(no subject)
Lylanna paced the length of the dais upon which the throne sat, eyeing the two figures near her. One sat upon the throne, a look of uncertainty across her face as she glanced between Lylanna, whom paced before her, and the man directly behind the throne she sat upon, his hand resting protectively on her shoulder.
His name was Kale, sibling and twin to Lylanna, and brother to Atheal before him. Though much similar in appearance to their father, he held an air of malevolence and intrigue to him very different. It was said one could not gaze upon his face without falling prey to the charm his blood had given him.
His blood, their blood, their father’s blood; they all shared the same lineage, the same line. Each individually descendant from the same man, they knew each other as well they could know, though they each could count upon one hand the times they had spoken before this moment. A gift of the blood, it could be called; a curse.
Their father was not without his own power, a gift of strength the likes of which most of his children knew they could never attain, save him; Kale. And it was for this very reason that Lylanna had come to him, her twin, this evening. The very same reason that she now spoke to Atheal, as it was in Atheal that her concern was held.
She appeared gaunt, with deep lines beneath her eyes showing the lack of rest she received. Atheal, she was called, and was the eldest of the three of them, all children of the Mad Mage, the creature or man known as Zephyr Loregiver. Her hair hung in disarray around her face, framing the lines of worry and restless anguish that she sought so hard to hide from those of Stonegate, their kingdom; His kingdom.
Kale, on the other hand, smile ever-present across his lips watched his twin with an air of amusement. The look was disconcerting to Lylanna, as it reminded her endlessly of her father. In days long since past, she might have thought it endearing, even cute. The time of happiness and careless days had long passed, however.
Stonegate was in disarray, with various factions all vying for the same position and power. Men of great strength and power all competed with one for this same position; this throne. It was for this very reason as well that they now met. It was said who controlled the Castle Stonegate, controlled the very lifeblood of the world, the energies of existence. The power their father could wield with such flourish and ease that none could rival him; not here, perhaps not anywhere.
Kale shook his head slowly and gave a soft, slow laugh; and act that drew an immediate scowl from his twin, and a flinch from Atheal; whom in turn looked longingly up towards him. Lylanna noticed this and spit on the floor, a snapping yell given towards her older sister, “Already he has you so enthralled Atheal? Already you look to him at every turn and decision you must make?” She gave a faint sound of disgust as her eyes went from Atheal to Kale, “And you, you are no better than the Cyf. You came here, to Atheal, offering her your helping hand in aid. You told her you would protect her. You promised her she would feel their manipulations on her no longer. You swore you would fill the void of her soul that they had torn apart so.”
Atheal’s attention never wavered from Kale; seemingly transfixed by the sly smile he gave Lylanna. If she knew what Lylanna spoke of, she showed no sign of it.
She had spoken the name Cyf, a name that many of the kingdom never dared to say, and gave great care to keep from their mind at all. Known now morbidly as the Dream, he had been perhaps the worst of the contenders for Atheal’s so-called hand, for her gracing, her so-called link to the throne, he had spent the last seven years prior twisting Atheal, tormenting her, willing her every day to further relinquish the chains that she and the keep held onto the flows of magic in the world, never paying mind to the destruction and ruin he had poured upon her mind, her soul. His reign had been far from a dream, and much more akin to a nightmare.
The world was in chaos because of it. Cities burned, villages became both swallowed and spit forth from the malevolent Known that they had all come to fear and despise. The world’s lifeblood, the energies, referred simplistically by most as magic, were at a boiling point. Where once a mage of relatively little power could safely weave their spells to enact even simple wards of protection, they now leveled entire towns. The last battle to have raged, some two years prior, had caused an earthquake of such magnitude that its aftershocks still flowed from the newly formed Thunder Mountains. Only those of the Zephyr Loregiver’s blood could wield the energy without fear.
This man named Cyf was banished very shortly following the day Kale had arrived. At Atheal’s own order, no less. It was strength she had not shown in some time. For a while it had appeared as if Kale had in fact been their salvation; a fact now bitterly remembered by all, as Kale was no better than the Dream, the nightmare: Cyf.
Kale, as it turned out, had intentions not all that dissimilar from Cyf. He had furthered Cyf’s own pattern with Atheal, and even more-so. Use of the Flow, or magic, had all but been outlawed for the last year, as it was no longer safe to use. Though there were whispers that there were those within the keep that ignored the law over the rest of the land, that the lands very damnation laid in the place and person that was supposed to bring about their salvation: Kale.
