Center of Darkness
By
Jestie A. Worley
*Authors note I own nothing except for the
Character Karn whom I made up. Everything else belongs
to the great People at Squaresoft.
Prologue
This Prologue is based six monthes before the great
confrontation between good and evil that that nearly
tore the world apart.
The meeting was to be held in the
darkest recesses of the earth, leaders of the dark
revolution were arriving every few minutes. One
however drew dark and wary glances from even the most
evil of the meetings' participants. The man was known
as Karn Duskaith he was not an ugly man nor was he
what anyone would call handsome he had a look about
him that told any and everyone that he was not the
type to be fooled with. He had long dark hair and fair
skin and eyes cold as ice, he was considered highly
sadistic in nature though there was some dispute as to
whether the man was merely insane or if he chose his
specialty without insanity playing a part in his
choice. Though his colleagues despised him, personally
they respected his rationale and coolness under fire.
Karn was a Black Mage of the highest and darkest
order. He owned many slaves and thoroughly enjoyed
dismembering them while they still lived, sometimes
with magic sometimes without. This was a man with a
heart of stone,who killed indiscriminately he cared
not whether his victims where young or old, man or
woman, ugly or beautiful.
The meeting he was attending was one of many as
of late, the members of the board where there to
discuss their recent defeat by the united paladins of
Vana'diel, a division of soldiers formed by the
nations of San'doria, Bastok, and Windurst that was
funded by Jeunos. Only the Highest ranking officials
of the Dark order where allowed to participate though
leaders of dark communities where charged to represent
their respective peoples views. The highest ranking
official of the Dark order was there to begin the
meeting he was know as Elder Chance. "Well then lets
begin this meeting with a recitation of the last
minutes of our previous meeting." Elder Chance said in
a raspy voice that more than anything presented his
true age and grief to all present. "Recorder read them
back to us!" He shouted at the recorder, who although
it was a meeting of great gravity found it dull enough
to nap in. The recorder woke with a start and read to
them the final minutes of their last meeting. "Well
Elder Chance came up with a plan for using the
crystals of our world to draw the earths energy into
an able bodied and capable Black Mage who would be
able to work a spell spoken of in our legends which
could completely Obliterate a large army." "It was
decided that during this meeting there would be two
votes one two decide three Mages and the other to
decide which of those three would be our spell caster
and the carrier of our orders fate." The recorder
spoke in a solemn tone for even he knew that this
meeting was one who's decision could mean life or
death for him and all of his fellows.
The Elder seeing the the recorder was finished
with his report spoke with a grim tone "Now then I
need not tell you that the decision made by this
council will decide all our fates." "Our vote will be
cast as secret ballets both times, each of you has two
pieces of parchment in front you, the first vote is
two choose three Mages whom you believe would be
befitting for the afore mentioned job." "You may begin
now." Parchment rustled as quill meet paper and the
Mages fought with themselves to decide who to place
their great burden on. When the vote where tallied the
three men where asked to leave their seats and stand
in front of their equals for the final vote. Karn not
surprisingly was among the chosen three besides him
where two other exceptional mages Flavius Smith and
Publius Erickson. Yet again the council voted and when
votes where tallied Karn was chosen to accept the
crystals energy and cast the spell that would free
them from the tyranny of good, and forever allow their
people to practice their dark art without scrutiny and
being considered distasteful.
The meeting was adjourned and once everyone
except themselves had left, Elder Chance led Karn to a
darkened secret passage way that would take them even
deeper into the earth to a place that had not been
visited for centuries. "Well I suppose your pretty
proud of yourself Karn." "Your to be trusted with our
very future in this world." "I assure you Elder I am
as confident in this as I am in my own ability." "A
response worthy of you Karn." The elder replied almost
jovially. Deep down the Elder though he would never
admit it had a grudging respect for this man who was
younger than he, by thirty years at least. "Ah here we
are." The elder exclaimed. Karn looking around could
see nothing around him except rock wall. The Elder
stretched out his left hand made a counter clockwise
circular motion with it and suddenly the wall in front
of them melted away like a child's ice cream left in
the sun. "Nice parlor trick Elder." Karn said snidely.
