Shadow of the Scorcher

Prologue

Ages come and go, some lasting what seemed forever, those were the early ages, the long ages. Now as they pass, they appear to simply fritter by, sometimes unnoticed, only seeing the beginning and ending. Beginnings are endings and the endings are beginnings, they seem to flow together not being very distinct from one another, other than in name, yet the turning of one particular age was remembered well.

Throughout the world knows as Yahgunath, There were many stories of Gods and demons, heroes and their prophecies. Stories of both good and evil in and amongst all the nations, peoples and creatures held profound prophecies. Dwarven, Human, Elfish, Giant, Sylvain, and so many more manners of life have their own prophecies, some with gods and some without. This story is that of the crossroads of all these things. Fire meets shadows, gods meet demons, magic is done and undone, and prophecies meet prophecies and prophets. Love is lost, and hope falters. But among the turmoil, and many walks of life, only one prophecy can become truth and reality.

Ancient Elves of Dallfawn

"Tired? Tired is for the weak and the dead." While that thought had coursed through Mage Vae’s mind, the wind whipped through his long light blonde hair as he rode upon the back of Czerflanx. His hair was held away from his face with a circlet of gold atop his brow, but the long length of it fluttered freely behind a grim looking pale pinkish-gray face and long pointed ears. His face was narrow and his chin pointed as most Elves of Dallfawn’s were, but he had had his eyesight enhanced with magic, and the whites of his eyes glimmered a faint blue color. Over his fit body, Vae wore his best leather armor. Both the high collared waist length coat and battle worn pants were dull black leather studded with black metal rings and intricately woven with red threads of magic. His stiff boots were firmly attached to the dragon saddle, and gauntleted hands held tight the reins that directed his beast where to go. The ground was at least seven thousand feet below him and from there he could see the entire mountain range that was home to the elves: Dallfawn.

Dallfawn keep itself was nestled high atop the highest mountain in all of Yahgunath. It was built of bleached white stone, atop a small peak within a mountaintop crater. Vae had long wondered at the structure that the Storm giants had built ages ago. In his earlier years he would fly this high with only the aid of magic, not with a beast such as Czerflanx, and he would do it merely for the thrill of it. Those days had gone by, and now he was at war with the very elves and storm giants that had raised him to be the powerful mage that he was.

Suddenly a crosswind blew hard across Vae and his beast’s path, he muttered, Damn you druids, stay out of this. Keep your infernal winds to yourself. As Mage Vae muttered his protests, a flash of lightning blasted close by him from a clear blue sky. His beast was a deft flyer, and he managed to avoid the bolt of lighting that was sent from an unseen mage somewhere inside Dallfawn Keep. Mage Vae gritted his teeth as he shouted obscenities into the air, Damn you foolish amateurs! I’ll have you turned into wampknots when I defeat you all! Blast you!

His blood ran thick with animosity since Vae had been removed from his position as leader of the Elves of Dallfawn, his nemesis Rhoem and Rhoem’s wife Canis were the leaders now. Rhoem and Canis usurped Vae’s iron fisted rule with new rules of love and affection. Vae was perplexed at how the congress of elders could be goaded by sympathy and such weakness as affection after relishing in order and rules for so long, after all, life was meant to abide by rules, not love. But after his powerful rule was taken, Vae watched his nation of the most powerful beings on Yahgunath extend their knowledge and gifts to others, and Vae just couldn’t let that continue.

Vae had spent the last few years building an army of all the scourge of the entire world, and now he was their general. This army of his was powerful, and it wrought terror, pain, death and destruction upon Dallfawn. War.

Thoughts of being tired had entered Vae’s mind again. Vae was tired, he had grown gaunt from all the war he had wreaked upon these lands, but he used the power of his will to push those feelings of fatigue away.

