(A/N): This story has undergone some revisions and retconning. You may want to go back to previous chapters or this one may confuse you.
Scarred Silver
Chapter 9: Triumvirate
Two days had passed since Valen had pushed Alteara into "Memory". During those two days, he had remained in the secret room, patiently waiting for the girl to emerge. He couldn't help but smile in anticipation. He had made his move at last and he was nervous. Nervous! The mere thought of it nearly made him laugh to himself. For five centuries he had never felt this much fear. He wasn't sure if the girl was going to come back from "Memory", what state she would be in, if he could make use of what she had learned or if Raven Huer was going to return before everything was ready. This was a true gamble and he was not even sure if the reward was going to be worth it.
Valen could not even remember when he first realized that he had to do this. It certainly wasn't during the time he was still learning under Raven Huer. Sometime during his five centuries of wandering, he had come to the conclusion that he had to be the one to slay Raven Huer or die trying. He didn't know when but he knew why.
'The student must surpass the master.' Valen reminded himself. This was a truth he had accepted even before he found a means to extend his life and wander the worlds. He had been content before in simply walking his own path and trying to map his own way to surpassing Raven Huer. But as the years went by, the more the truth imposed itself upon him. There was no other way but to defeat Raven Huer. He struggled against it and hurled himself from one challenge to another. But for each enemy he defeated, the more insignificant each victory became. Nothing seemed to matter. It had reached the point where he was completely convinced that even the slaying of a god would not give him any satisfaction. It had to be Raven Huer.
So he started to set Raven Huer's death as his goal; off-handedly at first. He began to investigate the means by which he could be slain. He searched for students like him; asking them what they know, attempting to gain their aid in his endeavor. He was met with little success. The difficulty, however, spurred him on unlike what he had been doing before. He knew he was on the right path this time. The centuries went by swiftly while he combed each world he came upon for any clue as to how to defeat his nigh-invincible master.
Finally, he had found the way. He stumbled upon Deicidium, the plane of true killing. He saw the monolith and he discovered what it was for. Someone had once managed to defeat Raven Huer before. The mere confirmation of such a possibility had sent his spirit flying. The pieces started to come together at last. Alestrovon had the means to kill Raven Huer. He had almost done so. In response, Raven Huer sealed away the very knowledge of what that thing was that Alestrovon had. The sealing was so perfect that no one remembered that fight. Not even Raven Huer himself. Valen saw that his path was clear. He needed to find out what happened and acquire what Alestrovon had used. He would not fail like Alestrovon did. He studied under Raven Huer and knew how the man behaved.
Another century of fruitless investigation went by. Every trace of Alestrovon's worshippers had been eradicated. Raven Huer was completely thorough in hiding his weakness. It was then that Valen received help from the strangest of sources.
Lizan Killranae invited him to her personal plane and had told him of "Memory". 'I would love to see how you fare.' She had explained when he asked her why she would help him. 'I think you're going to fail, Valen, but I would like to see the attempt. There might be some small chance that you might succeed.'
Valen had seized the opportunity when he encountered Raven Huer on his way to Rune-Midgard. When he managed to search the fragment of Raven Huer's personal plane that had been transported to the fledgling world, the mere sight of "Memory" confirmed Lizan's words. He knew that it was the time to act.
Valen unsheathed the blade on his back and held it before him, tracing the engravings with one finger. If all else failed, he would still have his sword. He chuckled once more; barely able to contain his anticipation.
During her years under her master, Alteara continued to be amazed by the power he commanded and the things that he did. She had known from the start that he was more than just a powerful wizard and she knew that she wouldn't be surprised if she found out that he wasn't fully human.
Perhaps it was because of those things that she was completely surprised to see her master walking side by side with another person, smiling genuinely and conversing. The scene looked…ordinary, so much so that it disturbed her.
"That's an understandable reaction." The spell beside her said. "Yes, there was a time when even Raven Huer didn't have a care in the world."
Alteara looked on as her master and Alestrovon walked through a grand hall of white stone. They were laughing as they conversed while strange spheres of glowing light passed them. They walked through a doorway and out into a balcony where they stared out to a great plain before them. Alteara stood breathless as she saw an ocean of rolling grassland stretch out as far as she could see. Not even a single rock or tree jutted out of the green. The sky above them was a clear blue with only a few feathery clouds. Though it was bright as if it were noon, there was no sun in the sky.
"For a long time, Raven Huer remained by Alestrovon's side as the greater deity went about his duties." The spell continued. "Alestrovon had his own created world to watch over and had a presence in several worlds as well. That he was the son of Raven's hated sibling, Meggidas, did nothing to hurt their friendship. Alestrovon kept Raven's presence a secret from his father and Raven wanted nothing more than to never have to deal with his siblings ever again."
