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[Isk]

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June 1st
2000 years ago

The Dark Lord let his hammer fall across the anvil once more, pounding out a steady rhythm that echoed into the night. His workshop, an improvised smithy he had thrown together in a small cave, held no light other than the light of the forge. Kaigetsu scowled down at the hunk of steel that lay before him, bending it into the form of a helm with his boundless will as much as his skill with his tools. He lifted the hammer another time, and pain shot through his body. The hammer fell from his hand with a clang, his exhausted arms no longer able to bear it aloft. He fell to his knees, breath coming in savage gasps, as his body began to fail him. He pushed his lank, long white hair from his eyes and looked up with a scowl. A thin stream of bright red blood trickled along the floor and over his hand, runoff from the slaughter beyond the cavern where his army of monsters stood positioned desecrating what ever they could.

The last piece of the suit, Helm of Evil was finished. Closing his eyes Kaigetsu spoke out the dark maho spells of his homeland and trapped the last portion of his soul within it. Struggling to his knees, the Hand of Evil removed the sturdy apron tied about his waist and hung it on a hook rivetted in the stone wall. He placed the hammer and tongs carefully beside it. He lifted a black kimono from the floor and pulled it over his exhausted shoulders.

This was a time for desperation. His days were numbered and with the land united under a new king the left overs of Mondain’s army stood little chance especially with the recent betrayal of Minax and the splitting of the forces that resulted.

“Now I can never die” he stated flatly. "So long as my armor is together I will be reborn.” But there was a nagging in the back of his mind. A desire for a backup plan. The nagging voice of his mother telling him to have kids. Kaigetsu had remained a virgin but now on the brink of his own demise he had to do what he always dreaded. He looked to a shadowed creature in the corner.

“Orc, send me a woman,” he whispered. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

* * * * * *

Present day…

Stoned sat propped against the wall of his cabin as the Legacy rocked against the tides just west of Magincia’s border. Isk’s eyes were vacant and soulless as he took in the blurry room. The Magnate’s body, exhausted and damaged from the sickness he felt crawling through his left arm produced a subtle prick against his heart. Isk was too drugged to feel it, the cancer creeping in on him.

Isk could feel the sweat on his face trickle down the coldness of his emotionless porcelain mask. He touched his chin to rub the salty liquid and lowered it to the Helm of Evil which rested at his side like an obedient dog at the foot of its master.

[This is a strange relationship we have]

The helm spoke directly into his head with its cool metallic voice. Isk could feel its empty eyes looking at him. How frail I must look, the Magnate thought to himself. “You are killing me” Isk whispered as he exhaled a puff of smoked Utopia.

[You have yet to procure the Chest of Evil from Molly, Smogg’s Gauntlets of Evil are already guaranteed to you… yet you squander your days sending out assassins and suicide bombers to kill insignificant elves while I remain incomplete]

Isk closed his eyes as he felt the room push in on him. The helm continued to speak, echoing through his brain.

[You will know the Philosophe when you complete me. I will tell you who shall lead humanity into a new age. Is this not enough to interest you in retrieving the Chest?]

There was a long silence before Isk replied with a lazy tone “You nag me. You’re like a woman…” He laughed “For all I know you are just a voice in my head, a part of my subconscious whispering into my ear, telling me how important I am.”

[I am your destiny. Complete me and you will be stronger than ever]

Isk opened his eyes in irritation and swept the helm with his arm sending it flying across the room. The shadowed plate rolled on the wooden floor. The slits of its eyes remained on him as the Magnate shouted “I have no army! What can I do?! Talon and Molly have a huge alliance while all I have are a handful of operatives, Aya, Walter, Arunadar, my wife, my children… even Alizia help me glorify Magincia and Humanity, but we are not even a fraction of what we would be up against s-should we attack Luna for your Chest of Evil”

The Helm of Evil quieted itself. Like a scorned lover it stayed motionless at the opposite end of the room. It watched Isk, watched him as he set his hands to his masked face, watched him as he cursed his condition.

[We will speak when you are sober]