Chapter 1: Overture

Achilon kneeled before the throne. The elf felt an evil aura approach but he didn't know from where. Suddenly from above the black throne a hooded figure descended down from the sky. From where, Achilon did not know. The dark lord was covered in cloak and shadow when his body rested into his seat. Achilon bowed low then saw the boney hand of the dark lord motioning for him to rise. Achilon's leathers and mages coat smoothed out as he rose to his feet. He looked into the shadow of the dark lords hood and saw only his left eye glowing unnaturally. He seemed old and frail but none the less frightening.

"My Lord, my eternal god. You have summoned me to your glorious abode. How may I be of your service?" He said confidently. Secretly, he feared death. The acts he had been committing would make any lord want to kill him. The elven undertaker Stole bodies and mutilated them. He tested all kinds of magic and technology to reanimated the dead with no success. This is what made him flee from other elvish lands. He had never been to this land and this was his first time in any court. Although he knew the formalities.

"I know what you have been doing Achilon." The lords voice was powerful and deep. "I should have you killed."

Achilon flared up with guilt then went down onto his knees and was about to beg for mercy, but his fear was so great he could not speak. A dark grey mist spewed from the the dark lords cloak; seemingly from his body. Then a slow heavy laugh came from the ruler.

"Rise, I do not intend to killed you. In fact, I am intrigued. I will give you the magic you desire." He said as the grey mist spilled onto the ground infront of the old man. Achilon was stunned. He asked confused "What do you mean?"

"Achilon, I know you want the reanimation of the dead. Not for others sake but for you're own immortality. I will give you both. For a price."

"My... my lord I am just a humble servant." Achilons voice quivered.

"Achilon, you cannot fool me. My blood is of the gods. Now take my offer or simply leave to the dungeons and shortly afterwards I will have you executed. My guards will escort you now if you wish." The dark lord gloated.

Then he held out his hand and in it a giant eye floated above. Then it floated to Achilon and in its pupil the image of the elf mutilating bodies and using spells on them. Achilon's eyes widened. Oddly seeing himself work gave him some excitement. Then he looked at the dark lord high on his throne. He had no other choice.

"You said there was a price, my lord. Since I have to accept your gifts what is it that I must give in return?" Achilon asked but some how he already knew.

"Indeed. You will raise an undead army in my service for the rest of your life. I see greatness in it and in you." The dark lord proclaimed. The evil elf wasn't sure if he was lying or not.

Achilon knew that the lord would make him his servant, but to raising an undead army? He didn't expect that. Lost in everything that had happened he didn't realize that the mist had gathered around him. With a lordly grace the dark lord rose and brought out his thin hand. The magic eye floated behind his right shoulder and watched as a magic aura charged around his hand which then spread down into the mist and around the elf. Then the frail hand formed a fist. In that moment the mist and magic covered Achilon in a shell of power and evil divinity. The magic bled into the body of the scared elf. When all the magic was done seeping into every inch of him the mist exploded from the pressure. His skin was now black, his teeth sharp, and his eyes sparkled of foul magic. He listened and heard. He heard the spirits of the undead all around him. Thousands of gernations. They told him things he couldnt understand yet.

"Your first act as my warden of the dead is to go to Bermong town. Raise the undead in the cemetery and kill the entire town then raise them back as your servant. Come back here with your army."

"Yes my lord. Bermong isn't in your realm. Do you want me to leave your mark or leave in silence?" Now he spoke with real confidence. Remembering the calling cards he had left on his previous raids.

"You left your marks while grave robbing why stop now?" The dark lord said.

Achilon bowed gracefully and set off to do his task. The dark lord waved for his slaves leaving him alone. He floated into the air once more only to teleport to a mountain range beside the dark fortress. He tossed off his cloak. Instead of an old frail lord, there stood a fair faced young man. Though, this was no man but Markon the god who helped run world. He smiled as he sat watching his minion traveling away from the dark realm.

