The
chanting of several voices echoed eerily off the walls of the darkened chamber.
The five robed mages stood around the ritual circle that had been drawn on the
floor in arcane red chalk many days prior. As the chant neared its conclusion,
glowing blue streams of soul energy issued forth from the mages’ staffs and
began to suffuse the three piles of bones that were clustered together in the
circle’s center.
Many
of the bones slowly began to drift off of the ground and hover in the air,
gradually assembling into a coherent shape, and rapidly blackening from the dark
power suffusing them in the process. On the ground, the bones not needed for
the ritual crumbled to dust, as in the air above, the monster finished taking
shape.
The
hours-long chant ceased, as did the beams of soul energy, as the ritual was complete,
and the exhausted mages lowered their staffs. Once the soul energy surrounding
its form had fully subsided, the soul mages were finally able to behold their
creation. The monster was composed entirely of blackened bones and would have
towered a couple of feet above its creators if it had been touching the ground.
The
wither’s body consisted of a long spine that traveled upwards and through a
large ribcage before splitting into three, with each end being topped by a
blackened skull. Within each of the creature’s eye sockets glowed a pool of blueish-white
soul energy. The wither briefly hovered motionlessly in the air before each
head moved with a jolt as if suddenly being woken from a dream.
The
three heads began to look from side to side, taking in their surroundings as
the creature’s body rotated in place. The new being took note of the five robed
figures encircling it. These mortals were well over six feet tall, their chalk-colored
skin was easily visible within their hoods, and each of them had yellow-gold
markings on their face, but the marks were not identical between any two of
them.
The
mage that seemed to be the leader took a couple of tentative steps toward the
wither. The aging man’s robe appeared to be made out of the night sky with six
large stars near the shoulders that were much brighter than the rest, and in
his hand was a rune-engraved staff made of silvery metal and crowned by a large
amethyst gem.
“Can
you understand me, monster?” the mage questioned in a halting voice that
trembled with excitement and trepidation.
“We
are Witherius, and shall be referred to as such,” the middle head asserted in a
deep and commanding voice as his cruel gaze bored into the old man’s wide eyes.
The
mage hastily stepped backward, holding his staff out in front of him. “Alright…
well… I suppose I should introduce myself…” He straightened and cleared his
throat, “I am Soul Lord Quith, your creator and the owner of this outpost, and as
such, I expect you to treat me with a bit more respect.”
“I
reserve my respect for those who can crush their foes in battle!” Witherius’
left head exclaimed in a shrill, animated voice.
“Don’t
antagonize him, Left,” the first head interjected.
“I
do not believe people like you create beings like us for the sake of it… So
tell me, Quith, for what purpose were we created?” the right head queried in
the smooth and measured voice of a practiced speaker.
The
Soul Lord nodded and began, “One hundred years ago, our people, The Great
Builder Empire, ruled over a large stretch of both the Nether and the Material
Plane. The empire of the Material Plane was the oldest and greatest of the two
empires and was ruled by High Emperor Zoldiock.” He continued, “Eventually, our
great empire fell into infighting due to the treacherous illusions of a lich,
and was destroyed by a coalition of all of our vile and conquest-hungry neighbors.
You were created to go into the Material Plane and destroy the nations that
have wronged us,” Quith finished with a flamboyant flourish of his hand toward
the wither.
Witherius’
three heads responded at once:
“I
see.”
“We
were created to cause destruction? I love causing destruction!”
“We
will be happy to assist in the righteous cause of your revenge.”
“Very
good,” Quith remarked, a pleased smile spreading across his face.
Ì
“All
right, for your first test, you will need to destroy these targets with your
flaming skulls,” the soul mage explained, pointing at a row of targets painted
in red on small stone walls.
“With
pleasure!” the wither gleefully exclaimed. Each of Witherius’ heads turned to
face a separate target, and a charred, flaming skull appeared from thin air in
front of each before launching toward its respective mark. The fiery
projectiles landed almost simultaneously, reducing their respective targets to
rubble. By the time the first of the skulls had landed, the wither’s heads had
already turned and unleashed a second volley. Mere seconds later, the whole
line of targets had been reduced to a field of debris.
