Words of Night: March 2011

Night King

"Cloudless and clear, the stars fill the night. Shooting stars, comets and satellites float along the dreamy darkness. The town below the glow sits sleepily, lights off. The residents lay warm in their cozy beds. A wispy wind flows in the spring night. The Obsidian Castle looms on the edge of the dark," Xarian said to himself.
"You're king of the night, sir," the imp beside him said.
"What good does being king of the darkness do? Even grandpa was king of heaven and he created hell. And dad was king of hell for awhile and also saved the Earth and those impudent humans. What am I good for?" Xarian sighed heavily, wondering how to be a great caster.
"Sir, your father was a great man, hell he still is, anyways he made sure to seal heaven and hell apart. Keep the peace between the three worlds. After the Great Angel War and the Hellion-Angel War, he knew that they could never get along. If you want to do something great, change something, fight something or just plain scare the hell out of humans." Pustulian, the imp explained carefully.
"Pustulian, I know our history. Father taught me well, but I just know I'm meant to do something. Everyone else in this family did something. Am I really going to be the black sheep?"
"That is for you to decide, young master. The power is yours and yours alone. Don't expect others to grab your possibility of fame for you," the wise imp said, gesturing to Xarian's hands. "Try using that magic of your first. Nate trained you for a reason, damn it."
"And do what with it? I only trained in combat and healing, what use does that have in today's world? Humans have their own medicine and angels have no need for my powers. Demons can no longer destroy anything but their own, so they do not require my power either. The world needs conflict or it is empty. Can I fill this void?" Xarian asked the town beneath his window sill in The Obsidian Castle.
"Funny, that's been tried already," Pustulian choked out a self-contented laugh.
"It has?" Xarian asked?
"Ever heard of the Amethyst Alliance?" the imp asked, glancing around suspiciously
"How could I not have heard that story a thousand times? Dad and Aunt Sara fought them together," Xarian said, remembering the stories he thought were fairytales as a child.
"Well, young master, the Amethyst Alliance was a group of angels who grew bored with the fight with the demons. They tricked many demons into fighting against their own kind to 'end the war.' They actually lusted to create a new world filled with only angels, destroying the very gods that had created them. They would have killed all the demons and the humans to achieve their sinister goal," Pustulian told the story in an oddly similar fashion to his father.
"But Pustulian, how could they destroy the gods? Angels are not nearly that powerful and they never have been, have they?" Xarian asked.
"Before the Great Angel War, they were as powerful as the gods themselves," the well-studied imp explained.
"How did you learn so much about our history, Lian?" Xarian used his annoying pet-name for Pustulian.
"Most of it was spent with a memory log from your father and the other was his personal journal of his expeditions and studies. He wrote down everything he felt would be important for angels or demons to learn if he died," Pustulian explained his entire life's research. "It was very extensive. He wrote down many things that were very important at the time and have no importance now as far as I can tell."
"Lian, honestly, what can I do to make myself an honorable Exilus like the rest of my family?"
"Young Master, the rest of the Exilus bloodline was true to their thoughts and beliefs. Xavier was an assassin, your grandfather was a madman who wished only to fight and your father is the cleanest of the Exilus so far. The point is, be true to your own desires. It may take you farther than you thought," the imp said in a pep-talk fashion. Xarian walked down the stairs of the tallest spire of the Obsidian Castle towards the inner reaches. He needed to find the elixirs that his Aunt had given him on his eighteenth birthday. The strange potions would allow him to alter his form from full demon to full angel or even human. Xarian had no idea how his Aunt Sara had obtained such a powerful magic and glanced at them with a questioning look. "Master Sara conjured these up with Lynx, her magic pen. No ordinary caster could concoct such a brew, never doubt her abilities," Pustulian said with a wave of his small hand.
"Where did she get such a pen?" Xarian asked, dumbfounded by his family's magic.
"Your grandfather," Pustulian said cowering at the thought of him. "Don't think about getting that pen. You'll never get it. Axellius is next in line for it and he has to wait till she dies. She'll never give that thing up in her lifetime."
"I don't want it. I want something similar. Father always talked about a dragon-weapon egg that Sara found. I don't think anyone ever opened it." Xarian said momentarily pausing to think how to obtain it. "I think we should go see Sara."

