A Tale of Shadows

A Tale of Shadows is a story by the user Xifry, documenting a time in-between the Great Northern and Great Southern Saga. It was created as a tribute to the works of Pax Orderia and SpodermanAlwaysCan, though also includes concepts by GAK16.

Prologue

In a story, many things are bound to be surprising- twists and turns as they are- and such things may seem impossible at first. Of course, they still happen, shifting the narrative in interesting ways. The same goes for history, just as it did one day, when an ill fated resurrection was performed by a marrowkai. The skeletal mage had wandered across Inamorta, left with no goal other than to find a way to avenge Medusa. After Medusa had died at the hands of Order, many of her minions, dead or alive, were left to fend for themselves, unable to reunite under one banner. The marrowkai had needed undead slaves, and so it wandered, looking for a suitable burial ground to raise undead. This had proven harder than expected, as Order was still on the lookout for any remaining signs of Chaos, so they had guarded any places chaos may gather. But then, on that fateful day, the marrowkai had found the sight of an old battle. the marrowkai did not suspect what truly lay there underneath the ground. The site had once been an area where one of the Great Crusades had taken place, and though the Great Knights did their best to purge Inamorta of the old Serpentine, some bodies had never been found, and still rotted in the ground to the present, stubbornly refusing to be eaten away with time. The marrowkai began to resurrect one of the serpentine, assuming it was an ordinary corpse. After all, what were the chances of it being something else? The marrowkai had felt the remaining drips of destructive essence on the carcass as it was wrenched back to life, but still, ignored it, as such feelings were expected in such rituals. The Deads did carry small soul remains, left over from when the soul left this plane of existence. So the marrowkai went on still, determined to avenge the queen it had so faithfully served for power. It's surprise was immeasurable when the body began to reform, poison being pulled from the earth to serve as blood and a weapon, terrible organs seemingly reversing its own state of decay, wicked scales shooting from the ground and clumping together to stitch a hide. The marrowkai stood in awe of the being standing over it, slowly piecing itself together. That was when the marrowkai heard a clapping sound.

"Very remarkable, to think that a mere mortal could forcefully bring back such incarnations of destruction. Don't worry little skeletal mage, I'll handle the show from here."

No one heard the screams of a being that was thought to never feel pain.

No one, except for a shadow in the darkness.

From that day forward, Serpentine were seen again, slaughtering the innocent and absorbing what magic they could. The Serpentine quickly became organized again, and began killing under the banner of an empire. The Serpentine quickly faced resistance from Order, being halted in their advance to the lower half of Inamorta. However, the two forces slowly entered gridlock, unable to outmatch each other. This stalemate went on for nearly two decades, for Order had kept a trait that had served it greatly in all of it's battles. A trait that people often forget about when looking at modern Order. The people were always of an unmatched durability, being extremely hardy in many scenarios. It was a trait Order carried from it's origins as a small mining nation. However, even such durability will only last so long in the face of such overwhelming destruction, and now Order is finally being worn down fully, losing many soldiers in battle and having to draft it's own citizens to keep up with the onslaught.

However, stories are know to have interesting shifts, twists and turns as they are, and now another twist is about to unfold, one that was left behind on an island since the first Stick War. This is where the end of the Serpentine's story begins, and the end of another's story finally ends...

The man poured over maps and other written accounts in his tent, looking over tallies of his battalion's numbers. He wondered if it were really true, that they had been here for so long, if it had been centuries or longer, or if it was just a few decades. Some of his men took time to quietly mourn the passing of families and friends when they found out that their own families may be bones now, and the man could not blame them. after all, is it not their families that they fought for all this time? Their empire's people? The man himself mourned them too, but it was quiet mourning, in his mind of course, for he had no tears left to cry. They were spent ages ago, on the people he cared about. Now his friends and family were his men, for they had developed a deep sense of comradery, almost effortlessly doing what another needed before it was said. The man shook the thoughts out of his mind, focusing on the task at hand, he shouldn't distract himself during something so important after all. The man looked back at the accounts. "Have things really become this bad?" he wondered to himself, saying it out loud. In other cases, he might not believe in such a thing, but there was no denying so many people who had wandered or willingly come to this place. It was almost foolish to ask the question, but it is also wise to ponder such things. The man decided that, either way, he and his men would leave this island, but not without procuring what they could, and taking the artifact his Magikill sensed. The man absentmindedly touched the eyepatch covering his scar as the moans and screams of the dead filled the air. The man knew that he would need to help his men now, and so he went, off to give orders for the night...

Chapter 1

The boy watched the scenery go by as he and his friend wait for the convoy to reach it's destination. He gazed at the sheathed sword, a parting gift from his family. His father had given it to him just as he left, saying that it was an heirloom found by his grandfather, and though it was not particularly special, and had just collected dust on top of the hearth of their home over the years, it should serve just as well as any other weapon the smiths might offer him before battle. He was wondering how his family would fare when his friend interrupted his thoughts.

"I know that this is pretty grim Lappis, but please try not to look like you think we'll die the moment we get off this thing."

Lappis smiled at this. remembering how stone faced Fulgarus looked when faced with a small crawler a few months back.

"Oh really, it's funny that thats coming from the person who could'nt kill a lone baby crawler."

At this, Fulgaris gave a look of shock at Lappis, and quickly replied.

"Hey, that's not fair, you know the older ones swarm when you attack the little ones!"

"Still doesn't explain why you couldn't try to kill them right there, with one simple electric wall or something else useful."

"Okay, okay! can we just agree to not look so pitiful?"

"Fine."

The two boys now had a slight smile on their faces now, and time seemed to go just a tad faster.

Lappis thought on his old friend. The Fulgar line was an old bloodline of magikill that had specialized in lightning and illusory light spells. While not of renown, the Fulgar line became known through out the boys hometown as mages efficient at putting down long lasting electric walls and create illusory speartons to fend off the ever growing numbers of dervishes trying to get in the town. Lappis had remembered meeting Fulgaris a few years ago in passing during a class in history. They both had debated on whether or not the way the Great Knights fought the Serpentine were the most efficient for what they had at the time, the two continued to talk over other subjects in history and soon became good friends and talked about other things on the way to college. Fulgaris had a knack for creating small scale spells that were extremely useful in different scenarios, a modified version of a simple light spell that would blast into a blinding but harmless explosion, and so on. Lappis however, had no magic but was good for finding places for testing out the spells, and was particularly quick on his feet, both traits trademark signs of his bloodline. The Venitas family was known for both it's extremely fast swordwrath, and it's uncanny explorers and scouts, who always seemed to have an everlasting pool of luck, always barely scraping by enemies or traps."It's a shame my luck had to run out now." Lappis said to himself. "Well, it's not too bad. After all, we still had enough luck to be able to do this together." Lappis suddenly looked up at Fulgaris in surprise, not realizing he had said anything out loud until now. "Oh what, don't tell me you expect me to ignore your thoughts when you say them out loud in a time like this, there's hardly anything else to do!" At this Lappis smiled."You could look at the nice scenery." Oh yes, the nice scenery that hasn't changed for hours now, so lovely to stare at while we wait to get off this carriage. "Oy!" the carriage driver yelled at them. "You can reminisce all you boys want about your home and scenery, but you better not insult me carriage!" The boys laughed at this, and they saw the carriage driver turn to look at them, and saw him smile for a moment before he turned back to look at the road.

After a while the driver spoke again. "You know, I do feel bad for you lads, you shouldn't be a part of this, at least not yet." Fulgaris replied in a slightly frustrated tone. " Say that to Order's drafters." Both Lappis and the driver sighed."Yeah, they do have a way of finding every person who is able to fight in the war, and tend to draft everyone who's not already busy defending their town, same thing with me, but ye boys shouldn't take that the wrong way, the drafters are forced into this as well." The driver looked at them for a moment again."Most of the higher ups and drafters of Order may have quite the mean way of showing it, but they do care about their people. If they didn't and weren't smart about this, most of us would probably be dead or enslaved by the Space Empire by now. The sad thing is that while everyone is trying their damndest to hold these forces at bay, Order is fighting a losing battle right now." The driver sighed and went silent."Hey, wait where are you from? I've never heard an accent like that." The driver gave a dramatic gasp and told them why he had such an accent. "I'll tell you where I'm from, sure. You two ever heard of Westwind?" "Which one?" Lappis asked. "Er, the west Westwind, not the one near Order. Anyways if you want to see all of Inamortan culture, you go to Westwind! There's ner'e a Metropolis so varied, nor a place greater for trade." Fulgaris raised his eyebrows."Wait, isn't Pertland the best trading spot in Inamorta?" The driver gave a scowl."If you want science and an entirely different language, then you go to Pertland, otherwise the place is now mainly just a normal port at the bottom of Inamorta." Lappis thought about that for a moment. Pertland was known for it's trade long ago, it did make sense that the new Westwind, which was based in the center of lower Inamorta, would be much more bustling than Pertland. However, Lappis greatly enjoyed looking at Pertland in the history books, for Pertland was known for it's innovations, which relied on thought and science alone, and not magic( though Lappis had no distaste for magic, he found science to be more interesting, it being newer.). Then the boy came to a realization. "Hey, all that talk about Westwind doesn't explain your accent, as I doubt everyone in Westwind speaks like that." The driver nodded a little.

"Aye, aye, your'e right, I just got a little carried away. You see, my mother was from the archipelago by Cranium, and her way of speaking rubbed off on me early in life."

The boys were satisfied by the answer, and just realized it was sunset. "Jeez, is it already night now? Fulgaris said, surprised by this seemingly random jump in time. "That it is boys, and you should probably try to sleep while you can, because we'll be heading in to the passage to Cranium proper soon, and Order doesn't have it in their reserves to buy us covers and snow gear for the Ice Hills." The driver finally sounded a little tired now. "What about you?" Lappis asked, wondering how the man would fare in such cold after driving so long. "Me? I have another sleepless night ahead, only it'll be colder than the past few, but hopefully we'll be past the Ice Hills by the afternoon, if we try to run through. Now get some sleep, and don't worry about me. You kids will have more than enough to worry about once the trip to the swamp pass is over." Lappis still worried for the man's well being, and Fulgaris had a worried look on his face as well, but they both silently agreed that they shouldn't argue with the man. After all, he had been driving through the past few nights just fine, and they could hope that he could take a little more. While Fulgaris fell asleep immediately, Lappis drifted into a sleep that became uneasy as the night became colder.

Chapter 2

The carriage driver kept going with the other drivers through the night, as for them it wasn't particularly cold. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the driver was yelled at by another. "Hey, we gotta stop now, the front drivers say there's something blocking the road, and we'll need to move it." The driver nodded and pulled the reigns on the horses, trying to be gentle with them. The horses stopped, and the driver saw what was blocking the road, and it surprised him and the other drivers. On the road through the swamp there were hundreds of bodies, all dervishes and crawlers, piled up here and there with more bodies dotting the rest of the road. The drivers immediately went to wake up those they were driving.

"Oy, oy wake up! Can you even here me? OY!" Lappis woke with a start, as did Fulgaris. The carriage driver shouted at them.

"Hey wait what's going on?." Lappis said, groggy from being woke up like that.

"Come on now, we need all the help we can get to move the bodies off the road."

"Wait, bodies?" Fulgaris asked, a bit confused.

"Yes, bodies, there's been some sort of struggle between some dervishes and a group of crawlers."

