Fantasy Dark Arcanum

[Skylord Nexus]

Silas took a second to look down an the world below, everything looked so small and insignificant from up here. He imagined that if there were people at the base of the vats mountain range they'd look like ants... well, more so than they did normally. Regardless, the view was spectacular and it made him wonder why anyone would build a temple up here instead of a palace or fortress, it seemed like such a waste. Then again getting up there in the first place had been a challenge in of itself, even with the tomes instructions. Normally the young mage would have simply used magic to scale the rocky edifices of the mountains, unfortunately there seemed to be some kind of spell woven into certain areas of the path up which blocked all magic, meaning if he had chosen to to simply fly up, the young man would have likely met a sticky end at the hands of gravity.

Treacherous journey and possible demises aside however, he was here at the temple and that's what mattered! The structure looked much more run down than how the tomb he'd stolen from the restricted section of the academy library had said, however given the amount of time that had likely passed since the book was written, it was hardly a surprise. Never the less, the young mage couldn't help but marvel at the stone work, admiring the intricacies of the masonry that still stood out despite the test of time. Of course over the years he had read plenty about temples and ruins like this scattered across the continent, but this was the first time he'd ever seen one of them in person! It only served to light the obsessive fire within him as he approached the doors.

Except there was no door, not exactly at least. Where a door would logically be there was instead a set of three stone rings caved into the wall, each either many different symbols of some lost language. Approaching the carvings, Silas gingerly reached out to touch one of the rings, before channelling a small trick of magic into it, allowing him to rotate it. With a smirk, the young drow consulted his stolen tome once more and flicked to the page where different phrases were translated. At first he tried aligning the rings so that the phrases were set in straight lines going inwards, but that didn't get him any results. His eyes then glanced down to the centre of the circle where a circular blab of rock stood with a spiral caved into it... that gave Silas an idea. He instead moved the rings to the phrased were set out in a spiral moving inwards lined up with the centre.

For a second nothing happened and the ambitious young man wondered if the information the book had been wrong. However his train of thought was cut of by the sound of rumbling as the rings began to spin and the whole wall began to descend into the ground, leaving him with an open entrance.

"Huh... well that's certainly ONE way to design a door i suppose... Oh well. Onwards!"

The interior was dark although that was no issue for the mage as with a wave of his hand, small balls of fire shot out, igniting braziers lighting up the interior and three possible paths which was already suspicious to the mage because the tome only spoke about one, central path, with nothing about the two side route... though perhaps that made sense. The small section of the tome that covered the subject of this temple seemed to focus on what was contained inside and how to get there, but it stood to reason that such a large structure likely had more to it than just this sealed entity. Yet while the temptation to explore such an ancient and untouched place was difficult to resist, Silas knew he had to. His focus was on the being trapped within the temple first and foremost, there'd be time to explore afterwards. Plus there was no knowing what traps to be laying in weight down the other paths, unlike the central one.

With that decided Silas continued on, ignoring side doors and rooms and the occasional trap, until eventually he ended up at his next obstacle, a complex weaving of magical barriers and wards designed to be rather 'unpleasant' for anyone who tried to pass through or disarm it without permission. Unfortunately for Silas, permission was something he lacked... however fortune smiled upon him as the tome outlined a weakness of the barrier: If someone could fine the weakest spell within the barrier they could slowly destabilise it and cause the whole barrier to break down for a short while... assuming they had the expertise to perform such a feat... How lucky then, that the noble, in fact, did.

When he was younger and a student at the academy it was how he'd sneak into the restricted sections of the library and other rooms. They were always protected by many different spells linked together, and while it took practise, Silas learnt how to find the weakness inherent in such protection and pull on it to allow himself entry. Of course this barrier now was different than that of the Academy's, much deadlier for one, however he was confident that he he just found the correct protection to pull on, he'd be in!

It took several minuets work of poking and prodding with his magic before he found the weak point, a simple enchantment designed to confuse any intruder who tried to break through. Basic magic hidden within a wall of immense magic... perfect to exploit. With pin point accuracy Silas located the spell and pulled on it, slowly ripping it from the web of other protections, and just like pulling on a thread, the whole barrier unravled allowing him entry for a sort while, while it rebuilt itself. With that in mind the mage smugly hopped through the doorway and looked upon his prize.

A single book on a pedestal in the middle of a large room. Once upon a time it likely would have been guarded, but those days were long past, how all that remained were echoes of a past long gone and the evil contained within the pages of the book.