Far below him and his flying beast of terror, Vae’s army of orcs, ogres, drow, creatures from the mires of murky swamps and of nightmarish deceit, had set siege to Dallfawn and all its land. Vae smiled and looked back over his shoulder and took in the sight of the few remaining elves of Dallfawn that chose to follow him, and the many fire breathing dragons upon which they rode. He smiled devilishly at the vision of his wake of destruction against Dallfawn. These dragons were the most horrific beasts that he had encountered, all covered with scales and horns in every shade of red imaginable. Their most terrible attribute was their ability to breathe fire, but it was closely rivaled by their intelligence, claw and bite. Their voices had almost stunned Vae when he had first encountered them far underground Ge’Idar Mountain, it was as though the voice of the demon goddess Agonhel herself had filled his ears. The dragons were not just highly intelligent, they were also very good at bargaining and in exchange for their help their demands were very high.

Vae had wished he had not made the bargain, but a price must be paid for every gain. Vae new of the prophecies of the Storm giants, and he firmly believed that he was the one prophesied to be the Scorcher, the elf that would renew the world through fire, the one prophesied to rule not just Dallfawn, but the entire world as well. He felt that it was time to make the prophecy come to fruition. So he had agreed that once the war was won, that he would allow the dragons to live within Dallfawn Mountain itself. That was a bargain that he was afraid might be the undoing of Dallfawn. Dallfawn was a land filled with magic both arcane and divine, Their God had a hand in creating the mountain range, and the constant presence of the dragons might deplete that magic, this he knew. But Rhoem and his supporters must pay for their sins As the thought of his adversaries ran through his mind, a little voice in the far reaches of his conscience muttered As long as the Shadow Elf doesn’t undo all that you do. Vae put those thoughts out of his mind as he commanded his dragons to begin their mission.

His legions had been attacking Dallfawn keep for over a month now and had absolutely no success at entering the keep or faltering the will of the Ancient elves that fought back from within, so with rage in his blood he made the decision to completely decimate the lands. His dragon, Czerflanx, was the eldest and most dastardly of the more than fifty that were ready to kill at his command, and he yelled loudly to his brethren in the undistinguishable dragon tongue, Attack!

And attack they did. They began with the lands farthest away from the keep, and working in an upward spiral toward it, they began to burn the entire forest and all the life within it. Magical flames of every color danced up from the forests as the intrinsic magic of nature was destroyed. Vae and his hordes of evil did not stop until even Dallfawn castle itself was brightly lit aflame with dragon’s breath. Vae looked around and saw neither signs of a shadow elf, nor any shadows at all. Only fire and smoke.

Suddenly a ray of light came shining down upon Vae from a single cumulus cloud high above him. The ray was not threatening, but it was bright enough to hurt his eyes to the point of squinting, and the ray of light totally ensconced him. He felt Czerflanx tremble beneath the saddle. Vae looked around him and saw more rays of light, each one descended upon his comrades and their dragon mounts.

An extreme and sudden terror overcame Vae, He felt his body getting lighter and lighter, as though he was being lifted from the back of Czerflanx, simultaneously his mind felt lighter, as though unconsciousness was near. It was frightening, yet somehow peaceful. Vae glanced around at his followers once again and noticed that they were in fact being levitated from their saddles. The peaceful feeling in Vae’s mind was quickly vanquished in the next instant. He witnessed his own body being vaporized. It was slow, but he knew that his being was turning to mist. His prized magical armor was gone, leaving him naked from head to toe, then his skin became instantly transparent, exposing his muscles, veins, arteries and sinew. Vae wanted to scream out in terror, but he felt paralyzed, nothing would move, no breathing, no clenching, no screaming.

Then in an instant all of Vae’s being turned to a gray mist, he was gone, yet somehow he was still aware of his surroundings seven thousand feet in the air. Czerflanx began to fly away without its rider, as did the more than fifty other dragons. Vae could not move his field of vision, he wanted terribly to see what and why this was happening to him and his comrades. Panic and horror were the only feelings that filled his consciousness. Then in a flash, his surroundings were gone and he felt movement all around him, he felt his vaporous being tumble through an unseen passageway, sort of the feeling of sliding down a smooth river way, only he knew that he was traveling a very long distance in a short time.

