Brothers in The Dark. (Dissonance/Closed)

[Mutant_Lorenor]

(Closed to Jack Frost)

(Moderator Note: Takes place AFTER the entirety of the Invasion project. Thank you very much)

~I~

Time.

To the high priest, it was an eternal liquid, many tendrils swelled out from the source of the liquid in billions upon billions of directions. Each tendril represented a new possible outcome, one that could be acted upon, or one that could be ignored. That was the power that N'Jal offered. Her servants, the followers of N'Jal, had different gifts and talents that were useful to the high priest. Some were swords, blades used by the high priest to storm and pillage. Others were skilled Magi, powerful in the lore of the elementals, tomes, and scrolls of ages now gone.

The Magi of N'Jal were gifted Spider Magi, and their power dwarfed the power of the spell singers of Eluriand.

By then, many of the older mutants in Lorenor's command had taken new shapes. The forms of The Spider Magi. Lorenor had a banner forged in the image of N'Jal. A stylized emblem with the "N" logo emblazoned on it. It was a black image painted on a red flag, the image of the undead. A new necromantic army had arisen on the ashes of the fell Necromancer Xem'Zund. However, these undead were free immortals. They possessed a free will that allowed them to choose to serve N'Jal. After a lot of work, Lorenor had arisen, and become The Grand Primus of the undead.

The crowned, and singular leader of the free people of the undead legions on Althanas.

Lorenor represented N'Jal on Althanas.

By then, the undead minions had constructed a chamber within the original asteroid that contained N'Jal. This chamber was known elegantly as The Chamber of Fate and contained the fell structure known simply as The Eye of Fate. In recent times, Lorenor had mobilized his forces and worked to recover lost relics and artifacts that belonged to N'Jal's followers since ancient times. These objects were mostly recovered, a few were lost, but those were only minor set-backs in the larger scheme of things.

Throughout the ordeal, Lorenor's bonding with N'Jal increased with each passing hour.

His strength grew considerably as well as he learned the olde secrets of The Necronomicon. A collected work of three volumes written by the hands of the ancient Spider Magi. Lorenor was, at heart, a high priest and a simple servant of N'Jal. He simply performed the will of an entire species. Reading from the books, as a society, the undead discovered many secrets. Furthermore, the power of the undead society grew lager every day. Outlying Raiaeran cemetaries were pillaged of corpses and used to reinforce the followers of N'Jal.

And then the hour had come to this very moment.

Everyday, at the dawn of a new day, Lorenor gave sermons to the general populace.

Acting as a reverse priest, he took care of his followers. Their problems, their needs, and sometimes, their enemies. Lorenor found himself alone that day, a whole day on his hands to meditate and commune with N'Jal. As one of her most devoted followers, when Lorenor was not in action, he was in deep communion with the voice in the dark. Dissonance, the followers of N'Jal, some were and some weren't, were living within the halls of the undead followers now. Lorenor had agreed with Metaldrago Scorpio, former Captain of The Followers of N'Jal to co-head Dissonance. And now, the hour had arrived for more operations. N'Jal called out to the high priest with a single command.

Seek out Jack Frost. N'Jal decreed. Train him in the ways of our Magi.

Lorenor nodded. As ye commands, my lady.

And that's how the journey began anew.

With a simple order from N'Jal, a new spiral of events would occur that would engulf Althanas as a whole once again. Lorenor walked towards Jack Frost's general direction and prepared himself mentally for what was to be...

...The hour at hand, would herald another dark time.

[Jack Frost]

Several months back Jack had found himself unknowingly hiring on with the Grand Primus for an invasion of epic proportions. Jack had simply been hired help at the time, but had later earned a permanent spot as one of Lorenor's many warriors. He had met many strange creatures and people, and ended up spending most of his time standing in the mobs as Lorenor preached the words of N'Jal. When he was not listening to Lorenor and his sermons, he was relaxing in a nice little nook he had set up for himself just outside where he normally saw Lorenor praying and meditating, always a quick call away from his new boss. One problem he had solved for himself was boredom, which he had done in a rather unorthodox manner.

He had found some rope, a corpse, and a nearby rafter. He then proceeded to hang the corpse by the legs from the rafters, and carve a bulls-eye on the mans torso. Every time he was bored he would throw darts made out of ice lazily at his target, and when he had tallied up his score, would will them to melt. Every week he would find a new corpse to stick with his icy darts.

He had just finished tallying up his score on his twentieth game that day when Lorenor approached from wherever he might have been. Jack's knowledge of their lair was poor, and he managed to get lost several times, much to the dismay of Metaldrago, another one of his bosses he had barely met.

Due to the way Lorenor was carrying himself Jack took it that he meant business. The frost mage rose to his feet and dusted off the dust from his blue hooded jacket, checked his hair quickly in an ice mirror he had set by his feet, making sure it was still silver and slightly spiked, and turned to look at his boss with his teal eyes. "Can I be of service?" he asked in his usual cold tone of voice, his words chased from his mouth by a breath of fog as if it was incredibly cold in the room.

