The Elderkin Prophet

“The soft snow fell gently across Phaera, a world torn apart, slowly mending. The Broken lay silently in shambles waiting for judgement to be passed upon them. For once proud warrior’s fighting a noble cause, mysteriously turned into barbaric nightmares with a thirst for chaotic energy fueled by the Harems Blight, the Nightwell. Driven insane by the echoes of lost souls these creatures now roam in packs, scouring the land, corrupting everything they touch. The night was cold and long, the battle, longer. The Fifth Onxy Legion stood no chance against the strength of the Broken! They were hardly trained enough in combat to withstand their might. Durlan, the keeper of crows, tapped into The Fold and used its energy to weaken the Broken, but such magic came at a cost. Some of the Nightwells energy too seeped through the veil created by the fold and directly into him. The Onxy Legion used this opportunity to lure the creatures deeper into the valley of Kayrr where they stood their ground. They were the last line of defense for if they fell, the city of Jhule would fall as well. It was dark and a dense fog had swallowed the valley in grey, the glittering flames of the Legion dimly lit one end of the valley. Multiple squads of Legionnaire soldiers rooted themselves behind three huge rocks, waiting for the signal flares to initiate the first attack. The Onxy Legion fought the Broken with fang and claw! Curdled in the heat of battle, the Legion emerged victorious but, at what cost? Thousands of soldiers lay wounded amongst the many dead. The ones who survived had to endure the painful screams of their companions as they dragged what was left of them quickly back to their camp. The Broken were not so easy to kill, the only way to truly defeat them was to burn their wounded bodies with Veilfire, a form of magic only a fine few mages could control. The Nightwells energies regenerated the Broken from any ordinary blows of weapons or magic. There were only two ways of killing them, either a crushing blow, or Veilfire was strong enough to break the Broken. The night turned to dawn and the free armies slowly marched back to Castellen Keep along with the caged monstrosities that slayed their brethren. The following week was silent and dead to mourn the fallen and recover the loss. This marked the 8th  Ravage, the name given for every time the Broken tread the lands of Phaera, emerging out of nowhere. This event was written down in the Emporium, Saga 823.” Uul took a deep and heavy breath before he bit into a piece of Kerillnut wood, nods and whimpered. “Do it!” Ophinia cut quickly into Uuls arm to remove the Toebitter Beatle which buried itself deep within. Uul yelled in agony as he rummaged through his satchel to find some herbs to stop the bleeding. Ophinia took a moment to imagine the story she just heard, her curious mind could only ask one question. “What happened to Durlan? The keeper of crows? You never told me what happened to him after the battle ended.” Uuls eyes dropped low as he looked at Ophinia who was staring back keenly at him. “Well, Durlan disappeared after his spell, some say that he just simply walked away once the fight was over. He left no trace nor said anything, the last time I saw him he was far behind our lines just before the signal flares were lit. Nobody knew what happened to him. But…” Uul squinted his eyes, grinned his teeth and took a sharp breath. “But… But what?” Ophinia questioned. “Nothing, no I don’t know what happened to him. Anyways, enough of story time, we must get back on track.” Ophinia helped Uul back onto his feet. But she still looked at him with doubt in her mind, almost as if he was keeping something from her. She decided to let the thought not bother her further. The two packed their belongings and began to move on. Uul now had a large cloth tied tightly around his left arm leaving his shield arm numb with pain. The crushed groundroot powder helped ease the pain and allowed for quick recovery. Ophinia pulled out a map and her silver compass which was gifted to her by Uul when she was still training with him. Ophinia was a Kintari, a race of Gulls that could weave through the Fold. All Kintari were born with a mark on their arms where the fold cracked beneath their skin. These childlings were selected at birth, separated from their family and were raised and trained in Ravenhold, a fortress city for all those in connect with the Fold. She grew up in luxury and mentorship of skilled magisters, but she hated that life of captivity. On her 13th Moonshine, she decided to escape along with a few other mages who felt the same. The ministry forbade those gifted with the fold to leave Ravenhold untrained, for they didn’t know what level of power they possessed. They took strict measures to ensure that nobody escaped. Ophinia hid inside one of the supply caravans of the many merchant guilds that would supply the fortress with supplies each month, she barely managed to escape by the skin of her teeth. She knew how to survive due to her training and magic. It was her first time exploring the world of Phaera, She had often visited neighboring settlements while training, in search for alchemical ingredients but she had never seen something like this before. She fled from the caravan and found herself in the town of Rarzu, a settlement bustling with activity, drunken brawls, music and people dancing, drinking and just enjoying themselves; they were celebrating