Post by lawrenceliberty on Sept 3, 2020 0:03:56 GMT
Arion Lord of Atlantis and Claw the Unconquered: War of Shadows!
“Know that in the second year of the reign of Queen T’Gallah the Atlantean Empire was threatened by endless night brought by the coming of the Shadow lords; however, even in the darkest of days there arose heroes to defend the world and drive back the evil invaders. They were Arion, High Lord Mage of Atlantis and Valcan, he who was known and feared as Claw the Unconquered!” Excerpt from the Chronicles of Choloh.
1
In Mu the home of the refugees from the now destroyed City of the Golden Gate, two colorful figures battled a huge and nearly translucent creature that oozed across the city and left death and destruction in its wake.
Arion, High Mage of Atlantis, was an auburn haired man with intelligent eyes and a coldly regal demeanor. He wore a blue outfit with a gleaming red ruby amulet on his chest and a flowing blue cape that trailed down his back above a sword that rested against one hip. He knew his people were in peril and he heard their screams yet he stood still and seemed to do nothing. In truth, his posture indicated a concentration needed to summon the magic that was his alone to command. He was aware not just by keen supernatural perception but by faith that his friends would protect the helpless while he battled the monster!
A towering man with a muscular physique and a noble manner moved forward to brace his powerful body against a buckling wall. His name was Lt. Wyynde and the former dhonu or king of the now nearly extinguished Khe-Wannantu people was a hero in his own right. The often silent yet resourceful man was not only an officer in the Atlantean Royal Guard but he was the lover of the Atlantean Empire’s ruler Queen T’Gallah! He had suffered loss and personal injury but like his friend Arion, he was a hero and he refused to give up or become embittered by his circumstances. He held the wall in place as his Guard Commander Captain Chian carried two fallen people to safety. Lady Chian was petite with the beautiful and delicate features of her homeland Honshu- one of the remaining eleven cities of the Atlantean Empire but she was dazzlingly fast in motion and with her swords or laser and the warrior woman was an excellent leader. She was also the beloved of Arion himself.
“Stay off the streets! Warn everyone to get away. We shall stop that creature!” she commanded the fleeing citizens. Lady Chian had long black hair and she wore a green and white costume of light armor that allowed her freedom of movement while affording her some protection as well.
Arion yelled, “Chian, Wyynde, keep yourselves safely back as well! Guard the people for me!”
As his closest friends reluctantly obeyed his wishes, Arion resumed the fight. They trusted him as well.
Arion raised his hands and energy bolts erupted from them to strike the looming beast that threatened his city. The bolts burned through the gelatinous monster but it seemed to seal off the wounds and continued forward unharmed.
Nearby another warrior had been attacking the beast. Claw or Valcan was a tall man with rippling muscles. He had long dark hair and wore a white furred loincloth. He was deeply tanned and his eyes reflected a keen mind that guided his amazing reflexes. He carried a golden sword known as Moonthorn and he had a silver hand at the end of his right arm. The magic resistant Orachulum had been forged into a hand to replace an inhuman one that had cursed his life and tried to dominate his will when he lived in another dimension. Arion had created the new hand and Claw felt a deep debt to the Mage. They were also united against a common enemy. The hated Shadow gods had invaded Atlantis from Claw’s own dimension and the Pytharian champion had followed them and risked his life daily to stop them. One of his ancestors had tampered with supernatural forces and the result was most of that unwise wizard’s heirs had been born with a webbed dragon-like hand that acted of its own volition at times to protect the owner and to compel him to increasing acts of violence, cruelty, and evil. After an agent of the Shadow gods named Occulas of the Yellow Eye had killed his parents, the infant Valcan had been raised by mystical beings known as the lords of Elder Light and in their weird dimension he had been trained to become the perfect warrior. He excelled at all forms of combat and seemed to pick up various skills with ease and little practice. He had rejected their patronage although in opposing their enemies the Shadow lords he still indirectly achieved their desired goals.
Claw sliced down with his sword only to dive aside as the oozing beast elongated its shimmering body and threatened to engulf him
“By Soth! This putrid slime acts like it has a mind within its muck!” he said
Arion said, “Aye! That it does! Perhaps, we need a more coordinated attack!”
Claw smiled grimly and said, “I agree!”
He bellowed in anger and charged at the creature but abruptly sheathed his sword and instead plunged his silver hand into the beast’s jelly-like body.
Arion nodded in approval as the other man’s magic resistant hand cleaved a path through the beast’s enchanted form and he smiled briefly as Claw’s sheer strength allowed him to power his way deeper and deeper into an ever-widening gap that seemed to form as the beast’s slimy body broke apart.
“Valcan is even stronger than Wyynde! I suspect someone in his heritage was a divine being! He seems a demigod in some ways!” thought Arion as he spotted a small black sphere within the giant creature’s wildly twisting body.
“ The heart or brain that guides the slime is now exposed thanks to Valcan’s sheer power!” he thought.
He sent a blazing eldritch bolt through the gap and the dark sphere exploded and caused the oozing monster to abruptly collapse into a flood of now lifeless jelly.
“Friend Valcan, you do good work but you aren’t exactly fastidious!” he said with a smile as they met each other by wading through the now dissolving slime.
Claw nodded and said, “And yet the job is done! This makes one less pet for the Shadow lords to send against us!”
Arion nodded and gazed out across the city. “I led the people here to the deserted city of Mu after the City of the Golden Gate was destroyed by beings from being the stars and Chaon the Maker of Madness! I am proud of how much they have done to make it a home. From ordinary farmers and trades people to artisans and nobles, the people have worked to shape this once accursed city into a warm and safe haven. I am glad we’ve kept it intact for the most part!”
Claw shook his head and said, “It is a fine city and I have felt welcomed here for the most part but it is merely one more prize for the Shadow lords to claim. Seven worlds of darkness are not enough to sate their greedy lust for power or their sick desire to toy with human lives!”
Arion frowned and stopped in his tracks. “Valcan, what do you mean when you say there are seven worlds?”
Claw shrugged and cleaned his sword on a strip of fabric.
“I meant what I said. The Shadow lords already have seven worlds under their control and I will not let the bloodthirsty swine claim this one! I drove them from Pytharia when I was king and I will see them all broken and ruined before they take an eighth world!”
Arion placed a hand on his friend’s arm and said, “Have you not heard me use the expression by the Seven before?”
Claw nodded and said, “Yes, and I took it for nothing more than an oath as I sometimes use the name Soth in anger or surprise. It means nothing. I long ago gave up on expecting answers from Soth or any other being of power! Man shapes his own destiny with sweat and blood and pain!”
Arion said, “It means much more than either of us knew. There are many beings of power in the Atlantean pantheon like Thalas the Evl or Atlana the Sea Lord but there are a specific Seven who are the most powerful. They are the gods and goddesses the Shadow lords banished or killed when they invaded this dimension from their own. I once believed them to have been killed but the fact that your home dimension where the Shadow gods originated has exactly seven worlds dominated by our foes can not be mere coincidence!”
Claw smiled grimly. “My home dimension has 15 worlds. Seven are ruled by the lords of Elder Light who trained me and gave me Moonthorn. Seven worlds are controlled by the Shadow gods and my birth world Pytharia was held betwixt the others given neither to control by light or darkness! When I became its king I drove the Shadow lords away only to follow then into the limbo known as Darkworld where you found me! So, the fiends retained their hold of their original seven worlds in my dimension and have imprisoned your Seven gods there!”
Arion said, “I feel that to be so. I feel it with something close to certainty! I shall go there and free them all!”
Claw said, “You mean we shall go there!”
Arion gazed up at the bigger man and said, “No, Valcan. I shall go but you must remain behind. My magic that prevented your cursed hand from reforming will not resist the infernal power behind the spell for long in your dimension. If you return to your dimension, the silvery hand will eventually shatter and the hand that blighted your past life will reform!”
Claw scowled and said, “You have been a friend to me and I have had very few of those in my time but I will go without you if necessary. I have made it my life’s work to gain revenge upon the Shadow lords and I will not let you or anyone friend or foe stop me! I would give my soul to end their power!”
Arion nodded and thought “And that is exactly what you may be doing should you return to your dimension!”
He said, “Very well! I will not argue with you!”
2
At that moment yells echoed from down the street and Claw turned away from the High Mage of Atlantis.
They saw four ruffians harassing an old bard who was trying to gain a few coins by reciting a ballad. His clothes were tattered and stained and his features seemed incredibly ancient but oddly benign.
“It is a mere commotion amongst the street people! We have more important things to attend to. The Royal Guard will eventually intervene!” said Arion.
However, Claw was already racing forward. In spite of his frequently bitter words, Valcan was at heart a hero who would help people in need in spite of the risk to himself or the false resentment over such interruptions that he used as a façade to hide his noble nature.
He confronted the group and said, “Leave the old man alone! If you do not like his stories then move on or shall I help you move on!”
The four thugs were cocky and drunken and they charged Claw with swords drawn!
He smiled and brought Moonthorn around in a lightning swift arc that brought two of the attackers down to the pavement. He kicked a third in the face and glanced toward the old man who was still smiling in a rather sweet manner.
“Stay behind me, man! This dog will soon turn tail or lay bloody at my feet!” he said.
Arion approached and a brilliant light left the final attacker blinded and dazed as the Guardsmen rushed forward to take him into custody.
“He shall see again in a few hours!” said Arion.
Claw said, “Unless it is in a graveyard, he won’t see his friends. I have closed their eyes forever!
He turned and bent slightly forward to address the old bard. “Are you hurt?”
The old man smiled broadly and said, “No, I am well. Thank you!”
Arion paused and said, “By the Seven! I know you! A spell of concealment obscured your features …your true nature …for a moment but it could not resist my power for long! Valcan, this is no mere bard. This is Choloh- one of the missing Seven!”
Arion passed one hand across his gleaming ruby amulet and it slid open to produce a strange glyph in the shape of an eye. The eye floated upward and a bright light enveloped the old man.
“The Eye of Ra sees more clearly than my own eyes” said Arion.
He stared at the old man and slowly a strange awareness began to shine from the old man’s eyes as the Eye returned to its place within the smooth and gleaming ruby.
“Lord Arion, you hide your kind heart behind a façade of arrogance but you are well loved by me and most of my peers!” he said.
Claw said, “This bard is a god? I have seen stranger things in my time! I thought you believed them to be on the seven worlds of darkness in my dimension not wondering the streets of Mu with memory loss!”
Choloh said,”Of the Seven, I alone could not be banished! You see, every realm of time and space has stories and I am the Eternal Chronicler! When the Shadow gods banished Deedra, Jheryl, and the other four, I was left here with a loss of identity until you found me. I exist in every realm for someone must always tell the stories!”
Arion smiled and said, “Great Sir, can you help us find and liberate the others?”
Choloh smiled and said, “I am the teller of the tales not the creator of them. I cannot take action but I may narrate! I may guide you!”
Claw said, “Do not worry, old man. Your kind have never been much good to me!”
He suddenly clutched his head in pain. He shook his head and as his long black hair moved out of his face, Claw cursed softly.
Arion said, “Those headaches come swiftly and pass equally rapidly but the visions remain a mystery!”
Claw nodded and said, “I am growing used to them. If madness be yet another of my curses then I shall fight it to the death as I’ve battled every other affliction that has plagued me. I shall win or die!”
Choloh said, “I owe you a debt, King Valcan! I will repay it now! This much I may do!”
Claw said, “How do you know my name? Do not call me king. I broke my crown and hurled it to the dirt long ago when I vowed to not be a pawn for the lords of Light or the Shadow gods!”
Choloh smiled and said, “You see visions of a beautiful woman. She has platinum hair and silvery eyes. Her voice is like music and her name whispers through your troubled dreams. She is Trysannda!”
