Private Tales Two Parts of a Whole

[Lina]

Lina felt every sting, every burn that Arkhivom did, and each nourished and renewed her outrage. She watched him crush and disembowel those who'd sought to challenge him and halt his efforts to gain entrance through the gates, and her spine shuddered as she relished the sight.

She'd hardly noticed the large section of elves who'd nocked their arrows, and they came raining down on her. She roared out a furious breath of flame in response. More screams, more music, then the sound of something that caused her to look up, and she watched the light shoot from the sky.

There were chains now, and she tried to go to Ark but lost balance and the weight of her fall crushed those under her and the earth trembled. Arkhivom.. her mind reached for him, not in fear of her own safety but his as she watched the stone gates glow, it's thrum of energy ringing painfully in her ears. Her jaws snapped and her tail whipped and she poured more fire on the many elves who surrounded her, trying to free herself from her restraint to reach him.

Her heart seemed to stop and her body froze amidst the pummelling of weapons and chains, and her eyes closed against the explosion of light and opened again to see that he was gone. She pulled violently at the chains as her eyes searched feverishly in panic. Soon she was surrounded, and more magic tore at her scales. She shrieked a sound more furious and pained than any she’d ever leased before, and her temperature rose until the chains and weapons lodged in her skin melted away.

Lina’s tail lifted and slammed down onto the stone and it caused the ground to tremor and crack open, forming a massive fiery pit where the surrounding elves stood at their thickest. They fell, and Lina fell with them.

 

[Arkhivom]

The blast that had been delivered to him had been quite formidable indeed. It had flung him down several levels of the rising city, and left him buried in a crater under a mound of rubble and stone. He remained there for a moment - moreso collecting his thoughts that anything else. His body had been damaged, but the dark forces that fueled him worked quickly to mend such damage.

They were more powerful now, despite their misfortunes. Perhaps the trials they had endured through this curse had driven them to such lengths - forcing them to exceed that which once was. A shame, that it would all be for naught.

As Lina fought ravenously against the elves that surrounded her, splitting open the ground to draw them in - he leapty. Several stories at once, finding purchase on one ledge and then another leap. More footing, and then another leap. Then with one final jump he ascended high above the battle, and a black lightning shot forth from him in seemingly all directions. It struck at those nearest to Lina, at those far and wide with their arrows ready to loose.

Only the few who stood within the threshold of the Temple could stay his wrath. He dropped down onto the ground and charged forward at them, clashing with some strange shield of light that sprung up before him.

His claws sank into it, and as he struggled against the magic he roared a low, almost mournful sound. It seemed as though his back burst open, and from there a black smoke billowed out and swirled toward Lina. It searched for her nostrils, to be drawn into her great lungs...

...and the dark drive that would take her, the bolstering of her flame as his power was shared unto her. The magics used against her would disintegrate, and in these few moments with the near totality of their evil shared in one - not a being in this whole city could even compare to what she was.

Lina ​

 

[Lina]

The demon's wings stretched open and caught her mid-fall. Great beats fanned the flames and lifted her into the air to look down upon the hellish sight with a shriek that had begun mournfully as she took in Arkhivom's pain and finished with a renewed wrath. She saw him then, emerging from the great pit of burning rubble and her mind reached out for his, calling to him. He was alive.

She soaked in the terror as she watched him, rumbling with pride, and she grinned as much as a dragon could grin as the tendrils of black smoke snaked their way toward her. She breathed them in, and the red of her eyes bled into darkness and the power made her shudder.

With another shriek she hurtled to the ground, and she engulfed the ground in black flame, eviscerating any in it's path and melting through steel and rock. Their magic failed and she broke through their shields and slammed to the ground to charge her way through the battalion with another wave of flame. Those who managed to avoid it were crushed under her feet, torn apart or swallowed whole.

The thick, black smoke turned tendril and reached for those who still ran at her, their eyes wide as it buried it's way into their mouths and nostrils and gripped hold of their souls, ripping them from their limp bodies, a musical laugh carrying in the smoke that billowed above them.