Kale’s hand met Atheal’s as she raised it, and brought her knuckle to his lips. An act which brought a weak smile to her lips, and the muttering of, ‘my love,’ from her lips. His eyes never left his twin’s, however, and his smile turned to a sneer behind the hand he had kissed as he watched the anger and fury that quickly arose to threaten him from the depths of ice blue Lylanna’s eyes.
Her words were tight, straining almost futility to hide that anger that surged through her, “So now I see the truth. I see your meaning. I hadn’t dare fear you could be so foolish, or so power mad,” She paused a moment, and drew a breath, turning from them as she spoke once again, reciting the words she had been taught all her life, “…and so it shall be, that two of his blood will share an unholy union… And in that moment where they are revealed-”
“-he will be reawakened, and ruin will beset the world.” The voice was familiar to them all, and they all turned towards the open doors of the balcony. Just beyond the doors, where the clouds swirled chaotically in impossible patterns and colors, and the sun shown a horrid red the world was in chaos. Between the open doors stood a man, one they all knew, and Kale and Lylanna whispered at once, “father.”
He stepped into the room, each footstep falling with a shudder upon the world, or so it felt to those three now within the main chamber of Stonegate Keep. Only Atheal, so rapt in the awe she poured upon Kale’s face from her eyes, spared no attention towards her father, as his own eyes locked on her.
Their father Zephyr spoke once again, as they found no words to express towards him in their astonishment and fear, not all directed towards him, as both twin repeated the words he had just spoken in their own minds, “So that ridiculous prophecy has come to be?” He smiled slowly, a smile nearly identical to that which Kale held just moments prior, though twisted with the supposed madness that all said he was to have long been victim to. “My eldest daughter is in love with her younger sibling. And this love is returned?”
It was Lylanna’s turn to interject, cutting Kale off before he could even lift his voice to do so, “-He does not.” No sooner than she said it did she regret it.
With a cry of rage, their father opened both hands towards his son, screaming in a vicious hiss towards Kale. Kale hadn’t a moment to respond as he was tossed clear from the Dias and into the solid marble of a column to the far side of the room, his father already moving towards him as he spit arcane words of energy from between his lips.
Atheal and Lylanna alike screamed for him to stop, Lylanna crossing the distance within the moment as Atheal arose to meet the back of her father, who barred her way with one arm outstretched to one side, his other arisen towards Lylanna and Kale, a pinprick of blue energy, growing exponentially before his palm lifted towards Kale, and Lylanna between them, yelling against the loud crackle of energy towards her father, Zephyr.
“Father Stop! This is madness! He is your son!”
“Lylanna, back away. You think my mind is clouded, that I don’t see this thing for what he truly is. You think that I do not see the shadow over him? The presence? He will end it. Cyf be damned, he will, if I do not end this now. Now move!”
Atheal whimpered against her father’s arm as he held her back, struggling to reach the rising Kale, who in turn was sneering towards his father, pushing likewise against his twin sister, in an effort to close the distance between them, echoing his words coldly past Lylanna as his hand tightened over her arm. “Father, stand down.”
Kale’s grip became painful, and Lylanna looked over her shoulder towards him, “K-Kale what are you doing? Let go, that hurts. Kale, Stop!”
He leaned forward and wrapped his arm around her, lifting her easily back towards him as Atheal called his name. His own voice returning, “One moment Love,” his voice twisting over the word, though she scarcely noticed as she called for him again, a hand outstretching past her father.
“Atheal! Sit down!” Her father pushed her suddenly back, and she fell to the floor looking up towards him with faint recognition and hurt, attention only momentarily diverted from Kale, a whimper falling softly from her as if from a wounded child.
Lylanna pushed at the arm that now tightened around her chest, as its hand found its way to her throat, Kale’s other still holding her arm to her side as he lifted her, surprising her at how easily as Kale closed the distance between himself and his father. He held her struggling between them. She clawed at his hand frantically as it slowly choked her, rasping, “Kale! Let go! What are you doing?!”
Zephyr’s attention shifted back towards Kale, madness twisting in the back of his eyes as he gazed towards him, snapping his own hand to the side. The crackling ball of energy still held suspended before his palm lay suspended no more, and exploded through the air, traveling the distance between in a bright flash of movement towards Kale and Lylanna both.
