Chapter 1: Built on Blood & Lies
--and the Prophet Jaehas did as he was bid by the Red Lord, and knelt on one knee. Then the lord produced a black knife from his chest, a red streak of crimson light shining from its hilt to its edge, and spoke these sacred words:
"My Faithful, through this covenant, you shall shed your mortal weaknesses and slay death itself. Know this, Heaven and earth are of no bounds to you now should you prove accepting of the primordial womb of chaos. Through this, you shall become eternal through flesh and struggle no more."
Thus says the Prophet:
"My Supreme, I am but meek rot that has not yet had its time, yet you save me from the entropy of time. For this great forgiveness, I put myself in your debt willingly and will do as you ask."
Thus says the Lord:
"And thus a covenant has been formed. You will bathe in the crimson of true power and be reborn from it."
And the Lord slit his hands with the black blade and from it, dark, slow blood pooled out on top of the Prophet Jaehas. As it did, it wrapped itself around his skin and sunk deep into his pores. His skin had turned a dark grey and black, with scarlet antlers and clawed hands.
The Lord looked upon his prophet with glee and turned to the lake back behind him. Wading through the still waters, he placed his bleeding hands into the lake and turned the water into a Scarlet miasma. Below the Lord, the earth trembled and soon cracked open and what rose was a golden, bleeding throne that stretched into the sky, yet had no steps to climb.
The Lord grew many a black tentacle and slivered up to his bleeding throne. There he sat upon that red-gold seat of power and declared:
"I, Nolahkar, Lord of Blood, do hereby claim these lands as my kingdom, my empire, my right. This world shall know truth and wholeness through the perfection of our flesh. Its holiness will pierce the corrupt hearts of my dark brothers and from their failed kingdoms, we shall become one once again. Now go, to the far corners of this world, spread my truth, and let them know that I am the Lord!"
--Text from an ancient mural deep beneath Avalis, within a ruin long since forgotten--
Kasha slowly awoke hanging upside down from her sleeping bar. It was her preferred way of sleeping after all, as sleeping in a bed or any other conventional form of sleep made her feel endangered and open to attack. Instead, she choose to sleep high above where no one could reach her, fleshy tentacle feet holding her in place on the metal bar she installed years ago. Looking all around and determining she was safe, reached out her normal, human arm towards the wall. It then suddenly grew in length and oozed a sticky organic substance from her palms. Her transformed hand stuck to it like glue and as her feet let go of the sleeping bar, they transformed back into the feet of a regular human, if only a little bigger. Kasha slid down the wall on her glue-like "hand" and gently landed on her bare feet. She yawned gently, mouth stretching far too wide and revealing two rows of sharpened needle-like teeth. She looked towards the mirror that hung loosely on a metal chain, showing what she looked like. Her hair was a deep scarlet, as were her eyes with black snake-like pupils. Her skin was an odd light grey color, her hands were long and slender and ended with sharp black claws, and she had the abnormal ornamentation of a pair of black antlers that grew along the outskirts of her skull, making it seem as if she was wearing a crown of bone that grew out of her head. All the key signs of a Balinkar, a chosen people by the High Lord Nolahkar. Kasha sighed and sat down at her workbench, her hair wrapping itself into a ponytail so as to not get in the way. As a Balinkar, she was genetically perfect, or at least near perfect, in the eyes of the Lord. She could shift and morph her form however she pleased, whether that be to do simple tasks such as moving in a tight space like a cave or growing a wool coat during the winter months to being covered in boney armor, spewing out a poisonous mist, or in rarer cases, breathing fire like a dragon. Kaska couldn't do any of the more intense bodily forms listed before, but even if she could she didn't exactly worry about being able to do them. Rather she enjoyed the simple humanoid form she was given as a child. It made her more at home than the weird, obscure, or even downright horrifying bodies of other Balinkar, especially the Rimerian Gaurd or the Avalis Nobles. Kasha chuckled at the thought of others going to such ridiculous lengths just to prove that they were worthy. Then chuckled a little more when she thought of those Ice people and their weird technology. The world sure is strange, she thought. Back to the task at hand, Kasha reached down for one-half of her new little project in a drawer and grew a third arm out of her back with an eye on its palm to reach for the other half above. She then grabbed a small chiseling knife and placed it on the table. What was before was a straightforward geometric rock with runes engraved on almost every one of its sides and on the other end of the table was a round brass cage for her