The sky suddenly became dark red in color. Both Raven Huer and Alestrovon looked up in concern as a great hole, the same sort that Raven Huer had emerged from, appeared. It was as if the sky had been made of thin cloth and ripped apart. Within the tear, there was only darkness.
"Hasmiya waited patiently for Raven Huer to begin wreaking havoc upon Meggidas's reality." The spell said. "It soon became clear that her youngest sibling had no interest in fulfilling his side of their bargain. She sent her children to attack Alestrovon's world, using her own power to mask her movements from Meggidas."
The spell paused and smirked at the resulting scene. An army of winged humanoids emerged from the hole, swooping straight towards Alestrovon and Raven Huer. Alteara looked a little closer to see that the humanoids lacked features. Their bodies were genderless and lacked any hair or clothes. They didn't even have eyes. Many of them had skin the color of iron, others like copper. A few had golden skin. They were armed with halberds and charged with abandon.
"Meggidas may have invented pride but the rest of his siblings weren't short on it." The spell said. "Hasmiya refused to believe that some abomination that crawled out of her mother could possess much power."
Both Alestrovon and Raven Huer flew from the balcony, meeting the army head on. Alestrovon's twin blades cut through his foes with ease. Though he was wingless, he flew gracefully through the air, his face not even showing the least bit difficulty in fighting. A cloud of roiling darkness billowed from Raven Huer's outstretched hands, engulfing hundreds of his enemies. When the darkness cleared, there was nothing left of them.
The scene faded before Alteara and was replaced with Alestrovon and Raven Huer walking casually across the smoking ruins of what appeared to be a city made entirely of gold. Alteara could see several towers that had fallen, broken buildings and great craters all over the paved streets. Bodies lay everywhere, many of them cut to pieces while others were charred or frozen.
"Alestrovon and Raven crushed the attack and retaliated by crossing over to Hasmiya's reality." The spell continued. "They picked a world to attack and descended upon it, destroying everything they saw as revenge. It was on their attack on the Golden City of Iminrith, Hasmiya's favored city, that they met someone important."
The scene faded again and was replaced by the sight of Alestrovon and Raven descending a golden staircase down an enormous pit. The entire place was light-less save for a glowing orb that Raven Huer had conjured on his palm. Minutes passed before they reached the bottom.
Alteara looked at the spell, waiting for it to go on when she noticed a very fond smile on its face.
"Within the bowels of Iminrith, they discovered what, perhaps, was the reason why Hasmiya was so envious." The spell continued. "The proud and powerful proto-deity had created an abomination of her own. A misshapen thing so radically different from her chosen people that she sealed it away so no one could ever lay eyes upon it."
"Why didn't she just destroy it then?" Alteara asked.
"That would have released its spirit and allowed all the other proto-deities to see it as it made its way to the Overdeities." The spell answered. "Hasmiya refused to have anything scrutinize her mistake."
Alteara looked on to see just what horror the proto-deity had created. She frowned upon discovering that it had the form of an ordinary human being; a woman in fact. A tall woman with long black hair was chained to the golden chamber. Her arms were raised and chained to opposing walls. She wore an enormous golden collar, the size of a millstone, with chains attached to it that extended in four directions. Her legs were also chained to the floor. Despite her bindings, the woman looked up at Raven Huer defiantly, her bright blue eyes luminescent in the chamber's shadows. Alteara recognized the woman immediately.
'Lizan Killranae…' She thought.
Alestrovon shattered the chains with a swing of his massive swords while her master offered a hand to help the woman stand up. She was naked but it didn't take long for her to materialize some clothes to wear; the very same clothes that Lizan Killranae wore in her portrait in Raven Huer's mansion.
"Raven Huer knew all too well what sort of fate that this abomination had to endure." The spell said. "He extended a hand in friendship, just as Alestrovon had extended one to him. The abomination responded in kind and asked to join them. Both of them agreed and the duo became a trio. Like Raven Huer, the abomination had no name to call herself. It fell upon Alestrovon to give her one and he chose the name "Lizan Killranae"."
The spell's smile widened and split into a grin as it continued. "Lizan was all too eager to help with the attack against her "mother". The three of them ravaged Iminrith and slew many of Lizan's "properly formed" brothers and sisters." The spell said the words with more than a trace of mockery. "Hasmiya was furious and decided to take matters into her own hands. It wasn't long until Meggidas and the rest of the proto-deities found out what had happened."
The scene changed once more. Now, Alestrovon, Raven and Lizan were back in Alestrovon's hall. Alteara marveled at the contentment in all their faces.
"The three of them didn't care about what Raven Huer's siblings were planning." The spell continued. "Secure in their friendship, they were ready to face anything."
The spell's expression saddened.
"Those were glorious, carefree days for Raven Huer. I'm sure that he would be willing to let everything be destroyed if he could go back to them. He holds no greater regret than letting those days come to an end."
