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flameseeker

Mega Kill Posts: 570 Joined: 18 Jun 2007 84 gold

The Evil Greater than the Lich King: Part Three

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:42 am

Hi, everyone out there. This is the final sequel to my trilogy. Hope u like it. Wish me luck.
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Chapter One: The First Calamity
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The Sentinel army was still rejoicing from their victory over the undead. They thought the undead were gone forever, annihilated, decimated, destroyed. But, the immortal Gods knew different, Zeus was not immortal and thus, he knew not. No one suspected. It was perfect. Perfect for the annexation of everything good, of the World Tree.

Little did anyone realize the blanket of evil that was going to shroud them in a long lasting darkness. Two days had passed since the events of Edna. Huskar had been accepted into the folds of the noble Sentinels. He had already found a friend, realized that he wasn’t the only troll in the Sentinel. Jahrakal was another troll, a proud and headstrong warrior, adept at ranged and melee attacks. Huskarl found him to his liking. Azwraith meanwhile was hailed as the saviour of the World Tree. Rikimaru was also welcomed warmly.

But evil did strike. It struck deep within the Sentinel territory and no one, absolutely no one suspected anything. That night, when everyone went to sleep, Zeus invited Rikimaru to sleep with him; supposedly, he wanted to hear his story once again. In the morning, when everyone awoke, Rikimaru lay in a pool of blood, oblivious to the world, obviously dead. Everyone was horrified but no one suspected Zeus for he too was a victim, deep scratches littered Zeus body, sparks of electricity running through those wounds.

Zeus couldn’t remember anything, he said. Something had attacked him and Rikimaru and had killed Rikimaru before escaping. It obviously had not made a sound. Swift and silent, the killer had been. Everyone pitied Zeus and Rikimaru. Azwraith was devastated at the loss of his dear friend only days after their victory. So was Huskarl. No one had any idea of what had killed Rikimaru and injured a God so ferociously. No one had any idea of what was to come wither. Everyone was disturbed.
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Chapter Two:The Second Victim
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The third day after their great victory was a silent and trouble one. Not many words were exchanged over the course of the day. The most heart broken one was obviously Azwraith and the next, Huskarl. Everyone wondered about the strange incident and many patrols were sent into the forests to seek out this new predator. None was found.

When they went to sleep, they carried fear in their hearts for they were certain that it shall strike again for they was no reason for it not to. And strike it did but no visibly. Azwraith tossed and turned in his sleep, his mind and heart wounded. An easy victim for the Lich King’s mind if somehow the Lich King were to be reincarnated but Furion would see to it that the Undead were never recreated. A guardian forever, a guardian of everything pure and good, of every sentinel being.

But someone did take over the Phantom Lancer’s mind, an evil greater than the Lich King itself…..

When he awoke in the morning, he seemed to awaken minus the despair and misery he had gone through the previous day. Somehow, he seemed calm yet disturbed, intimidating those in his presence. Some kind of a cold aura seemed to envelope him but Azwraith seemed completely normal, yet, when he spoke, it seemed like someone speaking, someone who had risen straight from the graveyard…

An ominous chill filled the mind of those who hear him speak. But no one worried too much for it was no surprise that his service and encounter with the Lich King had affected him such. And obviously, he was tainted by killing a defenseless warrior with the cold heart of one without a will. But those who thought so were wrong terribly wrong……. He spoke like one whose mind had been digged into, one whose happiness had been sucked out, one who was forced to behave normally though his mind screamed to behave as it chose, to show emotion but it was suppressed.
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Chapter Three : Events unfold
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Huskar was worried. He had noticed the changes in Azwraith….his Troll senses told him that Azwraith was possessed. But he refused to believe, how could he? Or was it true. All trolls were though to trust their basic instincts and Huskar had followed the instructions word by word….till now. But, it was hard to shake off years of practice and he noted with grim resolution,” First Rikimaru, Next Azwraith, could the next be me; the last one to join the trio of people who had killed the Lich King. Somehow, like the rest, he was not able to place all his hope on the green light which had enveloped the Lich King, the light was supposedly Furion.” He voiced his worried to Jahrakal and he nodded in agreement. He too had noticed and was worried as the rest of the camp was.

If only Furion were here. Ezalor, being the new head was very worried. For him, obviously, there was only one incident, the death of Rikimaru, for he, not being gifted with sharpened instincts, being a thinker, had not spotted any other change except the sudden gloom that seemed to have fallen. Things seemed to be hopelessly ominous. It was as if the Lich King were back… no, something stronger than the Lich King to infiltrate the Sentinel base to such an extent!

