have more supplies if you would like them. I resupplied in Annebrilith before I left. There's a lot of work for sellswords out here now. Now that Eluriand has fallen and Xem'Zund stands to eradicate the Elves all together." Lorenor's voice was laced with a bit of amusement as well.

It was clear that the ghoul had no love for the Elves. If Xem'Zund won was not a bother to the would-be Necromancer. In fact, Lorenor often pondered joining forces with Xem'Zund for the greater studies of industrialism and conquest. After recent events, Xem'Zund stood to destroy former Raiaera off the face of Althanas for good. A once proud culture wiped out by a hated enemy. Lorenor wanted to laugh. He kept his eyes upon MetalDrago.

"What brings you to Raiaera?" The ghoul asked. "This is no longer a place for tourists. Clearly you have some ulterior motive to be here. It's piqued my interest." With the wind, Lorenor could've sworn he heard the screaming sounds of pain of thousands of victims caught off guard by the asteroid. Lorenor wished he could've seen it.

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago smiled for a moment before Lorenor started twitching. It appeared that his history was causing him some kind of unknown pain. He thought of asking what was wrong, but then Lorenor suddenly stopped, and offered him more supplies. He politely shook his head, saying, “If we travel toward the meteor together, then we have no need of giving each other anything, now do we? We share, then.”

When asked about his reason for coming here, MetalDrago was much more forthcoming than he had been about any details of the battle with Lorenor. “There isn’t much to say. I volunteered to go on a goodwill mission here to what was Valinatal in order to help evacuate any remaining civilians. I was a bit late in getting here, though, and I don’t think many civilians were left after the fall of that asteroid, anyway. I know a few have fallen here, but… never one of that size, I’m sure. I’m surprised our world was left in one piece, honestly.”

MetalDrago sighed. “There’s just something about that rock that bugs me… It has an aura so different from any other I’ve seen that I can’t even manage to properly understand what it is. I can usually at least find out whether it is something that means great harm or not, but this… I’m not sure exactly what it is.”

MetalDrago smiled slightly at Lorenor, amusement showing clearly in his eyes. “I suppose you have no great love for the Elven kind, eh? I can’t imagine why… They’re always so nice to outsiders, especially the undead.” The sarcasm in his voice took the sting off what he said. “It’s no picnic for my kind, either. We dragonians are often mistaken for the draconian races. We’re a lot more human-esque in our features than the draconian races.” The dragonian swordsman sighed mightily. “It’s a curse to be disliked based on one’s appearance, but not all of these people are as stuck up as some of them are, you know. Ah well, listen to me preach, and I know so little about the world around me.”

The sun seemed to disappear at that moment, blocked by some sort of energy that was almost visible. The power from the asteroid seemed to be picking up slightly. MetalDrago was positive that he would be driven mad if he tried to get to the asteroid now. But, something within his soul was screaming for him to approach the asteroid; for what purpose he was uncertain.

The soup smelled wonderful and MetalDrago took a ladle-full and poured it into a wooden bowl. He tasted it and smiled. “It’s finished.” he said simply. He looked at the undead noble before him and said, “Do you want some?” Without even waiting for a response, the dragonian looked to the asteroid. “I’m going there after I finish eating. I don’t know why, but I have no choice.” He choked down his soup, noting that an ash-filled dump of a city was not the best choice of a place to make soup. It tasted horrible.

MetalDrago turned back to Lorenor, his green eyes glowing brightly. “You coming to the asteroid too, or are you going to do the smart thing and stand back a respectful distance?” Again without waiting for an answer, MetalDrago turned and began to walk toward the prison of N’Jal. MetalDrago had just become an unwitting piece in the game between N’Jal and the other Thayne. Who would end up with control of that particular piece in the endgame was anybody’s guess.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

The smell from the cooked food swirled about the ghoul for a moment. Lorenor hissed briefly as the texture of the meal touched his sensory array. Not having a particular affinity for cooked meals, Lorenor decided it was time to leave the makeshift camp. Turning his attention towards MetalDrago, the dragonian's words still swirled about his head for a long moment. Deciding that he would much rather think about the grandiose speech on racism later on, Lorenor quickly caught up with the swordsman. Changing subtly, the temperature in the world went from hot to slightly colder. Signaling the heralding of the realm of the dark mother, Lorenor felt his strength growing to its full capacity once more.

Walking alongside his companion, Lorenor said nothing. He simply observed the sheer level of chaos and destruction that hit the once proud elven city. One of MetalDrago's comments hit home at that moment. I'm surprised that the asteroid didn't break the world. You're right man. We'd be staring at the world wide destruction if the Thayne hadn't blessed us. Somehow, N'Jal's prison hadn't caused a physical manifestation of the second age of darkness to occur. However, he was certain that the old scriptures were merely speaking in metaphors.

Thinking about the two tomes in his possession, Lorenor knew that he was still missing a third book. One more book to combine the three pieces of the legendary Necronomicon. One of the books dealt solely with psalms, prayers, rites, and secret passages meant to invoke the power of N'Jal. It was a series of passages necessary for any would be disciple to study in order to become a dedicated apostle of the dark goddess. Lorenor bore the markings, but he was no Spider Magi yet. Or perhaps he was something more. He could feel his boots crunching the scorched earth eliminating all possibility of stealth. Between the two of them, they were making enough noise to sound like a small battalion of warriors was moving through the streets of former Valinatal.

Examining the environment around him, Lorenor saw the hollowed out insides of buildings. Skeletal structures of pillars and columns were blended into the earth around them, much of the ground was scorched in a complete layer of granite black. The air was hot. Lorenor had a difficult time breathing in that choking air. A metallic taste that was unfamiliar to the ghoul seared at the inside of his mouth. Steam flowed from his very person, and it only got hotter the closer he moved to ground zero. Crunch, crunch, crunch. His boots created the sound as he moved through the inferno.

Dust flowing upward into the sky making it even harder to breathe. Lorenor wrapped a part of his hood around his mouth, like a scarf, so that he could breathe with a slighter degree of ease. The heat was making the ghoul sweat, clothing sticking to his skin. As he walked, he felt the air crackle with supernatural power. Intense energy burst green across the wind creating sparks that flashed with ephemereal light. Lorenor pondered retreating from the crash site, but blind faith and conviction in the dark goddes, N'Jal, kept his muscles pushing forward through the ordeal. And just when rivulets of sweat poured down his forehead like a cataracts, the ghoul gasped for a breath of air.

Suddenly, he took a step forward and a single stone pebble fell down the edge of the ravine. A sharp cut off point adjusted the terrain into an intense slit across the top crust of Althanas' soil. Approximately one hundred yards away was the center of the devastation. Clouds of green energy burst upwards into the sky. Steam still flowed in every direction carried by the radioactive wind. It was a beautiful sight to the ghoul. Lorenor took in the mass destruction and could not help but smile. Mother. I have returned to you. Lorenor thought and looked towards the form of his companion. He wasn't sure how such a harsh environment would affect a Dragonian but he hoped the warrior was just as tough as he looked. "We're almost there. Are you ready?"

And a hundred yard journey awaited the ghoul and the Dragonian. Their destinies and the destiny of all of Althanas was at hand.

[MetalDrago]

The feeling of foreboding almost made MetalDrago collapse in upon himself. Something was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon. Bits and pieces from the asteroid chipped off and fell as energy danced wildly throughout the crash site. “Could this be…?” MetalDrago coughed through the ash. It was like breathing in fire.

“Damn this place gives me the creeps.” the dragonian said silently. When Lorenor turned to him, he smiled wickedly. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Let’s go.” he said, his smile broadening as he stepped closer to the asteroid. The energies tried to attack MetalDrago and Lorenor as they approached the asteroid, but they could not. It was as if some invisible force was pulling the two of them along this path, not allowing either to be harmed.

“We’re being protected by someone, or something.” MetalDrago said to Lorenor, sure he knew this as well. His eyes surveyed the surroundings as he continued to walk forward, but he could not find the source of the protection. It would seem that we are being led here by whatever it is that’s trapped in that asteroid. He thought dismally. Whatever it was, it needed their help.

Before them, a pathway opened. It looked like a mere crack in the rocky surface of the asteroid at first, but upon closer examination, there was something growing out of it. MetalDrago backed off, swinging the Dragon’s Honor free of its scabbard. “What the hell?” the swordsman asked. Vines began to pour from the side of the asteroid, ripping a gaping hole in the side of it.

From somewhere off in the distance, a scream could be heard. The otherworldly vines began to retract, their tendrils tightly wrapped around something. Or maybe someone. The screaming was getting closer. “Get off me!” came a voice, clearer, but still not easily heard.

“Is that…?” MetalDrago asked himself. Indeed it was. Hacking at the vines so fast that the mortal eye couldn’t see was Terramat, the Deceitful Assassin himself. His face was a mask of fear as he frantically tried to free himself from the vines’ grasp. “I will not return to that world! Never again! Ten thousand years are more than enough!”

“Soundwave Slicer!” Terramat screamed, unleashing an attack, slicing through the vines savagely. The vines dropped him and began to slither away from him, looking for some other, weaker prey. Terramat looked around, his eyes finally sregistering Lorenor and MetalDrago. “MetalDrago? You’re going to enter that place? You’re insane!” The Dark Lord slowly found his composure. “Ahem. What you want to do is your own business, but we’re staying away from that thing. Perhaps it’s better that you lock yourself in the Realm of N’Jal. You might be able to make yourself more like us.” Terramat disappeared, leaving MetalDrago to consider his words. It would seem that he had been following MetalDrago for some time, keeping track og his movements as he tried to get vengeance for his fallen student.

The dragonian shrugged and walked toward the asteroid. He'd have time to take care of Terramat later. Though he knew N'Jal was considered to be the most evil being in existence, MetalDrago didn't care. He was being compelled into this role, and he decided to drop his doubts and let this destiny take him where it would. The vines came from within the asteroid and wrapped around MetalDrago’s arms and legs. He was lifted from the ground gently and pulled into the portal where his destiny waited. “I hope I’m not making the wrong decision.” he said silently, swallowing his fears and welcoming his descent into an unknown world.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Purple are the words of N'Jal))
((Italics are Lorenor's thoughts))
((Bold Italics are the endless))

Listen to my word, for the word of N'Jal is the truth. The word of N'Jal is the way. Trust in the signs that N'Jal places before you. Blessed are you amongst my followers. Blessed are you amongst my disciples. You who are my son. The son of N'Jal. Tread upon the broken path and you shall know the way into my kingdom. Eternal is the kingdom of shadows. Eternal is the second darkness that awaits the forsaken land. Come to me ye warriors of purgatory.

Voices swirled within the troubled mind of the ghoul. Fragments came at first, but after a few moments, the voices started to resonate louder than ever. I'm close now. So very close to my truth. The very reason for my being here on this world called Althanas. I will discover the very meaning of my life.

The ghoul thought to himself as he saw the tendrils slither across the ground.

Muscles within the vegetation tugged, pulled, and stretched upon itself creating the dragging motion across the stone floor. Lorenor took a quick glance at the nearby skeletal buildings. Turning his attention back to the area he was looking at a few, Lorenor gasped as he saw the stalk of a plant standing upon its own gravity and staring the ghoul right in the eyes.

His hand immediately went to his weapon. But the stalk of the asteroid merely observed the ghoul for a long moment whilst other stalks slid across the ground, about seven or eight more, and began their assault. The ghoul was overwhelmed with a desire to escape the situation but was quickly swept up by the tendrils. Feeling the muscular vegetation wrapping itself around his wrists, ankles, and ultimately, his waist.

Lorenor felt a squeezing sensation as the tendrils grabbed the ghoul and lifted him firmly off the ground. Looking down, the ghoul saw that he was several feet off the ground. He'd been lifted by some sort of supernatural might.

Then, the small warrior was suddenly pulled forward with a shocking velocity as the world became a blur. His senses were momentarily thrown out of whack as he felt the wind blow past him. Lorenor screamed loudly. He wasn't sure if it was an act of fear or anger, or some combination of both.

Be not afraid little one. For I am your salvation.