Claw frowned and said, “You may be a god after all! Who is this tormenting wench? Why do I dream of her or see her in a waking vision? Where the foul fortress is called Ravensroost? I see us there again and again!”
Arion said, “Valcan has been plagued by these visions since I found him in the timeless limbo of the Darkworld.”
Choloh said, “Valcan, I know your story. I know all versions of your story. You lost a crimson gauntlet the lords of Elder Light gave you that allowed you to control the evil impulses of your infernal right hand. Without it you became increasingly cruel and you killed a soldier who had
surrendered to you during a border dispute.” (Claw 12)
Claw nodded and looked sorrowful as he said, “He called me a man without honor as he died. I knew he spoke the truth. The hand had forced me to do things I would not have chosen to do of my own free will! I vowed to be free of its black influence or die! I cut off my right hand and screamed my pain to the skies!”
“You received an answer, did you not?” asked Choloh.
Claw nodded and said, “The gods of Elder Light appeared and offered me a choice. I could be a king on Pytharia or resume my solitary wanderings as a swordsman. I was foolish enough to take the path to kingship! I joined a battle alongside a warrior woman named Shalieka of the Rose and I confronted and killed the original owner of my inhuman hand! This temporarily freed me of the curse of my hand. I became the king of Pytharia after driving away the monster’s Twilight Host army *and soon I learned to my regret that my victory meant little since the Shadow gods merely saw it as confirmation that I should become their new champion! I hurled away the crown and used my so-called kingly resources to find and regain my gauntlet to temper the influence of the hand should it return and I drove them out of my dimension! I wandered lost in the limbo of Darkworld until Arion and I met and we traced the Shadow lords to this dimension!** What does that sorry tale have to do with Trysannda whoever she may be?” *(Warlord 48, Warlord 49) ** (Arion: Shadows of Thing to Come.)
Choloh said, “You seek to speed up the pace of my tale, eh, good Valcan? You see, you made a choice when the Elder Light gods presented it to you. You became king. However, in another version of your story, you rejected the gods of Elder Light and resumed your nomadic career. When you rejected them, they made you forget about their offer. You bandaged your wounded arm and set off on the road to the city. You met a sorceress named Trysannda and agreed to help her break free from a debt she owed to an evil man named Validarr the Unethical . He also was the man who had eventually acquired your stolen crimson gauntlet. His home was a fortress called Ravensroost!”* (Unpublished Claw 13 and 14)
Arion nodded eagerly. “Darkworld is a limbo that connects to all of time and space. It has fleeting portals to what was and what never was. While you wandered within its confines, you saw glimpses of a reality in which you rejected the path to kingship but nomadically journeyed on and met this sorceress of the Silvery tresses! I should have deduced as much, I grew up in part of the Darkworld!”
Claw smiled and said, “And I thought my childhood with the lords of Elder Light was strange! So, if the Trysannda I saw was merely someone I might have met had I made different choices, does she not exist in the real Pytharia where I did become king?”
Choloh said, “She does. She merely did not meet you and she confronted Validarr alone!”
Claw turned to Arion and said, “I have sworn to liberate your Seven gods but I must rescue the girl if she still lives. I feel like this mission…this quest.. is why I continue to have visions that originally came to me in the limbo of Darkworld! I can not rest until I make things right. Is that not the case, old man?”
Choloh smiled and inclined his head as he removed a scroll from within one of his voluminous sleeves. He rolled it across the ground and it seemed to expand until the end could not be seen!
“I can enable you to go to your home dimension and each of six worlds in which my peers are trapped by merely walking down the scroll and saying my name when you wish to migrate to another world!” he said softly.
Claw scowled and said, “Be it six journeys or six hundred, I am ready to go!”
Arion said, “Let me impart to you a vision of the six so you will know them when you find them! After all, you do not possess the Eye of Ra to break through the spell of concealment that binds them!”
Claw nodded as the High Mage’s magical glyph once more emerged from within the ruby amulet he wore and irradiated him with its all-seeing light.
“Tis done! Shall we go, friend Valcan!” said Arion as he leaned in and whispered something to Claw.
In a flash of light Arion and Claw were gone. The scroll magically curled back up and Choloh returned it to within his sleeve.
“May your stories end happily!” he said softly.
3
Arion frowned as he found himself down at the ruins of a fallen keep that rested on an embankment that abruptly dropped off into a sheer fall to a shadowy blackness that even his magic could not penetrate.
“Not a welcoming place to be sure! Choloh’s scroll led me here though and I wager I will find one of the Seven within that ancient structure that seems to perch on the edge of this oddly flat world!”
He glanced upward to see clouds part to reveal two lurid moons above.
He shivered and with a gleaming mystical light radiating from his raised hand, he approached the ruins and nodded as he found a narrow opening that once had been a window in the crumbling keep.
“This must have been an outpost of some type but what lonely sentinel would keep a solitary vigil alongside what appears to be a sea of nothingness?” he thought.
He dropped down gracefully and made his way down the winding passageways that eventually led to a sight that almost brought tears to his eyes!
A beautiful woman with curly black hair was singing softly to herself but her keening had no recognizable words and her eyes were as vacant as her voice was devoid of emotions.
“Jheryl! Dear Jheryl!” he cried as he recognized the goddess of nurture and healing who raised him during his long sojourn in the timeless dimension called Darkworld.
He realized that she was in a trance and her luminous eyes gazed outward at nothing. She had no awareness of her surroundings or his presence.
Suspecting a trap he whirled to see a small being with black fur and large bright eyes that danced an odd jog and rushed forward crying out to him.
“Kid! It’s really you! Seems like forever since I saw you but who can tell in this place!” he wore a watch on one tiny wrist but Arion ignored or failed to notice the anachronism.
“Ghy! I am glad you know me, little friend!” he said as the tiny imp hugged him tightly.
“We been here for so long. Jheryl cannot talk or nothin’!” he said.
Arion gazed down at his childhood companion and said, “I know but I am going to restore the goddess and free you both from this hellish place!”
“It is called Isle at World’s Edge and this is the remains of the Nether Keep and it belongs to me!” said a newcomer who dropped down from above with an agility that surprised even Arion!
He had black curly hair and wore a green and gold costume. Weapons of various kinds hung in belts or bands that crisscrossed his body. He was handsome but his eyes glowed an eerie red.
“I’m the Stalker. It is the only name I use. Still, it fits me since it is also what I do. I stalk evil! Good work if you can find it! But the hours are endless.”
Ghy drew back behind Arion and said, “You don’t live here. We’ve never seen you before! Who’d forget a face lke that?”
Stalker said, “This is my base not my home. I suppose I have no true home. I come here to restock my supplies and repair my equipment after a crusade. I didn’t expect to find unwelcome guests!”
Arion said, “We are here against our will. That lady and my friend Ghy have been imprisoned here for some time! It appears someone else has claimed your Keep for their own purposes!”
Stalker said, “Well, we shall kill them and then you can leave! I can sense you are not evil. It is a talent of mine. It is also fortunate for you since it is my crusade to eliminate all evil. I have no choice if I wish for redemption!”
At that moment a sibilant hiss filled the room and a beautiful woman with long black hair appeared from behind some rubble. She was lovely and her complexion and features were flawless. She swayed with a remarkable grace and then as her flashing eyes grew brighter she rose up from out of the shadows to reveal the lower body of a green serpent whose thick diamond patterned coils supported the upper human body.
“A Lamia! The she—fiend is a lamia!” said Arion as he moved closer and raised his hands.
Stalker said, “And she is not alone!”
He gestured to where four shambling figures emerged from behind their mistress. They were warriors but each wore rusted armor and what could be seen of their features beneath decayed helms revealed their long dead skeletal remains!
Arion said, “Foul temptress! You may have drained these poor husks of life but Arion shall not fall to your ilk!”
Before he could react, Stalker had dived forward and was struggling with the swaying Lamia. His sword was drawn and the serpent-women was lashing out at him with her wildly swaying coils.
Arion turned to face the skeletons and with a burst of energy he drove them backward with smashing force. They shattered into bone fragments and shards of rusted metal and to his dismay they began to rise up again and reassemble.
“Their vitality ends now so commands Arion!” cried the High Mage.
He dispersed the monsters with a shattered explosion of mystical energy that sent their remains hurtling out of the ruins and into the seemingly endless sea of darkness around the Nether Keep!
Meanwhile, Stalker was slicing furiously at the serpent-woman and he was winning until she managed to thrust her face closer to his own and her brilliant eyes locked with his own gaze. She smiled wickedly as her hypnotic gaze began to rob him of his free will and she coiled around him and began to glow with a frightening radiance!
“She seeks to steal his very soul!” thought Arion as he ran forward to rescue the odd man.
He never reached the pair as Ghy capered wildly in excitement and Jheryl continued to stare into the darkness.
Stalker abruptly brought his blade around and cut off the Lamia’s head!
He freed himself from her coils and said, “The foolish creature thought she could steal my soul. That was her last mistake!”
Arion stared at him and his eyes widened in shock. “By the Seven! I know your dark secret. You have no soul! I pity you!”
Stalker bristled and said, “I don’t care what you feel or think, Wizard! I have had time enough to regret its loss and to hope for its reclamation when I complete my crusade to eliminate all evil.”
He said, “Can you get the woman and your bizarre pet out of here now that their captor has been death with?
“Pet? Pet!” spluttered an indignant Ghy.
Arion said, “Yes, we shall depart soon enough. The Eye of Ra shall restore Jheryl!”
As the magical glyph shimmered across Jheryl’s still form, she shuddered and slowly a lovely smile spread across her features. She rushed forward and embraced Arion.
“Precious Arion! I knew you would be the one to find me!” she cried.
Arion touched her face gently and said, ”It gives me new hope to see you again!”
Jheryl stepped back and gazed at Stalker and said, “Stalker, I understand your plight since nurture is my very essence. You are a good man and you shall find peace one day soon!”
Stalker shook his head and said, “Thank you, Lady, but peace is a foreign concept to me. I know emptiness. I understand anger. I can’t recall what peace feels like. I can’t envision any noble emotion!”
Arion said, “We are at war with other beings like the Shadow goddess Lamia. If you truly seek to eradicate all evil, join our cause!”
Stalker said, “I shall do so. Every infernal being I slay brings me closer to my redemption!”
They followed Arion as he spoke the name Choloh and left the silent Nether Keep behind them as the twin moons looked down on the darkness surrounding the lonely isle.
4
Claw did not like magic so he frowned as he appeared within the huge castle known as Ravensroost. It was a gloomy place and it had seen better days. Clearly, Validarr the Unethical cared more about other matters than luxurious décor.
“My visions made sense once Choloh explained them to me. The little man or god’s voice seemed to make those random images and sounds more like a story with beginning and ending. Trysannda sought my help because she had once bartered herself away to this Validarr in exchange for becoming the mother to some monster that would be spawned when she mated with a fiend from some other realm. Validarr thought to control the spawn for his own purposes. According to Arion’s whispered words to me before we departed, his own magic diverted my journey via the scroll through Darkworld itself for a moment. The passage through the timeless Darkworld should have allowed me to emerge in Pytharia at a point in which when no or little time had passed for Tyrsannda during her own journey to Ravensroost. If this means I somehow briefly exist in two places at the same time it makes no difference to me. Such are the cursed ways of wizardry!”
He raced through the castle and with his customary skill, he dispatched several guardsmen with ease. He found a dungeon and kicked open the massive door. He charged forward and found a scene of horror.
Trysannda, for he could recognize the girl from his dreams, stood before a crowd of weird beings with twisted features and the frightening demeanor of the insane.
She gasped as he approached since she had heard of him and had sought his help before giving up and trying to challenge Validarr on her own.
She was unaware that his visions of the other reality that would have existed had he rejected the lords of Elder Light’s offer to walk the path that led to his eventual kingship had enabled him to know her own story.
