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Ian Fallenhope

"Why do you come here, as often as you do Ian?" Startled from my thoughts, I jerked up and turned quickly to face the direction of the voice. "Oh, Trelan,.... it's you... I ... you startled me!" I exclaimed, and relaxed a bit from the start. She stepped a couple paces more towards me, to where the lamp light lit her form. " I was deep in thought, I didn't hear you coming." She smiled slightly and replied, " Yes, we elves are quiet in our footfalls, but this isn't exactly the best place to be caught off your guard, being so close to the swamps." I nodded my head in Wraths direction and said, " He wouldn't let anything sneak up on me, at least nothing harmful." She gave a short gay laugh, and smiled again slightly, and I walked over to one of the marble benchs nearby and sat down. She followed a few steps behind, picking up the lantern and moving it closer. Wrath stamped and snorted, and watched us for a moment before turning his attention elsewhere. "You still haven't answerred me though. Why do you come here? This place, it's ...." she stopped as if searching for the right word from her language to mine. "Depressing? Forsaken?" I offered. "Well, that too, but..that's not what I was thinking of." she stated. "This used to be a chapel of the virtues, and the cemetary here is for the priests, and the nobles who died defending it, during the assault on the city by the undead." I said solemnly. " But that was a long time ago, even before I arrived here, I know of some of them by name and lore only." She nodded in aknowledgement and said, " Yes, I remember that battle, and the evil faced here was also present in Heartwood. We were more fortunate than Trinsic was though, in the outcome. Yet I still do not understand why you come here." She fixed her eyes on me, as if reading a book of interest, and I started telling her a long tale. A tale of youth, of coming to ones own, a tale of hope, and of heart break, a tale of a man and his perils and the finding of his courage in the darkest pits of hell on earth, a tale of friends and foes, in essence, my story. The mists of the swamp curled at our feet, and the shadows of night grew longer in the fading light of the lantern. Wrath snorted and stamped, and grew anxious, Trelan felt it to, and said, " We had better go inside," and cast a queer look toward the ruins and the cemetary, before turning her face back to me. I saw something in her manner that assured me it may be a good idea. I stood up and picked up the lantern, and offered my hand to her. She took my hand and stood up, her hand trembled slightly, and it was then I felt it too. "Wrath come" I said and we started walking toward the manor. Wrath followed us for a few paces then suddenly, turned and stopped and let out a roar, then ran back towards the ruins. "Go!" I told Trelan, and urged her forward with my hand, as I let go of hers, and turned back towards Wrath. " Ian, don't!" She cried out after me, but I was focused on Wrath. In the darkness ahead, I saw a blast of fire, sillouhetting Wrath in its glare, as he spat out a fireball, I ran forward to Wrath and peered into the dark, but could see nothing there. "Wrath follow me!" I commanded, and he turned and wheeled in place, steadfastly holding his ground. I heard an explosion in the darkness ahead, and Wrath blasted an energy bolt to an unseen enemy. Yet I still couldn't see what it was it hit. It seemed to vanish into the darkness without striking home to anything. Even stranger yet it seemed to me, that I heard no sounds, or cries of pain, from any of Wraths assaults. I spoke the power words for a field of fire, hoping to illuminate the unseen enemy, but even that revealed nothing to behold. Wrath was beside himself with rage, and roared and reared up, pawing at the earth and air, his red eyes glowing with the very fires of the hell that spawned him. I could feel something close, a vile and malicious entity, like that of a daemon, but much more potent and focused, more like a balron... or a lich lord. Wrath suddenly stopped pawing and roaring, and let out a long painfully horrible sounding whinny and turned away, and bolted towards home. I stood alone, and began to turn back myself, yet I was also turning back towards the cemetary... and kept walking back and forth between the two several more times before I stopped, always keeping my eye fixed in the direction of the threat. Until finally I stopped, and stood my ground. I gripped my Tome tightly, and felt my jaw begin to ache from being clenched too hard. A dog barked and howled in the distance behind me, near the houses there, then fell silent. I could feel the veil of evil in front of