to place it in. Kasha began to carve away with the chiseling knife, inscribing the desired runes on the rock's many even sides. It took an hour or two, with intermittent breaks in between, to get it done, but soon every surface of the rock had arcane messages and symbols in it. Kasha then finally placed the rock into the small brass cage and closed the lid on its top. The rock did nothing, at least not yet. Kasha looked at the rock with satisfaction and moved away to grab a sharp black knife and rosary. The knife had an upwards curve with a single band of crimson light stretching from its hilt all the way to its edge. Kasha then walked back towards the table and prepared to hype herself up. This was normal for her, she had done this a thousand times over. But that still doesn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. Kasha lightly cut the palm of her hand and squeezed the blood out onto the rock and brass cage. Then, in an instant, the runes glowed a deep red and the rock suddenly jumped up and floated in the middle of the cell, slowly rotating. Kasha was awed at the wonderous creation on her desk before her, almost forgetting the blood flowing from her hand. She grabbed the wrist of her right hand and demanded her flesh to heal. It did as it was bid and the wound quickly closed, the blood that spilled out being reabsorbed into her skin. Kasha breathed a satisfactory sigh of relief as the pain faded away into nothing. Kasha turned her attention back to the creation on the desk. The rock hummed with noise and crimson light, rotating ever so lightly in the air. Kasha suddenly couldn't keep the delight of joy that she had been holding inside for so long contained anymore. "It worked...it worked! Hahaha, it works!" She said, grabbing the brass cage and spinning in the air like a baby. She immediately went outside into the wider world, forgetting to pick up her documents and notes on the project. She rushed through the wooden door and the ramshackle hallway outside her room, almost knocking down two other Balinkars in her excitement and barely having enough time to apologize. When she made it to the end of the hallway, she swung the door open and sunlight burst forth. All around her were the ruins of the Tilair Empire. Her near-perfect eyesight allowed her to see the once-golden city of Krytal resting on a mountain. In fact, she bet if she squinted her eyes she could even see the blasted, smoking ruin of the palace. Multiple groups of both humans and Balinkar were hard at work on toppling the marble statues of Isriusk and his prophet. Others were hoarding knowledge, tomes, and technology from the libraries and fallen zeppelin blimps and metal titans that once defended this nation. While Disciples clothed in white, red, or black robes cut their hands with black blades and poured the red liquid into the river, turning it into that sacred Scarlet that Kasha knew so well. Kasha grew two pairs of massive bat-like wings out of her back and took flight. High above, she could see everything from the large Scarlakar that stalked the landscape on insect-like legs to tiny children playing in the metal corpses of zeppelins. She'd be lying if she said it didn't please her to see her kingdom expand. Soon she saw her destination, a massive cathedral that once belonged to Isriusk's church. Kasha pondered for a moment what it might have been like in its prime, what kind of glorious artwork, prayer, and song might have filled its walls. Now, however, its roof had been caved in, its marble floors covered in dirt, and the monument to Emperor Isriusk missing. Kasha landed on the cathedral's cracked stone floor and retracted her wings back into her body. Another Balinkar, a male, nearly 9 feet in height, wearing a silver-grey robe of wool grown from his shoulders, and a head in the shape of a stag's skull, stood in the center of the fallen church. He had been talking to a team of humans carrying various bits and pieces of Tilairian tech, each one attempting to understand the runes engraved on them using various books and tomes. "I've seen that rune before," said the Balinkar. "It relates to the wind. Tell me, where did you find this ?" The machine he'd been referring to appeared to be some kind of engine, with a large rune that coiled around in waves engraved on its front. Many different cogs and interlocking wheels stood still and Kasha thought for a moment about what the engine would have looked like in life. Kasha, unfortunately, didn't have time to wonder as she has just been noticed by one of the humans pointing in her direction. The male Balinkar turned to look at her with some curiosity, before bowing and addressing her. "Oh, greetings. I am Penatent' Kelvis, a historian from Avalis. And you are...?" "Oh, I'm Kasha," she said with a bow to regard him. "I am a historian like yourself, although, I haven't yet made it to the rank of Kelvis." Penatent' Kelvis laughed warmly. "Ho ho ho, that's fine. I'm sure you'll make it eventually." "I just might sir. Here, take a look at this." Kasha eagerly presented the stone and brass cage, practically shoving it in his hands. "Oh, uh, I'm...sorry, but