War of the Brothers
Two brothers have discovered a well of life on the border between the marshlands and the mountains. One wants to use it to control his people. The other wants to use it to aid his people. The brothers have only one way to decide. Fight for the right.
Droic Umeld and Ebelo Umeld reached the apex of the small hill and looked out to the horizon. Droic and Ebelo were the closest of brothers, although they differed greatly from each other. Both brothers were rulers of separate kingdoms, both mostly populated by rogues, for other races would usually not tolerate Vedalken kings. Ebelo ran down the rocky hill, yelling,
"Race you down, Droic!". Droic, as always, was unable to resist Ebelo's challenge, and began running after him. Droic began to catch up to Ebelo. Ebelo whipped his head around to gauge how close Droic was. Droic was now about 5 feet away from him. Ebelo saw a shallow cliff coming up and saw his chance. Ebelo ran down, pumping his legs as hard as he could, and propelled himself over the edge of the cliff. But what Ebelo didn't notice was the large sheet of granite jutting out of the ground where he was about to land. Ebelo took the fall hard, and landed on his right leg, instantly smashing it to pieces instantly. Ebolo flipped head over hell and landed sliding in the dust, screaming in agony.
Droic timed his jump off of the cliff more carefully, and landed, skidding to a stop just before his brother, who was holding his shattered leg close to his body. Ebelo strained to speak against the tears.
"We have to go ahead. Your lands are closer than mine, and we can get a cleric there." Droic nodded his head. "Agreed. Should I carry you, or can you walk?" Ebelo released his grip on his smashed leg, and pushed against the ground. He found himself unable to bring himself to his feet, and gave his hand to Droic. Droic met his hand and pulled his brother over his head.
Droic had carried his brother's crippled body in his arms. He had walked for many, many miles, and exhaustion was approaching rapidly. The sun was blazing brightly overhead, and seemed to be getting hotter every minute. The brothers hadn't said much in the last hour or so, and Ebelo was almost asleep in his brother's arms. Droic's water canteen was running low, and Ebelo had dropped his in the fall, so they needed to refill, and soon. Droic looked ahead, and saw a small spring gleaming in the sunlight. To Droic, it looked like a little slice of paradise, and he suddenly found the energy to run. Droic dashed ahead, seeming all the lighter with his brother in his arms.
They reached the spring and fell to his knees, gasping in exhaustion. He pulled out his canteen and dipped it into the stream. He smiled at his brother.
"I guess we should clean up that wound a little, right?" Droic asked.
"Yeah, I guess I'll just dip my leg in." Ebelo slid his crushed leg into the water, and his eyes widened in shock. He looked down at his leg, gaping at the pond.
"What is it brother?" Droic asked, training his eyes on the pond, his question already being answered. His brother's skin was pulling itself over the open wounds, stopping the flow of his precious life stream. Droic couldn't even speak. He was so bowled over in shock, he pulled out his hunting knife, and scraped off a strip of his skin. As the blood flowed out, he dipped his arm into the pool, and, same as his brother's leg, the skin pulled itself over the wound. Ebelo pulled himself to his feet and stood up, and began dancing around.
"The pool! The pool! It has healed us!" Ebelo sung. Droic, always the levelheaded one simply nodded his head.
"Think of our people! Think of the possibilities! We can better control our people with this pond!" Ebelo whispered, as though someone might be listening. Droic looked up at his smiling brother, his brow furrowed.
"How so?" Droic inquired, slightly worried about where his brother was heading.
"What do you mean, how? People want to be healed from life threatening injuries, and they will pay through the nose to get it. We could have them wrapped around our little fingers!" Ebelo exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
"But what if they can't pay? They could die! We want to keep our people happy, not have them be afraid of us!" Droic cried out to his brother's heart.
Unfortunately Ebelo disagreed. He only shook his head, looking increasingly disgusted with his brother.
"I'm sorry, dear brother. If that's the way you feel, then we should part from here on out. But there remains the decision to be made over who is right."
"Fine then. I shall see you back here tomorrow. We shall decide who will gain control of the spring." Droic said, his voice dripping with venom.
Ebelo nodded his head and walked back to his kingdom. Droic watched his brother walk away. When he was confident that his brother was far enough away, he pulled out the small vial he kept tied around his neck. He emptied the mystical sand he himself had devised and spread it around the well. He then filled the vial with water from the spring, then turned and without looking back, he walked back to his kingdom.
The next day came all too fast for Droic's liking, for he knew that one of them would fall this day for control of the pool. He read over his spellbooks one last time, then walked away from his kingdom, towards the well.
Ebelo pulled out his scrying crystal, and looked deep within it. He could see his brother had already reached the appointed battle ground, so he picked up his pace as he neared. His brother stood on a cliff about 20-odd meters from the spring, and Ebelo stood on top of a sand dune. Both stared at each other for a few minutes. Droic made the first move, unhooking his staff from his back and began spinning it in front of him. Electricity crackled as he spun, faster and faster it went, and then he stopped, and there was a large blue sphere hovering next to him, then suddenly, a being stepped through the sphere. A beautiful young girl walked out of the light-blocking sphere. She was much shorter than Doric, coming up to about five feet tall, but there was an aura of danger about her. Ebelo slammed his staff into the ground, opening a large red rift in the ground. A very large, very ugly skeleton gripped the sides of the portal and pulled itself out of the rift. The young girl that Doric had brought forth looked startled at the sight of the skeleton, then grinned. Her skin suddenly turned blue, and her skin and armour began sifting away, down the side of the cliff. As she reached the bottom, the sand piled up and reformed itself back into the young girl who had first came through the portal.