“Stay back, woman! These fiends reek of the Shadow gods. They are more of their handiwork!” he cried.
Trysannda said, “You can only be the man called Claw! I came here to kill its owner and ended up stepping from the dungeon into this Lair of Lunacy! This is not Pytharia!”
Claw nodded. It was likely one of the other worlds controlled by the Shadow gods.
He stood in front of Trysannda and admired her beauty even as he raised Moonthorn and faced the dozens of madmen,
“Stay away from us or I will bring your madness to a bloody end!” he said.
At that moment the cause of their insanity appeared above them all. A weird spherical being that looked like a giant ball or black sun came closer. It hovered above and Claw noticed its bizarre form. It had no body or limbs to speak of that he could detect. It dd have a series of terrible eyes that waved back and forth from long dangling stalks that emerged from its head.
“A Beholder! This realm of madness is ruled by a Shadow lord in the form of a Beholder!” cried Trysannda!
Claw said, “I will teach the freakish thing to avert its gaze!”
He swung his sword only to have it be deflected by an unseen wall of force.
He darted aside as a beam of destructive energy struck the spot he had been standing upon. He shoved Trysannda aside and warned her to stay behind him.
She began to chant softly as she tried to summon her own magic to protect them.
Claw dodged the beams that radiated from one of the Beholder’s eye stalks and pondered his next move.
The beast floated out of reach of his sword and moved toward the silvery tressed Trysannda.
Claw leaped upward and grasped the beast by its rough bark-like skin and he swung himself upward and climbed on its top. He sliced through several of the eye stalks and then gasped as a bolt of sheer force struck him. He fought to retain his balance as the creature flew across the room and the madmen shrieked wildly below.
He shuddered as he felt two different sensations. First, one of the creature’s eye bolts struck him and his arm began to burn as if dipped into acid. His magic resistant hand shattered and he used his other hand to push the fragments through the Beholder’s skull!
He fought the pain and with a final incredible show of strength he ripped it apart and collapsed on the ground.
Trysannda rushed forward and cradled him in her arms but she ushed free of her embrace and regained his feet.
“My hand resisted enough of its death beam to save me and I was able to turn its poison upon itself but my hand was destroyed in the process.”
Trysannda said, “I know the healing arts. I can stop the bleeding!” She said, “We have time. The other residents seem oddly clam now that their master is dead!”
She gestured toward the dozens of madmen who now looked at her and the world with clam and sanity filled eyes. They were cured.
One of them stepped forward like a majestic soldier. He was tall and wore a helmet and armor. Claw recognized him immediately thanks to Arion’s magical spell. He was one of the missing Seven Atlantean gods.
“Tynan, Lord of the Balance!” he said.
Tynan nodded and spoke in a stentorian voice. “Aye, that is my name. I have not been myself for some time. I, who embody perfectly the Balance of all things was a madman!”
At that moment a fat man with a balding head appeared at the head of the stairs that led from the Ravensroost castle dungeon to the portal to the Lair of Lunacy.
“Validarr!” cried Trysannda as she chanted a spell and saw mystical energy contain the smug tyrant.
He laughed and stepped out of her spell to mock her.
“Pretty Trysannda! Have you come to breed with my master?” he said.
She said, “I have come to kill you!”
Claw said, “No, girl. Allow me to do the honors!”
He bounded forward and fought his way through a barrage of eldritch bolts but as his relentless determination to reach his foe enabled him to get closer to Validarr, the evil man’s smugness turned to concern if not fear.
Validarr said, “You may not have the wench! She was promised to my master!”
Claw said, “Your master’s gory remains are spread across your dungeon floor!”
He grabbed Validarr by the throat and hurled him down the steps. As the startled wizard crashed to a landing his now freed prisoners swarmed over him and gained their own revenge.
Trysannda sighed with relief as she embraced Claw. “My thanks, noble warrior!”
Claw smiled for a moment and said, “I have owed you this much for a long time. I feel I’ve finally made amends!’
Tynan said, “I would see my brethren free from their own prisons! There must be a restoration of the Balance!”
Trysannda stared at him with interest and reverence. She was clearly impressed with him and Claw wondered if he was witnessing some kind of conversion. He shrugged and spoke the name Choloh! They vanished and the quest continued.
5
Arion and Stalker appeared upon the next world on their quest to free the Seven. Jheryl and Ghy had returned to Atlantis itself. Jheryl needed the restoration communion with her followers could provide while little Ghy reluctantly obeyed her command to join her.
They exchanged glances and Stalker said, “This place is as hot as the Burning Isle but it is new to me!”
They saw thick jungle foliage and heard the rustle of approaching figures. The sky was blue above them and animal noises echoed through the area.
Arion nodded and said, “It is as different from your frozen home as any realm can be and yet a pervasive evil permeates the atmosphere!”
Stalker replied, “I agree. It does not take a mage to realize that. This place will keep me busy.”
He drew his sword and moved forward with the speed and grace of a skilled warrior.
Arion wondered what dire circumstance had caused the heroic man to lose his soul. He also wondered if he might be able to remedy the situation.
A bizarre creature stepped forward and approached them calmly almost elegantly. He wore ornate robes of red and gold and although humanoid in form, he had the features of a predatory jungle cat! He smiled and revealed sharp teeth as he said, “I am Lord Leopard and you shall be my newest slaves!”
Stalker charged at the cat-beast and dodged his raking claws only to fall as the agile feline leaped over him and connected with a backward swipe of his arm.
Arion send bolts of energy at the Rakasha only to see the creature laughed off his attack and countered with one of his own.
“My voice will shatter your frail mind!” growled Lord Leopard. Unlike a normal jaguar or leopard the Shadow lord’s roar was more than mere sound. A damaging sonic blast echoed across the jungle and swept the foliage aside with sheer hurricane force.
Arion realized the beast had amazing powers and his most threatening consisted of a form of mind control.
At his summons ten warriors in exotic costumes rushed from the rear to attack the heroes. Each seemed to be nothing more than an extention of Lord Leopard’s will.
Stalker dived into them and kicked, punched, and fought his way through the crowd of enslaved men. He did not kill the since he sensed they were merely pawns. He had enough guilt on his conscience as it was although he could not truly feel the emotion since he had lost his soul.
He ducked a sword thrust and spun around to kick the weapon out of its owner’s hand. He flipped forward acrobatically and caused two others to fall at his feet as he used their prone bodies to jump up and then bring his sword hilt down across the head of still another. It was a ballet of brutality and Arion admired his skill if not his ruthlessness.
He faced Lord Leopard and said, “This is not possible. You do control these men but you shall never rule my will. I am Arion and I defy you!”
The high Mage of Atlantis concentrated his body seemed to swell up until it loomed over the jungle and he faced an equally large Lord Leopard.
Their astral or spirit selves battled while their physical bodies remained silent and immobile below.
Slowly, Arion began to triumph awesome will power overcame his foe’s animalistic rage.
He smiled as he saw the warriors begin to open their eyes and show emotions of their own choosing. They were awakening from their trances.
Lord Leopard said, “Simba Yenah!” and vanished into thin air.
Stalker said, “He escaped! I detect no trace of his evil aura!”
Arion said, “He did not escape as much as he deserted this world. His disembodied spirit may live on but he banished himself by speaking the same arcane phrase that first brought him here.* This world is free of his curse and so are his slaves including Deedra!” *Lord Leopard would return someday to face Prince Ra-Man in the modern era. (House of Secrets 78)
He gestured to a woman whose beauty was radiant in a literal sense. She glowed with health and energy like a golden sun in a very feminine form!
She smiled and said, “Arion! I have been chained by his mental bonds for so long. How ironic that I goddess of Earth should be mastered by chains of thought!”
Arion said, “Deedra’s mystic chain holds the Earth and surrounding Cosmos together in Atlantean cosmology!”
Stalker said, “I know a bit about being chained although mine chains are spiritual in nature!”
Arion said, “Stalker, I may yet be able to help you. Do not despair!”
Stalker almost smiled as he said, “That’s what I do best other than killing!”
6
Claw and Trysannda were also facing a foe on yet another of the worlds of the Shadow gods. While Tynan had departed to Atlantis much like Jheryl, the other two were continuing Claw’s quest.
“You did not have to accompany me. This is not your fight!” he said gruffly.
Trysannda gently touched his now bandaged right arm and said, “I wish to help you. You freed me from a terrible debt.”
They found themselves looking up at a tower that loomed above them and disappeared into clouds that hissed as they floated by.
“Acidic clouds!” cried Trysannda. “My magic can shield us from their burning rain for a time!”
They hurried toward the tower and Claw picked her up and carried her as he raced across the rocky hills and reached the entrance to the tower before her spell finally gave out.
He smashed through the door and led her into a massive hallway that was lined with large mirrors that seemed to reflect the man and woman not as they were but as distortions of their true nature.
Claw saw himself with his inhuman hand back intact and his eyes were a burning red. He was fully a champion of the Shadow Lord’s making and he shook his head and brought Moonthorn down against the mirror in rage.
He turned to see Trysannda weeping softly as she saw herself the helpless bride of a monstrous beast that looked like a massive snail the size of a building.
Claw lifted her to her feet and said, “Be calm. It is nothing more than foul wizardry. You are safe from witless images!”
Claw looked again and another mirror showed him locked in battle with a fierce warrior woman with flame red hair and a very revealing chain mail outfit that barely covered her dynamic body.
He looked at another mirror and saw a dashing man in green who was courtly and carried a slender rapier. He had two small protrusions on his skull. “Prince Ghilkyn?” gasped Claw as he recognized his long missing old friend.
He whirled to see himself once more reflected with a woman in a red and bluye outfit. She had black hair and wore bracelets on each wrist.
They were battling a red skinned giant and two other men stood by their side.
“Be these glimpses into the future or some other realm I do not know but I will not let them slow me down!” he bellowed.
He kicked the mirrors one by one until he and Trysannda stood in the hallway of shattered glass and looked at what appeared to be the massive snail from the first mirror.
“Sha-Gasa! That’s the monster Validarr wanted to give me to!” shouted Trysannda.*
Claw said, “Not while I live!”
He charged at the creature and sliced away with his word. As he made contact with the beast he felt revulsion sweep across his mind and heart. It was not merely a physical reaction to a terrible monster. It was a psychic attack and it was very deliberate.
He stood his ground and plunged the blade into the creature’s body again and again only to be hurled across the room as it lifted its huge head.
He grunted as he felt himself being cut by the shattered glass on the floor. Still, he was not about to give up and he leaped forward out of the path of the slowly moving behemoth. He darted forward and continued his assault on the beast. He was very strong and that raw power proved to be enough along with his indomitable will power. No other man could have matched the need to bring such strength to the fight while also mentally resisting the waves of revulsion
He turned to Trysannda as the monster crashed to the ground. She said, “Claw, look within the corpse!”
From within the slimy creature a beautiful and exotic woman emerged. Apparently, something about the snail’s slimy excretions acted as a type of narcotic and the woman had slumbered within its body a kind of lifeless state.
She wore a costume that was very revealing and resembled what later generations might think of as Egyptian in design. She was Gemimn the goddess of Order and Claw recognized her as he had Tynan due to Arion’s previous spell.
She smiled and said, “I owe you my thanks! I have much to do to restore divine Order to my realm and I will attend to that task now! My, you are a ruggedly handsome man!” she added before vanishing.
Claw cursed and said, “Who can make sense of the ways of god and monsters?”
Trysannda smiled and said, “She was right. You are ruggedly handsome!”
They vanished once more as Claw spoke the word Choloh!
*Claw faced Sha-Gasa in the unpublished Claw 13. That happened in the alternate reality he caught glimpses of in Darkworld. This is how it happened in his own continuity.
7
Arion and Stalker reached their next destination and Stalker looked at the High Mage with consternation.