Lylanna’s throat erupted in a violent scream of pain as the energy ball crashed into her as Kale released her, diving to one side. The pungent aroma of burnt flesh signaled the sudden silencing of her voice, and Zephyr’s daughter, Kale’s twin, fell writhing and twisting against the cool blue marble of the Keep floor as blue flame continued to consume her in her final living moments.
Her father gave her no notice as he already readied another bolt, spying Kale as he jumped to one side. Kale’s voice rose over the sound of the crackling energy ball to reach his father as a single flash of steel glinted in his hand, “Nahald take you!” and laughed as a black bladed dagger flew through the air towards Zephyr.
With an irritated look, he waved his hand as if brushing away a bug, causing the blade to slice through the air past him. It never even touched him, and was met with a faint feminine grunt from behind him. He scarcely acknowledged the sound as he released his second bolt of blue energy and flame towards Kale.
His son raised his hands screaming and snapped them closed around the bolt just as it flashed in the air before him. His hands erupted with white energy and the blue ball was crushed in an explosion of blue and white between them. His feet slid against the force even as his father’s spell failed, and he fell to the floor screaming.
Zephyr Loregiver, Kale’s father, approached his son as he lay there on the ground screaming, charred, smoking husks of what once had been arms arisen before him. Even in his pain and screams, Zephyr could see his son concentrating on them, attempting to will them to heal, a skill any descendant of his father’s could have done. His arms remained as they were, however, and his look grew frantic, even as his screams died and he spoke quickly as his father came into his vision, “Atheal always was your favorite! And look now! You’ve killed her!”
Zephyr ignored him, sneering as his eyes remained on his son, unblinking, “You sought to destroy my family, Kale. You would have destroyed us all.”
With the word his hand whipped back, his will extending to the forgotten dagger that Kale had called Nahald. His will held it as surely as any hand, and plunged it forward towards his son, just as Kale spoke, “No father, it is you-“ and Kale fell silent, the blood-covered, black bladed dagger imbedded in the center of his skull.
Zephyr blinked, watching as the black rot of death spread through Kale’s body, burning away all that his father’s blood had given life to. He merely shook his head, softly speaking, “Foolish, you didn’t even realize that-.“
Realization came to him suddenly, and all at once as his head snapped back towards Atheal.
She lay against the throne’s dais, gasping for breath as she stared blindly to the vaulted ceiling, some great distance above, whimpering in pain as she clutched a bleeding wound just below her heart. The flesh of her lower abdomen had already grown black, and her veins protruded visibly black across her body. He blinked, and was at her side, a hand beneath her head to lift it to face his own. He shuddered, slowly and whispered to himself, “Atheal? By the gods…”
She winced slowly as her eyes stared past him, unable to draw the strength to focus them as she lay in his arms in her last moments, uttering weakly, “Daddy?” before giving one final breath, to fall limp in his hands; the blackness overtaking her as the dagger’s will was done.
From the city beneath the view of the balcony of the main hall; the city beside Stonegate Keep, few watched as the world above them exploded, and the entire corner of the keep of Stonegate where Zephyr Loregiver’s daughter died in his arms was blasted and melted away in a single moment of destruction that rippled through the castle and city alike. The force of the blast in itself sent two of the towers of the Castle toppling to the streets and buildings below them, sending people screaming before and beneath the rubble that poured atop the city from the massive structure.
And within the room, Loregiver lay as he was; his daughter in his hands, and two more of his children dead around him, all by his own hands. His breathing came hard following the spell, finding its size inadequate to suffuse any comfort upon him as he muttered through clenched teeth and fists, “What have I done…”
The voice came from behind him, and above from one standing. The voice was one familiar, and from a man he had long ago known as a friend, “You know what you have done, Zephyr. You know exactly, Vidimus.” Zephyr twitched at the second name, and laid his daughter against the hot, half molten marble beneath him, the voice again echoing, “And you know what you must do.”
He arose and turned, the color bleeding from his eyes as he gazed upon the figure behind him; the Dream, muttering softly as he gazed passed him, suddenly anxious to be elsewhere, to follow his eyes to their destination at the heart of the keep, asking faintly, “Acareric?”