Lights flashed all around him, sounds of groaning elves and crashing boulders rang out in his mind. What’s happening? Where am I? were questions floating automatically though his mind as the pain of being skinned alive coursed through his body. Vae was certain that he was dieing. Then, suddenly, more intense sounds and lights came crashing around him. In the next moment, he felt whole once again, his body wrapped in its own skin. Although he was relieved that he was whole, his senses were overloaded with echoes of the unbearable pain that he had just endured. Vae felt his body convulsing as he realized that he was surrounded by blowing sand filled winds along with searing hot air. The sandy wind howled louder than anything he had heard before, and the sand was scorching hot.

He attempted to open his eyes, only to have them blasted shut by the sandy wind and blinding light. He could feel the hot, sandy ground beneath his bare belly and the wind blowing across his bare back, the wind was filling his long white hair with sand, and blowing his long pointy ears all around. Vae attempted to get up on all fours and after a few harsh minutes of fighting fatigued muscles in this untamed environment, he managed to assume the crawling position. He quickly cupped his left hand over his eyes and tried to open them again, when he did, he realized that he wasn’t anywhere near Dallfawn, if even anywhere on Yahgunath itself. The very ground itself was nothing but sand that was being lifted into the air only to be replaced by more sand. Vae felt the sand building up on his left leg, and he knew that it wouldn’t take long to become buried in the super-heated sand.

Mage Vae Eirdyleri of the Ancient elves of Dallfawn had found himself in the direst of situations, not knowing where he was, without clothing or armor, not even a sword or canteen. But he knew that he was the Scorcher, and that he must survive, so he crawled and crawled until he thought he couldn’t breath anymore, then he crawled some more. After what seemed an eternity, he reached out and felt a rocky surface in front of his hand. The rock was smooth and slightly cool to the touch, that was the first welcome that this foreboding place had offered him, and he attempted to laugh, but could only manage a dry cough that irritated the whole of his throat. Then he opened his eyes with a tight squint and shaded them from the sandy wind to see if he could assess the size of the rock. He couldn’t see much, but he had surmised that it was a large granite boulder. Vae felt overwhelmed with fatigue as the wind tirelessly whipped sands across his back from his left side, so he crawled around to the leeward side of the boulder, seeking refuge from the sandstorm. To him, it felt like an eternity had passed since he had been displaced to this Godforsaken place, but in reality, it had only been minutes.

Once around to the leeward side, the sandstorm seemed quelled, yet the air was still filled with hot sand, and the decibels of the winds were still elevated. Despite his fatigue, and sore eyes, he opened them again to attempt a quick glance around. The light was still bright, but his eyes were less sensitive to it by that point, and he looked toward the massive boulder and saw that he was kneeling beside a small gap between two gigantic boulders. And beyond the gap, he saw many faces looking back at him. They were frightened and angered faces, but they were elfish faces. Those faces were his comrades, the other dragon riders, they had found shelter within a small fortress of boulders, and Mage Vae, their leader, quickly joined them.

Un-Named & Un-Souled

Fourteen thousand years later, in a far away place, a creature stirred. There was no single word befitting this being except creature. She walked forward into the light cast by the fire of the brimstone. The sulfuric gasses did not affect her in any way, perhaps she was created from the sulfur itself. Her Cohort moved toward her, he was an admirable looking man, tall with long flowing locks of reddish gold hair, he wore the finest leathers and silk, mostly dressed in black. His long black leather coat covered most of his attire, but a very shiny silver pendant glimmered upon his chest as it hung there by a black cord of sinew. Shining brightly, the image on the pendant was of a one eyed smirking owl, where the eye was missing, was the image of a star with wavy lines emanating from it. The man had an air of nobility about him, and even in this deep place of evil he maintained an ever present smirk similar to the one worn by the pendant owl, but his held more evil than mirth. His dark eyes of black and red set upon a face with deep lines of both war and laughter, were separated by a deep scar that began somewhere above his hairline and went down across his forehead and didn’t stop until it reached his jaw. Despite its look, the scar belonged there. He wore three rings on each hand, the index, middle and ring fingers were adorned with rings of obvious magic and splendor. As he walked, his thick leather belt which had chains dangling from it clanged and chimed ominously with each step, in time with the highly polished spurs and chains upon his hightop leather riding boots.

