His thoughts went to his past, his time in the Iron Gaol and the employ of Virtus, most of the
time he knew his hands were slicing and cutting someone but when the subject of the
Dragon’s Stone came up, he took the chance without hesitation but when Rigel had betrayed
him and attempted to kill him his mind shut down and his reflexes to deadly as he brought the
entire temple on top of them but when he survived he knew something went wrong but his
memories were gone so he spent five years struggling to cope with gaps and spontaneous
eruptions of power using the stone as a catalyst. His thoughts stopped when he saw a
gathering of a few individuals brandishing curved blades with malice “Bane, so nice of you to
show your face out there” they were guards from the Iron Gaol “Bane is gone, I am all that
remains” Darius said readying himself for a fight, he knew how to fight being a former
soldier in Virtus’ forces but he hadn’t wielded a proper longsword since his soldiering days
but he knew how to kill quite effectively even without the use of manifestations of course
“You wear Bane’s face hence you are Bane. We are going to exact some judgement and
punishment on you for murdering our High Inquisitor” they began to approach “The High
Inquisitor was lower than a maggot, his face deserved to be turned into its baser form” Darius
felt a surge of rage but since Bane was a part of him he had some of Bane’s more… brutal
aspects “You will pay dearly!” the first man ran at Darius, there was a quick flash of steel and
the man became two as his body toppled over itself spilling guts and blood over the ground,
very sharp Darius noted, he took a closer look at what the blade was made from, a Fury
Dragon’s tooth that had a manifestation of shaping to form a blade without it being forged
from steel, just as sharp and just as dangerous. The other men looked at each other then ran at
Darius, there was a surge of power as the air began to spark sending a lightning bolt in their
direction hitting the first man and then arcing to the second turning them into a light red mist
with their guts smoldering on the ground. The combination of Bane’s use of the weave and
Darius’ affinity for lightning had become a more dangerous combination he thought to
himself, now the World’s Worst Sorcerer would no longer have such a moniker, whatever
they would call him, The Spellbound Doom would be a far stretch but Darius was slowly
realizing why they would have called him that in the first place, a fractured mind in
conjunction with the education at the Iron Gaol and the darker side knowing how to full
utilize powers that would normally take years to master, Darius knew he would have to hide
his abilities and rely on a blade but he also knew that hiding your powers can result in a build
up of energies that can cause all sorts of havoc which is why high class manifesters always
purge by having Praltic Duels, to discharge and expel the buildup of excess power, but here
there was someone who instead had a more interesting thought since they had to the stone,
why not discharge the energies into that, so he did feeling instantly better about his lot in life.
The rain had hammered down on Darius for days on end as he neared the Doll Maker’s
domain but he was still a couple of months from it. As the years have gone by a valley had
formed where certain creatures settling in, Dragons. The ancient dragons were tyrants but due
to them being hunted to near extinction the younger dragons migrated elsewhere but at the
same time they still hold a grudge against the mortal races for slaying their kind and the most
common warnings were anyone who enter the Valley of the Wyrm never return to the outside
world. He camped under small patch of trees that dotted the landscape as the plains began to
stretch from rocky and mountainous terrain to just pure hard packed earth where clumps of
grass would trip you over and break your ankles.
There was a massive battle that took place on this patch of earth, rotting bodies and broken
armor, lances and swords were strewn about as several vultures pecked at the dead, ripping
out eyes and bits of tongue, the puddles of water ran thick with blood as there was a loud
crunching and fleshy breaking noise from nearby. Darius stopped in his tracks and looked
around to locate the sound, it seemed to come from all around him as the noise echoed, there
was a crunch and slurp as Darius turned his head to see this creature; four legged but it
looked like a spider just in a human shape, it had a long neck and it craned around to look at
Darius, its mouth was wide and stretched with a large forged tongue with barbs on the end of
it with large jagged teeth. It howled at Darius leaping at least thirty feet in the air then rapid
movement across the ground darting between the corpses lunging at him, he deftly steps to
the side letting the creature skate and turn around swiftly on a dime as it stopped to survey its
opponent. Darius dropped his hood and drew his sword, studying this creature he began his
counter attack, as the creature lunged again with its tongue out and teeth pushed out like a
maw on a worm Darius stepped and struck the side of the creature, the sword glanced it
lightly wounding it. The sword was incredibly sharp but there were things in this world that
laugh at blades and piercing weapons so Darius took a more draconian method of attempting
to wound it as it came around for another attack he opened his hand and shaped it like one
would hold a ball and an intense ball of swirling flame erupted, the grass and ground around
him began to scorch and cook as the creature lunged again Darius let go of the ball and it
rushed towards the creature engulfed it in a jet of surging fire, the creature screamed as it
veered off and began to eat its wounded legs, new ones burst out of its body in place of the
ruined ones. Darius narrowed his eyes and positioned his feet as he began to concentrate for a
few seconds as the creature lowered its body seemingly becoming more dangerous as the
quality of its magic was beginning to twist. The creature made one final desperate lunge at
Darius, a cold chill ripped through the area and slammed into the creature as it began to
freeze and crack revealing a multitude of people underneath its skin stitched together in what
looked like writhing agony. The frozen creature broken into several pieces as another few
loud screams echoed through the area. Quick bootsteps swifter than anyone he had felt before
appeared covered in blood and viscera “Zurgad?” Darius asked, the vampire turned and
looked at him “You’re not Bane, oh Darius my lad how’re you? What are you doing in this
unholy place?” there was no combat damage done to him, his face was covered in blood
however “Oh I see you have met one of my little Gore Creepers, sadly they attack anyone
with a pulse but that doesn’t answer my question” he put his sword away and wiped the blood
from his mouth “I’m passing through to get to the Viridian Steppes” Darius said but Zurgad’s
face went a little more lighter shade of pale “You want to go there? The Sanguine Court
would never truck with that abomination but I’m more inclined to help you since I kind of
left you and your companions to the Iron Gaol guards… speaking of which where are they?”
even though he travelled with them for a short time Zurgad was starting to like the weird
dichotomy they had began to develop “Bane sent Haldrith back to his kingdom for help and
Alys went to find her tribe” Zurgad nodded “What are you doing here then?” Darius asked,
Zurgad raise his eyebrows in surprise “Oh! I’m collecting currency for the Blood Harvest
that’s in a matter of weeks, more blood means more guests will flock to my table and partake
in my brand of wine and cheese as it were” the functions of vampiric courts were still
unknown to nearly every mortal out there but creatures of the night and moon knew what
goes on behind the light and in the depths of the shadows. “How long before you are able join
me again on this mission of mine?” Darius asked “Oh not to worry I can join you now
actually, I’m not exactly thrilled going through the Valley of the Wyrm and by extension if
you are going where I think you are going I’m going to tag along, I received word last month
that the High Templars of the Sun are planning to strike my court, we can’t have that now can
we?” Zurgad smiled “You are going to kill them?” Darius asked but Zurgad almost felt
insulted “I’m going to give them a very firm warning, the Kingdom of the Sun has no power
over the Kingdom of the Sanguine Court or the Court of the Gathered Shadows” Darius felt a
pang of nervousness but got over it “Before we leave and head through this I need to give my
pets some instructions, he called a Gore Creeper with a howl that would put the fear of death
into the most stoic of men, gave the creature a pat on the head and said “Gather the others and
head home, deposit the currency into the vat and sleep” the creature gave a small series of
hisses and growls then darted off into the distance with more and more creepers stepping in
behind the leader then vanishing into the mist surrounding the battlefield.