Chapter 1
Arisen’s POV
How long has it been? This was the thought that plagued my mind as I sat and the chair in the grey and black flowing abyss that made up the Seneschal's Chamber. The place where I defeated Savan, previous Arisen and at that time Seneschal, and took up the mantle myself. My 6' 3'' build fit into the chair comfortably, like it was made for me, wearing the blindingly white Seneschals robes which were party draped over the chair.
The place was dull and lifeless and lacked any features worth noting, but that hardly mattered when I was busy playing god. The initial shock of the events that had transpired over what was little over half a year had worn off, replaced with boredom. Though if I went through with my plan that would be solved soon enough
I chuckled to myself; this small action did not go unnoticed by the only other occupant in the room. My longest and most loyal companion. The member of the Pawn Legion known as Scorpion.
“Something amusing Arisen?” She asked. Clad in a set of Monomi Armor which consisted of a deep black full face mask and cape, along with finely crafted hard leather overcoat with chain leggings and gloves. She stood a little less than 6 foot and sported a pair of Bardich Daggers which she had crafted from polearm blades once she decided that they could make very good daggers.
“Nothing much Scorpion, just reflecting that just under a year ago I would be out at sea fishing in Cassardis.” I answered back, flexing my gauntleted hand; I could almost imagine my old fishing net. I missed that town dearly and it was quite frequently the location I had visited in my omnipresent travels as Seneschal.
“You know Scorpion; before I had the title of Arisen I had another.” i had decided to make the most of my time with Scorpion, so i decided to spend some of my last moments before i enacted my plan reminiscing about my journey with her at my side.
The title of Arisen had taken a lot of getting used to, especially the fact that with the title came the loyalty of an entire race or emotion lacking sell swords known as the Pawn legion. When good old Rook had appeared at the edge of town from a swirling black portal just after the dragon Grigori attacked, had my heart not already been missing, I think I might have had a heart attack there and then.
“And what was that other title master?” Scorpion questioned.
“I used to be known as Good fisher. I can still remember the lectures that the innkeeper Pablo’s used to give me” I replied rubbing my head as I also remembered the headaches that he used to give me. “I can still remember his favourite greeting, Hoy Good fisher.”
“It was quite odd that the Dragon mistook him as your beloved Arisen.” She said with a hint of amusement in her normally emotionless voice.
“Yes, when I made my way up the tainted mountain I believed I was prepared for everything, but the dragon mistaking Pablos as my love was something that all of Ser Berne’s harsh training could have prepared me for that”, that being said I still took up arms against the dragon rather than sacrifice Pablos. I may not have been in love with the man but he did not deserve that fate that awaited him should the dragon take him.
“Did you have a love in mind Arisen?” Scorpion asked
“If there ever was one it would have been Quina, but alas, in the time that I was off journeying, she found herself betrothed to Horaldo.” I spat out with resentment before I collected myself. “Adventuring such as ours does not allow for such frivolity as wooing a damsel.”
Frustrated I ripped of the fine Seneschal robe that I wore over my armour revealing the shining Gryphic armour underneath. As the name would suggest it was stylised in the form of a Griffin and covered all of my body. I was frustrated now and needed to blow off some steam. Even as a god I let my emotions get the better of me and luckily, as a god I had a very effective way of dealing with it.
I summoned a large number of Horaldo clones and drew my two handed sword.
“Master, are you unwell?” Scorpion asked, unused to me acting this way.
When the sake of the world was at risk you did not have time to lose your cool. But as a god I have all the time in the world to be mad. In fact I had an eternity to be mad, and I wanted to fix that before I proceeded with my plan . Spending an eternity angry that my one love had married another was just not something I wanted to do. So instead I gleefully cut through the small army of Horaldo clones yelling insults at them.
“Marry Horaldo! The bastard could not even stop that lowly knave Pike from robbing his store!” I continued to let off more steam, making sure all the clones died in the biggest splashes of blood I could manage. When Savan had said imagine the infinite potential I can’t imagine this is what he had in mind.
Though it was for the best, if I wanted to have a level head for what I was planning on doing soon this was the only way for me to lose the anger and jealousy that I had at the moment.
Scorpions POV
Master was acting in a strange way. At the very least it was strange for him. He had summoned up copies of the man who had betrothed Quina and was slicing through them shouting insults. As a Pawn I could not understand the reason he was so angry about this, so I let him be.
In my reckoning it has been about a 12 moons since we defeated the last Seneschal and his Pawn, though I could not actually tell how long it has been as of the two of us only the Arisen can leave this place to act as the god of the realm. Had I been by myself this would not have been a problem, as a pawn without a master is said to have no will of their own. However once a pawn is chosen by the arisen, as long as they are with them they gain the shadows of emotion as the village leader had said the spark what drives us.