Came the voice once more.

When Lorenor's senses realigned themselves, the ghoul coughed. Struggling for air, Lorenor instinctively tried to stand and feel his way through the chamber he felt himself him. MetalDrago was someplace nearby to his person, waiting for him. "MetalDrago!? Are you here!?" The ghoul called out to his friend. He heard his voice echo in the large chamber around him. Wind was blowing, but here, the wind had a different sort of taste to it. An intense feeling of swallowing rotten eggs filled the ghoul's mouth and he wanted to throw up. Resisting the urge, Lorenor found the strength to stand on his feet, all though he was bent low. The chamber all around them was a rocky outgrowth. Glowing crystals and other precious stones shined brilliantly along the walls of the asteroid. Lorenor suddenly knew himself to be within the prison of N'Jal. His senses finally came into full focus and the ghoul was better able to observe his surroundings. MetalDrago was a few paces away from him, to his left. Above were a series of stalactites made of raw steel ore and iron. The ore was in an unrefined state, but superheated.

Lorenor saw that the chamber had a high ceiling. All around them, the air glowed with a dark green hue. It was the same sort of air he'd seen flowing from the crash site a few moments earlier. Only this close to N'Jal, the ghoul could see that the air crackled with even greater energy.

Coughing a few more times, Lorenor righted himself. He took a glance towards MetalDrago and nodded. "Let's go." He said softly having nothing else to say to the apparent youth. Lorenor traversed his way across the uneven floor. Guided towards the center of the asteroid, the ghoul moved a few more feet and found himself staring at the source of the radiation. A brilliant glow of light lurked within an area of a natural fountain that spurted out a mysterious fluid. Lorenor walked over to the unnatural fountain, staring at it. Drawn by its power. The green light pulsated at this point like a heartbeat, thumping within the ghoul's head. Lorenor took the lead, standing in front of MetalDrago. With a sword drawn, the ghoul walked cautiously forward to his destiny.

I have to know.

You will know the truth. Come forward my son.

And Lorenor approached the blinding light. As he got closer, the light radiated brighter. Somehow, the ghoul was not burnt by that brilliant glow. Instead, he felt powerful energies pulsing through him. Powerful, living energies. He walked up to the fountain before him and what he saw...

"NO!"

You will know the truth. And a voice laughed in his head as he began to understand what he was seeing. Lorenor turned towards MetalDrago and began to laugh.

[MetalDrago]

The putrid smell of the dimension within the asteroid was of a kind that MetalDrago had never experienced before. Shortly before Lorenor arrived within the asteroid himself, MetalDrago had lost the stew he’d eaten just a few minutes before. He was wiping his mouth off as Lorenor began to speak to him. “Yeah… I’m here, Lorenor.” The dragonian said, trying his best to breathe through his mouth and not through his nose.

“What the hell is this…?” MetalDrago asked before he saw Lorenor struggling with some kind of internal monologue. It was then that he began to hear something for himself. His eyes beheld a great and terrible force from the past, borne within this asteroid. This being seemed as if it was made from living evil, but… There was something different about it. It didn’t seem like a true being.

It was now that MetalDrago began to see what Lorenor had. The energy dancing around in this dimension of negative energy was a sight to behold. The energy was more than palpable. It was alive. This was perhaps the greatest thing that the dragonian had seen in his entire life.

Come to me, brother of Seraius… Come to me, and I can grant you your wish… I can give you satisfaction… Power…

MetalDrago approached the fountain before him with a near-maniacal reverence. “N’Jal… So Terramat was right. This was your prison.” He dropped to his knees before the fountain and looked in. He looked to Lorenor, who had been laughing for the last few minutes. “So this is the secret of the Thayne… Imagine that.”

MetalDrago, despite his usually serious persona, began to laugh as well. The secret of the Thayne had seemed so mysterious, but the Great Evil: N’Jal, had lain it out clear as day. The clouds of mystery were dispersed by a hapless adventurer and a former mercenary, turned noble of Salvar.

“This… This is the greatest find in the history of Althanas. We’ve experienced something that no one should ever have known. And now… Now, I shall have my vengeance on the Triumvirate.” MetalDrago smiled evilly as he spoke. The living energy around him seemed to grow heavier with the weight of his resolve, almost solidifying around him. Something was going to happen to the dragonian and the ghoul… And it was going to happen soon.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Laughing for what felt like an eternity, Lorenor finally realized once more where he was and what he was about to do. The ghoul listened carefully to the voices in his head. There was instruction that was being passed from N'Jal into the ghoul's thoughts. Despite the finding of the truth, Lorenor knew that he had a mission to fulfill.

Voices in his head flowed like a storm. It was all so overwhelming and yet familiar at the same time. The glow from the pool of water reflected upon his clothing, upon his very person lighting the way to his goddess. Investigating the pool, tendrils of movement slithered underneath the clear surface of the water. Clouds of vapor flowed from the pool of whatever liquid substance contained the mysteries of N'Jal. Vapor cleared from the surface of the pool, but Lorenor could feel the movement all around him. With his enhanced senses, he could perceive the movement of the creature within the pool of water.

Elevated rock composed of the stones within the asteroid created the walls of the prison. Lorenor felt a sheen layer of ice upon the surface of the pool. He reached back with a closed fist and suddenly slammed his hand down upon the layer of ice. With a thunderous sound that reverberated across the chamber they were in, Lorenor crushed the icey layer beneath his fist. The endless lent Lorenor their strength. Giving way to what basic might the ghoul had, Lorenor felt the ice cracking underneath his fist. His hand sunk into the water contained within the pool. Cracks created from the impact point spread out through the sheet of ice, effectively shattering the layer. Armed with his faith, Lorenor approached the watery prison.

His hand felt cool to the touch of the water flowing through his gloves. And that's when he felt it. A creature within the pool of the water stirred as a mass of living organisms. Functioning as one collective, N'Jal's true form was crystal clear. Feeling the movement all around him, as intensely as he felt the pulsing energy flowing about his person, Lorenor's eyes glowed a brighter shade of purple as he understood what was happening. He couldn't grasp the full severity of their find and MetalDrago's words. Right now, history was being made.

They were looking at N'Jal, proof that the Thaynehood was real. Somewhere within the secrets of N'Jal lurked the truth about the All-Thayne. Lorenor's hand came in contact with the swirling organism. Millions of tiny insect like creatures swirled about his hand with the promise of power. The promise of new secrets waiting for deliverance. Lorenor's hand opened wide, and suddenly, a rush of the organism called N'Jal began to flow rapidly and with full strength around Lorenor's hand and up his arm. Feeling the force and impact of the attack, Lorenor's body was tossed backwards as he saw the truth before him. A single large, amorphous entity burst out of the pool latching onto the ghoul.

Energy flowing within the room reacted harshly to the presence of N'Jal. Standing nearby to Lorenor, a second stream of N'Jal's physical body flowed out towards MetalDrago quickly. Lorenor stared up at the high ceiling within the chamber and felt the machinery, for lack of a better term, crawling across his epidermis. Staring up at the ceiling, Lorenor tried to gasp for air and voices yelled in his head. The black, coating of machinery completely surrounded the ghoul, and flowed with him, joining with the ghoul at the molecular level. Lorenor suddenly understood his place.

"We are the vessel for N'Jal. Her disciples." Lorenor said quietly to the room knowing that MetalDrago was by his side. N'Jal seeped itself underneath Lorenor's skin and joined with the endless in his body. The process was extremely painful, but Lorenor had faith.

Lorenor had faith in N'Jal.

For he was her Paladin.

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago watched with more interest than at any other time in his life as Lorenor walked across the frozen fountain. He was not ready for what happened. Lorenor was attacked, and thrown backwards by the small beings that made up N’Jal. Soon, the mass was covering Lorenor, and MetalDrago cringed in fear. It seemed as if the things covering Lorenor were changing him.

The dragonian didn’t notice the creatures coming after him until it was too late. They knocked him to the ground before he even drew his sword. As the beings began to swarm over his body, he saw what they truly were: machines. As the black, beetle-like covering began to flow into his body, MetalDrago screamed in a mixture of pain and ecstasy. Now he understood. This was the power of evil. This was what his ideals had been fighting against for his entire life.

The machines began to melt into the Dragon‘s Honor, granting it an evil power similar to the power it had before. Only this time, the power was of N’Jal. It was opposite to that which existed before. It was opposite, yet equal to the Great Thayne. This was the power that MetalDrago needed… It was what he needed to take over the Triumvirate. The sword’s amber blade began to darken to a crimson hew, and it changed from a longsword into a katana, smooth as glass, though a thousand times more deadly. Affixed to the bottom of it was the sigil of the Red Hand, the place meant to be his home away from home.

MetalDrago laughed manically as he slowly stood, leaning on his sword for support. The world looked different than it did before. It was colored with a purple hew. “What… what’s happened to me?” he asked. He looked down at himself and was surprised at what he saw. “Damn…”

His body had changed. The silver and gold scales that had once covered his entire body had changed to a dark crimson. His eyes were glowing a deep violet, and his voice had changed as well, become deeper, almost echoing. The claws of his hands had become like retractable eagles’ talons, as had the ones on his feet. He smiled evilly, showing his new, multiple rows of teeth. “Yes… I feel it. N’Jal is within me. Now, my life is for her, but for me as well. To serve her purpose is to serve my own.” He fingered his sword lovingly and said, “I’ve betrayed everything I once loved. And now, I have you, my sword… my Dragon’s Betrayal.”

MetalDrago looked over to Lorenor, to see how he had transformed. He was shocked at what he saw. Lorenor had changed a lot, but now he was more familiar than he had been before. His energy had changed, but it was the same, in a way, only amplified.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Trust in us. For we are the vessel of N'Jal. The endless spoke of the dark goddess. Lorenor could hear the voices with much more clarity than he ever thought was possible. With each passing moments, the voices were as a companion within him. A part of the small warrior bonding itself to the ghoul for all eternity. As Lorenor changed, so too, did the endless change with him. The endless was a parasitical organism that existed within Lorenor's body. It was a form of darkness embodied with a sentient shell of slick oil-like body. The endless had an amorphous form that was a few centimeters in height. But the one attached to Lorenor's body could seep across his whole person within a matter of microseconds.

That particular unit of endless served as a body armor. His secondary endless functioned as a familiar was like a devastating pet armed with natural agility and speed. Able to possess living hosts and enhance their native genetic characteristics, making the endless a basically limitlessly reproducing life form capable of creating massive levels of chaos. Currently named Figment, Lorenor's secondary endless watched the ghoul from the shadow communicating with a complex psychic link. It was a mutual shared connection that allowed the endless to read Lorenor's thoughts and thusly communicate by thought where the endless did not possess their own native language.

As an amorphous blob of an organism, the endless in their natural state were a race of deadly creatures. A head had a solidified slime-like liquid body that hugged tightly to the floor enabling supernatural agility. As a foe, the endless were fearsome indeed. Their head was filled with rows of sharp teeth that was as powerful as titanium in some cases with the most mature of endless. As a life cycle, Figment was still a young endless and Lorenor had not yet learned to completely control the creature as he had with his symbiotic armor.

Thoughts were passing between Lorenor's head and the dual minds of the two endless organisms Lorenor shared a bond with. N'Jal used the endless as a conducting rod in order to send massive energy within Lorenor's body.

Serving as a catalyst, the virus within Lorenor's body was freely roaming through the air as an airborn viral weapon. A cloud of darkness surrounded the ghoul making him a threat to all but his partner. As an unstable carrier of the virus, Lorenor's head was filled with the will of N'Jal. He screamed out loud as silver colored swarm of machines consumed him completely. They seeped into every pore of his body. Each crevice was explored painfully until all of the creature known as N'Jal combined with Lorenor. The process was less pleasant than it had been with MetalDrago.

In his ghoulish state, Lorenor was vastly more sensitive to pain. He felt the sensation and the emotion in a raw state. His dendrites flared up like christmass trees pushing the crippling sensation up and down his spinal column. Every inch of his physical being hurt. If Lorenor had eyes, he would be crying until his tear ducts could no longer produce salt water.

