Darkness Rising
'What we do in life echoes for eternity' – Marcus Aurelius, Gladiator
Chapter 1 – Dawn of Fate
A cool night breeze billowed through the courtyard of the guildhall of the Azure Dragons on hunter's isle, in the distance the sound of waves could be heard crashing onto the nearby beach. The guildhall was a hive of activity, the guild's banner fluttered in the breeze as guild members milled around the great hall trading and selling the items they had collected on their travels to each other that. Inside, torches crackled as Tyr walked down a corridor leading to his personal armoury. He had just arrived back from a month long from Tyria territories exploring the Asuran, Norn and Charr homelands, bringing back a treasure trove of weapons and items.
Tyr cranked the door open and walked in and dropped a bag full of golden rin relics and diessa chalices. Along the walls were various shields some of which were taken as trophies off slain enemies, others were either gifts from the people that he had helped or from treasures that he had uncovered in dungeons. The racks were lined with an assortment of weapons of all types; swords, axes, hammers, bows, daggers, scythes, spears, wands, staffs, shields and focus items adorned the many racks around the armoury. As he put away his Fellblade onto a rack, he looked across the collection of swords and picked out a colossal scimitar.
He missed his homeland, which was far north of the continent of Tyria, but it was made better as his girlfriend, Lind joined him on his travels. He had become a well-known warrior while Lind had become a devout dervish for several years in the order of the Sunspears. They and several other Sunspears had become revered as heroes after becoming the team who defeated the dark god Abaddon. Ever since the defeat of Abaddon four years earlier, demonic forces were on the increase in the realm of torment, chaos rifts occasionally opened around Elona only to be counter attacked and closed up by Vabbian or Sunspear soldiers. As Tyr strapped his Ebonhand Aegis to his back and sheathed the colossal scimitar, he did not notice Lind coming into the room.
"Damn Margonites!" Tyr said shattering a Margonite mask against the stonewall "Their damned god is no longer around and yet they still keep coming through.
Lind walked up to him "I'm sure we can find the source of where all the Margonites are coming from and put a stop to them for good" She smiled.
"Even with many of the Margonites defeated, they seem to be so persistent!" Tyr cursed as he crushed another Margonite mask.
"I'm sure we can stop them dear," Lind said turning Tyr around to face her.
"If I see another cursed Margonite I'm going to run this axe right through them!" Try grumbled.
"Like you did with all those demonic forces in the citadel?" Lind smirked.
Tyr laughed, "I'm going to wipe every single one of them out," he said.
"I'm sure you will dear" Lind smiled as she kissed him.
"Oh I'm going to the Dragon Festival in Shing Jea do you want to come?" Tyr asked.
"Sure" Lind smiled "You know I love travelling with you. I just need to bathe before we go though" she continued.
Tyr smirked; Lind knowing what he was thinking playfully punched his arm he kissed her before letter her go off to bathe. Lauren stood in the main square of Lion's Arch; she had just made it back after coming back from the Tarnished coast travelling the Magus Stones and Alcazia Tangle area of the Asuran homeland. She was at her storage account with Xunlai with her friend a mesmer called Elizabeth when a warrior came up to them.
"Lauren" He said smiling at the elementalist.
"Hi there Ryden" She smiled.
"Erm, Lauren…" Ryden said nervously "I got you these" He cringed as he pulled out a box of Vabbian chocolates.
Smiling, that he fellow guild member had got her a gift she walked up to him.
"That's so sweet of you" She smiled giving him a kiss on his cheek.
Flustered, Ryden hurried off.
"Aw that's so sweet of him" Elizabeth smirked.
Lind sat on the small stonewall next to the fountain outside the front gates of the guildhall sharpening the blade of her briarwood scythe, she was often jealous of seeing wedding ceremonies taking place in the Sunspear Great Hall and wandered when she and Tyr would get married, even their Childhood friends, Winry and Edward had got married the previous year. Tyr was in the storage vault by a large heavy strongbox, he was taking out some precious gems that he was going to craft a special gift for Lind. As he finished taking what he needed he closed the strongbox and called out to a member of his guild.
"You called my lord?" Chrono bowed
Tyr walked towards several stacked crates "I need to get these crates onto the ship ready to go to Cantha" He said "Get some guild members to help" he continued.
"Yes my lord" Chrono bowed.