He observed the long slender figure of the creature that stood before him. She was unique, half of her skin was white as sun bleached bone and the other half black as onyx at midnight. There was no line separating the colors, but there was a distinct ending of each shade in the middle of her narrow face, separating like colored eyes, and a relatively small pouty mouth. Her right arm was black and the left one white. She wore flowing gowns of the same colors. The man in black wondered if the rest of her was still the same, it had been a long while since he had seen her in that manner, ages had past since they had been lovers. He realized his answer as he looked her up and down, she wore nothing more than the translucent gowns of black and white, and a waist belt tied on one side. He enjoyed her figure more than he remembered, hers was one that would cause nations to war and men and women to kill for, despite her mind of evil, her figure was pure joy and seduction.

He greeted her by speaking in the most ancient of tongues, only original beings would understand. It was the flipping of tongue and rumbling of guttural growling and shrill hisses of the mouth.

She greeted him with the same words, only spoken with a frown and disregard for formality. He bowed to her and she spat on the ground between them, and the blackened floor where her spittle landed caught fire, and the flames danced up from the floor to about twelve inches high.

I see you have not changed, he stated plainly.

She hissed, I change for no one, especially you or your father! You, the un-named one, the god of lies, the god of disobedience, should know this.

He laughed out loud and the rocks of the cavern shook with each undulation. He spoke with devious tones as he asked, Even you, Agonhel, ruler of the damned cannot speak my name after all this time? I wonder if the curse will ever be lifted. Will my name go unknown forever? I myself cannot speak it, nor can I even think upon it. The curse is absolute The un-named one’s words were filled with hate and discontent, but the evil smile never left his face. Agonhel showed no simper at his malevolent sense of humor, but instead gestured toward a grand stone table filled with meats and sweets and wines and ales, he followed.

As they walked to the table through the dimly lit cavern, he noticed many piles of embers strewn about the floor of her throne room, if this throne room belonged to any other than her, then the embers would be sitting inside a brazier, but in this place the embers actually belonged in piles on the floor. This place in which the two malevolently malicious beings met, was a place of direness, it was a place of complete vileness, the deepest pit of death, it is the place from where all damnation had sprung forth, this was the origin of calamity and disaster. They sat high atop a precipice that overlooked the many levels of this place; the pit seemed to go downward forever, and above them, there was no ceiling, just darkness. Across this voluminous dark cavern from where they sat and a few levels below, was a cauldron of magma, it spilled its white hot molten rock onto poor despairing souls below. Some were vaporized in an instant, suffering the eternal death…. Elimination. Others were scoured by the heat and still others suffered amputation and instant cauterization. There was not one being below the cauldron that did not suffer in some way and they all screamed until there was no voice left. The screams made an almost melodious song, this was definitely the Pit of Despair.

Although it was rude, he did not imbibe any of her drink or dine on any of her food. He knew her far too well to trust her hospitality. She did not seem to mind as she drank a black liquid from a finely ornate white cup. He sat there fiddling with the smirking owl pendant that hung from the cord around his neck, running his fingers over the relief image.

After staring at him for a few seconds, Agonhel asked if he knew why he was there.

He slowly replied, I am not completely certain.

She looked him up and down and said, You really are a fool. Do you not know what your father has just done?

His eyes of ember grew wide, touched with surprise and anger, and he swallowed before shaking his head no.

