Fallen

A single presence disturbed the swirling eddies of wild magic that flowed through the void. In the space between spaces, the unreality between realities, the nonexistence between existences, the place where neither dream nor imagination made no sense, the Sleeping King made his presence manifest. From the core of his being, an emanation swept all the chaotic energies away as he spoke “Gideon.”

Kite - Chapter 17: Stirrings of Evil

Deep in the distant northern mountains, peaks forever shrouded by black smoke, the sky rumbled and the earth shook. The dark dismal sky was filled with a sinister red light as the shackles that bound the horrid beasts crumbled to dust. The chasms between the mountains was filled with roars of delight and gratuity to an unseen benefactor.

Forever bound, forever cursed to remain entombed in the stone, guardians to deter any who dared to pass, the wyrms took great delight in their freedom. Fire filled the heavens and set alight the black clouds of soot that drifted across the mountaintops, clearing them and letting the sun shine down upon the barren wasteland where everything refused to grow.

Kite - Chapter 16: A World Without Evil?

Play if you want to read with music

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I rode with my men down the rolling countryside at the base of the mountains that protected our city. It was a rough trek down the mountainside since none of us possessed magic strong enough to levitate an entire caravan’s worth of people, pack animals, steeds and wagons. The portal stones within the city had been acting strangely recently, causing a sort of static noise in the minds of any magic user that would come near them, so we decided to take the long route down.

Unfortunately, the normal route, a cave that inclined softly downwards to the base of the mountains, was blocked by a landslide. It took the better part of the day to clear away the debris since the cave mouth was protected from magic. When that was done, the first wagon’s axel broke and so the entire expedition had to be stopped for repairs and another round of inspection.

Kite - Chapter 15: Seared

Play if you want to read with music (May be a bit creepy)

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Two months after the supposed meeting had taken place; my study was filled to the brim with reports from my extensive spy networks about increased order activity. What puzzled me, though, was that none of them, not even one answered the question of exactly what the order was doing. Few speculated but a lot of those seemed far-fetched to me.

In the three years since the day the sun was restored, I had become harder, more accustomed to the surface world. In fact, Ivan had his tutors teach me the ways of his court. They were more than happy to oblige, provided that I told them of my heritage and taught them a little faerie magic. A number of the kin, though they despised being painless, did not despise their immortality either. Those were thankful for the service Ivan and I had done for them. The years of utter darkness had done wonders for their urge to feel pain.

As the seasons passed, I gathered quite a number of friends. Early on in the summer of the first year of the so-called new era, Ivan’s spymaster passed away. He was one of my dearest mentors and was quite fond of me, so to me the mantle of spymaster was passed. It didn’t take long before I had the position safely secured, but that was when reports about a so-called Order began to flood in.