Eternal
You want to live so much that nothing else matters to you, and no matter how much it sickens you utter “I…I will serve you…” with great effort.
“Yes, you will serve, but do you mean it? I don’t think so. You’re lying to survive this encounter. This is interesting. I was correct in that you are not as rigid as your fellows. If you are willing to risk lying to me in an attempt to save your life, then you are possibly willing to do ANYTHING to save your own life…that means there is still hope for you. I’d advise you though, do not wait too long to pick a side, otherwise you may find that even your will to survive won’t be enough to save you.
The feeling of oppression leaves you, and it’s instead replaced by a surge of pain jolting through your body. You’d probably cry out if you could, instead you suffer in silence.
“You will be given the powers I bestow to all my worshippers. Whether you will use them to further the cause or not, is another matter, but one that shall be interesting to see unfold. I have a feeling we shall speak again Eternal.”
And with those last words, you blackout and lose consciousness.
When you wake up, you find yourself back in the room where you first stepped into the portal. Master Ebon, Brother Gray, Cyrus and Talia all stand around you.
“He’s awake.” Brother Gray remarks.
“Hmm, it truly is the work of Dendrin that he survived the process. Dendrin must’ve seen something in him that I did not. I will have to ask for forgiveness of my lack of vision tonight in my prayers. You two, help your brother up, he has proven worthy to be called a shadow and passed Dendrin’s judgement.”
As Cyrus and Talia help you up, you’re feeling a little groggy and you ask who Dendrin is. Everyone goes silent as if you’ve said the wrong thing.
“Who is Dendrin? Are you jesting? Dendrin is our god! Surely his name appeared in your mind when he spoke to you during the ceremony.” Talia exclaims.
“Huh…oh…right…I dunno I feel so drained and woozy right now.” You sputter, so as to cover up your less than typical experience with Dendrin.
“Hmm, well that does happen. Some new members take days to fully recover after being in the presence of his power.” Master Ebon remarks. “In any case, I welcome the three of you to the fold and you are now truly as brothers and sister to us. Our bond is stronger than any can hope to imagine and with Dendrin’s guidance there is nothing we can’t accomplish. You three shall report to Fortress Gloom, from there you will receive your future assignments and even additional training on your new powers. I shall take my leave now as I have other more important duties to perform. Brother Gray I trust you can take it from here.”
Master Ebon leaves, and Brother Gray does indeed take over. He mentions that the four of you will be heading by carriage to Fortress Gloom, which is located in Quala, the home province of the Empire. Fortress Gloom is apparently the sole head quarters of all the Shadow Guard.
On the carriage ride there Brother Gray speaks more on Gloom.
“Personally we’d prefer it if we were located in the Delerg province, but since most of our assignments are in Quala, the Empire desires that we stay close by, still our home at least borders on Delerg so it isn’t all bad and things will be set right one day.
“What is so special about Delerg?” you ask and once again you’ve said something that causes disapproving silence followed by scolding.
“Sheesh, you really are out of it aren’t you? Delerg is the original home of the Shadows! You should know this when Dendrin open your mind to our history!” Cyrus shouts.
Once again you apologize and claim you’re having problems with gaps in your memory and continued disorientation. Brother Gray is a little more understanding and says that you’ll soon recover and remember everything and that in the mean time you can refresh your memory with the books at Fortress Gloom.
You thank him and decide to stay quiet until you can get a better understanding of your situation. It is apparent that you did not pass through the ceremony like everyone else did. Cyrus and Talia seem like they’re dedicated converts now. Brian and David are no where to be seen and nobody has mentioned them. You can assume that Dendrin destroyed them for some reason. Presumably because they refused to serve, but still that doesn’t explain why you were spared. Dendrin obviously knew you were just paying him lip service to save your own life, and he passed you anyway. Is there something else in store for you?
You don’t know and you can’t do much about it right now. You just hope you can make it through this.
Eventually the carriage stops at the edge of a forest area.
“Okay we have to walk the rest of the way; it’s not too far though.” Gray remarks and all of you get out and the carriage driver quickly makes his way out of the area.
Gray leads the way through the dark forest. The trees have so much foliage that they’re blocking out most of the sunlight. Several times you could swear something is watching you in the trees, but nothing attacks. Gray, Cyrus and Talia, aren’t on edge as you are, but then they wouldn’t have cause to be.
