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The World Of Grim
Side Note: Cover art and map were hand painted by me.
The Seed of Destruction
Book II of The Grim Series
R. Buckley 417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk26THZKuKV
Prologue417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvsIoKZMsO
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In a place where time does not exist, on a plane where space means nothing, the original brothers were. How they came to be is an area for philosophers and men with tongues of silver, but the obvious truth is they existed to be a scourge to each other. 417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KIuGOYlHj
The properties of Order was one of honor, rigid, distinct law and callous prejudice. He needed rules and boundaries to define his surrounding world. Without such his existence lost meaning. He felt little in that of what most would term love, and would only see the world in the muted tones of black and white, right or wrong. His twin, Chaos, believed that pure chance and adaptation ruled their world and everything would be better when left alone to chance. Chaos saw a universe rift with possibility and wonder. Chaos often sat before his Mother and cuddled her, talking of a universe filled with wonder one day.
Chaos loved his brother dearly, watching his with both sadness and pride. For someone to clinge to their belief with such conviction was someone to be admired and even idolized. There were many times, when they were young, where the Brothers played together gleefully, only for Chaos to break a rule of the game, there in the bosom of the Void their Mother. Order would strike chaos in anger over the transgression, reminding the fickle twin of the sternness of the rules.
As the Brothers grew, they would argue much as brothers do, but it grew to more than a simple feud. As Order grew into his own, he insisted his Brother's nature change into something more becoming of that of their Mother. His nature could not allow him to see what he was demanding of Chaos and finally, an ultimatum was issued. Chaos could change or his pestilence would be eradicated.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBPy6vLzID
Order and Chaos fought a War of the Brother's eons before the originals did or so The Book of the Lost says. Order wrongly locked Chaos away in a Plane of Exile so harsh that it had to adapt as only Chaos could, to survive. It used its vast energy to create the first souls and made plans to eventually escape its tortured existence.
Throughout an unknown age, the existence of time had not been created, Chaos probed at the barrier between its Plane and the Plane of Order, seeking a weakness. He longed to rejoin his Brother and to have company the befit him. It could see the wasteful attempts of its brother Order to classify everything on its Plane to attempt to understand it. Chaos wanted to save its brother from what it saw from its brothers ultimate enemy, Order's self. Chaos saw in Order's near future that it would annihilate them both without Chaos to lend its hand.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AtCxTeSbf
There are some orders of monks among the ranks of Order, who will deny kinship to Chaos. They claim supreme power and prophesy the death of Chaos and all who follow him. Yet, even the necromancers acknowledge that they are related and they are needed for each other, for what is a shadow without light.
Chaos saw that without the other, Order was doomed. It sent its full force against the barrier and rent a hole through its prison wall and ran for its Brother letting all Chaos's wondrous creation merge with Order's to save it. They fought a horrid battle, throughout the realms of Order, that was short and brutal. Order finally approached Chaos, on the fields of Valor, that stands at the Demon's Gate where the barrier is today.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pEDeYoM0P
"Chaos, do stop this wanton destruction if you can," It begged of its Brother, "For both of us will be destroyed if you do not."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt7g6YbjUr
"But brother I did not attack," Chaos returned hurtfully holding his hands up in peace. "If there is no Chaos, there cannot be Order. You attacked your brother when you saw him when I came to save you from certain destruction. We were created as twins, my brother, to always be together but separate. If you try to alienate me, we both will surely perish as our mother did."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyqS8KfgJN
Order drew to its full height before its brother, "What you say has wisdom, go forth back to your Plane and rest dear brother. I will create a Gate for you to pass through and a Third Plane for us to contest over and sometime in the future, we shall meet there. Never again shall we contest over each other's Plane."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dUqdl6BvB