"Also you, Ere and Exe well be accompanying Lind and myself" Tyr added as he put the small case into his backpack.
Wind howled through the depths of madness; Margonites still plagued areas of the realm of torment; skirmishes between the Forgotten (aided by the Sunspears) and the Margonites were commonplace as they continued to eliminate all traces of Abaddon's forces.
"Barley got out of there alive" Kaliden gasped as he rested on a flight of stairs
"Well I did tell you not to rush into hall" Eloa complained.
"I didn't know that there was that many Margonites in there did I?" he replied sarcastically.
"Well Abaddon maybe gone but that doesn't mean the torment is free of Margonites" Eloa replied resting her staff on the banister.
"Only managed to raise three minions…" Kaliden sulked.
"What did you expect? There's dozens of them and only two of us" Eloa said rubbing her forehead.
"Seems they are up to something," A female voice said from behind a bush.
"Like what Suri?" Eloa asked.
"When I shadow stepped to the corpse of one of Kaliden's Flesh Golem, I heard two of them speak of the goddess of truth, her powers and someone called Mallyx" Suri said.
"Looks like they are up to something, we better inform the order" Eloa said walking towards the gate of secrets.
Back on hunter's isle, the dock was busy; crates containing various high quality weapons were being loaded onto the ship ready to go to Lion's Arch to be sold. Lind stood on the dockside of the gangplank watching guild members loading the crates into the hull of the ship, she had always dreamt of getting married in the season of the Zephyr ever since she and Tyr had become romantically involved. Tyr wandered how he was going to hide the 'special gift' from Lind once he had it made, let alone how he is going to give it to her between his life as a high ranking Sunspear and a well known hero of Elona. He saw Lind at the dockside and walked up beside her.
"You look beautiful in that outfit" Tyr smirked kissing her on her cheek.
Lind blushed "Thanks dear" she smiled.
Tyr hugged her from behind; wrapping his arms around her, as Lind watched the last of the cargo Tyr whispered something into her ear which made her blush bright red, she smiled and kissed him just before he boarded the ship.
In the Chantry of Secrets in Yatendi canyons in southern Vabbi, statues honouring the heroes who had helped destroy Abaddon stood at the foot of the shrine to the goddess Kormir. Each one held the broken crown of Abaddon but unlike the shrine to Kormir, each one stood upon a pile of broken Margonite masks at their feet. The Forgotten, who had just arrived at the temple sensed that something was not right and that the gods were about to call upon the heroes again. High Priest Zhellix was talking to a Sunspear general and the Master of Whispers about the report they had received from the realm of torment.
"Indeed there has been an increase in Margonite activity in the torment ever since Abaddon's downfall" Zhellix said, "But what is unusual is that the Margonites seem to be stronger than the ones before" he continued.
"Maybe they are under a new leader" the general said.
"Could be" Whispers said, "But my order have heard of rumours of the stronger Margonites; the ranger acolyte Jin told me that she barely escaped them if it hadn't been for the traps she had set up" he continued.
"Word from my brothers at Augury rock" Zhellix said, "The gods are concerned about the uprising of the Margonites, they will contact the heroes of Elona as soon as they can" he continued.
"Last time I heard most of them were either n Cantha or Tyria, Castellans Tyr and Lind were on the Battle Isles" the general said.
"We must get word to them" Zhellix said.
The ship was loaded and was ready to depart the hunter's isle; Chrono, Ere and Exe stood in a line on deck of the ship wearing a grey velvet dress with a grey hood and cape, as Tyr and Lind boarded all three bowed. They followed Tyr and Lind into the living quarters and immediately stood by the door.
"The three of you stay in the lounge area of the living quarters, Lind and I are going to rest for a while, we do not want to be disturbed for the next few hours" Tyr said putting his sword and shield on to a weapon rack.
"Yes my lord" Ere replied.
Lind was still blushing from what Tyr had whispered to her before "Chrono, Exe I would like you two to tidy the tomes and sort out the runes then prepare dinner" Lind said placing her scythe next to Tyr's sword.
"As you command M'lady" Chrono and Exe said at the same time.
Tyr opened the door to the sleeping quarters; Lind smiled at him and ran her hand on his cheek as she walked through the door, Chrono got a quick glimpse of Lind sitting on he bed moments before Tyr closed and locked it.
