WNADC Chap 1 - The Diary from the Past

         To know about the world, you would have to read the book. It may be basic history, but for those outside, it is necessary.

         Anyone who saw the small book could have told you that this book was ancient. The tightly-bound leather over the cover was worn away in places despite obvious care taken for the work’s preservation. The gold embossed title was almost completely worn away, leaving only a pinstripe of gold around the edges of the elegant lettering marking it as a diary. Not many of the pages were actually written upon; many pages contained sketches of people and things mentioned in the story. Few could access the original copy of this book, but translations were used far and wide for the education of children. None could argue that its age heightened its authenticity and, likely, its infallibility, despite the oddities in its construction. The writer had been a prophet, a fact which should have added to its authenticity if not for the fact that the prophet was alive and no more than thirty years old.

         None knew how the prophet had written the book millennia ago, yet have had his birth properly recorded and witnessed so recently. The diary was written about a span of impossible years, yet talked as if it were all in the past. His madness prevented him from even attempting to explain, for his prophecies came in waking dreams of confusion, tendrils of insanity curling through his mind and vision. The book was written unmistakably in his handwriting, yet its lucidity begged to question how the book could ever have been created at all. The illustrations drawn in the book are in the style of today as well, also drawn by the hand of the prophet. But none disputed that it was an account of the true history of Moarei, written and confirmed by a true prophet of Delachimarron. And that was enough for any critic.

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         In the beginning, there was mystery. None know the true origins of Moarei and its gods. None know but Delachimarron, and she will keep what secrets she wills. Yet the truth has been revealed to me, the truth of all but our earliest days, and I shall tell it to all who are willing to hear.

         There was a time, in the earliest years of our own civilization, in which Moarei had no gods. There was no magic, for the Ancient Secret had been forgotten. There were only three large cities, and on the roads in between these cities sprawled several small wilderness settlements and farms. The land was rough and wild and only the weapons of man held back the wild things from outside. Creatures were the only enemies of man, and these were not mingled with the magic of today. Steel was sufficient to deal with these. However, the myths of man included unnatural creatures of magic and sorcery and of spheres beyond ours. They may have existed here before, yet none know for sure. However, speculation is not the point of the story I tell.

         On an unknown day, the sky was rent by a brilliant light twisted with shadows. It seemed that the sun was outshone and blotted out at once, in a single instant. Moarei would never be the same as it was, for this was the arrival of Ellande, Lord of Light, and Avekx, Lord of Darkness. The shadow and the light fell as if they were the sparks of firecrackers, raining down on the land. These sparks seeped into the ground and restored magic in the world, though these seeds would take time to grow.

         Avekx and Ellande had fought for aeons over their own world up until the destruction of its sun. Their combat now raged on in the skies of Moarei, silhouetted against the sun by day and moon by night. At last, the combatants separated, determined not to allow the destruction of the world, yet equally determined to secure it from each other. Avekx focused his attention on Iyasu and the forest of Doril, while Ellande spread his power over Vastania, Oture, and the forest of Tuvonahe in-between. A proud city called Chaseix, sister city to Oture, also came under the light of Ellande. Ellande was pleased at the number of followers he had gained and was sure of his eventual success. Yet Avekx had a different plan. He secured an iron hold over Iyasu and Doril and then stopped all outward signs of “evangelization”.

         Both gods had gifted exceptional followers with powers of magic. By this time, the seeds of magic had grown and shown fruit in the form of unnatural creatures and walking dead. The unnatural creatures settled into suitable habitats that suited them, the sentient ones associating with whichever people they preferred. The creatures were chaotic and disorderly, unsure of their place in the world. The small number of walking dead, called undead, settled under the mountains in the largest crypt in the land. The ways in were barricaded to prevent entrance, though none would want to enter regardless. No city had time to waste on an attack when their immediate problem was defense. However, a larger number of undead had been created by the necromancers of Avekx for use in mundane tasks. More skilled or powerful forms of undead were used in the armies themselves.

         No one was ready when the first blow fell. The very few survivors reported that members of the local militia suddenly turned in the middle of various small battles with the armies of Avekx and assumed command of the opposing troops. They led their enemies to the destruction of their own towns. Only the main cities were free of attack. However, the youths who turned knew every tactic, every weak point, and everything else about their once-homelands. The balance changed. These thirteen youths became Avekx’s Generals. These Generals became the most feared people in the land, yet none are left who remember their faces. They usually wore helms like their god’s that left their face in shadow, revealing only the blood-red burning orbs of their eyes.