The skeleton ran with incredible speed, then leaped off the cliff as his brother had the day before, and ran off towards the young girl. The girl at once rushed forwards to meet the skeleton. The skeleton was torn apart instantly as the girl's hands turned into massive claws and crushed the skeleton into dust. But Ebelo had prepared for this. Doric blinked, but his brother was now standing at the bottom of the sand dune he was standing on. Another rift had opened up in the ground, and this time four Iron Myrs clambered out of the rift and came lumbering at the girl who had destroyed the skeleton. Myrs are bipedal humanoids who seem to be made of Iron, although nobody has ever been able to get close enough to study them, they may not be bright, but they are loyal to their master. As the pack of Myrs lumbered towards the girl, Ebelo took note of the young girl's face. She was visibly shaken, but her master provided her reassurance as he blinked himself to the bottom of the cliff and opened up another blue sphere. This time, large drake burst out of the sphere, roaring in defiance. Unfortunately, Ebelo was prepared for this. As the onslaught of Myrs came closer and closer to the girl, the drake took a dive at the pack. As it came hurtling towards the group of Myrs, Ebelo pulled out his spellbook and screamed
"Pyrite Spellbomb!" There was a large flash of light and the Drake exploded as it dove at the Myrs. Unfortunately, the Spellbomb wasn't enough to save the Myrs. The Drake was killed midair in the explosion caused by the explosion, but the corpse of the Drake came crashing down towards the earth, crushing the two frontal Myrs, but the back two just climbed over the corpse as if it was no more than an inconvenience that two of their comrades were dead, and leaped at the girl. She never stood a chance. The young girl was torn to shreds by the razor sharp claws of the Myrs. Having killed the girl, they went chasing after Doric, the thought of victory blocking all strategical plans from his head. A very large glowing sword appeared in Doric's hand and he dashed towards the Myrs. He stopped short, but swung the sword anyways, sending out a blue wave of energy at the Myrs. The Myrs weren't smart enough to realize their impending doom. As the blue wave passed through the Myrs, they exploded into a thousand pieces, mostly springs and gears. Ebelo glared at Doric, and decided to take things into his own hands, rather than trust his minions to take down his brother. He had to have the spring under his control, to strengthen his kingdom.
Doric's latest portal brought forth a massive spider. He promptly leaped onto the Spiders back and rushed forwards into the fray. His next spell he knew would weaken him greatly, but he needed to end the battle before his brother could gain enough strength to summon his ace-in-the-hole. A bolt of red lightning burst from the tip of his staff and struck a nearby pile of rocks. Already he could feel his strength seeping from him like a sponge, but the spell was successful, and the rocks became attracted to each other. The rocks began piling up, and heating up. Higher and higher the rocks rose until they formed into a humanoid shape. His magma giant was alive and breathing. The magma giant easily towered over 30 feet, and was glowing with the heat from its core. Every step took it over 20 feet, and it quickly overtook Doric. Ebelo looked at the Magma giant and knew that it would be a huge problem if he didn't crush it now. Ebelo closed his eyes and concentrated on the darkness that poisoned his mind. As he focused, a shadow poured from his mouth and pooled on the ground.
Doric needed to concentrate to keep his giant alive, and it was especially difficult while he was fighting his own brother. He never even noticed the shadow drifting closer and closer to him. The shadow completely overcame him, and as the pain of the darkness that his brother controlled enveloped him, his link with the giant was broken, and he was sent reeling into his own mind, where his brother established a mental link.
Droic's eyes opened. He was hovering over an infinite black abyss. His brother was standing opposite of him.
"We don't have to do this brother. We don't have to fight over the spring. All you have to do is admit that I was right and join me." Ebelo suggested
"No. Our people should admire us, not be afraid of us. My people will be proud to have me rule them when I help the sick with the water."
"Well," Ebelo shrugged, "If that's how you want it, then I guess I have no choice." Ebelo released the mental grip he had on Droic, and his mind reentered the ensuing battle.
Doric awoke in the middle of a massive battle. As he was communicating with his brother, more and more fighters came through the portals they had opened. He was still on the back of his giant spider, but he was far from safe. Swords clashed and iron rang in the air, Doric looked around, still partly in shock from his brothers newfound ideals. He sighed as he noticed that his mental conversation with his brother had caused his Magma giant to crumble and fall. Droic however, saw his chance. His brother turned his back for a moment to watch over a large group of Myrs who were holding off an even bigger group of swordsmen. Doric concentrated, and blinked behind his brothers back, pulled out his sword, and thrusted. His sword plunged into Ebelo's back. Ebelo crumpled to the ground, dead. Droic looked out on the battlefield, and saw the Myrs lost without their leader turning on each other and dying all around. The war was over. Droic had won.