Chaos returned to its plane and watched with rapt fascination as Order used its talents to spin a Plane into existence that was governed by Order's fascinating principles and strict rules. With its laws, came the creation time and with time the cosmos was born. Chaos sent forth a suggestion through Demon's Gate to his brother to improve Order's magnificent creation, and he divulged to his brother the secrets of Life and its production. Order thanked his brother graciously and spun the universe's first rock into existence and created out of its own energy, souls but twisted Chaos's gift to him. It brought forth something so dark and malicious that Chaos howled in rage against his brother, which he loved, for the first time since their existence started. Order brought the only thing it could control about the life of souls, Death.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwcLQgBola
Chaos called out in grief from the Demon's Gate, "What have you did this day to a gift as precious as life O' brother. This day you have reaved the same spark from these as you did to our mother, is it not the only thing you can understand. This dreadful curse you brought this day on our new plane is a grave sin, one that cannot be forgiven till you take it back."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsnrAMizLu
"I have not sinned. For in death these new creatures will find the one thing in their short lives that can be preordained. For in creation, in time, there is to much chance, too much of you." Order returned haughtily, "For your creation of life was too Chaotic, too scattered with never knowing when one thing would perish and disappear. It would tax these creatures too much. This act is mercy, the same as the mercy I served to our eternal mother. For all things should end!"417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6bVreu0SK
"Is that so brother?" Chaos's eyes gleamed malevolently, "In this day I vow, till you take back this diabolical gift. I will strive against you, till only my purpose rules this Plane and these good creatures know true life. They will not go on the same path as our mother walked for you. It will be as you say, YOUR END IS NIGH!" Chaos cried from the Demon's Gate at Valor.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw80h8gKE8s
And from the loins of Demon's Gate sprang forth random souls bound for the newly minted world. A war raged on that planet till it was a barren husk, an empty tomb as lifeless as it began. The enmity grew between the two brothers over the next countless eons, neither was able to gain the upper hand on the material plane. Then Order spun a unique planet into existence, in a solar system that contained just two planets more. It was a bastion of life, and like all planets previous, it was named for its caregiver, The World of Grim.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGGvfhp3Wg
On the very first day, Chaos sent souls to that planet that took random forms. He looked with a mixture of pride and sadness of the mixture of creatures that were born. Chaos does not seek to control what its souls wish to form nor does it judge the souls that are returned to it by the Demons. The souls were built into everything from the animals to trees, from fish to monsters and Chaos saw all of creation as the beauty of life and sorrowed that his brother's laws set forth for this Plane had damned his poor creations and sentenced them to death. Off in the distance, deep beneath the stone, Chaos heard his brother speaking to someone gently. Chaos gently willed himself closer to listen, never before had he encountered the place where the guardian was created.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MZthUycNO
"And if you stay on the Overworld for longer than three days you will surely perish. To exist on the Overworld, you have to need to have a soul and a body." Order told the creation he had named Grim. 417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTy5l9FzEy
Chaos felt the creature's fear role off Grim like waves from a pebble thrown in a pond, and he saw his opportunity to end the misery that his souls had been doomed. Chaos began to whisper insinuations in Grim's ear, filling him with a longing for offspring. For he knew in that day, Chaos would gain a God for this world, something Order would not create.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdaYmHzlo1
Grim created his first man, but they were horribly flawed and neglected. The caregiver, nothing more than a mere child, had wandered off and left them to their own devices. They soon perished and were reaped, and the souls returned to their owner, Order. Then Grim, with much thought created second-man with greater success. Chaos whispered directly in his ear, telling of the day he should perish. He injected the fear of all on this planet dying without his care. He mated that night with not just one but seven mortals. Chaos dipped its fingers into the women's wombs during that act and insured the deed was surely done; its job was complete.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKiCUJNvvu
It bid its time till it could see its work come to full fruit and watched with great satisfaction when they celebrated the arrival of what would be their salvation. Chaos watched each of the seven sons grow with admiration until it was time for him to impart his birth gift that he had withheld for sixteen short years. He reached out from Demon's Gate and touched their minds, speaking to one and all.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2ajvuu7Zg
"My sons," He began softly, lacing each word with the intoxicating power he sought to bestow, "For surely you are my sons more than that of Grim's. I wish to impart my gift to you and with it in hopes that you will use it to try to finally end the curse that was placed at the beginning of time."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7GowIcB2q