Eventually you all an area with a large rock formation in the forest. Gray mumbles a few words and then another portal opens up in one of the large rocks. He tells you all to follow and you do. After a long flight of stairs downward, you finally reach Gloom proper. It certainly lives up to its name as you travel the corridors the entire place is barely lit, the place is also very quiet. Gray goes on to explain that the place used to be a former Derro stronghold, but they abandoned it for unknown reasons long before the Shadow Guard started to use it.
After a small tour of a small portion of the fortress, Brother Gray tells you all that you will all share the same room with some of the other newer members for now, though he says that the room itself might currently be empty as they are probably on their duties right now. He also goes on to say that he wants you to test out your shadow powers in the training are tomorrow before you go on assignments, so you should try to rest in the meantime.
You, Cyrus and Talia retire to your room and sure enough it is indeed empty of any other members right now. You all grab a bed that doesn’t look like it has been taken yet. Cyrus begins to speak.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to test some of my powers now. I figure I should get a head start on the practice.” He says and then attempts to make himself invisible. He flickers for a moment, but then fails completely causing himself to collapse on the bed.
“Wow, maybe I shouldn’t have tried something so hard at first.” He says breathing hard.
Talia does something a little different; she begins to run from one end of the room to the other. For a brief moment she is a barely visible blur, but she too is winded from the effort.
“I think we should wait until we have proper instruction first. You two are going to hurt yourselves.” You say.
“Proper instruction? All the knowledge is right here! Dendrin saw to that!” Cyrus says pointing to his head. “All we need to do is practice.”
“Leave him be brother, he’s still recovering from his experience being in the presence of Dendrin.”
“Yeah, I guess. What an eye opener that experience was though! Seriously, all that stuff we learned was really enlightening. Don’t you agree sister?”
“Oh yes. Just think, all those lies they told us just to try to keep us loyal to the so called Emperor. Murderous tyrant is all he really is and his day will come.” Talia says.
You can’t believe what you’re hearing. It’s unreal to hear two Eternals you’ve practically grown up with to speak such…treason! You don’t know what they heard when they went through the ceremony, but it’s very apparent they have been corrupted. As much as you’ve been trying to keep your feelings on everything secret, you almost feel like you must speak or do something about it.
“Yes, you will serve, but do you mean it? I don’t think so. You’re lying to survive this encounter. This is interesting. I was correct in that you are not as rigid as your fellows. If you are willing to risk lying to me in an attempt to save your life, then you are possibly willing to do ANYTHING to save your own life…that means there is still hope for you. I’d advise you though, do not wait too long to pick a side, otherwise you may find that even your will to survive won’t be enough to save you.
The feeling of oppression leaves you, and it’s instead replaced by a surge of pain jolting through your body. You’d probably cry out if you could, instead you suffer in silence.
“You will be given the powers I bestow to all my worshippers. Whether you will use them to further the cause or not, is another matter, but one that shall be interesting to see unfold. I have a feeling we shall speak again Eternal.”
And with those last words, you blackout and lose consciousness.
When you wake up, you find yourself back in the room where you first stepped into the portal. Master Ebon, Brother Gray, Cyrus and Talia all stand around you.
“He’s awake.” Brother Gray remarks.
“Hmm, it truly is the work of Dendrin that he survived the process. Dendrin must’ve seen something in him that I did not. I will have to ask for forgiveness of my lack of vision tonight in my prayers. You two, help your brother up, he has proven worthy to be called a shadow and passed Dendrin’s judgement.”
As Cyrus and Talia help you up, you’re feeling a little groggy and you ask who Dendrin is. Everyone goes silent as if you’ve said the wrong thing.
“Who is Dendrin? Are you jesting? Dendrin is our god! Surely his name appeared in your mind when he spoke to you during the ceremony.” Talia exclaims.
“Huh…oh…right…I dunno I feel so drained and woozy right now.” You sputter, so as to cover up your less than typical experience with Dendrin.
“Hmm, well that does happen. Some new members take days to fully recover after being in the presence of his power.” Master Ebon remarks. “In any case, I welcome the three of you to the fold and you are now truly as brothers and sister to us. Our bond is stronger than any can hope to imagine and with Dendrin’s guidance there is nothing we can’t accomplish. You three shall report to Fortress Gloom, from there you will receive your future assignments and even additional training on your new powers. I shall take my leave now as I have other more important duties to perform. Brother Gray I trust you can take it from here.”
