The Black Citadel
You put the key in the hole and turn it. Emblems of spirals light up on the door for a split second and then disappear. Upon opening the door and entering, you find the room is ominously quiet.
There isn't an open window or breeze in the room, but cold air is definitely moving around you giving you goose bumps. The black silk curtains in front of you are swaying slowly, touched by the chilly air. You feel like a deer in a strange forest as you warily push aside the curtains. In front of you is another set of swaying black curtains that you are just about to part when you hear a soft voice whispering your name.
"Mathayus I know you're there."
A female voice
"How lovely of you to come and visit me. Come here my darling. I want to glance upon your face once more."
It sounds like
You carefully push the curtains apart. You walk into a luxurious looking room with an array of beautiful floor cushions and floor lamps.
"Zirder!" you blurt out.
And there she is, lying on the cushions, propped up on one elbow, smiling wickedly at you. There are a million questions in your head that need answering.
"I've finally found you!" you exclaim. "You're alive, and it seems very healthy "
But you trail off momentarily. A sudden gut feeling is telling you something is definitely odd. Zirder is still smiling wickedly, but looking into her eyes you see nothing. They're empty, without any fire or emotion at all. Not even a trace of heart-felt recognition upon seeing you again. And now this is strange; her once long dark hair is now pure white!
"Are you okay? What happened to you? What have they done to you?"
Her hollow laughter, unnatural and uncharacteristic rings out across the room.
"Damn it Zirder, by the gods, what the hell did he do to you? Wiculoth, the wretched dark witch!"
"Oh please go on," she says standing up, "go on I'm listening."
You continue, "I guess anything is possible under coercion, torture and control!"
Zirder's hand brushes past a black metal clasp, circling her neck. She then begins circling you, looking you up and down with a distant gaze and says,
"I must commend you Mathayus, on your bravery and cleverness on getting so far in your quest. It's really remarkable. However, your good-hearted innocence and ignorance is plain to see. As you have probably guessed by now, and to, it must be your obvious disappointment, I'm not here for the rescuing."
"Well then tell me, what am I doing here then if not for you? I've come within an inch of death about a dozen times over the past couple of weeks for you and this quest, and as for Vandil " you trail off a little. "Don't let me it was all in vain!" you say firmly. "Damn it all Zirder! If you've become a dark servant to that snake of a witch Wiculoth "
Her hollow laughter rings out again.
"You are a fool Mathayus! You needn't have wasted your time or life for that matter coming here. You're right, it was all in vain The madness of it all!" she chuckles. "And as for Vandil, well, the last I heard, a group of dark ones found their little plaything somewhere in Darkwood."
She stops walking around you and stands in front of you. Her white hair and deathly white face look cold and lifeless.
"There's so much you don't know about this world, and I have to be honest, how little I knew before coming here to the citadel and battling with Wiculoth. How can you understand the light without fathoming the darkness? And oh how great the darkness is Mathayus! The dark arts my dear, now there lies true power. You magical abilities will never fully develop and come into unison without knowledge of the dark side. I'm now an avid student, and how my existing powers have grown so much in such a short time. You can never know that, wallowing in your ignorance, selfishness and narrow being. Coercion, torture! Yes, Wiculoth is a master of that. There can only be pain before true insight right? Once he showed me the error of my ways of stubbornly and foolishly resisting him, I submitted."
"So it seems then you've thrown away everything. You've given away your goodness, beauty and very soul to a cause that's only bent on control and destruction of everything that we hold dear Zirder!"
"No, that's where you're wrong. The future begins here, in spire of the Holy Citadel, with Wiculoth. And so my master will devour all the known lands with his mighty armies. It is the future and it cannot be undone so we have to accept it and join with him or perish. Your ways and traditions, the old ways, will vanish like the wind. Believe me, it's no use holding onto what you deem sacred and good, because goodness and beauty will soon be dead! But I know you Mathayus, I know your heart, and this is something you can never accept "
She stares at you and chuckles and then throws back her head and laughs and says,
"So you've come all this way, only to die by the hand you were meant to save. With irony like that in such a story, children will hear about your wonderfully tragic tale, my dear, for hundreds of years to come!"
"I haven't come all this way only to die for nothing, and never by your hand!" you say. "If it's my destiny to confront you, then so be it! And when his lackey has been defeated I will go on and defeat Wiculoth, the evil sorcerous bastard himself!"
"Ooh, wrong again my dear. Don't be so confident of you quite mediocre magical abilities. Although you are one of the best mages of your generation coming out of the Altingard academy, your abilities now pale in comparison to my awesome power. Let me give you a little demonstration shall we?"
Zirder flicks out her hand and your legs buckle, suddenly weak. You fall to the ground, unable to stand up, and you find it near impossible to move your legs or any part of your body, from the waist down. With another flick from her other hand, she whisks away your staff sending it slithering across the floor behind you. A final flick from her first hand pulls you off the ground, up into the hair where she keeps you suspended looking down over her and the room.
"This is going to be interesting," she says will a smirk before turning her back and releasing you.
You fall down to the hard floor with a metallic crash in your armour (lose 1 armour point). Zirder turns back and says,
"Are you ready Mathayus, to duel with one of your old mentors? I'm Zirder, the third and final guardian of the sacred stones. Let me be kind enough to begin."
Your reflexes send you turning and rushing backwards to retrieve your fallen staff. As you pick it up and turn back around you already feel Zirder evoking a spell. There is a swirl of smoke around her and you sense that she's metamorphosing. The third guardian if you had a choice, it would be a dragon squeezed into the room and not an insane Zirder.