Glowing a brilliant amethyst color, the sockets shot out twin bursts of energy that hit the ceiling of the chamber they were within. Rocks and debris slid downward but were immediately irradicated by N'Jal's powerful will.

Memories slid across Lorenor's brain. From the void, images and pictures of a past life...of many past lives...flew across his face. The weight of the asteroid surrounded the ghoul like a momentary cage. For a moment, he felt everything that N'Jal had to endure for aeons as she'd been wrongfully imprisoned by the rest of the bastard Thaynehood. Your enemy is my enemy. Your war is my war. I can embue upon you the power necessary to become my herald, my paladin. Lorenor heard the voice of N'Jal singing alongside the dual-voices of the endless. It was like a choire within his head. A choire of devils. With each passing moment, more visions flew across his head. More memories. Memories of a past that wasn't his own yet everything seemed so familiar to him. He recalled that encounter with MetalDrago Scorpio. He recalled an encounter with philosopher warrior long ago. (Futsuriai) He recalled an encounter with a man from a town known as Dressed Fish Town. The town of the Golems of the ark.

Many more memories passed across his head. There was a war known as the second uprisiing that engulfed Corone. Many battles. Many accomplishments, many feats. Until finally, Lorenor saw something he thought he would never see...his origin. Long ago, a powerful elven paladin fought against hordes of Orcs outside of Radasanth. This man was a hero amongst heroes. Radasanth would have been named after him. But. Timet old a different story. A betrayal. A back stabbing. And the leaders of that age sent Lorenor's soul to The Great Nether. There, an deal with an ancient entity in the service of N'Jal brought Lorenor back to life ages later in the body of a demon. A derelict ghoul. Lorenor learned all of this and understood his place within the scheme of things.

He understood his mission for revenge. I must begin my war against the Thayne. I will make them pay. We will make them pay. And when it was all over, a legend was reborn. Lorenor stood up. Painfully at first, but soon he managed to stand. What stood before MetalDrago was a dark skinned warrior, with braided hair that reached his midsection. Wearing a symbiotic armor with the exact hardness as the metal known as Dehlar in nature. The armor was like a layer of an exoskeleton and no longer a second skin. It was more like a shell that surrounded the ghoul's body. Amethyst glowing vortexes were in place of the man's eyes. He looked at MetalDrago Scorpio and remembered him. His armor had many spikes jutting out of it.

Lorenor was now the carrier of N'Jal. "We are the vessel of N'Jal. For her will is absolute. She has decreed upon us our mission. A war against the Thaynehood. As the Inquisition wars against our kind, so too, must we now become the sword of N'Jal." Lorenor drew one of his damascus swords. "Kneel before the will of N'Jal. MetalDrago Scorpio. And accept thy destiny." Lorenor had a deadly serious expresion on his face the entire time. He no longer appeard sickly or ghoulish in nature, but appeared as an athletic warrior well in his prime. He waited for MetalDrago to kneel so that he could be knighted as an anti-paladin.

[MetalDrago]

The power of evil raged through MetalDrago’s veins, making him feel better than ever. “I give my life in your service, N’Jal. Forever, shall I be bound to your service…” MetalDrago said. He thought back to the days when he’d been a young hero, seemingly destined to destroy some great evil. His thoughts turned to where he had abandoned his ideals in exchange for something more real, more… tangible.

Terramat, his scarred eyes looking down gleefully into MetalDrago’s face, said, “What’s wrong, Lord MetalDrago? You were so confident that you would be able to defeat us!” He landed a kick hard into the stomach of the dragonian. “We’ve gotten stronger these last ten thousand years… You’re no match for us, you fool. Run away now, and we’ll let you live.”

At that moment, Sephiro jumped in. MetalDrago’s most gifted student faced Terramat unafraid. “Fight me, Terramat. I’ve been waiting for ten years to kill you!” The young warrior screeched a long battle cry before bringing the Dragon’s Fury above his head, preparing to jump at Terramat. The Dark Elven Lord made no attempt to dodge the attack, and it connected… or so Sephiro thought. Before he even saw it happen, Terramat was behind him, sheathing his sword. Sephiro managed a single unintelligible sound before his head rolled smoothly off his body, spattering the ground with dragonian blood.

As MetalDrago struggled to cry Sephiro’s name, Terramat landed a hard kick to his jaw. The world swam around MetalDrago, but still he heard Terramat’s parting words, “Come after us, and you will suffer the same fate as your student…” A flash of white hair blowing in the wind and a few droplets of water was all that MetalDrago noticed before he completely blacked out.

After a few hours, MetalDrago awoke to his worst nightmare. Terramat had escaped from an alternate dimension, more powerful than ever, and he had killed the only person MetalDrago had ever considered as a son. “Damn you, Terramat…” MetalDrago sobbed. The rain falling down upon the ancient limestone ritual area helped mask his tears. He grabbed Sephiro’s body and had it taken to the Concordia Forest, where he buried Sephiro with his sword, the blue-bladed Dragon’s Fury longsword. His tears fed his rage, and he buried it deep within his heart, where nothing short of divine intervention would be able to weed it out.

This is why he surrendered himself to N’Jal. His heart had been corrupted by hate, and he gave himself willingly as a disciple to N’Jal. Now, even revenge wouldn’t satisfy the evil prevalent in his heart. Hatred had kindled the spark, but his own heart fed his evil, and he began enjoying it. Now, he was irreversibly evil. He still had his honor, and his insufferable insistence on fighting fair, but that would never change.

MetalDrago knelt before Lorenor, his heart racing. His mind went back again to his past, when he and Lorenor fought. A smile found it’s way onto his face as looked up at Lorenor. “My life… for N’Jal… our Unholy Mother.” He awaited Lorenor’s sword to meet his shoulders, to make them kin beneath the Evil Goddess.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Surrounding them at all angles, some quite unnatural, rock of all sorts formed pillars and columns of varying heights and widths. They were twisted in many different positions resembling crooked twigs and branches. The minerals present in the rock gave off energy that sparked in the air. Lights shone brightly in the breeze carrying with it an unnatural sparkle that made the rocks seem to glow with potent energy. Minerals of all sorts were present in the dark color of the rock. Lorenor had to guess that a lot of the rock was composed of raw iron and steel material of some sort, probably combinations of other metals and substances appearing naturally throughout the universe. The sedimentary composition of the asteroid was so vast, it was difficult for Lorenor's mind to comprehend it. He was certain that the prison of N'Jal would have other precious metals deeper within it's confines. They would have to seek these out at some point later in this venture...

Exposure to the harmful materials in the air did not bother the mutant one bit what so ever. He was enthralled with his recent fusion with N'Jal at the molecular level. With the endless beginning to reveal its true form, Lorenor knew that his time would was coming. His time when he would be powerful enough to deal with the Inquisition and gain vengeance for all thee Spider Magi slain by the Inquisition and those bastards, the Knights of Dawn. The mutant thought of this as he studied the differences in his companion. He was changing rapidly thanks to the blessing of N'Jal. Was Lorenor changing just as rapidly?

He wondered.

The time had come to knight MetalDrago Scorpio so they could be on their way. "Kneel MetalDrago Scorpio. And rise. Sir. MetalDrago Scorpio, Knight of N'Jal. Paladin of the Dark Goddess." And Lorenor tapped either shoulder of MetalDrago with one brief tap, and then rotated his weapon, sheathing it quickly. "We are bound now, by the will of N'Jal."

Feeling the raw power that the newly restructured endless gave off, Lorenor's presence was much more physically manifest. No longer was Lorenor a Derelict Ghoul, but now he was a Fledgeling Spider Magi. The exoskeleton armor that was wrapped around his body was proof of that. He looked at MetalDrago approvingly and looked back at the strange natural fountain for a moment. He half expected something else to happen. When nothing did, he thought that it was high time for them to go.

"There is lots of raw ore here. We should probably salvage what we can from the depths of this prison. What do you think?"

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago felt himself swell with immense pride at being one of N’Jal’s chosen ones. He was now Sir MetalDrago Scorpio, Knight of N'Jal; Paladin of the Dark Goddess. He could feel the weight of his new responsibility. He stood after having himself knighted by his fellow Paladin, and said, “Our souls are bound by the Dark Goddess. There’s no escaping our new destinies.”

The ore around them was flowing through the entirety of the asteroid. It seemed to be that the organic components of the asteroids were only a small detail in the otherwise mineral structure. Could it be that the living parts of the asteroid thrive by feeding on the minerals of the asteroid itself? MetalDrago found himself musing. No… It’s not possible. If they did, it would be halfway degenerated by now. Perhaps even fully. If these plants, or whatever they are fed on minerals, then the asteroid couldn’t be as big as it still is. MetalDrago noticed a sharp increase in his intellect as a result of his fusion with N’Jal. It would seem that things had conspired themselves to improve not only his body, but his mind as well.

He noticed that Lorenor had mentioned the ore. “Yeah… I suppose we could… I don’t really use ore that much, but if you’re confident that you could get me some weaponry made from it, I wouldn’t mind collecting a bit of it. Very well. Let’s go.”

MetalDrago walked off alone, wandering deeper and deeper into the asteroid, knowing that with each step he took forward was another step towards pure, unadulterated evil. “As I descend into darkness, I am forced to wonder if I will ever see the light as anything but an enemy from now on…” MetalDrago said softly. He was thinking about things that had happened to him over the years to make him the evil creature that he had become. So many heartaches and heartbreaks.

You are my creature now… Why worry about what once was? came the voice of N’Jal from deep within MetalDrago’s own being.

I’m just wondering how I’ve come so far. I’m devoted to you, heart and soul. I love you more than my own mother… More than… even Sephiro. So many things have happened that have made me stronger… That have brought me to you at long last. Now I know why I was created. I am your servant, and I will never stray from your side. But first, to kill the one who broke his compact with you. MetalDrago replied to N’Jal with his thoughts.

Yes… The traitor, Seriaus… Your own brother, who broke the compact the Triumvirate made with me when I allowed them to escape from that dimension. He fooled Teramat and Reiana into breaking it, but they did so unwillingly, and fear my wrath. They can be brought back to my side… Seraius did it out of spite for my power, and refuses to acknowledge that he even made a compact with me. That traitorous scum may be the embodiment of everything I represent, but no one crosses N’Jal without retribution!

MetalDrago nodded his assent and continued to walk until he found a likely looking spot for ore. He called out to Lorenor to come and take a look for himself. He was sure that he had found something that would be of use to the both of them. All MetalDrago had to do was find Terramat and tell him the N’Jal only wanted Seraius’ head, and that he had no intention of killing them himself. He was N’Jal’s now, and if she could use them, then so could he...

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor followed MetalDrago probably a few paces behind his companion. With each passing step, he found himself moving with greater ease than ever before. His muscles were more responsive, his thoughts were more collected and organized and he found it easier to think and calculate. Was MetalDrago going through a similar thing? He wondered. His thoughts were no longer sporadic as they once had been. Fusing with N'Jal meant that his entire vessel had changed for the better and become more optimized. The spider magi slowed down several times to adjust his bearings. He was also adjusting his speed so that he could keep pace with MetalDrago. Had MetalDrago become faster?

Lorenor wasn't entirely certain if that's how N'Jal was affecting his fellow companion. The mutant moved quickly and soon found himself keeping up with MetalDrago as his body adjusted to the speed and capacity of his movements. They descended several yards into the depths of the asteroid, and MetalDrago finally stopped. Lorenor noticed that his senses were much sharper than ever before, and spread to approximately one yard. Lorenor was able to sense the various chemical makeup of the ores within the area and was not interested in things until MetalDrago pointed out a site that he hadn't noticed before.

Staring at the site, Lorenor observed something quite interesting. The ore in this particular area was more potent and glowed with tremendous natural energy. They gave off an incredible heat. Lorenor could see the particles in the air as they gave off raw radiation. The protection of N'Jal was absolute and the mutant did not feel any fear in this deeper part of the asteroid. The exoskeleton armor was wrapped firmly about the ghoul and offered its dark aura to protect him from the hazards of the asteroid.