"Hush now Karn in the room we are about to enter lies
the greatest of our races secrets you will be the
first person to read these secret texts in many
years." "Behave yourself for this room and what lies
therein is considered holy to our kind and evil to our
enemies to us it promises unending power and to them a
crippling blow that will surely mean the end." "What
ever you say Elder I'll behave myself."
Karns first steps into, what was
essentially a vast library, were shaky to his great
displeasure, though he soon mastered himself. "It
certainly is dusty in here elder." He said. "Well what
could you have expected Karn?" I did tell you it has
been left alone for quite some time now,didn't I?
Chance replied. "Ah save it old man." Just tell me
where to start." The elder directed Karn over to a
large oaken desk where upon lied a book of
unfathomable age. "Is this it?" Karn asked the elder
who simply nodded his head. "Allright elder but I have
one question for you." "What's in it for me?" The
elder smiled and shook his head. "I expected you would
want to know that." "If you succeed you will be
granted access to all record here in." When chance
noticed Karns expression Chance added. "I'm sure their
are books in here that detail torture methods you've
never even dreamed of Karn." Karn thought on this. "Ok
you've got yourself a deal Chance."
In little time Karn began to learn the spell
that would break the shackles that binded his people,
and which would destroy their nemises . The going for
him however was slow and tedious at first, it was like
no other spell he had attemted and he soon began to
realize what elder chance and the councilors neglected
to mention to him before the vote. The casting of this
spell would leave karn a man drained completely soul
and all, it was a suicide mission and they had picked
their least favorite man to do the job. From that day
on though he kept a proper attitude whenever elder
chance or any of the other members came to see how he
was doing. However whenever Karn had a minute alone he
devoted it to devising a plan that would free him from
the fate his "peers" had designed for him. Just the
mear demonstrations of the spell he learned to be
named Crystalius Destructus were very taxing not only
on his mind, but also on his body. Two weeks before
the arranged battle with The Palidins of Van'diel Karn
had an escape plan he had already put into action.
Karn had found a book inside the library that detailed
the White mages' spell teleport in a text that was
obviously meant to tutor a pupil of the white arts.
Karn however being a black mage would be unable to
perform a spell that harnessed light,
so he meticulously worked to turn it into a spell that
would instead respond to dark powers.
Three days before the battle with the Palidins Karn
was able to teleport himself to the libraries private
lavatory and back with only a little effort. Two days
before the battle he was able to transport himself to
his Vila five miles away with no effort involved at
all and to bring things back and forth books and such.
The day before their plight Elder chance and the rest
of the councilors came to speak with Karn about his
confidence in the spell he had spent months learning.
Karn qeulled any of their misgiving by performing the
spell at only one milionth of its full
power,destroying a row of book cases and turning them
to ashes. Elder Chanceand the rest of the council left
the meeting jovially confident in their iminent
victory over the enemy. Karn knowing that he would not
be disturbed again for another few hours teleported
himself back to the villa to spend the night with his
favorite slave a female named Marcelona. Afterwards he
told here that being his most faithful sevent he knew
she would not speak of his plan and in return for her
silence he would set here free to do as she pleased.
Marcelona was the first and last of his slaves to be
set free, after she had left the villa and was out of
site of Karns window he locked all the doors in his
home with the only key to the house then he proceeded
to set his home of ten years afire along with all of
his servents and slaves trapped inside,he stayed as
long as he could stand the heat of the fire and left
when he could not. He teleported back to the library
once more where he gathered five books that fascinated
him and telported out of the library to Merlin knows
where.
The morning of the battle Elder Chance sent a
young paige to summon Karn to the Elders quarters. The
paige returned saying that Karn was not in the library
nor his own quarters. For all the planing and
dependence on the spell Karn had been designated to
cast, only the councilors knew of its existence their
plans had not been voiced to their masses. Because of
that Elder chance knew that the loss of the spell
would not be a hit to their peoples moral. They would
go into battle as planed and they would fight with all
of their might. The Dark Order fell that day, and
after wards the only person who knew of Karns betrayal
was the slave Marcelona who lived the rest of her
short life fearing for her life and the life of the
child she bore in her womb, the child a devil.
