in the purest sense of it. Regardless of how the world saw him he knew for a fact his power

could and would kill someone and for that he held back and he was given the title of World’s

Worst Sorcerer but what did he know of the world? There were those who sought power for

just having it but those who ignored its siren call would forever be allured by a darker calling.

The City of Jotungard was the cradle of civilization and trade for this region known as the

Blasted Lands, the once proud giant race now subjugated by the Emperor Rakshasa race, a

race of cat people that could manipulate all three Manifestations and used their superior

prowess to turn a proud race of warriors into cheap labor indentured servants. Traversing the

market was difficult for him as the vendors did not want anything to do with him but he was

used to being shrugged off but as he rounded a corner, he walked into a mountain of a

Rakshasa warrior “Watch where you are walking human scum” the thing spat “So sorry sir,

the sun was in my eyes” he spoke politely but the soldier simply growled but felt a pang of

fear towards this human, he quickly left as he continued walking. The Rakshasa soldier

stopped he felt its heart beating and he also felt like he had just wet himself. The robed man

walked into what he thought would be an antique dealer where he approached “Welcome sir,

buying or selling?” the older gentleman behind the counter asked, the man placed the bauble

on the countertop and asked “How much? I’ve been trying to get rid of it” he said but the

older man was baffled “A Dragon Stone? How did you come by this?” he asked confused “I

woke up with it in my possession, I don’t remember how or why but I cannot remember

anything from five years ago” at the top of a tower in Jotungard there was an explosion that

rocked the entire city including the shop where he was attempting to sell this bauble, soldiers

ran by heading towards the explosion “What was that?” the man asked trying to clear his ears

“A seer probably had an accident with a Scrying Stone” Scrying Stones don’t just explode

like that but he felt the urge to move on “So how much?” he asked “I’m afraid I cannot afford

what this is worth but If you head the City of Fangs deeper into this country you may be able

to find a dealer who will buy this” the dealer said but the man simply sighed and pocketed the

stone once again then left. As he continued walking throughout the city he came across a

beggar in the street, dropping a few coins into his open bag he was thanked and the beggar

simply vanished as he turned his back. The coins were made from beaten platinum, not really

coins but an increasingly rare material since most of it is mined out and never seen in a form

such as this, but the coin shaped platinum was an old currency that is only used in the highest

of society like the Sorcerer’s Court or the black markets.

The Canyons of Solitude were located outside of Jotungard connecting the City of Fangs to it

from a narrow passage but certain things happen in those canyons that people safe in their

homes were not aware of and the people in charge never cared to descend from their lofty

position to lend a hand which is why Jotungard was known in the outside world as the City of

Beggars or the City of Vagrants but he continued to move. As this strange amnesiac man

made his way through the canyon he was approached by several large men in armor with

some carrying a palanquin with some dignitary in it but he ignored them lost in his thoughts

when one of the armored soldiers grabbed his shoulder “Make room for Matriarch Yolanda”

and shoved him aside, he wasn’t a violent person by any means but deep down there was a

rumble of power and the soldier flew across the canyon with lightning rippling off him, the

stranger looked down and saw his hand engulfed in a shimmering blue energetic field that

arced, before the other soldiers could react he continued onward hoping the soldiers did not

come after him.

Escaping from the chasing soldiers the stranger hid still pulsing with power in his hand he

began to wonder what it was, he had seen manifestations before but from his own body?

What was going on? Could a seer help find out who he is or was he just putting his need to

rid himself of this stone. He took the stone from his pocket to examine it, it had something

carved into it, it was a relief of a dragon but dragons were now extinct and whatever

remained of them were now a thing of status that your family or ancestor had slain one. The

gates to the City of Fangs were adorned with old monster bones that were constructed to

point outwards so the citizens could impale their enemies but in the last few centuries there

were no enemies as paranoia has now set in as the word of a prophecy has circulated and now

permeates the minds of everyone it is spoken to.

The city itself was devoid of those with fangs as he noticed the people were quite content on

covering themselves but there were soldiers in the main square dressed in what could be

equipment of a gladiator but these were Lizardmen after all, thick plates of skin protecting

their vital areas from the random cutthroat or would be pick pocketer but he tended to avoid

people where he could now after several incidents involving people being flung across the

ground but he rounded the corner avoiding the scrutinizing eyes of the Lizardmen but they

knew that there someone new in town but they moved quick and avoided their gaze as some

Lizardmen had that thousand yard stare that had intimidated those who would try and hold

their gaze. On his way to the nearest antiques dealer, he bumped into a strange man “Oh

excuse me” he said to the gentleman “Darius? Is that you old friend? I thought you were

dead!” this man was dressed in black leather with two long knives and a single estoc on his

hip, his face was one of an middle aged man weathered and bearded “I’m sorry you may have

mistaken me for someone else good sir” the man replied “Darius your face is still the same

but it has been a good five years since I saw you after that little stunt you pulled in the Grand

