Ceres Vikara - Death's Avatar
Mumbling a prayer, are ya? Wasted air in my opinion but you do you. Pray to god all you like. Fair warning though, I am not in a mood to listen.
"This is a warning. An important one at that, which is why I am even bothering with this shit. Darius Kaseidis is not a man fond of writing, I can tell you that much. But someone has to and I do not trust the Hierarchy to bother with the lessons learned on the back of a billion corpses. So here I am, writing on the girl that destroyed the world."
A Cursed Country
"She was born in the Kingdom of Randana. A name few will remember for even back then it had already become known as the "Plaguelands". It was a cursed place. So ravaged by disease that the Hierarchy decided to fully quarantine it in 1601 HA. Fully isolated from the rest of the world, thousands slowly wasted away and by 1900 HA, there was no one left alive within Randana. Or so we thought."
"I traced her Mana back to that cursed place. There is no doubt that she was born there. Born from a decaying mother on a pile of corpses, her companions rats and maggots, and the shambling remnants of what had once been people. One of the better options considering Randana's state at the time of her birth. No surprise that death played an important role for her from an early age."
Obsession and Growth
"Her steps after leaving Randana were nearly impossible to trace. Especially with much of the world broken as it is. But I know that death was already guiding her back then."
Growing Power
"She was likely born a mage and continued to grow in power as time went on. How her training looked I cannot say. But knowledge was easy to come by in these days, what with all the rogue mages running around. And she seems to have grown quickly. Killing a Master-level mage at age twenty is quite the feat. A number that rises quickly if I count those events where her involvement is vague."
"She was likely born a mage and continued to grow in power as time went on. How her training looked I cannot say. But knowledge was easy to come by in these days, what with all the rogue mages running around. And she seems to have grown quickly. Killing a Master-level mage at age twenty is quite the feat. A number that rises quickly if I count those events where her involvement is vague."
Aspects of Magic
"Everyone knows that she created Necromancy, but to see her create a whole new lore of magic step by step...it was fascinating if deeply disturbing. Characteristics taken from mutated animals, dark rituals combined into abhorrent chains, and elemental magic reduced down to its barest component, the road was long, but step by step she build something unholy."
"Everyone knows that she created Necromancy, but to see her create a whole new lore of magic step by step...it was fascinating if deeply disturbing. Characteristics taken from mutated animals, dark rituals combined into abhorrent chains, and elemental magic reduced down to its barest component, the road was long, but step by step she build something unholy."
Places of Horror
"Following her proved hard not just because of time and destruction, but also because of the places she visited. The dark corners of the world were her goal, places no sane being would even think about visiting. The Abhorrent City, Kharakor in the burned Lands of Lhen, the Tomb of Woronir... Even I would normally think twice about visiting such cursed lands."
"Following her proved hard not just because of time and destruction, but also because of the places she visited. The dark corners of the world were her goal, places no sane being would even think about visiting. The Abhorrent City, Kharakor in the burned Lands of Lhen, the Tomb of Woronir... Even I would normally think twice about visiting such cursed lands."
To Meet Death
He froze instantly, the pen he had used to write falling out of his hand and onto the paper below. She stood an arms length away from him, a shimmer in the dusty air. She looked different from when had last seen her. A gaunt shell of a woman, scarred and pockmarked skin stretching tight over diseased bone.
Dirty blonde hair like straw covered her right eye, although he knew the baleful red orb hidden underneath. "Why?" he breathed, unsure why he was speaking to a woman he had seen die over a hundred years ago. She merely smiled. "I heard you were writing about lil old me. Wanted ta make sure you are doing a good job."
The Final Army
"A century of work culminated in a ritual somewhere in the mountains of the far north. I felt the pulse of dark energy even halfway across the Mortal Plain." - "Should have seen the thing. It was magnificent. Ah, and the look of that pale wreck when he finally understood! It was priceless, hahaha." "I can imagine. Unfortunately it would only be a herald of things to come. What I do not get, however, is why you waited another decade before striking." - "Art takes time, my friend. Crafting a plague is difficult even for someone like me. 'specially when it has ta be one that can break any immunity."Black Death
"And what a masterpiece it was. So silent we barely noticed it spread. So deadly it breaks comprehension. The...Your Black Death killed over a billion people." - "In less thana year! Was such a pain to get the timing right. Couldn't risk you lot noticing that it was magical in origin." - "Not that it would have helped. What can you do when the world just ends? When entire continents just lie emptied of life, all of a sudden, and the rest burns as people fall to chaos and despair? A billion people dead and the remaining 200 million barely clung to the scraps."