The boys still had a few questions about this, but quickly decided that it could wait a little, and they went with the driver to help. Lappis gaped at the sight of all the bodies, the dervishes might as well have had their skin ripped off in it's entirety such was the amount of scratches the bodies had sustained, and the crawlers weren't much better off, tips of makeshift spears and the odd pitchfork were embedded in some of them. Suddenly someone grabbed at his shoulder. "Hey, stop staring and start helping." The person let go as Lappis said okay, and grumbled as they walked away from him. Lappis quickly went to work, picking up crawlers and dervishes. Suddenly he heard Fulgris make a comment at him. "These dirvishes are a lot heavier than they look, right Lappis? Yeah, they are, but not too much Ful." Lappis responded with a little smile. The two went at it, talking to each other for awhile, until the road was mostly clear. The lead driver gathered everyone and made an announcement." Alright everybody, it seems that we're done for now, and due to the whole thing, I believe it would be best if we all took time to stop here for today and rest, because I know everyone will be extremely tired from all this. That's all everyone, take your time to relax or something else, because we will have to rush after today to make it on time to the outpost." Some people sighed in relief at this, others immediately went and started going into the woods for whatever reasons they had. Fulgaris came up to Lappis. "Hey, I saw a clearing that has a great view of the ocean, I thought it would be a great place to get our bearings, you wanna come?" Lappis thought on it and agreed to go, as he thought it would probably be the only time of real peace they would get for awhile after this. They went to the clearing in the woods, watching their steps for the swamp undergrowth. When they made it, the view was stunning, the ocean crystal clear and a beautiful blue under the morning sun. There was an island in the distance, with what looked like a few coral reefs surrounding it, though Lappis couldn't tell from this far. "Do... do you think we'll get out of this war alive Lappis?" The question surprised Lappis, it was like a rogue dagger his friend had been hiding, only revealed now. "No." Lappis thought, no, it wasn't hidden, it was there all along, just beneath the surface. Lappis had felt it too, a fear empowered by instinct, and perpetuated by the joy of existence. Fulgaris was afraid of death, they both were. Lappis gave him the only answer he thought made sense. "To be honest, I don't know and I don't want to. I honestly want to hope we'll make through this alive Ful, but I don't want to know our fates, because I think that it would be worse than not knowing. The knowledge would probably gnaw at us if iwe knew we were to die, you know?" Lappis saw Fulgaris shake for a moment.

"Yeah, you're right."

Fulgaris stopped shaking, reassured by Lappis for now.

"By the way Lappis, could we see the sword? I think now would be a good time to see it unsheathed." Lappis stared at the sheath for a moment. He hadn't noticed it until now but some of the dust and grime had come off, and he could see small ornate carvings on the sheath. "Huh, that's interesting. Hey Ful, look at this, the sheath has carvings on it, think they mean anything?" Fulgaris looked at the sheath with an interested look on his face. "No, I don't think they mean anything, but I also think we can't see all of them. Most of the carvings that I can see don't make up any words or anything, just the usual curved patterns that are used to decorate most swords. We should probably wipe off the rest of the dust and grime." They began working at it and they found some strange runes on it, all the while they noticed a strange thumping sound reverberating throughout the ground, but they ignored it for the moment. Lappis didn't recognize the runes from any history class they had taken, but he knew that Fulgaris might know something, as he remembered Fulgaris telling him that his parents taught about old mage runes and the like. Lappis was about to ask him about it, but then realized Fulgaris was squinting at the runes, and all the while the thumping sound kept becoming louder. Suddenly Fulgaris almost yelled in triumph. "I've got it! The runes say luxir aeterne, light eternal!" It was at that moment that they heard an almost deafening roar and cry ahead of them. The boys went to the edge of the clearing, and saw that the clearing and woods were on a cliff above the beach. The two looked below and saw the source of the noise. A giant and mounted serpenknight had begun to fight each other. The boys watched as the serpenknight charged the giant, and after a few minutes, killed it, leaving a torn carcass in it's wake. Lappis was shocked by this, and began to say something. "What the he- ". A hand suddenly came over his mouth, and a voice whispered in his ear. "Keep quiet, those behemoths have better hearing than you might expect, you're lucky that thing was preoccupied with the giant while you two talked. Now, you two come back with me now." It was a woman, and she led them back to a safe distance away before talking to them again. "What were you two doing out there? Just because we're taking a break doesn't mean that you can run off, we are in Serpentine territory. Even if the outpost we're going to has held most of them back, some of the Serpentine still get by, and wander the Ice Hills." "But wait," Fulgaris asked, greatly confused as to why she was out here. "Why are you here then?" The woman gave an irritated look. "I was hunting for something to bring back for dinner when I heard that thumping noise. I ran to see what it was and found you two talking and then walking towards the end of the cliff. Now, you boys keep going this way and you'll be back on the road in a few minutes, I'm going to try and bring something back to eat." The woman left and the boys walked back towards the convoy camp, unsure of what to make of these events.

When the two got back to the camp, they sat down and started talking."So, does the phrase there mean anything, Fulgaris?" Fulgaris shook his head. "No, just seems to be a little extra decoration on the part of whoever made the sword. I'm just wondering why someone would want to have a sheath decorated like that, those runes were very old, and i'm honestly just happy I could decipher them." Lappis made a confused look. "Wait, how did you figure them out if they were so old Ful?" Fulgaris pointed at runes. "It was simple, at least as simple as it can be for something like that. The runes were very similar to the old mage tongue, so I essentially translated the runes meaning into English using the old mage language as the middle ground. Still though, it was really hard, as the runes were similar to varying degrees." The two then decided to go back to the carriage they were riding, and talk more there. When the boys got back to their carriage, they saw their driver sleeping in the back, and decided it would be best not to disturb him, so they sat in the front of the carriage, and Lappis suddenly remembered a question from earlier, in the morning. "Hey, what do you think all those dervishes were doing here? I get why the crawlers might be but why dervishes? This is Great Knight territory, right? Shouldn't dervishes be more southward?" Fulgaris stared at Lappis after the influx of questions stopped. "First of all, could you please not try to drown my thoughts in questions? Secondly, I don't really know either, it could be possible the dervishes were trying to go up north and get away from this war themselves, but I doubt it. What i'm really interested in is the crawlers, I've never seen a pack like that at home, have you?" Lappis closed his eyes remembering the crawlers he'd seen at home. It wasn't uncommon to see a crawler anymore, not after Medusa's death in the beginning of this war. They had turned into pests, easily kept away from homes, but still dangerous in a pack, claws able to shred in an instant if one got close enough. But Lappis never saw an actual pack of crawlers, let alone one that big. "No, but it might be that the packs are bigger now that we're a little bit closer to where Medusa had her empire." The two made small talk for the rest of the day, and wandered the camp a little, until the sun started setting and the lead driver told everyone to start getting in their respective carriages. The boys woke up their driver and got in the back of the carriage. Then Fulgaris remembered something. "Hey, why don't you unsheathe the sword, we never got to see it back at the clearing!" The driver turned around with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. "What are you lads talking about?" and then the driver looked at the sword, and blinked. "Oh, sorry, I'm still a bit sleepy right now, just give me a few moments." Lappis looked at the sword, and unsheathed it. The sword suddenly lit up like a rainbow when it hit the sunlight, it was so bright that Lappis and Fulgaris had to cover their eyes a little. The driver winded at the sudden light. "Hey, could you put that under a shadow or something, it's a bit much on me eyes." Lappis quickly put it under the shadow of a tree. The driver looked at the sword now, and gave an appreciative whistle. "That sword is made really well, I've not seen such remarkable craftsmanship since Westwind, back at the auction house they had. Say, where'ed you get such a sword?" "My father said it was taken from an old city that his grandfather had explored once, everything about the sword seems to suggest it was special." The driver nodded, then looked at the sword and sheath. "I think I've got it, the sword's not really special, just of fine make. I may be wrong about this, but I think that it was a ceremonial sword, never intended for use in battle. Or, it could be the weapon of nobility, but both are just idle guesses based on what you do know. What I do know for certain is that if it were really special, the sword would have runes carved into the blade to give it an enchantment, but I don't see any." Suddenly the lead driver yelled. "Okay everyone, time to get going again. Remember, we have to rush now to make it on time." The driver looked back at the front and Lappis sheathed the sword.

After two days they finally made it, they had seen the destructive impact of war on the land get more intense as they got closer to their destination. And then, they were finally there. They had made it to the outpost holding the Serpentine back.

Chapter 3

The outpost was, worn down to say the least. Walls had crumbled over the course of the numerous battles, some were entirely gone, just bits of small rubble. The tops of the walls had makeshift platforms to walk across the gaps, some held up by thin supports. The bottoms of the gaps had barricades, or were filled up a little from bigger pieces of rubble, in an obvious attempt to rebuild the wall with what was left. The entire place looked like a fortress that had been razed multiple times, and then left to rot to dust slowly. This wasn't to say that the place had that feeling coming from it. No, the entire place felt like a bubble that was always about to burst from the tension. Archers moved about the walls, moving from battlement to battlement as poison and streaks of magic passed by them, some the archers even braving the wooden pathways to sneak in an extra shot as they ran across. Speartons and swordwrath guarded the gaps, some behind the walls waiting to surprise any who got past the barricades. Merics stood by, healing the wounded as needed. The sounds of battle began dying down as the convoy made it to the place. The carriages stopped and soldiers, young and old, began getting off. The two began getting off themselves when Fulgaris paused, and asked the driver one last question. "It's a bit late for this, but we never asked it while we were getting here. Whats your name?" the driver simply shook his head. "Nah, you shouldn't ask that, not while there's a high chance of us not meeting again. If we do, by some actual miracle, meet again, then I'll tell you boys me name... Oh, and this is last moment, but- the driver held out his arm in a gesture to the place. -Welcome, to Nexus." The boys gaped at him, unable to believe the man. "Yeah, surprised me too when I found out where we were heading, but yes, this is the place where the people from upper and lower Inamorta met to go to the other sides. Or, at least it was, before this war. Now you lads go on, and good luck surviving, I mean it." With that, the driver looked back at the front of the carriage, and the boys fully got off and headed towards the inside of the outpost, where the other people were heading.

Inside, people were moving about quickly. Miners were giving gold to the carriage drivers that came, soldiers were dragging in the wounded, and a Woman kept shouting out orders at the people walking around. A man was pointing at the people who came to different buildings. Lappis and Fulgaris went to the line that formed by him. When they got to the man, he lazily looked at them, obviously tired. He looked at Fulgaris, and then at Lappis, or rather, Lappis's sword. "Swordwrath, go to that building, and, uh, here. Take this and ask the person inside where to go to train, since I'm going to assume that you don't know anything about fighting." The man handed Lappis a small shred of paper that simply said "Lorn". The man asked Fulgaris what he was. When Fulgaris told him, the man simply told him to go to another building, and to ask the Magikill there to give him a suitable staff or wand to conduct magic with. The two looked at each other. "Uh, see you tomorrow?" Lappis said questioningly. Fulgaris smiled. "Of course. Let's not forget our agreement, okay?" Lappis smiled back, he couldn't believe that Fulgaris still didn't forget the conversation on the carriage. They nodded at each other, and walked into the buildings.

