The Approaching Shadow - The Device (5th Entry)

[+Veritas]

Taking the youngest of a prominent horse breeder’s steeds, Markus and William decided to go for a quick midnight gallop. “We will surely be jailed for this!”, yelled Markus from his charging steed. “Only if we get caught!”, William replied over the thundering stomps of each hoof on the solid, dry ground. They took turns chasing each other through woods, open plane, and even shore side.

“Whoa!”, yelled William as his steed slid to a halt. Markus rode by and turned his horse around to look at William. William had a look of wonder on his face, and when following his gaze out into the bay he saw what grabbed his friend’s attention. Multiple ships were off the shore, nothing like what either of them seen before. The smaller ships appeared to have two hulls and were colored a pale green to match the shimmering light that bounced off the water at night. Off in the distance was a much larger ship, moving back into the horizon of the open sea. However, neither of them could make out the specific shape of the hull. They just knew it was huge.

“They seem to be leaving the shore a ways further west”, said Markus. “Let’s take a closer look.” They both dismounted their steeds and walked them more inland, out of sight of any wandering eyes looking out from the ships. After tying the reins to a tree, the two young boys crept their way further up the shore. After a half mile of silently moving tree to tree, they came up to the lighted docks of a town they have gone to several times for running errands for their old men. Men in various black and red robes and plate armor walked around with swords, axes, shields, and torches. They then noticed a concentration of highly decorated and heavily armored guards, surrounding a man with a huge horned helmet, and on other sickly figure in a black robe, holding a black staff. Being the nosey kids they are, Markus and William decided to crawl behind some bushes behind the two figures and high guards, while under the cover of darkness. This was not out of the ordinary for these two, for they have always been known to try stupid acts which eventually led to them getting caught, like stealing horses at night. However, getting caught in this situation wouldn’t lead to a couple days of hard farm labor they were use to. When they reached the bushes, they couldn’t see any of the people but turned their heads and listened intently anyway…

“Good scouting report Legion, what of the Excelsior Army?” “They are very active my lord, but they never come here. They are too busy battling the beasts that bring them riches.” “Good. Then we need to activate the Shadow Caster.” “It’s already done my lord, I had the engineers construct it early so you could witness the arrival of your old favorite terror.” “Excellent, and the shadows?” “Already being created and spread throughout this land.” “Good. Tell the captains to move the other casters to their locations and commence construction immediately. Activate as soon as they are up.”

Suddenly, a loud and deafening pulse was emitted from the center of the town, and the two youngsters covered their ears in agony…

“Ah! It is ready my lord. Come greet your creation…”

Footsteps moving away from their location enticed the two boys to get on all fours and crawl around the bushes and move behind the building next to the docks. All soldiers gathered around the center of the town and looked up at the device. Made of tar stained stone and marble, it stood overlapping the stone walkway of the town. It was completely hidden from sight outside of town, however its concealment was no match for two young fools.

A platform was fixed in the center of the device, with four gems surrounding it, moving as if they were alive. On the platform was an image best described as a geyser of black smoke and swirling liquid. It looked much like a gateway, and it was exactly that. After a while, a couple shadowy figures came out of the gateway and floated out into the woods away from the docks. This happened a few times before the dark shrouded man walked onto the platform of the device to speak.

“Behold dark warriors of Bael’Nefario, bear witness to one of the first terrors created by my lord…”

Just then, the gateway grew in size. Lightning flashed out from the gateway in quick bursts that struck the spires of the device’s platform. Then, out came a winged beast of gigantic size. It was a dragon, a dragon much bigger than any other dragon that the boys ever saw. Its scales were fewer in spread over its body, but larger, thicker, and glistened more than any dragon hide the boys have seen in any tailor shop or bar wall. Its scales were the size of heater shields, and nearly four times as thick…

The beast approached the man wearing the horned helmet and brought its head down to the ground near him. The man placed his hand on the beast’s nose and said…

“Your brothers were slain by the inhabitants of this world. You wanted revenge, it is yours. Go now and use your magic to control the reptilian beasts of this world for your will. Let no dungeon be safe…”

The man then took his hand off the beast’s nose and threw it up in the air. The dragon then leapt into the air and flew into the night. The man with the horned helmet then turned to the black shrouded figure and said, “Start the transfer of Tribulation. With that demon here, filling this land with shadow will be effortless.” The shrouded man then waved others in shrouds to circle the device. Once they were in place, they started chanting loudly and in a language unknown. The portal started gradually churning more and more, and high-pitched screeches left the opening.

“We need to get out of here and tell our parent’s about this”, said William. Markus nodded in agreement and the two boys crawled their way back into the cover of the woods.

Event details to come soon...