 

[Arkhivom]

A grunt escaped Arkhivom as he dropped down to one knee, the elves' magical barrier broken by his beloved's terrible wrath and his binding to it released. He watched on as Lina tore through them as though they were but toys, little dolls for nothing other than her amusement. It was a truly awe inspiring scene - the horror of her playthings. The screams of their agony, and the blood which painted the stone of their great Temple. They were nothing compared to her - and though he was weakened, her ferocity had all but decimated those who had rushed to bar their way. Around him, he heard only the sound of their minions' heavy feet stomping their way in through the gateway to take up arms alongside their demonic queen, and slay those in their path.

In his path.
​

He rose, and his roar echoed through that enormous hall. The long, isle across what appeared like a great chasm, with giant statues of the Celestial Pantheon lining the way. He taunted their images, sickened by the sight of them.

He remembered...​

He strode down the stairway and began across the great chamber. At the far end there was a final grand statue: the Patriarch of the Aeraesarian people. He growled at it, deeming it unimportant for the moment - but soon enough he would see it toppled. He rounded the statue up one of the two winding staircases around the statue's massive pedestal. He came to the platform at their top, and set against the wall behind the statue was another archway - this one not large enough for his dearest in her current form.

No matter - this would all be over shortly.

He entered in, and through the darkened corridor he could see the light at the far end. That pulsing, resonating light. The Forge Stone. He would have it!

Some fool charged him from within, and using his dark magics of shadow forgery he twisted a spear into existence and impaled his foe with it. Several more filed down, and he dispatched them all with relative ease despite his diminished power, having offered much of his to Lina - who had by now quite efficiently finished dealing with their... disturbances. Their monsters poured in from behind him, and rushed forth into the Chamber of Tychan, swarming the few remaining defenders within. But these ones... they did not kill.

No they would be the first to witness, and to take part in what he had planned.

He stepped out into the chamber, and growled with great pleasure the sight of the great stone. It was wonderous, tens of meters tall and wide. Deep within it, he could see the swirling energies of his deep magic, and felt the warmth from his intermittent glow. It was a thing that these foolish elves claimed to understand, but had only been able to scratch the surface of its significance.

He would reveal to them their... shortcoming.

"My Queen..."
from seemingly no where his voice found her, beckoning her to now find him,
"...the time has come."

Lina

​

 

[Lina]

They were running now, and the demons lips curled over her teeth to set their paths alight, trapping a number of them in the courtyard, now surrounded by flame and the creatures who'd come to their side.

His voice sent a shudder down her long spine and she turned her black eyes upon the archway and she mounted the steps to go to him. Her form shrunk with every step she strode into the hall, disappearing into a smoke and flames before emerging small, slender, naked and blood-soaked. She left bloody footprints as she danced through the hall and followed the trail of destruction to find him, cooing at the two hellish creatures that followed her like obedient dogs.

Soon she stood in the archway, her fingertips stroking at the heads of her new pets, her red eyes falling first on Him before wandering over the elves he'd spared. She approached, and reached a hand up to press against his back, scraping her claws against his skin as she looked up at the stone..

"It is yours my love." she spoke softly, a fingertip running across the blood on her chest and she licked at it as though enjoying the last drops of a fine wine.

 

[Arkhivom]

"Yes..."
​

He stood quietly with her a moment, almost lost in the intermittent light of the stone. It was entrancing like a fire, and its warmth surely a comfort to those less formidable. He took no pleasure in its presence, not in that regard. But appreciated the immensity of its grandeur. He appreciated its power.

Then, he stepped toward it. He stretched out his arm and reached, placing his hand against the great gem. He felt the veins of power coursing through it, pulsing against his skin. He waited a moment... and then he began.

Silently, a grey crept out from his hand. Slowly, it rolled like smoke through and across the stone, shrouding the light withing under layers of shadow. And for a time he remained there, for the stone was vast. The Forge Stone itself was like no other on this world. It took root, like a tree or a flower, and drove deep into the flesh of the world, drawing always from Arethil herself - proclaiming its majesty.