As a cavern, it was huge and filled with raw mineral ore. Lorenor and MetalDrago had discovered a perpetual miner's prize of raw materials. Ore glowed in the humongous walls in its rawest, unrefined state. The ghoul saw the rarest of materials and identified them all. Prevaldia from his time as a warrior in the Dajas Pagoda, and his training with the Monks. Titanium from doing the same research. And he noticed something else. An ore and material that made the mutant's jaw literally drop to the ground. He salivated at the mouth when the endless told him what he was looking at.

N'Jal confirmed the fact.

He was staring at raw adamantime ore. At its refined state, adamantime became adamantium. The find was worth a fortune. Lorenor went to his knees as he discovered the rich vein that could secure his future forever.

The mutant removed one of his damascus swords and began to go to work at the site. One of the closest walls had the largest deposit of available ore and it was only a matter of working to get the precious substance within. The monster worked quickly to dig his fortune out of its cage. There was a series of loud clanging sounds as Lorenor dug into the wall with the tip of his weapons, and flashing bursts of light. The ghoul adjusted his strength and center of gravity, hitting the wall with his weapon. He was making a dent at the fused, sedimentary iron surface. As he crushed the wall with his masterwork damascus weaponry, he was able to tear out a few good chunks of the adamantime ore. He tore out enough for himself and enough for MetalDrago. He wanted as many ounces and pounds as he could carry upon his person. The ghoul quickly took the substance into his personal travel packs, and sealed his pack away. He looked over to MetalDrago.

"I took enough for the both of us and a bit more. We'd better get out of here before the walls become anymore unstable."

The process only took a couple of hours. "Thank you for waiting. This is for you." Taking a small piece of adamantime ore from his packs, the mutant handed it to MetalDrago and nodded. "It's adamantime. The stuff in these walls is priceless." Lorenor added. "Let's go." And he started the climb back to the surface of the asteroid, where they came from.

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago was stuck in the mire of his own thoughts, and barely registered a word that Lorenor said as he began to dig. The two hours that passed did not seem so long as they could have been. The Dragonian Paladin of Evil was still lost in his thoughts while Lorenor handed him the nugget of Adamantime. He put it in his pocket, hardly listening to the words spoken by the former ghoul.

There were so many things in the world that made so little sense. Even with the new power and transformation allowed him by the great Evil Goddess, he was lost. Deep within his mind was locked a secret that he had never been able to know. He wanted that secret, and somewhere within his new, dark heart was the key.

When Lorenor signaled it was time to go, MetalDrago agreed, and they left the asteroid together, as brothers under N’Jal. But something wasn’t sitting right. MetalDrago was sure of it. It felt almost as if something had changed since they got their new power. It was then that he knew. The gate he’d opened to seal away Terramat ten years ago had been reopened. But this time, it wasn’t in the ritual area. It was right outside the asteroid. The energy of the gate was the only thing visible at the moment, but the second someone entered that field, the gate would reveal itself, and swallow anyone in the area.

It was among the most dangerous spells that MetalDrago had ever had to utilize in his entire history. By following an extremely intricate ritual, he’d been able to call upon the power of the gate to seal away the evil he’d been hoping to defeat. But it was said, in the scroll the ritual had been written in, only a shrine or other spiritually charged area would be strong enough to support the gate.

Of course! N’Jal’s asteroid still has remnants of the Holy Seal put on it by the other Thayne… With that power, the gate could be summoned by itself. But why? MetalDrago asked himself, or rather N’Jal.

You catch on quick. Yes, I summoned the Gate to the Abyss. And you two are going to enter. N’Jal said, her voice piercing MetalDrago’s soul like slivers of ice. He rather liked it.

He smirked slightly at Lorenor and strode into the energy of the Gate. “Seems that we’ve already got our first orders.” As the invisible energy swirled around MetalDrago, a light shot our from the ground and a giant pair of ornate double doors appeared from nowhere. They were quite nice-looking, for opening to a place called the Abyss: ornately carved ivory dragons made the ornamental handles for the grand mahogany doors. The hinges, which were apparently gilded into the very air, were of the purest silver. The only thing that marred the beauty of the doors was not even a part of them to begin with. Scars from a particularly nasty katana had been left on the door by Lord Terramat ten years earlier. Apparently, the doors, though magical, could not repair themselves.

As the doors opened, MetalDrago’s eyes enlarged a bit. This was not what he had been expecting to see in a place known as the Abyss. It was a bit... different than he'd thought it would be.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Crackling with spiritual energy, the air seemed to come alive. It was evening by now, a passage of time that was noticeable to the mutant. He looked up and saw the moon of Althanas for a moment shining in all of her pregnant glory. Lorenor pondered his life up until that point. Various memories of a corrupt existence and the search for answers to pointless questions. The path of the philosopher. He took a glance to the doors, and then stole a glance back to the asteroid.

These thoughts passed quickly through his head. He was searching for answers, answers to questions that could have none. Lorenor turned to look at his companion as he whispered the fact that orders were given. The former ghoul simply just nodded in response.

The trip to the surface of the asteroid was uneventful. He was deep in thought and didn't really care too much what was going on around him. He placed his hand upon his chin.

When the doors revealed themselves, Lorenor saw the energy that they gave off. It crackled in strange patterns and flowed through the wind for several feet in every direction. Lorenor could feel the elemental energy flowing from the door. All types of elements, not just one. His observant eyes narrowed as he watched. Studying details of the dual doors, they seemed to pulse with energy. The door swings both ways. The thought occurred to him. He clenched his fists tightly as he looked at the door.

"You ready?" Lorenor asked MetalDrago and started to walk towards the doors.

[MetalDrago]

When Lorenor asked him if he was ready to go, MetalDrago already had one foot in the Gate. “…What? You expected me to wait? Get in here!” When he entered, the vision from outside the Gate pailed in comparison to what he saw now.

It was a grand, archaic temple. Towers and parapets were not present. It seemed to built out of the stone of the mountain itself, and probably was. I looked like more of a sandy-gray fortress than it did a temple, but there was just something about it that made one think of it as a temple than a military defense building. Paved pathways connected to buildings outside the temple. The buildings were simple stone huts of little significance. The most amazing thing about the place was the silence. There wasn’t a single person anywhere near the temple. It was almost as if every single person who once lived here had disappeared centuries ago, without so much as leaving a single trace behind that anyone had ever lived there.

MetalDrago wasn’t sure, but he thought that if he walked into every single hut in the apparent village, he would not find a single piece of furniture. He wouldn’t even find the rusted remains of any metal objects, or the moldy, rot-eaten remains of wood or fabric. The only people who’d ever been anywhere near this temple were apparently Lorenor and himself. N’Jal chuckled in his head and confirmed his suspicion. They were the only ones deposited here for as long as the Abyss had been around.

The temple itself, and the surrounding village had never been occupied by mortal-kind. MetalDrago wondered at this, thinking about his old enemies, the Triumvirate. N’Jal just told him, This isn’t the only part of the Abyss. This is a special area, unique and self-sustaining. It is the area within which any artifact used to power a failed ritual ends up. There are items from worlds that you’ve never even thought of before. You’re here to claim an item for yourself, to serve you as you serve me…

MetalDrago nodded, at once understanding her meaning. Many magically, mystically, and religiously important items would be lost here. Weapons, armor, books of power, and other things would be hidden deep within the citadel in the center of this plateau. “I see now… This is wonderful.”

You may take only one item from this place. That is your only restriction. N’Jal said.

With those encouraging words, MetalDrago looked at Lorenor and ran towards the temple, feeling unnaturally light on his feet. He must have gotten faster when he transformed. It was almost as if everything else seemed slower. He wondered for a moment if this is what Terramat felt like when he first emerged from the Gate with his newfound power. Terramat had so much more speed than MetalDrago did right now, but if the Paladin had ten thousand years to train, he’d probably be unrealistically fast himself.

The Paladin didn’t even look back at Lorenor to see if he was following. He was far too intent on getting to the temple to bother with something as menial as good grace.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Stepping foot inside the alternate dimension, Lorenor found himself staring up at the sky above him. He wasn't as eager to face the dangers of this new reality as his companion was. So when MetalDrago took point and moved ahead, the mutant stared behind his companion.

With a resonating sound, the doors closed behind them. Lorenor took a look back at his former home. Althanas. What will become of you now? He thought for a moment. N'Jal responded back. From the ashes of the old. We shall forge a new kingdom. This dimension, it will be your playground. Your headquarters whilst you form a new order of Paladins to serve me. Lorenor listened and he watched MetalDrago's form becoming smaller and smaller. The mutant clenched his fists. He is rash, headstrong.

Were you so different when you first started your journey?

It was a lifetime ago it seems. So much shit has gone down. I don't even know myself anymore.

But you are still you. That is all that counts. Welcome home my little Spider Magi. Go forth and claim your prize.

Lorenor nodded calmly to the will of N'Jal. What could be a greater prize than fusing with the living god? Lorenor began to walk. Buildings with no particularly special markings surrounded them on all sides. The mutant kept glancing around as he studied the various structures around them. There were no people. Only a constant breeze that moved, and energy that crackled through the air representing the various elements.

Lorenor found the world moving in a fast forward. In a perpetual state of movement. The spider magi enjoyed his newly enhanced speed.

Lorenor caught up with MetalDrago after a bit of time passed.

Standing alongside his companion, Lorenor thought about what they were about to do. The building resembled The Citadel in a lot of ways, but was a temple devoted to the All-Thayne. Lorenor looked at the building for a long moment from the distance, able to perceive a particular form. His newly enhanced eyes were able to see what he couldn't see in the past from further away. The monster kept up step with MetalDrago, able to stay alongside the dragonian. His eyes observed his newly found environments. He saw the energies cascading the building. Representing the elements. Lorenor looked at MetalDrago and wondered if his friend was seeing the exact same thing he was. Maybe more, maybe less.

Lorenor started to walk towards the building.

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago came upon the temple more slowly than he had been traveling before Lorenor caught up with him. The temple looked even bigger up close. The magical aura from all the items within was overwhelming. The Dragonian Paladin could see most of what Lorenor could see, only on a much lesser scale. He saw some of the energy, but he couldn’t pick out any individual energy. Whatever he found here and decided to keep, he would only chance upon by pure luck.

It’s the Temple to the All-Thayne, huh? MetalDrago asked, more to himself than to N’Jal. She seemed to take the hint and not answer. Of course, being a goddess, she probably knew the minds of her servants better than anything else in the world. He smiled slightly at the thought and began to walk toward the temple, following slightly in Lorenor’s footsteps. When they arrived inside, he noticed some sort of magical energy slinking out of the room at their entrance.

It didn’t bother him for very long. He began to looked around and noticed something he’d never seen before. There was a shrine just off the opposite wall of the area dedicated to the All-Thayne. The insignia on the wall behind the shrine itself looked like a many-branched tree stretching out through the universe. “What a… fitting sign for a god.” MetalDrago heard himself say somberly.

He worked his way through some of the side halls of the Temple, leaving Lorenor to do as he would. What he was looking for was something that would be useful to him. He tread carefully through the walls, the initial recklessness his new power inspired gone for the time being. He felt that there was something dangerous inside the Temple, and he didn’t want to set off any alarms. Maybe this was why N’Jal told him to take only a single item from within the Temple. Maybe it was taking more than one thing that would set off the obviously dangerous presence within.

At last, the Paladin found himself in something of a treasure trove. It was a library, filled from top to bottom with books. As he continued to look through the books, he wondered for a moment if Lorenor would be interested in these books, but he shrugged. Lorenor was bound to find this room eventually anyway. Eventually, he found something that seemed to be worth it. It was a relatively small, leather bound book. It appeared to have about two hundred sheets in it. That was four hundred pages.

MetalDrago opened the book and began reading. “Hmm.. Basic Shapeshift. The ability to change one single feature of your anatomy any way you wish, back and forth from one form to the other… It’s a permanent, one-time use spell. Sounds interesting.” he said. He looked through the book for a little longer, finding languages he recognized but wasn’t fluent in, languages he’d never seen before, and even some spells that seemed to be made from a single character.