It was her turn to laugh out loud, her laughter however was not earthshaking. It was a shrill high pitched clanging of bells that would deafen ordinary men. The un-named god grew angry at her laughter, his forehead furrowed and his skin darkened. He slammed his fist down on the table and food went flying in all directions. In his anger he shouted out with spittle, Do not goad me demon!

In an instant she unsheathed a sword from thin air with her black hand, and had it pointed at his throat. The long slender straight blade was a mirror image of her evil, it was half black and half white, smelled of brimstone, and a gray fog emanated from it.

His anger cooled as he gave her a smirk that made his long deep scar look deeper and alive, then and asked, "Do you really think that you can beat a son of the All Father? I am a god, whether or not I have a name is inconsequential" He followed the jibe with a chuckle.

She stared at him with a stone cold gaze, "You really are a fool. Do not call me that... demon... I am no demon, demons serve me, I... serve no one. She sheathed her sword back into an invisible sheath beside her and seated herself in a regal manner, the first sign of regality he had ever seen in her, her motions began to entice him, seduce him. She continued without pause, Your father has found another seed."

He gasped and tucked his chin into his neck as his mind was suddenly made fully awake and on edge, Huh! There are no more seeds! He sat back and folded his arms across his chest in a display of defiance.

She smirked again, I have felt it, and you know that I preside over all the damned and unworthy. It is my duty to know where all of the worlds are and come to know each and every one of the despairing souls that exist.

He took a deep breath, So, the old man found another one. I didn’t think it was possible, but if you say you felt it…. Then I guess it must be so. He looked off into the glow of the brimstone that splashed up out of the crater below them. He watched the lesser demons punish the damned until they swore fealty to the creature that sat before him, she was perpetually building an army of the damned. She did not have prejudice toward one race or another, she collected whomever she could get her hands on, humans, dwarves, giants, monsters, it did not matter. ‘What a fool she is, he thought to himself, there will be no end war. The ages have worn on and there is no sign of any end times if you ask me. We should all just drink ourselves into oblivion, there is nothing for these people, just damnation’.

She interrupted his thoughts, You know that he has the chance to make a perfect universe. He has come close before. Are you listening to me? He nodded but did not look at her.

She continued, "We cannot let him obtain perfection! He will destroy us both! I need turmoil and discontent, hatred and lies! Without them I perish, WE perish!"

He shuddered at the thought of being eliminated from existence, it is one thing to be overlooked and ignored by your family, but to be eliminated…. At one point many millennia before, he had faced that possibility, but the foolish compassion of an old man stripped him of almost everything except his own existence. He could still hear his father’s voice as judgment was passed upon him:

"You are found guilty for your crimes against your family and all of creation. I have no choice but to discharge you from your station. You are no longer my son, from this moment henceforth, your name will not be spoken or even a single thought dwelt upon it. You are banished from ruling over your allotted worlds, they will be placed under my protection until such time that I see fit to either destroy them or pass their governance on to one of your siblings. You will have only two godly powers, they are as such; eternal life and astral travel. You will live as a mortal, striving for your food and feel the temptations and failings of those whom you would trounce. Go now and dwell as a mortal."

Those words cut deeper than any other he could have ever heard, to live among the mortals, as a mortal. ‘He may as well have killed me, eliminated me from this existence’, he thought to himself.

The un-named son of the All Father spoke with discontent, So, my graceful host of demons, what is my part in this plot of yours?

She chuckled a devious tinkling of bells, You are a fool, yet you have wisdom.

He flashed a look of anger, Get to it Agonhel! I must keep from elimination! At that moment a small flying demon flew close to her and she snatched it out of the air, it was small, just bigger than her fist, she bit its head off with one bite. The demon bled red blood and it ran down Agonhel’s chin in large quantities, but it was only apparent on the white half of her chin. Both evil beings grinned at the sight of her gluttony.

