Unforseen

Gergo returns home to his wife Annastrianna after his conquest of Zinasa

Chapter 25 Unforeseen

An elf sat stood, staring at a pool with a fiery red flame engulfing it at its rim. The fire did not burn it, it welcomed the hot flame, and the even hotter liquid as the eyes of this elf stared deep into it with fury. She paced around the pool, staring at it with determination, as her work for years was finally bearing fruits. She whispered silently to the pool, “Educam omnia spectantur.” Her soft, warm and loving voice froze the fire, and the ripples in the pool turned to white frost, and ceased movement, as the fire rimmed the cave. The ground was covered in red hot water. In one part of the cave, she could see the ruins being rebuilt from Kenderhell. She saw the elves and men working together. It was pleasing to her.

In the second part of the room, she could see Fastatru in his ruin. Bristole was being worked on by orcs and undead alike. They were fixing the houses, the streets, the signs. Bristole’s fortress was made from iron and steel. Fastatru was standing over a table, leaning over it in frustration. On that table was a map of Alkathos. He was planning and planning for the next attack, if there would be another one. The scry pulled from him and onto the rest of Bristole.

There was a hallway lined with series of touch stones, touch traps, tripwires, over and over again. As she continued to go deeper and deeper into the halls, the traps grew much more elaborate, more frequent, and highly more complicated. There was a wooden door. The spell invaded its way in, and beheld a room full of wires, tiles, and bones. It would be impossible for any mortal to walk in that room without setting off a trap.

“I wonder what could be in that room, that is so collectedly protected.” She said. “What say you, Drason? Is there something more powerful than that...stone?”

“Any and all divine creations are more powerful than that stone. If it was a thing mandated by Unverdus…” said a scaly voice. “Then perhaps it holds more power than the end times, more power than the Dark Lord perhaps.”

“I see. I assume whatever it is, Kac is looking for. It will be a crazy day indeed. Another wraith down, considering three are dead.” the elf replied.

“But Fakino is very much alive. We just saw her.” the scaly voice replied.

“But she is not a wraith dear dragon.” she laughed, flipping her dark hair. It was crusted in something equally dark as she brushed it through her hair. “She is human, and can be killed, but her skill is very remarkable even as a mortal. She can help Kac do what must be done at the very least dear scaly friend.”

“Indeed.” the scaly voice replied.

The elf turned her attention to the part of the room that reflected Kenderhell. The view shifted to see Kac talking to one of the elves he returned with. She was noble, but humble, and many people listened to her. He was also speaking with the self proclaimed Prophet, Yara as she heard through her scry. “Impressive specimens. Indeed Kac, you are a glorious creature.” She touched the vision of Kac, and part of the vision distorted, and the face turned.

Kac appeared to touch his cheek. and look towards her, but he could see nothing. “What...it must be nothing.” He turned to the Prophet to continue discussing the next chain of events. A period of rest would appear, but he must first travel to Topuka. It appeared necessary to go alone. He left Kenderhell with a sack on his back, and managed to keep a sword at his waist.

“I keep forgetting how powerful a creature you are.” the dragon replied.

The vision shifted as the elf laughed uncontrollably. She was now staring at the former wraith, Fakino. She touched her side, and Fakino pulled her sword out, swinging uncontrollably. Fakino screamed at her, not knowing who was touching her, but spending so much time in the unknown, she knew something was here with her, and the rest of Kenderhell.

“I can manipulate much from here, as I have been for the last century.” she said, turning to another wall, where there appeared to be an iron forest, the remains of Kinasa. This scry revealed Mahtan, Ellessar, Gilmir, Kora, Gorda, and Yana Sua. They were camping out, on the opposite side of Glenwood road, staring at the forest of iron, not desiring to go into that forsaken place at night. “Five of them, have come out of necessity. Of the mission to prevent Decrepantaur’s inevitable return. His return will come, regardless if the world itself wants it or not. The world as a whole want a God who will give them what they want, Decrepantaur will be that God, as the beliefs of Unverdus, high and mighty as he is, will be forgotten over the sands of time.”

“And what of the sixth? Why has she joined them?” Drason replied. His tail slithered around the cold pool, the frozen pool of fire.

“Curiosity as it will kill those who are not careful enough.” She laughed as if she knew the punchline to some cruel joke, a joke she often told herself in her isolated insanity. “She is unsure now, if her adoption was correctly made.” She cackled, and her cackles cracked with the fire. “She wants to know where Kac comes from. She wants to know the legend behind his father, who he truly is, why he went mad.” There was a break of a resounding laugh across the rocky walls. Some walls were shifting and one rock dagger fell from the ceiling as a result of her sadistic humor. “She wants to know the legend of his mother’s disappearance, and the truth behind it all. The truth must be rediscovered at some point, and what better point now than the shift from covenant to covenant.”