me, and deduced it was not drawing nearer. For lack of anything else I could think of to do, I called out to the darkness, " What have ye come for?!" Expecting no reply, I waited silently, and listened. A moment passed, and during the silence I noticed the sounds of the swamp were stilled, as all around was. Again, I repeated my query, and again was momentarily greeted by a similar silence, as if in a vacuum. When suddenly, a sound like ripping cloth mixed with lightning and thunder, seared through the silent night air, and a stir of hot wind blew across my face, like that of an oven door being opened. A strange portal began manifesting itself in the center of the sound, and blueish white lights played amidst the shadows all around me, crackling like a hot hearth fire of yew logs. The portal formed a large rectangular shape, and the blueish white, turned to a sickly blood red. A cloven hoof appeared, then the clawed hand, and the tips of wings and horns. "Balron!" I thought, and I made ready to cast upon it. Yet I didn't, and as it emerged from it's portal it was indeed a balron, it pointed a clawed finger at me, and lowered it's head in a manner unlike an attacking Balron. "Mortal beware!" It spoke finally, and unfurled its hideous wings and folded them back upon itself. " I come to forewarn you, be wary! But it is not I, ... you have to fear." It said, and cocked its head slightly askew of it's neck. My eyes adjusting to the new light, I noticed several things immediately. A Balron yes, this was, but not akin to any I had seen before, it was broken, and discolored, disfigured and disjointed. "Fear? A daemon?!" I stated sharply, "Perhaps you do not know who I am!" "Indeed Mortal? Nay, I know who you are. Long have you waged war upon us, and the name Fallenhope has been the source of much discussion amongst my brethren." It cackled back scornfully. " Your war of vengeance, in the name of honor and love, is laughable at best! The harlet Sascha sends her regards." He cackled mockingly. " What does one of the vile, know of love and honor?" I asked back to the creature. " What does a mortal know of his doom when he faces it?" Retorted the beast. "You haven't come here to pass on regards, nor kill me yourself, apparently. So state your business, accursed one! What have ye to say, and what's more... why should I listen? You do not look like you're in the favor of your Lord by your current appearance..." I stated. " Zoth Ommog despar zu!" It cursed, " Be warned mortal, your head is sanctioned to be upon the Lord's supper table soon!" "This is the great news you have for me? Long have I hunted your kind, yet, here I am.... what makes you so certain he'll have my head now?" It gnashed its teeth and spat at that, then proceeded to elaborate. " The Lord's clan is in a rage that the lessers haven't been able to secure your head, he has ... shall we say, 'dispatched' many of them, myself included. As you may know, daemon kind cannot truly kill daemon kind, as such." I listened to this, and it occured to me the real truth behind this so-called warning, "So, in essence, your warning me to further yourself in a battle of the clans, and this has little to no benefit for me, so why should I continue killing? I may as well just stand back and let your kind wipe out your kind for me, then mop up the rest of the lot of you afterwards!" At this the balron howled with rage, and began cursing even fouler curses in its tongue. It drew itself up as best as it could, as broken as it was, and quickly drew steel. The flash of the blades reflecting the putrid red light of the portal it emerged from. I quickly chanted the power words Rel Por, and teleported out of sword range, and then chanted Corp Por and hit him square in the chest with the energy bolt. The balron shrieked out in pain, and dropped one of the swords. Kal Vas Flam! The pillar of fire enveloped the beast and he fell forward upon one knee. Rel Por! I teleported in close, and quickly snatched up the dropped sword, and spun around, letting the weight of the massive sword carry itself to its mark. There was the sound of ripping tissue, followed by the roar of pain, and the thump of the daemons arm hitting the earth, as I spun around and stepped back several paces to watch my quarry. Greatly weakened by the beating it suffered at its masters hand, followed by the beating it just took, the daemon made no further assault. I threw his sword to the ground in front of him, and said sternly. " It ends now, tell your clan chief I make my war on my terms, not yours! Now be gone! Your warning has been heard, and I thank thee for that, take your life with you,... this time." The balron scowled and muttered more foul curses, moreso in