"And what a masterpiece it was. So silent we barely noticed it spread. So deadly it breaks comprehension. The...Your Black Death killed over a billion people." - "In less thana year! Was such a pain to get the timing right. Couldn't risk you lot noticing that it was magical in origin." - "Not that it would have helped. What can you do when the world just ends? When entire continents just lie emptied of life, all of a sudden, and the rest burns as people fall to chaos and despair? A billion people dead and the remaining 200 million barely clung to the scraps."
Risen Dead
"I gave them something else to care about soon enough. What worth is a pile of corpses, if you can't play with them." - "I don't think I have felt such..." - "Fear? Awe? Ecstasy? I am willing to accept all three." - "I would be lying if I told you that I remained stoic when I felt your hand reach down into the ether and rip reality apart. When I felt that command thunder through my mind. And heard a billion voices answer it. The Final Army. A construct so monstrous even I had trouble imagining something like it could be reality."
"I gave them something else to care about soon enough. What worth is a pile of corpses, if you can't play with them." - "I don't think I have felt such..." - "Fear? Awe? Ecstasy? I am willing to accept all three." - "I would be lying if I told you that I remained stoic when I felt your hand reach down into the ether and rip reality apart. When I felt that command thunder through my mind. And heard a billion voices answer it. The Final Army. A construct so monstrous even I had trouble imagining something like it could be reality."
The Great Question
by Nik-Moskvin
"But ever since there has been a question I could not get out of my head." - Careful now, Darius. Curiosity kills the mage. We all know that." - "Why? Why do all this? I have seen many things in my time. Would-be tyrants, gods both self-proclaimed and real, monsters of the darkest nature. But none ever went as far as you did."
"Why? Because I had to. Because Death had failed. Ya'll are so pitiful trying to escape what is natural. Medicine or magic, don't really matter to you. Everything to get tat single extra year before you croak. I was trying to set the record straight. Return death to its rightful place as king of all. Some would call it abomination. I call it necessity."
"And yet you are here. Defying nature as you call it." - Is that what you think? Oh poor Darius. For you death is the end. For me it was just another door." - "One way to make defeat taste sweater, I suppose." - "Setback is what I would call it. I cannot complain though. After all, you allowed me to rise even further. Why be the avatar of something when you can be the real thing?"
She is still out there. Although I do not think that she will pose a threat again in our lifetime. Time does not seem to concern her any longer.
Life
ca. 1796 HA >>> 52 YoD (died 253 years old)
Species
Human Mage
Affiliation
The Final Army
Arcane Affiliation
Necromancy - The Lore of Souls
Iactomancy - The Lore of Decay Circumstances of Death
Unknown. Died during the Battle of the Spire. Threat Level
Beyond All Reason
ca. 1796 HA >>> 52 YoD (died 253 years old)
Species
Human Mage
Affiliation
The Final Army
Arcane Affiliation
Necromancy - The Lore of Souls
Iactomancy - The Lore of Decay Circumstances of Death
Unknown. Died during the Battle of the Spire. Threat Level
Beyond All Reason
Children
Writing under Terror
"I am surprised you remain so calm. Not many would want to write my story with me present." - "If you wanted to kill me, you could do so easily. That I am still alive means that you either do not want to or cannot do so." - "I'll leave that up to you to figure out, hehehe." - "To relive the past century is already nightmare enough. What is one more dead person?"
Plague and Decay
"It is unfortunate that everyone only focuses on my raising of the dead." - "A forgivable mistake considering what happened, no?" - "Perhaps. Still, after all the work I put into my plague spells..." - "Creating two wholly new lores of the arcane... Using disease as a weapon alone would have made you infamous beyond your lifetime." - "Not quite as fun though. And you make it sound like the work of a genius. I merely applied what we do to animals and people already. Diseases are alive too and therefore subject to mana all the same. You just have to learn what parts to move, to strengthen or to remove. Flesh melting touches, turning a simple cough into a lung eating terror, the sky is the limit."
by stepalex
Another Door
"I would ask how you are here now, but I do not think that I would like the answer." - "You would not. You don't really have to care though. I do not plan any great return in the near future. Why bother when you have all the time in existence? I did more than a billion people could in their lifetime. Now it is time for me to rest and watch. You all will end up here with me anyway. Even you. And if it takes a thousand thousand years, we will meet each other in person again, Darius."
by James Block
I love this! Ceres is both creepy and fascinating, and the narrator sounds really cool and badass too :o