after all! It was the festival of Pagull, the shaper of worlds. One of the three Gods the Gulls worshiped. This is where she met Uul. Uul had noticed the tears of the Fold on her bandaged hands and was aware that she had just escaped Ravenhold. She wasn’t the first to escape, but he knew that if anyone told the magisters of her appearance here, they’d certainly come hunting, punishing her with only a merciless death. He quickly nabbed her arm and jerked her close to him and pretended to dance with her, he tore a piece of his cloak and wrapped it hastily around her hand and nudged her to follow him. Once they reached a quiet spot of the settlement, Uul introduced himself to Ophinia and warned her about the dangers that awaited her if the wrong people knew of her presence. He also knew that she wouldn’t be able to survive amidst the cruel and selfish as they would only trick her or worse, hurt her. This is when chose to become her mentor and protector. Uul observed Ophinia for a minute and says. “You know that it’s nearly impossible to track where the scouts headed with just that map and compass right?” Ophinia looked clueless. She ignored Uul and continued to tamper with the compass and the markings she made on her map so that they wouldn’t get lost. Meanwhile Uul wandered off and started looking up at the dense trees of Horger forest. Horger forest was a massive and dangerous forest since it lied on the outskirts of the mapped portion of the kingdom of Froli. This forest was a grove for the rare Polyfin trees that grew here in abundance, these trees were very poisonous in nature and would often release toxins into the soil it grew in leaving the entire core of the forest covered in light, pale blue mist. The soil was sludgy and gritty along with its living roots. Most of the vegetation and animals found in this territory were hostile since the toxins released from the trees drove any living thing in a fit of rage and confusion. Many would often loose themselves in these woods since the roots of the trees were all said to be connected as one whole and often would change and swivel in and out of the soil causing any sort of tracking or mapping to be void and ineffective. The infamous Triage and ruthless raider captain, Horger, made this forest his base of operations but was reported to go missing shortly after and was never sighted again, hence came the name, Horger forest. Uul returned to Ophinia and nudged her to follow him. “Look up there, where that tree starts branching out. Do you see that feint grey cut?” Ophinia looked up in curiosity and said. “Yeah! I do, what of it?” “Well, since you were busy trying to figure out the steps we took to come here, I was busy looking for these marks on these trees. The scouts of the Onxy Legion would make slits on the mouth of any one of these branches to track their journey.” Ophinia looked amazed and dazzled in awe. Uul unsheathed his dagger and made a sharp cut onto the bark of one of the trees. The cut gleamed in bright blue as drops of goo started to ooze through the mark. “Once cut, this goo is first blue which slowly turns grey and eventually back into the color of the wood, leaving only a mere scar in its place. That tree has a grey mark on it which means that the scouts were here and probably aren’t far away.” The two continued to venture through the forest while tracking the marks. The rain began to fall once more; their surroundings began to light up since it was almost first light. Thick dark waves of clouds begin to swirl above their heads. The creaking and crawing of the shifting roots along with the drops of heavy falling rain onto the thick overgrowth left Ophinia feeling uneasy and restless. The rugged cloth tied around her face made it difficult to see and the stench of the toxic forest was almost unbearable. She was struggling but she felt safe around Uul and respected him as much. She could hear the critters jumping around in the dark edges of the forest as they traversed pass several acres while following the scouts marks until they stumbled across something strange. “Look! There! An extinguished campsite.” Uul gestured. “It looks… abandoned? As if it was destroyed in haste. The ash is still fresh but wet from all the rain.” Ophinia moved in closer and dug through the wet mud and picked something up. “Hey! Look at this! What do you make of this? I’ve seen this before… somewhere.” Uul pulled in closer and took the trinket from her hand. “Yeah! This is a sigil of the Onxy Legion. Each unit has one of these tied on their satchel.” “Well… How did it end up here? On the ground and not …Hmm, something’s not right. Could they have left in a hurry?” Ophinia took a few steps back and nudged Uul to be cautious. She proceeded to lift her hands slowly and whispered. “Phro-Lah-Saei-Phaera-Shag” She whisked her hands slowly while channeling her focus. Her hands began to rumble and haze with a feint pinkish glow that slowly faded off into a green hue. “Nothing, I tried sensing the energies present here before, But, But there’s nothing. My magic can’t seem to detect any significant life form present here before... How?” “Strange indeed, come let’s press on. We shouldn’t linger here for too long, I’m already sick of this place. Let’s find any other leads on the scouts and then return back home.” Uul wrapped the muddy sigil in a small cloth and put it in Ophinia’s backpack. He picked up his shield and both of them began to continue the trail they were following.