“I know we are defeating your foes but they are surely not the only evil beings on those worlds? I was a foolish boy who pledged his soul to a wargod in exchange for being made into a great warrior; however, when I realized how miserable a trade I had made and how nothing brought me joy or enabled me to feel nobler emotions I asked for the return of my soul. I was told that it could only be restored if all evil was removed from the cosmos. I can’t achieve that goal if any evil being is allowed to exist!” he said.
Arion said, “There shall always be evil in one form or another as I pray there will always be good to oppose it. I shall oppose it as long as I live and breathe! You must accept that you’ve set yourself a fool’s errand. I will use all my resources to restore you when we defeat the Shadow gods! This I swear!”
Stalker glared at him for a moment and then said, “What is our task here?”
Arion said, “This is madness! We are on one of the worlds of Claw’s dimension as expected but look at the golden spires and beautiful gardens.
This looks like the lost City of the Golden Gates from my own Atlantan Empire!”
A giant figure emerged into view and said, “Well done, little Mage! This is indeed your sunken city. I brought it here to use as my zoo. You will fit nicely in a pretty cage!” He had one massive eye and a terribly deformed body. Scales and scabs covered his skin and he lurched forward on a twisted leg.
“I am Doomsayer! I am Deathbringer!” he bellowed.
Stalker said, “And I am tired of such ceaseless boasting! You don’t think you scare me do you? You do not presume that I can be hurt? I have no soul! I know loss and misery beyond anything you can imagine!”
He screamed a war cry and rammed his sword into the giant’s leg.
Arion flew into the air and created a shimmering and turning glyph that he used to dazzle the brute.
The battle continued as the giant slammed his fists together on Stalker and left the agile warrior staggering to safety.
Arion grunted as the brute tried to knock him from the air but Arion dodged and sealed the giant’s looming eye with a magically conjured shield!
Stalker relentlessly regained his feet and slowly began to swing from one spire to another with an agility beyond that of any acrobat. He prepared himself and with one final swing he dropped off a hanging flag and plunged his sword through the giant’s skull!
Arion caught him as he fell and watched with relief as the Shadow god collapsed.
“Well done, friend!” he said.
Stalker said, “It is all I know how to do! I am defined by death and slaughter and its absence finds me empty and devoid of purpose!”
They approached the Palace Royal and Arion said, “Why or how that fiend recovered the City of the Golden Gate is beyond me? I can only assume it is yet another deception!”
They swung open the wide and ornate double doors and entered the King’s audience chamber to see a silent figure slumped on the throne. He had snakes in place of hair and goat-like legs. He looked up at them vacantly.
Arion gasped, “Chaon, the god of Chaos and Madness! We have found our next member of the Seven!”
Stalker said, “He reeks of evil!”
Arion said, “It is his nature. He has been a thorn in my side in the past!”
Chaon suddenly giggled madly and said, “Aye, pretty Arion and I shall do worse to you anon! “
Arion gasped as ebony blades erupted from the air and slice through him. He was not physically hurt but his magical energies were slowly being sapped.
“It is a trap!” he gasped. Stalker tried to aid him but he was unable to stop the magical onslaught.
Chaon grinned madly and said, “It is indeed! I joined the Shadow gods! I am one of them now!”
8
Claw was battling for his life as well as he and Trysannda were surrounded by weird yellow hued humanoids who swarmed over them in seemingly endless numbers!
“These infernal goblins will not stop me! I will see them dead as long as I can draw a breath!” he vowed.
Trysannda chanted softly and her bolts of bedazzlement struck down some of the creatures. As underground dwellers they were sensitive to light.
Claw saw an old man with a gaunt body and a long beard. The Weaver! He was the last of the Seven to be rescued. He was chained to a wall in a weird world that seemed to lack any stability. Up and down shifted from second to second and there was no sky above or visible ground below. They were just moving back and forth without any visible means of support.
Claw sliced through a goblin’s skull and hurled three more into their allies. He continued battling forward until their huge leader appeared and glared at him through heavily scaled eyes. He was black and had a skull like stone. His teeth were razor sharp and jagged and he wore chainmail of a blood red hue.
“I am the Goblin Jarl! I am the Shadow god who will claim you, King Valcan!” he said.
Claw said, “I will gladly be King of the Dead if you are my first subject!”
He spun his sword around and dodged a black battle ax that his foe aimed at his own head.
He tackled the Goblin Jarl and wrestled furiously as the world changed around them and everything became green!
He ignored the flashing colors and began to batter his foe with his own sword. Moonthorn was a powerful weapon and he used it like no one else could hope to do.
They clashed again and again and Claw received a bad cut to one shoulder. He lurched forward and hit the Goblin again and again and managed to slice through his armor and wound his chest.
He struggled with the monster and managed to disarm him and then stabbed him through the heart.
He turned to Trysannda and said, “It is done! We’ve won!”
The Weaver’s chains fell off as Trysannda freed him and then she gazed sadly at Claw.
“Claw! I fear we have lost! Look at your arm!” she cried.
Claw gasped as he noticed what had escaped his notice in the heat of battle His bandages had been ripped away and his missing right hand was now intact with its scaled dragon-like claw back in place!
“By Soth!” he cursed as he realized his plight. The infernal hand had regenerated as Arion had warned him might happen!
9
Arion struggled to regain his feet and to summon his fading magic as Stalker held him up and said, “What has he done to you? You’re dead weight!”
Arion struggled to catch his breath. “He is draining my power! He is crippling me on a magical level!”
Chaon grinned and said, “And I shall not stop until you die!”
Stalker let Arion drop and charged at the mad Chaon!
“Release him or I will make your death slower and more painful than I had planned!” he said.
Chaon said, “My, how fierce you are!”
Stalker leaped at the mocking figure but he teleported aside and the hero barely managed to land on his feet.
Arion stood up slowly and said, “This shall not end this way! I shall not yield though all magic is lost to me!”
He drew his own seldom used sword and approached Chaon. As Stalker occupied the foul god, Arion plunged his sword into his side.
Chaon shuddered and then staggered away.
“You wounded me without your magic! I thought you were helpless without your spells!” he stammered.
Arion said, “My magic is back now, villain!”
Chaon screamed and vanished as he was drawn back to Atlantis against his will.
Arion and Stalker followed as Arion spoke the name Choloh and they reappeared in the city of Mu.
Wyynde and Lady Chian rushed forward to greet them and Lady Chian said, “What happened? You were gone but a moment!”
Before Arion could respond the skies darkened and a thousand shadowy beings loomed over the city.
“The Twilight Host! The remaining Shadow gods are assembled against us!” he said.
Stalker said, “This battle will do much to balance the scales against me!”
He looked up to see Claw and a beautiful woman with silvery hair appear before him.
Claw said, “I accomplished our quest and spoke Choloh’s name. I am cursed again!”
Arion said the inhuman hand on his friend’s right arm and said, “I can cure you as I did before if you stay away from your dimension from now onward!”
Claw said, “I will not stay anyplace nor find any rest until I slay every Shadow god!”
One of the Shadow gods fell to Earth like a meteor and stood up in a form all too familiar to Claw. He had black hair and a thin beard. He wore armor beneath kingly robes and his most striking feature was his sickening yellow eye!
“Occulas! I killed you once and will gladly do so again!” said Claw.
The Shadow god laughed and said,” I merely wear his form to make you feel more comfortable!”
Claw knew as much and he also knew that seeing the image of the man who had killed his parents when he was an infant was upsetting him.
Still, he persevered as always even as he glanced uneasily at his inhuman hand!
He swung his sword and Occulas countered with his own blade. Claw moved with the speed that made him so dangerous and gasped as his monstrous hand released the blade!
“Your hand serves us! You shall as well!” said a gloating Occulas.
Meanwhile, Arion, Stalker, Wyynde, Trysannda, and Lady Chian were preparing to face the other hovering Shadow gods when the Seven appeared including a cowering and chastened Chaon!
Choloh smiled as before and said, “We are united now. Before they struck at us one by one and caught us by surprise. Not so now as we fight as one!”
Energy blazed through the sky and struck Arion!
Arion smiled as he absorbed the powers of the Seven!
He grew to giant size and loomed above Mu. He faced the assembled Shadow gods and smiled again as they blasted him with a thunderous barrage of raw power!
He shrugged it off unhurt and said, ”Your magic seems to have failed you! Perhaps, that is because using the Weaver’s might I just unwound the fabric of reality that connected to your own dimension! I also used Deedra’s Chain to bind you all together with ethereal cords!”
The dark beings merged into one struggling Shadow that failed to break free of his trap. Arion had cut him off from the source of his own power and had turned the Shadow gods into one linked being.
Lady Chian said, “He is winning! My Lord Arion is victorious!”
Wyynde smiled and said, “As he always is!”
Arion was not done yet. He knew even the combined powers of the Seven could not hold his foes for long.
He raised his hands and Deedra’s light blazed across the sky and shattered the Shadow gods into fragments of darkness!
He gestured and Jheryl’s nurturing energies swept across Claw and his inhuman hand faded away to become the silver Orachulum hand Arion had forged once more! The same energy touched Stalker and he gasped as his eyes became a normal blue and the red hue faded away.
Stalker looked up at the others and tears dropped from his eyes. He touched his face and realized that his soul had been restored!
Claw smiled grimly and resumed his battle with Occulas who was losing strength as his own might was drained into his bound brethren above.
Claw parried the sword thrust and connected with his own devastating attack!
Occulas died at his feet and Claw turned to face the others!
The Shadow gods were slowly reforming into a now human sized being and Arion had also returned to his normal stature.
Tynan, Gemimn, and Chaon were standing together in a line. They did not touch but their glowing auras blended until they spoke with one voice.
“The Balance is greater than any one force! The Balance will banish the Shadow spawn to their own 15 worlds where they will contend forever with the lords of Elder Light. Just as man is made of good and bad, law and order, reason and madness, so should each world be equally divided. There will no longer be seven worlds of light and seven worlds of darkness with Pytharia caught in the middle. There shall only be 15 worlds with light and shadow found in equal measure.”
They separated once more as a smiling Choloh said, “So it is written! So it shall be!”
The Seven vanished once more although all of them looked with favor upon Arion and his allies.
Wyynde said, “Arion, my Lord, you have freed Atlantis from the Shadow gods!”
Trysannda said, “And my dimension is now in balance although each side will resume the struggle for dominance as it should have always been!”
Claw said, “What are your plans, Trysannda?”
She smiled and kissed him for a moment. “I will find a place where I can help others find peace and achieve inner balance. Seeing Tynan, Gemimn, and Chaon work together has inspired me. It shall be my mission to preserve the Balance and you will always live in my heart as my first champion, Valcan!”
She vanished and Claw sighed slowly.
Stalker said, “I am restored. I feel a soul. I will never lose it again! Let me continue to stalk evil but to do so with hope and humanity in my heart!”
Arion clasped him on the arm and said, “I am pleased for you! Will you also return to your flat world?”
Stalker said, “No, I will travel for a while. I may yet do much good in the cosmos!”
Claw smiled and he came closer to Arion.
“Your magic broke my curse. I am no longer a victim of the cursed hand. I will never know its corrupting touch again. I owe you a great debt!” he said.
Arion said, “You owe me nothing but friendship, Valcan. I sense that you wish to return to your own dimension. Shall you become King of Pytharia again?”
Claw said, “I know not. I have time to claim a throne should I wish to do so. During my time in one of those limbo worlds I saw a friend reflected in a mirror. I think I shall find him. He was my first comrade before I met you!”
He extended his silver hand and clasped Arion’s hand. He would find Prince Ghilkyn and find his destiny on Pytharia. The gods of light and shadow would scheme and fight against one another but they would do so without his service. He was finally free to find his own path and he was happy at last.
As Arion embraced Lady Chian and cheering Atlanteans celebrated their High Mage, somewhere Choloh whispered, “And they lived happily ever after… for a time!”
