A Return

[Watyll 1104]

 

Kknotos outstretched his hand, offering out the key to the young girl. She was perfect. Exactly as the prophecy had stated. Tainted of body, and yet pure of soul. Her kind were known as scourgeborn. The key itself glimmered and sparked, its prisoner sensing its freedom was near. The child, Dhaun, hesitantly reached a hand towards the construct formed of angudaemonic magic. Kknotos grinned underneath his iron mask, his expression hidden from the girl. The volcano beneath their feet shifted and bubbled with magma, and shouts came from all about them. The clerics had come, bringing their accursed and foul purity magic with them. The Lich, Kraal, was a fiery inferno of bone and speed. The Dread Knight, Vorrul, and his counterpart Dread Knight (whose name Kknotos knew not), crushed all in their path, metal behemoths. Siggourdnbad was nowhere to be seen. Curse her hide. He wished for her presence. Not many expected an attack from such a petite female form. But for the moment, he turned back to his charge, his freedom, his weapon.

 

All of a sudden, a loud blast sounded from the volcano. A roar of the mountain. Lava blasted upwards, propelled by the force of the earth itself. A crushing wave of molten fire soared over Kknotos. By some miracle, Dhaun dove to the side, avoiding its path. Kknotos stared at the wave, the key grasped tightly in his hand. Its orangish glow took up his entire vision, and he thought himself lost. Then, with a crackling sound, the key shot into life, spewing forth tendrils of void and ethereal black mist, surrounding Kknotos an in inky embrace. The lava washed over the newly created shield, and Kknotos watched in rage as the volcano’s liquid hardened over his shield. Light dissapeared, and Kknotos did not see or hear anything but void.

 

~~~

 

Months later, as Anthos dissapeared in a great flood, the volcano crumbled under the onrush of water. Even the mightiest stones could not stand up to the power and speed of the great oceans. A chunk of the lava broke off from the very top of the mountain, and began to float away. Being a volcanic rock, it very likely had air bubbles of a sort inside. Carried by ocean currents, the chunk of rock floated away from Anthos. Years passed as it was borne towards it’s new destination. Years until the rock washed up on the shore of the Fringe.

 

~~~

 

“Ey, look at tha’ there, Dimmer!” said the young dwarf warrior as he pointed to a particularly large chunk of black rock on the beach. He rushed over to it, curiosity overtaking him. His friend, Dimmer, sighed. They were supposed to be on patrol for human scouts.

“Barian, come on, stop foolin’ around.” He made his way over to the rock much less enthusiastically. This war had consumed too many careless fools already. Barian scrambled up on top of the rock, taking off his helmet. His armor glinted in the sunlight as he tapped the rock with his axe. A slight echo followed.

“Dimmer! It be ‘ollow!”

“Good, now leave it beh!” Barian of course, did not heed his friends wishes. Dimmer sighed. Barian had done this sort of thing before, like charging straight into a high elven ambush. They had survived the onslaught, but just barely. Barian slammed the butt of his axe again and again into the rock, chipping the light volcanic material away in chunks. Finally a small hole opened.

“Ey Dimmer, I made a-”

Barian was cut off as the rock exploded into a thousand different shards, spraying outwards in all directions. One of the shards caught Barian right under the chin, and it shredded into the soft skin of his neck easily, spraying crimson into the air for meters around. His dying was not quick. And as the rock lay embedded in his veins, he gagged and choked on his own blood. Surely, if he could manage to speak, it would be only to cry out in agony. A shrouded figure slowly got up from the smoking remains of the rock, tottering slightly. it turned towards the remaining dwarf, Dimmer, and sunlight glinted off its iron mask, its skull’s visage almost glowing. Dimmer brought his axe up, wincing to the sounds of Barian coughing up bits of skin and blood. Letting out a wordless roar, he charged, raising his weapon high for a strike. The apparition’s eyes suddenly begin to spark and crackle with an emerald light, and it raised up an emaciated hand. Vermillion electricity shot from it, arcing at the dwarf. Lightning crackled up and down Dimmer’s form, and he opened his mouth in a snarling rictus. The scent of burning, smoking flesh filled the air. Dimmer collapsed, and the hooded and masked figure made his way on.