what is this?" "Oh, well you see, it's a waystone! A device used by the Telios Arcanum to identify different magic runes they otherwise might not know." Penatent' Kelvis then slowly looked from the waystone to Kasha, a look of worry heavy on his face. "Uh, the Telios Arcanum? Ma'am, you do know that the Telios Arcanum is from the Emeral Empire, right?" Kasha's excitement quickly turned to dread at the question. "Um, yes." "So you know that using such devices is considered heresy, correct?" "N-no, no, it's--it's not like that," Kasha studdered. "I-I-I just used a book that was stolen from them by the Tilair Empire. A-and I used Scarlet instead of Void." Penatent' Kelvis sighed with frustration. "Child, you know that the other kingdoms and empires are our enemies! They would rather see us dead than to even so much as think of joining our holy cause!" Penatent' Kelvis suddenly grew in height, his antlers had grown wilder and thorn-like, and his hands had grown clawed nails. Fear almost consumed Kasha before she regained a small about of her composure. "B-b-but sir, the device only identifies different magics. I-i-i-it doesn't work against you at all, it only shows you what ele-ele-element a rune belongs to!" Penatent' Kelvis towered over her, an expression of rage still residing on his skull-like face, be had stopped growing. He stood there and slowly looked at the device in his hands, contemplating the knowledge, before throwing her back the brass cage and stone. "Show me," he said. "W-what?" Show me how it works," he demanded. "O-ok." She hurried over to a piece of equipment that looked to be a weapon with a spiral rune with sharpened points jutting outward. She raised the brass cage up to the symbol and the stone began to spin. It spun faster and faster and faster, the light changing like a rainbow, until it slowly rested on the color orange, and a small ball of flame jumped out and popped as a harmless firework. Then another tiny ball of flame jumped out and popped again. Then again and again and again. "Do you know what this weapon did?" Kasha asked. "It was a weapon that fired explosive fireballs during the war," said Penatent' Kalvis. She moved down the barrel of the weapon towards another rune. This time it was a sphere within a bigger sphere and a triangle hanging above the smaller circle. The brass cage began to shake and tremble, before bursting out with golden light that was pleasant to the touch. "See, it works!" exclaimed Kasha. "I've seen this gold stuff before. It symbolizes peace and life, meaning that this weapon couldn't hurt those the shooter didn't want to hurt or something like that." Penatent' Kalvis walked forward to the small balinkar girl and her device, the golden glow now fading away. He looked Kasha up and down and Kasha worried if he still disapproved of her methods. But then his skull-like face suddenly held up a soft and warm smile and, finally, he spoke. "Fine," he sighed. "I'll make an exception for this one thing, so long as it befits the kingdom at large. But I do have one question: can you show me how and where you made it?" "Oh," Kasha said, now filled with excitement. "Oh, yes, absolutely! Follow me." Kasha grew back her wings, but Penatent' Kalvis held a hand. "Not yet," he said as he turned to the human workers. "You there, continue working. I don't want to hear any complaints when I get back. Do you understand, you unwashed ones?" he commanded. The humans silently nodded. He turned back to Kasha. "Right, now you may show me." Penatent' Kalvis grew two pairs of leathery, black wings connected to his hips and shoulders and flew up in the sky. Kasha joined him up in the air and lead him to her lab-turned-house. Below she could see a Scarlakar stare at her above, its eyes tracking her as if she was prey. When they finally landed, she was quick to allow him entrance. "Just a moment while I gather my notes," she said. "You know," said Penatent' Kalvis. "It's such a wonderful thing. To have a young mind such as yourself inquire about the deeper aspects of life in order to better her kingdom." "Uh, yeah. I guess it is." Kasha said, confused about the fact that he was enraged about the same thing not five minutes earlier. "But do you want to know the best part about all of this?" "Um, what?" questioned Kasha. At the same moment that she turned around, however, a massive bloom of orangeish dust suddenly hit her in the face. She coughed violently. "cough cough. W-what the?" "For your heresy against High Lord Nolahkar, no one will even remember you existed!" When the dust disappeared and Kasha could see again, what stood before her was enough to give nightmares for most. Penatent' Kalvis had transformed into a massive malformed beast of flesh, fang, tooth, branch, and bone. An unnatural maw of millions of dark teeth spun around and around, like a centrifugal saw. Penatent' Kalvis then turned his head and made a horizontal biting motion. Kasha's instincts flared and she immediately jumped up and clung to the ceiling like a cat. Penatent' Kalvis had destroyed half of the side of the building with that one bite, bits and pieces