Dragon Temple, do you still have the stone?” he reached into his pocket and pulled it out

“Get rid of it!, what the hell happened?” this strange man asked “I.. I don’t remember, who

am I?” there were tears in his eyes as he looked at this man “You okay Darius? I’ve never seen

demanded “Come with me” he walked with Darius “My name is Rigel Blackwood; I was a

court assassin for Emperor Virtus and you were his court mage before he was assassinated”

Rigel opened a door to a nearby house and shoved Darius inside and then closed the door

behind him “A court mage?” was all Darius could say narrowing his eyes and frowning in

confusion “I thought court mages were treated badly, I’ve heard bad things” Darius said there

was a sense of innocence in his statement or was it naïveté disguised as innocence? “I don’t

remember anything from five years ago, I’ve been fumbling through the dark trying to get rid

of this damn stone and no one wants to buy it” Darius pulled the stone out “What the hell is

it?” he asked Rigel “The Dragon Stone, it’s a source of power related to the weave as you

used to tell me it is a petrified eye of a long dead ancient dragon. The stone itself is soaked in

the power of the weave but some years after the war the weave became bent in the sense that

those who had power were now either in prison or are now street performers in the old

empire” how quickly things change “I was accosted in the valley and somehow this soldier

was struck by energy from my hand” he held out his hand for Rigel to see, there was a thick

layer of dense magic still emanating from Darius but it was also connected to the stone which

resonated with Darius “Tell me what happened in that temple” Darius didn’t ask “Very well,

we got orders from the late emperor to break into the Grand Dragon Temple and obtain

several dragon stones because of how damaged the weave was after the last Manifestation

War not to mention how shattered the world was but when we managed to get into the temple

those bastards who helped us get in betrayed us and tried to kill you, I managed to escape

after the damn place collapsed” Darius remembered then that he awoke in the temple but

before then was still a blank “What happened to those who betrayed us?” he asked, Rigel

inwardly sighed “You destroyed them with a wave of your hand, a burst of utter anger

erupted from your hand and turned them into pillars of ash to my knowledge you were going

to hunt down the people who hired them to betray us but the place collapsed. I did some

digging and the temple was rigged for demolition that day but it was the oddest thing an

earthquake stemming from a Manifestation about six leagues away smashed the temple, I

think it was the work of some of the Imperial Mages from the Land of Magisters in

Zurgahd’sol” Rigel added “And who are you they?” Darius asked “Sworn enemies of the late

emperor, the whole Manifestation War was with them and they are the ones who started the

damn thing” Rigel said visibly becoming angry “What was the stone going to be used for

then?” Darius asked there was curiosity about him “The emperor was going to create a

catalyst to channel his Manifestations into a single point then target the Magister’s Temple of

Imperial Magic to take out the entire place but an assassin got to him before we could bring

the stone back, and the temple fell but at the time I thought it was just a coincidence that it

happened but over the years I started to piece together a theory on why Virtus was killed”

Rigel stopped and sat down on the dusty looking floor and sighed “The magisters wanted to

restart the Manifestation War but after the temple fell there was a new rumor, well not a

rumor more of a prophecy regarding a Spellbound Doom where the Weave bends and breaks

making everyone who had the power of magic to simply become… Normal but the name was

never said” Rigel paused for a moment but knew Darius was trying to remember but there

was no memory of his past exploits, a resounding blank spot in his head all leading back to

when he woke inside a crumbled temple.

Darius woke inside the destroyed temple, cracks in the ground led to darkness, confused he

stood staring at the roof which in the earthquake had imploded showering the area with

broken bricks and wooden beams the only object that wasn’t destroyed was the stone he now

possessed. The Dragon Stone had a dim light surrounding it but as Darius squeezed he felt a

surge of power rip through his body then he dropped it, the stone simply dropped without

ceremony or a single care as it impacted and smashed the floor underneath its massive

weight, how was it that it was so light in his hands but as it fell to the floor it became heavy

and destructive to its surroundings? His mind reeled back to the present and asked a simple

question “Who else knows me? Do I have enemies or was I a nice person?” Darius almost

had a cynical but grim look on his face, Rigel surmised not knowing who or what you were in

a previous life but still some years down the track was a kind of a hell “There is a templar we

can talk to that has a better grasp on how to restore lost memories, we can go east to Belcroft

then to Damelden by carriage that is only if you want to find your past” Rigel said but Darius

quickly accepted, they set out right away to the east to Belcroft.