History Reborn - Prologue
History Reborn by MQ:

~Prologue~

This was the place.

There was no way Beld's ancient fortress could have a lower level than the one Ka examined at that moment. It was a mess, but Kardis had specifically pinpointed this floor as being the place where Ka would find what she had been looking for all these years.

Rocks and debris, a result of the legendary battle fought on that very same floor twenty years back, were scattered everywhere. The ground was raised and cracked in many places, as though an isolated landslide had occured. It was very cold, and there wasn't a sound to be heard by human ears...not even the pitter-patter of a solitary water droplet.

Ka wrinkled her nose and took a furtive look around, eyeing the open ceiling distrustingly. This fortress is so old...it could fall apart at any moment, thought Ka as, some two or three hundred feet above her head, the purplish clouds of dusk lazily swept across the sky. She forced herself to look away from the sickeningly alarming condition of the building and returned her gaze to the room she stood in.

Some old walls had fallen to the fortress' lowest level, adding to the already-ample supply of rubble that littered the floor, which made it rather difficult to move around the room freely. Ka cautiously made her way around a few jagged, unnatural rock formations as she slowly made her way to the center of the room.

Hopping over a large, flat stone with the help of another sharp rock off to the side, Ka reached her goal: a quaintly located little clearing. There was no debris, oddly enough, around a granite table that appeared to have served as an altar of some sort, standing right in the middle of the clearing. Ka smiled; she knew that the altar had served to bear a sacrifice to the Goddess she now served.

However, it was not the crude table that caught Ka's eye. Protruding from the stone of the altar were the hilts of two swords. Ka let out a gleeful cry as she recognized the dragon-wing hilt of the Demon Sword.

Hastily, Ka broke away from the debris beyond and jumped into the small clearing, accidentally cutting her finger on the stones behind her as she pushed away from them. "He who holds the Demon Sword rules Marmo..." She recited to herself, locking her eyes on the dark sword's hilt; after all these years...

After jumping up on the altar, Ka stood over her intended prize and took a deep breath. She slid both her hands around the hilt of the Demon Sword and gripped it tightly, "I deserve this," She mumbled to herself, grinning, "by birthright!" And with that, she began what seemed the impossible task of pulling the dreaded blade from the stone.

Sure enough, as she had expected, the sword came free effortlessly.

"Finally!" Ka cried triumphantly, raising the Demon Sword to the open ceiling above, "I have you!". As she revelled in the elation of the moment, a scarlet aura errupted from the weapon she held in her hands. The aura intensified until the entire room was bathed in its bloody glow. Seconds later, the rubble on the floor began to jitter and dance, until every bit of it flew up into the air, carried by an unseen updraft.

Ka began to laugh as an unexplained wind picked up.

The Demon Sword shone brighter, and from the ruptures in the floor spurted liquid magma. From the bubbling inferno rose the underworld shades, ethereal beings both ugly and frightening, shrieking their greeting to the Demon Sword's new bearer. They rose up to encircle Ka, progressively melding into the dark sword she held.

Ka's laughter grew maniacal.

"Congratulations, Empress Ka." Came the ephemerous voice of Kardis, deep within Ka's consciousness, "You've carried on your father's legacy: Marmo is yours."