“And what of the drow?”

“You my scaly friend are going to confront her.” Another vision appeared, revealing the dark dragon. In it, was the elf captive, the boy, and Vircona. They were walking from the west, and touching the mountains entering Cadrasar. They were going to enter the dark lands. “It is not far off, however, it is important they don’t pick up that stone. That stone is extremely important. They must not enter that cave.”

“And what will you be doing?” Drason asked, clawing his way to the entrance of the cave, which was black, especially at night fall since Cadrasar was too dark a place for sunlight to enter.

“I will preparing this home of mine...for some guests I am expecting.” she laughed as a hole in the ground appeared. She jumped in it. It shut behind her. Drason left the caverns for the time being, doing as he was told, as he always did.

Below the fiery floor was another room was dug out, full of icelandite. It was still volcanic, and its warmth was indescribably hot however, it did not deter this elf, who called this place home. She sat on a chair, but not a chair you would typically find in a cave, that is if one would ever expect to find a chair in a cavern.

It was fashioned from bone, and skin of slain creatures. The legs of the chair were fashioned from bone, neatly sanded to be somewhat round. The feet of the chair were fashioned from skulls of small critters, one of a squirrel, the other three were made from critters of another plane of existence. One had three eyes, while the other had three ear holes, and finally a critter with three noses, and seven horns. The arms of the chair was also wood, possibly the arm of someone who at one time lived. She pet the petrified flesh that covered it. She embraced the fingers of the hand of her chair. “Dear dear dear, you will never escape me.” She said to utter nothingness, considering there was no light anywhere, except the red light glowing from the opposite end of the room.

There appeared to be, in the very little light, a skull, bearing its snout, with red smoke blowing from it. On the sides of the skull, there was fur, but it was thinning. Blood seemed to be dripping from its empty eye sockets and ears. It said nothing, but that did not deter her from saying anything more to it, “Thou dost not know what it be like, to live in Hell. Thou hast it easily here, in nature’s world. Dost thou thinkest ye can prevail ‘gainst the will? Truly I say unto thee, thou willst know Hell.”

Gergo was with Anastrianna in his chambers. The black curtains were ruptured in many places, with the one door that lead to the pool that started it all. He took his dead wife’s decaying hand and lead her to that pool, down the steps as the torches died down. Drow after all cannot see with great amounts of light. The smallest amounts of light can aid an adventurer in darkness, but that amount of light is almost fatal, even to the drow.

The domed roof was briefly lit by the green light shimmering from pool. The earth around it was not the earth it once was. It, like everything else was dead inside Kinasa. It was black iron, like the soul of the forest, the decayed arm of the earth.

Gergo undressed, revealing the scars he received from Crillion upon the hostile takeover of Zinasa, where the inferior elves are no longer living.

Gergo took helped his wife undress as well. Her skin underneath was also crispy, and sore from many burns. Many burns spots made her blacker, and even darker than Gergo. Her hair was still silver, as was common with the drow, their thoughts died with their hearts as well as the many colors of their hair. Gergo lead Anastrianna into the pool, it rippled across to the rim of itself.

“Nyuh.” Anastrianna groaned that guttural groan of her, devoid of all mortal ties as she used to be. Everything that; part of what she was is no longer. Void of everything but purpose, but that purpose is not willed by her, but rather mandated by the dreaded Vircona. Her purpose was to be the object of love for Gergo, the one thing he was allowed to hold on to since forsaking Unverdus, and whilst unknowingly serving Decrepantaur, he never intended to. But he did.

He looked into the dead eyes of his wife, and they blankly stared back at him as they held each other, or rather, he held her decaying, rotting flesh with great love and embrace. He caressed the side of her cheek, before kissing her softly on the lips. “I love you.” He said absently, compelled to say it really. There was no love but false love behind those words. He began to sing,

Oh dear dear love of mine

How you love me so divine

How I hold you still

Your cold heart, me chills

O dear Annastrianna

How I love thee still

In this existence

I will lean on your firm stance

I rely your might

‘Gainst the break of light

I can no longer stand here

Without you my dear

I love your flesh rot

You love mine, and our will not

Be free, be free doe

This accursed life

Does not belong to us

It is but a lie

Now my song is sung

Allow I, our necks be rung

Forsaken...our love.

Gergo knew his love was false, but he could never bring himself to end his wife’s miserable existence. He needed her. She needed him, despite the lack of mortal will before her. Her will does not belong to her, but is a slave of the monster that Gergo and Vircona created...