"Monologue time." Markon said as he slowly began to fade from the mortal realm. "I brought this world into existence. Now if nobody rises up to stop me I will take it out. Slowly. I will bring this world to an end. But, after all I have to enjoy myself while doing it. Whats the fun in just ending it all. The other gods have no clue what I am doing. They think I am neutral in mortal affairs. Just a simple creationist god. Half the time they don't even know what Im doing. Which makes this interesting cause now that Im talking to myself out loud I don't even know what they're doing half the time. Huh... Gods. I suppose I should pay them a visit..." he said as his avatar disappeared into the God realm...

The white marble halls was abuzz with activity, mortals of many species working the divine tools to learn and to aid the creation of ever more impressive wonders and to learn new ways of making things that will impress and last through the ages.
Some dwarves were working the bellows of one of the minor forges, so that their master could get the heat he wanted to forge a blade.

But something didn't go well for the smith and as a loud 'ting' could be heard as he quenched the blade, with speed he retracted it and furiously looked at the smoking blade and the long visible crack in its form.
He was scowling viciously and turning red.
-"That's it, what sort of miracle forge is this? Isn't the tools the ones that make the best things? Whom make failures never happen, the perfect foundry of heaven!?" He was barking this and turned to his worried servants, saliva began to be flung from his mouth as he kept on raving and threw the ruined blade.
-"BEGONE! Damned blade, this is not how it's supposed to be! Divine forge? Yeah right!" The loud clatter of the blade and the ravings of the dwarven master smith made most work end within the foundry, but most importantly the figure within the upper section descended with heavy trods down the three-step tall, wide stair.

As the dwarf kept on his anger fit and kicked a bucket and tossed down some tools at the floor some within the foundry were gasping, others were already getting out of here while the smiths servants hid from the looming presence which was nearing.
With a careful hand he picked up the blade, apart from the crack the workmanship was solid, a leaf blade shape with a shallow central groove.
-"This blade is not worthy of the divine forge, nor is it worthy of having been made by a 'master', how did you ever manage to claim such a title?" The booming voice of Ha made the dwarf stop and turn slowly to find the forge god himself inspecting his ruined blade.
Fear in his eyes, shuddering and gaping he didn't manage to form words.
With an initial calm Ha spoke once more.
-"When a god speaks, it's prudent to answer... especially if the one questioned is in the gods HOME! Working HIS TOOLS!!!!" The halls began to shake, dark clouds roiled outside as the volcano rumbled and spewed black smoke.
-"ANSWER ME! Mortal!" Ha now faced the pathetic dwarf and pointed the ruined blade directly at him.

After promptly soiling himself the dwarf fell to his knees and cupped his hands in lamentation.
-"I'm sorry my lord, i'm... i'm sorry... i was given the title..." The smith began to speak but was violently cut off by the furious god present.
-"You claimed the title of master yourself, with ambitions only to earn wealth and power. To further your own standing in your society, not a thought of what wonders to make. Only greeeeeed...."
With a snotty cry the dwarf begged.
-"I can change, i can become better.... i could..." Cut off again, Ha proclaimed his verdict.