MetalDrago gently placed the book into his pack and left the room to wait for Lorenor. He didn’t know quite why, but he felt that the longer they stayed, the better chance they had of dying, and not in a particularly nice way, either. He went back to the room with the shrine to wait for the former ghoul to appear, so that they could leave and return to Althanas. He was beginning to get uncomfortable. He didn’t know it then, but the magic that had fled when he first stepped into the Temple was almost to the Guardian sleeping within the Inner Sanctum. If it activated before they were gone, it would more than likely find and attempt to kill them.

They didn’t have much time left.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

It was a lavish house built truly for a god. Somewhere across time and space, the servants of the All-Thayne, whoever they were, built this structure in accordance to the will of the All-Thayne. Walls and furniture were built in intricate patterns and angles, sometimes, extremely twisted and off-tee. Lorenor noticed some of the more bizarre pieces of furniture. They were works of art themselves and probably immensely valuable. He stared at the area around him for a long time, there were many staircases that lead in various directions and were parallel to one another in some cases. In others, they twisted around complex columns leading to other levels of the maze like contraption. The walls glowed with pulsing energy. A perpetual code of complicated symbols from every language. Some that Lorenor recognized and others that were completely undecipherable to the Spider Magi's current set of knowledge. Some of the symbols were so strange that they gave him tremendous headaches. The Main Hall was filled with this moving pattern that flashed across itself and cascaded from time to time.

It was a living code. Lorenor kept seeing the code where ever he turned to the point where it was making him dizzy. All around, there were doors everywhere, in every possible direction of the compass. There were even some doors underneath the mutant, and he noticed these right away when he looked down.

Lorenor saw MetalDrago walk off into another section of the temple exploring things on his own.

At the front of the main hall was a statue that seemed to be an artistic representation of the All-Thayne. Lorenor had some rudimentary knowledge of the Thayne, but had only seen vague representations of the All-Thayne. These were in the oldest scrolls and texts in the possession of the Monks of Ai'Bron.

Lorenor studied the statue of the All-Thayne and noticed that it was made completely out of prevaldia ore. The Spider Magi whistled as he saw the richness of the artwork before him. Various paintings and wall scrolls also adorned the main hall, as did an enormous chandelier made out of materials that he could not identify. The thing was lit up by a mysterious light source that seemed to radiate power. Lorenor noticed, even from his position, that the strange objects on the chandelier radiated the energy of light outward. It was a sort of artificial light that did not harm the mutant one bit. Lorenor noticed that some of the doors had elemental barriers.

Some were wind, fire, water, earth, ice, electricity, and shadow. The ones that generated light were unpassable by the small warrior. He would have to bypass these. He didn't want to attempt to pass certain of the other elements either so he immediately went to one of the farthest hallways that contained a single door at the end of it. Moving through that hallway, the ghoul made his way into it feeling that the hallway was somehow getting smaller, as was he. Is this a trick of the place? Lorenor wondered as he got to the door and opened it. The door did not contain a single locking mechanism, and bent to the will of the mutant.

Stepping inside the room, Lorenor noticed a series of small shrines each containing a different object within their confines. There were hundreds of these shrines and the Spider Magi frowned. He could spend an eternity trying to find an object that suited him here. Lorenor walked to a few of the nearest shrines and saw that various objects were kept in strange circles comprised of many eerie spinning symbols. The entire room was a dark room and the shrines were dedicated to the various Thaynes of Darkness. Not just N'Jal but all other Dark Thaynes that came before N'Jal and would come after N'Jal. This was a storehouse dedicated to the Anti-Paladins of the Dark Thayne. Lorenor was surprised that MetalDrago hadn't found his way here.

The nearest shrine was a statue of some sort of dark goddess that Lorenor had never seen before. In her hands was held up a lovely shield made out of a material that Lorenor could only identify as titanium. He pondered taking the shield as his one item, but then he felt an impulse in his heart. Explore further my child. Came the will of N'Jal. There is something meant for your hands here. The small warrior nodded and left the shield alone. He continued to move through the cold darkness passing shrine after shrine. One was a goddess with the many heads of a snake. Another was a god that had the head of a bull. Still another was a tiny humanoid male with many horns showing on his head and a pair of wings. Lorenor noticed the artistic genius of each of the statues for the representations were nearly lifelike in nature.

He kept walking, feeling the pull getting closer. And finally, he found it.

Approximately thirty feet from the entrance of the chamber and about one hundred shrines down, the mutant found a particular statue. This statue, as he'd expected in a ways but was surprised to find out, was not a representation of N'Jal. It was a deity he had never encountered before like there were so many of in this room. Lorenor stared at the creature he was looking at. It was some sort of water serpent with many legs and many heads. It was colored blue, and hyper deformed wings. Lorenor wished that MetalDrago could see it. In one of its many pairs of hands was a curious object, one in each pair of hands, one in every hand that was not holding something up. There were many mysterious orbs made out of some strange form of crystal that Lorenor had never seen before. Something about the crystals seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it. He counted at least a thousand of these objects all along the huge dragon. What the hell am I supposed to do here? Pick just one? Damn! Which one do I take, they aren't labeled! Lorenor did not see a single symbol identifying the differences between the array of crystals.

So instead, he opted to touch one of the closer ones. The crystal orb lit up and a complicated series of archaic circles lit up the area around him. Symbols flowed across the surface of the crystal orb and Lorenor saw a huge central glyph that was a particularly interesting mark. This marking was an obvious representation of a sword. The Spider Magi felt that the particular crystal orb was not the right codex he needed to take. After that he searched many codexes. A symbol of a claymore was another one of the codexes, an axe, a shield, a cane, a staff, and many other weapons. But none of them seemed to particularly connect with him.

After a moment of searching across many of the crystal orbs, the mutant was pondering taking one of the sword codexes when something happened.

He stumbled across a praticularly interesting codex. It was a purple crystal orb that had a particularly complicated series of symbols. When Lorenor touched it, a new symbol revealed itself. A serpent was wrapped around a dagger and was swallowing its own tail. All around the serpent was a halo of mysterious symbols that represented a system of study that Lorenor had only heard about in legend. Alchemy. This was his codex. Feeling a pull towards the object, Lorenor removed the codex from the hand. There can only be one. He thought to himself as he grabbed the surprisingly light weight codex and placed it into his hand. The thing vibrated with the promise of knowledge and power.

From the initial contact with the codex Lorenor felt energy passing from the orb into his hand. And as he put the orb in his pouches, all of the shrines vanished off into the void. The ghoul sighed.

Some defense mechanism.

Lorenor stepped outside with his prize and soon found himself back in the main hall where MetalDrago awaited.

[MetalDrago]

The magic had made it to the security system, and was in the process of awakening the Temple Guardian. A pair of colorless eyes opened and beheld the room around it. It appeared that no one had been in the security center for quite some time. The control panels for the various security features were dusty and disused, and it was apparent that none of them had the power required to work anymore. It was an amazing coincidence that even the one Warning Net Spell was still left at the entrance. If the security system had been up and running, thousands of emergency systems would have been put into place. No one, except chosen champions of the Thayne, were to be allowed in the Temple, no matter what the cost. The Net Spell seemed to sense that they were in fact champions of a Thayne, and therefore only went to awaken the Guardian. The Guardian was forced to take stock of the situation through a complete self-analysis.

Magic Systems Online. Running Complete Systems Check… Energy Levels Low. Rerouting Power to Elements of Earth/Fire/Water/Air. Reverting to Larval Form. After a brief flash of light, a small child would be evident in the place of the full-grown woman who had once been standing there. Her facial features would never quite seem the same the more you looked at her. The combination of the elements present within this being, the All-Elemental, is what caused her to be ever-shifting in appearance and stature. With her current power level, all she was able to manage was her Larval Form.

Annoying as that was to her, she began to levitate above the ground slightly and left the Security room for the Main Hall. She was meant to test the Champions of the Thayne. If they couldn’t beat her as she was now, they didn’t deserve to be called that even in the slightest.

__________________________________________________ _____

MetalDrago sensed that something had awakened just as Lorenor returned from the other room. He swore loudly as he realized that they had indeed been in the Temple for far too long. The ages-old magic had actually beaten them to the punch, and now something powerful was coming to destroy them on behalf of the sanctity of this Temple.

He tensed as he watched a small girl glide in. The Paladin still felt the powerful aura, but could not believe that it could belong to someone that fragile-looking. Then he remembered: There are no living beings located upon this mountain. If N’Jal had not been lying, then that mean that this… Thing was not a girl at all, but the defense mechanism for the entire Temple.

“Lorenor… I don’t know about this. She can’t be as weak as she appears to be.” At those words, the girl giggled slightly and raised her hand, releasing a shaft of energy that pierced through MetalDrago’s chest. His body was filled with a pain so intense that it brought him to the edge of sanity. Then, it suddenly stopped. MetalDrago was lying facedown. He curled his fist and smashed it into the ground. It was only after opening his eyes that he was able to see that he no longer had the body that N’Jal had gifted him with.

The girl laughed and pointed her hand at Lorenor as well, blasting him with the same energy. It was only then that she spoke, in the lilting, amused voice often used by young girls who were sure that they would get their way. “Champions of N’Jal… This is your test. Destroy me without the powers given to you by your Dark Goddess, and you will be allowed to leave. Lose, and you die here. Any may enter this Temple. It is only the worthy who are allowed to leave. Your annihilation will serve my creator, the All-Thayne. Now, prepare yourselves to battle the All-Elemental, or die.” It was not a battle-cry or a request. It was a imperious statement. If he hadn't witnessed her power first hand, MetalDrago would have laughed. It was ludicrous for a young girl so small to issue a command that dire.

If the two of them were not ready, with the full array of their powers at hand, a quick and painful death seemed all the more likely. MetalDrago wondered idly if he should have chosen a different item, perhaps one that would have been useful in the battle they were now in. Without another thought, MetalDrago hefted the Dragon’s Betrayal. At least she didn’t remove the enchantment on my sword. he thought thankfully.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor saw the girl before them and frowned deeply. This is to be our test? Are you really serious? For a moment, he was about to laugh right up at the All-Thayne when the girl shot a mysterious beam of energy directly at them. A moment later she explained what the beam actually did. In an instant, the Spider Magi lost everything he had just acquired. His precious goddess, N'Jal, was lost to him. He could not hear her voice and it left him with a pit of despair. Lorenor got up from the momentary loss and prepared himself for imminent combat against that crazy larval state. Drawing two of his damascus masterwork swords, the Spider Magi prepared himself to dual wield in artful fashion.

He lost his currently found power, but still had everything he'd earned up until that point.

He was not going to underestimate her again.

The girl turned her attention directly to Lorenor. She wore a soft smile on her face and floated towards the small warrior. In reaction, he prepared himself for the worst. The swordsman knew he would have to use every trick up his proverbial sleeve in order to defeat this contraption and ensure that his partner survived as well. She covered the ground to Lorenor quite quickly, floating with supernatural speed. She raised her hand again. This time, a beam of perfectly formed ice manifested in either of her hands and she forged a sword for each one of her hands. Both of the swords were made of the pure element of ice and just as hard as prevaldia would be.

Lorenor continued to frown as he felt the cold chill of the air between them.

He moved quickly against her deciding to take the initiative. Without N'Jal to guide him, the mutant felt completely loss. He wondered how long he could last against such a powerful opponent that could control the very elements themselves. This was a product of the All-Thayne in the same way that Lorenor was a product of N'Jal. But wait, what does that exactly mean that I'm a product of N'Jal? Doesn't that mean...? And a skilled strike came at Lorenor's face. She was intending to end him quickly. The mutant would not have any of that. Ducking beneath the first strike of the battle, Lorenor swung extravagantly with both of his swords. He was aiming for her midsection in an attempt to cut her cleanly in half...

[MetalDrago]

The All-Elemental, despite her appearance, was no child, easily manipulated by those who sought to do her harm. As Lorenor attempted to cut her cleanly in half, she danced back, the swords in her hands. This creature was interesting in how he chose to attack, moving like water to avoid her movements, and then crashing down on her like a wave. It was at that moment that she noticed the absence of the dragonian warrior. She should have been better prepared for something like this.

