Return of the Lord

The crackle of arcane magical energies filled the clearing, and commands and chanting nearby rose above the silent treetops and into the still night. Assembled where upwards of around fifty mages of Zamorak, all convened here for one purpose, and in the centre of the clearing there now hovered a small ball of pure magical energy.

The mages had been pooling in their power for the past few hours, and the time was slowly drawing nearer. Over the past few days, something had been noticed in the realm fabric of Gielinor - something had entered where nothing had before, and the followers of Zamorak had noticed it.

This abrupt entry had stretched the ethereal fabric from through it had entered, and weakened the barrier between Gielinor and wherever it had come from. Here tonight, mages from across all the known interconnected realms had gathered for the one purpose of exploiting that weakness, and opening a portal to a new realm, something that had not been done by humans for vast amounts of time.

Some believed they might find their lord Zamorak on the other side, others a new land to exploit and conquer, but regardless of what they would find, it would benefit their dark lord's wishes immensely. The call had gone out, and loyal troops and began to gather in the surrounding forests - at the edge of the clearing a group of black knights could be seen, standing motionless beneath their armour. Although their helmets concealed their faces, it was sure they would be watching the unfolding events with interest, through cold, emotionless eyes.

Many other people had gathered in the surrounding camp, some simple civilians, and some priests and warriors. A priest from Varrock had even said he had heard odd rumours going around the city lately, but nothing seemed too suspicious, as far as what could be gleamed from hearsay.

Suddenly a bright light emerged from the confluence of the mage's magic, and the very air around it seemed to twist itself inside out with pain - as if trying to escape from horrible fate. A word was said from within the trees, and some beaten villagers were pushed into the centre of the circle of mages, wearing tattered clothes. They had expressions of pure terror on their face - they had probably been taken in the night from a local settlement. At once arrows flew over the heads of the mages, and the villagers screams filled the night.

Suddenly, the magical entity began to morph and expand, using the mages' dark magic to feed off of the bloodshed, and at last it exploded with a blinding flash and an ethereal shockwave - crippling the mages' minds and sending them crashing to the floor. When the surrounding figures had regained their vision, a rift in the very fabric of reality lay before them.

Suddenly orders were shouted, and men started moving around quickly, rousing the others from slumber. Whatever new world lay beyond the portal was unknown, but as the legions of Zamorak prepared to pour through, one thing was certain.

The reign of darkness would soon begin.