I was duty bound to stay by the Arisen side, and I will till the next arisen arrives and challenges us, but right now I was suffering something that I thought that only humans had to deal with. It was a strange feeling that Master had described as boredom, and it was just as horrible as he had made it sound.
I watched as he continued to slice through the Horaldo’s like butter, insults still flying from his mouth. And then all of a sudden he stopped.
He looked sadly at the ground and slowly walked back to his chair.
“You know Scorpion; I sometimes wished that I had taken the last Seneschal up on his offer. A quick death rather than a lifetime of this.” He said sombrely, leaning back in his chair.
“But I have come to a conclusion. From what Savan told me, the Arisen is chosen by the dragon, and the past Arisen is the one who sends that dragon from the rift.”
Ah the rift. It has been a long time since I had been there. That did make me wonder however, what my master was talking about. He said he had come to a conclusion.
“So If what I am thinking is not remiss, if I take my own life with the Godsbane sword like I did to Savan to break him free of the cycle, I may break the cycle altogether.” He stood back up slowly and knelt over. “There is one thing I need to do Scorpion.”
I could see where this was going, and I did not like it one bit. As little emotion I possessed, I cared very deeply for the Arisen. For the first time in my life as an emotionless pawn, I felt the need to go against the Arisen wishes.
“Master are you sure? That blade will remove you from the cycle completely, from existence.” I strained to get out. The idea of not being with the Arisen and longer, the one to who I had sworn fealty to all that time ago in that ramshackle tent, was one that I was finding difficult to deal with.
“Yes Scorpion I am sure. This will not only end the cycle for me, but hopefully prevent another from having to make the same choices I did. “He stated with finality.
I sighed and stepped forward. “If it is what will make you happy master, then do it”
He stood back up and removed his helmet for the first time since he had entered this strange realm known as the Seneschal’s chamber. His bearded face smiled at me.
“Thank you Scorpion, and know that I see you not as my Pawn, but as a friend” he grasped my shoulder and grinned before wielding the weapon that he kept hidden behind his cloak. The sword known as the Godsbane.
He gripped the sword as I looked at his face for what would probably be the last time. A small part of myself reminded me that once he was gone I would lose my emotions and will, and it almost made me attempted to stop his blade. I wanted to selfishly hold onto the small semblance of humanity that being with the Arisen had given me, but I decided against it. All good things come to an end and this is what he decided was for the best so I trusted him.
“Master, serving with you has filled this pawn with pride” I declared before he drove the sword into his gut.
The Arisen let out a pained grunt before uttering “We will meet again my friend. “ before falling to the ground, life leaving his body slowly
I knelt next to him to pay my respects, and found that emotions had not yet left me, allowing me to mourn my masters passing.
Suddenly the grey clouds parted and a roar passed through them.
“INSOLENCE, YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN BE RID OF THE CYCLE THAT EASILY?!”
I jumped up and looked through the gap in the clouds.
“YOU MAY HAVE STOPPED YOUR RETURN IN THIS WORLD ARISEN, BUT WITHOUT APPOINTING A SUCCESSOR YOU HAVE BROKEN THE ENDLESS CHAIN!”
A massive undead dragon burst though, with ash covered scales, glowing red eyes and a dark purple energy running through its body. It was just as big if not bigger than Grigori, with many pulsing hearts pocket marked around its body.
“FOR THIS YOU SHALL BE BANISHED!” the dragon roared.
“Vile wyrm, we have slain you once, and we shall slay you again!” I shouted, hiding my doubt. When we had first fought this colossal undead dragon I had my master and two of my brethren to help me. What secrets did this monster hold, for it was as timeless as the Seneschal themselves.
“OH, IT IS NOT ME YOU HAVE TO FEAR, SOULESS VESSEL IN THE SHAPE OF MAN!” the dragon screeched in defiance “IT IS THE WORLD ITSELF YOU HAVE TO FEAR!”
I did not have an inkling of what that could mean, until the ground under the Arisen opened up and swallowed him. Without thinking I jumped down after him, the wyrm’s wicked laughter fading away as I plummeted into blackness
“MASSSSTERRRR!”
As I was falling, the black swirling abyss of the rift gave way to the blue sky. I was catching up to the body of my master and would soon be able to catch him. What I was doing was beyond me at this point, having forgotten that if he was alive he was not long for this world.
As we fell, I looked around, not able to pinpoint and landmarks such as Cassardis, Gran Soren or the Tainted mountain. We were rapidly approaching the ground, and I did the one thing that I could. I reached into the leather hard leather jacket and pulled out a wakestone.
I propelled myself towards my master and activated the stone, a bright light engulfing him as we both hit the water.
End chapter 1