When Lappis walked in, he immediately saw the man standing by, in front of a doorway that split into three paths. Lappis walked to the man. "Do you have a paper for a trainer, boy?" Lappis was confused for a moment, but realized quickly that the man was talking about the paper he had been given. Lappis held out the paper, and the man took it quickly. His eyes lingered on the paper for a bit, and he looked back at Lappis. "Go down the middle path, and then to the right when you hit the split again. Your trainer should be sharpening his sword, he always does in his free time. Good luck." Lappis went without hesitation, not wanting to be stared at by the man any longer than he had to. But as he went down the hallway, he could've sworn he heard that man mutter "Lucky bastard" as he left. Lappis came to the other split, and went right, but he could hear the sounds of weapons clashing down the left, and he wondered if he was going the right way. Nevertheless, Lappis walked on. When Lappis reached the end, he saw a big room full of cots, with numerous people sleeping on them. As Lappis walked, he could hear sounds from the men: snoring, mumbling, some were still up conversing with each other, but as Lappis walked farther, he heard a different sound, the sound of metal scraping against something. Some of the men were indeed sharpening their swords, but the sound Lappis had somehow zoned in on was different, in a way. It wasn't the unpleasant grating noise that one usually heard when swords were being sharpened, this was...clear, in a way. It wasn't an unpleasant noise, in fact it was almost...calming. It was almost a ringing sound, yet not quite. Lappis found the source of the sound, a man sitting on what was presumably his cot, repeatedly rubbing a stone against a strange curved blade. The blade looked like an ordinary one sided curved blade, but it didn't take much too see that the back side of the blade had been extremely sharpened so the sword could be double edged. Lappis was suddenly nervous about this, but pushed it aside. "um.." The man continued to sharpen the blade, but tilted his head up ever so slightly. Lappis suddenly remembered the name on the paper. "Are you, uh, Lorn? I'm supposed to train with you if you are." The man made one last motion with the stone, and fully looked up at Lappis. "Yes. Are you truly to be the one I am to train?" The man stared at Lappis, waiting. "Yes." Lappis said, the nervousness slowly creeping up his spine. "Then, before we begin, may I see your sword, and know your bloodline?" Lappis was now truly confused and vexed by this man. He was uncanny, carrying a calmness that was obviously not in the rest of the place so far. And why would one lone man want to know the family of the one he was training? It was truly perplexing, and creepy, but Lappis at the same time felt that, if he didn't tell the man, then they would go nowhere. "Um, here then." Lappis gave the man his sword, but was reluctant to give out the name of his family, and so withheld that for now. The man studied the blade after pulling it out of its sheath, and a faint smile donned on his lips. "Good, good. A truly excellent alloy, smoothed and sharpened perfectly, like all swords should be. I haven't seen such an amazing metal since The Phalanges, and even then, nowhere near the level or style of craftsmanship this blade has, not with such wondrous materials, anyways. Boy...Where did you get such a fine sword, for this weapon even predates the Great Knights, even the earliest swordwrath." Lappis was surprised to hear this, the sword he had was just as puzzling as the man, switching between perfectly normal to special every day. Just where had his great-grandfather been digging and exploring to find this conundrum? Finally, Lappis spoke. "It's, uh, kinda an heirloom my great-grandfather had found while exploring." The man nodded slowly, and then spoke again. "Then there remains one last thing to be said. Such a marvelous masterpiece is good in the hands of even a novice swordsman, but there needs to be good blood in the wielder for them to both truly shine. So I ask again, what bloodline are you?" The two stared at each other, waiting for something to happen. Lappis knew that it would be a bad idea to give out his family name to anyone these days, let alone such a man like him. But at the same time, Lappis got the feeling again that not telling him would bring them nowhere. After weighing his options, Lappis finally decided to go with this feeling, this instinct, and told this strange man, this "Lorn", what his family line's name was. "Venitas..." Lorn smiled more. "Perfect, A blueblood of luck. You will be a near perfect mesh for swordsmanship." Lappis became confused again, and Lorn sensed it this time. "You may not understand, but I make it a duty of mine to study bloodlines, and look for trademark signs of them, as you never know what type of powers your opponent may have in a battle. As for you being a blueblood, I hope you realize that no matter how hard one tries to muddle their blood, certain blessings or curses cannot be erased, and in your case, the Venitas have always been the shining beacons of fate in Inamorta, as they have always been blessed in luck's favor, though that knowledge has been lost. Your luck will increase your potential for most things tenfold, and outside of training potential, your luck will guide you in battle, as something of a sixth sense. Truly, you will be a masterpiece to behold." Lorn then stopped smiling, and seemed to be thinking to himself. Lappis had answered, but he was somewhat surprised by the almost sudden stop in conversation. "Hey, what's wrong?" Lorn looked at him, shook out of his thoughts. "It is nothing you need to know yet, but soon. Now, let us begin with our lessons and training." Lorn started walking into what Lappis assumed to be the training room, outside of this one. Lappis followed him, and men looked at them, interested in the turn of events. "Lorn's never trained a single person in all his time here. What do you think it means? Did he sign up for it? Nah, it was probably a mix up. I doubt that, no one would mess with Lorn, even accidentally. How do you think that boy'll turn out? Should we watch? Enough! Let's not interrupt the two, clearly fate is at work here, and besides, we'll find out how the boy fares after training in a few days." While the men whispered about the two as they walked out, no one noticed the strange shadow watching the scene from afar. If the men had noticed it, they would have seen it somehow smile. A faint hiss filled the air though, barely noticeable, and the men felt a chill go up their spines. The shadow would have it's fun soon, twisting the fate of Inamorta.

But for now?

It was entertained.

Chapter 4

Lappis wondered how Lorn came here while walking with him through the hall. Was he from The Phalanges? He had talked about the place after all, even if it was only in passing. But the man certainly wasn't from anywhere Lappis had been, that was for certain. they went further down the left side of the split hallway, and suddenly there was a bright light at the end, accompanied by the clashing of weapons Lappis had heard earlier. When he got used to the light, he saw many people fighting: speartons, swordwrath, and even the shadowrath trained here. Suddenly he felt a hand grip his shoulder. "Get some leather armor, but make sure it's light. Here." Lorn gave Lappis the sword back, and walked over to the side of the room, where there was some free space. Lappis saw the armor racks and quickly put on some of the leather parts. When Lappis got back to Lorn, the man had sheathed his katana. Lappis didn't know where Lorn had suddenly pulled the sheath from, but he didn't have time to ask, for Lorn had already begun to speak. "Now, the first lesson. Look around, tell me, what do you see the other swordwrath doing?" Lappis stared around the room, looking for swordwrath. The ones he did see were training of course, but Lappis was pretty sure Lorn didn't mean that. Lappis saw that the way the swordwrath fought was full of strength, and rage. Lappis had heard that swordwrath would channel their anger and hate in battle, enhancing their ability to cut through an enemy, and their speed. But there was a flaw, as far as Lappis could see. While the swordwrath were not slow with their attacks, they were also not fast with the blows they sent. "So, what, are you trying to tell me to be like the shadowrath or something?" Lappis asked, wondering what Lorn was on about. "No, but you're close. A swordwrath is driven by his rage, but also by his discipline in the art of the sword. However, over time they have lost sight of what it means to carry a sword into battle, and are simply focused on delivering deadly blows. They have, in short, become too dependent on the sharpness of their swords, hoping that the one they fight are dead within the first few blows. The shadowrath are men of discipline, focusing on speed, using not rage, but overwhelming speed and poison to fell their foes. They too, however, have strayed, for they do not use a true sword anymore, focusing instead on the staves they use, hoping to mortally wound an enemy with poison, and then finish the fleeing enemy off with an onslaught of blows. A true swordsmen however, walks the fine line in between rage and discipline. In order to survive this war, you must be a true wielder of the sword, being faster than your foes, but retaining the strength to slice them in half. You must master the sword you have, keep it in good repair, and study ways to gain an advantage in battle, as speed is the simplest way of having an edge, and can be easily countered by a smart opponent. Now, let us begin with a simple session. You must be quick enough to either block or dodge my attacks, and you must study me to learn what I will do in advance. Now, begin!" Suddenly Lorn lunged at Lappis, the sheathed sword outstretched, coming for him. Lappis had been taught by his father how to defend himself with a weapon, but this was on another level. He clumsily stumbled from attempting to block the furious blows, which came relentlessly fast. Lappis couldn't block most of the blows. "This is madness," he thought to himself just before he was knocked to the floor by a hard side blow. He fell on the floor, winded from the strength of the blows, Lorn immediately took him by the hand and pulled him back to his feet saying, "Get back up boy, there is no time for rest today. If you are to live, then I will not stop until it is past midnight, for all that is holy in this world, I will at least improve your chance of survival afore the day ends." Lappis was thrown back into the man's barrage of strikes. He decided to try dodging, instead of relying on blocking, and found that he could miraculously dodge some of Lorn's attacks. Lappis had more time to breath, and to an extent, learn Lorn's move's. While the blows were dangerously swift and strong, Lappis realized that Lorn was not being particularly predictable, instead using a semi complex combo of sorts. Luckily, this did not take long to learn, and over the course of two hours Lappis blocked and dodged more and more of Lorn's attacks. Lorn suddenly switched to a different strategy, running around Lappis and using a slightly different version of the combo he used before, throwing Lappis off. Lappis was now extremely grateful that he had luck on his side, for it seemed to be the only thing keeping him from being thrown to the floor again. Lappis began to adapt again though, and Lorn made his attacks somehow even swifter, making it nearly impossible to withstand onslaught, but still, Lappis managed to persist. For another hour this went on, until Lorn finally stopped. Lorn looked at Lappis, and gave a nod. "Good, good, your luck is helping you improve quicker, but don't think that it will end there. You have only tasted what battle will be like from here on out. Expect attacks to come from everywhere, even accidental hits from your allies. Next lesson. As a swordsmen, most would tell you that honor is the most important thing to uphold in battle, however this is negated by the fact that you will be in a battle with an army, and will not have time to have an honorable duel when you have pioson and the like being spewed at you. As such, do not think about keeping honor on this battlefield, and instead focus on having every possible edge against your opponents. Whenever you are studying an opponent, look for little "ticks" or tells that will signal an attack from them, or an attempt to retreat a little. Even slight changes in stance or body center will give off if an enemy is about to attack, or back off moments before it happens. Next, you need to make sure to carry things to either prepare yourself for a scenario, or to quickly use in the heat of battle to turn the odds in your favor. Examples of this would be a dagger if you lose your sword and need a weapon, or, as strange as it may seem, poison or alcohol, to quickly pour on your blade, either to keep the enemy from getting too passive so you can lay more blows, or to make extremely crippling wounds, that will make fights much harder for your opponent even if they get away. Another thing is to look for weaknesses in them. you could go with trying to cripple the enemy, wounding vital parts of their limbs, so you can bleed them to take your time or keep them from being versatile to make the fight significantly easier. Take for example, me. I wield my sword either with one hand or two. I strive to switch between the ways randomly, to throw my enemies off. However, if you were to wound one of my arms, I would be severely crippled, or unable to fight altogether." Lorn paused, and then spoke again. "I understand if this all seems basic to you, but I know that you, along with many others, don't even know the basics due to drafting. So for now, I will continue to train you to be faster, and teach you the basic necessities in battle, because even this improves your chances drastically. Now, today will be focused on getting you to be swift, but tomorrow we will train on some advanced techniques, assuming you live of course. Now, let us return to what we were doing before." Lorn and Lappis began training again, but this time, Lappis was better prepared for what was to come.

Meanwhile, Fulgaris studied deep in his room on the spells he was told to memorize. It was remarkable how much room you can make with spacial magic, and it was a shame the magikill had never had enough time to apply the magic to the rest of the outpost. Fulgaris looked at the incantations, while pondering about different things he had been thinking about for awhile. He could not fathom how Lappis seemed to be indifferent about dying, it was such a crippling fear. To cease to exist in this plane of existence, while being forced to know that you may never see those you love or care about again, and instead either being forced to watch from afar, so painfully close and yet always far out of reach, or to forever be doomed to pay for your crimes against the world. It was an irrational fear, Fulgaris knew this, but it was something that painfully gnawed at him nonetheless. It had at one point, turned into a want for knowledge, knowledge that would likely be unattainable to Fulgaris. This want culminated in the conversation he had with Lappis at the clearing, where he finally showed the fear that kept gnawing at him. He had asked perhaps one of the most important questions he would ever ask his friend, because he knew that Lappis was no fool, and trusted him for that. That, and the bond they had built over the years as friends. Fulgaris knew that Lappis would give sound judgement, and that it would ease him either way, but he had been surprised anyways when Lappis had said that he didn't want to know. On the contrary, Fulgaris knew that Lappis would on most occasions, grab at the knowledge of his fate. It wasn't for a selfish need, like Fulgaris had. Instead he knew that Lappis would want to know it for the sake of his family and friends. Somewhat of a cliche, but Lappis didn't try to show this part of him, instead being more subtle with it when in the open, where anyone could judge him with impunity. Lappis didn't want them to have a good life or anything, for they already had that before this. No, Fulgaris knew Lappis was content for them to live, again, somewhat of a cliche to Fulgaris, but it was common for this to be the case. Then Fulgaris had a theory about it. Fulgaris thought to himself "Is he finally putting all of his faith into that legendary luck his family has?". the Venitas bloodline was somewhat venerated as one of the oldest bloodlines, famed for it's extremely lucky explorers by the those who studied old heritage and blood. but Lappis never wanted to try and push his luck, for he believed that if it did, it would fail him at the last moment, dooming him or his family, or even Fulgaris himself. But now, it did seem that Lappis finally thought it was time, the time of that last, final moment that would decide everything for him. Even if this moment lasted for years, it would still remain that. one. single. moment. And that moment, may just be the most important one of all. Fulgaris shook himself out of these thoughts, he needed to focus on the now. But then another question unfurled, one that had lingered in Fulgaris's mind for some time after that day at the clearing. That phrase was very odd to have on the sheath of a sword. Well, as odd as it can be for a sword that was found on an exploration of a ruined city by Lappis's own great-grandfather. Fulgaris went out of his room and suddenly knocked into a magikill holding a stack of books and scrolls. "Oh, sorry! I'll help you!" Fulgaris had begun picking up the items that had fallen down. The magikill looked on at him, seemingly relieved. "Oh, you don't know how long it's been since I got even that much at this place. Thank you boy. I mean it." Fulgaris suddenly realized that this would be a good opportunity to find out about the phrase on the sheath. "Uh, by the way, I'm sorry if this is a bother, but do you know anything about inscribed phrases? Like old ones used for decoration on weapons." The mage looked surprised at this. "Well, you must be lucky, I used to study old languages from before modern incantations were used, in fact it was originally my main thing before this war. But, how old are we talking? Different languages have different meanings, and as a result, have different results." Fulgaris told the mage what he could. "luxir aeterne?" "I haven't heard something like for awhile. That's very damned old, much older than the Battle of Snake's End. Okay kid, I think I know what it is supposed to mean. It was a decoration meant for nobility, specifically ones who had a great battle ahead of them. It was hard to learn, but in old cities from before Rochir's Crusades, there were inscriptions that tell of a time when magic was unbridled, and a people had mastered it in that state.the cities that had such things were few and far between, and it dwindled further during the serpentine's original rampage through Inamorta, but, me managed to make do with what he had. Supposedly terrible shadows walked the land back then, and one greater than all of the forces of nature waged war on this empire of people. They bravely fought, that's what the inscriptions say. In the end though, it was revealed that this "shadow" had merely been toying with them, and erased them off of Inamorta. However, a final curse was laid upon the shadow, borne of the ruler's grief. The shadow was plunged into the void, and remains there until true chaos reigns again. Now, that seems unrelated to the phrase at first, but a part of the story explains how small nations banded together with this nameless empire, and how its nobility were given finely crafted weapons, with special phrases put upon them so that they may know their own duty, and be protected from the shadows." The man seemed very relaxed after telling the story. "Jeez, I haven't had time to do this since my 20's. You tell me if you need anything else kid, consider it thanks for this. Oh, and if you can bring your friend and his sword here to me, I can try and translate it to see if there was anything you missed. Now, I have to get going, else someone's going to have me flayed alive or something. You should get some rest kid. Bye!" The mage hurried off after getting the items Fulgaris picked up for him. Fulgaris was deeply interested in this, and he knew Lappis would be too. They both deeply enjoyed history, and even if this story wasn't real, it would still be nice to tell Lappis, it would give them a moment of relaxation, a moment of old times. Fulgaris went to bed however, knowing that they would both need their rest.

And then, at night, the man was in his tent, this time infuriated by his maps. He combed over them again and again, looking for that one inscrutable spot he needed to go to. The man couldn't believe this. How could this happen now? Time after time the entrance to the place they had found ages ago had moved to such predictable places, but now? Now of all times, when they figured out that what they wanted was in there, now it was impossible to find? He cursed the timing of this, and then cursed the world. Of course, the world would have to make it infuriating for him, wouldn't it? The man sat down, tired. And that was when his scar, partially covered by his eye patch, had begun to hurt again. He gently touched it. Of course this had to act up now, damn that mage.The old wound began bleeding a little, but this was normal, after all, the mage that gave him it assured him it would never heal. A drop of blood splattered on the map, and he looked at it, knowing he would have to probably make another one, for clarity, now. And then he realized it, where the spot was. He yelled in triumph, something his men had gotten used to over their time under his command. He would do this when something frustrated him, and though he was usually very loud when he did it, his men did not mind, for they knew that it must mean something good whenever he cracked something that frustrated him. Besides, it was not like they were trying to sleep at the moment, they had to watch for the undead, after all. The man marked the spot on his map, he and is men would go there in a few days. Then a voice spoke.

"How exquisite, everything is falling into place!"

The man turned to see the strange shadow that had spoken to him before on this island.

"Why have you come again, it which does not belong?"

The shadow laughed, it's voice a thousand quiet whispers, overlapping into a barely coherent voice.

"Why, I came to see how everything was going here. I do need to make sure that everything is ready for this wonderful return I am making, after all."

The shadow then formed an image of the land of Inamorta.

"Now, you see, everything is unfolding just the right way, that king's spell weakening, letting this world's version of my form to slip through the fissure in the void once more."

The shadow flattened the map, and lines formed across it, with labels signifying the territories.

"Now, to the part I believe you will enjoy-"

The man glared at the shadow.

"Enjoy? You expect me to enjoy us talking about four empires dueling to the death, with the stakes being the people of Inamorta? The people I and my men strived to protect for years before coming to this cursed island? The people who now die not just because their respective empire bids them to, but because their own lives depend on it? You expect me to enjoy this?! What kind of demented evil are you?"

The shadow only laughed harder than it had before at this, the whispering nearly separating into phrases before the shadow stopped and spoke.

"Yes, that hate of yours is truly delectable, an exalted feast of emotion for me. Now though, I'm being quite tame right now, and I thought it no harm to speak with you before I go to watch a thrilling battle. Enough though, unless you have more suffering you want to give me, let me speak."

The shadow then watched the man pull a chair and, still glaring at it, sat down by the image of the map.

"Well then, as you can see, my little snakes have so far conquered or suppressed the whole of upper Inamorta. Hmm, a shame they consider me their enemy now, after all the trouble I spent nudging creation in the right direction to make them, but I digress. Order has been very surprising in this war, impressive really, both holding back the Serpentine at the choking point between upper and lower Inamorta, and fending the aquatic assaults from my snakes. Now, as you have already been told by the soldiers you captured, the way has been a stalemate for the past decade or so, with the Serpentine at each Order's throat, unable to make real headway with Order, even in such.. Chaos. Now, however, it seems that Order is finally starting to crumble, due to a shortage of soldiers."

The man stared at the map, knowing that all that he and his men had ever worked for would likely be meaningless because of this war, and then spoke.

"So then, you came to tell me that the empire I stood for all these years will fall, and land will descend into chaos as you want, and the people of it will be slaughtered."

There was despair in his voice, though he was calm. The sorrow of his soul entertained the shadow, but it was not done yet.

"That would be one way for me to have fun, but no. What I want will be much worse."

The man's eye narrowed at the shadow, enraged that such a being would not be satisfied with such wanton destruction.

"Now now, don't look at me like that, I haven't even revealed the best part of all this. You may have a chance to save some of the people during this, after all, I'm not one to leave a universe alone after having fun with it, I will need more people to toy with. Now, I don't want Order to fall yet, it's been exhilarating watching it beat the odds again and again. No, I want to plunge both empires into chaos, forcing the lot of them into a corner to beat each other to death, and then have them watch my return unfold. You, and a few lucky people will partake in this, as fate allows of course. I want each empire to have a sense of hope that they will win before I tear them to bloody mush. Now-"

The shadow looked away suddenly, and then sighed a little.

"Ah, it appears our time is up, dawn is coming and I do want to see that battle. Farewell, old commander, and send the Arkadic king my regards, won't you?"

The shadow disappeared, Leaving the man to figure out a plan. The man would not allow this to happen, no. He must stop the thing, even if it cost him his life. And then, an idea hit him. He remembered something in that moment, something important. All plans, no matter how perfect, how exquisite they may be, can always go awry. And then the man walked out of his tent, sure of his own plan, betting on the chance that both plans would go wrong, and called his men.

It was time to defend Inamorta one last time.

Chapter 5

Lappis woke up suddenly, with chills going up his spine. He had an awful nightmare about serpents ripping out of dead bodies to bite him, while a figure watched from afar. Lappis suddenly heard a bell ringing in the distance, and realized that everyone else was getting up too. He counted himself lucky, and then was suddenly grabbed on the shoulder by someone. "Good, you woke up with everyone else. We will be needed in battle soon, but don't try to over exert yourself. If you are called back then do so, and by all that is sacred, run like the wind." It was Lorn, Lappis should have expected it. Lappis asked if they would be needed for long. "Well, it depends on if the Serpentine want to try and weaken up the speartons for a while. If they do, then expect to be out there running and dealing with the dirvishes for a while, and perhaps some of those spitting elapids. If not, then just try to end your fights by either killing them quickly, or crippling them." Lappis followed Lorn and the other swordwrath outside.

Many people were outside with them when Lappis came out with the rest of the men in the barracks. He quickly saw Fulgaris, along with a group of magikill, and he waved. Fulgaris caught sight of him at the last moment, and waved back and walked towards him. The two smiled at each other, before being drawn back towards the front of the place. Castle archers stood at the tops of the walls, being passed arrows by others, and the woman Lappis saw shouting orders at people yesterday when they made it here was there too, surveying the land in front of the outpost. "Hey Lappis, how did it go?" Lappis looked at Fulgaris. "Well, I trained for the duration of yesterday, even into the night, but I don't feel tired for some reason." Fulgaris didn't look surprised. "Oh, I'm sure it's because of your luck. Hey, do you think I could borrow some, considering you probably have enough for a lifetime of good fortune. I think I might need some considering the situation." Lappis looked at Fulgaris, trying to appear as though he was giving it deep thought. "Yeah, no I don't think it works that way. Sorry, maybe you could check up when we're not in life threatening danger, I'm sure I could give you some then." Fulgaris frowned at this, and Lappis smiled. Suddenly a voice spoke that Lappis immediately recognized as Lorn's. "Good to know you can still jest, especially right before going out to battle. I presume you two are acquainted then? Considering you are talking extremely casually to each other?" The two looked at him. "Yeah, uh, we kinda have been good friends for a few years, thankfully we got to come here together as well." Lorn nodded, looking at the two. "Yes, it is good to have someone to have your back in a fight, even more so in these trying times. Hmm, I forgot to ask you at the time, but what is your name, blueblood?" Lappis realized that he never told the man his name. "Well, it's Lappis Venitas." Fulgaris suddenly spoke up too. "And mine is Fulgaris Aethiris." Lorn nodded again, but then they were all drawn back to the top of the walls, where the woman up there was shouting orders.

"Okay everyone, you know the drill. They're attacking again today, swordwrath, go out there and kill any dirvishes or spitting elapids. Archidons and magikill, go to lend support, but don't tread past the miner wall, we don't need any unnecessary deaths, especially not now. Sorry we can't have any merics right now, but we still have to heal the last batch of wounded. We will send out some if the situation changes. Try not to get poisoned. Oh, and get some shadowrath out here, we need to make sure that any knights that come out will be severely wounded. That's all for now, get going."

Everyone started moving, and Lorn looked at the two. "We should get going, you included, mage." Fulgaris looked at Lappis before they went, a bit confused as to why the man had asked for their names, and then immediately disregarded using them. Lappis shrugged and then they went off to face what would be their first battle.

The place smelled of rotting corpses and some other distinct smell that Lappis couldn't put his finger on. Lappis had expected it to smell something like this, but the sheer strength of the smell surprised him. Still, Lappis had little trouble trudging on beyond the miner wall, and to a strange obelisk in between the outpost and what Lappis assumed to be the Serpentine's semi permanent encampment. When Lappis came to the strange obelisk, he noticed a golden glow at the top, and the same glow emanating from the crack around it. He went to look closer, but then he heard sharp cries come from in front of him. Lappis looked, and saw a group of dirvishes come at him and the other swordwrath. There seemed to be about the same number on both sides. In other words, this was deeply one-sided, if only for the moment. The dirvishes were cut down by the swordwrath, and the stragglers that fled were shot down by the archidons. During this, one dirvish charged at Lappis, poking it's trident at him the moment it got close. Lappis dodged the spear and went for a thrust, but simply pinned the dirvish to the sword, with its ankle severely mangled from it. Lappis flung the dirvish, attempting to throw it off the blade, but the dirvish simply shrieked in pain, and lost grip of it's spear. A bit surprised at this, Lappis put the sword to the ground, and holding the dirvish down with one hand, pulled the sword off of the ankle. Lappis then continued to keep the small thing pinned, despite it's surprisingly strong punches, and plunged the sword into it's head. Instead of hitting it however, the dirvish managed to flail it's head just far enough for the blade to miss. Lappis, now a bit annoyed, pulled the sword from the ground and instead made a wide slash downward to ensure the thing's death. Blood spurted onto Lappis's face for a moment, some of which got in his eyes. Lappis quickly went to get it out of his eyes, yet only managed to drive the blood deeper. Lappis eventually blinked, and let the blood slowly find it's own way out. All the while one swordwrath was laughing at the spectacle, and then suddenly got slapped in the back of the head, while another reprimanded him. "Oh come on, we're fighting here and you have the gall to laugh at some new arrival!? Focus you damn idiot!" This only made the swordwrath laugh harder, though he was quickly kicked to the ground for it. The moment Lappis recovered from this however, poison flew through the air, and figures suddenly darted past Lappis and the other soldiers. "Spitting Elapids!" an archer cried out, as a large figure ran through ranks of the swordwrath, slaughtering them effortlessly. Lappis raised his arms and the sword to block the oncoming poison. When it hit, Lappis gasped in pain, for the liquid felt burning hot as it seeped through the light leather armor on his arms. The poison did not do anything beyond this however, and the burning subsided into a slightly nauseating feeling. Why it felt this way, Lappis could not tell, but he had little time to react to this in any way when he was suddenly grabbed on the shoulder. "Come on boy, we will have to face this last foe before we have any chance of fleeing. Keep steady now, for the remaining won't last long unless we help distract the knights." It was Lorn, who immediately ran ahead, towards several swordwrath and a towering Serpentine. Lappis ran to help, but was impeded by the sheer amount of downpouring poison. It fell everywhere, and Lappis had to trudge through, the ground now becoming muddy for some reason. When Lappis had almost made it to the scene of the battle, the poison suddenly lessened. Lappis looked back towards the outpost and saw several magikill suddenly casting spells, Fulgaris being one of them. At the same time, the archers let out a volley of arrows that were lit on fire. The Spitting Elapids had to retreat, some poisoned by the magikill themselves, others extremely wounded. This also made the ground less muddy, and Lappis noticed other Serpentine retreating with the Elapids. Lappis came upon what was now a massacre. Bodies littered the ground around the the remaining swordwrath and Serpenknights. The knight had a completely different appearance from what Lappis had expected. It was covered in smooth green armor, meant to blend in with the natural color of the Serpentine, it even had the look of a snake's scaly skin. The armor was grooved at some parts, and elegantly moved as if it were not armor, but a snake's own body. The serpent wielded two curved blades, slicing through any opposition. The swordwrath were unable to stifle the monstrous thing, only distract it from getting to the outpost. There were even shadowrath dancing around the thing, easily kept on edge by the Serpent's own speed. Lorn was running in and out of the fray, partially blocking the blows from the knight, and trying to find chinks in the armor, only to then run out of reach. Lappis attempted to help, but to no avail. His sword bounced off of the armor like a pebble thrown at steel. Lappis then tried to halt one of the blades as it made it's way to the left. Lappis slashed downward with all the strength he could muster. The two swords made a scraping sound as they slid against each other, the curved blade slowed a little by Lappis as he was blown back by the sudden twist upward made by the knight. The Serpenknight quickly shot its head in the direction of Lappis. He could feel the glare exude from within the helmet the serpent wore. Even something like this had surprised the thing, and only served to enrage it further. Lappis noticed Lorn now quietly walking behind the Serpent, and saw him mouth words at Lappis. Lappis knew not what Lorn wanted him to do, but if it was a distraction he needed, Lappis would oblige. He quickly started slashing at the serpent, who immediately started forcing the sword back with its own. Lappis could barely even track the movements of thing, let alone block or dodge all of its attacks. Lappis was suddenly knocked off the ground, the knight slashing upward at Lappis's torso. It was obvious that Lappis had been dealt a very fatal wound. Lappis struggled to get up, the pain from the wound was overwhelming. He had managed to sit up when he saw Lorn suddenly jump onto the thing's back, and plunge his sword into the one chink in the armor he could, the gap between the helmet and the armor. There was a loud hiss, which turned into an inhuman roar of anger. The Serpenknight threw Lorn off, but that only worsened the wound, with the sword tearing through the snake's throat, the owner refusing to let go of it. The knight was good as dead and it knew it. It suddenly launched into a seemingly endless onslaught of slashes, the serpent refusing to let any of the soldiers leave with their lives. Lorn ran and helped get Lappis up, who was now feeling lightheaded, when someone yelled at them, and an explosion rocked the ground, and knocked Lappis out.

Chapter 6

Fulgaris gaped at the explosion, and at the figures coming out of it. Lorn had stumbled and lost grip of Lappis, but was now grabbing hold of him again and attempting to drag him as fast as he could. Other swordwrath got up and looked at the puff of smoke, only to quickly flee for the miner wall. Fulgaris then put his attention towards the smoke, and his jaw dropped. A figure slowly got up, and dashed out. The Serpenknight had survived the explosion, and despite the grievous wounds applied to the beast, it still ran at the remaining swordwrath, only to stagger as it went, and slice down any it could. Even so, it didn't take much to see that the thing was dying regardless, as blood spilled down it's blackened and dented armor. "Hey, get out of there! That thing is still alive!" Fulgaris shouted at Lorn, who looked quickly at Fulgaris, and then behind him. Lorn then picked up Lappis and sprinted for the miner wall, and the Knight trailed behind, now focused on Lorn and Lappis. As it staggered, a voice cursed behind Fulgaris. "Damn, that thing is tougher than the others, try to stall the thing, or kill it before it reaches the miner wall. Archers! Fire at at the thing!" Fulgaris quickly turned to see the woman who had been shouting orders before. The woman quickly looked at him. "Well, what are you doing? Go on and help!" Fulgaris turned around again to see Lorn swiftly run past him, still carrying Lappis, who Fulgaris noticed had a huge gash across his chest, piercing past the leather. Fulgaris focused on the knight along with the other magikill. Different spells were flung at the thing, to no visible effect other than slowing down the serpent further. Lappis quickly cast a spell of his own design, one that he had worked on back at home. "Vircis lux!" Suddenly it seemed as though light was raining down on the Knight, who paused and looked up slightly. The knight then continued to stagger towards them again, only to be shot repetitively with bolts of lighting. The Serpent was slowed by this, and began to stumble. One of the magikill yelled in joy for a moment. "Gods be praised! The thing is finally being fully affected by the bleeding now!" Another immediately began casting another explosion spell. One of the archers yelled. "What are you thinking! A blast like that will likely hurt us as well! The woman silenced him. "Be quiet now! This is our only chance, otherwise the Knight might cut through the miner wall before it dies!" The magikill finished the spell, and another explosion knocked them all back from the sheer force. The Knight staggered out of the smoke, raised one of it's swords, and then stumbled on to the ground, a few feet away from the miner wall. Everyone cheered, but then quickly silenced as more Serpentine rushed out to charge, being led by a few more Serpenknights, one of which was mounted. "Speartons, CHARGE!!" the woman shouted and pointed at the oncoming forces. Speartons rushed out of the gate of the outpost and the woman began shouting more orders, and more soldiers rushed out. Fulgaris realized that this must have been in the making for awhile, as both sides seemed to have pooled what resources they could. Fulgaris quickly began casting more spells with the other magikill, determined not to let the Serpentine make it past.