The figure stood now a step or two back from the only living Loregiver in the room, the black dagger which destroyed Kale resting in a black gloved hand, head down-turned towards the floor in an obvious, if perhaps over-dramatized nod and bow of respect. The man known as Cyf turned his head back towards Loregiver, and spoke again, more firmly as he opened his free hand in the direction that Loregiver faced. “You know what you must do.
Zephyr stepped forward and walks hastily from the ruined corner of the Keep and dove into its halls, every step drawing him more swiftly towards his destination, the other following quickly behind.
A wall arose at the end of a hall to meet them both, causing Acareric Cyf to paused, though he relaxed as he watched Zephyr walk into and through it, the stones melted away from as if from the heat of a thousand suns. He followed him through, and froze mid-step.
Zephyr had paused before a great, deep, stone lined pit in the center of a circular, column lined room. A faint rumble had grown from the moment he drew close to the pit, and an occasional bolt of blue energy would arch between the Mad Mage into the darkness before him. Zephyr’s arms arose, and light filled the chambers. Cyf shrieked as it exploded into his eyes, clutching at his temples as if a thousand hammers suddenly smashed into his mind. He fell to his knees, then the floor, watching as the mage before him took a slow step forward into a swirling maelstrom of blinding white and black.
The world lurched around him as Zephyr’s foot and body shredded away within the maelstrom as if were nothing more than a collection of dust. A shockwave of energy exploded from the room ever outward, surging on currents of magic that Cyf had long since let flow unchecked, unleashed by his own manipulations of Atheal.
He screamed as the energy burned at him, the world before him, aglow with energy and light of million stars combined that was suddenly extinguished into a pit darker than any, the long twisted laughter of a woman echoing, blasting his hearing to nothingness; though he heard her laughter still.
And he saw her, a figure and goddess of oblivion, the Queen of Entropy. A word faintly muttered from him as his world drew black, “Nihilism,” and he knew no more.
---
From the logs of Avatarinious the all-seeing…
“And the world was broken, in those final days of that great age, as Nihilism, the goddess of Oblivion, used the explosive force of the energies that the demon Cyf had unleashed to manifest on our world, in our plane. She was stopped only by her sister, Athanasia, Queen of All that Is, their two forms met at once in that catastrophic moment, and the world was unmade and reborn anew as existence and oblivion met as one. Thus was the shattering of the world, and ending the Great Age.
His name was Kale, sibling and twin to Lylanna, and brother to Atheal before him. Though much similar in appearance to their father, he held an air of malevolence and intrigue to him very different. It was said one could not gaze upon his face without falling prey to the charm his blood had given him.
His blood, their blood, their father’s blood; they all shared the same lineage, the same line. Each individually descendant from the same man, they knew each other as well they could know, though they each could count upon one hand the times they had spoken before this moment. A gift of the blood, it could be called; a curse.
Their father was not without his own power, a gift of strength the likes of which most of his children knew they could never attain, save him; Kale. And it was for this very reason that Lylanna had come to him, her twin, this evening. The very same reason that she now spoke to Atheal, as it was in Atheal that her concern was held.
She appeared gaunt, with deep lines beneath her eyes showing the lack of rest she received. Atheal, she was called, and was the eldest of the three of them, all children of the Mad Mage, the creature or man known as Zephyr Loregiver. Her hair hung in disarray around her face, framing the lines of worry and restless anguish that she sought so hard to hide from those of Stonegate, their kingdom; His kingdom.
Kale, on the other hand, smile ever-present across his lips watched his twin with an air of amusement. The look was disconcerting to Lylanna, as it reminded her endlessly of her father. In days long since past, she might have thought it endearing, even cute. The time of happiness and careless days had long passed, however.
Stonegate was in disarray, with various factions all vying for the same position and power. Men of great strength and power all competed with one for this same position; this throne. It was for this very reason as well that they now met. It was said who controlled the Castle Stonegate, controlled the very lifeblood of the world, the energies of existence. The power their father could wield with such flourish and ease that none could rival him; not here, perhaps not anywhere.
Kale shook his head slowly and gave a soft, slow laugh; and act that drew an immediate scowl from his twin, and a flinch from Atheal; whom in turn looked longingly up towards him. Lylanna noticed this and spit on the floor, a snapping yell given towards her older sister, “Already he has you so enthralled Atheal? Already you look to him at every turn and decision you must make?” She gave a faint sound of disgust as her eyes went from Atheal to Kale, “And you, you are no better than the Cyf. You came here, to Atheal, offering her your helping hand in aid. You told her you would protect her. You promised her she would feel their manipulations on her no longer. You swore you would fill the void of her soul that they had torn apart so.”