         The loss of ground for Ellande was sudden and catastrophic. What towns that hadn’t been occupied were wiped out completely. Avekx revealed that his resources of undead were far greater than any had ever imagined. His magic was shown to be cruelly effective and his tactics were devious.

         As the years, the decades, and the centuries went by, it became clear that this war was to be long, bloody, and terrible. However, Avekx planned on winning. In a daring move, the Priestess-General Valia the Silent led her personal division to Chaseix while the rest of her battalion distracted the army of nearby Oture. Valia stood on the highest hill overlooking the city after slaughtering the guards of the outpost there. Her division spread out, clerics standing atop each of the hills around the city with a small guard. Oture fell silent as the battalion immediately retreated and words began to echo through the air. None before had ever heard Valia speak and none who heard could ever forget that awful incantation.

         Something was called from Beyond, a creature of nightmare that made the animals of even Oture scream, that made the few fleeing refugees mad with horror. It twisted their souls and shattered their minds and sucked the life out of all in Chaseix and all just outside its walls. Even creatures and plants were drained of life to empower this nightmare. The air was rent by a soul-clutchingly horribly scream as Valia’s incantation ended and the nightmare creature was no more. The gathered power and life and destruction exploded into the sky, shattering the very ground. Ellande himself was forced to protect Oture from the blast. The moon and stars turned to blood before vanishing into shadow, leaving Moarei in complete darkness. Day did not come as it should, and storms clashed all over the land as Valia gathered her forces back in Iyasu to wait. What she waited for, none knew.

         Yet what she expected became painfully clear as a month later, the sun appeared setting, the sky streaked with rivers of blood. All hope seemed lost, for when the sun vanished beyond the horizon, its last ray shot out like a bolt and struck Iyasu, empowering the army of Avekx and summoning the god himself. Avekx and his Priestess-General prepared their army while Ellande summoned all of his remaining might to challenge Avekx personally. Civilians fled Oture while the army assembled in their place. Avekx and Ellande clashed again in the sky, yet this time, the battle was unequal. Ellande fell into Oture just as Avekx’s army breeched the walls and marched into the city. Ellande’s followers mourned their god, their fallen, and their own hopeless situation. Valia herself battled the city’s archmage, Lane the Elder, under the judging eye of Avekx.

         The Archmage was wounded, Avekx laughed aloud, and as the final blow fell, the blood-streaks in the sky vanished. The moon reappeared in a flash of violet and the stars quickly blinked back into sight. The moon sent a ray down on a pale, beautiful woman. Her night-black hair was wreathed in stars and her violet-blue eyes swirled strangely. She stood, protecting the fallen Archmage and facing Valia and Avekx.

         “I am Delachimarron, Goddess of Dream, Lady of Chaos,” the woman spoke in an almost laughing voice. “Avekx, your direct interference has rent this world. Your fight with Ellande has already destroyed one world.” As quickly as she had appeared, her voice changed tone to that of baleful judgment. “You will not destroy this world.”

         A violet aura shone around Ellande and Lane. The Goddess stretched out her hands and gently lifted them to their feet. Smiling, she bestowed a blessing on Lane the Elder, protector of his people. She turned back to Avekx’s army and simply told Avekx to “follow the rules.” With a playful wink, the army and the Lord of Death vanished, reappearing in their own town. Avekx was weakened and brooded over a solution and a strategy.

         None know why or when many of the sentient undead of Avekx revolted and fled to their brothers in the Crypts. Their leader was Morden the Vampire, yet he was felled in the escape. His wife and son mourned and Delachimarron took pity on them. She brought the wife into ascension, naming her Abyssma, Goddess of Undeath. Her son stayed to speak for their people and to aid the mayor of the crypt, the Lich Zherkul. For balance, she also brought up the Queen of the Fae to preside as Oreska, Goddess of Nature.

         None knew what happened to the Priestess-General Valia the Silent. She simply vanished, and the other Generals waned. Jaken the Flame took her position as Priest-General, though the army of Avekx never recovered.

         It is best that the final words of this history are to be of warning. We should always learn from the mistakes of the past. One day, Avekx may overcome Ellande by following the rules of the gods. The Lady of Chaos may not save us then. Only the fallen, the forlorn, the broken may save us then.

         Know this, for I am Valos the Dreamer.