The Legend of Tantus - Book 2

Chapter 4 - The promising

    During the terrible battles of the great war in its initial winters, a story little known to many, except those directly involved, began, the first and perhaps the cruelest servant of the dark lord was being shaped: Rondo, the master of rituals.

    Like all talented moghran in the elemental domain, Rondo was notable among the notables, of a unique power, perhaps even more impressive than Kraven himself, and as much as Zeijadel himself, he was known as "the promising". Among his many domains, Rondo even developed the extremely difficult planar life, and in total, he obtained thirteen impressive elements of his own effort, except fantasy and ice, thus losing only to the great master Tantaluz Primadril.

    Rondo was as promising as he was ambitious, and longed for a prominent place in the Kingdom of Lieben, he was quickly noticed by Tantaluz and became his most talented apprentice of all, but the great master saw in him the evil nature, powerful in the moghrans, but that generally succeeded in keeping it imprisoned, struggling hard to get out. Rondo would be appointed to be Lieben's royal protector, but on the advice of the old master himself, the then king Kardia Alberich chose the equally powerful Kilik and Cindy Sea. Rondo felt despised and humiliated, and even before the war he ended up becoming easy target for Zeijadel's malice. Quickly he swore loyalty to the lord of darkness, who had promised him wealth and high rank in his future reign, learning, through his new master, the f*******n arts and excluded spells from the Library of Magic, he became an expert in sacrifice rituals, calling himself “the master of rituals”. Already in the war, on hearing of the death of the Sea couple, he believed that he would finally be chosen, but upon discovering that their daughters, Shayera and Solphie, under Tantaluz's indication again, would be the future protectors of royalty, his hopes for redemption were shattered and he plunged completely into his devotion to the lord o darkness. By order of Zeijadel, who instructed him perfectly to create a being destined to destroy even the lords, with “non-elemental” black power, Rondo was able to obtain the blood of many of the greatest heroes of the war, Artan, the skilled, Shaff, the brave tartar, and even Kin Lyeben, among many others. With each blood collected a sacrifice was made secretly in the uninhabited and arid continent of Talarr, Rondo began to capture many people in Lieben and other continents, and all those missing never returned... Much was speculated about the author of these disappearances, but no one suspected former Tantaluz apprentice, Rondo is estimated to have killed, between absurd objective rituals or experiments, more than five hundred lives, but in truth the lord of darkness did not put due faith in the talent of his fellow man, doubting that he was really capable of achieving that goal, he himself intended to do that job, he just did not do it because he was still threatened, and so he forgot about it, turning Rondo into something disposable. At the beginning of the last winter of the war, he luckily obtained the blood of Loki Alberich, then current Lieben king, continuing his efforts, the king's blood was the only one that resisted the black ritual, and on the stone altar it was generated the child who would bring doom to the world. His mission was accomplished, but his master was defeated, but this did not make him give up and he decided to flee definitively to the place where he worked, to raise the boy. Men were the only race that actually used name and surname, but Rondo interestingly also liked to be called “Viktor”, his motives were unknown, but apparently everything was just a personal taste. The child was baptized by him as John Viktor, and grew up strong, but without elemental capacities, and did not even need it, because within him he carried the black power of the murderer of the elements, the non-elemental force, whose knowledge was buried in the darkest memories of the lords, who said it was the power that generated negativity in itself, and the total opposite of life itself, capable of eradicating it as its weak point... Times before this, Cindy Rivers, a promising sorceress of the Kingdom of Lieben, still a teenager, admired Rondo as an idol, and carelessly had her knowledge tainted by information from non-elemental power, in a curious interest, she plunged briefly into this poisonous sea, until finally understanding that she was taking the wrong path as possible, Rondo came to imagine that she would be an interesting ally, but this ended when she became involved with Kilik Sea, her future husband who did not like Rondo at all, and was absolutely right. After being a mother, Cindy let her twin daughters have a glimpse of what she learned, even at a young age, that was something that no one would forget, but her goal was simply to make them understand the size of that mistake, so that never, in full awareness, follow that path or allow others to do so, a decision that could only prove to be right or wrong in the future...

    The master of the rituals raised the boy in a simple way, but when he saw the good nature forming in him, he began to instigate him for evil, perhaps the kindness and dignity that Loki possessed was the key to John's formation, even under mistreatment and constant humiliation imposed by Rondo, he had not yet aroused hatred, but he would. Three winters later the guardians fought a terrible fight over the great island where Rondo lived with John, knowing that it had Zeijadel's hand, he almost died in the destruction of the place, and when he woke up, John was gone. He knew that his “son” was still alive, and believed that his master had tried to eliminate him, with the ambition that only evil minds were capable of, he came to hate Zeijadel, planning to use John to destroy and conquer him everything in his place, but the child is gone. Only returning many winters later, attracted to him, John, already an adult, was almost seduced by Rondo's persuasion, but ended up leaving him and abandoning him definitively, completely denying his negativity. This part known to very few, John ended up becoming a very important point in the history of Tantus, because if he succumbed to that power, mainly with Rondo being able or not to control him, he could have destroyed everything... But thanks to the affection of the sailor who raised him, the kindness that existed in his blood, and the great friendships he won, the future king of Lieben vowed never to let that terrible power out, for nothing, and so he fulfilled it, the murderous force ended sealed in the depths of oblivion, this time forever. John was very reluctant to enter the Kingdom of Lieben, in fact he was sure that queen Litos would never recognize him as a good-natured man, much less as a son, he still considered himself an aberration and strongly considered keeping secrets with his friends, especially Solphie and Shayera, but these, after a long conversation, took on a patriotic responsibility, as their duty to the kingdom required them to reveal the truth on such an important matter that directly involved Lieben's fate, and they had faith that their queen would make the right judgment, just as they were already sure of their friend's character.

- I was not even born from a womb... – said John.

- But you have a soul, and that is enough for us. – said the sorceress and the sss.

    The master of rituals ended his days alone and forgotten in the Flame Archipelago, paying for all the crimes he committed.