The eldest of the Grim's sons, Baine, spoke out first. His tone was challenging and fiercely protective of his brethren, "Our father is the All-Father. Who are you to call us sons?"417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUerivRYMKk
"I am Chaos, and I am your Father. For it was I that ordered your creation, and I was there that night to make sure you were conceived. I have watched these years with pride in what you have become. Now, will you accept a gift and a charge from a pride-filled father?"417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UDDlbu4BR
"Chaos is a creature of destruction and lies." Gremlin shot back fearfully who shrank back fearfully, "We should not listen, our mothers will not be happy."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLruyhHpaRh
"Nay, I lie not. I am the creator of life and souls. It was the cursed Order who did take my gift to him and create death claiming it was ordered." Chaos said venomously. The anguish in his voice was clear and evident to the brothers.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡempxT4Tco9
"What is your gift?" Lent inquired, for he was filled with greed.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcXm5lPkpj
"Power, the power over your soul and body. And the secret to giving it Purpose to do what you will. My Purpose. It is called sorcery." Chaos said, and then he imparted upon his sons the secrets of it and charged them to grow and gain their inheritance.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YlBdhHjXw
“For the gift, you have our thanks,” Baine bowed to the Demon Drevlin, “But I fear the charge is but near impossible. Our father is the All-Father--”417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvmMS4hdYD
“And if he is your father he will give you your due.” Chaos assured them. They parted ways each to their mother. They told no one in their cities of the individual instructions they had received from the Demon.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0xo8ChLmS
They gained in their knowledge of the use of sorcery and were soon influential practitioners, but there are limits to what a soul may put out.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOX5ZHh4DP
Chaos whispered to them again, "My sons, go to your creator. If he is truly your Father, then he will surely give you your inheritance."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSjl2Vkeuf
The sons, being filled with a lust for power, went to their creator and begged their inheritance from their father but The Grim, being fearful of their growing power, denied it to them. They were wrathful with him and begged of Chaos, their new father, for instructions.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInA2Gvh2Wm
"My sons, ask your followers to sacrifice their lives to you so you might inherit their souls. In that, you gain power, and soon, you will have the power to depose your unfit father and restore the nature of the soul. To serve that noble cause of undeath." Chaos instructed them passionately.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOexDjUNblB
And so the sons went forth and reaped to themselves souls of the followers. As they did, their father was angered by it and instructed their mothers in the way of Sorcery of Death and the Curse of the Reaper. He came forth and disowned them before all of second-man, calling them sons of Chaos. Baine stepped forward, for he was the strongest of the Sorcerer Brothers.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAdkaIFFbt
"Truly we are the children of Chaos, and if you try to destroy us today, we will disappear for a little. Heed me well, O' mighty Grim," he said with a sneer. "You sowed a seed you should have never had and one day what you feared, you will reap."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwZSF7z1gH
The Grim, being filled with fear, trembled at his eldest son's words and retreated to the Underworld. A war proceeded between his wives and their sons that ended with his sons being turned into the first reapers, but as Baine's soul was being torn from his body, he made a Prophecy.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zS7spd0kI
"You have separated my soul from this body, and on the day it is returned to it hence, Chaos shall rule the Land forevermore."417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUd8498hbp
So does the sorcerers wait in ill-kept anticipation for the day of the return of the sons of Chaos. That in that day, the Seed of Destruction will depose the All-father and souls will be free of the Judgment and Death forever.417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIlGz0MTXn
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Sutister Davilin417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1T2b61vPc
of the Second Circle417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfw4wj8pVh
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Excerpt From:417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mUATjw4d7
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Prophecy of Seed of Destruction417Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUahBHAuvo
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Library of Master Delver