 

~~~

 

In the heart of the Fringe, three figures met. A hooded and masked figure, a Dread Lord, and a Lich. The lich knelt.

“Master.” it said in that hoarse way it had of talking. The Dread Lord merely glared at the masked figure. Kknotos looked him up and down.

“Do’kyoni shaek du’tharp-tzorr, Vorrul. You have come a long way, Vorrul.” said Kknotos, looking over the lich to the dread knight, then fixing his gaze back on the lich. “Guh’gerr, Kraal. Vatplazi sna Siggourdnbad? Stand, Kraal. Where is Siggourdnbad?” he next asked in the Black Speech. Kraal shook his head.

“She is no longer interested in being with us.” Kknotos grunted at this.

“Dayn narg nal’gertt’ezg nal’sek skaldn zu’aemus. Nal’sna du’zamarkhow. Then she has lost her fear of us. She is a weakness.” Vorrul nodded in agreement.

“In the mean time…” Kknotos said, speaking once more in common. “We must let the descendants know that we yet draw breath. It has been many years since I have walked the earth.”

 

~~~

 

A crimson, four pointed star ignites in the sky, bathing the Fringe in an eerie crimson glow. From the palace of Kaldonia to the spires of Haelun’or to the fortress of Kal’arkon it is visible. Some wonder what it could mean. Others who were part of the struggle many years ago recognize it for what it is, and grimly prepare themselves.

 

Ikuras ag’kuram hel. Ikuras will be free.

 

 

This post has identified itself as a set atmosphere, and would desire you to comply with its tones. Any out of character problems should be brought to the author of the post via PMS. Details 

[Hanrahan 2983]

Arnorian frowns.

 

"...Well, bollocks."

[MamaBearJade 2090]

Dhaun'che looks up seeing the crimson mark and her blood begins to run cold. Her eyes widen slightly in fear as she remembered that day. Slowly her eyes turned to where her love lay sleeping in bed. Taking a breath she got up and stepped out on the lower balcony. "Kknotos..." she says softly. A chill runs down her spine as she looks at the symbol, remembering the words dimly and the symbol even more clearly. "I must warn CirCir..."

[Tom_Whiteman 949]

  The Lich, Kraal, sits absent minded in his cave, staring at an old parchment. A severed head sit beside him, the head's eyes ripped out from their sockets, where an appealing pool of blood is. Kraal takes his skeletal hand, extending his finger as he bathes it in the shining red blood, cascading it across the page to form the similar diamond in the Sky, "Ikuras ag'kuram hel," says the Lich. He writes down the four names, the names which Ikuras gave to the four chosen by his hand. 

 

[Treshure 5817]

Zemophrenis, a one of ghastly deceit and untold dark proportions, stood upon a silver cast balcony, watching the elder sky take flight with the stars. Long had he remained dormant, revival efforts being naught but ineffective. The masses did not and could not fear one man. But...

 

As the crimson star ascended into the celestial plane above the Descendants, Zemophrenis uttered a silent prayer of thanks and gratitude. With his return, it spelled others as well. And when that red stain drifted across the sky he knew well that peace would not and could not last.

[501warhead 1796]

The Viceroy of Alras looks out his window in the middle of the night, his room suddenly quite brighter than the dim candle at his desk could ever manage. At first he believes he accidentally summoned a light again, but doing a double take the redish glow comes from the window. He gets up, pushing aside the thin blue curtains and taking a peek through his iron-barred window. He catches a glimpse of an odd symbol within the sky, and his mouth sets into somewhat of a line. He moves over to his desk and withdraws an orb, books suddenly appearing in the air around him, flipping through their pages at a speed which mortal hands could never hope to without ripping the pages asunder.

 

After a while, the Viceroy shakes his head in confusion. He knows not what the symbol means, but it vaguely discomforts him. He opens his door, heads out, and enters the square of Alras where a crowd has gathered in the symbol's red light. He takes a moment to ponder before he reaches into his cloak, draws out two golden cuffs slightly bigger than his wrist. Clicking them on, he suddenly jerks forward, ripping through a dimension most would crumble in, and his feet take him in the direction of the Dark Star.

 

This mystery would be solved, and then the archives will be more complete than what they are. The Red Sage, Kalen, was off.

[Hanrahan 2983]

Arnorian sighs.

 

"Well, it's the second attempt to end the world by Ikuras, the dark lord of the nightmare realm."

 

He says in his isolated cave.

[DelaneyG 1279]

"I don't know what that is."

Arthal states, before going back to doing his paperwork.

[Kickstarted and Running 965]

Magnus, a Dread Knight of near ancient and forgotten lands, snarls a metallic grind, it's plates soaked in crusty and dried vitate the hulking mass turns it's head up to the sky at the star and pauses before continuing on it's task of murder.

[Eleatic 1033]

The Dread Lord, standing with Kknotos and Krall, accompanied by Alexandros, simply intones:

"If we can use your sky-fairy to kill Clerics, you have my blade, Kknotos. Don't expect me to hand over my knights, and you have theirs too. Let's see if your Ikuras can be of use." 

[susitsu 871]

As he stared up at it, all Lucas Black would say is...

 

"Called it."

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.