The meeting in the consulate building in Kamadan went on for what seemed like hours; General Gold hated attending long tedious meeting with the Istani council members, but something had to be done with the on going war with the Kournan military and the series of mysterious earthquakes that seemed to of originated from Tyria.
"The Asurans have permitted out people to venture into the their vast underground land" General Gold said. "They have warned us that there are numerous monsters roaming around" he continued.
"Exploring Asuran lands should be left to the rangers" Koss said, "What need more attention is the Kournan military and the Margonites all over the damn place" he sneered.
"I do not understand why they are still fighting when their leader and fallen god have been defeated" Tahlkora said.
"From what I heard, there is a new Margonite leader" Melonni paced around the table, "There are stronger Margonites which are proving hard to defeat, yet still can be defeated" she continued.
"I have to admit they do leave behind some good weapons," Margrid said.
"All this talk about Margonites is depressing me, the Dragon festival is in about two weeks time I just might go back to Cantha for it" Jin sighed.
Early evening set in; and the ship was three hours from Kaineng centre, Lind stood by the cabin window looking out to sea wearing just a silk hooded robe. She remembered when she visited Kehanni Nutu at the Grand Court of Sebelkeh, Kehanni told Lind that she would receive great happiness at a festival and that later great joy will come into her life. She looked at Tyr who was still asleep in bed and smiled, she noticed a picture on the sideboard of herself and Tyr when they were in their mid teens running the famous Droiks run in the Shiverpeaks. As she got dressed, she looked through the pictures of their time travelling through Tyria.
In the deep, Kenny and Euan had successfully made their way to where they had been told where the Zodiac weapon were kept. Euan looked around and noticed several Oni patrolling around, and wander why the Oni were keeping Zodiac weapons when they don't intend to use them.
"Oni are weird" Euan whispered
"They can slash us so why would they be hoarding such valuable weapons here?" Kenny scratched his head.
"Beats me" Euan replied.
"We got to wait until the Oni move off, going for the weapons now would be suicidal" Kenny replied.
At the Chantry of secrets, Zhellix and Phyratyss discussed the contents of one of the scriptures that the apostate had given them shortly before he disappeared. Most of the script was written in the Margonite language but Zhellix knew how to read it.
"It seems like most events mentioned in that cursed scripture has come true in a way" Zhellix said.
"But we don't know who or what this Mon'Tau is" Phyratyss added.
"Maybe so, but despite its name and its hatred of demons it seems to be on our side" Zhellix replied.
"It could just be another being trying to gain power" Phyratyss sighed.
"Well we see that when it when it appears" Zhellix slithered off.
Kaineng city loomed the port side of the ship as it slowly made its way to Seitung harbour; Tyr hugged Lind from behind as they looked out at the skyline of Kaineng centre. As the coast of Shing Jea rose in the distance, Tyr could see the sky beyond the Zen Daijun lit up by the decorations in the Shing Jea Monastery where the dragon festival was to be celebrated at.
"What a beautiful sunset" Lind smiled.
"Not as beautiful as you are" Tyr smirked.
"Thank you dear" Lind blushed "You know I had not properly thanked you for giving me the Icy Soulbreaker scythe; so while you were away, I got you this" she continued.
Lind walked over to her backpack and took out a long red velvet bag, she blushed as she presented to him. Tyr loosened the string around the bag he opened it and slowly pulled out a sword and scabbard wrapped up in a long strip of leather. As he unravelled the leather that bound the sword and scabbard he recognised the hilt of that being of Norn design, he pulled out the sword and examined it.
"Perfect craftsmanship, what I would expect from the Norns" Tyr said "And a perfect gift, thank you" he continued as he kissed Lind.
The domain of Secrets was still plagued by Margonites and demons alike, the Sunspears had destroyed part of the atrocity library, which was housed in the immense castle like structure in the area. Margonites, Shadow army and titans patrolled the area outside the atrocity library waiting to attack any mortal who tried to invade the domain that reminded them of their vanquished god.
"We must get our revenge on the Sunspears!" Turep yelled.
"Our forces have fallen since lord Abaddon's defeat, our demon brothers have not fared either too well in Cantha or Tyria" Saushali said.
"And to top it off, those fools the torment creatures cant even stop the mortals from taking over most of the realm of torment. Dhuum's followers are useless" Hauseh complained.