of debris going all around outside. He had many crimson eyes on his head and could see Kasha hanging upside down, and quickly made a motion to chomp down and crush her. Kasha ran upside down, sticky hands helping cling to the ceiling, and headed straight toward the front entrance. What was happening, she thought, why is he attacking!? Penatent' Kelvis smashed through the bit of wood Kasha was previously hanging onto, turned to the front door, and smashed through it at well. Several thousand splitters spread all across the hallway, many making their way into Kasha's back. One large piece of shrapnel, however, was large and sharp enough to lodge itself into her right arm, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. Penatent' Kalvis leaned over her, acidic venom dripping down and fizzing upon the wooden floor. His several hundred eyes tracked her every move, even the slightest twitch of muscle didn't go unobserved. Kasha attempted to transform her body into a smaller, reptile-like body with six legs to get away as fast as possible, but too late. Penatent' Kalvis lunged forward and managed to grab onto her legs with his nightmarish mouth. He dragged her back to him and put a long sharp claw to her head and began cutting into her. He pulled his mouth back and ripped off her legs, blood shooting everywhere like a broken water fountain of red as he continued to maul her like a bear. Kasha, on an instinctual level, quickly grew back her missing flesh as soon as it was removed, although she was losing biomass and would be dead if she ran out. She desperately tried to fight back against Penatent' Kalvis and his many needle-like claws and teeth; she used every trick in the book, every little mutation that could give a defensive advantage. Yet nothing seemed to be working. Nothing was working, nothing could stop this, this was her fate. Or at least it would have been, had she not driven a spear made of bone from her stomach into Penatent' Kalvis's heart. He screamed out in pain, a guttural roar that sounded more appropriate for a demon than a respected scholar. Then again, nothing about him right now looked to be scholarly in the slightest. But she didn't have time to waste, however, and she left the building as fast as possible in a quick lizard-like body with six legs and a humanoid head and torso. Penatent' Kalvis clutched his chest on the open wound, blood leaking out before coating. In a second, the wound was gone, and Penatent' Kalvis let out a deep growl of rage. His lower jaw then split into two, each with several deformed and descended teeth that could cut into stone like butter. He burst through the building's front entrance, yet Kasha was nowhere in sight. He grew his olfactory senses to a grossly unnatural size, and from a single smell of the air he had found her without difficulty. Two pairs of wings grew out of his disturbed body and he was airborne in a matter of seconds. Kasha ran. She ran as far as she could, under bushes, fallen debris, or other people. People...wait, people! She stopped running and turned to both the humans and the balinkar, who were plainly walking the dirt streets. "Help! Help! I'm being attacked! Somebody stop him! Help!" No one seemed to notice her screaming. No one seemed to care. It was like they weren't even able to comprehend her existence and that she was simply invisible to them. "Hey! Hello? Can't you hear me? Wha-what's going on?" Kasha looked around in a panicked frenzy. The people simply passed by her, not even aware of the small bleeding wreck that was standing before her. A roar from above. Penatent' Kalvis had taken the form of a fat, pale white dragon with rotten skin, an overly large, tooth-filled jaw, and two pairs of massive wings that seemed to be made from the shadows themselves. Fear instantly filled Kasha's gut as her small lizard-like body ran down the streets and ducked and dodged and weaved through the many legs of humans and the many more legs of balinkar. Penatent' Kalvis flew right above Kasha, recoiled his head and neck, and spat out a ball of acid. The acid just barely missed Kasha, although the splatter from the direct impact had burned her back and the bottom of her paws. The pain was immense and had begun to burn deep into her already wounded flesh. And then, just as Kasha was beginning to lose hope, did she hear it. The flow of a Scarlet river. Hope, she thought. She grew out her eardrums and followed the swirling sound of rushing liquids. High above, Penatent' Kalvis noticed her change of direction towards the river of Scarlet and let out a roar that echoed all across the broken city. Kasha didn't pay attention to the roar, she was too focused on following the noise of the river. If she could get there, she could regain her lost biomass and hopefully lose Penatent' Kalvis's track. Another attack from Penatent' Kalvis, this time a volley of acid balls that burn straight through the ground and blasted buildings of the once great Tlair Empire. One manages to hit Kasha's backmost left leg of her total six, reducing it to a fleshy paste. Kasha screams out in violet pain, but her animal instincts get