Beyond The Darkness

[Bacchante]

In a land both far and near,
A tale began which I tell here,
Four friends dismayed,
A land betrayed,
The Darkness was set free...

A band of five were heroes brave,
On a quest; a land to save,
Each held one dear,
All had no fear,
Closer friends there were none...

Sweet Marie, unrivalled mage;
Priest Videl, a biblophage;
Kind Selene, ranger strong;
Jorkan of Light, who did no wrong;
And the outcast known as Flair.

A great power stalked their home,
Caring not where it did roam,
City and town,
Came crashing down,
As Darkness broke the land.

The five set out upon their quest,
And although they did talk and jest,
Rumour was abound,
The Dark could not be found,
And so their hearts did fall...

A whisper started up one night,
It promised power, to Flair's delight,
The others heard,
Not one word,
As poison filled his soul.

Then one day they found a cave,
They knew they had a land to save,
Yet once inside,
Flair stepped aside,
And Darkness did come forth.

Five friends entered, four were betrayed;
And thusly was their land dismayed;
The hero Flair!
A conquerer;
And thus the Darkness won.

Yet in the shadow of the night,
Within a land won through spite;
A spark did gleam,
One to redeem,
And save his father's soul.

[Bacchante]

Come closer, friends, and let me tell you of the time of Darkness.

Long ago, there was a group of brave adventurers. They numbered five and were Marie, the mage; Videl, the priest; Selene, the ranger; Jorkan, the paladin; and Flair, the outcast. The four were experts in their field, masters of their craft. None could weave a spell like Marie, and no priest could pray as devoutly as Videl. Selene could pin a fly to a tree from two hundred yards by a leg, and Jorkan could cleave a man in half with a single blow. Despite this, they were divided. Marie loved Jorkan, and Videl loved Selene. Their affections were returned, but the rest of the relationships were... strenuous.

Videl and Marie disliked each other; Marie believed magic should flow freely and not come from a god, whereas Videl believed Marie was damned for dabbling in the arcane arts. Videl and Jorkan, despite being equally devout, also disagreed. Videl thought Jorkan was violent, and Jorkan thought Videl was, in essence, a wimpy man in women’s clothing. Selene and Marie hated each other, arguing over whether magic or arrows were more effective and constantly vying to be the prettiest. Selene believed Jorkan was a vicious brute and Jorkan thought that Selene was a coward who would not fight fairly. What united them all was the fifth member, Flair.

Flair was indeed an outcast, having been found by the group in their early adventuring days before they even knew they were a group. They had been traveling alone, and heard a noise; it was a thirteen year-old Flair being attacked by a pack of wolves. Each rushed in to save the urchin, who was quite grateful and they shared a camp fire that night and chatted. They adventured together for the first time after that, finding their skills complemented each other. Flair tagged along because they were all the friends he had, and they bonded over him. He was the little brother to all of them, one they loved like a real sibling. It was he who kept them together, as they could not break up and leave Flair all alone.

In truth, Flair was very good. He was a gifted spellcaster, who could summon divine invocations as easily as arcane magic. He was an exceptional sword fighter, and an artist with a bow. But while his skills surpassed any normal person, and even though he was good at anything he touched, he never became great at any one field. He was a jack of all trades who wasn’t really great at any one trade. He possessed some skills the others didn’t have, like picking locks or disarming traps, but most things he could do they could do better. So he really just tagged along as the four gathered fame and fortune, and he slowly faded into the background to be dismissed as a tag-along. For ten long years this continued, until a quest was accepted that would spell their doom.

The four took up a quest one day, to find the source of these animals who had been ravaging towns and countryside. They were normal monsters, supposedly easy to face, but each one possessed an aura of Darkness about it which gave them extraordinary powers. The group followed the trails of these creatures and killed each one with some difficulty, but couldn’t find the source. Then one night, a whisper started up. It came to each one who dismissed it as a dream. But when it passed over Flair, he listened and it kept up its whisper constantly.

It brought up things he himself had thought once, and whispered dark things about the others. It told him how unappreciated he was, it promised great power. Slowly, very slowly, he was poisoned against the others. He wanted to be good, truly good. The voice promised him ultimate power and gave him tastes. The others noticed as he got better and better, and simply took it to mean he was improving. In reality, the Darkness was supplementing his strength. As it gave power, it took from him too. His mind was slowly whittled away as the Darkness stole the good parts of it and hid them away; all the while nurturing the tiny spark of hatred in his heart. Nearly a year after the group had accepted the quest they found the source of the Dark Creatures: A cave in the black mountains.

The four entered the cave boldly, confident in their powers and the newfound strength of Flair. But their confidence was misplaced, and he lingered behind them in order to ‘guard the rear’. But when they rounded a corner he stepped aside, and called for help. The four charged back around the corner to help him and saw nothing. From behind came a host of dark creatures which they battled bravely and strongly for the memory of their Flair, who they thought dead. Once the last creature fell and they stood weakened Flair came back out once more. He was shrouded in Darkness, and carried a black blade. He struck them mortal wounds one by one as they cried out, unable to comprehend his betrayal. But even in his twisted form Flair could not kill them. He locked them in the Darkness deep below the mountains, imprisoned for all eternity in a deathless slumber.

Flair was given the power to be the Darkness’ avatar and he used this power to conquer the land with himself as Dark Overlord. Shadows covered the land as he waited for the Dark to gain enough power to free itself completely.

What is this? You ask me how it ends? Well it ends with a beginning, a woman who showed Flair love and kindness even if he did not recognize it at the time. It ends with his son, five years old, who grew up never knowing who his father was. It ends with a boy of fifteen who, after ten years of rule under the Dark Overlord Flair, resolves to combat the evil and save the world.

But that is a story for another time...