Atheal’s attention never wavered from Kale; seemingly transfixed by the sly smile he gave Lylanna. If she knew what Lylanna spoke of, she showed no sign of it.
She had spoken the name Cyf, a name that many of the kingdom never dared to say, and gave great care to keep from their mind at all. Known now morbidly as the Dream, he had been perhaps the worst of the contenders for Atheal’s so-called hand, for her gracing, her so-called link to the throne, he had spent the last seven years prior twisting Atheal, tormenting her, willing her every day to further relinquish the chains that she and the keep held onto the flows of magic in the world, never paying mind to the destruction and ruin he had poured upon her mind, her soul. His reign had been far from a dream, and much more akin to a nightmare.
The world was in chaos because of it. Cities burned, villages became both swallowed and spit forth from the malevolent Known that they had all come to fear and despise. The world’s lifeblood, the energies, referred simplistically by most as magic, were at a boiling point. Where once a mage of relatively little power could safely weave their spells to enact even simple wards of protection, they now leveled entire towns. The last battle to have raged, some two years prior, had caused an earthquake of such magnitude that its aftershocks still flowed from the newly formed Thunder Mountains. Only those of the Zephyr Loregiver’s blood could wield the energy without fear.
This man named Cyf was banished very shortly following the day Kale had arrived. At Atheal’s own order, no less. It was strength she had not shown in some time. For a while it had appeared as if Kale had in fact been their salvation; a fact now bitterly remembered by all, as Kale was no better than the Dream, the nightmare: Cyf.
Kale, as it turned out, had intentions not all that dissimilar from Cyf. He had furthered Cyf’s own pattern with Atheal, and even more-so. Use of the Flow, or magic, had all but been outlawed for the last year, as it was no longer safe to use. Though there were whispers that there were those within the keep that ignored the law over the rest of the land, that the lands very damnation laid in the place and person that was supposed to bring about their salvation: Kale.
Kale’s hand met Atheal’s as she raised it, and brought her knuckle to his lips. An act which brought a weak smile to her lips, and the muttering of, ‘my love,’ from her lips. His eyes never left his twin’s, however, and his smile turned to a sneer behind the hand he had kissed as he watched the anger and fury that quickly arose to threaten him from the depths of ice blue Lylanna’s eyes.
Her words were tight, straining almost futility to hide that anger that surged through her, “So now I see the truth. I see your meaning. I hadn’t dare fear you could be so foolish, or so power mad,” She paused a moment, and drew a breath, turning from them as she spoke once again, reciting the words she had been taught all her life, “…and so it shall be, that two of his blood will share an unholy union… And in that moment where they are revealed-”
“-he will be reawakened, and ruin will beset the world.” The voice was familiar to them all, and they all turned towards the open doors of the balcony. Just beyond the doors, where the clouds swirled chaotically in impossible patterns and colors, and the sun shown a horrid red the world was in chaos. Between the open doors stood a man, one they all knew, and Kale and Lylanna whispered at once, “father.”
He stepped into the room, each footstep falling with a shudder upon the world, or so it felt to those three now within the main chamber of Stonegate Keep. Only Atheal, so rapt in the awe she poured upon Kale’s face from her eyes, spared no attention towards her father, as his own eyes locked on her.
Their father Zephyr spoke once again, as they found no words to express towards him in their astonishment and fear, not all directed towards him, as both twin repeated the words he had just spoken in their own minds, “So that ridiculous prophecy has come to be?” He smiled slowly, a smile nearly identical to that which Kale held just moments prior, though twisted with the supposed madness that all said he was to have long been victim to. “My eldest daughter is in love with her younger sibling. And this love is returned?”
It was Lylanna’s turn to interject, cutting Kale off before he could even lift his voice to do so, “-He does not.” No sooner than she said it did she regret it.
With a cry of rage, their father opened both hands towards his son, screaming in a vicious hiss towards Kale. Kale hadn’t a moment to respond as he was tossed clear from the Dias and into the solid marble of a column to the far side of the room, his father already moving towards him as he spit arcane words of energy from between his lips.