the better of her and she continues to run. Ignore the pain, She yelled internally. You're almost there, you're almost there! Finally, a ridge that indented a river's edge. You're almost there! But Penatent' Kalvis was there first. He landed right before she was about to jump in. His many crimson eyes were filled with vile hatred and his mouth was watering with a burning venom. He spread his dark wings and Kasha thought for a second she was looking at the face of death itself. "No more running, Heretic," he said in a gruff, guttural voice. His throat swelled with a green liquid and immediately the whole area where Kasha was standing was gone, wiped clean with acid. Or at least Penatent' Kalvis thought at first, As he saw in the corner of his eyes a small, light grey figure jump out of the way. He turned his head as quickly as he could and saw Kasha, the little five-legged lizard that she was, jump into the river of Scarlet. The river was dark, thick, and red. But it was soothing to a balinkars' skin and flesh. Kasha was quickly regaining lost flesh and bone and swam with a kind of joy in her heart as the Scarlet sept its way into her body. When she surfaced, she was once more a human-looking creature. She had flowed down the river and was a ways away from Penatent' Kalvis. She grew aquatic fins on her hands and legs and swam to the nearest edge. She grabbed onto a solid boulder and climb up on it. She looked to the sky for any large deformed dragons, yet found none. It seemed like she had finally lost Penatent' Kalvis for goo- A massive leg stabbed itself into the river of Scarlet. It was fleshy and insect-like, covered in dark veins that pumped blood. There were tentacles that ended in disquietingly large yellow-orange eyes attached to them. Each one was staring directly at her. When she looked up, there was a titanic body of pure red flesh. The creature's underbelly was covered in those same yellow-orange eyes that stared directly into her soul and its body was supported by other spindly, fleshy legs. It had a jaw the size of a building and teeth larger than people. It was a Scarlakar, and its jaw was unhinging. Kasha grew longer legs and wings to help her dash to the side, but too late. The Scarlakar had snatched her by the leg and dragged her in the air. The pain was immense as she could feel and audibly hear her bone snap like twigs. In a last act of desperation, she grew her right arm into a boney spear and jammed it straight into the Scarlakar's teeth. The beast only let out a small grunt of pain but did not let go. She stabbed again, still, it did not let go. "Heretic!" yelled out a voice from across the river. Penatent' Kalvis was fast approaching, wings slicing through the air as if it were paper. Kasha's fear deepened and she began to stab faster and faster. But it was of no use, the jaws of the Scarlakar remained sealed like an iron vault. Penatent' Kalvis slowed his flight and hovered right next to the dangling Kasha. The Scarlakar turned to him and presented Kasha as if she was a toy a dog had played fetch with. Penatent' Kalvis extended his draconic claws outwards and grabbed her out from the beast's teeth. He raised her up to his mouth, vile poison boiling within. The smell was that of sweat rot and foul death. Then he spoke, in a gnarled, hateful, and declarative voice. "And so said the Lord of Blood, 'The deceitful and their corruption shall do no damage onto my kingdom of one, their vain attempts to supersede that which they do not understand will be their undoing, and they will fall, fall, fall, until the common man is at harm no longer, and they will learn that I am the Lord.'" It was a common proverb taken from the many holy books and scrolls that were sent from Avalis to the rest of the Balinkarian Kingdom. It was repeated constantly by the many priests and disciples of the High Lord, to make sure the populous did not harm the rest of the kingdom by touching the arcane magic of other gods. Kasha had heard it repeated so many times throughout her life she had blocked its significance. Now, however, did she feel like she truly understood its meaning. Penatent' Kalvis locked his claws around Kasha, breaking bones that were healed instantly. She attempted to break free by growing spikes all around her body, but no luck as Penatent' Kalvis had grown a tough, boney armor across his body. Yes, not even a spear to the heart was open to her. Penatent' Kalvis opened his acid-drooling jaws to bite down on her small head. It didn't matter if she had grown a helmet from her skull or not. It didn't matter how hard she tried to wriggle out his iron clast. She was going to die, no way around it. Kasha closed her eyes, awaiting the painful end. Desperately wanting this nightmare to end. Desperately wanting this nightmare not to be real. "BURN." said a voice from beyond. Something had happened. Kasha hadn't yet opened her eyes to truly realize it, but the tight hold of Penatent' Kalvis had disappeared entirely. Then came the sensation of falling, wind whipping through her crimson hair. Falling? she thought. Kasha opened her eyes. Above, Penatent' Kalvis and the