pain and defeat than out of anymore malice. It sheathed one sword and picked up the second, and sheathed that with some minor difficulty. Then he picked up his arm, and licked the blood from it, and spat the vile mess toward me. He turned and began toward the gate, and I stood watching, wary of some further treachery, but there was none; aside from a hateful look cast over his shoulder, before disapearring back to the abyss through the portal whence it came from. The portal began closing with the same sound and lights as when it first appeared, then all was black, and all was silent. I stood there silently for a while, replaying the event in my mind. It dawned on me that I was just in the Masters dinner room not too long ago... on a separate mission for Eliassi. Could they be connected somehow? Why didn't they take me then? I turned back to home, and remembered Wrath... poor Wrath! I ran to the house and he was standing out front, his head lowered, as if he felt some remorse for deserting me..if that is possible for a mare to be remorseful for a mortal. "Wrath follow me!" I commanded, and he whinnied and perked up. Trelan heard the mare and came running out of her workshop, "Ian! Are you all right? What happened? What was it?" I caught her in my arms, as she threw a worried hug around my neck. "Whoa! Hey! I'm alright.. slow down!" "Tell me what it was, what happened!" she exclaimed. "Ok, but let's go in and eat something, I'm famished, I'll tell you all over dinner," I led Wrath to his place and bade him stay, and Trelan and I went upstairs to dine. It was almost sunrise when I was finished telling the tale, yet she still had more questions. "Unlike the elven, we humans need to rest sometimes.." I finally said sleepily, " and there's a new day looming as we sit here, ask me more later, I've had a busy night." She looked at me somewhat dismayed, but nodded and said good night, and she went back down to her workshop. I went down to look after Wrath once more, then wearily lugged my old body up the stairs to bed. I blew out the candle, and remember no more.... Until now... over a year later.
I hadn't seen Doc about the house for a few days, and I was beginning to worry about the old man. It was very unusual for him to remain away for so long. I was making ready to search for him, when he walked by my room. Peeping his head in through the doorway he saw me packing a bag.
"Going somewhere?' He asked, in his usual gruff manner.
"Oh Doc! I was just about to go looking for you." I said slightly relieved.
"Oh? For me? Why... need some potions made?" He answered back.
"No, I was thinking you had gone missing, and had got yourself in trouble with the drink again." I said, looking at him steadily.
"No, Ian" He said and paused. "I've been busy looking into a matter for Lord G'nulffrag."
"Lord G'nulffrag? Who is he?" I asked, curiously, as I had never heard the name before.
"G'nulffrag Ommog. He's some strange fellow, who serves the city of Umbra, They have asked me to serve as their physician."
"Umbra? What in the..." I began to exclaim, but he cut me short.
"Yeah, ears need cleaning out again? I said Umbra! I was sent to look into Duchess Molly's condition, and maybe help figure out what is wrong."
"Something wrong with Molly? Well what is it?"
"She's in a sleep, a cold sleep, never seen anything like it before. Much to my dismay, there was nothing at the Lycaeum or the Anatheum, closely resembling any illness such as this."
As he was elaborating, in the back of my mind. something was stirring. It had been almost a year or so since the night in the ruins, but my thoughts were drawn there, as Doc babbled on. The phrase "Zoth Ommog Despar Zu" echoed in my head, and it suddenly connected with the name Doc spoke earlier.
"...but, while I was there, another condition was made known to me as well. Another one in the Gauntlet afflicted with some illness, I haven't had a chance to see her yet though." I heard Doc muttering from across the other side of the connecting room. I left my room, and crossed the floor to where he was, poking through some tomes, and scrolls.
"What else do you know of this Ommog fellow?" I asked, trying to get more out of Doc.
"Aside from what I told you already, nothing much, as I've been too busy elsewhere! Now, will you leave me get to my business?" Doc grouched back, and turned back to his bookshelf, searching.
I'm used to him being grouchy, and when his mind is bent on something, it's best to stay out of his way, so I left him, and returned to my room to unpack what I had started. In the back of my mind, I wondered, still.
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Lord Ian Fallenhope, High Council Member of the Free Tamers of Sosaria - FTS