Briaen/Books/The Undying Threat II
The Undying Threat II
By Briaen Huns
Necrolord and former Apprentice of Zamidren Book
Now Divine Knight of Berengaria
Introduction
He called them the Undying Threat.
And then we went and became one.
Zamidren Book set out as a young neophyte Warrior Mage with the auspicious intent to find enlightenment, to seek out the secrets with hopes to better understand what he knew to be an enemy. Many may well not believe it, but he did at least that much. It was long thought he may have died or fallen to the plagues and monstrosities he himself called a scourge. That he might have bravely fought a battle of zeal and faith, but in his last breath, fell a faithful man of Murrula.
This, however, is just the first of many lies.
Zamidren Book can still be found, if one has the inclinations on where to look. In so having those inclinations, I found him. But why? A question I have been asked time and time again. Being born of the Clan of Shadow in a blighted land known well for a history of undead, I perhaps had a similar line of thought to Zamidren’s first attempts. I sought the knowledge to understand my enemy. Naivety and determination are a potent combination for fool’s errands.
Chapter 5: The Great Work, The Great Lie
Many others have followed this path, one gilded with promises of a better world, freedom from an existence of pain, of strife, disease, and even death. We called it the Great Work. It is the primary drive of organized Necromantic cults, no matter their claims to the contrary. Through the blood and visceral use of cursed blades drawn through the flesh of the dead, our twisted view was to find the secrets of immortality by any means necessary. This sort of pursuit is not for the fainthearted, and certainly not for the faithful. Well, at least not those who would claim the Grace of the Thirty and Nine.
The Great Work is a Great Lie.
It is an abomination against Their Grace for it seeks to directly undermine Their Authority and to ultimately usurp Their Divinity. We are taught to gaze into the viscera of the dead in hopes of gleaning secrets and a more complete understanding of how to bring about a change in the status quo. In essence, the various Necromantic cults use ritual knives as a tool for advancement, without realizing or even perhaps ignoring the obvious threats such a study brings upon the sanctity of this world. Claims will be made against this statement and heresy will follow in the explanations as to why I am wrong. For a long while, I too ignored the warnings and shame I felt at my pursuit of the Great Work.
I now know that it is a Profane inquiry, and suspect that Zamidren and his ilk only teach it so that they might reap the benefits of their potential students for the sake of themselves. Whether they are aware of it or not, the study of Necromancy is far from making this world better. It is, instead, an Unholy attempt to reorganize the blessedness of this life in order to undermine what follows. Necromancy and the further of the Great Work are lies told to by manipulating masters to petulant children. They seek the great source of the Divine, from whence we all belong and to where we must all return. The blight upon the soul of a Necromancer directly prevents this return, and thus creates a conduit by which the Others might gain strength.
Whatever secrets Zamidren does know, only a faint hint of it does he teach to his neophytes. There are even secrets beyond his ability to stomach teaching, so dangerous that even he refuses to teach them and has, at times, barred his students who have sought such knowledge elsewhere. The Others, as I call them, the eyes in the black, beyond the depth of shadows, beneath the darkness and behind the void of Urrem'tier - in the spaces between, the demonic lurk. Some have names you know, others only we know. I intend to keep it this way. I will not detail such knowledge here. If my story and Zamidren’s story prove anything, it is that seeking to understand the enemy only leads you to become the enemy.
Chapter 6: The Death of Demons
One such name you do likely know is that of the Mistress of the Zulfang: Maelshyve. It is due in no small part to Her death that I found myself facing a paradigm shift in my own standing with my former associates. I was there, as were many, many other adventurers as the Philosopher Osven used devices charged with Feral magic to tear a hole between worlds. A plot that allowed us to complete what was once considered impossible. The citizens of this world killed a demon. Let it be known that those who seek power from such entities consider this to be a murder and not the righteous removal of a long-lived threat to Elanthia.
I submit that perhaps both sides are correct.
When Maelshyve died many of us heard whispers, screams of rage, and pain. I felt fear. I felt Maelshyve’s fear. I believe she may have served a purpose, that she filled some space between this world and the places where The Others preside. And while I make no squabble about her death being necessary, I cannot help but wonder if we did not create a crack in the dam. For now, I fear what will fill the places where Her essence fades. Maelshyve was cruel, unjust, and very much a foul creature to behold and an abomination worth destruction, but She was far from the worst of what lies in waiting.
Chapter 7: Return to Grace
Thus, with the successful attack upon that wretched creature and left with the fear of not knowing what would come, I finally saw the truth. I yearned for the Grace of the Thirty and Nine. Like no time in my life before my fall or even before I sought to find Zamidren. The adventuring guilded often forget so many of the living are born without the ability to gain Their favor. We overlook the Grace that seems so simply bestowed upon us because of our ability to manipulate forces They granted us in the first place. I would beg of you, dear reader, do not let such piousness beget a forgetfulness of the gifts you wield.
Is it possible then, for a Forsaken soul to find Their Grace once more? For decades, even perhaps centuries, it was thought the only true Redemption could be found in death. I wonder how many poor, lost, pained souls we sent home without properly giving them time to learn a better way.
The answer is, simply, yes. The Eyes of the Thirty and Nine are ever upon all of us, even those of us who abuse our gifts and fall from Their Grace. They see us all. They know our hearts. They know our pain. The Aspects of the Dark and of the Light, along with those of a Balanced approach, all of them have the desire to see Their children return. I have been filled with Their hatred, They have made clear Their disappointment, and have cleansed my sins in the warmth of Their Love.
If it is of your mind to undertake such a thing, do so with the faith that only penitence will see you through it. If you have fallen, if you know the pain of being forsaken, and have started a path you do not intend to see walked, I pray you seek the Gardener in the Gilen Otso Steppes to begin your return to grace.
Chapter 8: Closing
It is with great pride that I now serve the Immortals once more. Primarily, I atone for my blasphemies through Berengaria, the Light Bringer, the Mother of Dawn. She came to me before her humble shrine and spoke of planted seeds. Within my soul she planted a singular seed, a tiny portion of Her Grace that I will continue to nurture until I am called to return to the city of souls.
It is my purpose to plant more seeds in the souls of others who have lost their way. I will bring about a harvest born of a return to Their Grace in even the most foul and damned souls. Their creations will be destroyed outright. Their attempts to sour these lands with footholds for The Others will be cut out, root and stem. This is my declaration of intent. I will spend the remainder of my days cleansing unholy places and dismantling all attempts to the contrary. Cast aside is my desire for the easy path, for the childish desires of corrupted enlightenment, and I am now filled with the memories of what I was meant to be.
What was once my tool of insurrection has become my tool of mended hope. It is a sign of my devotional strength and a token of the Divine Directive I have received. My knife is now my instrument of wrath and of purification. Where my Goddess walks, renewal follows. I will be her instrument of salvation upon these blighted places. My garden will be nurtured by the the souls of those filled faithful piousness and forsaken hubris.
I am the Undying Threat long spoken of by Zamidren before me and when my Great Work is complete, the Divine’s mastery upon this world will be fortified against further erosion from the damned.
By my faith and by Their Grace, on 6th day of the the 2nd month of Ka'len the Sea Drake (Day 46) in the year of the Bronze Wyvern (435).
Briaen Huns