Scarlakar were still there, but they had a strange, black-and-white substance around them. Kasha couldn't comprehend the scene above her long enough before her instincts kicked in. FALLING! Immediately, Kasha grew a pair of parachute-like wings from her arms. The ground was rapidly approaching and she decided to grow a smaller, second pair from her legs. It was enough to survive the landing, but not enough to stop a splat of blood from Kasha's insides to spray everywhere. It was no trouble though, as she quickly regenerated her broken bones and sealed her open wounds. Run. That was all that was on Kasha's mind. Run as far and as fast as you can while they're occupied. She could hear the deranged roars and screams coming from the Scarlakar and Penatent' Kalvis. Kasha grew an eyeball out the back of her head and saw the most bewildering thing imaginable. A fire, black and the bottom and pure white at the top, had suddenly arisen on the body of Penatent' Kalvis and the face of the Scarlakar as if it had appeared out of nowhere. Both were clawing and scratching at themselves, trying to put out the dark flame that was slowly crawling across their bodies. Kasha stopped and looked to see it all happen. The Scarlakar was swinging its head from left to right, slapping its needle arms against its face. Penatent' Kalvis, meanwhile, was changing form every second it seemed. At first, he was a dragon-like creature, then a featherless bird with bat wings, then a leech-like creature with millipede legs. With each new form, he raised higher and higher in the air, before finally, he took the form of a humanoid. But he did not rise, nor did he even move, he was as still as a corpse and plummeted down into the flowing Scarlet, hurtling down like a comet of black fire before crashing with a resounding splash. The Scarlakar had since run off, stilling clawing, and gnashing in a vain effort to subdue the fire. Kasha couldn't believe what her eyes were telling her. That both a Scarlakar and a Kalvis scholar from Avalis had been defeated by something so...outlandishly simply. But where did that fire even come from? How...did that happen? These thoughts spun around in Kasha's mind, yet no answer presented itself to her. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. The sounds of crashing footsteps started to fill the area. Kasha exited her confused mind and looked above the city roofs, and fear once again filled her gut. Many more Scarlakars were heading her way, their insectoid legs crossing dozens of buildings with single strides. Kasha picked herself up once again and ran. She ran into decrepit buildings and destroyed cathedrals, into people who she tried her best to convince she was real yet failed, into back alleys and stone streets. She ran and ran and ran. And still, the Scarlakars were hot on her tail no matter how fast she ran. That is when she noticed how much pain she was in. It wasn't from her wounds, those had become little more than sores and small bruises on her body. No, it was her heart and lungs that were on fire. Her lung felt as if they were about to cave in and her heart felt like it was on the brink of exploding. Soon, she could do it anymore. She could run anymore, and let exhaustion take its place. She collapsed to the cobblestone street in an undignified heap and gently closed her eyes. Please, she thought. Please just let this end. Please just let this not be real. "I WILL SHOW SHOW YOU WHAT IS REAL." said a voice from beyond. Kasha opened her eyes. She looked up in front of her. And the whole world suddenly stopped existing to her. There was a massive tower, reaching high into the sky and cutting into clouds above. It was coiled in an upwards spiral like an inside down screw and was pure black in coloration. There were no windows or doors or much of any signifying carvings, save for a single diamond-shaped rune that glowed a deep, bright white. "ENTER IF YOU WISH TO SEE WHAT LIES THIS WORLD HAS BEEN BUILT UPON." said a voice from beyond. Kasha got up from her sore feet. The booming stomps of the Scarlakar were still behind her as she did so. She looked back and saw them getting ready to scope her up and crush her in their mouths. And so she gave one final run, towards the great Dark Spire that stood before her. She reached the tower and found its surface to be of impossibly smooth stone, with small gentile curves like waves on its black skin. She touched all over, looking for some kind of entrance before balling her firsts and bashing against it. "Let me in! Let me in! I don't want to die!" she yelled. "DESIRE...YES, YOU ARE WORTHY." said a voice from within. She continued to hit the Spire until, suddenly, its surface became a sticky tar. Kasha tried to retract her hands to look at it but found it impossible. Then it began to absorb her hands, then her wrists, and soon her arms. She placed her boot against the tower to pull away from its grasp but found it too was being absorbed. She began to panic, frantically trying to fight against whatever it was that was sucking her. Soon, however, it ceased to matter, as she had been fully consumed by the Dark Spire.