All squandered, by these petty Aeraesarians.

And they, throughout the duration of this happening, grew more and more pale. The vigor in their eyes faded, and their shoulders sank. Before long, the beasts that held them released. And there they dropped to their knees as empty shells, with nothing but the desires of their masters to drive them.

It had been finished... and now all the city had gone quiet.

Arkhivom took his hand off the stone, and a chuckled rumbled within.

"I shall build a great tower with their bones, and blood - a mockery of the fruitless devotion to their gods"
​

He stepped toward her, and caressed the side of her face,

"And atop it, I shall place your throne."

It was theres now. All of it.

"And soon, all this world will bow, and burn."
​

He offered his hand to her, ready to escort her out through the destruction they had created, to the gathering crowd outside the Temple's gates. The monsters fled once more into the woods, leaving only them and their adoring servants.

Thousands of them.

Lina

​

 

[Lina]

Lina stayed where she was as he stepped closer to the stone, a hesitant flinch of her hand toward him as he reached his hand toward it, a tremor of fear that she had to hold back. But soon, there was shadow, and she watched as it's tendrils spread over the stone and snuffed it and she smiled deviously, her attention snapping around to the elves in the chamber as they fell to their knees and she looked back at him with delight etched on her bloody face. The silence that crept through the city broken by her musical laughter that carried to every single slanted ear and wormed it's way into their minds.

As he stepped toward her, the demoness stared up at him in proud awe, her hand pressing to his as she nuzzled at his palm with a soft purr. "Build it tall my love." she smiled and took his hand, skipping by his side back through the chambers and hall to the temple gates. She sighed and climbed up onto him to perch herself back on his shoulders as she looked across the sight or ash, ruin and flame to see so many dead, and so many more on their knees before them. What a sight it was.

"Behold... Your new King and Queen.." she chuckled, her words carrying like a whisper in the smoke to all who lived to hear it, and she turned his face to kiss him in her delight.

 

[Arkhivom]

​

As ghastly a sight as their love may have been to these elves not long ago, it was something they could not help but feast their eyes upon - as his will demanded. These petty creatures, though ultimately and completely under his control, were still... present. There was not a sight, smell, sound, or action that would be denied their awareness. Only their ability to control it. And so, even in their undying servitude he and Lina could bask in the perpetual fear that would forever be drawn from them - for there would be no end. This would persist, and go on, and spread unto all the world and then it would all be brought into sickening darkness beneath their hallowed footsteps.

And even as he continued on, he embraced her in his own twisted joy, marching them out through the open doors of their once holy temple. Around them, the multitudes of their servants showed their faces, creating a sea of fair haired beings staring silently through empty eyes. He laughed, grabbed Lina up in his hands, and spinning her around before daintily setting her down. Then he moved forward, and stared out at the Aeraesarians. He postured toward them, and they bowed...

...all for little more than his amusement. Even a single thought would bring them to their knees...

Except for one.

He looked to her, and knew...

...ahhh. Ánië Táralóm.

The blood of the ancient Patriarch runs in this one's veins...
​

He focused his mind, slightly more, causing her to kneel. For all the purity of such blood, their precious Soul Forge, their collective mind, had been their undoing. He had but to find...

Hmm...
​

As he reached out across the collective consciousness, he could not detect the one whom he sought... ahh. He had been killed, he and eleven others in some battle in the far north. How unfortunate, but nevertheless, unimportant. Simply one less obstacle he would have to put on his already agitated mind. There was much havoc to be wrought upon this wretched place, and he would start by having their loyal subjects carry out a task which they had deemed impossible. But guided by the immensity of his understanding, they would rebuild their great tower - tirelessly.

And so they would begin, moving stone with magic and muscle, and fueled by their darkness and their own essence they worked without end - almost unto death. For the task would take some time - but they could leave their minions to carry out their bidding.

"Now, my queen. What does your heart desire?"
​

There was nothing that was outside their grasp together.

Lina ​