Xarian stepped through the red portal before him and was at the gate to hell. Pustulian stood by the portal. "He's finally gone. My job is done, all I can do is hope that the Young Master will do his best and make the right decisions," the little imp smiled.
"So I take it that you did your job? He's finally on his way to becoming an Exilus," Xarian's father stood proudly behind Pustulian.
"Pustulian did well?" the little imp asked hopefully.
"Yes, continue and you will be well rewarded. However, it is sad that I cannot talk to him myself. He always takes my speeches as lectures. Maybe I was too hard on him," Nate sighed and tossed Pustulian a small vial. "Your reward."
"Thank you Master," the imp greedily grasped for the vial and popped the stopper off. "May I?"
"Go for it," Nate laughed, remembering the day Xarian had summoned Pustulian. It was his first successful endeavor in demonic magic. Pustulian guzzled the potion quickly. His fingers glowed with a green magic and the energy crackled like lightning. "Sadly, you'll need to keep him motivated. He tends to give up if there's nothing worth it to him," Nate chuckled to himself. "Just like his dad."
"Master, you should go, no telling when he'll be back," before Pustulian had finished, Nate was gone.
Xarian was in Hell for the first time since his childhood. "Aunt Sara rules here now, if I remember correctly. Dad passed the crown to her so he could live in Heaven with Mom," Xarian recalled aloud. Xarian walked through the heavy, metal gates and paused at the sight of a band of demons.
"Human?" was heard throughout the group.
"I smell a human, but he has the musk of a demon and the heart of an angel," the largest of the demons barked to his companions. The brute was the size of two men, covered in spikes and had the voice of a rough, older man. He turned to face Xarian, "What are you?" the demon was confused.
"I am the son of your previous king and the nephew of Queen Sara," Xarian announced proudly.
"No. Not who are you. WHAT are you? You're a crazy little mixed breed aren't you? Just an average mutt, I can smell it," the demon laughed rudely.
"So what if I am? What are you? I know my history and I know that either you or your parents were mere drawings, created by my grandfather. My family spawned you."
"Silence you little wretch," the demon grabbed his collar.
"You would be nothing without my family," Xarian said smugly, content with his own lineage.
"Xarian? I haven't seen you since your eighteenth birthday," a familiar sinisterly sweet voice chimed in behind him. "What brings you here?" Sara asked with a smirk that gave away her true intentions.
"Aunt Sara, I know that father convinced me to come here. So you must know already."
"Hold on Xarian. Sern, take your hand off my nephew or you won't have an arm for much longer," Sara smiled sweetly.
"Yes Ma'am," Sern, the demon moved his hand away quickly.
"Now get out of my sight or I'll be redrawing a new demon," she said, keeping her kind composure. "Follow me Xarian." Sara walked through the courtyard of her castle and opened the door with a wave of her hand. "You remember my home right?"
"How could I forget? It's the only castle in Hell," Xarian laughed, feeling at home.
"Zane, can you come here please," Sara called with her normal voice. She was finally calm away from the filthy demons.
"Yes dear," Zane called from up the stairs. He walked down quickly so he wouldn't keep his wife waiting. "Oh, hi Xarian," Zane's eyes shifted to Sara. "Does he know yet?"
"No I brought you down to tell him with me," Sara said, obviously faking a smile.
"So Xarian, I suspect your father told you about the egg," Zane said, preparing himself for a speech.
"Nope, Pustulian told me. Actually, he told me lots of things that only Dad would know," Xarian said.
"Well your dad did put him up to this. Anyways, you are the first born of this generation of the Exilus bloodline. Our son, Axellius was born almost exactly a year later. And thus you are the first in line for the weapon-egg," Zane explained and motioned to his wife.
"Axellius wants to challenge you for both the egg and your Obsidian Castle. If you lose, he will become the Night King. If you win, he offers his powers over time and my pen, when I die and you pry it from my dead hands," Sara finished, unhappy with the situation.
"What? How can he do this?" Xarian asked.
"Well our family is big on fighting. You should know that," Sara laughed at her own misery, knowing she might lose a family member soon. "If you lose, you lose Pustulian and your Castle, dear."
"I understand," Xarian said calmly.
"There's a catch. You HAVE to accept. My father sealed a spell on our family. 'Any who decline a challenge, the cowards, will perish in the very flames from which the demons originally spawned," Sara recited her father's exact words for the spell.
"It was to spite me, Sara," Nate piped up from behind her. "I asked him about mom once when you were away. I said I'd do anything to know. I told him I'd fight him if I had to, so he cursed the rest of the family," Nate sighed.
"I already knew. He told me about it and said to blame you," Sara said calmly.
"Typical," Nate coughed. "Anyways, to the task at hand. Xarian you'll get no help from me or your mother. If anyone should try and help you, then Axellius will get the help instead."
"Same thing happens for you if we help Axellius," Sara interrupted.
"I understand. What's the challenge?" Xarian asked, slightly worried.
"A fight to the death with no magic. It's to take place in a forest on Earth," Zane spoke up. "No advantages for either of you."
"But you said we would be banished?" Xarian's eyes bugged out with panic.
"Loophole, we have spells to revive the loser," Sara said, holding her pen. "Axellius is already prepared. You have one day to prepare, choose one weapon and to fill this bag with supplies," Sara tossed an army green backpack at Xarian.
"Good luck, son. We'll be watching," Nate said, hugging his 19 year old boy.
"Thanks dad," Xarian felt like a child once again. Not much magic was used in his adult life and he missed watching his father use spells on a daily basis.
"Go now. You're wasting time," Nate said, tapping Xarian's shoulder and forcing him to teleport to the castle.

Xarian pulled the backpack open and quickly threw food inside it. He needed to pack and get as much sleep as he could in the next 24 hours.
"Pustulian, get me my StarShooter," Xarian called through the castle halls.
"Yes Master," the tiny imp called back from the tallest spire. Xarian pulled a can opener inside the bag.
"No magic. I've learned to rely on it for even some simple things, especially for food. I bet Axellius has been relying on it too," he said to himself. He searched through his collection of useful caster items. "Nothing I need." Xarian stood up and carefully walked down the stairs to the laboratory in the lowest spire. Xarian opened the door and shoved several vials into the bag, careful to wrap them in a blanket. He shoved several more away, still looking through them. "I guess that should be enough to get through the battle. It won't last more than two days I bet."
He climbed up the stairs to his bed; his pack was on his back.
"The StarShooter is on your bed," Pustulian said.
"Thank you. Goodnight Lian," Xarian said, drifting to his dreamland.
"Goodnight Master," Pustulian said, teleporting to Heaven to meet Nate.

Words of Night

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Etched In Blood

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Open Eyes

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The Girl I Wish I Never Met

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Night King Chapter1-3

Drowning This Heart in Ink