Patrols had been sent out into the forest again. About an hundred patrols comprising of treants and lesser druids. Only one of the patrols was not going to come back and no one was to miss it for it was by far the weakest and had ventured out alone. It probably had fallen prey to some wild beast. For why would a creature that could take on two of the mightiest Sentinel warriors, kill some lowly treants and risk detection when it could escape with the lightning speed it had exhibited after killing Rikimaru. It just didn’t make sense and no one thought any more about it.

But the beings had killed the treants. They were two steps ahead. The destruction of the Lich King had given them free rein. They were now, most probably, the strongest evil beings on the planet, next only to the great demon lords. But that was to change. They intended to overthrow Sargaeres as supreme overlord of the universe. They did agree it was a bit clichéd. But then, it was a worthy goal of the people who had destroyed the Lich King. The poor Sentinel fools thought it was Furion who had saved them. It was they who had extinguished the life force from the Lich King. To be more appropriate, it was not them, it was one of them: Atropos. It had been easy to make it appear like Furion with a green light and all. They had had a good laugh out of it. As for their plan, the first half: get rid of the Lich King, had been successful. But time was limited for Sargaeres would sense that the Lich King was dead and would come looking. He was probably on his way. Time was definitely not on their side. But they would finish their task.
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Chapter Four: Death's Harbinger
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The third night after Rikimaru’s death, Huskar woke up and Jahrakal who had been sleeping with him, seemed to wake up almost instantaneously. They had spotted something. No, their instincts had caught something on their natural radar. Some creature nearby that wanted to harm them. They quickly picked up their weapons. A shadow flitted into their tent. They were quiet, unmoving, watching the shadow with unmoving eyes as it darted to and fro. Finally, it materialized in front of them.

In front of them stood an old man with translucent skin. He seemed ageless yet old. The trolls observed him as a wizened old man, a harbinger of death. He resembled a necromancer though none had survived. The old man coughed. It was a deep, cough and resounded within the closed walls of the tent. Then he spoke. The trolls listened.

“I am Rotund’Jere. I was among the Scourge who suppressed the Evils with the Sentinels a little time ago. Forgive me if I do not remember how much time has passed for, to us immortals, time is of no importance. We do not keep track of things. The Lich King thought that I had been forcefully enrolled into the ranks of the undead. He is wrong. I chose upon the orders of one greater then me to help suppress the Evils for left on a free rein; they are dangerous to the Gods themselves.”

He paused allowing for what he had said to sink in. Huskar knew nothing of this though there had been rumors of some great incident happening. Troll, meanwhile knew everything. He had been one of those revive after dying yet now that he thought of it, he seemed to remember nothing after death. What the Necrolyte said was probably right. He decided to let him continue. He continued.

“After the Lich King’s death, I was released from his service and I returned to my master. But now, I have returned for the Evils are back. The Lich King’s Death freed them also, apparently. You both are our last hopes. You both are trolls and trolls have a natural instinct to detect wrong and I am sure you already have. The others will shun me and not listen to me but I hope, against hope itself that you will listen to me. It is, in fact, imperative that you listen to me. We three have to unite to destroy the Evils once and for all… or at least restrain them until we can harness the power to vanquish them.”

Huskar looked at Jahrakal. Jahrakal looked at the Necrolyte and then asked,” Who are you?”

The reply came, “A Necrolyte.” As Jahrakal had suspected, he was a minion, the strongest in fact, of Death itself. It was rumored he could reverse death itself. Jahrakal nodded and agreed to help the Necrolyte. Everything made sense now. The Necrolyte on hearing the reply immediately disappeared and Jahrakal spent the rest of the night filling in Huskar with the details
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Chapter Five: The Trap
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The next day, was an uncomfortable day for all in the Sentinel camp but especially for the two trolls...because of what they knew and what they had to do. The Necrolyte had visited them a second time the previous night and informed them that Atropos, the intellectual leader of the Evils, shall be paying them a visit the following night.

They spent their day sharpening their weapons, preparing mentally for what was to come. Jahrakal had a number of throwing axes, each one sharp enough to cut through bone and flesh, if the need arise. Huskar’s weapons consisted of spears, spears which he infused with his own life force.

The time seemed to pass quickly. Soon it was night and around mid-night, they saw Atropos slither into their tent. Both woke up and grabbed their weapons. Atropos was surprised. He most definitely had not expected this. He spoke, in a soft voice, but the voice seemed to fill with the cries and shrieks of the hundreds he had killed before:

“Ahh... So you expected me but no matter for no sound shall leave this enclosure and I can take as long as I want, to kill you and you will. To demolish any sort of resistance from you.”