"What I'm really worried about is this Mon'Tau" Hautoh said as he flicked through a tome. "The traitor, the apostate had this book I took it off his lifeless body" he continued
"That's just a myth" Amarantha replied cocked eyed. "By the way what did you do to his body?" she asked.
"I threw it into the lava rivers in the fire islands" Hautoh replied. "And I took his staff from.."
"I wouldn't say that Amarantha" Chimor interrupted " Some of what has been written in that tome has come true, although it is sketchy" he continued.
"Maybe so, but the future has not been written yet; things in that tome can be…changed" Wieshur said.
"Like me sending some of our forces to attack the Kodash Bazaar" Dupek smirked.
Everyone laughed as they left the hallway of the library. In the Antechamber of the hall of heroes; the goddess of truth, Kormir was aware of the Margonites intentions of dethroning her and taking her power away, she was explicitly told by the other gods not to deal with it herself but rather to call upon their followers to deal with the Margonites.
"We have asked too much of the mortals to do our bidding" Kormir said.
"You are still new to this Kormir" Dwayna said walking up to her "Doing this by yourself would be foolish" she continued.
"We could call upon the ones who defeated Abaddon" Melandru suggested.
"That would be wise" Balthazar said. "They stopped nightfall, forced the demons back into the torment, I think they handle the Margonites" he continued.
"We must summon them" Kormir stood up "We must deal with the Margonites and their heretical beliefs"
"Eight against goodness how many Margonites" Lyssa complained.
"I will unlock their potential, and need be forbidden skills" Kormir paced around.
"So be it" Grenth said "I will place any incoming Margonite souls so far into the underworld that they won't show their faces ever again" he continued.
The ship dropped anchor some distance away from Seitung Harbour, the setting sun casting beams off the tops of the mountains in Jaya Buffs. Chrono, Ere and Exe had just finished preparing dinner for their master and mistress when Tyr and a Tyrian warrior by the name of Harry Grinham came into the dining quarters.
"Could you three excuse us for a while I need to speak to my friend" Tyr said
"Yes my lord" Chrono replied.
"As you wish" Ere bowed "We need to get the drinks from the hold" she continued.
"Vabbian wine" Exe said "Got to get a chilled one" she hurried off.
Harry slowly paced the room as Tyr walked over to a keg of hunter's ale with two tankards. Across the room sat a chest with its lid half open, Harry curious on what was in the chest walked over to it and opened the lid.
"You've got a lot of passage scrolls" Harry said.
Tyr laughed "I or should I say Lind and I found them in a Shadow army strongholds in the fissure of woe and the underworld" Tyr replied "would you like to see the high quality weapons that Lind and I are going to sell in an auction at the dragon festival?" he continued.
"Sure" Harry replied.
All sorts of high quality weapons lay neatly in stacked crates; Harry admired the craftsmanship of the various rare warrior shields and wandered where Tyr had managed to acquire it from. He opened one of the crates and was amazed to see a sought after elemental sword.
"This is going to fought over by bidders" Harry smirked.
"I know" Tyr smirked "I've got another two of them" he laughed.
Lind was at the other end of the ship preparing some recovery potions; she did not like to use the easy magic spells to heal wounds but to use traditional ways she learnt from her and Tyr's the homeland far north of Tyria. As Lind put several vials of antidote into her pouch, Exe walked into the room, bowed and told her that dinner was ready; Lind put antidote vials into the pouch and walked out. Harry strolled over to the window lent on its ledge holding the tankard of ale reminiscing on the old times that he, Tyr and Lind had when they were kids in the fields outside Ascalon city. Tyr picked up a picture of himself and Lind from the sideboard and sat down at the table gently touching the image of Lind.
"You two have been together for along time when are you two going to like… get married" Harry asked.
"Well I got the ring, it's just the time to ask, which is the problem what with these demonic incursions" Tyr sighed. "Anyhow take a look at the ring" he smirked as he took out a small square box.
Harry looked at the ring "Nice" he said, "How much did that cost you?" he asked.
"The best part of seventy five platinum" Tyr replied cringing.
"You could get a whole new set of armour with that!" Harry exclaimed, "So have you thought about when you are going to propose to Lind?" he asked.
"I was thinking sometime during the dragon festival…" Tyr replied.