MetalDrago was not hiding. In fact, he was coming to understand something about his personality that had escaped his grasp before. It was something to do with the heritage left by his father. It was the strength of cold, bitter judgment. It was the power of an anger invoked through cold, intense calculations, and not through fiery passion. This was the power of a true master of anger, who exerted control over himself in order to have a control over the forces around him.

Though N’Jal’s power had been robbed of him, MetalDrago knew that she was with them as they fought this battle. She was watching with intense interest as her two chosen vessels fought for their life, and her freedom. The All-Elemental was their first, and perhaps most important test. He understood this now and began working his mind for what he would need to defeat this creature of all elements. All this was going on in his head as the All-Elemental attacked and dodged Lorenor that first time. When she noticed that he was nowhere to be seen, he decided that now was as good a time as any to put his plan into motion.

Out from behind a pillar in the back of the room, MetalDrago launched a Fireball attack, and as he anticipated, she caught it on one of her swords. As the Fire energy attacked the cohesion of her own magic, he ran forward smashed his Dragon’s Betrayal against the sword. As anticipated, the sword shattered into hundreds of shards.

This creature… It broke the power of my swords. He is craftier than anticipated. More caution shall have to be taken. the All-Elemental’s internal programming decided. Unfortunately, the programming within her was flawed in that it took a moment to upload in the Larval Stage, rendering her vulnerable to attack for what most would consider ample time.

Seeing this, MetalDrago thought the All-Elemental was stunned. Though this was only partly the case, he attacked anyway. The Dragon’s Betrayal seemed to roar elatedly as it tasted the blood of its first victim, the All-Elemental. MetalDrago smiled as well, feeling his energy grow as the adrenaline began pumping through his body in earnest. He’d never felt more alive during a fight in his life. Perhaps it was the fact that his life was on the line, or that he finally knew what he was really fighting for… It just had so much more meaning to him now.

The All-Elemental felt as the blade bit deep into her flesh. Her left hand was gone now, irreplaceable in this Larval State. The dragonian was definitely more of a danger than he’d seemed to be at first. The All-Elemental allowed the second ice sword to disappear as she faced the dragonian before her. She smiled a little.

MetalDrago knew that a smile from a creature so malevolent to their causes could be nothing but trouble, so he backed up, towards Lorenor. He was unsure about what he would be able to do with the mutant beside him, but felt safer with a comrade to brave the situation together wih him.

The dust around the Temple began to swirl toward the All-Elemental. The tapestries on the walls began to billow out as the wind itself seemed to solidify on the left arm of the creature. The dust began to form a spear, covering the entire left arm of the All-Elemental. Perhaps it was more of a lance, but MetalDrago wasn’t exactly concerned with specifics. All he knew was that he didn’t have much of a chance against the element of Earth, being himself a being of Fire. He turned and looked to the tapestries hanging behind the altar at the back of the room.

How'd that thing trace us? Can it sense auras? Perhaps if we disguise our auras within the aura of the Temple itself, she won't see us... But that will only work if she's blinded. MetalDrago jerked his head toward the tapestries, signaling that Lorenor should use one to cover his aura. Not knowing whether or not the mutant got the message, MetalDrago began backing up towards a tapestry for himself. The All-Elemental charged him, and MetalDrago knew that it was now or never. He jumped and spread his wings wide, and grabbed onto the All-Elemental, wrapping his wings around them. She stabbed at him with the lance, but was unable to connect, because he was too close. She clawed at him with her other hand, only being able to use one element at a time.

With her visual sensors blocked by dragonian body, the All-Elemental had to rely upon her auric sensors to detect the mutant. If he’d donned the tapestry as MetalDrago had intended, he’s be clouded in the overall energy of the Temple, and would be completely invisible to the Elemental. While unseen, MetalDrago was hoping his partner would deliver the coup de grace to the vile being. This was a win-it-or-lose-it moment. The battle would either be won or forced to go on until one side or the other was too tired to go on. MetalDrago was sure of it, as the Elemental was adaptable to his techniques. Nothing would work on it twice. If this didn’t, the chance for a quick end would be lost, and an interminable fight would ensue.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

"To the anti-firmanent with you!"

Seeing his cue, Lorenor reacted as best as he could. Having increased his intellectual level, the mutant understood one important fact of the situation. He could not hide the level of darkness he was giving off. Lorenor had no choice but to rely upon the many tools that he had at his disposal.

With N'Jal coursing through his body, the mutant's power level had jumped significantly. The darkness clung to Lorenor's body and radiated it off him at the same time. It created a vast pillar of energy that seemed to flow and crackle off the mutant's body. Creating a vortex of energy, Lorenor's form was covered perpetually by the darkness. So intense was his aura that it was a blight in the space/time continuity. Lorenor's vast energy was visible even in the anti-firmanent that he'd just attempted to invoke by swearing to it. In this advanced state, Lorenor's thoughts were super acute, possessing a sharp edge and quality that the mutant had never before known in his entire life. Lorenor noticed MetalDrago's off gesture towards the tapestry but understood the severity of the situation. So instead, the mutant fell back to one of the many devices in his control. Remembering the Ring of All-Shadows, the mutant looked down at it and saw that the precious piece of jewelry had also changed considerably when it came in contact with N'Jal's presence.

Obtaining a darker tint than ever before, the obsidian structure of the ring became almost completely opaque. Its crystalline nature was visible as the structure reformed upon itself making the material of the ring harder. In this fashion, all of his precious artifacts were being upgraded. Lorenor held the swords in his hands even as they gave off a terrible darkness of their own, becoming living organisms in their own right. Lorenor saw that his ring gave off a darkness that radiated from within the tiniest fragment and crevice of the device. It had unleashed an exponential power that was eager for release by the mutant's commanding. Lorenor looked at his own twisted reflection within the ring. What have I become? He thought to himself and a single, powerful voice responded. The darkness itself, my living avatar. You must use that power to defeat the opponent you now face. MetalDrago understands his place, now so must you understand your place as well.[/i] Lorenor nodded at the commanding of the matron goddess. He had the tools at his disposal, he just needed to employ them to lethal effect.

The All-Elemental was powerful, but it had to switch the elemental energies in her control at will. Lorenor understood that matter took time. He also understood that her powers were affected by other rules. So when she constructed the lance to replace her lost arm, the mutant understood the pattern of attack. He understood the mechanical logic. They had no way to win. He had to get around the All-Elemental somehow. "MetalDrago, this is a set-up. Hold her down!" Lorenor commanded to his partner taking on a role he had rapidly gotten used to: the role of leadership. The mutant clutched the weapons tightly in his hands until they hurt from the biting pressure. We have to get around this somehow. Think Lorenor! Think! The mutant suddenly realized what he could do. The one power that was uniquely his. Begging for release, the darkness inside of his living vessel had a new conduit. Feeling the weight of the ring around his finger, Lorenor sheathed his weapons quickly and fluidly. Running towards the girl with a heightened reaction time, the mutant lunged with the ring as a weapon instead.

The darkness hungers. It must feed.

Thy will be done.

Lunging towards the target, Lorenor could see her even around MetalDrago's physique. The mutant's senses had grown much more potent, more powerful than ever before. The world was no longer laced in shadow, but had an organic feel to it. So sharp was his vision and sensory array now, that the world appeared as a surreal painting. He was able to see the Firmanent and the Anti-Firmanent at the same time. As simultaneous constructs of the same reality. However, the Anti-Firmanent was different within this reality and filled with the ancient souls of the entities that once lived within this mysterious city. Lorenor looked around and saw the Lost Elders as they saw their creation fighting against the forces of darkness. Lorenor started to laugh as he suddenly understood his role in all things. Althanas needed a balancing point. Althanas needed a representative of the darkness, a champion of evil as much as it needed heroes of the light. It was a power struggle across the ages. Staring at the Lost Elders, the mutant saw that they were attempting to reach out to him with the agony of time.

Lorenor evaded an incoming attack even as he moved towards their creation.

Ducking beneath the clawed hand, the mutant slashed upwards with his own claws and was surprised when his talon like nails actually raked across the Lost Elder's face and cut him. Black blood splattered across the air as the creature recoiled and moved backwards to stare at Lorenor from safe distance with an accusing expression on his face. Taking the ring in his possession, Lorenor decided it was time. Rushing towards the larval state of the creature, the mutant aimed his ring right at the middle portion of his enemies' forehead. The ring glowed with a terrible darkness even as it sailed through the air, surrounding Lorenor with its power. "So you think you can set up the Children of N'Jal!? We do the setting up!" The ring whistled with power, a distinct vibration swirling through the air as the mutant swung his weapon. Everything felt as though it was slowing down. She was controlling the wind in a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable. Lorenor's eyes was filled with concentration even as the helmet of the exoskeleton surrounded his head. He was about to connect with the All-Elemental...

[MetalDrago]

(Slight bunny of Lorenor. If you want me to get rid of it, I will)

A scream pierced the ears of the dragonian warrior as the All-Elemental was hit with Lorenor’s ring. All the processes running through her mind stopped at the onslaught of a single, overruling new function: pain. Up until the moment the ring hit her, her programming did not allow pain to enter her body, much less reach her mind.

MetalDrago was thrown off as the being began to thrash, striving with all of her might to fight off the pain. MetalDrago, with the knowledge granted him by N’Jal, knew that she wouldn’t be able to fight it off. The being would be forced to reset her body completely, and even that wouldn’t be able to repair all the damage that the insufferable pain was forcing her to go through.

The uncontrollable pain coursing through her body brought her to her knees, the lance crumbling to dust as her internal programming tried to right itself. It wasn’t working all that well. The ring that had hit her was infecting her, removing the pacing of her programming. She couldn't think, couldn’t see, or hear, or feel anything. Her entire mind, down to the most primal instincts that her magically programmed mind had put down, screamed for release.

MetalDrago felt his power returning, and his physical transformation with it, but none of the elation he'd felt earlier was present. It was more like a growth spurt or magical transformation. He smiled as he curled his hand into a fist and looked at the All-Elemental with something bordering on disdain.

After the All-Elemental’s voice began to go hoarse, her eyes began to dim. In order to save herself from losing all sanity, her entire body had begun to shut down. She was passing out. MetalDrago, his eyes closed, turned around and began to walk out of the temple, with Lorenor following him. The threat was passed. As they walked through the village of rotted wood and broken stone, MetalDrago at last spoke up. “We… destroyed that creature’s mind. With that kind of power, so much could be done…”

Within his mind, a voice spoke out above the doubts. You did what you had to do to survive, and, more importantly, serve me. Do not second-guess yourself. To do so is to doubt My will. And you will never do that, is that clear? N’Jal was, in fact, ordering him to put his doubts aside and not to dwell on them, as he often would as his former self.

Crystal clear. MetalDrago said. His doubts were hardly resolved, but he was able to put them aside at the will of N’Jal. He experienced no guilt, but could not shake the feeling that he had to fight with honor. His conscience would not allow him to do anything other than that.

“Lorenor… You can fight using tactics like that, and I admire that in you. I, however, cannot. You see, though I fight for our Dark Mother, I also fight with honor. That, I cannot allow to change. I hope you can understand.” By the end of that sentence, MetalDrago and Lorenor had made it to the gate back into the other world. “…After that last fight, I can’t exactly say I’m going to miss this place. But, it was fun searching for these things, was it not?”

[Mutant_Lorenor]

By the pyre! My plan worked! It worked!? Energy crackled through the air in rivulets spawned from the infernal device. Lorenor stared in absolute shock at what he'd just done. Pulsing through the very vessel of the puppet before him, the mutant taught her one valuable lesson; pain. Taking a step back from his position, he oversaw the scene of chaos before him. Still, crackling with power, the ring throbbed in his hand begging to bite further life forces from the puppet.