Jahrakal replied, all was going to plan, as Rotund’Jere had predicted. “Nay, it is not us you will kill. It shall be your false sense of power that shall be destroyed today.” Even as he spoke this, he felt a mind probe behind pushed into his consciousness. He had no doubt as to who was on the other side of the probe. Huskar must also have felt this for his brow wrinkled, apparently, he was trying to keep out the probe. But Jahrakal let the probe in. At the same time, he abandoned all his memories and once the probe was in, he fought it with all his might. He knew that the probe was in fact a part of the essence of the Bane Elemental.

Atropos stood no chance. Jahrakal had undergone severe training to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Also, it was only a part of Atropos fighting a full, complete Jahrakal. Atropos immediately retrieved all his probes.

“Ahh… I see you are trained. Still, Let us see how you face up to my full wrath.”

Jahrakal signaled Huskar to retreat. He picked up his axes. Atropos dissolved into a black shadow and enveloped the troll. Jahrakal jumped up and out of the constricting black shadow. Then, he aimed and threw one of his axes at the heart of the black shadow from the air. The axe was swallowed into the darkness. Jahrakal quickly fired his remaining axes and they were all rapidly absorbed. Soon, only two of his axes were left. He suspected that the shadow was saturated wit axes, and they would restrain its movement. He was right. Atropos could not break down and ‘digest’ these many axes in such a short period of time and his movement became slow and very much less flexible. Jahrakal charged at him with his remaining to axes and slashed away at him. Atropos was helpless and absorbed the blows but he felt minimal pain. But he was getting cramped. He had to return to his fixed form, one that he assumed while travel.

He quickly absorbed that form when Rotund’Jere materialized. Atropos was shocked to see an entity of such power allied with the trolls for why else would he be here? Rotund’Jere created a hollow sphere of binding energy and directed it to envelop Atropos. It glowed unusually bright in the near darkness. Atropos was trapped. Their plan had succeeded. At least till now...

They thought that with Atropos missing, the Evils would not succeed in their plans. They were probably right too.
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Chapter Six: The Time-Stop
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The next day, they woke up to see the grim face of Rotund’Jere staring at them. He seemed serious, not that he ever looked jolly. Jahrakal woke up. He was exhausted by his previous battle. Huskar also woke up. They were surprised to see Rotund’Jere.

Rotund’Jere spoke, “Atropos has escaped.”

“What!?” cried out the trolls in unison “But …but that’s impossible. You said no one could possible escape from your energy sphere!”

“There always are exceptions.” stated Rotund’Jere blandly. “Do not blame me. He has grown incredibly strong. Also, Azwraith and Zeus have been reported missing. Its reason enough to think Azwraith is behind the kidnappings. We must hurry now. We have to find them out before they carry out their plans. It is imperative we set out now!”

Huskar and Jahrakal nodded and picking their weapons set out. When they came out of their tent, they were in a surprise. Everything seemed to have frozen. No one moved. Even the wind seemed to be still. Only they seemed to be unaffected. And Rotund’Jere. “This complicates things.” was all Rotund’Jere said before dragging them out of the encampment.

Jahrakal’s mind whirred as he left. This time-stop had happened recently. Rotund’Jere’s presence must have protected them. He had no doubt to who was the executioner of the time stop. Nor did he doubt that the executioner was also free from the time lock.

Ina way, it made things simpler. It was easier to hear sounds now that nothing was making a sound except their footsteps…..and after some time, a ominous chattering of what seemed to be mystic runes.

The trio headed towards the muttering. In front of them stood Atropos still, and channeling some energy. He was stock-still except for his mouth. And he seemed to be guarded by Azwraith and Zeus. The trio had not been spotted yet. They quickly formatted a plan. Jahrakal would take on Atropos while the other two engaged the others and would drag them away. Jahrakal nodded on hearing the plan.

Atropos had seemed to have stopped channeling. It was as if he had recovered from a trance. He spoke and the trolls and Rotund’Jere heard him clearly:

“Fools! You think you can hide from me? Though, I have to agree, you surprise me. I thought you would be frozen still by the time-lock. Sadly, Rotund’Jere’s power protected you. No matter. The channeling is complete and all living matter shall be sucked into this void.” He pointed at a blue-black sphere above. “And once that is done, we shall be strong enough to overtake Sargaeres when he comes. Meanwhile, Azwraith- possessed by Shadow Fiend- and Zeus- possessed by Razor- shall take care of you.”