Agonhel wiped her chin as she threw the remains of the imp onto the blackened floor. She leveled her gaze at the man sitting across from her and spitefully began to speak in a breathy voice, You know that I command all of the damned. You also know that I have senses beyond even your own. He grimaced at her words. She continued, "And yet neither of us can touch your father’s newer worlds without facing instant elimination. Do I need to remind you that the soulless cannot travel upon uncorrupted soil? No? So, I give you this; I have at my disposal, one of the oldest and original damned souls. He will transcend time and space and touch upon the lives of your fathers worlds that we cannot access directly. I have given him the ability to occupy the husk of any conscious being for as long as he sees fit. He will affect as many worlds as he can until ALL of your fathers new worlds are under my influence." She said that last word with a forceful hiss.

The man seated across from her shook his head and tossed his red hair over his collar, I see where this is going, I am aware that father has a place where he plants these seeds, but I am unaware of the location, and unless you are there, you cannot enter these new worlds.

She raised her white hand and smiled at his ignorance. There was almost a hint of glee in her voice as she interrupted him, I have found the location. I’ve told you that I have senses even beyond yours.

His eyes almost bulged out of his head, What? No one has the ability to find that! He stood up quickly and the chair he was seated in fell over backwards with a loud crash, and he turned and began to walk away.

She shouted at him, "Wait! I have found it! All I need you to do is to keep your father preoccupied while I plant this ancient soul into his newest crop of worlds." She walked toward him. He paused his walking and ran his fingers through his long rusty-gold hair and let out a loud breath. As he turned back toward her, she gave him a demure look of needing him.

He briefly reminisced about the danger and violence that had been caused by the original evil souls, they were truly pure evil, and far more evil than he himself was capable.

He asked through a very evil smirk, what’s in it for me?

She reminded him of the last battle to come at the end of all ages, "You and I will rule all of the known universes, your father will be overthrown, returning to you... your, name... and you will keep his titles, scepter and throne. And I will be your queen. She, for the first time spoke softly as she held his hand with her white one, Remember the promise I gave you all those thousand years ago? I remember well and I intend to remain yours till the end. We will rule over all beings together."

He melted at the touch of her hand just as he always did. I will do what I can. If he just planted a new crop, then he will be there for a century tending to it.

Agonhel brought herself back from the submissive stature, I have taken that into account, it has been almost half that long already. The time is ripe now. You must distract your father and give me a chance to plant this evil.

He again looked out over the Pit of Despair, he almost felt a pang of sadness. He thought to himself, ‘If these beings knew that they could have avoided eternal damnation simply by having faith and avoiding despair…….’ As the thought trailed off, he began to chuckle at the frailty of these lesser creatures, he had another thought, ‘If they are all truly this timid, then it should be easy for an original being to drive them to despair.’ He turned to meet her gaze, they locked eyes for longer then a mere mortal could bear. Her eyes were onyx and ivory, his were both black with red where there should be white, two shards of brimstone set into the face of an otherwise wide faced handsome man.

He started to talk, My father will not even think my name, how will..

You will cause turmoil where you can. She interrupted him with a more commanding voice. "You cannot go to the cave of brilliance, but however, you can go to the mature worlds of his older prized universes."

His eyes widened with sudden delight, I see that you have thought this out. He stated through an ever growing smug smirk.

She did not mirror his smirk, Yes. She turned and regained her place at the stone table and gestured for him to do the same, he obliged. As they walked toward the table, Agonhel waved her hand over the top of his fallen chair and it stood itself up. The man with brimstone eyes thought nothing of the act of up-righting it, but he thought deeply about the reason why she had up-righted his chair… kindness? No. She did not have a kind bone in her body. He chalked it up to female persuasiveness.

She began to tell him of her plotting, You will go to these worlds with an army of my demons. He was now grinning fully and exposing nearly perfect teeth. He felt his mind being fulfilled by the challenge that was being laid out before him. She continued, You will scourge these worlds like never before, some of the worlds will believe that it is the true last battle, for some of them it will be. You will ride on a steed of Ardor and command the most ferocious army these worlds have never seen! Her voice lifted to a commanding yell as she went on with the details.

