[Apotheosis] To Alicjo

[Rigorous 2052]

The Crest of the Champion is affixed to the letter.

 

 

To the Dead-Eye of Veritas Alicjo Verrana, 

 

If that Paladin was named Redwulf, then you may have my regards, he was an affable enough warrior and met his fate with bravery and faith. In the past, many of your kind have taken the wise chance to transform and escape their duty. The Sunlit Lord is a cruel benefactor, even long after you are dead, he shall reclaim your soul and throw you into the meatgrinder, to die over and over again in feuds between himself and the Dragonkin, or even in feuds between himself and the Heavenly Court as seen in the Inferi Crisis. It is very unusual for the Father of Titans to offer that deal to one of your kind. All of us despise the tendency of Paladins to recite vicious rhetoric and then dwell in their keep on Dwarven lands in Urguan, never to sally forth and meet us in combat. 

 

Only Redwulf remained after his Druid and Paladin allies fled and left him there. If it were up to me, I would sever the connections of those who abandoned him, there is no truer show of cowardice. There was a girl who was brave enough to stand with him who I kicked down a hill. I asked her, “Why do you bother? They must not care much about you if they send young girls after me.” She relented quickly after that and assured me she would grow stronger before coming before me again. Tell Xan to stop sending little girls after me. I will gladly fight you Alicjo or a Keeper of Xan if they come and issue their challenge, but these dime-a-dozen "do-gooders" simply will not do.

 

That being said, the Titan’s message remains for all Keepers who will take it: Conjure forth Sordran and bring him before the Black Titan, and you shall be allowed to leave once we capture you. The traitor must face punishment for betraying his kind to serve masters who will simply kill him if they were to succeed in this war of extermination.

 

We honor the death of Redwulf as the first sad but necessary step in destroying the Order of the Golden Lion once and for all. For all the brethren that we have lost to failed peace deals, to druid treachery, and the list goes on. You would have been impressed to see that “Redwulf” channeled the Aengul Xan with his body and that he delivered a rending strike through the air that pierced many of us, including me in my Superior Form. A goliath nearly two feet tall sent hurtling through the air and into a pit of lava. Let there be no question that Redwulf was given his trial-by-combat before Azdromoth, and that he lost to Azdromoth at the very end, his golden pools of ichor staining our holy halls as he crumbled into an ethereal mist that was returned to the Sunlit Lord’s realm for judgment. 

 

Once you stumbled across me in the wilderness and we had a long conversation on your duties and convictions – the fealty that you owe your erstwhile Lord, and how you would opt never to stray from that path. The venom with which you write is concise enough, it demonstrates your convictions rather well, but it also betrays your frustration with the indolent Order of the Golden Lion. While in the past I had my doubts about the motives guiding my people, I have realized now that the only option is to pursue a higher peace. A peace that can only be purchased with the utter destruction of the Paladins, and a fierce rebuttal to the genocidal tendencies of the Heavenly Court that deigns to try and extinguish the lives of my honorable people. We have opposed the forces of Iblees for generations, but nonetheless the Heavenly Court seeks our destruction all due to an ancient rivalry with the Daemon Dragur.

 

Many of your kind deem Azdromoth accursed without considering the Curses of Iblees placed on the Descendants. Dwarves are vain and greedy, Humans are short-lived, the Uruks are cursed with bloodlust, and the Elves are cursed with sterility. It would seem that your kind share more in common with the Father of Titans than we share with him, for we bear no such curse, and endeavor always to purge taint from our body as one would any other illness. Our only curse is to be unloved in the Realms of Men, but these days that is the case for the Paladins of Xan as well. It must truly be foul to be doubly cursed.

The Black Titan is free from the chains of Iblees and now commits himself to a mission of his own: Ascension. If you wish to stop all of us, so be it, you may try. To try and maintain the status quo and to eliminate any chance of us further driving a wedge between the High Heavens and the Earthly Planes. Alas, your opposition comes as no surprise to me. You may find me whence it pleases you to duel or speak. Let it be known that any of your brats that find themselves on the end of my sword shall be spared. I care only to fight a distinguished challenge - the Keepers of Xan.

May we all die as well as Redwulf. Peace be upon his soul.

 

Signed,

 

Alistair the Red

 

 

[Jentos 7155]

From ashen beaches, the An-Gho unveiled Alistair's message. He penned a letter back to the Red.

 

 

"Asioth is described by our Father as a gift. But verily, it is a key. A key to challenge mortality, finitude, and cycle. Alatariel, the lost leader of the paladins, understood this. And for that, she was a worthy opponent. But now they are gone. 

 

In failing to understand the wheels of this World, they are pre-destined to fail. They can never win, precisely because they do not understand. Even should we fall, even if we should all be struck down besides our father, X*n cannot win. Why? Because his soldiers are blind."

[MRCHENN 3695]

"The Mountain speaks a great song: The Left-Handed Path."

The Chosen spoke.

[LobsterLarry 344]

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