((SEXY SCREENSHOT!))
The day began as any other had. Arguments with the common folk claiming to be necromancers. It was about time truce was saught, too often have my people been harmed under the egotistical weight of that fool Zorthanos and his precious little gem, Niece. Once again he threw himself at me like some discontent child with as many shields as his mind could muster activated... But truce was eventually agreed on.
Moments after this saw fright and terror in the eyes of those around the tree... the beginning of the end, the start of the apocalypse had finally come. Undead monsters, Banshees, skeletons, half dracoliches, various mages and even ancient dracoliches spewed from the forest into the grounds... We were surrounded within seconds, and many of us died within the first wave. Never did i so much as raise a finger to these creatures, the ancestors of those come to pass and their children before them deserve respect... But their hostilities proved too much. Eventually my hand was swayed, time and time again did i throw waves of destructive energies at the scourge that approached, but never did it strike but one of them down... their minds proved iron, their bodies of stone... I had no choice but to flee. This ... was a battle we could not win.
Illiani; the silver dragon half-blood rushed into the city to construct the best attempt of a field hospital he could, but still none would follow, none would retreat; it was as if they were hell bent on dying this night... Something i wasn't keen on. With this in mind there were a certain few i would rather see alive than dead. Zorthanos, though he seems hell bent on driving his energies into my spine, was once a friend of mine, who stook by me through the hard times as well as the good. This i respect, and makes him worthy of saving, and Galiae, the girl who brought me back from the consuming fires of hell, the one sole reason i walk alive today on their side, and not on that of the hells... The only one who cares enough about my wellbeing to take this wretched hand of mine in hers and weave her fingers with mine. This task alone is enough to be gifted my respect. The others were no concern of mine.
It was a long and hard fight before i could locate Zorthanos... Standing over his fiance with a look of deviate anger about his face and the largest lightning bolt i have seen brewing in his hand, staring into the socketless eyes of a bone giant as it loomed over head, building a negative discharge in its fleshless throat. It was only a matter of seconds before the two forces clashed with a cataclysmic display of colour of light, each of the forces repelled by the other as both powerful mages poured their very souls- their very exisance into this one final jolt of power, of strength... But the undead are cunning, and there i stood and watched my old friend slide down the length of a rusted drow blade. This is when my anger raged, burning withing my gut with the very cinders of hell itself.
The mindless creature turned to me, its jaw gaping to reveal its tongueless mouth. With a flick of my wrist i beckoned the creature closer, watching it weave its way across the plains with as much grace as the drow it once was. Zorthanos had to be avenged, this was the thought i told myself, over and over again, lightning flowed from my hand, striking the creatures chest, then dancing with its comerades until all fell to the ground in pieces. All but the dragon -- This was something i could not defeat, i needed a distraction.. To my left, Illiani struggling with a banshee, to my right... Pelgrin? He would have to do, and with that i bolted toward the man with the dragon stomping inches behind me, snapping at my cape with teeth that could crush the very walls of solinar. Needless to say it worked. The paladin turned and took the creature from me. Zorthanos was saved, but i darent let on that it was me, and began my search for the other on my list.
My stride was slow and careful, crushing the skulls of the fallen beneath each step as i wormed my way around the tree. Finally, there she stood, with one of the greatest warriors in the land, safe out of harms way. She was a vital role in putting an end to hells reign on earth, i was damned once before and would be again if i were to let her simply fall dead now, not before I find a way to reach a level of power enough to exact my revenge on that pompous Swordjust... My thoughts had lapsed, the dull crunch of a fingerbone snapping into hundreds of pieces the only thing that brought me to my senses, but alas it was too late. The rending claw of a dragon, millenia old tore through my very spine and the side of my body and robes... too slow old man... too slow. My corpse hit the ground with a dull thud, enough distraction for that paladin to leap up and cleave through its neck -- he always was good at timing things.
Still... It would take more than a severed spine and broken arm to put me in my grave. The anger coursing through my veins pushed me to my feet, but concentrating proved futile as every nerve ending, every muscle tensed and smouldered with an undieing pain. I had to retreat to the city walls and wait.
The druids tended to those around them with their prayers... Funny, it was not so long ago i was destroyed by the forest mother, now she straightens my back and closes my wounds. Funny how things chance. No less was i forced to watch as each of the hero's fled through the city gates. One, two, three people bolted through before i finally saw Zorthanos dragging two of the fallen through the gate. His heart is condemned with the taint of good will it would seem... Such will slow him down. The small field hospital shortly became over crowded with the wounded and dead or dying, but the druids proved their worth. With time, we were all on our feet and ready to press onward, to find the source of this scourge.
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Never under estimate the power that language imparts. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can break hearts.