It was not of course, Jack just happened to be the reincarnation of a Thayne. The Thayne of ice to be precise. He occasionally had his past life talking in the back of his mind, his presence unlocked by a surge in Lorenor's powers, but the old man's voice seemed to be resting.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Whenever he was in Jack Frost's presence, he liked the temperature changes. Outside, it was a warm night, inside the house that Jack Frost had fashioned for himself, it was a cold environment. Just the way that Lorenor liked it. The high priest smiled which was a common occurrence these nights. For Lorenor had much to smile about. He had launched his campaign against the followers of The All-Thayne and that campaign was proving a winning cause. Lorenor walked close to his companion and took in the man's particular strange. He smelled of The Thayne, but it was not The Thayne in The All-Thayne's court. It was a different sort of Thayne. N'Jal had her followers too. Lorenor entrusted Jack Frost as much as he entrusted MetalDrago Scorpio with his life. His eyes glowed with dark energies as he looked at Jack Frost, there was a certain sparkle of respect, an admiration for the boy chyromancer. Lorenor reached forward towards Jack Frost in an attempt to place a comforting hand upon the man's shoulder. Lorenor kept his allies close at all times, he knew that was the truth for he had always been a loyal bastard. Pay him enough, and the mutant would perform services that would change the world. As a devil of greed, Lorenor had come a long way to obtain the old rags to riches victory. From nothing in the caves Haidia, to the seat of his own kingdom.

Lorenor had made it, surpassing many obstacles to obtain that which was unobtainable for his people...peace.

There was an old saying: there was no rest for the wicked.

Lorenor proved them wrong.

Even the wicked could know peace and quiet after a hard day's work, a hard day of following the dark lady, N'Jal.

The High Priest studied The Thayne before him.

In a lot of ways, Jack Frost and he were brothers. Lorenor was one of the many of N'Jal's forgotten children. Jack Frost, was one of the many forgotten members of N'Jal's court. Lorenor knew this because N'Jal knew this. And Lorenor had the greatest connection to the dark lady of any other Spider Magi on Althanas. The thought humbled the mutant at the same time as it made him realized he had accomplished a great deal. His eyes were narrowed as he studied Jack Frost before him. The same words whispered once again in the back of the high priest's mind. Train Jack Frost. Make him powerful. Lorenor nodded to himself for a moment, his eyes closing. Whenever that happened, the dark energy that flowed out of his deeply set eye sockets vanished for the briefest of moments surrounding his face in shadow. Then, the energy returned a moment later. Lorenor had long, platinum coloured dreadlocks those nights. He'd aged considerably, rapidly, in his ascent to power. No longer a mere derelict ghoul, but a being of great power, and a Thayne in his own right, Lorenor now was a member of N'Jal's court. Those thoughts crossed his mind as he looked at the decaying body that hung from the rafters of the small house Jack Frost had adopted for himself and whatever female companions he chose to bed at the time. Lorenor felt an eternity pass, and smiled at his companion once more.

"Walk with me old friend." Lorenor commanded, it was the decree of the grand primus, but most importantly, it was the words of a friend. They were sincere. "The time has come for me to begin your training. I will help you obtain the power that you seek so much." Lorenor said carefully. "There are a number of options available to you. But what I am concerned with, is a certain ritual I have discovered that applies to us. The ritual contains verses from The Necronomicon itself. If you will follow me, we can discuss which path you wish for yourself as we walk. We must ever be vigilant against our enemies my old friend." Lorenor said. "To that end, our next step is to train you in the olde arts." Lorenor said. "That is, unless of course, you have more pressing matters, perhaps?" Lorenor asked as he looked at the decaying corpse in the man's house. A grin touched his lips. Suffering was his pleasure, his pain. He did enjoy the suffering of others. "What do you opine my old friend?" Lorenor finally asked, awaiting a response from Jack Frost patiently.

Undead society was a contract society.

He would need Jack Frost's consent before they would proceed any further with the night's ordeals and trials.

[Jack Frost]

Jack rose and nodded to Lorenor. The large undead man was like a pseudo father to Jack. He had taken him in at his darkest moments, and he had given him purpose. "Greetings old friend" Jack muttered glancing around. He was currently wearing black trousers and a black sleeveless shirt. He located his blues armor plated jacket and tossed it on, even though he didn't need it.

He exited the shelter with Lorenor and continued to walk alongside the Grand Primus. "So..." Jack began nonchalantly. "Let me hear the options we have to move forward. We must strike against our enemies, and I cannot possibly drag us down when the time comes. I am currently working on obtaining immortality by restoring my Thayne powers, but being so deep into N'Jal's court I find I have a surprising lack of 'dark' powers." Jack said, his words flowing out of his mouth in a fine fog.

Something caused him to think very deeply into joining the legions of the undead, become more like his boss, but then something stopped him. One would have to die to be re-animated, dying left gashes and scars that did not like to heal. Jack was a rather shallow person, so he found the idea unappealing.

"Perhaps..." He muttered silently. "Perhaps you can teach me some of your magic? The ways of the spider magi are cryptic to me, yet I find myself working alongside them everyday. Could we do that?"