-"You will not change, times before have i witnessed your work, i have felt every strike of the hammer that missed its target and struck the anvil, every tool blamed, every failure."
Ha grabbed the soiled mess and dragged him to the anvil which had produced the faulty blade, put the dawrfs left hand on top of it and the forge god raised Ha-mmer towards the ceiling and boomed out.
-"And that is just within these walls, i grow tired of you blaming my perfect tools for your own failings, time and time again you will deny the true cause unless i say no."
Ha-mmer struck the hand upon the anvil, but instead of blood and gore the hand was violently dished and looked more like a painted piece of leather than a hand, the dwarf was screaming and crying, his servants panicking unable to move.
-"There is a simple punishment for those that disrespect..." With a push of his foot, the dwarf was pushed to the floor and clasping his ruined hand in panic.
-"A tarnished work." Ha incanted, putting the failed sword upon the anvil and struck it once, the head of Ha-mmer catching fire as it slammed into the blade and shattered it in a single blow into a thousand pieces, a second after they spread out however, they froze mid-air and began to return slowly to the anvil.
-"Fear from mortals minds." The forge god grasped in front of the dwarf smiths servants, blueish tendrils came from the ears and noses of them and danced into the grasp of the lord of crafts in an orb with a purple heart.
This orb was laid upon the anvil and began to absorb the shards of the broken blade which sped up their unnaturally slow flight and within a second went from slowly gliding to shooting themselves into the glowing orb of fear.
Shortly after the violent might of Ha-mmer struck it, flattening it. The echo ringing through the halls, out into the realm of the gods and through the heavens.
-"And finally.... the sinner." Ha turned to the dwarf, whom now was screaming with terror and tried to back off, to no avail as Ha took a single step, grabbed the dwarf by the apron and slammed him upon the anvil, the gods eyes turning ablaze as he stared upon the struggling mortal below him as Ha-mmer was raised once more.

The final stroke shook the foundations of the world, all over creation unease was felt for a moment, in heaven the echo lasted for just a moment of eternity and within the forge the blast threw all within the forge to the ground apart from the divine.

Upon the disc, a tortured visage could be easily seen, it seemed to slowly move and writhe in anguish.
With a strong gait, Ha walked to the entrance and hung the disc next to the others, several rows of them, but there always seemed to be room to hang it in head height for the master of the forge.
It took a moment, after admiring his work, for Ha to turn to those within the forge and give them all a glare.

-"You may return to your work, now you know what happens to those that sin towards me." His voice much calmer now.
The silence was broken as one of the dwarfs servants began to sprint as fast as he could out of the forge, soon almost all of the mortals present were fleeing the forge.
A single human and two ogres stood firm but with a distinct fear in their eyes and a sudden but perhaps not so strange newfound veneration for the tools as they returned to work.
The human man filing the handle of a tin cup and the ogres knapping stone of a block.

As Ha returned to his workstation, an angel of constantly turning copper gears and sprockets approached the lord of walls and spoke.
-"Masterful one, i return with thy due." As the angel held up an ugly twig with a single leaf upon, which Ha took and studied. Then put in a drawer in a bookcase nearby.
-"Excellent, while it lacks quality it is sufficient, you may rest until i need your services again." The angel nodded and backed off to a wall which promptly opened itself with a mechanical motion to let the angel through and then reconstructed itself as the forge lord returned and sat down to study a small silver leaf which laid upon the anvil of his own workstation.
Stroking his chin and pondering.

Markon hovered behind Ha looking at what he was looking at. He had let himself in moments before the dwarf had seen his way to the land of death. No mortal would see him since he had left his avatar. Only the angel and Ha could.

"You could have turned the tiny mortal into an axe of great wonder. You know dwarf bone is strong enough. Instead you turned him into an example all the mortals should know by now." He casually bantered. Markon sat in the air with his right leg crossed onto his other bent knee.

"Its been a little time since Ive come here. Still cozy." He joked. "Ive come to ask a favour my brother. Ask your price afterwards and Ill see to it, but I want you to create something for me..."

Meanwhile, Achilon had finished his mission. The poor residence of Bermong town were mostly killed in their sleep by their ancient ancestors. The few who were still awake fought bravely. Soon their families and friends awoke from eternal slumber and they too partook in the massacre of their kin.

All the while Achilon felt nothing. The mortal soul he had was gone and a new immortal void had taken residence. He wasn't dead though. He still had emotion but which kinds he didn't know, yet. He left three children alive that night to tell the tale. First he cut off the tips of there right index finger and left the units by random graves like he had done many times before. His calling card. When he was finally done he marched his undead army threw the night till it became morning and hid his damned army in the forest. Any travellers passing by were very unlucky that day. When nightfall melted across the sky the undead resumed their march until they had arrived at the gates of that terrible fortress he started his journey from.