Lind; who was on the other side of the door about to come in, gasped and blushed on what she had just heard, she looked through a side window and imagined the engagement ring then a wedding ring on her finger. Pausing for a few moments she straightened herself up she opened the door and walked in. Ten seven foot tall golden statues of the heroes of Elona stood on either side of the walkway of the vault leading up to the hall of heroes. To have a statue erected in the realm of the gods was the greatest honour for any mortal, each of the statues held a broken crown of Abaddon wile standing upon a pile of broken Margonite masks. Kormir looked at each of the statues and remembered how she had taught them well in combat training when she was a mortal and now she had the duty of giving them forbidden powers to defeat the Margonite uprising. Kormir stopped at the centre of the rows of statues and knelt down; summoning a magic circle, symbolic runes representing each of the hero's profession glowed slowly bathing the whole stature in a golden light.
"What the heck!" Tyr exclaimed as a golden light surrounded him.
"What the heck is going on?!" Harry yelled as he saw Lind and Tyr disappear in a golden light.
Meanwhile at the Eye of the North Gwen stared into the scrying pool in the Hall of monuments, which adjoined the main hall of the Eye of the North. It had become her home ever since she had escaped the Charr and joined the ranks of the ebon vanguard. She had her mind on a childhood friend that she thought had died during the searing but had recently got reacquainted with them.
"Those Modniir Centaurs fight well!" Kahmu laughed. "I took down at least a two dozen of them" he continued.
"Yeah with my help" Xandra complained.
"Real fighting is getting up close to your foes, not by using sprits" Kahmu smirked.
"Well at least they kept most of them at bay, you should try fighting Nagas" Xandra said.
"Not competing against each other again are you?" a male ebon vanguard warrior said entering the room.
"They are just having a friendly competition Kaien" Livia said leaning against the monument of valour.
"I'm surprised that they are not competing on how many destroyers they killed" Kaien laughed.
Gwen looked at Kaien and blushed; she often got flustered when Kaien was nearby and was often shy when she tried to talk to him. She picked up her dragon spire staff and strolled over to the monument of fellowship, which displayed statues of the heroes whom stopped nightfall.
"Those golems sure pack a punch" Hayda said.
"I just fine tuned the golems that we used to fight the destroyers in Rata Sum" Vekk said, "I wonder how they would fair against these Margonites I hear about" he continued.
"From what I heard from an Elonian they seem to be a worthy prey" Jora said.
"From what Olaf liked after fighting the destroyers, he'd love fighting the Margonites" Ogden laughed.
Kaien looked over at Gwen whom he had not seen for six months after serving under captain Langmar fighting off Charr in the Charr homelands. He straightened his sheathed sword and walked up to her.
"Its warmer in here than it is in the main hall" Kaien said taking off his helmet.
"It's a beautiful place" Gwen looked up.
"I've seen more beautiful sights" Kaien smirked.
"Oh" Gwen blushed, "I've been looking through the scrying pool, and it seems that it seems that the demons are up to something" she continued.
In the Hall of Heroes Lind was sitting on the steps looking at Tyr while he was talking to Kenny. She desperately wanted to know what the ring that she saw Tyr showing Harry looked like; she definitely knew the answer she would give to Tyr when the time came.
"Realm of the gods huh?" Kenny asked.
"Seem so" Tyr replied, "Definitely not demonic, its too bright and golden here, too divine like" he continued.
"Seems the others are here too" Kenny said looking around.
"Heroes of Elona" Kormir said descending upon the altar.
Kenny and Tyr kneeled followed by the others. Kormir explained the situation with the Margonites, Titans, Torment and Stygian demonic forces joining forces the Destroyers how they plan to overthrow the gods and the world. Tyr hated the destroyers as much as he hated the Margonites and made a sadistic enjoyment in brutally slaying any of them he came across, keeping trophies from them back in his vault at his guildhall. Lind took off her hood, reached into her backpack and took out her bandana and tinted spectacles. As she watched Kormir talking to Kenny and Tyr, she wondered why the demons were attacking so soon after their master's defeat, Lind thought after the massacre of the demons at the Ebony citadel they would not try another attack.
"So you are saying this skill would enable us to defeat the demons once and for all?" Kenny asked.
"This is not an ordinary skill Kenny" Kormir said, "This skill was forbidden by the gods for mortals to use" she continued.
"Understandable" Tyr said "But for what reason?" he asked.
"The skill was actually made dormant and inaccessible from the mortal so no faction would gain power over the other" Kormir answered.
