The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Rise of the Shifter Lords
When Diablo had left the Supreme Ruler for the Dark One, Diablo forsook his immortality that he had attained in the Valley. But the Dark One, fearing for his loyal servant, gave Diablo the gift of Dark Magic.
Now Dark Magic is a fickle friend. It can give you great power, but at the expense of your life. It can make you live forever, but change your appearance to that of a monster. It can allow you to shift your shape, but steal your soul in doing so. However, for those who could master the Magic, it gave spectacular results.
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And so, the Shifter Lords could live for centuries, not totally immortal, but close. Disease could not kill them, and most who got close enough with a blade found themselves to be the ones speared through. The Shifter Lords, as their name implies, had mastered the ability to change their shape. But in order to keep his line alive, Diablo was forced to have children with powerless mortals, and every generation grew weaker and weaker in Magic.
The descendants of Diablo knew that if they were to make the Shifter Lords great in power again, they would need a powerful army that was loyal only to the ruling Shifter. Only with this army would they be able to reclaim the lands of the Mortal Realms. So they waited.
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The Shifter Lords were no fools. They knew that the best way to procure a loyal army was to 'rescue' one from an evil overlord. And even though they lived in the Mortal Realms, they could sense the uneasiness and rebellion that lived in the Celestial Valley, first because of the Elemental Herds, next because of the broken Herd.
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When Diablo left the fire-scorched lands of the Dark One, he left through a door. It was a door to nowhere; it was a door to door to everywhere. It stood alone in the air, doorframe and door, and could be used to go anywhere. However, the Supreme Ruler's grace had been placed upon the Valley. The end result of this was that only a great amount of Magic could open any path into the Valley, so much Magic, in fact, that the user would be likely to lose his own life in its opening. But Diablo, possibly acting on the foresight of a god, knew that someday, sometime, a Unicorn from the Valley would come through to the Mortal Realms. He could wait. He was, after all, an immortal.
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Eventually the patience of the Shifter Lords was rewarded. Unicorns left the Valley, leaving their Pool 'open' behind them. And the Magic leaked from the Valley. So much Magic leaked that the animals began to talk, Sorcerers arose, and the Unicorns of the Valley eventually felt its affects. Enough Magic to open the door into the Valley. So taking the Opportunity, Arioch went to the Celestial Valley to make deals with the Mare.