Kasha didn't know what was going on. All that she knew was that it was dark, she was no longer in any pain, and that it had been weeks since she enter the tower. She could make brief glimpses of what was going on outside. Humans and balinkar walked to and fro, toppling buildings and statues of Emperor Isrisuk, Scarlakar striding across the fallen Tlair buildings that were quickly being replaced with Balinkarian, disciples of Lord Nolahkar turning water into Scarlet. But there was something different about all of it, an air of wrongness to it all. It took Kasha until now to be fully aware of it: the humans were in bloody and rusted chains, the Scarlakar were watching every single citizen, and the disciples were poisoning the fish and plants that required the water. But perhaps the most alien part of all of it was that sky was a deep, sickly yellow color and there were orange particles like the ones she encountered when Penatent' Kalvis first attacked her dancing everywhere in the air. Kasha couldn't believe how utterly strange it all seemed to her, how wrong it felt to look at it all. Kasha wonder how long it had looked like this and if it always looked like this. "IT'S DISGUSTING, ISN'T IT? HOW MUCH CAN BE STOLEN AND PEOPLE NEVER REALIZING IT. HOW FAR UNDER HIS INFLUENCE THEY HAVE BECOME." said a voice behind her. Kasha turned around and saw a single bright white diamond shape glow high above her. It was like a great cyclopean eye staring directly into her. It looked at her like she had some kind of answer to its question. Kasha didn't have any answers, but she did have a lot of questions. "Wha-what are you? What is this place?" The diamond eye slightly stured and spoke, each new vowel causing a god ray of light to blink from it like a spotlight. "I AM A GOD, BUT I DESIRE NO CROWN. NOR DO I DESIRE A LAND TO CALL MY OWN. I ONLY DESIRE TO FREE YOU FROM AN ETERNITY IN STAGNATION AND CHAINS." said the light. Kasha was instantly taken aback by it. This was a god. A being who could wipe Kasha from existence if it so chose and a being who could change the very landscape with a swipe of its hand. Fear then consumed Kasha of the prospect of speaking to such a great being of pure power. "DON'T BE AFRAID, CHILD OF MORTALIY. I MEAN YOU NO HARM, I ONLY MEAN TO BRING YOU THE MEANS TO FREE YOURSELF." An alarm rang inside Kasha's head. "You-you-di-did you...just read my thoughts?!" "YES, I DID." said the god. Kasha was completely confused. This was a god. She was standing before a god and it had read her thoughts as easy as breathing. "Wha-where am I?" she asked hurriedly. "YOU ARE WITHIN MY PRISON," it answered. "MY ROTTING PRISON." Prison? Why would a god be imprisoned? None of this made any sense to her. "Why are you imprisoned within...this?" she asked. "BECAUSE YOUR WORLD'S GODS DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU FREE. THEY DON'T WANT ANYTHING BUT POWER AND GLORY." "Wha-what? What are you talking about?" The god made a quiet whistling noise, like the howling of the wind in an ear, before speaking. "ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN." Suddenly, the dark room they were in was filled with faded colors and shapes, that soon turned into forms that Kasha could recognize. "LONG BEFORE THE GODS CAME TO THIS LAND, THERE WERE TWO MASTER RACES: THE HUMANS AND THE DRAGONS. BOTH WATCHED OVER THE OTHER AND FORGED A GREAT CIVILIZATION FROM THEIR ALLIANCE. The scene before her was a valley covered in white marble buildings and glorious gold towers. Humans and dragons of all shapes and sizes lived together in a joyful existence. It was beautiful in Kasha's eyes. " AND THEN, THE SKY BROKE OPEN AND FIVE GODS CAME HURLING DOWN UPON HALARION." The scene changed and five flaming comets smashed into the earth and out rose each of the gods she was told of as a child. Isriusk, Lord of Might, who held a great golden sword of eternal flame in his hand. Peraculus, Lord of Wealth, who forged a silver axe from a mountain. Dras, Lord of Death, who unleashed a miasma of decay upon all. Nal' Sadal, who was a dark bubbling pit of chaos that spread darkness all across the land. Finally, there was Nolahkar, Lord of Blood, who looked at the humans and grabbed one of them. He then reached his hand out to its chest and ripped out a blue spirit from within. Then, came a violent storm of blue that sprouted from the chest of every human in Halarion and jumped upwards into the sky to create a red crown beset with a jewel of the same color Nolahkar then raised his hand at the decrypted humans and each was suddenly and painfully transformed into grey and black beasts. Each one could morph and change shape at will to whatever it desired. They were the first balinkar. " EACH DECLARED WAR WITH THE OTHER AND RIPPED THE WORLD ASUNDER. BUT YOUR GOD, THE LORD NOLAHKAR, DID SOMETHING HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO. WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, HE STOLE HUMANITY'S IMMORTALITY FROM THEM AND FORGED IT INTO AN IRON CROWN." Kasha couldn't believe what she was seeing. Never, in either the history books or the tales of the elders, had she been told this story. She honestly didn't know what to say. "SOON." the god continued, "THE DRAGONS COULD NO LONGER PROTECT HUMANITY AS A WHOLE, SO THEY TOOK WHAT THEY COULD AND FLED TO THE FAR EAST ACROSS THE SEA, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN." The scene changed yet again, this time showing a great armada of ships sailings under the moonlight. In the sky, massive dragons flew alongside them, with a gargantuan black dragon guiding them across the sea. Kasha could almost feel the weight of the wind upon her with every flap of its wings. "BUT THE WAR HAD NO VICTOR AND EACH OF THE FIVE SPREAD OUT INTO THE FAR CORNERS OF THE REALM, WEAKENED BY BATTLE. AS FOR HUMANITY, WITH DEATH NOW A CONSTANT IN THEIR LIVES, THEY DESTROYED THEMSELVES AND TURNED INTO FERAL TRIBESMEN, NEVER RELEARNING ABOUT THE WORLD THAT CAME BEFORE." The scene dissipated into a rainbow of colored mist, leaving only Kasha and the god, whose eye of light was shining down dimly upon her. "AS FOR THE GODS, THEY PREYED UPON HUMANITY'S WEAKNESS AND PROMISED THEM SAFETY FROM THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT. THEY CREATED THE FIVE COVENANT EMPIRES, EACH ONE BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF LIES AND DECEIT." Kasha...didn't know what to say. All of this was too much for her to handle. She had just been told that everything she knew about history was a massive lie and it was all too much to take in. "Why...why are you telling me all this?" she asked, desperate for some sort of reason behind it all. The god answered in an honest voice. "BECAUSE THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS UPON US. NO LONGER WILL FALSE GODS LOOK UPON YOU AND SEE YOU AS A RESOURCE TO BE USED, SPENT, AND FORGOTTEN ABOUT. I SEE YOU AS A BREAKER OF CHAINS." "'Breaker of chains?' No, no, no, you don't know what you're talking about. I am of the holy flesh. I am a balinkar, a chosen people set to unite all under one so our suffering may end. No, no, this is a lie, you are lying to me!" The eye of light coming from the god then turned to the wall beyond them, where Kasha had entered in the first place. "AND THIS IS YOUR DEFINITION OF TRUTH? PHEROMONES BLOCKING YOUR RECEPTION BETWEEN REALITY AND FALSEHOOD? EYES FROM GIANTS THAT WATCH YOUR EVERY MOVE? A LIQUID FUEL THAT POISONS ALL THAT TOUCHES IT? HUMANS, WHO WERE NOT BORN OR MADE INTO BALINKAR, FORCED TO WEAR RUSTED CHAINS AROUND THEIR BODIES AND WORK AS SLAVES? TELL ME, DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A GOOD TRUTH TO YOU?" Kasha looked back at the city. She could see the massive Scarlakar covered in eyes spy upon even the smallest of details. She could see a small flowering plant by the river of Scarlet wilt away into dust and a small crowd of humans covered up in heavy metal chains being dragged along by a balinkar. "DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU WERE CHASED AND ALMOST KILLED BY PENATENT' KALVIS?" asked the god. That had been on the top of Kasha's mind since the start of all this. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I do." "IT'S BECAUSE YOU WERE A DANGER TO THE POWER STRUCTURE OF THE KINGDOM." "What?" "THE USE OF A ANOTHER GOD'S MAGIC IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN WITHIN ALL THE COVENANT EMPIRES, BUT IN THE BALINKARIAN KINGDOM, THE USE OF ANYTHING BY A ANOTHER POWER IS HERATICAL IN THE EYES OF THE NOBILITY." Kasha considered for a moment what the god that just said. Had the use of just a simple device really marked her for death? "DON'T YOU SEE IT NOW? YOUR GOD HAD STOLEN FROM YOUR ANCESTORS THEIR NATURAL FORM, AND WHEN THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH HE TRANSFORMED THEM INTO YOU. HE, ALONG WITH HIS BLINDLY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, CREATED RELIGIOUS LIE AFTER RELIGIOUS LIE TO KEEP HIS POWER. BUT NO MATTER HOW TENDER, HOW EXQUISITE..." The light from the god's eye turned into hateful red.
"A LIE WILL REMAIN A LIE!"
When Kasha emerged from the Dark Spire, she could see the world as it truly was. A sick, yellow sky filled with pheromones that kept certain things invisible to the public eye. Human slaves chained up and beaten by the larger, more powerful balinkar. And think she used to be blind to it all. No matter, she thought. The pain would all end soon. And she had to do was ascend the ladder. All she had to do was travel to Avalis, the City of Red. Once she was there, she would free the chosen warrior. She would free Alred, Prophet of the Sixth God, the Nameless Light.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments