In the beginning there was balance. The twin states of light and shadow were balanced, the nature of form existed through the equilibrium of these two primeval forces. Love and hate. Life and death. Order and chaos.
Then there was the dissonance. The balance was shifted and the war between light and shadow began. None could recall when it truly occurred but the immortals knew that the order of creation had changed, forever. Those that once believed themselves alone questioned their judgments as the gates opened. The realms were no longer separate the dissonance had opened up the worlds.
The shadow lords saw now what was opportunity. Invasions began of other and lesser worlds. The first war between light and shadow claimed thousands of lives from the inner and outer realms. Eventually a mighty blow was struck to the forces of darkness and the shadow lords retreated. The greatest of the shadow lords was the dark god Amrath he retreated to one of the outer planes with his army.
After a fashion order once again came to the realms the shadow lords became quiet and after a time their names passed into legend. Once figures of horror they were now but words spoken to children in the night to scare them.
But all this was an age ago. Secuvis was the centre of the universe. The great city of Secuvis was the anchoring point of the realms, through it people ventured to the outer and inner realms. The city was a sprawling mass of streets, home to thousands who had come here seeking some fortune. At its centre was the House of Doors, where the gates to the realms were located. A dying old cathedral once home to a forgotten god. The House of Doors was now the abode the custodian and his charges. The custodian was the gatekeeper.
Secuvis was ruled over by the Royal house of Alrae and the senators of the commons. Although Secuvis was a monarchy the Senate made the majority of the political decisions. The king was dying and had very little to do with policy making anymore. He had but one heir the young prince Orlis, who was going to accede to the throne very soon.
Art was laid down on the bed in his chambers. He was busy studying. Art was one of the Custodian charges, he was one of two apprentices. He casually turned the page in his book. He was reading a lengthy tome on the Inner Planes. Art thought it somewhat ironic that he had to read books on the subject when in the place he lived were the gates to the same realms.
He stared at beautifully painted vista of the world of Athenia. Athenia was a tribal world and very backwards in comparison to Secuvis. The people of Athenia lived in large tribes. The people of Athenia's whole lives revolved around the tribes. Art found it odd to think that a person could spend his entire life with the same people until the day he died. Art had read this book several times the other realms fascinated him. He longed more than anything to see the Inner and Outer planes but Custodian wouldn't let him go anywhere but Secuvis.
Art revelled in his position as the Custodian's apprentice. He spent every waking moment reading about what lay beyond the gates. He took a lot of interest in reading about the Avatar's of the realms. The Avatar's were deities of the realms in essence they were gods. Each of the realms outer and inner had an Avatar. Art had read up on what ever he could about all of the realms. In the books he found several references to places called the lost realms but none of the books had anything really informative in them. From what he could work out the lost realms were worlds that had been near destroyed in a war long ago. The Custodian had refused to speak much on that matter merely saying that unspeakable things lived there.
Art was eighteen and had been left on the steps of the House of Doors before he had even reached his first birthday. Sometimes he wondered who his real parents were but he regarded the Custodian as his father. He was not the only apprentice of the Custodian. The Custodian's other apprentice was Valis. Valis and Art had a slight rivalry they were the best of friends but also sporting rivals.
Valis had come to House of Doors when he was five, his parents had past away sometime before then and he had been put into the care of one of his grandparents. They had wanted Valis to be an apprentice to someone important. The rumour was that the Custodian had seen a spark of something in Valis and decided to take him under his wing. Where as Art was the keen student Valis was a little arrogant and reckless and didn't always bother with his studies.
Art yawned slightly, he was feeling tired. Carefully he put the book down on the floor next to him. Art's room was quite large and in the upper areas of the cathedral. It was barely furnished but Art was happy with the possessions he had in his room. He turned around to face the small bedside table, upon it was a small oil lamp. Art blew it out and got under his bedsheets. The small bed enveloped him and he was soon fast asleep.
He drifted off into darkness… in the distance Art could see a large field of green. Was he not dreaming he might have wondered whether not it was Athenia. On the plain he could see a figure clothed in a heavy black cloak. The figure faced away from him, slowly whoever it was turned to face him. It was a girl staring up at him she smiles gingerly at him. Her face was youthful and her skin was a light blue hue and her eyes a deep flame red. He stared deeply at her, her beauty captivated him in the darkness.
He could see on her lips that she was mouthing words he could not make out. He knew it was a message of importance but despite his efforts he could never make them out. Upon her shoulder he saw a hand the hand was encased in flame but it did not engulf her clothing. He started to look up at whoever it was. Art could see a giant of a person whose entire body was that of a living flame. The flames burnt with a great intensity but he could not make out who it was. Beyond the figures Art could see it the planes circling around Secuvis wreathed in fire.
Then he could hear the words in his head.
"All of this is my fault, all of this destruction was wrought by a simple emotion."
He heard a second voice of the whispering tones of the young girl.
"Wake up Art… and stay safe."
As the dream faded Art awoke. He could feel beads of sweat pouring down his forehead. He wiped his brow clean and sat up in bed. The same dream again, it was almost as if it was a message someone was trying to tell him, that he couldn't understand. This time it had been different he had only seen the girl before. Despite how late it was Art wanted some kind of answer about what was happening to him. He had spoken to the custodian about his dreams before.
Art got out of bed and changed out of his nightclothes into loose leather tunic and a pair of dark black pants. Art walked out his room into the corridor. Opposite his room was Valis bedroom, at this time of night his friend would be fast asleep. Art had mentioned his dreams to Valis. Valis had laughed them off saying there were just nonsense, Art wished that to be true but felt there was something more to them.
The Custodian's chambers were a few floors down. Art walked along the corridor to the stairs, he headed to the Custodian's room pondering his dreams as he went. Art knocked lightly on the door. He waited for a moment but there was no answer, although he felt like he was intruding Art opened the door. The Custodian only had a small room, which was very minimalist. There was a small bed but the Custodian rarely seemed to sleep. He would often be up scouring old documents and manuscripts.
Art found it strange that the Custodian was not in his room. He wondered where he could be. Art couldn't think of a reason why he would not be in his room at this time. Art stepped back out of the room and closed the door behind him. Art decided to search one of the lower floors, he walked back along the corridor to stairs and headed down a flight of stairs. He was startled as he heard what sounded like raised voices coming from the floor he was on.
Art was on the second floor were the cathedral's library was located. The library was at the other end of the corridor. Art could see the door to it was opened and could make out faint traces of light coming from it. The voices had stopped but it had intrigued him to see what was going on so Art headed towards the door. He pushed it open and was shocked by what he saw inside.
The library was the second largest room in the cathedral, second only to the Hall of Doors itself. Lining the walls were large bookshelves. Filled with books on the realms and other subjects such as magic and various religions. Normally Art's attention would have been drawn to the section of books about the realms but right now something was preoccupying his attention.
In the middle of the room Valis was stood over the Custodian's body. In his right hand he clutched a bloody dagger. The dagger was dripping the Custodian's blood. Valis stood there with a wicked smile on his face and a malicious look in his eyes. Valis had noticed his friend's entrance to the library. He knelt down and started to search through the Custodian's clothing. Art couldn't believe what he was looking at. The scene shocked him to his very core.
"W..what have you done?" Art managed to stammer out.
Valis looked up at his friend for a moment there was a slight look of surprise in his eyes but it soon faded. "What does it look like I've killed the old fool." Valis answered.
"Why?" Art asked.
"Because he was in the way. You never did realise what it was he was truly doing did you?"
"What do you mean?"
"The ol' bastard gave this place balance. He prevented it from being tipped one way or the other." Valis explained.
"What?" Was all Art could say.
"The old war, you idiot. The eternal conflict between light and shadow, Secuvis and the Custodian balanced the two states preventing either from gaining the upper hand."
"The first war. That's what this is about?" Art asked.
"No and yes. This is about power." Valis told him.
"Power?"
"The dark god Amrath is returning. He has spent millennia in the lost realms regaining his strength and rebuilding his army since the first war. He is returning to wage his war against the forces of light once again, only this time he's going to win."
Art had heard the name before. There were a few references to the shadow lords in the books in the library but the references were scant. Amrath was the most powerful of all of the dark gods.
"That doesn't explain why you called Berris." Art replied. Berris was the Custodian's real name but few used it.
"I thought it was perfectly clear. I'm an acolyte of Amrath." Valis replied.
"For how long?" Art asked.
"You think you're the only one who has been having dreams? I'd hoped that you wouldn't have seen this. I hoped that you'd have joined me. After all you've wanted to see the realms more than anything haven't you?"
"I would never have helped you killed the Custodian, he was like a father to me." Art retorted.
"That is quite unfortunate as I'm going to have to kill you now Art. A shame really as I've always seen you as a brother to me."
Art stepped back defensively. He realised that Valis had a weapon and therefore the upper hand. Art only had one option here he would have to run. Art was trying to figure where to go and then realised the one place he could head to the gates. Art could escape through to one of the other realms and lose Valis. Art turned quickly and slammed the door behind him. Without a further thought he took off down the corridor. As he reached the stairs he could hear the library door opening behind him.
Art ran down the stairs and made his way to the Hall of Doors. Behind him he could hear the sounds of Valis descending the staircase in pursuit of him. The Hall of Doors was a large room. It was lined with black marble on its walls. Around the room were nine doors leading to the Inner realms. They were unmarked much to Art's dismay so he couldn't know where he would end up. He quickly turned to the nearest door. It was made of thick oak, Art grasped the handle and pulled hard on it.
Art was thrown backward as he heaved the door open. He landed roughly on the floor and was shaken momentarily. He was quickly brought out of this by the sounds of Valis approaching him. Art picked himself up. He looked into the door, inside was a swirling blue circle. Art didn't have time to consider what would happen and dived through the door and into the blue light. |