Atheal and Lylanna alike screamed for him to stop, Lylanna crossing the distance within the moment as Atheal arose to meet the back of her father, who barred her way with one arm outstretched to one side, his other arisen towards Lylanna and Kale, a pinprick of blue energy, growing exponentially before his palm lifted towards Kale, and Lylanna between them, yelling against the loud crackle of energy towards her father, Zephyr.
“Father Stop! This is madness! He is your son!”
“Lylanna, back away. You think my mind is clouded, that I don’t see this thing for what he truly is. You think that I do not see the shadow over him? The presence? He will end it. Cyf be damned, he will, if I do not end this now. Now move!”
Atheal whimpered against her father’s arm as he held her back, struggling to reach the rising Kale, who in turn was sneering towards his father, pushing likewise against his twin sister, in an effort to close the distance between them, echoing his words coldly past Lylanna as his hand tightened over her arm. “Father, stand down.”
Kale’s grip became painful, and Lylanna looked over her shoulder towards him, “K-Kale what are you doing? Let go, that hurts. Kale, Stop!”
He leaned forward and wrapped his arm around her, lifting her easily back towards him as Atheal called his name. His own voice returning, “One moment Love,” his voice twisting over the word, though she scarcely noticed as she called for him again, a hand outstretching past her father.
“Atheal! Sit down!” Her father pushed her suddenly back, and she fell to the floor looking up towards him with faint recognition and hurt, attention only momentarily diverted from Kale, a whimper falling softly from her as if from a wounded child.
Lylanna pushed at the arm that now tightened around her chest, as its hand found its way to her throat, Kale’s other still holding her arm to her side as he lifted her, surprising her at how easily as Kale closed the distance between himself and his father. He held her struggling between them. She clawed at his hand frantically as it slowly choked her, rasping, “Kale! Let go! What are you doing?!”
Zephyr’s attention shifted back towards Kale, madness twisting in the back of his eyes as he gazed towards him, snapping his own hand to the side. The crackling ball of energy still held suspended before his palm lay suspended no more, and exploded through the air, traveling the distance between in a bright flash of movement towards Kale and Lylanna both.
Lylanna’s throat erupted in a violent scream of pain as the energy ball crashed into her as Kale released her, diving to one side. The pungent aroma of burnt flesh signaled the sudden silencing of her voice, and Zephyr’s daughter, Kale’s twin, fell writhing and twisting against the cool blue marble of the Keep floor as blue flame continued to consume her in her final living moments.
Her father gave her no notice as he already readied another bolt, spying Kale as he jumped to one side. Kale’s voice rose over the sound of the crackling energy ball to reach his father as a single flash of steel glinted in his hand, “Nahald take you!” and laughed as a black bladed dagger flew through the air towards Zephyr.
With an irritated look, he waved his hand as if brushing away a bug, causing the blade to slice through the air past him. It never even touched him, and was met with a faint feminine grunt from behind him. He scarcely acknowledged the sound as he released his second bolt of blue energy and flame towards Kale.
His son raised his hands screaming and snapped them closed around the bolt just as it flashed in the air before him. His hands erupted with white energy and the blue ball was crushed in an explosion of blue and white between them. His feet slid against the force even as his father’s spell failed, and he fell to the floor screaming.
Zephyr Loregiver, Kale’s father, approached his son as he lay there on the ground screaming, charred, smoking husks of what once had been arms arisen before him. Even in his pain and screams, Zephyr could see his son concentrating on them, attempting to will them to heal, a skill any descendant of his father’s could have done. His arms remained as they were, however, and his look grew frantic, even as his screams died and he spoke quickly as his father came into his vision, “Atheal always was your favorite! And look now! You’ve killed her!”
Zephyr ignored him, sneering as his eyes remained on his son, unblinking, “You sought to destroy my family, Kale. You would have destroyed us all.”
With the word his hand whipped back, his will extending to the forgotten dagger that Kale had called Nahald. His will held it as surely as any hand, and plunged it forward towards his son, just as Kale spoke, “No father, it is you-“ and Kale fell silent, the blood-covered, black bladed dagger imbedded in the center of his skull.
Zephyr blinked, watching as the black rot of death spread through Kale’s body, burning away all that his father’s blood had given life to. He merely shook his head, softly speaking, “Foolish, you didn’t even realize that-.“
Realization came to him suddenly, and all at once as his head snapped back towards Atheal.