By
Jestie A. Worley
*Authors note I own nothing except for the
Character Karn whom I made up. Everything else belongs
to the great People at Squaresoft.
Prologue
This Prologue is based six monthes before the great
confrontation between good and evil that that nearly
tore the world apart.
The meeting was to be held in the
darkest recesses of the earth, leaders of the dark
revolution were arriving every few minutes. One
however drew dark and wary glances from even the most
evil of the meetings' participants. The man was known
as Karn Duskaith he was not an ugly man nor was he
what anyone would call handsome he had a look about
him that told any and everyone that he was not the
type to be fooled with. He had long dark hair and fair
skin and eyes cold as ice, he was considered highly
sadistic in nature though there was some dispute as to
whether the man was merely insane or if he chose his
specialty without insanity playing a part in his
choice. Though his colleagues despised him, personally
they respected his rationale and coolness under fire.
Karn was a Black Mage of the highest and darkest
order. He owned many slaves and thoroughly enjoyed
dismembering them while they still lived, sometimes
with magic sometimes without. This was a man with a
heart of stone,who killed indiscriminately he cared
not whether his victims where young or old, man or
woman, ugly or beautiful.
The meeting he was attending was one of many as
of late, the members of the board where there to
discuss their recent defeat by the united paladins of
Vana'diel, a division of soldiers formed by the
nations of San'doria, Bastok, and Windurst that was
funded by Jeunos. Only the Highest ranking officials
of the Dark order where allowed to participate though
leaders of dark communities where charged to represent
their respective peoples views. The highest ranking
official of the Dark order was there to begin the
meeting he was know as Elder Chance. "Well then lets
begin this meeting with a recitation of the last
minutes of our previous meeting." Elder Chance said in
a raspy voice that more than anything presented his
true age and grief to all present. "Recorder read them
back to us!" He shouted at the recorder, who although
it was a meeting of great gravity found it dull enough
to nap in. The recorder woke with a start and read to
them the final minutes of their last meeting. "Well
Elder Chance came up with a plan for using the
crystals of our world to draw the earths energy into
an able bodied and capable Black Mage who would be
able to work a spell spoken of in our legends which
could completely Obliterate a large army." "It was
decided that during this meeting there would be two
votes one two decide three Mages and the other to
decide which of those three would be our spell caster
and the carrier of our orders fate." The recorder
spoke in a solemn tone for even he knew that this
meeting was one who's decision could mean life or
death for him and all of his fellows.
The Elder seeing the the recorder was finished
with his report spoke with a grim tone "Now then I
need not tell you that the decision made by this
council will decide all our fates." "Our vote will be
cast as secret ballets both times, each of you has two
pieces of parchment in front you, the first vote is
two choose three Mages whom you believe would be
befitting for the afore mentioned job." "You may begin
now." Parchment rustled as quill meet paper and the
Mages fought with themselves to decide who to place
their great burden on. When the vote where tallied the
three men where asked to leave their seats and stand
in front of their equals for the final vote. Karn not
surprisingly was among the chosen three besides him
where two other exceptional mages Flavius Smith and
Publius Erickson. Yet again the council voted and when
votes where tallied Karn was chosen to accept the
crystals energy and cast the spell that would free
them from the tyranny of good, and forever allow their
people to practice their dark art without scrutiny and
being considered distasteful.
The meeting was adjourned and once everyone
except themselves had left, Elder Chance led Karn to a
darkened secret passage way that would take them even
deeper into the earth to a place that had not been
visited for centuries. "Well I suppose your pretty
proud of yourself Karn." "Your to be trusted with our
very future in this world." "I assure you Elder I am
as confident in this as I am in my own ability." "A
response worthy of you Karn." The elder replied almost
jovially. Deep down the Elder though he would never
admit it had a grudging respect for this man who was
younger than he, by thirty years at least. "Ah here we
are." The elder exclaimed. Karn looking around could
see nothing around him except rock wall. The Elder
stretched out his left hand made a counter clockwise
circular motion with it and suddenly the wall in front
of them melted away like a child's ice cream left in
the sun. "Nice parlor trick Elder." Karn said snidely.