"So you are intrusting us with this power?" Kenny asked.
"To wield this great power you must prove your worth. My followers, the forgotten have relayed me information on an immense hive of destroyers in Riven Earth in a valley near Rata Sum" Kormir said "Raze the hive and the destroyers and the power is yours" she continued.
Unearthly sounds echoed throughout the corridors of the atrocity library; dozens of Margonites amassed outside the structure, above them on the stairs leading into the structure stood four Margonite generals, Doriah, Nimtak, Tirraj and Kumtash. Some distance away, a Sunspear patrol spied upon the Margonites trying to figure out what they were up to.
"My god!" Jibehr exclaimed "So many Margonites" he continued
"They are planning an invasion nothing more!" Kadirah said.
"We must tell the order immediately" Bomani exclaimed.
"Not yet" Kadirah said "We must find out where they intend to attack so we can prepare a defence against them" She continued.
Corpses of several dozen Destroyers lay all over the valley, the hive ruined burned as parts of it broke off. Bowing before Kormir, the heroes received the power needed to destroy the demonic forces. Tyr looked around at all the humanoid like destroyers, their weapons lay where they had fallen, after glancing at Kormir, he and Kenny proceeded to collect up the weapons ready to be sold.
"Um I wonder how much these would sell for?" Kenny wandered.
"Kormir grants us power and all you think of is money?" Tyr said cock eyed.
"Just remember the sure way to defeat a Margonite once and for all is to split its mask cleanly in two" Kormir said "But remember there are still hundreds of Margonites after the defeat of Abaddon, they must all be destroyed" she continued.
"Duly noted" Kenny replied.
"I will destroy them all" Tyr added.
"Your weapons now two forms, one as it is now and the other in its zanpakuto, your weapon will shimmer giving it the ability to defeat the demonic forces" Kormir said.
Just outside the Eye of the North, in a garden that Gwen maintained to remind her of her once beautiful homeland, Gwen was sitting on a rock as Kaien picked up the red iris flowers. She wished her scorched homeland would return back to once it was before the searing destroyed it.
"This place is so beautiful" Gwen said. "I'm surprised I was able to grow anything in such a cold desolate area" she continued.
"I'm surprised flowers could grow on in this rocky area" Kaien said.
"All my anger was against the Charr for what they did to Ascalon, they made me what I am today. I want revenge for all the people including my mother whom they killed" Gwen sighed.
"I killed every charr I came across in your honour" Kaien smirked, "I also took the idol they carried as a trophy," he said as he opened a sack containing several dozen supreme charr carvings.
Gwen blushed "Thank you for doing it in my honour" She said "Every charr killed will bring new hopes to a beautiful Ascalon" she continued
"You're the most beautiful thing around here" Kaien smirked giving Gwen a red iris flower.
Gwen gasped "Kaien…" Gwen blushed uncontrollably as Kaien kissed her.
Two weeks passed and decorations hung all over Shing Jea monastery ready for the dragon festival due to start the next day. Tyr and the others had been training with their new skills in the realm of torment; Kenny, Lind and Tyr were getting ready to enjoy the festival at Shing Jea Monastery. Canthan citizens swarmed Tyr and the others as they were honoured guests as they had saved the world from Abaddon, Canthan guards had to hold the crowd back as they made their way to the boardwalk games in the monastery overlook.
"Man that was scary" Lind gasped removing her hood as she walked towards a bema.
"I couldn't even back off fast enough" Tyr said, "I didn't even have time to put away my shield" he sighed.
"Let alone how did everyone know we were coming?" Kenny asked.
Lind lent against a stone bema, her heart was pounding as she remembered that Tyr is going to propose to her sometime during the festival, she hoped his proposal would be soon. She had been training with Tyr in the ways of the warrior even wielding a warrior's weapon on several occasions. As the masses huddled around the gate leading onto the boardwalk games in the monastery overlook, high on the walls four figures shrouded in darkness frowned at the crowed of people.
"Foolish mortals!" Doriah said.
"Goddess of truth should of never of taken over lord Abaddon's position. Her forces are destroying us!" Nimtak moaned.
"I will incinerate them all!" Tirraj roared.
"Oh you just do that and PLEASE don't start dancing again" Kumtash complained.
"Our forces are ready and waiting in the domain of secrets" Nimtak said "Jus tone signal and they will come forth and destroy the mortals" he laughed.
