[2004/08] From the Darkness Born

[Ziv]

[turbine]

http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=260

Verdantine, 15 P.Y.

http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=262

Passers-by were not being very kind to the Mosswart who huddled near the branches of a fern, sitting on a stone to rest his legs. He had arrived the previous night with a small slip of parchment bearing Elysa's seal. A member of the Royal Guard had escorted him into Bai Yao Feng's tent; when the little creature assured Bai Yao in broken Roulean that he was there at the behest of the High Queen, the guard nodded her confirmation.

It didn't sit well with the barkeep or his patrons. Their town had been displaced two years ago – homes were lost, along with years of life and love, all because of a ravening madman that had wanted to take the world for himself. Arwic had been rebuilt, but Yanshi? It appeared that Yanshi was too small a town to merit the Council's attention. Now they were saddled with a creature whose race had, until recently, plagued the nearby swamps.

It sat most uneasily with Bai Yao, but he had accepted the Royal Guardswoman's word as proof and told the Mosswart that it could find a place to nestle somewhere in the town.

After it left, the Guardswoman – Ydnew – had stayed to talk to Bai Yao.

"What's this about?" Bai Yao asked as he offered forth a frothy mug of ale.

"A treaty," Ydnew answered quietly. She took the mug into her left hand, placing her hat on her knee. "The High Queen met with this little fellow the other evening and he pleaded a rather emotional case. The Burun have been slaughtering them wherever they go... they're dying off it seems."

"Dying off?" Bai Yao asked incredulously.

"Apparently," Yndew replied, sipping from her mug. "The swamps are changing... or so that little Mosswart says. The land is getting spoiled and the Mosswarts are getting sick and dying. Many of them were slaughtered when the first of those temples was found. They had thought it was the Banderlings, that they had come to make war, but now they believe it was 'ill spirits'." Ydnew leaned back in the chair a bit. "I'm here to watch over the little fellow and make sure that no harm befalls him. I'll also be conducting a little research on behalf of the High Queen. From what I have been hearing, things are a lot worse than they appear."

At that, Ydnew had drained the rest of the ale and slapped the mug onto the table. She stood, gave Bai Yao a smile, and went out into the night.

*****

The fort loomed in the dark night. Alb'arel and Rez'arel were obscured by thick clouds and provided only intermittent light as lightning flashed through the stormy sky. Torgluuk kicked aside a Sclavus corpse and surveyed the interior of their new home. The fortress was tall, three Guruk high, and covered in a pungent algae. The walls were timeworn and scarred. The Burun had already begun to dig beneath one post of the fortress to provide a lair. Many of them were growing heavy with eggs, and those who were not were growing increasingly uneasy about the news of the Guruk.

Torgluuk had sent Morgluuk into the west to seize control of the dullards before they tore a swath through the world and threatened the tenuous peace that they had found with the Renegades. Torgluuk had stayed behind to ensure that the treaty was upheld by their new allies. He was disappointed to learn that his fears about the Renegades were well-founded. It was a situation that he would need to remedy – quickly.

[Ziv]

[turbine]

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The Lady strode through the halls of her keep with a smile on her ageless face for the first time in countless years. Her flesh was pale, but it had the blush of youth and her hair bounced in the wind. The world was changing; the Lightbringer was gone and there was little she had to fear from the Outlanders. As she led her entourage back into the bowels of her keep, she let her mind lapse for one brief moment. That moment was long enough to allow a host of souls, bound for eternity, to slip her grasp and take residence across the surface of the island.

Nearly all had lost their minds, save one. That one waited for a shining moment of bliss. She would never be free, but she would have her revenge. The Lady would feel the pain of the death and the long years of torment. She would feel all of it.