"Hush now Karn in the room we are about to enter lies
the greatest of our races secrets you will be the
first person to read these secret texts in many
years." "Behave yourself for this room and what lies
therein is considered holy to our kind and evil to our
enemies to us it promises unending power and to them a
crippling blow that will surely mean the end." "What
ever you say Elder I'll behave myself."
Karns first steps into, what was
essentially a vast library, were shaky to his great
displeasure, though he soon mastered himself. "It
certainly is dusty in here elder." He said. "Well what
could you have expected Karn?" I did tell you it has
been left alone for quite some time now,didn't I?
Chance replied. "Ah save it old man." Just tell me
where to start." The elder directed Karn over to a
large oaken desk where upon lied a book of
unfathomable age. "Is this it?" Karn asked the elder
who simply nodded his head. "Allright elder but I have
one question for you." "What's in it for me?" The
elder smiled and shook his head. "I expected you would
want to know that." "If you succeed you will be
granted access to all record here in." When chance
noticed Karns expression Chance added. "I'm sure their
are books in here that detail torture methods you've
never even dreamed of Karn." Karn thought on this. "Ok
you've got yourself a deal Chance."
In little time Karn began to learn the spell
that would break the shackles that binded his people,
and which would destroy their nemises . The going for
him however was slow and tedious at first, it was like
no other spell he had attemted and he soon began to
realize what elder chance and the councilors neglected
to mention to him before the vote. The casting of this
spell would leave karn a man drained completely soul
and all, it was a suicide mission and they had picked
their least favorite man to do the job. From that day
on though he kept a proper attitude whenever elder
chance or any of the other members came to see how he
was doing. However whenever Karn had a minute alone he
devoted it to devising a plan that would free him from
the fate his "peers" had designed for him. Just the
mear demonstrations of the spell he learned to be
named Crystalius Destructus were very taxing not only
on his mind, but also on his body. Two weeks before
the arranged battle with The Palidins of Van'diel Karn
had an escape plan he had already put into action.
Karn had found a book inside the library that detailed
the White mages' spell teleport in a text that was
obviously meant to tutor a pupil of the white arts.
Karn however being a black mage would be unable to
perform a spell that harnessed light,
so he meticulously worked to turn it into a spell that
would instead respond to dark powers.
Three days before the battle with the Palidins Karn
was able to teleport himself to the libraries private
lavatory and back with only a little effort. Two days
before the battle he was able to transport himself to
his Vila five miles away with no effort involved at
all and to bring things back and forth books and such.
The day before their plight Elder chance and the rest
of the councilors came to speak with Karn about his
confidence in the spell he had spent months learning.
Karn qeulled any of their misgiving by performing the
spell at only one milionth of its full
power,destroying a row of book cases and turning them
to ashes. Elder Chanceand the rest of the council left
the meeting jovially confident in their iminent
victory over the enemy. Karn knowing that he would not
be disturbed again for another few hours teleported
himself back to the villa to spend the night with his
favorite slave a female named Marcelona. Afterwards he
told here that being his most faithful sevent he knew
she would not speak of his plan and in return for her
silence he would set here free to do as she pleased.
Marcelona was the first and last of his slaves to be
set free, after she had left the villa and was out of
site of Karns window he locked all the doors in his
home with the only key to the house then he proceeded
to set his home of ten years afire along with all of
his servents and slaves trapped inside,he stayed as
long as he could stand the heat of the fire and left
when he could not. He teleported back to the library
once more where he gathered five books that fascinated
him and telported out of the library to Merlin knows
where.
The morning of the battle Elder Chance sent a
young paige to summon Karn to the Elders quarters. The
paige returned saying that Karn was not in the library
nor his own quarters. For all the planing and
dependence on the spell Karn had been designated to
cast, only the councilors knew of its existence their
plans had not been voiced to their masses. Because of
that Elder chance knew that the loss of the spell
would not be a hit to their peoples moral. They would
go into battle as planed and they would fight with all
of their might. The Dark Order fell that day, and
after wards the only person who knew of Karns betrayal
was the slave Marcelona who lived the rest of her
short life fearing for her life and the life of the
child she bore in her womb, the child a devil.