The End
“Know that in the second year of the reign of Queen T’Gallah the Atlantean Empire was threatened by endless night brought by the coming of the Shadow lords; however, even in the darkest of days there arose heroes to defend the world and drive back the evil invaders. They were Arion, High Lord Mage of Atlantis and Valcan, he who was known and feared as Claw the Unconquered!” Excerpt from the Chronicles of Choloh.
1
In Mu the home of the refugees from the now destroyed City of the Golden Gate, two colorful figures battled a huge and nearly translucent creature that oozed across the city and left death and destruction in its wake.
Arion, High Mage of Atlantis, was an auburn haired man with intelligent eyes and a coldly regal demeanor. He wore a blue outfit with a gleaming red ruby amulet on his chest and a flowing blue cape that trailed down his back above a sword that rested against one hip. He knew his people were in peril and he heard their screams yet he stood still and seemed to do nothing. In truth, his posture indicated a concentration needed to summon the magic that was his alone to command. He was aware not just by keen supernatural perception but by faith that his friends would protect the helpless while he battled the monster!
A towering man with a muscular physique and a noble manner moved forward to brace his powerful body against a buckling wall. His name was Lt. Wyynde and the former dhonu or king of the now nearly extinguished Khe-Wannantu people was a hero in his own right. The often silent yet resourceful man was not only an officer in the Atlantean Royal Guard but he was the lover of the Atlantean Empire’s ruler Queen T’Gallah! He had suffered loss and personal injury but like his friend Arion, he was a hero and he refused to give up or become embittered by his circumstances. He held the wall in place as his Guard Commander Captain Chian carried two fallen people to safety. Lady Chian was petite with the beautiful and delicate features of her homeland Honshu- one of the remaining eleven cities of the Atlantean Empire but she was dazzlingly fast in motion and with her swords or laser and the warrior woman was an excellent leader. She was also the beloved of Arion himself.
“Stay off the streets! Warn everyone to get away. We shall stop that creature!” she commanded the fleeing citizens. Lady Chian had long black hair and she wore a green and white costume of light armor that allowed her freedom of movement while affording her some protection as well.
Arion yelled, “Chian, Wyynde, keep yourselves safely back as well! Guard the people for me!”
As his closest friends reluctantly obeyed his wishes, Arion resumed the fight. They trusted him as well.
Arion raised his hands and energy bolts erupted from them to strike the looming beast that threatened his city. The bolts burned through the gelatinous monster but it seemed to seal off the wounds and continued forward unharmed.
Nearby another warrior had been attacking the beast. Claw or Valcan was a tall man with rippling muscles. He had long dark hair and wore a white furred loincloth. He was deeply tanned and his eyes reflected a keen mind that guided his amazing reflexes. He carried a golden sword known as Moonthorn and he had a silver hand at the end of his right arm. The magic resistant Orachulum had been forged into a hand to replace an inhuman one that had cursed his life and tried to dominate his will when he lived in another dimension. Arion had created the new hand and Claw felt a deep debt to the Mage. They were also united against a common enemy. The hated Shadow gods had invaded Atlantis from Claw’s own dimension and the Pytharian champion had followed them and risked his life daily to stop them. One of his ancestors had tampered with supernatural forces and the result was most of that unwise wizard’s heirs had been born with a webbed dragon-like hand that acted of its own volition at times to protect the owner and to compel him to increasing acts of violence, cruelty, and evil. After an agent of the Shadow gods named Occulas of the Yellow Eye had killed his parents, the infant Valcan had been raised by mystical beings known as the lords of Elder Light and in their weird dimension he had been trained to become the perfect warrior. He excelled at all forms of combat and seemed to pick up various skills with ease and little practice. He had rejected their patronage although in opposing their enemies the Shadow lords he still indirectly achieved their desired goals.
Claw sliced down with his sword only to dive aside as the oozing beast elongated its shimmering body and threatened to engulf him
“By Soth! This putrid slime acts like it has a mind within its muck!” he said
Arion said, “Aye! That it does! Perhaps, we need a more coordinated attack!”
Claw smiled grimly and said, “I agree!”
He bellowed in anger and charged at the creature but abruptly sheathed his sword and instead plunged his silver hand into the beast’s jelly-like body.
Arion nodded in approval as the other man’s magic resistant hand cleaved a path through the beast’s enchanted form and he smiled briefly as Claw’s sheer strength allowed him to power his way deeper and deeper into an ever-widening gap that seemed to form as the beast’s slimy body broke apart.
“Valcan is even stronger than Wyynde! I suspect someone in his heritage was a divine being! He seems a demigod in some ways!” thought Arion as he spotted a small black sphere within the giant creature’s wildly twisting body.
“ The heart or brain that guides the slime is now exposed thanks to Valcan’s sheer power!” he thought.
He sent a blazing eldritch bolt through the gap and the dark sphere exploded and caused the oozing monster to abruptly collapse into a flood of now lifeless jelly.
“Friend Valcan, you do good work but you aren’t exactly fastidious!” he said with a smile as they met each other by wading through the now dissolving slime.
Claw nodded and said, “And yet the job is done! This makes one less pet for the Shadow lords to send against us!”
Arion nodded and gazed out across the city. “I led the people here to the deserted city of Mu after the City of the Golden Gate was destroyed by beings from being the stars and Chaon the Maker of Madness! I am proud of how much they have done to make it a home. From ordinary farmers and trades people to artisans and nobles, the people have worked to shape this once accursed city into a warm and safe haven. I am glad we’ve kept it intact for the most part!”
Claw shook his head and said, “It is a fine city and I have felt welcomed here for the most part but it is merely one more prize for the Shadow lords to claim. Seven worlds of darkness are not enough to sate their greedy lust for power or their sick desire to toy with human lives!”
Arion frowned and stopped in his tracks. “Valcan, what do you mean when you say there are seven worlds?”
Claw shrugged and cleaned his sword on a strip of fabric.
“I meant what I said. The Shadow lords already have seven worlds under their control and I will not let the bloodthirsty swine claim this one! I drove them from Pytharia when I was king and I will see them all broken and ruined before they take an eighth world!”
Arion placed a hand on his friend’s arm and said, “Have you not heard me use the expression by the Seven before?”
Claw nodded and said, “Yes, and I took it for nothing more than an oath as I sometimes use the name Soth in anger or surprise. It means nothing. I long ago gave up on expecting answers from Soth or any other being of power! Man shapes his own destiny with sweat and blood and pain!”
Arion said, “It means much more than either of us knew. There are many beings of power in the Atlantean pantheon like Thalas the Evl or Atlana the Sea Lord but there are a specific Seven who are the most powerful. They are the gods and goddesses the Shadow lords banished or killed when they invaded this dimension from their own. I once believed them to have been killed but the fact that your home dimension where the Shadow gods originated has exactly seven worlds dominated by our foes can not be mere coincidence!”
Claw smiled grimly. “My home dimension has 15 worlds. Seven are ruled by the lords of Elder Light who trained me and gave me Moonthorn. Seven worlds are controlled by the Shadow gods and my birth world Pytharia was held betwixt the others given neither to control by light or darkness! When I became its king I drove the Shadow lords away only to follow then into the limbo known as Darkworld where you found me! So, the fiends retained their hold of their original seven worlds in my dimension and have imprisoned your Seven gods there!”
Arion said, “I feel that to be so. I feel it with something close to certainty! I shall go there and free them all!”
Claw said, “You mean we shall go there!”
Arion gazed up at the bigger man and said, “No, Valcan. I shall go but you must remain behind. My magic that prevented your cursed hand from reforming will not resist the infernal power behind the spell for long in your dimension. If you return to your dimension, the silvery hand will eventually shatter and the hand that blighted your past life will reform!”
Claw scowled and said, “You have been a friend to me and I have had very few of those in my time but I will go without you if necessary. I have made it my life’s work to gain revenge upon the Shadow lords and I will not let you or anyone friend or foe stop me! I would give my soul to end their power!”
Arion nodded and thought “And that is exactly what you may be doing should you return to your dimension!”
He said, “Very well! I will not argue with you!”
2
At that moment yells echoed from down the street and Claw turned away from the High Mage of Atlantis.
They saw four ruffians harassing an old bard who was trying to gain a few coins by reciting a ballad. His clothes were tattered and stained and his features seemed incredibly ancient but oddly benign.
“It is a mere commotion amongst the street people! We have more important things to attend to. The Royal Guard will eventually intervene!” said Arion.
However, Claw was already racing forward. In spite of his frequently bitter words, Valcan was at heart a hero who would help people in need in spite of the risk to himself or the false resentment over such interruptions that he used as a façade to hide his noble nature.
He confronted the group and said, “Leave the old man alone! If you do not like his stories then move on or shall I help you move on!”
The four thugs were cocky and drunken and they charged Claw with swords drawn!
He smiled and brought Moonthorn around in a lightning swift arc that brought two of the attackers down to the pavement. He kicked a third in the face and glanced toward the old man who was still smiling in a rather sweet manner.
“Stay behind me, man! This dog will soon turn tail or lay bloody at my feet!” he said.
Arion approached and a brilliant light left the final attacker blinded and dazed as the Guardsmen rushed forward to take him into custody.
“He shall see again in a few hours!” said Arion.
Claw said, “Unless it is in a graveyard, he won’t see his friends. I have closed their eyes forever!
He turned and bent slightly forward to address the old bard. “Are you hurt?”
The old man smiled broadly and said, “No, I am well. Thank you!”
Arion paused and said, “By the Seven! I know you! A spell of concealment obscured your features …your true nature …for a moment but it could not resist my power for long! Valcan, this is no mere bard. This is Choloh- one of the missing Seven!”
Arion passed one hand across his gleaming ruby amulet and it slid open to produce a strange glyph in the shape of an eye. The eye floated upward and a bright light enveloped the old man.
“The Eye of Ra sees more clearly than my own eyes” said Arion.
He stared at the old man and slowly a strange awareness began to shine from the old man’s eyes as the Eye returned to its place within the smooth and gleaming ruby.
“Lord Arion, you hide your kind heart behind a façade of arrogance but you are well loved by me and most of my peers!” he said.
Claw said, “This bard is a god? I have seen stranger things in my time! I thought you believed them to be on the seven worlds of darkness in my dimension not wondering the streets of Mu with memory loss!”
Choloh said,”Of the Seven, I alone could not be banished! You see, every realm of time and space has stories and I am the Eternal Chronicler! When the Shadow gods banished Deedra, Jheryl, and the other four, I was left here with a loss of identity until you found me. I exist in every realm for someone must always tell the stories!”
Arion smiled and said, “Great Sir, can you help us find and liberate the others?”
Choloh smiled and said, “I am the teller of the tales not the creator of them. I cannot take action but I may narrate! I may guide you!”
Claw said, “Do not worry, old man. Your kind have never been much good to me!”
He suddenly clutched his head in pain. He shook his head and as his long black hair moved out of his face, Claw cursed softly.
Arion said, “Those headaches come swiftly and pass equally rapidly but the visions remain a mystery!”
Claw nodded and said, “I am growing used to them. If madness be yet another of my curses then I shall fight it to the death as I’ve battled every other affliction that has plagued me. I shall win or die!”
Choloh said, “I owe you a debt, King Valcan! I will repay it now! This much I may do!”
Claw said, “How do you know my name? Do not call me king. I broke my crown and hurled it to the dirt long ago when I vowed to not be a pawn for the lords of Light or the Shadow gods!”
Choloh smiled and said, “You see visions of a beautiful woman. She has platinum hair and silvery eyes. Her voice is like music and her name whispers through your troubled dreams. She is Trysannda!”
Claw frowned and said, “You may be a god after all! Who is this tormenting wench? Why do I dream of her or see her in a waking vision? Where the foul fortress is called Ravensroost? I see us there again and again!”