The sun shone brightly over the Asuran city of Rata Sum, people from all over Tyria, Elona and Cantha mingled together buying and selling items to each other. Being on the south-eastern cost of Tyria in the tarnished coast, many travellers were wary to travel in the Asuran lands fearing the large number beasts that roamed there. Lauren had just come back from doing a task for an Asuran in Magus Stones. She had been worried about Ryden whom she had not seen for a week and a half, after she had told him that she was seeing someone, she remembered that Ryden had looked like he was in pain after hearing it and was concerned about his welfare.
"I had no idea he felt like that" Lauren said.
"He confided his feelings for you with Dominic and myself, he was so nervous in talking to you" Ian stretched "Couldn't you tell from the way he talked?" he asked
"He didn't seem like that when he talked to me" Lauren replied "He talked more casually to me, even complimented me once" she continued.
As she walked down the stairs into the main square, she noticed female warrior holding a distinctive axe that she knew Ryden owned. She asked the warrior if she knew where the previous owner had gone but the warrior replied that Ryden had just given her the shield and walked off.
"Um excuse me" An Asuran called out "Are you looking for a warrior from you guild?" he asked.
"Yes" Lauren replied "Was he here?" she asked.
"He was until a half hour or so ago" The Asuran answered "He left me this letter to give to you if you arrived" he continued.
"How did Ryden know you would be here?" Ian asked.
"I must have told him before he disappeared" Lauren said opening the sealed letter.
Dear Lauren,
I'm sorry that I had put you in that position, I did not know that you were seeing someone. I could not help the way that I felt about you. It pained me spiritually afterwards and I could not face you when I am in pain, please tell the guild alliance that I will be gone for some time but I am not sure when I will be back. Take care
Ryden
"Where did he go?" Ian asked the Asuran.
"He said he was going to hunt something in Riven Earth. That warrior is crazy going by himself, I offered to lone him the golems but he was intent in going alone!" The Asuran sighed.
Lauren quickly thanked the Asuran for the information and hurried out to find Ryden in Riven Earth. The local Asurans told her that Ryden had headed northeast towards the golem factory and that he looked sort of depressed, she quickly headed northeast through numerous corpses of dead giant spiders and numerous large beasts. The Asuran Golem generator was still in operation since the incident with the great destroyer, there were still golems standing around the generator complex to stop any wild beasts from damaging it. Lauren walked around the immense rotating generator past the large golems when she heard sounds of clashing metal. The noise was coming from the other side of the valley. As she raced over the bridge, she was hoping that it was Ryden and that he was safe. As she ascended over the crest of the hill littered with the corpses of several destroyers she saw Ryden winning a fight one on one with a Destroyer of Sinew.
"RYDEN!" Lauren called out.
The destroyer defeated, slumped to the floor "Lauren you should not have come!" Ryden said facing her.
Lauren noticed a Destroyer of Flesh and a Destroyer of Bones creeping up behind Ryden, horrified she yelled to look behind him behind him. It was too late; the Destroyer of Sinew stabbed him from behind as the Destroyer of Bones brought its mace straight into Ryden side sending him crashing into a rock face fatally injuring him, Lauren unleashed a powerful earth spell killing the two destroyers.
"Ryden!!" Lauren said running up to his side quickly getting onto her knees.
Ryden coughed up blood "You shouldn't of come looking for me" he wheezed.
"I was worried" Lauren said, "Ian told me that you had strong feelings for me…" she continued.
Ryden coughed "You have the right to lead your own life Lauren" Ryden wheezed, "I cannot stand in the way of your happiness" he said trying to sit up.
Ryden winced as blood seeped out of the wound; Lauren quickly placed a large cloth to stem the flow of blood "Lie still" she said.
"I had to leave because it was too painful" Ryden wheezed
"You, Ian and Dominic are my friends, and I want to remain that way with you" She said.
Writhing in pain he threw off his helmet, "I will always care for you, and I always will…" he spluttered, "I got you this…" he said as he took out a jewelled bracer.
Ryden wrenched, gasping for air "RYDEN!" Lauren cried out, "Keep still" she said trying to beckon an Asuran and a golem who were just crossing the bridge.
Writhing in pain and with one final breath he slumped to the floor one final time and died. Lauren grief stricken, cried out to the Asuran and a golem to help her. In the Hall of Monuments, Gwen was neatly putting her brotherhood mesmer outfit into her backpack ready for the journey to Cantha. Captain Langmar had given Gwen and Kaien an extended leave, Vekk was tuning a Asuran gate to transport them outside Kaineng centre where they could catch a ship to Shing Jea island.
"That outfit will look nice on you" Kaien said, "You will look more beautiful despite what you wear" he smirked.
Gwen blushed "Thank you" she smiled "I hope we can make it to the festival on time" she continued.
"The festival is on for a week, we'll be there this evening!" Kaien smiled.
That evening, Kenny was sitting on the stairs leading into the main courtyard of Shing Jea Monastery, he had a bad feeling something was about to happen, he tapped the hilt of his sword as he stood up taking out a flask of firewater out of his pouch. Tyr and Lind were sitting underneath a cherry blossom tree enjoying a bottle of Vabbian wine. Lind knew that Tyr only took out wine when he was about to ask her something, her heart pounded, as she knew what it could be.
"Lind" Tyr said reaching into his belt pouch.
"Yes?" she said trying to hide a smile.
A rumble echoed through the monastery, headmaster Quin and headmaster Lee looked around wandering what it was; they stumbled over as rumble shook the ground.
"What the heck was that?" Headmaster Lee said straightening her hair.
"Beats me" headmaster Quin replied picking up her staff.
Suddenly screams came from the other side of the monastery, Kenny ran back to the gate from the monastery overlook and yelled out to Tyr and Lind who were in a passionate embrace.
"MARGONITES ARE ATTACKING!!" Kenny yelled.
As Tyr and Lind hurried to Kenny they saw the headmasters and dozens of imperial guardsmen battling the Margonites who had poured out of several chaos rifts that covered the exits out of the monastery. Tyr went into rage as he saw Margonites attacking innocent festival goers; Tyr and Kenny summoned their Zanpakuto and charged into the demonic hordes. Lit torches lit the night sky over Rata Sum; the Asuran town had been closed off to everyone besides the Talons Alliance who was conducting a funeral for a guild member. Members from all four guilds lined up in front of a pyre, six warriors carried a casket containing the body of Ryden down the centre of the gathered guilds closely followed behind by Lauren who was distraught after loosing a dear friend. As the casket passed each line of guild members, each line knelt down on one knee and bowed their heads in respect for their fallen comrade, guild banners fluttered in the wind as the casket was lowered onto the pyre. As each guild leader went through their eulogy; members paid their final respects to Ryden, Lauren stepped up to the casket placed a single red iris flower in top of his shield and sword and kissed his forehead.
"I assure you Grenth will honour Ryden's sacrifice in the underworld" Olias said.
"I hope so" Sigmar said "He was a good warrior, he will be sadly missed" He continued.
As the pyre slowly engulfed the casket the guild alliance got onto their knees once more and paid their respect. Tyr swung his sword around hacking away at the advancing margonite; each hit disintegrated the margonite into a flaming skeleton, which promptly turned into ash. Several margonite ascendants and executioners surrounded Lind and started to advance onto her, she reeled back her scythe and swung hard at the encroaching horde of margonites.
"Whoa!" Kenny exclaimed as a cloud of ash fell to the floor "You took out loads of them just now!" he continued.
"Well there is still loads of them left, Tyr vanquished most of the ones in the market area" Lind replied.
"Seems like there are more of them at the Xunlai storage area, I'll go help the soldier fight them off" Kenny said.
General Doriah was getting frustrated in seeing many of his forces being quickly defeated by a mere three people, general Kumtash severed the links of the chains holding the large bell up as Tyr fought the margonite hordes. Doriah waited until Tyr had his back turned and smirked.
"Foolish mortal you cannot stop the return of Lord Abaddon, he still lives!" Doriah yelled as he sent the large bell tumbling through the air towards him.
Lind looked in horror as the bell slammed into Tyr kicking up a large dust cloud, the four generals laughed as rocks fell onto the wrecked bell. Suddenly the bell moved and a booming voice echoed from the dust.
"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME THAT EAISLY DEMONIC SCUM?" The voice jeered "I AM YOUR JUDGMENT, YOUR NIGHTMARE FOR I AM MON'TAU!"
Kenny looked up in shock as he saw red and black aura emanating from the dust.
"DIE!" the voice called out as a winged beast shot out towards the four generals.
To be continued…