The final details of the peace treaty were being hammered out and Ewoden had withdrawn from the proceedings having already put forward Seroli interests in this matter. It was fully expected the Hylden would be given land along the coastline, the vampires the northern highlands and mountains while the humans would take the forests and plains.
The demons were another matter however. Messengers would be sent to the encampment outside the ruined city of Avernus for their leader to give his thoughts on the matter. Integrating demons into a multi-cultural society might have been somewhat difficult but it wasn't expected that the demons themselves would opt for it. They would much prefer, as was their nature, a far more isolationist approach to life.
Standing on the battlements Ewoden looked out over the city and wondered, briefly, how on earth he was going to lead the Seroli as Ramak was insisted he do.
He was no leader. All of his life he'd been a solider, a simple follower of orders.
"You underestimate yourself." A voice told him over the Whisper. "The Seroli are without leaders, their numbers thinned and their morale low. They need a leader such as yourself."
He felt a pair of arms wrap around him lovingly from behind, faint black feathers brushing against him.
"So tell me… Chieftain Ewoden… where will you led them?" Sally asked out load.
"To be frank, I honestly do not know." He replied without looking back.
"William wishes to take whatever vampires will follow him north to restore his old kingdom, while the clan chiefs which to spread out although they'll not move a muscle without authorization from Kain.
People are picking out stakes… it is best if you get one early."
"Sally… I'm not interested in leading." He told her, turning around to face the vampire he loved. Even with blue skin she was unbelievable beautiful. "I just want some quiet place to live away from all of this death….with you."
Without even thinking about it, he sank down onto one knee.
"Sally… will you marry me?"
She held a hand to her mouth in utter astonishment, emotion filling her large golden eyes.
That single moment of silence seemed to last for a lifetime.
Before either of them could say anything, all of a sudden the sky overhead darkened.
Thick black clouds suddenly began to gather, cover the sky almost completely and blocking out the light of the full moon.
Distant thunder began to crack across the sky, followed by periodic flashes of dark red lightning.
Bolts started crashing down on top of the city, carving scars in buildings and streets where they struck.
"Wha…" The former knight began as the heavens unleashed their full force on the city.
"What is the meaning of this?" T'kral demanded as the ground beneath him trembled, cracks started spreading through the council chamber where the discussions where taking place. The windows cracked and smashed open one by one, glass spraying into the room and across the table.
"Sire, what is happening?!" Vorador asked as suddenly green flashes started erupting in and around the castle, dozens in the streets and many, many more over Nosgoth itself.
Before Janos could answer, a green flash burst open just above the table and out of came a creature that had the dimensions of a crab but as large as a horse with a massive mouth full of serrated teeth.
It screeched angrily before lashing out, stamping the jagged stump of one leg through Zephon's leg before he could react.
All over Wilendorf, these crab like monsters were emerging from the Spectral Realm. The barriers between the realms of the living and the dead were now so weakened that one concentrated and focused push was all that was required for the Elder God's soul collecting minions to venture forth into the world of the material.
The elements turned against Nosgoth all across the land.
The thick black clouds in the sky over the entrance to the canyon to Dark Eden were beginning to churn, swirling down as a tornado was carved into being.
The bodies of Sarafan clumped there were torn off the ground and hurled into the air along with the dust in the canyon entrance.
Red lightening sourced the skies, burning down through the air to scar the ground to the west and rivers broke open across the east.
Whatever foliage was left alive in Nosgoth during its long decay suddenly started dying in masse. Trees withered and fell apart, grass and shrubs during jet black before crumbling into charred dust.
Along the southern coast of Nosgoth, the sea withdrew; sliding back to reveal over a mile of flatbed. Slowly the approach of the wave began, gathering the full force of the sea behind it as it soured on a mountainous wall of water. Even when it met with the coast it refused to break, the wave simply carried on inland. Any costal settlements were wiped off the map instantly as the met with a solid wall of water.
The walls of Meridian held, but only for a moment before they were completely overwhelmed and the torrent crashed down through the streets, filling them as if they were purpose built canals.
The wave carried on up the river that emptied out into the great southern lake. The ruins of the first Sarafan Stronghold was nearly instantly washed away like they had never even been there. Carrying on north east, the wave finally unloaded its full force on the river and lake surrounding Willendorf itself.
The waters rose past flood levels and began tipping out into the streets.
The face of Nosgoth was dramatically redrawn as the sea claimed mile after mile.
Where the flood had not left its mark, the storm, tornados and earthquakes tore up the earth claiming dozens of lives in moments.
The agents of the Elder, unhampered by the flood and elemental devastation set about their task, harvesting the souls of those dying and channeling them back to their master.
Whoever who got in their way they carved up, adding more to their collection of souls.
"So tell me now vampire; How does it feel to come so far; only to have victory snatched from you as you stand just before the finishing line? How dose the delicious despair taste?" The Elder demanded off me.
"What have you done?" I demanded. The ground beneath my feet was shaking as if so much I was having trouble keeping my balance.
"It is not what I have done." Was the reply. "You alone are responsible for Nosgoth's demise." Two large tentacles soured up from the darkness below, forming a circle in the air before me. "Behold." Within that circle images conjured themselves. I watched in horror as the land was engulfed by the encroaching sea and as towns and cities were torn asunder by the elements now in full force.
"Nosgoth shall have not the slow, lingering death your prolonged existence forced upon it." The elder carried on. "Now, by my mercy, it will have one final flourish before it drowns." As more and more people in Nosgoth died by the second, the swirling vortex of souls around us increased in mass and size.