Arion said, “Valcan has been plagued by these visions since I found him in the timeless limbo of the Darkworld.”
Choloh said, “Valcan, I know your story. I know all versions of your story. You lost a crimson gauntlet the lords of Elder Light gave you that allowed you to control the evil impulses of your infernal right hand. Without it you became increasingly cruel and you killed a soldier who had
surrendered to you during a border dispute.” (Claw 12)
Claw nodded and looked sorrowful as he said, “He called me a man without honor as he died. I knew he spoke the truth. The hand had forced me to do things I would not have chosen to do of my own free will! I vowed to be free of its black influence or die! I cut off my right hand and screamed my pain to the skies!”
“You received an answer, did you not?” asked Choloh.
Claw nodded and said, “The gods of Elder Light appeared and offered me a choice. I could be a king on Pytharia or resume my solitary wanderings as a swordsman. I was foolish enough to take the path to kingship! I joined a battle alongside a warrior woman named Shalieka of the Rose and I confronted and killed the original owner of my inhuman hand! This temporarily freed me of the curse of my hand. I became the king of Pytharia after driving away the monster’s Twilight Host army *and soon I learned to my regret that my victory meant little since the Shadow gods merely saw it as confirmation that I should become their new champion! I hurled away the crown and used my so-called kingly resources to find and regain my gauntlet to temper the influence of the hand should it return and I drove them out of my dimension! I wandered lost in the limbo of Darkworld until Arion and I met and we traced the Shadow lords to this dimension!** What does that sorry tale have to do with Trysannda whoever she may be?” *(Warlord 48, Warlord 49) ** (Arion: Shadows of Thing to Come.)
Choloh said, “You seek to speed up the pace of my tale, eh, good Valcan? You see, you made a choice when the Elder Light gods presented it to you. You became king. However, in another version of your story, you rejected the gods of Elder Light and resumed your nomadic career. When you rejected them, they made you forget about their offer. You bandaged your wounded arm and set off on the road to the city. You met a sorceress named Trysannda and agreed to help her break free from a debt she owed to an evil man named Validarr the Unethical . He also was the man who had eventually acquired your stolen crimson gauntlet. His home was a fortress called Ravensroost!”* (Unpublished Claw 13 and 14)
Arion nodded eagerly. “Darkworld is a limbo that connects to all of time and space. It has fleeting portals to what was and what never was. While you wandered within its confines, you saw glimpses of a reality in which you rejected the path to kingship but nomadically journeyed on and met this sorceress of the Silvery tresses! I should have deduced as much, I grew up in part of the Darkworld!”
Claw smiled and said, “And I thought my childhood with the lords of Elder Light was strange! So, if the Trysannda I saw was merely someone I might have met had I made different choices, does she not exist in the real Pytharia where I did become king?”
Choloh said, “She does. She merely did not meet you and she confronted Validarr alone!”
Claw turned to Arion and said, “I have sworn to liberate your Seven gods but I must rescue the girl if she still lives. I feel like this mission…this quest.. is why I continue to have visions that originally came to me in the limbo of Darkworld! I can not rest until I make things right. Is that not the case, old man?”
Choloh smiled and inclined his head as he removed a scroll from within one of his voluminous sleeves. He rolled it across the ground and it seemed to expand until the end could not be seen!
“I can enable you to go to your home dimension and each of six worlds in which my peers are trapped by merely walking down the scroll and saying my name when you wish to migrate to another world!” he said softly.
Claw scowled and said, “Be it six journeys or six hundred, I am ready to go!”
Arion said, “Let me impart to you a vision of the six so you will know them when you find them! After all, you do not possess the Eye of Ra to break through the spell of concealment that binds them!”
Claw nodded as the High Mage’s magical glyph once more emerged from within the ruby amulet he wore and irradiated him with its all-seeing light.
“Tis done! Shall we go, friend Valcan!” said Arion as he leaned in and whispered something to Claw.
In a flash of light Arion and Claw were gone. The scroll magically curled back up and Choloh returned it to within his sleeve.
“May your stories end happily!” he said softly.
3
Arion frowned as he found himself down at the ruins of a fallen keep that rested on an embankment that abruptly dropped off into a sheer fall to a shadowy blackness that even his magic could not penetrate.
“Not a welcoming place to be sure! Choloh’s scroll led me here though and I wager I will find one of the Seven within that ancient structure that seems to perch on the edge of this oddly flat world!”
He glanced upward to see clouds part to reveal two lurid moons above.
He shivered and with a gleaming mystical light radiating from his raised hand, he approached the ruins and nodded as he found a narrow opening that once had been a window in the crumbling keep.
“This must have been an outpost of some type but what lonely sentinel would keep a solitary vigil alongside what appears to be a sea of nothingness?” he thought.
He dropped down gracefully and made his way down the winding passageways that eventually led to a sight that almost brought tears to his eyes!
A beautiful woman with curly black hair was singing softly to herself but her keening had no recognizable words and her eyes were as vacant as her voice was devoid of emotions.
“Jheryl! Dear Jheryl!” he cried as he recognized the goddess of nurture and healing who raised him during his long sojourn in the timeless dimension called Darkworld.
He realized that she was in a trance and her luminous eyes gazed outward at nothing. She had no awareness of her surroundings or his presence.
Suspecting a trap he whirled to see a small being with black fur and large bright eyes that danced an odd jog and rushed forward crying out to him.
“Kid! It’s really you! Seems like forever since I saw you but who can tell in this place!” he wore a watch on one tiny wrist but Arion ignored or failed to notice the anachronism.
“Ghy! I am glad you know me, little friend!” he said as the tiny imp hugged him tightly.
“We been here for so long. Jheryl cannot talk or nothin’!” he said.
Arion gazed down at his childhood companion and said, “I know but I am going to restore the goddess and free you both from this hellish place!”
“It is called Isle at World’s Edge and this is the remains of the Nether Keep and it belongs to me!” said a newcomer who dropped down from above with an agility that surprised even Arion!
He had black curly hair and wore a green and gold costume. Weapons of various kinds hung in belts or bands that crisscrossed his body. He was handsome but his eyes glowed an eerie red.
“I’m the Stalker. It is the only name I use. Still, it fits me since it is also what I do. I stalk evil! Good work if you can find it! But the hours are endless.”
Ghy drew back behind Arion and said, “You don’t live here. We’ve never seen you before! Who’d forget a face lke that?”
Stalker said, “This is my base not my home. I suppose I have no true home. I come here to restock my supplies and repair my equipment after a crusade. I didn’t expect to find unwelcome guests!”
Arion said, “We are here against our will. That lady and my friend Ghy have been imprisoned here for some time! It appears someone else has claimed your Keep for their own purposes!”
Stalker said, “Well, we shall kill them and then you can leave! I can sense you are not evil. It is a talent of mine. It is also fortunate for you since it is my crusade to eliminate all evil. I have no choice if I wish for redemption!”
At that moment a sibilant hiss filled the room and a beautiful woman with long black hair appeared from behind some rubble. She was lovely and her complexion and features were flawless. She swayed with a remarkable grace and then as her flashing eyes grew brighter she rose up from out of the shadows to reveal the lower body of a green serpent whose thick diamond patterned coils supported the upper human body.
“A Lamia! The she—fiend is a lamia!” said Arion as he moved closer and raised his hands.
Stalker said, “And she is not alone!”
He gestured to where four shambling figures emerged from behind their mistress. They were warriors but each wore rusted armor and what could be seen of their features beneath decayed helms revealed their long dead skeletal remains!
Arion said, “Foul temptress! You may have drained these poor husks of life but Arion shall not fall to your ilk!”
Before he could react, Stalker had dived forward and was struggling with the swaying Lamia. His sword was drawn and the serpent-women was lashing out at him with her wildly swaying coils.
Arion turned to face the skeletons and with a burst of energy he drove them backward with smashing force. They shattered into bone fragments and shards of rusted metal and to his dismay they began to rise up again and reassemble.
“Their vitality ends now so commands Arion!” cried the High Mage.
He dispersed the monsters with a shattered explosion of mystical energy that sent their remains hurtling out of the ruins and into the seemingly endless sea of darkness around the Nether Keep!
Meanwhile, Stalker was slicing furiously at the serpent-woman and he was winning until she managed to thrust her face closer to his own and her brilliant eyes locked with his own gaze. She smiled wickedly as her hypnotic gaze began to rob him of his free will and she coiled around him and began to glow with a frightening radiance!
“She seeks to steal his very soul!” thought Arion as he ran forward to rescue the odd man.
He never reached the pair as Ghy capered wildly in excitement and Jheryl continued to stare into the darkness.
Stalker abruptly brought his blade around and cut off the Lamia’s head!
He freed himself from her coils and said, “The foolish creature thought she could steal my soul. That was her last mistake!”
Arion stared at him and his eyes widened in shock. “By the Seven! I know your dark secret. You have no soul! I pity you!”
Stalker bristled and said, “I don’t care what you feel or think, Wizard! I have had time enough to regret its loss and to hope for its reclamation when I complete my crusade to eliminate all evil.”
He said, “Can you get the woman and your bizarre pet out of here now that their captor has been death with?
“Pet? Pet!” spluttered an indignant Ghy.
Arion said, “Yes, we shall depart soon enough. The Eye of Ra shall restore Jheryl!”
As the magical glyph shimmered across Jheryl’s still form, she shuddered and slowly a lovely smile spread across her features. She rushed forward and embraced Arion.
“Precious Arion! I knew you would be the one to find me!” she cried.
Arion touched her face gently and said, ”It gives me new hope to see you again!”
Jheryl stepped back and gazed at Stalker and said, “Stalker, I understand your plight since nurture is my very essence. You are a good man and you shall find peace one day soon!”
Stalker shook his head and said, “Thank you, Lady, but peace is a foreign concept to me. I know emptiness. I understand anger. I can’t recall what peace feels like. I can’t envision any noble emotion!”
Arion said, “We are at war with other beings like the Shadow goddess Lamia. If you truly seek to eradicate all evil, join our cause!”
Stalker said, “I shall do so. Every infernal being I slay brings me closer to my redemption!”
They followed Arion as he spoke the name Choloh and left the silent Nether Keep behind them as the twin moons looked down on the darkness surrounding the lonely isle.
4
Claw did not like magic so he frowned as he appeared within the huge castle known as Ravensroost. It was a gloomy place and it had seen better days. Clearly, Validarr the Unethical cared more about other matters than luxurious décor.
“My visions made sense once Choloh explained them to me. The little man or god’s voice seemed to make those random images and sounds more like a story with beginning and ending. Trysannda sought my help because she had once bartered herself away to this Validarr in exchange for becoming the mother to some monster that would be spawned when she mated with a fiend from some other realm. Validarr thought to control the spawn for his own purposes. According to Arion’s whispered words to me before we departed, his own magic diverted my journey via the scroll through Darkworld itself for a moment. The passage through the timeless Darkworld should have allowed me to emerge in Pytharia at a point in which when no or little time had passed for Tyrsannda during her own journey to Ravensroost. If this means I somehow briefly exist in two places at the same time it makes no difference to me. Such are the cursed ways of wizardry!”
He raced through the castle and with his customary skill, he dispatched several guardsmen with ease. He found a dungeon and kicked open the massive door. He charged forward and found a scene of horror.
Trysannda, for he could recognize the girl from his dreams, stood before a crowd of weird beings with twisted features and the frightening demeanor of the insane.
She gasped as he approached since she had heard of him and had sought his help before giving up and trying to challenge Validarr on her own.
She was unaware that his visions of the other reality that would have existed had he rejected the lords of Elder Light’s offer to walk the path that led to his eventual kingship had enabled him to know her own story.
“Stay back, woman! These fiends reek of the Shadow gods. They are more of their handiwork!” he cried.