Inside a council had formed. The fortress was not the capitol city, but was the old ancestral home of the Lythea. It was known as Morin Fort after the first Lythean noble Mori Lythea. Melor Lythea -the king- was ill according to his warden, the nobleman of the west, Arktis Belin and he was to over see the council himself. Two other human nobles sat around the table while two orcish chieftain sat beside them.

The six ancient sovereign had joined forces in the first era and were united by the dragon lords they flew on. The dragons had allowed them to sit on there backs and fly among gods in a time only sung in legend. They fought beside the dragons till the end. The dragons had thirteen vassals. All but six perished near the end of the second era.

"That is Malors wish. We all know the ogres are a problem. But if we can take down the ogre king or at least make it come to our terms we may be rid of them. They stand no chance to our combined forces. Like I said that is not our kings wish. He wants us to make them come to our side. So we will either make the king understand or we kill him and enslave them. Imagine the work they can provide in the mines. The power we will have out on the battlefield. Each duke sitting here with a personal monster to defend us. You have already been informed by our king himself about the necromancer. With an army of undead, our own troops AND ogres at our disposal we will have a formidable army to push the boarders of our neighbors." Arktis told his fellow council members. They looked to each other for a moment in silence. The orc chieftain Nu'Growg slammed a fist onto the table and stood.

"We will reclaim the glory of our once legendary Kingdom and the glory of our fallen kings once more!" He roared! The others stood and cried out the same. United they pushed their seats away moved to gather their resources from their own realms. On there way out an envoy from the gate arrived.

"My lord, Achilon has arrived." He said never once looking the nobleman in the face.

"Tell him we have made the far courtyard ready for his... army and that he may meet me here. Then we will await the king and his orders. Send Achilon in right away..."

Collab:@bLuThUnDa@Klomster

The black steel form of the forge god voiced his answer to Markon.
-"Should know..." Ha's voice was now more of a slow rumble than the wrothful deity from a moment ago he did not change his posture and kept fiddling with the trinket in his right hand.

-"But as is always the case, mortals never learn. I understand that now, their life-spans so insignificant that our words and laws are being forgotten...." He seemed to think back to another age, where things were different, until turning to finally face the deity behind him.

-"Markon, you mentioned an artifact? What would such a trinket do? Comb your hair, give your appearance an illusion of luster? Or perhaps a weapon?" The forge god looked unusually laid back in his posture, now that the two were alone.

-"You're right about mortals. They don't live long enough and they forget easy. This is why I want something so the whole world will quake and spawn an era where they will worship us like they never had before." Markon said with a level of motivation.

Gazing upon Markon, Ha didn't expect this interest in the mortal realm.
-"Wasn't that the reason i got chained to heaven in the last era? For meddling too much in the world of mortals?" Ha straightened his posture and stood up after he had spoken. Gave Markon a good look.
He went to his storage drawer and began to check around for things. Considering several things before returning them.
An angels feather, scales of a dragon, a hydra spine, a rusty nail.
The nail he kept in his hand.

-"You didn't just meddle with the mortals you destroyed whole species. Our fight destroyed whole continents. No not like last time, although I enjoyed it a little we should not go that far. Not yet in the least. This artifact will be different from all your other ones. Respectfully of course. Whoever wields this... treasure will usher a time of worship and bring immense power. Perhaps even uniting most of the world as one in a golden age, but we will not allow them to gain this artifact easily. No. It will be protected and hidden well." He was floating around the room as he spoke and now he was looking up trying to form a picture in his mind.

Markon's words intrigued Ha, he stroked his chin as he tried to come up with things that would suit the elusive gods needs.
-"So like a crown of divine rulership? The mortal who wears the crown is decreed to be the one chosen of the gods to rule the lands of the living?" In his head Ha began to design such a magnificent headgear. It would require complex materials of course, but nothing outside of what he could muster himself. Until he realised what Markon had said and asked.
-"So why do we give such a potent artifact... for a mortal... to the one who finds it by chance? Shouldn't the chosen ruler be, well, chosen by us?"