I could hear their screams, not just around me but inside my head as well. Hundred, even thousands of voices called, whispered, talked, yelled at me. A blur of insane words I could not understand.
"My god…" Raziel started, sensing the torment of the souls around him. "He's not pulling them through the wheel. He's absorbing them." I watched as the tentacles and general mass of the Elder began increasing, his foul body twisting and growing as it feed on the souls, sucking them into itself and storing their energy.
The walls began to crack as he started becoming too large for the room within this cavern to hold it.
I could clearly see what he was doing.
Using the energy of the souls he was absorbing instead of sending back to be reincarnated he was provoking nature, which because of the state of the pillars was already weak, into violently reacting.
With the barriers between the Spectral and Material realms weakened, his agents emerged to harvest the souls.
Using the power the Wheel of Fate had accumulated over the centuries, augmented in the recent wars and now by this one final act of destruction, he was killing Nosgoth!
"The wars you foolishly fought with the humans and Hylden have given me power the likes of which you can't even imagine. And now that the flow of history has been changed I am free to cause this devastation without consequence to future events.
Because of you, this land shall have no glorious rebirth through the Wheel. " The Elder declared between bouts of sadistic laughter. "But now I permit it to have one final scream of outrage before I leave this miserable continent behind!"
-
The coastline of Nosgoth was now completely gone. The river leading from the southern lake into the sea had overflowed to completely engulf the towns of Ziegstuhrl and Provance. Any survivors had led to higher ground, others washed away to vanish without a trace.
Meridian was only saved from completely destruction by being on high ground and surrounded by its gigantic wall which held the flood back long enough for it to vent some of its anger before it swept in.
The lake of Tears swelled, bursting its banks and pouring its water into the encircling deluge surrounding the town of Nachtholm. The islands on which the buildings sat almost seemed to sink as the water claimed more land. The town's people helped those they could onto the boats at the dock, even the Sarafan guards who were forced to ditch their heavy armored uniforms in order to run faster.
In the north, tornados, twisters and cyclones began channeling down from the sky; tearing up the ground and leaving utter chaos in their wake. The eastern foothills and mountains were shaken by intense earthquakes, the Sarafan garrison castle that stood like oppressive beacons all began falling; the brick and mortar crumbling to the ground. The slaves in the mines, recently freed by the rebels; all were herded back to the relative safety of the city walls as nature itself continued its barrage upon Nosgoth.
"Foolish little creature!" The Elder declared, tentacles flying through the air; all of them arching down to crush me as I soured along the cavern wall with the Reaver in my grasp. "You can not best me, least of all here!" I slashed across the wall, carving a slashed mark across dozens of tentacles and eyes; green life blood, forged by the energy of the soul itself, leaking out of the inflicted wound.
Unfazed; the massive green limbs kept up their assault, slamming down towards me. Dodging them I slashed at the tentacles as they soured past, severed the tips sending them flying across the chamber.
From the eyes came bolts of compressed magic, charged spheres of power that flew through the air following me like a swarm of angry insects. As they came near I fired my own telekinetic attacks to counteract them.
Unable to fire of enough to counter them all I was forced to dodge, sliding through the air the best my wings would allow.
The Elder laughed as he toyed with me, occasionally throwing an expendable tentacle in my way to slow me down.
All the while, the chaos he incited attacked Nosgoth in full force. A contingency plan, put into place just in case his Sarafan puppets were ever usurped. Now that his control over the land was in jeopardy, he opted to destroy it, rather than allow anyone to live outside his influence.
"Fly little vampire, fly while you can." The largest, building sized eye; followed my every movement. "Those wings will not carry you to salvation."
I rebounded off the side of a wall, sweeping the Reaver across my side as I wide, the blade arching back slicing through the magical attacks; rending them null before they struck.
"This is my fault." I growled from between clenched teeth. "I gave you everything you needed to accomplish this when I set out to conquer Nosgoth." Self loathing and hate caused me to tighten by grip around the Reaver's hilt. "Even meddling in history after I learned how stupid I was being, all I was doing was helping you destroy this land."
"So now you finally understand." A large tentacle over twenty times my size shot up into the air casting a shadow over me. "Whatever your intentions, all your kind ever do is my will."
The limb came down towards me, threatening to strike. The Reaver blade met it before then, severing the limb and sending it back slithering into the darkness.
"This is my sin. So this is my redemption!" Beating my wings I soured towards the giant eye with the Reaver held ready to strike.
I forced everything into this one strike; my loathing over striking Umah down, the foolishness of conquest and even the resentment of being controlled like a marionette by this aquatic monstrosity.
The Elder laughed, before that giant eye glowed bright neon blue. As if invisible hands had grabbed me I stopped dead still in mid air, before a compressed bolt of magic smashed straight into my face.
Several came flying at me, one striking me across the chest; while another two impacted on my wings. It was only then he released his telekinetic grip and let me fall down to the stone platform with smoke trailing from my body.
"Cease this defiance Kain and face the truth. You have lost." Dozens of small tentacles slithered like snakes up and over the edges of the platform, moving straight towards me; several of them binding my arms and legs to the floor and others restraining my wings.
The Reaver was bounded in their grasp and dragged out of my reach.
"I will remain here just long enough to accumulate the strength I require to leave this land." He told me as I forced an eye open. "And you may live just long enough to see the destructive fruits of your own endeavours." I struggled against his grasp but the tentacles simply tightened their grip, several more wrapping themselves around my waist, pinning me to the stone floor completely.
Two of his limbs moved up to form another circle, the image of destruction happening all over Nosgoth transpiring within. "Lie there in defeat, knowing that if you had simply sacrificed your soul to the Pillar of Balance none of this would have come to pass."