Lorenor had to control an intense urge to end this right then and there. She was vulnerable, too vulnerable. He could see the pulsing energies flowing through the creature's vessels. The ground beneath them seemed to swirl in Lorenor's visionary scope. Looking at the moving earth, the mutant tried to steady himself, steady his stomach. He felt the thrill of victory welling up in the very depths of his soul. She is vulnerable. Now is the time to end this fiasco! "Thou shalt kneel before the will of N'Jal! The one true Goddess!" The mutant yelled.

He found himself suddenly speaking in an older version of the common tongue. Olde common tongue. Was it a coincidence? The mutant had little time to think about the sudden transformation. All he knew was that his goddess was with him. The dark was with him, and now the circle was complete. Lorenor quickly focused on the task at hand. There wasn't goign to be any retaliation from their enemy. There wasn't going to be a second wind, and there wasn't going to be any heroics. This night was for the villains of Althanas.

And all together, as one voice, the creatures of dark would rejoice at the birth of a team of new champions. Lorenor knew his companion was nearby and had his back through the eternity. He found himself romantically admiring MetalDrago, but kept his lustings to himself. There was a purpose now, and N'Jal had given specific orders. Survive. Or die.

Feeling the new powers pulsing through him, the mutant lunged forward with great speed and agility. His mouth was open without him even realizing it. A grotesque transformation spawned from the nightmares of babes. Flesh and tendons stretched, twisted, and popped until his lower maxilla was completely wide up. Two great sections of his lower jaw were lined with very sharp teeth. Teeth that were dripping with liquid saliva. The mutant looked at his meal and descended upon her quickly.

In her moment of weakness, the puppet could only gasp as the terrifying creature was upon her. A yell escaped her lips, and then it turned to a gargling sound as the mutant tore at her larynx. Feeling flesh and blood pouring into the air, Lorenor ate. He consumed the flesh of the puppet girl until he'd eaten his share. Much of her trapezius muscle on the right side of her body was torn open, teeth marks visible everywhere. Deep gashes where Lorenor had chewed through flesh now decorated her petite form.

Lorenor held his victim as he saw tears streaming down her face. There was a delightful pleasure in this victory. A welling up in his stomach. It felt like his intestines were tied in knots. The mutant took his fill from the ambrosia before him, claws digging into her body. He held her in place. She was in his grasp and unable to escape. His muscles knotted now with the supernatural strength imbued by N'Jal's will. Lorenor bit more from the girl, and savored the artificial meat. There was a metallic taste to her flesh, but it also had a sweet purity to it.

The puppet was an uncorrupted up until this point. Lorenor felt his D.N.A. transferring through the bite as the techno-virus took on its unique and very specific function. It flowed from the bite to the victim. Lorenor could see the nano-machinery pulsing quickly through her body in a matter of moments, changing her basic architecture. Lorenor released the victim, pushing her to the ground and she fell. Her body twitching in agony as a result of the mutant's attack. Lorenor had strangely colored blood, blue, flowing from his mouth. It tastes so strange... And just like that the battle was all over.

Carry my will with you always. For I am with you my childe. Do my work across the world. Spread the word of N'Jal. And defeat those that would suppress our way. Follow the teachings within the books, and remember that I will always be with you.

The mother spoke in his mind once more and he simply nodded. He left the victim behind and traveled across the well-worn path with MetalDrago by his side. Soon, he found himself staring at the gate once more. He turned towards MetalDrago with a mysterious expression on his face. He wiped the blood off his face in a feeble attempt to make himself look more presentable. Though he wasn't ugly any longer, he was still not handsome by any means. "Mother commands us to spread her will across the world, and that is what we must do. We must expand the Cult of N'Jal and build temples and statues glorifying the dark mother in all her wondrous mysteries! This is the decree of our goddess. Art thou ready?"

And so, Lorenor, man, mutant, legend, grasped his future by the horns and accepted what he now was. He also accepted that he would not have to walk that path alone. His goddess was with him, and he had a lieutenant.

"Thou art mine general MetalDrago. There is much work to be done."

[MetalDrago]

Before, when Lorenor attacked the creature, MetalDrago could only watch as Lorenor tore open the All-Elemental with his voracious appetite. Blood stained the ancient stone floor, turning the inviting, warm brown into a deep, violent violet. MetalDrago grinned sadistically as he turned away Lorenor, unable to watch his Commander violently rip apart the All-Elemental. He almost felt sorry for the creature, but he couldn’t bring himself to think of anything but fulfilling his Dark Mistress’s desires. He turned back on Lorenor as he infected the creature. He wondered idly what would become of her, but now that was none of his concern.

MetalDrago walked out of the room easily, a natural grace to his step that betrayed his supernatural transformation. Despite his monstrous appearances, he was now able to move with more ease and grace than he’d thought possible when still trapped in the confines of his original body. This one just felt so… right, even though it was an unnatural transformation.

Lorenor turned on him, telling him what N’Jal had spoken. MetalDrago nodded in complete agreement. “Of course I will serve as your General, Commander.” It would be obvious by MetalDrago’s tone of voice that he was less than pleased with the idea of being a General. He would refer to himself as a Captain to anyone who asked him what his rank was in the army of N’Jal. He would gladly fall to the duties of being a General, but despised merely the name. When called by General, he wouldn’t be able to complain, especially if it were Lorenor who called him that, but… It didn’t mean he had to like it.

Whenever he fought on the field of battle, he would outright refuse to take on anyone who was of a lower caliber than himself. He’d use his Dragon’s Betrayal in order to slice through the ranks of the good, until he found a worthy opponent, and then he could be truly happy, fighting against someone who would actually be worth his time. There were few things in the world that would make MetalDrago happy, and fighting was one of those few things. He knew that serving his Dark Mother’s purpose would make him happy, in its own ways, but he’d yet to find anything that would make him feel as alive as when he was fighting for his life, slowly destroying his opponent, tiring them, making them doubt themselves.

As the Gate stood before them once more, MetalDrago couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen in the future concerning the two of them. He had a feeling that N’Jal had big plans for them, apart from the plans that they themselves were going to be making. MetalDrago had big plans for the power gifted them by the Dark Goddess. For one, he was going to become one of the greatest warriors in the world, and he was going to completely outclass his once rival, Xanith Trailweaver. He may never see him again, but he had every intention of being better than Trailweaver had been the last time they’d fought. The last time, the elven warrior attacked an defeated MetalDrago without taking a single hit. MetalDrago still felt angry and betrayed by his own lack of skill in fighting.

Darkness began to radiate from behind the two Paladins of N’Jal. MetalDrago, interested, turned behind him to witness a sight unlike any he’d ever experienced in all his years of life. The temple, it was changing, transforming by the will of the Dark Mother, or perhaps because of the infection of the All-Elemental.

Dark spires began to jut from the architecture, and it took on a kind of mirror sheen that reflected light, but in the oddest way. It seemed the light was not being repelled by the surface of the temple at all, but by some kind of barrier around it, so the light would never even be able to touch the actual building itself. MetalDrago whistled appreciatively as the darkness began to coalesce, shrouding the actual shape of the temple in mystery, though MetalDrago knew that, given half the chance, he could draw the building almost exactly as it was. Dark spires, an almost mechanical appearance as it continued to rise out of the ground. As the temple continued to expand, each wing began to take on a different shade of evil. Decadence, greed, sloth, gluttony, arrogance, wrath… It was all being beautifully inscribed in murals and statues on the very face of the temple. MetalDrago was almost tempted to head back in to see how the interior had changed, then thought better of it.

He turned away from the temple just as its shadow passed over himself and Lorenor. “I think we’d best leave, now.” He fought as hard as he could not to turn back again to look upon the splendor of N’Jal’s new temple. He walked through the Gate, his eyes set firmly ahead of himself, as N’Jal spoke to him. My young Paladin, you will return to My new Temple soon enough, and there you will be honored among the highest in My Order. Never doubt yourself, and never doubt the path I have set before you. You are now MetalDrago, the first of My Order of the Dark Dragon. From this point on, you are destined to become more powerful than you could possibly imagine, eventually second only to Myself and your brother Lorenor in power among the Dark Ones.

MetalDrago smiled, convinced of his Mother’s words, and continued to walk forward, back into the realm of the mundane, where he would undoubtedly find the remains of the city of Valinatal again. He smiled, sensing the destruction before him, and reveling in the glory of the Dark Mother.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Agreeing with his companion's assessment of the situation, the mutant proceeded forward. He took the newly found power in his possession and embraced the destiny that now lay before him. Looking around was a simple matter of consolidating his sensory sphere to the exact point he needed to access. He could see in any direction within the sphere as long as he concentrated. Concentrating for a moment on the area behind him, he could feel the change in the air. Outside of his sensory range, the world was a dull-gray that represented the lifeless colours of the anti-firmanent.

Lorenor saw that the landscape itself changed. A dull, deep oily black filtered through the environs. It was like a liquid flowing across the contained reality until even the sky became foreboding and black. It was a macabre image twisted by Lorenor's once fractured mind. Now made whole by the will of N'Jal, the mutant no longer was burdened by his insanity. Nay. He relished in the fact of its existence allowing it to make him a whole entity for the side of darkness. A powerful ally to the will of N'Jal indeed.

From his helmet covered face, shining orbs of truest amethyst burned with a intellectual hatred. This hatred was cunning and repulsive at the same time, a testament to the will of N'Jal. Lorenor felt his boots crunching against the altering ground even as corrupted plants and saplings sprouted from 'neath the surface of the earth.

Awaiting before them both, the gateway burned with power. From beyond the gate, the mutant could see the old world of Althanas. Torn apart, broken, a former vessel for the glory it once held. A time and era of chaos had unfolded before history. Lorenor clenched his fists, feeling the sections of his new bio-organic armor moving together with his fingers. The newly forged armor seemed to radiate with power as it were.

In its true form now, the creature known only as the endless seemed like the shell of some twisted and deformed insect. Each piece of the armor was perfectly sectioned across the expanse of his body. The helmet looked like the head of some giant beetle or praying mantis. The only thing it lacked was feelers. The scales pulsed with a dark energy that seemed to flow like a volcano through the shell of the armor. Moving slightly behind MD, the mutant stepped into the portal to face his new destiny...

[MetalDrago]

MetalDrago took a breath of the acrid air around the meteor. It didn’t affect him quite the way it had before. As a matter of fact, it hardly affected him at all. The taste of ash in his mouth was so perfect, the prelude do an era of destruction and chaos the likes of which Althanas hadn’t seen in many an era. The Dragonian Paladin couldn’t help but smile as he began to walk toward the outer rim of the former city. Eventually, darkness would creep outward from the meteor, for miles around, infecting the land, making it dark and twisted, broken and frightening.

The sun began to sink into the western horizon, and MetalDrago laughed lightly to himself, barely audible enough for anyone to hear him. It was the end of a rather strange day to mark the beginning of a new era in Althanas history. N’Jal had her champions now. Let any other champion take up arms against them, and they would be dealt with harshly. N’Jal would walk the world again in her own right, and MetalDrago was determined to make that happen. The world would bow before the might of the Army of N’Jal.

__________________________________

MetalDrago and Lorenor approached the camp that had been made what seemed like ages ago. Infused with ash, even the soup MetalDrago had made remained untouched. The world hadn’t changed at all, even considering the immense changes the pair had gone through in the last few hours.

Hours? Has it really only been mere hours since I sat here with Lorenor, talking of such unimportant things as the racism prevalent in Raiaera? He asked himself. It felt like thousands of years had passed, and it had merely been hours. MetalDrago understood, then, how Reiana, Seraius, and Terramat could have mistaken a mere ten years for ten thousand. Surely they were powerful enough now to appear to have trained for ten thousand years.

MetalDrago’s orchid eyes appraised the land around him as he turned his head slightly toward Lorenor. “Commander, this world is going to change soon, and we’re the agents of that change.” MetalDrago felt that these words would not be misunderstood by his commander. The world would soon be engulfed in an eternal nightmare, one from which it would never be able to escape. The Goddess N’Jal would not be satisfied with the state of the world, ever. She was an agent of constant change, of Chaos, in a world where every Thayne sought peace, and in that peace, eternal stagnation. MetalDrago finally understood the wastes of peace.