The trolls and the Necrolyte charged at the Evils.
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Chapter Seven: An Unholy Exchane
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Huskar, Jahrakal and Rotund’Jere split. Troll went for Atropos while the other troll engaged Zeus. Rotund’Jere meanwhile, came face to face with Azwraith.

Atropos let out a short haughty laugh but immediately stopped, finding the troll warlord’s fist make connection with his stomach. It hurt. A lot. And Jahrakal would pay. Pay dearly. Atropos raised his hands and summoned a black energy that seemed to swirl around him and then even as Jahrakal jumped back with lightning speed, the black energy latched itself on to him. It seemed to suck his very soul away. Atropos meanwhile was focusing on the sphere that floated above him.

Huskar was in the midst of a thicket. Green surrounded them but the green was lifeless, for now. Huskar said, “Zeus. Do you hear me?” Zeus replied, “Of course he hears you, it’s just that he can’t act upon it. He has been subdued by me, Razor. It was easy to bind him within me, both being so alike” Huskar was enraged and choosing a spear, he ignited it with his life force and threw it towards Zeus. It hurt to bodily harm his friend and ally, Zeus but it was necessary.

Rotund’Jere meanwhile had no hard feeling towards harming Azwraith. To his eyes, Azwraith was just another foe to be defeated. From his place, he could see Jahrakal fighting Atropos. Azwraith was ready in a battle stance, his lance poised. Rotund’Jere concealed them with a bubble of magic. Now they could see no one outside of the bubble nor could anyone see them. It was also practically impossible to manually break through the bubble. The Shadow Fiend (Azwraith) did not seem surprised. Instead, his foot, more accurately, Azwraith’s foot, dug into the ground. Rotund’Jere waved his staff around and suddenly, the air felt leaden. It was heavy. And Azwraith’s hands felt leaden. It seemed to affect him in ways he couldn’t comprehend. His spear felt thrice as heavy. It was as if Death was present.

Jahrakal did a back flip and with his mid, sent out probes towards the darkness. It was susceptible to his probes and he cut through them. Luckily, not much time had passed. Atropos had been looking up and there had been a string of inky blackness from him towards the sphere. When the connection between Atropos and Jahrakal broke, the string also broke. Atropos looked horrified and surprised. He had never imagined that a troll would break through so easily through one of the strongest of his spells. He quickly rebuilt the string. It seemed mandatory that the string remain intact. In the few precious seconds Atropos took to reconstruct the string, Jahrakal charged at Atropos and dug his fists into him. At that time a curious thing happened. A white wisp rose from Jahrakal’s body and a black wisp from Atropos. Then, the white one went into Atropos and the lack one went into the troll. Jahrakal seemed to have triggered a soul exchange!
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Chaoter Eight: Frenzied!
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Jahrakal felt strange in Atropos body. Every fabric of his being tingled with power. He felt as if his powers were limitless. His mind knew no bounds. He saw with his mind, not his eyes. Atropos meanwhile felt insignificant in the little troll’s body. He had been wrong. He had though that exchanging bodies meant that one’s power would stay with him. But now, he knew different. He knew that neither he nor his comrades were invincible. In fact, the only invincible being here was Rotund’Jere for even though Jahrakal possessed his body, he knew not its limitations.

The other two comrades of Atropos seemed to realize this at the same time when they tried to utilize their powers. Inside the bubble, Azwraith charged at Rotund’Jere while Nevermore tried to summon up a scathing wall of spirits but found to his surprise that he couldn’t and Azwraith, just before his lance struck, Rotund’Jere, stumbled and fell. Rotund’Jere, utilizing this opportunity, quickly fired blots of green colored death at Azwraith. It was, in reality, just bolts of energy contained in a vessel made from the very fabric of death. The energy pierced through Azwraith burning his own energy. It seemed to suck away at his energy, deadening his heartbeat for a second.

Zeus, or Razor, was faring better. Firing never ceasing bolts of lightning at Huskar, he kept his deadly spears at bay. A normal being would have been fried to a crisp by these lightning bolts but to Huskar, these seemed to only slow him down, singing his skin slightly where they made contact. Either he did not feel pain or he ignored it. Zeus moved with superior agility for a being so stout and when Huskar did get close enough to throw his spears, he managed to dodge them though the occasional spear or two did bore a hole through his skin.