His mind was stuck on one thing in particular, a steed of Ardor? He had remembered them from his youth, but had almost forgotten their existence. Beautiful creatures, a lions head and mane with the body of a Clydesdale, these beasts breathed fire and their roar was so powerful it would blow down trees and buildings in their path and no other living thing could outrun them. It had been some time since he had been in the presence of one.

The thoughts of the ferocious steed fell away as he realized that he had not been at war in some time, he would normally defer the task to a lesser being, but this was a chance to poke his father in the eye, a chance he had been waiting centuries for. He could already feel his armor on his back and his sword in his hand, he suddenly felt anxious to be at his new task.

He stopped her tirade of explanation with the wave of his hand, When do I get to meet this steed of Ardor?

They locked eyes as they joined in devious laughter that echoed on into the deep darkness of the Pit of Despair.

*****************************************************

And so it was for many years after that meeting in the Pit of Despair; the son of the All Father brought war to the very worlds that had once worshipped him. The un-named son sat high in the intricately ornate saddle, which was secured to the back of his fierce beast; Raze of Ardor. Raze was one of the last of his kind, a beast brought into existence by the fires of Ardor itself. Ardor was a world of flames and volcanoes, only few could survive the treacherous atmosphere and even fewer dared enter it. Raze was Agonhel’s greatest gift to him. She did not know how much it meant to him and he did not believe that she was capable of understanding those feelings of gratitude, she was death itself.

He gazed across the smoldering field of battle that lay before him. This army of flaming beasts and twisted figures of demons were bound to him just as they were bound to Agonhel herself. He had commanded these armies across many dimensions, to many worlds that he would not have entered on his own, these were worlds under his fathers’ dominion. These worlds had the protection of the All Father. It was not fear that would have kept him away, but rather a respect for the boundaries that his father had put in place.

Despite his innate respect for his father, he found himself enjoying those past several years of warring with the very worlds that he once ruled over. It was almost comforting to him. He felt a sense of retribution, vengeance. He cared not who he slaughtered, men, women, children, or beast. He cared not what race of men he mowed down, human, elf, dwarf, sylph, giant, they all had to die.

The un-named son undertook this expedition of cruelty to grab his fathers’ attention and presence away from the other universes under his protection. A ploy conjured by Agonhel herself. He found that after the first world was scoured clean of any and all life forms, that he felt a deep sense of accomplishment. A lingering contemplation filled his subconscious mind; ‘Perhaps I can avenge myself by taking that which is now under his control.’

He surely took something from his father, to date he had completely and utterly scoured seven worlds under his watch. He awoke some nights, in a maddening fervor of laughter, sweat pouring off of him and soaking his clothing. Several times, he was sure that he had gone mad, But if I know that I am mad, then I must surely be not. He reminded himself.

He found himself warring against a world known to its inhabitants as; Hoden. They said it was an old language word for wood. The un-named son knew the original word, it was close and it certainly meant wood, but the word was Vøddem. He found it funny how the names of places changed every time he visited them throughout time. This world was fed light by a system of a dozen small blue stars, some close, some distant, but at least one was always present in the sky and all gave some degree of light and heat. He gazed into the four that shone extra brightly at that moment, and the heavenly bodies reminded him of his family which made his thoughts turn to the All Father.

Where are you, father? he asked in no particular direction.

Nearby, the twisted and deformed shape of his general asked him in a guttural voice,

What do ask me master?

The general was by far the best soldier he had ever encountered, this beast had led them to victories when there should not have been victories. Together, they had beaten a world of unicorn riding mages with a mere fifty thousand demons.

He thought to himself, ‘This beast will sit at high court when Agonhel and I rule the known universes and I regain my name and Godly powers. Perhaps the sight of him is what really helped us win so many battles, twenty feet tall, bright red skin, if you could call it skin, flames licking about his head where locks of hair should be. He or it was quite an amazing sight, even I, the son of the All Father, would have trouble defeating him.’

The un-named one