There isn't an open window or breeze in the room, but cold air is definitely moving around you giving you goose bumps. The black silk curtains in front of you are swaying slowly, touched by the chilly air. You feel like a deer in a strange forest as you warily push aside the curtains. In front of you is another set of swaying black curtains that you are just about to part when you hear a soft voice whispering your name.
"Mathayus I know you're there."
A female voice
"How lovely of you to come and visit me. Come here my darling. I want to glance upon your face once more."
It sounds like
You carefully push the curtains apart. You walk into a luxurious looking room with an array of beautiful floor cushions and floor lamps.
"Zirder!" you blurt out.
And there she is, lying on the cushions, propped up on one elbow, smiling wickedly at you. There are a million questions in your head that need answering.
"I've finally found you!" you exclaim. "You're alive, and it seems very healthy "
But you trail off momentarily. A sudden gut feeling is telling you something is definitely odd. Zirder is still smiling wickedly, but looking into her eyes you see nothing. They're empty, without any fire or emotion at all. Not even a trace of heart-felt recognition upon seeing you again. And now this is strange; her once long dark hair is now pure white!
"Are you okay? What happened to you? What have they done to you?"
Her hollow laughter, unnatural and uncharacteristic rings out across the room.
"Damn it Zirder, by the gods, what the hell did he do to you? Wiculoth, the wretched dark witch!"
"Oh please go on," she says standing up, "go on I'm listening."
You continue, "I guess anything is possible under coercion, torture and control!"
Zirder's hand brushes past a black metal clasp, circling her neck. She then begins circling you, looking you up and down with a distant gaze and says,
"I must commend you Mathayus, on your bravery and cleverness on getting so far in your quest. It's really remarkable. However, your good-hearted innocence and ignorance is plain to see. As you have probably guessed by now, and to, it must be your obvious disappointment, I'm not here for the rescuing."
"Well then tell me, what am I doing here then if not for you? I've come within an inch of death about a dozen times over the past couple of weeks for you and this quest, and as for Vandil " you trail off a little. "Don't let me it was all in vain!" you say firmly. "Damn it all Zirder! If you've become a dark servant to that snake of a witch Wiculoth "
Her hollow laughter rings out again.
"You are a fool Mathayus! You needn't have wasted your time or life for that matter coming here. You're right, it was all in vain The madness of it all!" she chuckles. "And as for Vandil, well, the last I heard, a group of dark ones found their little plaything somewhere in Darkwood."
She stops walking around you and stands in front of you. Her white hair and deathly white face look cold and lifeless.
"There's so much you don't know about this world, and I have to be honest, how little I knew before coming here to the citadel and battling with Wiculoth. How can you understand the light without fathoming the darkness? And oh how great the darkness is Mathayus! The dark arts my dear, now there lies true power. You magical abilities will never fully develop and come into unison without knowledge of the dark side. I'm now an avid student, and how my existing powers have grown so much in such a short time. You can never know that, wallowing in your ignorance, selfishness and narrow being. Coercion, torture! Yes, Wiculoth is a master of that. There can only be pain before true insight right? Once he showed me the error of my ways of stubbornly and foolishly resisting him, I submitted."
"So it seems then you've thrown away everything. You've given away your goodness, beauty and very soul to a cause that's only bent on control and destruction of everything that we hold dear Zirder!"
"No, that's where you're wrong. The future begins here, in spire of the Holy Citadel, with Wiculoth. And so my master will devour all the known lands with his mighty armies. It is the future and it cannot be undone so we have to accept it and join with him or perish. Your ways and traditions, the old ways, will vanish like the wind. Believe me, it's no use holding onto what you deem sacred and good, because goodness and beauty will soon be dead! But I know you Mathayus, I know your heart, and this is something you can never accept "
She stares at you and chuckles and then throws back her head and laughs and says,
"So you've come all this way, only to die by the hand you were meant to save. With irony like that in such a story, children will hear about your wonderfully tragic tale, my dear, for hundreds of years to come!"
"I haven't come all this way only to die for nothing, and never by your hand!" you say. "If it's my destiny to confront you, then so be it! And when his lackey has been defeated I will go on and defeat Wiculoth, the evil sorcerous bastard himself!"
"Ooh, wrong again my dear. Don't be so confident of you quite mediocre magical abilities. Although you are one of the best mages of your generation coming out of the Altingard academy, your abilities now pale in comparison to my awesome power. Let me give you a little demonstration shall we?"
Zirder flicks out her hand and your legs buckle, suddenly weak. You fall to the ground, unable to stand up, and you find it near impossible to move your legs or any part of your body, from the waist down. With another flick from her other hand, she whisks away your staff sending it slithering across the floor behind you. A final flick from her first hand pulls you off the ground, up into the hair where she keeps you suspended looking down over her and the room.
"This is going to be interesting," she says will a smirk before turning her back and releasing you.
You fall down to the hard floor with a metallic crash in your armour (lose 1 armour point). Zirder turns back and says,
"Are you ready Mathayus, to duel with one of your old mentors? I'm Zirder, the third and final guardian of the sacred stones. Let me be kind enough to begin."
Your reflexes send you turning and rushing backwards to retrieve your fallen staff. As you pick it up and turn back around you already feel Zirder evoking a spell. There is a swirl of smoke around her and you sense that she's metamorphosing. The third guardian if you had a choice, it would be a dragon squeezed into the room and not an insane Zirder.