"Now then. Let's see exactly what you are and how i can use you."

Smirking and brimming with confidence, Silas marched forth to the book and grasped it in both hands, unaware at the time that in doing so he would set forth a series of events that would bring the continent and every nation upon it to its knees.

 

[EtherealShadows]

The whole room started glowing in a bright shade of purple as soon as the book’s cover was touched by the mere hand of the young traveler who had been brave enough to come all the way up to the legendary and mysterious temple which most people wouldn’t even assume existed. But that was what he did. And it was no going back from there.

"Ah, bold of you to assume you can just use me that!"

A sly voice spoke in a dark tone, but the voice still sounded rather more dry and light toned around the tenor scale rather than a deep and low voice.

"I repeat, use me? Hah, for what?!"

It spoke in a harsh tone, blending well with the intense atmosphere. The room flashed white and purple a few more times, before barely a shady figure could be distinguished from the rest of the room, standing right in front of Silas and atop of the pedestal, stepping onto the book. The shady figure looked unfamiliar and not like any normal human beings. His skin seemed it was made out of shady and glowing purple matter and he was covered in long white and black robes, his eyes where gleaming bright yellow, and then his hair, pale, white, long, messy and unkept. If that alone wasn’t intimidating enough for any traveler, likely would they have no fear at all.

"Well who do we have here? Some kind of useless idiot?… My eyes are still having a hard time adjusting to this world’s light after being trapped in a book for so long… So long I don’t have any track of time anymore…"

His voice and tone still harsh until it faded into a more curious tone as he tried to not get too fascinated by the world around him. And again he looked to the stranger who he thought had claimed to be intending on using him in any way. The shady figure blinked his eyes several times before he finally continued his speech;

"Ah, I see… you’re just one of those mere mortal beings! Hah, you think you can just come up all the way to control a mastermind like I, Arcanus?! You must surely be a fool if you thought that!"

The shadowy figure continued to make assumptions of the young man while he refused to believe anyone could ever be strong enough or even stronger than himself to be able to control or manipulate someone as smart as he believed he was. He stood there with cunningly narrowed eyes, staring at the young man, and he crossed his arms with another sly smile on his face, and with the urge to say out loud "Just wait until you get to see the full potential of my power!" or something. However, Arcanus was not that dumb, if the young traveler was to be naive, it would really be to his advantage not to tell too much.

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Silas took a cautious step back as the room began to glow unsure of what was happening, that bloody book hadn't said anything about this! Not that he was scared of course, that was ridiculous! The young mage was, of course, completely confident in his skills in the face of... whatever this was, he wasn't intending to die here after all, especially after being forced to climb all the way up here!

Although the drow hadn't been quite sure what to expect, he still found himself surprised as a mysterious voice began to speak. That surprise quickly made way for curiosity though as it seemed like that voice came from the entity he'd sought and it began to take form. Of course the creature only seemed to have a form in the loosest sense of the word. It's skin was like shadow that looked almost like it ebbed and flowed, while it's eyes stood out like two shining yellow stars from within the void of its body. It was a being that by all logic should have been unnatural, WAS natural, yet all things considered it- his form seemed rather normal, even his messy hair seemed to show wear from the centuries he'd been trapped here despite his body not.

Then the book bound bastard had the gall to insult him, HIM?! Silas wanted to slap him for such a slight, yet the young mage remained calm and collected, in fact he let his overconfidence become evident as a smug smirk spread across his face. In fact a chuckle escaped him at being called a 'mere mortal'

"Well now~ That is certainly big talk from someone who's spent untold centuries stuck inside a book."

He chuckled again and moved closer, slowly pacing around the pedestal.

"You have the gall to call ME a fool and a useless idiot after I've got through the magical seals that have kept you stuck here for so very, very long. This place as no doubt fallen to ruin since the age you were trapped in, and STILL you couldn't do anything to get out. Honestly i feel rather disappointed... it's pathetic really."

Silas knew he was poking the bear as it were, but he was curious to see what this entity could do, Arcanus didn't seem to match any record of any creature or magical entity he'd ever read about. He definitely wasn't an angelic being, and he didn't really seem fiery and chaotic enough to be a demon. No, this being before him seemed to be something else entirely, and he wanted to see what got such a creature trapped inside a book.

"So yes, it seems i will be using you for my own ends, although i fear my plans may have to be greatly diminished given how disappointing you appear to be, but i'm sure i can find A use for you... if nothing else the book might be a nice decoration piece. It even comes with it's own jester!"