“Good.
Very good,” Quith commented, clearly impressed. “You have proved both your
ability to attack accurately at range, and to destroy almost any physical
barrier in your path. Now I shall have you fight a few of our soldiers to test
your prowess in a real battle.”
“Do
you really have any doubts? I would think our prowess is evident,” Witherius
retorted imperiously.
“I
must make sure of your prowess before giving my report to the High Emperor,”
the Soul Lord asserted.
Witherius
followed the group of soul mages to a small arena dug into the floor of a large
room. The ground of this realm was made from a type of soft, red stone known as
netherrack.
Waiting in the pit were builders, each clad in chainmail and wielding a sword
and shield. The wither lazily drifted to the center of the arena, two of his
heads eyeing their opponents with boredom, and the third with glee.
“Begin,”
one of the mages loudly commanded.
The
soldiers charged at the floating monster in unison. The first of their number
was struck in the chest by a flaming skull and hurled against one wall of the pit.
Another
soldier lunged forward to attack, but was suddenly caught in Witherius’
telekinetic grip and lifted into the air.
The
wither’s right head chanted a brief incantation and a wave of fire launched
from in front of him, incinerating two of his adversaries.
A
fallen soldier’s sword levitated into the air and flew forward, driving itself
deep into the hovering warrior’s stomach. Witherius let the impaled soldier
fall to the ground as he rotated so that the tops of his heads were facing the
wall. Then the wither bolted forward, slamming heads-first into one of the
builders and crushing him into one wall.
Witherius
hovered a few more feet into the air and surveyed his surroundings. All of his
adversaries lay dead except for one that had been struck with a flaming skull.
The remaining soldier was in the process of struggling to his feet as he
clutched at his injured midsection. “No survivors,” the wither matter-of-factly
proclaimed as he fired a burning skull into the soldier’s head, separating it
from his shoulders. A high-pitched, gleeful cackle issued from Witherius’ left
head as he watched the headless corpse of his final foe collapse to the ground.
“Very
well done, indeed. Viran will certainly be pleased with me for this one,” Quith
commented with a chuckle.
Ì
Witherius
was alone, hovering in a corner of the barren quarters he was given for breaks in
between testing.
“I
have been wanting to talk with the two of you about our situation,” the
wither’s center head confided. “I do not feel that we should follow the orders of
those who are trying to get revenge for being justifiably destroyed.”
“I
agree completely,” one head responded. “I can remember many things from the
souls that created us, and it seems to me that the builders were heartless
conquerors and slavers, who eventually angered their neighbors into uniting
against them and giving them what they deserved.”
“But,
Right… I thought you said that their revenge was a righteous cause?” the third
head questioned with obvious confusion in his voice.
“That…
was a lie, I was merely manipulating our foolish creators. I thought that was
obvious… but I guess not,” Right responded in a tone of mild exasperation.
“Oh.
Well, I guess I agree with you then. But if we aren’t going to follow the
builders’ orders, what are we going to do? Kill them? I like the sound of
killing them!” the left head answered.
“Actually,
that’s exactly the thing I was going to
suggest. I agree with Left that the builders should be destroyed,” Center
stated. “Their own despicable behavior resulted in their downfall in the
Material Plane, and it is now up to us to finish them off here in the Nether,
for the good of everyone.”
“Yes.
I believe that’s the right thing to do. And with the builders wiped out, the
land will become a happier and more peaceful place for everyone. We shall be
heroes,” one of his brothers responded.
“For
once, I like the sound of this plan! Finally, I can cause some carnage without
you two yelling at me! And for a good cause no less!” the other head enthusiastically
concurred.
“Then
it is unanimous. Quith and the rest of his race must die… but before we can
destroy them, we must escape from this place and regroup,” the leader of the
three admitted.
“Fear
not… I already have a plan!” the right head announced with a maniacal laugh.
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