-"Interesting. Perhaps, we will make three artifacts. The first one will be used to find all other artifacts with your divinity or any of the gods; a magic map or compass if you will. The next artifact is key because the crown cannot be used properly without it and the crown will not be found without it either. Then after the long journey of finding those two and then the long journey to find the last piece they must get past protectors or even traps of our make. When all is done and they have everything in place they must go through our divine judgement as the last part. Then we can name a king fit to rule as our vassal. Mortals will never disrespect you again Ha!"

With interest not showing, Ha listened to Markon as the great craftsman opened a small box and produced a gem, a platinum stick and some silver.
-"Bite this." Ha said without flinching while handing the rusty nail to Markon, he then put the things so far next to his workplace and began to hand drill into the gem-stone.
Markon examined the rusty nail first then bit down on it. He passed it back when he was done.

Ha examined the nail, murmured something akin to 'excellent' and sharpened its edge with a strike of Ha-mmer upon the anvil.
-"However, since these artifacts will be powerful and you after all have ordered them, i will need something from you." The forge god informed while drilling the gemstone.
-"You see, mortals only look up to one thing in the end, the only thing they seek, is divinity. Therefore we will need divinity to fuel the artifacts power and imbue them with the divinity they will look upon, i need you to provide that." The forge god told with a calm but serious voice. As he finished drilling the gem he drilled the centre of the nail.
-"While i assume you don't feel like losing a finger or a toe, i still need a sufficient source of divine power." He turned to Markon and began to thread the hole in the nail while looking at Markon.
-"I need one of your demigods. That will be enough." Ha sat silent and unmoving for a moment and waited for the answer of the ancient god.

Markon was shocked for a moment.
-"I see. Would a tooth, or nail... even a hair work?" He floated around enjoying the moment. "You're right. None of those will work. But now who... Someone loyal."

Then for a moment he was sad. Kathume was his best friend, but he knew only Kathume would never hate him for putting him inside the crown. His creation would be loyal and divine. And thus the dog was instantly teleported to Markons location.

He placed a hand on the old dogs brow. Then he lifted his head high and kissed him. Kathume already felt what was happening due to the link between god and demi-god. "This isnt good bye my friend..."

-"It is decided then." Ha saw that Markon was already preparing the divine being for the task, as such the forge god began to take the divine energy of the hound and form it into a shape.
The form of Kathume vanished slowly and something formed in the hands of Ha whom violently shaped the purple energies into a form much smaller than the beast had been.
Instead of leaving a corpse, only specks of dust slowly fell like from a breeze upon the floor of the divine forge. A small goblin-esque looking creature with ugly bat-like wings quickly emerged from behind the bellows and collected the dust and put it in a vial, put it next to Ha and vanished into the shadows.
Without looking at the little imp, Ha finished his shaping and in his hand was a magnificent reddish purple gem, smoother than possible and with a depth one could stare into for ages.

He carefully put the gem upon a soft pillow upon a shelf with his clawed gauntleted hand. After which he took the silver plate and bent it into shape of a bowl which he set the gem he had drilled from earlier in.
-"I will begin crafting the crown shortly, i will however need to get a few other resources but the most important one is now provided." While talking he screwed on the rusty nail upon the platinum rod, poured a liquid from a porcelain pitcher into the silver bowl followed by blowing upon the surface with an outstretched palm gesture, seemingly blowing something from the palm unto the surface of the clear liquid.
The surface hardened into clear crystal, the nail within began to spin with sudden jerks with the tip of it pointing in all manners of directions.
He held it outstretched towards Markon.
-"This compass will point towards the nearest artifact, more potent artifacts will draw its attention before weaker ones." The compass was in a sense ugly, but held a certain charm. What was obvious however was that it worked, the point jumping between different artifacts present before stopping violently pointing towards the gem of Kathume.

Double post