Lappis woke again, this time a dull pain throbbing across his chest, and with someone sitting over him. Lappis quickly realized that he was outside, and the sounds of battle could be heard very close. The person watching him suddenly spoke. "Well, quite the fight eh? I was not disappointed by this battle. It seems that both sides waited for something like this, however I doubt it will truly be the end. No, more likely that it will simply be a breaking point, and more battles will happen, with whatever side that wins this battle dominating the other for a while." Lappis was about to speak, but the person quickly shushed him. "Ah, don't try to speak yet, that was quite the wound, and the energy will be better spent recovering from it." The person paused. "Yes, you are ever so lucky, aren't you? The blade barely made a shallow enough cut for it to miss your vital organs, though you still lost an immense amount of blood. Probably half dead when you were brought to the merics." Lappis continued to listen, but he realized that it was too dark to see the person's face. "Yes, that was quite the show you put on, along with those other swordwrath, I could practically drink the rage that spewed from the Serpent when that man cut through it's neck, even more so as it died. Ah yes, that reminds me." The person picked up an item, and put it closer to Lappis. Lappis realized it was one of the blades the Serpenknight had wielded. "Yes, that man was brave enough to collect the pair during the battle a while ago. He left one here, presumably for you. I suppose he felt you deserved a trophy or the like from the battle if you survived." The person stopped speaking and put a hand over their face. "Oh dear, it would appear that I forgot to put my mask on this entire time. Forgive me, this will take but a moment." Lappis watched as the person put their hand in a mysterious dark hole that had appeared, and pulled out a white mask. the mask had several pointed ends on it, and had a craggy grin. the person put the mask on their face, and glowing red pupils appeared in the eye slits, while the mouth of the mask began to move of its own accord. "Yes, that is much better. I simply hate not having a face when conversing in a physical form." Lappis gaped at the thing, for he now noticed much more details about it. The voice now seemed much more easy to understand for some reason, and Lappis noticed a hissing sound coming from the thing. "Now, now. Don't go prying about what's underneath the skin of this manifestation now, will you?" The thing seemingly read Lappis's mind effortlessly. Lappis wondered what was talking to him now, was it a demon? "Oh, don't go thinking those things, I get those kind of assumptions much too often. No, I am much, much worse than a mere demon, and I take pride in that fact." The thing's mask seemed to give off a sinister sneer. "Well, I'm almost out of time, the battle will be over soon, and it appears that your friends have won, for now at least. Still, I am very interested in you..." The thing tilted it's head, appearing to be in deep thought. "Yes, I think I'll have fun watching you. Hmm, you add an interesting dynamic. Not too strong, but with enough luck to completely emerge unscathed from several apocalypses. Yes, I think I quite like this. I'll tell you what, little child: I'll get you away from this place, and instead take you to one much more interesting. Once in a lifetime offer, and one you cannot refuse. I'll even let your friend come with you. Ooh, yes, this is so much more interesting and diverting than I could have ever hoped for. Goodbye now, and don't worry, you won't die - yet." The thing suddenly got up, and simply vanished in the growing light. Lappis realized it was dawn now, and some people were now walking around the place, most tired and injured. Lappis then lapsed into sleep again.

When Lappis woke again, it seemed to be the middle of the day, the light blinding him at first. When he grew more accustomed to the light, he noticed two people looking at him. One was in robes and holding a staff. Lappis squinted at the other figure, still adjusting to the light, and realized it was Fulgaris, who had a worried look on his face. "Well, he is alive, what a miracle!" The robed figure had spoken, and at this Fulgaris had become much more relaxed. Lappis opened his mouth and spoke. "Uh, is it a good question if I ask what happened?" Fulgaris smiled, happy that Lappis was still alive after what had happened. "Well, a magikill was ordered to cast an explosion on that knight you guys had fought, and that man that had dragged and carried you back as the thing came after you guys. I tried to tell you guys to get out of the way, but was too late at that point. The thing still staggered its way to the miner wall before it finally went down, and then more of the Serpentine went and charged out. I and some other magikill had to go back inside the outpost, as we were exhausted. That man had actually went out to pick up those two swords that knight was using. He's a mad man, and a quick one at that. I swear, I've never seen anyone so quick, the man must've been faster than the shadowrath out there Lappis!" Fulgaris seemed keen to speak even more before the robed figure, who Lappis guessed was a meric, cut him off. "Yes, it was a very shaky battle. But we're here to see how you are doing right now. That wound was barely shallow enough to save you, your organs just barely scraped by without a scratch. Honestly, I thought you were dead, especially after that explosion. Sorry for that, by the way. The captain tends to gloss over the fact that there are soldiers on the battlefield when she senses a victory. She gets a bit reckless with her orders when that happens." The meric stopped speaking, and put her staff over Lappis, before suddenly pulling it back. "I don't believe this! How?" Lappis looked at the meric. "What, is something wrong? Is the wound worse than you thought?" The meric shook her head. "That's just it, it isn't, in fact it's much better than it should be. We left you with your wounds healed enough to keep you alive for long enough for us to get back to you, but the wound is nearly fully healed. I don't understand how, we were all called out to heal the speartons quickly after you came in." Lappis quickly recalled the thing that had spoken to him last night, and it's statement. Lappis had little doubt that thing had something to do with this. "Uh hey, I-" The meric was suddenly yelled at. "Come on, get going now, I'm sure you've healed the boy amply, and we have a lot of wounded, so get going!" The meric looked back at the two. "I'm sorry but I have to go, we'll speak more later, and I'm sure that you've only got to stay down for a few days, with how much that wound's healed." The meric got up and left, leaving the two alone there.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to to anyone, A figure walked through a serpentine stronghold in Cranium, looking at what had happened to the place after it had been taken over. The figure had a specific person he wanted to see however, so he quickly moved through. The castle, once one of Medusa's strongholds, now had an aura even more forboding than before, with serpentine walking throughout the place, and a peculiar feeling of dread surrounding the inside. But this meant nothing to the figure, who slid by the serpentine easily, a shadow in the dark corridors. The figure came to the hall, which was mostly barren. A throne, once carved to suit Medusa's liking, now sat broken, with new bones and flesh strewn atop the old. An ashen skeleton sat upon it, no signs of life showing. "Well, you are...Undead, now, aren't you?" The shadow gave a smile through it's mask. The skeleton slowly sat up, bones cracking as it went. "And you are here now, brother. Why come to me? I thought you were content to watch from afar, or are you directly interfering again?" The skeleton could do nothing but smile, but the shadow knew that it's brother did not want any of the others here, least of all him. "Oh, quite the words coming from someone controlling my creations here. And you know me, I always break what rules I want when it suits my hunger." It was at that moment that a serpent marched into the room. "We have more dead, we will ne-" The serpent stared at the shadow, taking in on what it was seeing. It's slits seemed to narrow further. "What is that doing here?" The skeleton simply sighed. "Oh, I don't know, I didn't call him here, so why don't you ask him?" The shadow laughed. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm simply a shadow in the dark, here to talk with my kin." The skeleton now had formed eyes, gleaming a bright orange that emitted pure rage. "Which one? The one you had devoured long ago, or the one you created out of boredom, and then promptly left to be killed because you could not do anything?" The shadow's mask twisted into a sneer. "Perhaps both, or perhaps neither, considering that I had not expected you to reform out of my essence, not so quickly anyways." The skeleton simply looked at the serpent. "Yes, I will be there soon, but away for now. I have "family" to deal with now." The serpent bowed, and left, but not without another glance at the shadow. "So then, have any of our other brethren reformed?" The shadow asked this, curious about what had happened to to his carelessness. "No, not as far as I know. I have been laying low for a while though, so my guess is as good as yours. Not like it matters anyways, considering the fact that they probably wouldn't care about this world - not unless they found it to their liking, as you seem to have." The skeleton gave a sigh, and then lay back onto the throne. The shadow spoke again, his curiosity not sated yet. "Well, you spoke about me interfering with this universe, but I take it that you revived my snakes?" The skeleton's smile became a little bit more genuine. "No, not at first. This short sighted fool-" The skeleton poked at itself. "- managed to revive one of them, mistaking it for a common corpse. All things on the pendulum of life and death are in my domain, so I took an interest after seeing your indirect work on the creatures. I'll admit, hearing the thing scream was quite satisfying while I tortured it. I had the body scorched after I was satisfied, and took it as a host for my form. These snakes were quite happy to follow me, after being unable to find the corpse of their king, and provided I led them on the path of destruction. I obliged, as I can always use more dead." The shadow laughed at this, before suddenly coughing. A small snake suddenly spat out of it's mouth, covered in smoking black ooze. "So it begins." The skeleton said, a hint of interest seeping in it's voice. "Ah yes, it took longer than expected, but soon I will shed all of this amalgamation, and be able to take on my preferred form." The shadow bowed to the skeleton. "It seems I must be going now, seeing as you've answered my queries for the moment. That, and I do need to get someone some where." The skeleton's eye's dissipated as it began to get up. "So that's why you were there, found another toy?" The shadow began walking off. "Yes, this is indeed becoming more diverting than I had expected, and I intend on having as much fun as I can while this lasts." The shadow dissipated as it walked, beginning to leave a trail of squirming sludge in it's wake. The skeleton paused. "To think that we came from the same primordial evil. Only brothers in name." The skeleton then snapped out of it's thoughts, and went to tend to the dead serpentine.

A few days later, and Lappis was feeling relatively okay. He could sit up, but the wound still pained him if he tried to stand up. Fulgaris came by each day to speak with him, and had told him about a potential origin for the decorative inscription on his blade. It was fun to talk about history with Fulgaris again, even if it was only for a short time. The talk about shadows drew Lappis's mind onto the one that had spoken to him a few nights ago. Was it truly one of the shadows Fulgaris talked about? Lappis didn't think he would actually know, not for a while at least. Then came the subject of family. "Well, how do you think our families would be doing now?" Fulgaris had asked the question as he had wanted to know about how much Lappis had worried about his since back at the clearing on the way here. "Well, for one, I'd imagine that everyone is doing the same as always. I haven't really thought too much into it since the carriage, to be honest. I suppose it hasn't really been my focus since we got here. I mean, we can't exactly afford to worry about our families too much when we have our own to worry about. It's one of those weird lines you have to tread, I suppose, because thinking about family and friends can give respite from more terrible things, but if that's all you think about, then how will you ever survive and make it back to them? I don't know, maybe it's me being lucky again, and my subconscious set me into this mindset preeminently or something. You know, sometimes people worry too much over things, don't they?" Fulgaris smiled. "Yeah, we all worry about things a lot. Maybe you're just lucky you know how to reassure me." Lappis and Fulgaris spoke for sometime after this, but Fulgaris had leave to help with something, and so Lappis was left alone again for a moment.

Soon though, Lappis had a visit from Lorn as well. The man came at a leisurely stroll, but clearly had his eyes on Lappis. Lorn seemed to be thinking as he went, but had seemed to clear his head when he made it to Lappis. "So, you are alive. I had been sure that such a wound would have been fatal, with no way around it." Lappis looked at him questioningly. "Then why would you bring me back? I'm sure you would've preferred going back much faster, and there would have been no reason to bring what you expected to be a fresh corpse back with you." Lorn walked over and picked up the serpentine sword, and spun it slowly in his hand. "To be honest, I would not have the first pupil I've ever gotten to teach have their corpse strewn on the field, much less leave them with the possibility of survival remaining, however slim. As it were, I also would not just let such a finely crafted sword rust, not while it still remained in excellent condition." Lorn stared at the serpentine sword some more. "You know, these weapons are very elegant when you're allowed to properly examine them. It almost betrays a smidgen of pride and love, something I still believe is far beyond the serpents grasp. At least, the part about love. Still, it remains an excellent trophy and weapon for you to have." Lappis simply stared at the weapon, his mouth slightly agape. "Why would you give me this anyways? All I did was act as bait, and that not only nearly cost both our lives, but was simply me assuming what you wanted, even if that was simple and obvious." Lorn simply sighed. "Too much left to learn. Might as well give you the lesson now. Lappis, if acting as bait were really that unimportant, then it would never be used in life or battle. Every tactic used is used because it works. Anyone would say that they would not fall for something as cheap as bait or a distraction, but that is simply a lie people tell themselves to make them feel higher in the world, if only slightly. If people, or anything for that matter, did not fall for such "cheap" tricks, then the tricks would not likely exist. Every part of a battle might as well be one trick blending with another. A trick to harm your opponent better, a trick to evade such harm, a trick to predict the evasion, and so on. No one "trick" can be put over another in terms of importance, for they all work. Some simply work at different times, but like as not those times still come. So value each tactic, each small trick, else you fail when you could have succeeded by using a seemingly useless trick. The same goes for people. You acting as bait was as important as the swordwrath dying from trying to delay the serpent knight. Their role was as equally important, they gave time for the "Bait" to arrive, even if that was not the intention. Baiting the knight to focus on one thing entirely would not have been important if it didn't work." Lorn handed the sword to Lappis. "You better remember these lessons, or training you will be useless. It's kinda funny though. About the sword, I mean. It's clearly meant to bleed someone if it doesn't kill them outright. I will be going now, make sure to have yourself in peak performance before coming to train again." Lorn left right after that, leaving Lappis by himself again, with the sword to look at.