Trysannda said, “You can only be the man called Claw! I came here to kill its owner and ended up stepping from the dungeon into this Lair of Lunacy! This is not Pytharia!”
Claw nodded. It was likely one of the other worlds controlled by the Shadow gods.
He stood in front of Trysannda and admired her beauty even as he raised Moonthorn and faced the dozens of madmen,
“Stay away from us or I will bring your madness to a bloody end!” he said.
At that moment the cause of their insanity appeared above them all. A weird spherical being that looked like a giant ball or black sun came closer. It hovered above and Claw noticed its bizarre form. It had no body or limbs to speak of that he could detect. It dd have a series of terrible eyes that waved back and forth from long dangling stalks that emerged from its head.
“A Beholder! This realm of madness is ruled by a Shadow lord in the form of a Beholder!” cried Trysannda!
Claw said, “I will teach the freakish thing to avert its gaze!”
He swung his sword only to have it be deflected by an unseen wall of force.
He darted aside as a beam of destructive energy struck the spot he had been standing upon. He shoved Trysannda aside and warned her to stay behind him.
She began to chant softly as she tried to summon her own magic to protect them.
Claw dodged the beams that radiated from one of the Beholder’s eye stalks and pondered his next move.
The beast floated out of reach of his sword and moved toward the silvery tressed Trysannda.
Claw leaped upward and grasped the beast by its rough bark-like skin and he swung himself upward and climbed on its top. He sliced through several of the eye stalks and then gasped as a bolt of sheer force struck him. He fought to retain his balance as the creature flew across the room and the madmen shrieked wildly below.
He shuddered as he felt two different sensations. First, one of the creature’s eye bolts struck him and his arm began to burn as if dipped into acid. His magic resistant hand shattered and he used his other hand to push the fragments through the Beholder’s skull!
He fought the pain and with a final incredible show of strength he ripped it apart and collapsed on the ground.
Trysannda rushed forward and cradled him in her arms but she ushed free of her embrace and regained his feet.
“My hand resisted enough of its death beam to save me and I was able to turn its poison upon itself but my hand was destroyed in the process.”
Trysannda said, “I know the healing arts. I can stop the bleeding!” She said, “We have time. The other residents seem oddly clam now that their master is dead!”
She gestured toward the dozens of madmen who now looked at her and the world with clam and sanity filled eyes. They were cured.
One of them stepped forward like a majestic soldier. He was tall and wore a helmet and armor. Claw recognized him immediately thanks to Arion’s magical spell. He was one of the missing Seven Atlantean gods.
“Tynan, Lord of the Balance!” he said.
Tynan nodded and spoke in a stentorian voice. “Aye, that is my name. I have not been myself for some time. I, who embody perfectly the Balance of all things was a madman!”
At that moment a fat man with a balding head appeared at the head of the stairs that led from the Ravensroost castle dungeon to the portal to the Lair of Lunacy.
“Validarr!” cried Trysannda as she chanted a spell and saw mystical energy contain the smug tyrant.
He laughed and stepped out of her spell to mock her.
“Pretty Trysannda! Have you come to breed with my master?” he said.
She said, “I have come to kill you!”
Claw said, “No, girl. Allow me to do the honors!”
He bounded forward and fought his way through a barrage of eldritch bolts but as his relentless determination to reach his foe enabled him to get closer to Validarr, the evil man’s smugness turned to concern if not fear.
Validarr said, “You may not have the wench! She was promised to my master!”
Claw said, “Your master’s gory remains are spread across your dungeon floor!”
He grabbed Validarr by the throat and hurled him down the steps. As the startled wizard crashed to a landing his now freed prisoners swarmed over him and gained their own revenge.
Trysannda sighed with relief as she embraced Claw. “My thanks, noble warrior!”
Claw smiled for a moment and said, “I have owed you this much for a long time. I feel I’ve finally made amends!’
Tynan said, “I would see my brethren free from their own prisons! There must be a restoration of the Balance!”
Trysannda stared at him with interest and reverence. She was clearly impressed with him and Claw wondered if he was witnessing some kind of conversion. He shrugged and spoke the name Choloh! They vanished and the quest continued.
5
Arion and Stalker appeared upon the next world on their quest to free the Seven. Jheryl and Ghy had returned to Atlantis itself. Jheryl needed the restoration communion with her followers could provide while little Ghy reluctantly obeyed her command to join her.
They exchanged glances and Stalker said, “This place is as hot as the Burning Isle but it is new to me!”
They saw thick jungle foliage and heard the rustle of approaching figures. The sky was blue above them and animal noises echoed through the area.
Arion nodded and said, “It is as different from your frozen home as any realm can be and yet a pervasive evil permeates the atmosphere!”
Stalker replied, “I agree. It does not take a mage to realize that. This place will keep me busy.”
He drew his sword and moved forward with the speed and grace of a skilled warrior.
Arion wondered what dire circumstance had caused the heroic man to lose his soul. He also wondered if he might be able to remedy the situation.
A bizarre creature stepped forward and approached them calmly almost elegantly. He wore ornate robes of red and gold and although humanoid in form, he had the features of a predatory jungle cat! He smiled and revealed sharp teeth as he said, “I am Lord Leopard and you shall be my newest slaves!”
Stalker charged at the cat-beast and dodged his raking claws only to fall as the agile feline leaped over him and connected with a backward swipe of his arm.
Arion send bolts of energy at the Rakasha only to see the creature laughed off his attack and countered with one of his own.
“My voice will shatter your frail mind!” growled Lord Leopard. Unlike a normal jaguar or leopard the Shadow lord’s roar was more than mere sound. A damaging sonic blast echoed across the jungle and swept the foliage aside with sheer hurricane force.
Arion realized the beast had amazing powers and his most threatening consisted of a form of mind control.
At his summons ten warriors in exotic costumes rushed from the rear to attack the heroes. Each seemed to be nothing more than an extention of Lord Leopard’s will.
Stalker dived into them and kicked, punched, and fought his way through the crowd of enslaved men. He did not kill the since he sensed they were merely pawns. He had enough guilt on his conscience as it was although he could not truly feel the emotion since he had lost his soul.
He ducked a sword thrust and spun around to kick the weapon out of its owner’s hand. He flipped forward acrobatically and caused two others to fall at his feet as he used their prone bodies to jump up and then bring his sword hilt down across the head of still another. It was a ballet of brutality and Arion admired his skill if not his ruthlessness.
He faced Lord Leopard and said, “This is not possible. You do control these men but you shall never rule my will. I am Arion and I defy you!”
The high Mage of Atlantis concentrated his body seemed to swell up until it loomed over the jungle and he faced an equally large Lord Leopard.
Their astral or spirit selves battled while their physical bodies remained silent and immobile below.
Slowly, Arion began to triumph awesome will power overcame his foe’s animalistic rage.
He smiled as he saw the warriors begin to open their eyes and show emotions of their own choosing. They were awakening from their trances.
Lord Leopard said, “Simba Yenah!” and vanished into thin air.
Stalker said, “He escaped! I detect no trace of his evil aura!”
Arion said, “He did not escape as much as he deserted this world. His disembodied spirit may live on but he banished himself by speaking the same arcane phrase that first brought him here.* This world is free of his curse and so are his slaves including Deedra!” *Lord Leopard would return someday to face Prince Ra-Man in the modern era. (House of Secrets 78)
He gestured to a woman whose beauty was radiant in a literal sense. She glowed with health and energy like a golden sun in a very feminine form!
She smiled and said, “Arion! I have been chained by his mental bonds for so long. How ironic that I goddess of Earth should be mastered by chains of thought!”
Arion said, “Deedra’s mystic chain holds the Earth and surrounding Cosmos together in Atlantean cosmology!”
Stalker said, “I know a bit about being chained although mine chains are spiritual in nature!”
Arion said, “Stalker, I may yet be able to help you. Do not despair!”
Stalker almost smiled as he said, “That’s what I do best other than killing!”
6
Claw and Trysannda were also facing a foe on yet another of the worlds of the Shadow gods. While Tynan had departed to Atlantis much like Jheryl, the other two were continuing Claw’s quest.
“You did not have to accompany me. This is not your fight!” he said gruffly.
Trysannda gently touched his now bandaged right arm and said, “I wish to help you. You freed me from a terrible debt.”
They found themselves looking up at a tower that loomed above them and disappeared into clouds that hissed as they floated by.
“Acidic clouds!” cried Trysannda. “My magic can shield us from their burning rain for a time!”
They hurried toward the tower and Claw picked her up and carried her as he raced across the rocky hills and reached the entrance to the tower before her spell finally gave out.
He smashed through the door and led her into a massive hallway that was lined with large mirrors that seemed to reflect the man and woman not as they were but as distortions of their true nature.
Claw saw himself with his inhuman hand back intact and his eyes were a burning red. He was fully a champion of the Shadow Lord’s making and he shook his head and brought Moonthorn down against the mirror in rage.
He turned to see Trysannda weeping softly as she saw herself the helpless bride of a monstrous beast that looked like a massive snail the size of a building.
Claw lifted her to her feet and said, “Be calm. It is nothing more than foul wizardry. You are safe from witless images!”
Claw looked again and another mirror showed him locked in battle with a fierce warrior woman with flame red hair and a very revealing chain mail outfit that barely covered her dynamic body.
He looked at another mirror and saw a dashing man in green who was courtly and carried a slender rapier. He had two small protrusions on his skull. “Prince Ghilkyn?” gasped Claw as he recognized his long missing old friend.
He whirled to see himself once more reflected with a woman in a red and bluye outfit. She had black hair and wore bracelets on each wrist.
They were battling a red skinned giant and two other men stood by their side.
“Be these glimpses into the future or some other realm I do not know but I will not let them slow me down!” he bellowed.
He kicked the mirrors one by one until he and Trysannda stood in the hallway of shattered glass and looked at what appeared to be the massive snail from the first mirror.
“Sha-Gasa! That’s the monster Validarr wanted to give me to!” shouted Trysannda.*
Claw said, “Not while I live!”
He charged at the creature and sliced away with his word. As he made contact with the beast he felt revulsion sweep across his mind and heart. It was not merely a physical reaction to a terrible monster. It was a psychic attack and it was very deliberate.
He stood his ground and plunged the blade into the creature’s body again and again only to be hurled across the room as it lifted its huge head.
He grunted as he felt himself being cut by the shattered glass on the floor. Still, he was not about to give up and he leaped forward out of the path of the slowly moving behemoth. He darted forward and continued his assault on the beast. He was very strong and that raw power proved to be enough along with his indomitable will power. No other man could have matched the need to bring such strength to the fight while also mentally resisting the waves of revulsion
He turned to Trysannda as the monster crashed to the ground. She said, “Claw, look within the corpse!”
From within the slimy creature a beautiful and exotic woman emerged. Apparently, something about the snail’s slimy excretions acted as a type of narcotic and the woman had slumbered within its body a kind of lifeless state.
She wore a costume that was very revealing and resembled what later generations might think of as Egyptian in design. She was Gemimn the goddess of Order and Claw recognized her as he had Tynan due to Arion’s previous spell.
She smiled and said, “I owe you my thanks! I have much to do to restore divine Order to my realm and I will attend to that task now! My, you are a ruggedly handsome man!” she added before vanishing.
Claw cursed and said, “Who can make sense of the ways of god and monsters?”
Trysannda smiled and said, “She was right. You are ruggedly handsome!”
They vanished once more as Claw spoke the word Choloh!
*Claw faced Sha-Gasa in the unpublished Claw 13. That happened in the alternate reality he caught glimpses of in Darkworld. This is how it happened in his own continuity.
7
Arion and Stalker reached their next destination and Stalker looked at the High Mage with consternation.