She lay against the throne’s dais, gasping for breath as she stared blindly to the vaulted ceiling, some great distance above, whimpering in pain as she clutched a bleeding wound just below her heart. The flesh of her lower abdomen had already grown black, and her veins protruded visibly black across her body. He blinked, and was at her side, a hand beneath her head to lift it to face his own. He shuddered, slowly and whispered to himself, “Atheal? By the gods…”
She winced slowly as her eyes stared past him, unable to draw the strength to focus them as she lay in his arms in her last moments, uttering weakly, “Daddy?” before giving one final breath, to fall limp in his hands; the blackness overtaking her as the dagger’s will was done.
From the city beneath the view of the balcony of the main hall; the city beside Stonegate Keep, few watched as the world above them exploded, and the entire corner of the keep of Stonegate where Zephyr Loregiver’s daughter died in his arms was blasted and melted away in a single moment of destruction that rippled through the castle and city alike. The force of the blast in itself sent two of the towers of the Castle toppling to the streets and buildings below them, sending people screaming before and beneath the rubble that poured atop the city from the massive structure.
And within the room, Loregiver lay as he was; his daughter in his hands, and two more of his children dead around him, all by his own hands. His breathing came hard following the spell, finding its size inadequate to suffuse any comfort upon him as he muttered through clenched teeth and fists, “What have I done…”
The voice came from behind him, and above from one standing. The voice was one familiar, and from a man he had long ago known as a friend, “You know what you have done, Zephyr. You know exactly, Vidimus.” Zephyr twitched at the second name, and laid his daughter against the hot, half molten marble beneath him, the voice again echoing, “And you know what you must do.”
He arose and turned, the color bleeding from his eyes as he gazed upon the figure behind him; the Dream, muttering softly as he gazed passed him, suddenly anxious to be elsewhere, to follow his eyes to their destination at the heart of the keep, asking faintly, “Acareric?”
The figure stood now a step or two back from the only living Loregiver in the room, the black dagger which destroyed Kale resting in a black gloved hand, head down-turned towards the floor in an obvious, if perhaps over-dramatized nod and bow of respect. The man known as Cyf turned his head back towards Loregiver, and spoke again, more firmly as he opened his free hand in the direction that Loregiver faced. “You know what you must do.
Zephyr stepped forward and walks hastily from the ruined corner of the Keep and dove into its halls, every step drawing him more swiftly towards his destination, the other following quickly behind.
A wall arose at the end of a hall to meet them both, causing Acareric Cyf to paused, though he relaxed as he watched Zephyr walk into and through it, the stones melted away from as if from the heat of a thousand suns. He followed him through, and froze mid-step.
Zephyr had paused before a great, deep, stone lined pit in the center of a circular, column lined room. A faint rumble had grown from the moment he drew close to the pit, and an occasional bolt of blue energy would arch between the Mad Mage into the darkness before him. Zephyr’s arms arose, and light filled the chambers. Cyf shrieked as it exploded into his eyes, clutching at his temples as if a thousand hammers suddenly smashed into his mind. He fell to his knees, then the floor, watching as the mage before him took a slow step forward into a swirling maelstrom of blinding white and black.
The world lurched around him as Zephyr’s foot and body shredded away within the maelstrom as if were nothing more than a collection of dust. A shockwave of energy exploded from the room ever outward, surging on currents of magic that Cyf had long since let flow unchecked, unleashed by his own manipulations of Atheal.
He screamed as the energy burned at him, the world before him, aglow with energy and light of million stars combined that was suddenly extinguished into a pit darker than any, the long twisted laughter of a woman echoing, blasting his hearing to nothingness; though he heard her laughter still.
And he saw her, a figure and goddess of oblivion, the Queen of Entropy. A word faintly muttered from him as his world drew black, “Nihilism,” and he knew no more.
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From the logs of Avatarinious the all-seeing…
“And the world was broken, in those final days of that great age, as Nihilism, the goddess of Oblivion, used the explosive force of the energies that the demon Cyf had unleashed to manifest on our world, in our plane. She was stopped only by her sister, Athanasia, Queen of All that Is, their two forms met at once in that catastrophic moment, and the world was unmade and reborn anew as existence and oblivion met as one. Thus was the shattering of the world, and ending the Great Age.