Chapter 7

The shadow finished writing out the order, eager to see what would happen next. It coughed and a few snakes came out of its mouth, wriggling and they perished from being used to keep the shadows form stable, though they were, now, uneeded. the snakes that the shadow had used were very distant descendants of the serpentine, most likely a long forgotten project the serpentine had done. with the shadows form continously having to fight with the magic that kept it out for so long, It had to find a clever backdoor with wich to at partially negate the magics working against it. the snakes, when forced together into a slithering mass, provided a anchor, and a place to keep the extra essence put into the realm from bursting across the world. however, with the shadow finally tearing away at the wall that kept trying to push him out, the snakes were no longer useful, and the shadow would finally take a more incorporeal form, which it preferred. It looked out on the lands order after couphing, the gastly combination of a grin and sneer widening on its mask. It was ever so entertained by all that was happening. A terrible chaos raged across Inamorta, and soon the little commander and the boy would be thrust into a delightful game of the shadow's own design. The shadow weaved on and on for eons, readying the universe for destruction, but the shadow knew not to step too aggressively for it. When great evil is unleashed on the land, the universe calls, and brings forth heroes to keep the balance. But should the evil deceive reality, then the would-be heroes would lay defeated, and the universe torn to shreds in the void. And though the shadow had found the next heroes of the realm, there was no telling what might happen should the shadow push forward and attempt to kill the heroes prematurely. Though the shadow had a power to wipe multiverses out in the blink of an eye, such strength was ill befitting of the slivers of evil he used as vessels, and could not be contained within them. So it is that the shadow in such a state would be overpowered by the heroes should he reveal himself in full, the universe giving ever more power to compensate for his strength. The shadow left his inner musings soon enough, and gave a messenger the written order before taking his leave. The shadow stared out over Inamorta, remembering the last time he had lain waste to it. The shadow had the intention of prodding at the world, testing it's reactions and defenses. The king of the Arkadics had proven to be a surprise to the shadow, hurling a blast of energy such that the universe had never seen before, and stopping destruction's march in one fell swoop. Of course, this did not stop the shadow even bound as he was from entering the universe at the time. The shadow had developed a promising force for the people of Inamorta to contend with, a terrible nation of serpents meant to rot the land with their taste for magical energy. This would've proved to be a failed experiment after the Battle of Snake's End, were it not for his brother intervening. Perhaps they thought the serpents would be a valuable asset for their armies, but it did not matter to the shadow. The shadow continued to look out across the world, it's mask grinning at what was soon to come. The shadow then felt a pang of pain as something entered the universe. An old wound stirred on the shadow's mask, though it was hidden. "So the ignoble thorn has come to watch the game as well. So be it." The shadow disappeared, the faintest hint of resentment and irritation lingering within the shadow.

No sooner had Lappis been able to stand had a letter come bearing orders specifically for him. Him and Fulgaris, as it was. This left quite a few eyebrows raised, but it seemed that no one could deny the legitimacy of the letter, and it would be near impossible to deny a request apparently high up from the ranks of Order's military, but people still seemed to want to ask questions about it. This left everyone in charge in a foul mood, as even though they truthfully answered that they knew nothing about why the order had come and why it was so specific, people still asked with increasing frequency. This also put Lappis and Fulgaris on edge as well, as the same people were also prone to asking themselves about it. Then there was Lorn, who was somewhat suspicious of the whole affair. While he did not press, Lappis felt like the man was trying to pry into his soul with his eyes. Eventually though, the time to leave did come. However, it was not in an expected way or time, being the dead of night, with few watching. In fact, Lappis probably would've been asleep as well, were it not for Lorn waking him up. "Wake up, boy. It would appear that your time to go has come. Hey, Wake up!" Lorn insistently whispered in Lappis's ear, determined to wake him up. When Lappis was awake, he got up very sluggishly, and became surprised to see Fulgaris awake as well, albeit with bleary eyes. "What's happening now?" Lappis said, quite a bit disoriented. "I said that your time has come to go, Lappis. The carriage almost barged in through the gates and gave everyone awake a surprise." Lorn said, seemingly fine with this. Lappis got what he had, waking up a bit more.

When they had gotten to the carriage, it seemed as though nothing had happened. Other than the guards around giving somewhat cautious glances at the carriage, anyone who was awake and alert seemed to pretend that it didn't exist. There was one man who seemed to have been sleeping against a wall near the wounded, who blinked at it repeatedly. Lappis could hear some of the man's grumbles as he walked off to another wall and sat down to sleep. "....Always when I get some sleep.......Need to leave quickly at this point......I swear....Hate this job..." Lappis and Fulgaris looked at the man for a moment while walking over to the carriage, but stopped looking after nearly running into a guard. The carriage driver waved slightly and motioned for them to get on. They climbed onto the back of it, and sat down. And as they pulled up the back of the carriage, Lorn spoke. "You two better keep your wits about, there's clearly something odd at work here. You better remember what I taught for what little time you were here, blueblood." Lappis nodded, and was about to turn, when Lorn stopped him. "One moment, you forgot your little trophy." Lorn gave Lappis the curved sword of the serpenknight, which Lappis had left accidentally in his attempt to pack things up as sleepy as he was. "Thanks, I hope I'll see you again sometime, Lorn." Lorn simply nodded. "Likewise, Lappis." After that the carriage driver gave the two an annoyed look, and they went off. To where, Lappis wondered. "If only that thing had told a bit more." Lappis thought as they rode off to wherever the strange shadow wanted them to go.

The carriage ride went on for a few days, riding back through the Ice Hills and No Man's Land, and then east near Order's main territory. The carriage driver wasn't too talkative, but spoke a little when their interest was perked over something the two were talking about. Lappis and Fulgaris mostly talked about home and the concept of bloodlines and their peculiar tendencies to cycle through the same thing over and over with natural abilities and tendencies. "I'm just saying, it seems a bit odd that not everyone has stuff that borders on natural magic, even when in a bloodline. I mean, how do you say something is a bloodline when there are no discernable traits that make the "bloodline" unique?" Lappis said with genuine curiosity. Fulgaris swiftly replied, having a simple answer. "Well, bloodlines were originally used to speak of a specific family, like a family of nobles of the Great Knights or Order. It's only when people started to see patterns in some of the more known bloodlines that the term was used this way." Lappis shrugged, still a bit unsatisfied. "Hmmm... makes me wish we could've seen some of the old great knights back when they were still around. Seeing them and the esoteric mages at work must've looked like something out of a fairy tale." Lappis was about to say more, but was cut off by the carriage driver. "Well, you could perhaps see a trace of their former glory, but I doubt you would like it. God only knows how brutal an experience like that would be for anyone." Fulgaris simply stared at the man, knowing full well what he was implying. "Juggerknights aren't exactly the Great Knights at this point though, are they? They're something similar, but they have different styles and mentalities. So much time has passed that I'd hardly consider them the same thing." The carriage driver simply waved Fulgaris off. "Maybe you're right, but who knows at this point? I'm sure everyone knows that there's more than a lust for carnage and suffering. If there wasn't I doubt we would have such a well known story circling around about one of them, I'm sure you know. Supposedly one of the knights killed during the second Stick War was an honorable knight left over from the Great Knights. The man was one of the few training other Juggerknights, and handpicked by Medusa herself, no less! Sadly I doubt he is still around, after all, the story about him ends with him being slain defending Medusa inside her castle. But you never know, these things are always changing." The carriage driver looked forward for a moment, while Lappis and Fulgaris sat there, thinking. "Ah, we're about there now, better start getting ready!" Lappis looked up in surprise. "What? I thought the trip would take a few more days!" The driver simply shrugged. "Yeah, but it seems someone wanted you two to get on a ship halfway through. Beats me though, I would've thought going to the edge of eastern Inamorta would've been faster on carriage, but it's not like I would complain even if I wanted to. You don't exactly question order's like this, they always seem to have this feeling that your comitting a grievous crime by questioning it. Well, I hope you two don't have such a hard time doing whatever it is they want you to." The carriage driver stopped the carriage after this, gesturing down to a small set of docks, with a small ship waiting there. "Seems a bit obvious, but that should be where you need to go." The two said goodbye to the driver, and started walking down towards the docks.

The docks themselves seemed to be mostly barren in terms of people, other than a few guards walking about. One of them came up to the two. "I presume you're the ones that are supposed to get on the ship, as per the orders?" Lappis nodded slightly, while Fulgaris replied with a yes to the guard. "Good, the few sailors on the ship were beginning to lose patience. There are some supplies on the ship, sent with the orders. I'm sure there are more specifics with the sailors, if you want to get going quickly." The two nodded again, and the guard went back to patrolling the edges of the docks. Lappis ended up staring past the ship at the sea for a moment once they got to the ship, while Fulgaris tried to get a sailor's attention. The sailor, however, seemed to either not hear them, or simply did not care. Lappis looked up at the sailor as Fulgaris began to get a tad annoyed with the man. Another sailor came up quickly at this point, looking a bit annoyed himself, until he realized that it wasn't another guard calling for them. "Oh! Well then, sorry for the delay, I'll bring down the gangplank." The sailor motioned for them to get on after putting down a long plank to connect the ship to the dock. As the two got on, the sailor who got them on went to the other sailor, who still seemed oblivious to the situation, and tore something out of his ear. "Hey! Can't you see I'm fishing?" The two saw the sailor suddenly turn to face the other while saying this, and revealed a fishing pole that Lappis and Fulgaris hadn't seen due to his back being turned. The man reeled the line in, and as he put it down the other pointed at the two. The man's eyes widened once he saw Lappis and Fulgaris. "Alright, fine then, I'll go get the boss. Please don't interrupt me like that next time though." The fisher grabbed something hastily out of the other sailor's hand, and went below deck. The other sailor went over to the two. "My apologies, my friend puts in noise-canceling earplugs when he fishes. He'll get our boss and we'll speak more. After that, we'll get going. I'll be back in a moment!" The sailor ended up going below deck as well, and the two were left standing there.

