"THEIR PETTY GAMES, RATS SCURRYING THE FLOORS OF A BAITED REALM. I WISH THEY KNEW THAT THEY HAD DIED, EVEN BEFORE THEY WERE BORN."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfCuObPw5l
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe05eBjAa2G
PHASE ONE
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYu3e2iJzq
"These damn writers !" Fang yelled as he dropped the book on the table, "don't they know how to write any thing apart from romance ?"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulykDh32HL
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqAogsNKiH
"But you always read it master Fang", the female butler of Fang's mansion, Artena, a Warewolf, said as she poured his tea into a cup.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisZd9s7q08
"I do ?" Fang looked a bit surprised by her remark, "well", he shrugged, "maybe it's because I can't help it."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqIyNiKTEm
"So what kind of stories do you like master Fang ?" Artena asked.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrI2S4J0hJ
"Don't tell me you don't know", he said, "the legends, epics and tales of the ancients and future, one with battles and endless wars, the conquest of empires and realms ..."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeczYYlB4F
"I get it, I get it, master Fang", Artena said, "now you can have your tea" she said handing the cup and saucer to master Fang who was sitting at the window of his room.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCksW85TfSc
"I know that's your specialty", she reminded, "especially fooling people around with your acts."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1P0TIGkSLB
Balkyre Fang gave a guilty smile, Artena knew alright, that he wasn't just some prodigal who was waiting for the demise of his father, the patriarch of the Balkyre family, Duke Mor. Fang was capable of doing worse than that, even the demise of the Vercan realm was something Fang could bring about with his eyes closed.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoZyVlXLOv
"The prince and your sister have been keeping an eye on you lately.", Artena reminded.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK52nSjGYXD
"Let them play their game", Fang said, that board of geometric patterns taking form before him as he drank his tea, it's surface filled with those game pieces which Fang moved deftly as though he already knew the outcome of the moves he was making, even before he had made them.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn69XjhKGk8
"What they don't know is", Fang said as he took the position of another game piece which burned into the air, "that the board itself was my doing."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jwwK2TvAI
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtT9o6Tzf9a
"You said that the Sage Majors have confirmed that this being is more powerful than even Olana ?"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7Ktg4Gc2P
"Yes master Morca", the female shrouded in a red cloak replied.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExLARzNXRI
"Strange indeed", said Morca, "For him to able to cause a rift in the Orcan winds of Phelmur and surpass the trickery of the Erama, he's indeed a being that can't be rivalled by most."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYmnilPIew
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WoPa0TiB5
"Yes I am", Lord Raven said to the thundering skies, "I can be rivalled by none !"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFQpNnOBBu
The flashes of lightning which came with the drizzling rain swept over this terrain like a storm of white flames, not even the vampires warewolves and beings of the underworld could withstand the thunderbolts and lightning flashes of the Ciaran Void.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVcGSWi8ES
"But I can", Lord Raven mused, "because I am unrivalled."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmEEv4Xlia
Taking a daring leap from the edge of that floating formation, Lord Raven fell through the mesh of lightning intertwining itself with the red clouds of this plain and when he finally landed on this barren soil, those seven pillars rose from the depths of the earth.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSOG8LV73k
"Finally", lord Raven sighed, "the Seven Pillars of Ciara."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BJKFQ8JyG
PHASE TWO
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4LiyFFx8U
Dragging along the corpse of the wargoyle, sword in hand and blood now an ointment decorating his once royal robe, this ghostly form emerged form the hill of corpses. Staring at the skies brimming with the wings of these flying beasts, endless in their numbers, he knew that the end of this battle was far from over.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlGZROEYpS
"Artor", Megraz mused to himself, "you are really desperate aren't you ? Unfortunately", he screamed to the skies throwing his sword away, "so am I !"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAZ0LIPS7j
The skies thundered and those blue flashes of light fell like pillars of fire striking down that army of flying wargoyles, making them screech as they burnt.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YRMHEFnq6
"You think you came from hell", Megraz challenged, his claws and fangs elongating themselves, they raved of a monstrous scarlet, "I'll show you what real hell looks like."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjDyIpUlih
His being frayed through the distance, leaping to the skies, Megraz began a massacre, the carnage was severe and it rained blood, the screeches intensified, but it wasn't enough to appease the enraged Magrez, they wanted his life, but before they could take his, he was going to take theirs.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsFqBE0IUB
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSbSBEe72u
"His majesty !" Mernon gasped as he saw the second prince walk into the courtroom covered in blood.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3v14ppgFW
"What happened ?" Counsellor Morman feigned concern, but a stare from the bloody Megraz made him hold back. It was a daring stare that only said one thing, "You failed again Morman."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjw69EsKhJJ
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGL8dowZMg
"How long will this petty game continue ?" Mernon thought aloud.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KA3Rptd0s
"As long as one player isn't left standing." Megraz replied as he and Mernon walked the courtyard of the royal palace, "Any news about Balkyre Fang ?"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIfw3WFAUR
"His majesty", Mernon complained, "why are you so interested in a black sheep like Fang ?"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2q9YzUCdk3
"His being a black sheep is my trump card." Megraz replied.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53XZvMGTcx
"You refused to forge a relationship with the more renown heirs of the Balkyres yet you are pursuing the oddball among them."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRRj8LaT5q
"It's his oddity that makes him more useful." Megraz answered calmly, "Balkyre Fang's siblings are trying to woo the support of the royal family in order to strengthen their hold of inheriting the Dukedom, and the first and third prince want the support of the elite families of Verca especially the Balkyres, in order to strengthen their position as heirs to the throne."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczjJlvunmA
"They each have their interests", Mernon pointed further.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3S0HMNj6wa
"But two to four makes it a tug of war not between the princes, but the elite families", Megraz continued, "each family wanting the favour of the next king will do anything to ensure their candidate succeeds at all costs, making them disposable."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGD4Z0Ftnc
"With a surplus of allies wanting to gain the favour of the first and third prince, they have turned themselves into the princes' pawns."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXpcYtyE8r
"Don't forget Mernon", Megraz pointed out, "there isn't one prince."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FUZihyV9G
"Since there are two masters ..." Mernon postulated.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMn3uk8bvO
"It doesn't matter who the elite families serve."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHk6lA3u1M
PHASE THREE
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVg0LyGJgjL
"It doesn't really matter who they serve does it ?" Lord Raven said as he studied the inscriptions on each of the Ciaran pillars.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhfuHPvi3g
"And it is their insolence that shall serve my purpose."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmmFTJAaWa
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2D0xUyhc5E
"But what makes the second prince view Balkyre Fang as the perfect option ?" Mernon probed.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjVCdrK0R5
"Because he isn't seen as being capable of rocking the boat ?" Magrez revealed.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhsriCg0CG
"And his majesty wants him to sink the entire ship."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2INXARL7ap
"You're correct Mernon", Megraz affirmed, "no one would expect that someone who isn't capable of squashing a flea, skin a living creature alive and with the smile of a ruthless killer."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iYqgLoreu
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBkPy5OGCR
"Neither rocking the boat nor sinking the ship is needed to be done from the inside", Lord Raven mused to himself as he stood at the centre of the Ciaran pillars, with its formation taking form above him.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1mxfcdQv4
"Being the sea, it'll take only a second for me to have them engulfed in the claws of my waves."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnViodFVcW
That halo rose from the core of the Ciaran formation rising to the skies it made the earth quake.
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQBLkLoLAs
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5IjFBEHzy
"Do you think Balkyre Fang is capable of becoming such an anomaly ?"
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLROq0bUxpA
"The possibilities aren't solid Mernon", Megraz smiled, "but it doesn't matter how the tables are turned, whether upsidedown or inside out, all I know is that this realm will never be the same."
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdRl7VTL2w
***
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbRs9ng9VM
The Ciaran pillars began to crumble as the fury of that rising halo intensified. Lord Raven standing at its core with that deadly smirk of his lips, unfazed by the chances of being consumed in this rage of chaos. It didn't matter to him whether the earth crumbled or the heavens fell, after this ...
266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6Ho2S1Bzr
"The nether realms will never be the same ever again." Lord Raven grinned to the shattering skies.
ns18.216.67.94da2