Only in a world of untold chaos, of everlasting change, could the true spirits of men be seen. New technologies, all-powerful magic, fighting skills never thought of before; all of this was possible, as long as the world remained in a state of constant change. “Heheheh. Order be damned! We are the living embodiment of Chaos, of Madness in a world that desperately needs a little shaking up.”

To any outsider, it would appear as if MetalDrago had lost his mind, but to him, it was if he had discovered a truth that the world needed to have unveiled. What good is good without evil? It is nothing. There has to be a balance. Good cannot be destroyed, because its counterpart, true evil, cannot be destroyed, either. It was so simple. One cannot exist without the other. True control could not be achieved unless there was an opposite, true anarchy.

It was time the world had a little shaking up. The mundane world was full of problems, of stagnation. Now, the Paladin saw this, and would stop at nothing to correct that perceived wrong. In truth, MetalDrago was now quite insane, by normal standards. His personality, merely through the last few hours, had been twisted and broken by the Goddess N’Jal, though now, put back together in this decidedly insane manner, he felt more complete than he had in all of his life. A darkness filled his heart, blinded him to light, and now he was the first of N’Jal’s chosen Dark Dragon Order, destined to become the most powerful of her draconic servants.


This was truly a joyous day, the beginning of the Second Age of Darkness...

(Spoils: A transformation that almost only affects appearance (his claws will become weapons at level 2, due to this transformation), a single use of that shapeshifting spell, to be used at a later date, the Dragon's Betrayal, and a slight madness caused by the infusion of N'Jal's will into his mortal shell, all locked until Level 2 Update)

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Stepping out of the portal, the mutant didn't feel quite as disoriented as before when he'd first stepped through that portal. The will of N'Jal made Lorenor feel more complete than he ever had in his life. The missing fragments of his life were stitched together to form a more finished mosaic. Lorenor knew however, that the journey had begun. The will of the dark lady was absolute, and the mutant would strive to follow the word. Follow my will. For my will is absolute. Thoughts swam in the mutant's fragile head, no longer fragile. The nano-virus within his head restructured the broken dendrites allowing the mutant to process things at an alarming rate.

His mind had grown. Releasing its true function, the nano-virus, reprogrammed by the N'Jal Protocol, the nano-virus became a nano-plague.
But within the host carrier, the mutant's body physically changed to become even more bizarre than before. Lorenor felt his muscles tighten, and his reflexes become much sharper. He moved quickly, keeping pace with his companion as they traveled across the blasted lands. The will of N'Jal flowed through his vessel now. Making the carrier a deadly agent for the change that was to come. MetalDrago spoke truly of the events that had unfolded, in essence, they were both carriers of the plague.

N'Jal coursed through the mutant's vessel now. Lorenor's hands clenched and unclenched tightly with each new breath he took. Before, the mutant had a sort of wild insanity that made him a dangerous force to reckon with. Now, he had a drive, focus, and determination that was missing before. N'Jal had given Lorenor his missing purpose. With that purpose came a price to paid, the old Lorenor was gone replaced with something exceedingly darker and far more dangerous. The thoughts cycled through his head as deeply rooted ideas. Raids. Wars. Political strife and turmoil. These matters were but the beginning of the second age of darkness.

MetalDrago heard the words of his companion, he heard the slight laugh of the other as well. Eternally bonded, the two were brothers now. Champions of the darkness. N'Jal's chosen paladins. Lorenor took that title extremely seriously. The light had its champions, the dark, in turn, now had its own champions. Feeling his fists unclench one more time, Lorenor surveyed the crash site. In the place of a once thriving elven city, the mutant would see fit that there would be a shrine to the dark mother. They made it back to the original camp. "Xem'Zund's forces are moving." Lorenor said as he listened to the wind speaking its warnings of what was to come.

The recent wars in Raiaera against the dark Necromancer unwittingly drew the champions of N'Jal into the mix of things. Lorenor looked at Metaldrago, and then at the campsite. He just remembered that he was hungry. Sitting down on the rock next to the cauldron, the mutant poured himself a bowl of food. He knew it would be cold since the fires died out long ago. Lorenor didn't care, he just wanted to try his companion's cooking skills first-hand. As he sipped the soup, he tasted the rich texture even though the food was cold. Lorenor grinned. Nobody was here to attempt a thieving. Lorenor knew that the farthest living beings were far off fighting some deranged war against a egoist necromancer.

He knew that they could do their next work without problems. Without interference. Lorenor ate his fill, and offered MetalDrago a loaf of fine bread without even realizing quite why. He just wanted to enjoy his meal at the start of a new life. "Now that this is taken care of. Let me tell thee a story." He looked up a MetalDrago whilst he ate. "It began with a tragedy that occurred long ago..." Lorenor began a tale of vengeance of of reckoning, reliving his life's events. What he knew of it, the information that MetalDrago had for him. Pieces of his past would finally come forward to fruition as his new future awaited him. And so, Lorenor recounted his entire life as he knew the truth. At the end of the tale, Lorenor looked at MetalDrago with a stern expression on his face. "And now mine friend, we must begin our first work. We shalt turn this hideous scar into a temple suitable for our Dark Mother." Lorenor said and stood. "We must begin the great work."

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

***Spoils***

*N'Jal Protocol-(Note to protect Ithermoss' Thayne lore I am making it perfectly clear that my version of N'Jal is an N'Jal from an alternative reality adjacent to Althanas. If our quest makes cannon lore, I want it to be perfectly clear that our version of N'Jal is just one possibility. The original version of N'Jal would be protect for Ithermoss' Thayne Lore. I want other people to use this great writing tool for themselves as well and not to have to abide by the story myself and MetalDrago are writing. If people want to use MY version of N'Jal then that is fine too. I am just trying to expand Ithermoss' great work. 'Tis a pity not enough people use the Thayne Lore)

The N'Jal Protocol is a collective of nano-machinery that exists in a well located deep within an asteroid that crash-landed on Raiaera. The crash-site radiates with a potent elemental energy known as wild energy. It is a form of potent chaos that N'Jal radiates. N'Jal has selected her chosen site on Althanas to begin the second Age of Darkness once more. A shrine to the N'Jal Protocol is visible as a well or a funnel of sorts in the middle of the asteroid to protect the creature from the ravages of deep space. The truth of N'Jal is now revealed. One of many possible N'Jal's the creature is extremely tiny and exists as a swarm of replicating nano-machines that has a single collective intelligence known as the Will of N'Jal. To come across N'Jal is to take in the living embodiment of the darkness.

When a new host fuses with the N'Jal Protocol, their physical characteristics are greatly altered. They inherit great physical strength, agility, reflexes, and significant boost to their intellect. Those who are already infected with the plague Lorenor carries receive double bonuses. (Subject to Althanas rules and mod approval of course) Lorenor and MetalDrago have directly fused with the N'Jal Protocol. With MetalDrago, it will take time to manifest, with Lorenor, it manifest immediately and takes dramatic effect.

*Strength-Lorenor receives a strength bonus, passively active, that allows him to have the strength of a normal human being who is an active body building. Lorenor has two times the strength of a normal human. This allows him to carry heavier objects and hit harder. Combined with the

*Endurance-Lorenor receives an endurance bonus, passively active, that allows him to have the endurance of a normal human being who is quite physically fit. This grants Lorenor twice the normal endurance of a normal human being who is physically active. Having faced the hardships he's faced Lorenor can deal with situations that require great endurance much better than normal individuals can but not better than people with extreme endurance. Lorenor's Endurance is a potentially interesting aspect.

*Reflexes and Speed-Lorenor's current reflexes remain the same. However, on foot, Lorenor can run about 50 MPH's. (Subject to moderator approval)

*Endless-An organism bonded to Lorenor at the molecular level, the symbiote has a mind of its own. Though subjugated by Lorenor's dominant will power, the Endless still has its own free will. Currently, the armor has been exposed to N'Jal's primal influence and all things must change. Revealing it's mature form, the Endless has mutated into a strange form of exoskeleton armor. More bug-like than ever, Lorenor appears truly alien in his Endless form. The damascus quality armor has upgraded to the next tier rank, Dehlar, and achieved a capacity of both of the archaic properties of damascus and dehlar. The Endless is equivalent to a full suit of masterwork armor. Thanks to Lorenor's combined strength augmented with the Horns of Power (Permanently bonded to the Endless) Lorenor is more than strong enough to wield the heavy armor accurately. To Lorenor the Endless weighs but a few ounces.

*Intellect-Lorenor's intellect has increased. He is now two times smarter than the average human being's I.Q. This Intellect boost applies to creative thinking as well as problem solving. All these stat-enhancements are passive abilities. Compared to someone like a Letho or a Godhand, Lorenor is still relatively weak and relatively unintelligent compared to people of that calibre.


*Alchemy Codex- A simple book of alchemy located in the castle's store room. This book contains various recipes, all written in High Commonspeak, The recipes are few per chapter, and the tome is very thick in an ancient form of papyrus paper. The documents stored within those pages depict the -exact- recipe necessary to build various types of potions and elixirs. These potions will eventually grant Lorenor special benefits known as buffs. Buffs augment the Alchemist in some special way, usually temporarily. Eventually, Lorenor will become skilled enough in Alchemy to construct potions with permanent buffs. For the time being the constructed potions all use easily acquired ingredients for its recipes as the Codex is a beginner's guide. The first part of the book has a section to translate and instruct students in the language of High Commonspeak. There is also an extensive section on the art of Alchemy itself. A handy index in the back of the tome shows the exact location of each recipe in the book. A single recipe may take about ten pages at a time for the exact measurements and calculations of ingredients and room temperatures are an exact science. Lorenor will some day become a skilled Alchemy to buffer his fell Necromancy.

[Taskmienster]

Red Hand Pilgrimage: The Second Age of Darkness


Apologies for the wait! I’m not going to have a whole lot of commentary, or point out specifics I should say. All in all the thread was well done, interesting, and well written. I feel that due to the nature of it the story wasn’t all that exciting, kinda jumped into the asteroid really quickly without building up to it… but other than that the score should reflect the effort well. For further clarifications, comments, or concerns please feel free to PM me, or IM me (though I haven’t had the chance to get on often as of late).

STORY (18/30)

~ Continuity ~ 6

I got a lot of background, and it was thrown in through dialogue, but it felt out of place. Like you were only talking about it so that the reader would know, a little unnatural. Try and write out the background with a mix of dialogue as well as creative narrating. It’ll help spice things up a bit more. All in all both well done.

~ Setting ~ 7

~ Pacing ~ 5

MD: You seem to write in a way that makes you a follower, a tagalong instead of a main player. I think it’s because you tend to write your character in a way that makes him almost indebted or under the wing of another. Don’t feel bad about doing more in a post than just responding to the other’s post. Feel free to add depth to your writing so that you can portray setting, persona, and continuity in a more profound way. The sudden appearance of Terramat and his departure was unexpected.


CHARACTER (19/30)

~ Dialogue ~ 6

Well done, though Lorenor seemed to go from olde English to common dialect after the transformation quite a bit.

~ Action~ 7

~ Persona ~ 6

A little more show and a little less feel is all I can really comment here. I got how you both were, but it seemed that you were writing it out not acting it out. Remember, the thread is a captivating story not a storyline of a profile.



WRITING STYLE (22/30)

~ Technique ~ 6

Good use of advanced technique, though Lorenor’s short, choppy sentences become a little too much at times. Try and intersperse those throughout the thread, but not too many back to back unless it’s an intentional rise in emotions.

~ Mechanics ~ 8

Only a few errors here and there, nothing that a quick proof-read couldn’t fix.

~ Clarity ~ 8

WILD CARD!!! 7



TOTAL

(66/100)


GAINS/REWARDS!

Both of your spoils are approved pending RoG approval. Lorenor you have a lot in there, so it’ll be a matter of whether you have too much at your next level up if it’s approved. MD you didn’t elaborate a lot, but as long as you elaborate on it in the update your should be fine.

Lorenor: 3344 exp; 350 gold

MD: 1790 exp; 350 gold

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP added!

Lorenor is now level 6!