Master Ebon leaves, and Brother Gray does indeed take over. He mentions that the four of you will be heading by carriage to Fortress Gloom, which is located in Quala, the home province of the Empire. Fortress Gloom is apparently the sole head quarters of all the Shadow Guard.
On the carriage ride there Brother Gray speaks more on Gloom.
“Personally we’d prefer it if we were located in the Delerg province, but since most of our assignments are in Quala, the Empire desires that we stay close by, still our home at least borders on Delerg so it isn’t all bad and things will be set right one day.
“What is so special about Delerg?” you ask and once again you’ve said something that causes disapproving silence followed by scolding.
“Sheesh, you really are out of it aren’t you? Delerg is the original home of the Shadows! You should know this when Dendrin open your mind to our history!” Cyrus shouts.
Once again you apologize and claim you’re having problems with gaps in your memory and continued disorientation. Brother Gray is a little more understanding and says that you’ll soon recover and remember everything and that in the mean time you can refresh your memory with the books at Fortress Gloom.
You thank him and decide to stay quiet until you can get a better understanding of your situation. It is apparent that you did not pass through the ceremony like everyone else did. Cyrus and Talia seem like they’re dedicated converts now. Brian and David are no where to be seen and nobody has mentioned them. You can assume that Dendrin destroyed them for some reason. Presumably because they refused to serve, but still that doesn’t explain why you were spared. Dendrin obviously knew you were just paying him lip service to save your own life, and he passed you anyway. Is there something else in store for you?
You don’t know and you can’t do much about it right now. You just hope you can make it through this.
Eventually the carriage stops at the edge of a forest area.
“Okay we have to walk the rest of the way; it’s not too far though.” Gray remarks and all of you get out and the carriage driver quickly makes his way out of the area.
Gray leads the way through the dark forest. The trees have so much foliage that they’re blocking out most of the sunlight. Several times you could swear something is watching you in the trees, but nothing attacks. Gray, Cyrus and Talia, aren’t on edge as you are, but then they wouldn’t have cause to be.
Eventually you all an area with a large rock formation in the forest. Gray mumbles a few words and then another portal opens up in one of the large rocks. He tells you all to follow and you do. After a long flight of stairs downward, you finally reach Gloom proper. It certainly lives up to its name as you travel the corridors the entire place is barely lit, the place is also very quiet. Gray goes on to explain that the place used to be a former Derro stronghold, but they abandoned it for unknown reasons long before the Shadow Guard started to use it.
After a small tour of a small portion of the fortress, Brother Gray tells you all that you will all share the same room with some of the other newer members for now, though he says that the room itself might currently be empty as they are probably on their duties right now. He also goes on to say that he wants you to test out your shadow powers in the training are tomorrow before you go on assignments, so you should try to rest in the meantime.
You, Cyrus and Talia retire to your room and sure enough it is indeed empty of any other members right now. You all grab a bed that doesn’t look like it has been taken yet. Cyrus begins to speak.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to test some of my powers now. I figure I should get a head start on the practice.” He says and then attempts to make himself invisible. He flickers for a moment, but then fails completely causing himself to collapse on the bed.
“Wow, maybe I shouldn’t have tried something so hard at first.” He says breathing hard.
Talia does something a little different; she begins to run from one end of the room to the other. For a brief moment she is a barely visible blur, but she too is winded from the effort.
“I think we should wait until we have proper instruction first. You two are going to hurt yourselves.” You say.
“Proper instruction? All the knowledge is right here! Dendrin saw to that!” Cyrus says pointing to his head. “All we need to do is practice.”
“Leave him be brother, he’s still recovering from his experience being in the presence of Dendrin.”
“Yeah, I guess. What an eye opener that experience was though! Seriously, all that stuff we learned was really enlightening. Don’t you agree sister?”
“Oh yes. Just think, all those lies they told us just to try to keep us loyal to the so called Emperor. Murderous tyrant is all he really is and his day will come.” Talia says.
You can’t believe what you’re hearing. It’s unreal to hear two Eternals you’ve practically grown up with to speak such…treason! You don’t know what they heard when they went through the ceremony, but it’s very apparent they have been corrupted. As much as you’ve been trying to keep your feelings on everything secret, you almost feel like you must speak or do something about it.