Jahrakal suddenly understood all that was going on while Atropos immediately gained the trolls superior reflexes and instincts. Jahrakal rummaged into his vast arsenal of skills and then cast a string of magic that seemed to suck the energy from the sphere. Atropos knew what was happening and it was a drastic situation for him. I was essential that the sphere be intact. He charged at Atropos with a loud cry that resounded for miles around in the silent air. And he stuck with his axe.

Jahrakal was surprised that Atropos had mastered his body so…easily. Jahrakal ignored him and kept the flow of magic from the sphere on. His indifference seemed to madden the possessed troll and he went into a frenzy, axes swinging wildly. He missed most of his in his enraged state but the ones that stuck caused pain and he seemed to be becoming more accurate with every passing second.
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Chapter Nine:Huskar's Fall
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Jahrakal knew the reason for the soul exchange. Atropos had been channeling energy for the world itself to make him stronger and defeat Sargaeres when he finally came. And when the string had been interrupted suddenly, the power had flooded the immediate surroundings causing inexplicable changes. There were now silent, mutated insects and other creatures in the troll’s near vicinity.

He also knew what was to be done. He would have to return the power to the dark sphere and then kill, rather, destroy Atropos’ body to disperse the energy back into the Earth. He was a sacrifice that had to be made for the greater good. Also, Atropos would be no threat without his body, just a sad little troll….burning for revenge.

But there was another problem. If the link were broken again, the sphere might very well be destroyed, throwing the world into chaos. Also, it was imperative that Rotund’Jere and Huskar succeed. For if they failed, the whole process would be repeated and this time, no one would know about it.

Atropos axes managed to make contact much more now and every time they did, Jahrakal pained, the axes cutting into ‘his’ dark matter, obstructing the free flow of his body. But he had to finish what he on. But he wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer..

Meanwhile, Azwraith was on the ground receiving blows of dark magic from the Necrolyte’s staff. He figured out that the staff was the source of the power and if destroyed, Rotund’Jere was just as powerful as a normal necromancer….perhaps a little stronger even then… Azwraith picked up the staff that had fallen from his hand and within the blink of an eye, the staff was pierced, shattered by the lance. But the lance also suffered the same fate. Rotund’Jere was aghast. Azwraith, picking up on the opportunity punched the Necrolyte in his gut and followed up with several blows to the face. Death’s Harbinger was helpless and finally crumpled to a kick in his stomach. But true to his nature, instead of passing away into oblivion, he collected the random shreds of energy from around and spontaneously exploded sucking away the last reserves of life from the Phantom Lancer also. A loud boom erupted in the nearby area for the bubble had disappeared along with the wizened old man.

Huskar meanwhile was in a rage, deflecting the various lightning bolts hitting him. Moving with greater agility then ever, he charged. And struck. And Zeus fell. In a dead faint. Huskar collapsed nearby. Just before drifting into unconsciousness, he saw Razor rise out of Zeus and move towards Jahrakal. So, Huskar had failed. Razor was very much alive.
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Chapter Ten: The Void
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True, Razor was alive, but very much weakened and on reaching the fight between Atropos and Jahrakal, he collapsed into a heap and his powers returned to Atropos. Meanwhile, Nevermore’s powers had also returned to Atropos. And the original Evil was reformed. But it was Jahrakal who now held the ultimate powers of the Evil.

But reinforced with such power, the energy transfer was also reinforced and the process was nearly complete, when in desperation, Jahrakal’s body charged at Atropos. The charge’s force knocked him back and the link snapped. A void opened up and all matter near was sucked in. Jahrakal was the first go, having been knocked over Atropos. Atropos followed close behind and the void closed as suddenly as it had opened up sealing the two warriors in a separate dimension. The dimension travel had also reverted their souls to their original form.

The fate of the world depended on the troll’s shoulders now. And he would have to go up against the embodiment of all evil for that was what the three were. He also knew that there was no prizes for success…except a possibility of the world being saved. There was no telling what the chasm had done to the world.

Atropos started, “Well, troll. Prepare to die. But in the short time I was in control of you body, I found its true potential. If you join us, we can harness that power. And we can rule over the universe. So, will you join me?”

Troll seemed to consider the question and then “So you want to bribe me now? Forget it.
I will never side with one so ...so pathetic as you!”

A grimace spread over the Evil’s face. “Then, surrender fool!”

The troll calmly replied, “That line never worked”.

Then, in the chaos that was this dimension, amongst the weightless balls of blood red gas and dark, inexplicable matter, he ran across the air in a charge towards the Evil who stood his ground.
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Life is short and bitter. Unlife is looooong and sweet.

Last edited by flameseeker on Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:20 am; edited 12 times in total