“I know we are defeating your foes but they are surely not the only evil beings on those worlds? I was a foolish boy who pledged his soul to a wargod in exchange for being made into a great warrior; however, when I realized how miserable a trade I had made and how nothing brought me joy or enabled me to feel nobler emotions I asked for the return of my soul. I was told that it could only be restored if all evil was removed from the cosmos. I can’t achieve that goal if any evil being is allowed to exist!” he said.
Arion said, “There shall always be evil in one form or another as I pray there will always be good to oppose it. I shall oppose it as long as I live and breathe! You must accept that you’ve set yourself a fool’s errand. I will use all my resources to restore you when we defeat the Shadow gods! This I swear!”
Stalker glared at him for a moment and then said, “What is our task here?”
Arion said, “This is madness! We are on one of the worlds of Claw’s dimension as expected but look at the golden spires and beautiful gardens.
This looks like the lost City of the Golden Gates from my own Atlantan Empire!”
A giant figure emerged into view and said, “Well done, little Mage! This is indeed your sunken city. I brought it here to use as my zoo. You will fit nicely in a pretty cage!” He had one massive eye and a terribly deformed body. Scales and scabs covered his skin and he lurched forward on a twisted leg.
“I am Doomsayer! I am Deathbringer!” he bellowed.
Stalker said, “And I am tired of such ceaseless boasting! You don’t think you scare me do you? You do not presume that I can be hurt? I have no soul! I know loss and misery beyond anything you can imagine!”
He screamed a war cry and rammed his sword into the giant’s leg.
Arion flew into the air and created a shimmering and turning glyph that he used to dazzle the brute.
The battle continued as the giant slammed his fists together on Stalker and left the agile warrior staggering to safety.
Arion grunted as the brute tried to knock him from the air but Arion dodged and sealed the giant’s looming eye with a magically conjured shield!
Stalker relentlessly regained his feet and slowly began to swing from one spire to another with an agility beyond that of any acrobat. He prepared himself and with one final swing he dropped off a hanging flag and plunged his sword through the giant’s skull!
Arion caught him as he fell and watched with relief as the Shadow god collapsed.
“Well done, friend!” he said.
Stalker said, “It is all I know how to do! I am defined by death and slaughter and its absence finds me empty and devoid of purpose!”
They approached the Palace Royal and Arion said, “Why or how that fiend recovered the City of the Golden Gate is beyond me? I can only assume it is yet another deception!”
They swung open the wide and ornate double doors and entered the King’s audience chamber to see a silent figure slumped on the throne. He had snakes in place of hair and goat-like legs. He looked up at them vacantly.
Arion gasped, “Chaon, the god of Chaos and Madness! We have found our next member of the Seven!”
Stalker said, “He reeks of evil!”
Arion said, “It is his nature. He has been a thorn in my side in the past!”
Chaon suddenly giggled madly and said, “Aye, pretty Arion and I shall do worse to you anon! “
Arion gasped as ebony blades erupted from the air and slice through him. He was not physically hurt but his magical energies were slowly being sapped.
“It is a trap!” he gasped. Stalker tried to aid him but he was unable to stop the magical onslaught.
Chaon grinned madly and said, “It is indeed! I joined the Shadow gods! I am one of them now!”
8
Claw was battling for his life as well as he and Trysannda were surrounded by weird yellow hued humanoids who swarmed over them in seemingly endless numbers!
“These infernal goblins will not stop me! I will see them dead as long as I can draw a breath!” he vowed.
Trysannda chanted softly and her bolts of bedazzlement struck down some of the creatures. As underground dwellers they were sensitive to light.
Claw saw an old man with a gaunt body and a long beard. The Weaver! He was the last of the Seven to be rescued. He was chained to a wall in a weird world that seemed to lack any stability. Up and down shifted from second to second and there was no sky above or visible ground below. They were just moving back and forth without any visible means of support.
Claw sliced through a goblin’s skull and hurled three more into their allies. He continued battling forward until their huge leader appeared and glared at him through heavily scaled eyes. He was black and had a skull like stone. His teeth were razor sharp and jagged and he wore chainmail of a blood red hue.
“I am the Goblin Jarl! I am the Shadow god who will claim you, King Valcan!” he said.
Claw said, “I will gladly be King of the Dead if you are my first subject!”
He spun his sword around and dodged a black battle ax that his foe aimed at his own head.
He tackled the Goblin Jarl and wrestled furiously as the world changed around them and everything became green!
He ignored the flashing colors and began to batter his foe with his own sword. Moonthorn was a powerful weapon and he used it like no one else could hope to do.
They clashed again and again and Claw received a bad cut to one shoulder. He lurched forward and hit the Goblin again and again and managed to slice through his armor and wound his chest.
He struggled with the monster and managed to disarm him and then stabbed him through the heart.
He turned to Trysannda and said, “It is done! We’ve won!”
The Weaver’s chains fell off as Trysannda freed him and then she gazed sadly at Claw.
“Claw! I fear we have lost! Look at your arm!” she cried.
Claw gasped as he noticed what had escaped his notice in the heat of battle His bandages had been ripped away and his missing right hand was now intact with its scaled dragon-like claw back in place!
“By Soth!” he cursed as he realized his plight. The infernal hand had regenerated as Arion had warned him might happen!
9
Arion struggled to regain his feet and to summon his fading magic as Stalker held him up and said, “What has he done to you? You’re dead weight!”
Arion struggled to catch his breath. “He is draining my power! He is crippling me on a magical level!”
Chaon grinned and said, “And I shall not stop until you die!”
Stalker let Arion drop and charged at the mad Chaon!
“Release him or I will make your death slower and more painful than I had planned!” he said.
Chaon said, “My, how fierce you are!”
Stalker leaped at the mocking figure but he teleported aside and the hero barely managed to land on his feet.
Arion stood up slowly and said, “This shall not end this way! I shall not yield though all magic is lost to me!”
He drew his own seldom used sword and approached Chaon. As Stalker occupied the foul god, Arion plunged his sword into his side.
Chaon shuddered and then staggered away.
“You wounded me without your magic! I thought you were helpless without your spells!” he stammered.
Arion said, “My magic is back now, villain!”
Chaon screamed and vanished as he was drawn back to Atlantis against his will.
Arion and Stalker followed as Arion spoke the name Choloh and they reappeared in the city of Mu.
Wyynde and Lady Chian rushed forward to greet them and Lady Chian said, “What happened? You were gone but a moment!”
Before Arion could respond the skies darkened and a thousand shadowy beings loomed over the city.
“The Twilight Host! The remaining Shadow gods are assembled against us!” he said.
Stalker said, “This battle will do much to balance the scales against me!”
He looked up to see Claw and a beautiful woman with silvery hair appear before him.
Claw said, “I accomplished our quest and spoke Choloh’s name. I am cursed again!”
Arion said the inhuman hand on his friend’s right arm and said, “I can cure you as I did before if you stay away from your dimension from now onward!”
Claw said, “I will not stay anyplace nor find any rest until I slay every Shadow god!”
One of the Shadow gods fell to Earth like a meteor and stood up in a form all too familiar to Claw. He had black hair and a thin beard. He wore armor beneath kingly robes and his most striking feature was his sickening yellow eye!
“Occulas! I killed you once and will gladly do so again!” said Claw.
The Shadow god laughed and said,” I merely wear his form to make you feel more comfortable!”
Claw knew as much and he also knew that seeing the image of the man who had killed his parents when he was an infant was upsetting him.
Still, he persevered as always even as he glanced uneasily at his inhuman hand!
He swung his sword and Occulas countered with his own blade. Claw moved with the speed that made him so dangerous and gasped as his monstrous hand released the blade!
“Your hand serves us! You shall as well!” said a gloating Occulas.
Meanwhile, Arion, Stalker, Wyynde, Trysannda, and Lady Chian were preparing to face the other hovering Shadow gods when the Seven appeared including a cowering and chastened Chaon!
Choloh smiled as before and said, “We are united now. Before they struck at us one by one and caught us by surprise. Not so now as we fight as one!”
Energy blazed through the sky and struck Arion!
Arion smiled as he absorbed the powers of the Seven!
He grew to giant size and loomed above Mu. He faced the assembled Shadow gods and smiled again as they blasted him with a thunderous barrage of raw power!
He shrugged it off unhurt and said, ”Your magic seems to have failed you! Perhaps, that is because using the Weaver’s might I just unwound the fabric of reality that connected to your own dimension! I also used Deedra’s Chain to bind you all together with ethereal cords!”
The dark beings merged into one struggling Shadow that failed to break free of his trap. Arion had cut him off from the source of his own power and had turned the Shadow gods into one linked being.
Lady Chian said, “He is winning! My Lord Arion is victorious!”
Wyynde smiled and said, “As he always is!”
Arion was not done yet. He knew even the combined powers of the Seven could not hold his foes for long.
He raised his hands and Deedra’s light blazed across the sky and shattered the Shadow gods into fragments of darkness!
He gestured and Jheryl’s nurturing energies swept across Claw and his inhuman hand faded away to become the silver Orachulum hand Arion had forged once more! The same energy touched Stalker and he gasped as his eyes became a normal blue and the red hue faded away.
Stalker looked up at the others and tears dropped from his eyes. He touched his face and realized that his soul had been restored!
Claw smiled grimly and resumed his battle with Occulas who was losing strength as his own might was drained into his bound brethren above.
Claw parried the sword thrust and connected with his own devastating attack!
Occulas died at his feet and Claw turned to face the others!
The Shadow gods were slowly reforming into a now human sized being and Arion had also returned to his normal stature.
Tynan, Gemimn, and Chaon were standing together in a line. They did not touch but their glowing auras blended until they spoke with one voice.
“The Balance is greater than any one force! The Balance will banish the Shadow spawn to their own 15 worlds where they will contend forever with the lords of Elder Light. Just as man is made of good and bad, law and order, reason and madness, so should each world be equally divided. There will no longer be seven worlds of light and seven worlds of darkness with Pytharia caught in the middle. There shall only be 15 worlds with light and shadow found in equal measure.”
They separated once more as a smiling Choloh said, “So it is written! So it shall be!”
The Seven vanished once more although all of them looked with favor upon Arion and his allies.
Wyynde said, “Arion, my Lord, you have freed Atlantis from the Shadow gods!”
Trysannda said, “And my dimension is now in balance although each side will resume the struggle for dominance as it should have always been!”
Claw said, “What are your plans, Trysannda?”
She smiled and kissed him for a moment. “I will find a place where I can help others find peace and achieve inner balance. Seeing Tynan, Gemimn, and Chaon work together has inspired me. It shall be my mission to preserve the Balance and you will always live in my heart as my first champion, Valcan!”
She vanished and Claw sighed slowly.
Stalker said, “I am restored. I feel a soul. I will never lose it again! Let me continue to stalk evil but to do so with hope and humanity in my heart!”
Arion clasped him on the arm and said, “I am pleased for you! Will you also return to your flat world?”
Stalker said, “No, I will travel for a while. I may yet do much good in the cosmos!”
Claw smiled and he came closer to Arion.
“Your magic broke my curse. I am no longer a victim of the cursed hand. I will never know its corrupting touch again. I owe you a great debt!” he said.
Arion said, “You owe me nothing but friendship, Valcan. I sense that you wish to return to your own dimension. Shall you become King of Pytharia again?”
Claw said, “I know not. I have time to claim a throne should I wish to do so. During my time in one of those limbo worlds I saw a friend reflected in a mirror. I think I shall find him. He was my first comrade before I met you!”
He extended his silver hand and clasped Arion’s hand. He would find Prince Ghilkyn and find his destiny on Pytharia. The gods of light and shadow would scheme and fight against one another but they would do so without his service. He was finally free to find his own path and he was happy at last.
As Arion embraced Lady Chian and cheering Atlanteans celebrated their High Mage, somewhere Choloh whispered, “And they lived happily ever after… for a time!”
The End