After a few minutes the sailors came back with an older man. The man furrowed his eyebrows on seeing the two of them, and started muttering. "Of course it's only goddamn two, isn't it? Of course they're fucking having me and these two drag a couple of boys halfway across Inamorta to get to some godforsaken "Island"! And for what? Just because someone wants to see some random island be used for no reason? Why oh why would they use my debt on something such as this?" The man's voice slowly got louder until the other two sailors started to quiet him. "C'mon boss, there are guards around, not to mention these two! God knows what'll happen if you start ranting here. You know we have to do this now either way, we can all yell how terrible this is once we're at sea, okay? Let's just make sure everything is in order and that there won't be any surprises." The older man looked at them for a moment with a stare that could no doubt scare off death, but quickly looked at Lappis and Fulgaris, seemingly done ranting for now. "To start off with, why exactly are you two being sent off to an island off the east coast of Inamorta?" "Well, as far as we know, we're being sent to scout out the place, apparently they might want it used as an outpost or fort, in case the serpentine decide to try and sneak straight to Order's capital," Lappis said after a moment of thinking. He knew it probably wouldn't be the best explanation, but it was the first thing that came into his head, and sounded pretty solid. Fulgaris added onto this, knowing it would be in their best interests to just go with the sailors, as at this point it would be hard to go anywhere else on foot, as they didn't know the area. "Yeah, they probably wanted to make sure that there was no way for the serpentine to easily go for a quick finish."One of the sailors started grumbling. "Well, how nice of them to tell us nothing in the orders. I'm sure everyone would be a bit happier if we all knew why we are doing this." The explanation seemed to take hold, and the older sailor simply sighed. "Fine, there's nothing to be done anyways, we appreciate you explaining this to us. I still think that it's bullshit, but at least it's slightly more reasonable now." The older sailor pointed to the other sailors. "They'll show you to sleep, other than that, you'll be helping us maintain everything here. I have to go and sort out this mess in my head, so I'll be taking my leave now." The older sailor walked below deck, and the other sailors started motioning them to follow. "C'mon now, there are still a few places to sleep in this place, despite it being packed with supplies right now."

The sailors showed the two where to sleep, almost the moment they got down the stairs. "Now, yeah, it isn't much, just a few sheets and what not, but there isn't really room for aught else. We were actually worried if there were going to be too many people originally, as a good deal would've had to sleep up on the deck, but I suppose that isn't something to worry about now. Really a disappointment though, when I think about it." The other sailor started going back up. "Well, now that that's done, I would like to fish now, if you'll excuse me." The sailors stared at each other for a moment, and then the one who had shown them where to sleep sighed, and the other went back up. "Sorry, he does greatly enjoy fishing, just tap him on the shoulder if you need anything from him while he's fishing. He generally keeps a good count of the fish on the ship, so if you want fish specifically, just ask him."

After this, Lappis was asked to help get the ropes for the sail ready by one of the sailor's. "I need to makes sure that the ropes are'nt loose before we go tomorrow, otherwise the sail might end up simply flapping in the wind. and you too." The sailor pointed at Fulgaris. "You seem like you'll notice if there's anything off about them, i'll tell you what to look for, it'll help us find which ropes to tighten or mess with quicker." the two helped the sailor for a few hours, mostly tightening ropes and sometimes loosening ones that might put too mouch strain on the sails edges, which might tear them off. "Is that it then?" Lappis asked, a tad tired. "Should be, as far as i can tell. I come for you two again if there's something else i need done on the ship before we go, but I gotta check on the boss." the sailor went belowdeck again, Lappis sat down to rest a little. Fulgaris almost did to, before noticing the other sailor fishing, humming a tune to himself as he did. Fulgaris went over to him to watch.

after awhile of just staring at the end of the fishing pole, Fulgaris heard the man speak. "Ok now, your starting to creep me out a little, why do you keep watching me?" Fulgaris was suddenly surprised. "Huh?" was the most he could get out for a moment. "What? You thought that I would'nt realize someone was just watching me? I may have some strong earbuds to keep out the extra noise, but it's hard to ignore the feeling of being watched. So, once more, with feeling. Why are you watching me?" Fulgaris sat there, a bit dumbfounded for a moment, before attempting to speak again. "Well.. there is'nt much else to do on here, is there? unless you've got, like, I don't know, a chess board laying around here?" The man snickered for a moment. "Naw, no random chessboards floating around. I guess i can't fault you then, just tap me on the shoulder if your going to watch me next time, ok? This is the one thing i can use relax on a ship, and it's hard to relax when I feel like i'm being watched bye someone. Hah, or something." The man stopped talking, but Fulgaris suddenly had a question. "Why is this so relaxing to you? Your just waiting around for something to happen." The man turned his head a little toward fulgaris, not keen on missing a fish getting hooked. "Hmmmm, i could ask why your watching me then, if it's so boring for you. but it's not really about catching fish, i suppose. more so just... staring at the ocean. It's calming, in a way. At first you just notice the waves and the sky, calm as can be. But then you notice smaller things, a little bit of sand being dredged up here and there, a small fish or other creature quickly flitting through the water, a small reef in the distance. stuff like that has always been relaxing to look at, especially near the shore, where there's actually stuff to look at closely beneath the surface. you should try it. this will probably be your only chance to..." The man seemed to be a bit tense now. "It'll probably be my last chance for awhile too... Something feels off about the water even now. It's like something hiding in the sands, watching and laughing..." the mans eyes squint. "Probably just pre-journey jitters though, I've felt like this before, when we've gone on long voyage's. you should really see the western oceans the the phalange's have, truly beautiful. might be why those people enjoy sailing so much..." the man started humming again, and Fulgaris did'nt know what to say. He just watched the ocean with the man, and Lappis eventually came over, arms crossed on the balcony, looking over it all. "Where do you think we're headed, Ful?" Lappis asked, a bit worried as to where all this was going. "I don't know lappis, and i don't think we'll find out until we're there. But i do think we need to see it through." Fulgaris and Lappis looked at each over, and nodded.

Fulgaris wondered this place was, and why he would have such a dream. He and Lappis had gone to sleep with the other sailor's after watching the fishing sailor for a while and helping move stuff around, and could only presume that he was dreaming. He was standing in a black hallway, luminous crystals that were seemingly part of the black wall itself were spaced to light the place. This gave Fulgaris many questions as it was, but then the music started. It began quickly after Fulgaris realized he was lucidly dreaming, A noise could be faintly heard down the hallway, and Fulgaris, seeing no real reson to stay, started trying to follow the noise .Fulgaris looked at the walls as he wandered, wondering why he would even follow the sound of... what ever it was, in what seemed to be ever winding hallways. the walls felt smooth, but clearly had engravings on thems, twisting tentacles of pitch black, becoming more jagged and less distinct at the luminous crystals. the wall felt almost squishy, as though it was'nt completely solid. as time went on, Fulgaris began to question why he was having a dream like this, but decided that he would'nt exactly be able to figure out why even though he wanted to. then, as he was wondering about lucid dreaming and various crystals, the noise finally become loud enough for Fulgaris to recognize it as music. and another noise accompanied it too. thin, whispery sounds seemingly coming out at once to form a single, willful voice. the voice "spoke" along with the music, spitting out a cacophony of noise's that barely resembled anything short of a language. Fulgaris hastened his way to what he hoped was the music and the voice, until the hallway widened, and he came into a room with a figure that stood out against the light, playing the music he had heard the entire time.

The figure stopped playing as soon as he went in to the room, and turned around, seemingly waiting for him. the figure was fully black, and looked as though it was made of wispy, black clouds. It also had a white mask, completely jagged at all edges, in a symmetrical way. glowing red dots stared at Fulgaris from the eye holes in the mask, and the smile contorted the mask gave contorted as the figure spoke. "Ah, so you are the one with the curious boy I sent for, are'nt you?" The thing gave a chuckle, and started talking again before Fulgaris could reply. "Interesting place, no? I had a bit of fun tampering with your dream so we could speak, and a bit more toying around with some music while I waited for you to wander here. A pleasure, to meet you." Fulgaris was taken aback by the thing. He asked a question, not knowing what to say in this situation he found himself in. "Who are you?" "It depends, what answer are looking for? a name? what I am? I can say I am many things. a demon, for you people, A force of nature, for some. but in the end, all that matter's little in this place, and the best answer would be that I am a shadow. honestly though, a question like that is a bit annoying to me, so please refrain from asking it repeatedly." Huh? A.. Name, I guess. The shadow bowed, and put the away violin it was using, dropping it into a strange hole in the air that was as black as the Shadow itself. "I am the shadow of darkness, and it would seem that you... are not satisfied with the name." The shadow chuckled. "thats because thats a title, not an actual name." Fulgaris had gotten annoyed with the thing obviously toying with him. "Hmm, it a title used to describe what... My being is, so to say. therefore, it is a name. But if you are really that insistent, delaying my name being said would be meaningless. although, I don't see why you would need one, especially since I have so many.""If you know what I'm thinking, then you clearly know why I need a name." Fulgaris and the Shadow stared at each other for a few moments. "Hmph, Your reasoning is meaningless, and you shall soon know why, but delaying this is also meaningless, so you will get what you desire, a name that I tend to favor. It is Arzor." Fulgaris eyes widened slightly as he stared at the shadow, realizing what he meant. outside of what had been told by the Magikill at the outpost at Nexus, There was nothing else to go on about the shadow. even the name was nothing to go on, as He had never heard of anything called Arzor in inamorta's history, and he doubted there was anything about it in the Phalanges history either. "Now then." the shadow said, meaning to stop that train of thoughts. "It's about time to leave this dream, as delightful as staying in my twisted throne is, I have, what? less that a second left to talk? Ahh, should'nt have made the trip so long, but alas, here we are. You should know though, even what knowledge you will learn will only get you so far, as I'm going to show a side the Arkadics never got to see.""What, who are the Arkadics?!" The shadow simply started to back away. "Don't worry, they'll see you soon, both you and that curious boy."

And then, fulgaris woke up to Lappis shaking him. "Hey, you ok? I know you can sleep hard sometimes, but this is ridiculous!" Fulgaris opened his eyes very slowly, (it felt like glue clung to them), and looked at Lappis. "What do you mean? I don't feel like I slept at all.." Lappis looked up and around for a moment. "Well, I'd have reason to agree, but I've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes now." Fulgaris got up, and started walking to the stairs to the deck of the ship. lappis followed soon after. "Hey, whats going on? You seem a bit... scuffed." Lappis quickly caught up, and the two continued to walk a bit. "Sorry, I had a bit of a.. dream. We should talk more on it soon."

"Ok, sure, I guess. but why not now."

"it has to do with that shadow.."

"Oh.... Are you sure?"

Fulgaris held the door open as they both went out onto the deck. "Yeah, the thig I talked with definitely seemed like a match with what you told me."

Chapter 8

The two came out to a somewhat dark sky. The sun had'nt quite come up yet, but light was shining over the horizon, giving enough sight to move around the ship. there was talk up above and behind them, by the steering wheel. "Do you think there will be enough wind to carry us to the eastern edge?" "If we skim by the beach, maybe. it's about our only way to get there so quickly." They looked over at what the three sailors were doing. The captain and the sialor who was working the ropes before were conversing about how they could catch winds to go faster, while the fishing sailor was looking at seemed to be chart at the table, and shaking his head gently randomly while scribbling stuff down. "Hey, Are you sure we'll even be able to get to this island? if what this map we got with the orders is accurate, we'll have go much farther into the shallow waters than most others have.." The captain went and looked over at the map. "Yes, there a few deeper canals in the ocean we should be able to fit through. Appearently some others have made it, serpentine or order scouts. we'll just have to be careful for reefs, and try not to go turning in to different directions, you've heard the tales about those waters." The third sailor looked up, and Lappis followed his gaze to the wrapped sail. "Hey." the sailor called to the others. "should we open the sail and try our luck right now?' "Yeah, go ahead, the sooner we get there, the better."